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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PUBLICATIONS
IN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
EDITED BY
ERNEST D. BURTON SHAILER MATHEWS
THEODORE G. SOARES
CONSTRUCTIVE STUDIES
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Tigent;
THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
NEW YORK
THE CUNNINGHAM, CURTISS & WELCH COMPANY
LOS ANGELES
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI
THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY
SHANGHAI
Fºx -º-;
From Copley Prints Copyright by Curti; and Camero”.
FROM SARGENT'S FRESCO OF THE PROPHETS, PUBLIC LIBRARY BOSTON









THE
HEBREw PROPHETs
OR
PATRIOTS AND LEADERS
OF ISRAEL
A TEXTBOOK FOR STUDENTS OF THE HIGH
SCHOOL AGE AND ABOVE
By
GEORGIA LOUISE CHAMBERLIN
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

COPYRIGHT IQIo AND 1911 BY
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
All Rights Reserved
Preprinted in Three Pamphlets
October 1910–May 1911
Published June 1911
Second Impression September 1911
Third Impression March 1914
Fourth Impression January 1916
Fifth Impression August 1917
w"
Composed and Printed By
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ,
PAGE
EDITOR'S NOTE ge * & tº e e tº tº e . xiii-xiv
FOREWORD TO THE STUDENT e * & gº e e . xv-xviii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . I-7
The land and the literature of the Hebrews, 1, 2. The tribal
dream, and the tribal God, 2, 3. The rise of the Hebrew prophet,
3, 4. The religion of the Hebrews in early times, 5. The guilds of
the prophets, 6.
CHAPTER II. THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM . . 8–26
The spirit of the conquest, 8, 9. The records of Samuel's life, ro,
II. Boyhood of Samuel and life at Shiloh, II-I4. Samuel inspiring
the Hebrews to resist the Philistines, 14. A crisis in government, 15.
The choice of a king, 16. First account, chosen by Samuel privately,
16–18. Second account, chosen by lot, I9. Third account, chosen
by public acclaim, 19. Samuel establishes a new standard of conduct,
19–22. Samuel Selects a new king, 22, 23. In death, as in life, a
ruler of kings, 24. David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, 25, 26.
Estimate of Samuel, 26.
CHAPTER III. A CENTURY OF HISTORY . . . . . 27–30
Summary of work of Saul, David, and Solomon, and the division
of the kingdom, 27. Conditions in the North and South, 28–30.
CHAPTER IV. THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL 31–44
Ahab strengthening the kingdom by triple alliance and foreign
marriage, 31. Introduction of Phoenician Baalism, 31, 32. Elijah
represents the prophetic party in opposing Baalism, 32. Elijah pre-
dicts three years' drought and disappears, 32, 33. Elijah returns at the
end of three years, 33. Jehovah or Baal: the test by fire, 34–36.
Jehovah the God of the rain, 36. Elijah driven out of Israel, 37.
Elijah defending the rights of the people, 37. The story of Naboth
and his vineyard, 38, 39. True and false prophets, 40. Micaiah and
the false prophets, 40–43. The extinction of Phoenician Baalism, 43.
The contribution of Elijah and his immediate successors, 44.
CHAPTER V. THE PROPHETS CREATING A NEW LITERATURE 45–63
Adjustment to new conditions, 45. The prophets and the
national traditions, 46. The story of the beginning of sin, 47–50.
The call of Abram, 51, 52. Jehovah forbidding human sacrifice, 52-54.
The wooing of Isaac and Rebecca, 54–58. The story of the exodus
from Egypt, 58–62. The literary task of the prophets, 62, 63.
VII .
viii - TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER VI. ISRAEL AND HER FOREIGN RELATIONSHIPS
FROM 876–722 B.C. . . . . . . . . . 64–68
Overthrow of the house of Ahab by Jehu, 64. Invasions by
Hazael of Damascus, 64. Tribute to Assyria demanded from Jehu,
65. Campaign of Shalmaneser II against Damascus, 65. Damascus
reduced to submission by Adad-Nirari III, 66. Prosperous condi-
tions under Jeroboam II, 66. Conditions of anarchy following Jero-
boam’s death, 66. Rapid advance of Assyria, 67. Damascus de-
stroyed, Israel tributary, 67. Northern Israel encouraged by Egypt,
67. Siege and fall of Samaria, 67. Work of Hosea and Amos, 67, 68.
CHAPTER VII. AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM . . . 69–88
Relations of Israel and Judah in times of Jeroboam II, 69.
Internal conditions in Northern Israel, 69, 70. The home, the occu-
pation, and characteristics of Amos, 70, 7I. Amos at Bethel, 72.
The visions of Amos, 72–76. The encounter with Amaziah, 77, 78.
Jehovah the God of the nations, 79. Judgments upon the nations,
79-83. Israel's failure to understand, 83, 84. The offenses of Israel,
85. The coming destroyer, 86, 87. Estimate of Amos, 88.
CHAPTER VIII. HoSEA, THE INTERPRETER OF JEHOVAH's
LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . 89-Ioo
The reign of terror in Northern Israel, 89. Religious conditions
and ideals, 9o, 91. Story of Hosea's life, 91. Tact of Hosea, 91.
Hosea's complaint against Israel, 92, 93. Jehovah forsaken and
insulted, 93, 94. Love, the desire of Jehovah, 94, 95. The coming
destruction, 96, 97. A call to repentance, 97, 98. Jehovah, God
and not man, 98–Too.
TABLE OF IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS, 745–568 B.C. . IoI–Io2
CHAPTER IX. ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS . . Io9–127
Fall of Samaria imminent, Iog. Isaiah’s relation to his prede-
cessors, Io.3. Character of the period, IO4. The call of Isaiah, Ioa-
Ioé. A demand for reform, Ioff–Io8. Isaiah pronounces the doom of
Israel, Io&–III. Isaiah’s contention with Ahaz, III–II6. The inva-
sion of Tiglath-pileser and the fall of Damascus, II6. Death of Tig-
lath-pileser and rebellion of Northern Israel, II6. Siege of Samaria
by Shalmaneser IV, II6. Fall of Samaria, II6. Deportation of
Northern Israelites to Assyria, II.7. Isaiah opposes alliance with
Egypt, II7. Sennacherib invades Palestine, II8. Sennacherib de-
mands surrender of Hezekiah, II8. Isaiah’s exhortations, II9–121.
Letter from the Assyrian king, I22. Hezekiah’s prayer, I22.
Jehovah’s answer through Isaiah, I23, 124. Deliverance of Jeru-
salem, 125. The song of the vineyard, I25, 126. Estimate of Isaiah,
I26, 127.
CHAPTER X. MICAH OF MORESHETH . . . . . . I28–131
Location of Micah, 128. Announcement of Samaria's doom,
129. Denunciation of leaders of Israel, 130, 131. “What doth
Jehovah require of thee P” I31.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
PAGE
CHAPTER XI. JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM . I32-168
Reigns of Manasseh and Amon, I32. Scythian invasion, I32.
Call of Jeremiah, I.33, 134. Jeremiah pronounces the Scythian inva-
sion a punishment for idolatry, I34, 136. Deliverance conditioned
upon complete moral reform, 136–140. The new law book and the
reformation, I40-142. Death of Josiah and the reaction, I42. Judah,
a vassal of the king of Egypt, I43. Jehoahaz deposed, I43. Jeremiah’s
speech at the gate of the Temple, I44. The fall of Assyria, 145.
Battle of Carchemish, I46. Babylon Supreme, I46. Jeremiah’s lament,
I46, 147. Jeremiah’s visit to Anathoth, 148. The visit to the
potter, 150, 151. Plot against Jeremiah, I52. Jeremiah placed in the
stocks, 152. Jehoiakim pays tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, 153. Re-
volts after two years, 153. Death of Jehoiakim, 153. Jehoiachin,
his son, surrenders after three months' siege, I53. First deportation
of inhabitants of Jerusalem to Babylon, I54. Jeremiah writes to the
exiles in Babylon, I54-156. Jeremiah’s encounter with the court
prophets, 156–160. Jeremiah and the Rechabites, I60-162. Zede-
kiah breaks with Babylon, I62. Jeremiah, a prisoner, 163–165. The
fall of Jerusalem, I65, I66. Last days of Jeremiah, I66, 167. The
contribution of Jeremiah, I67, I68.
TABLE OF IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS—THE PERSIAN
PERIOD OF JEWISH HISTORY . . . . . . . 169–170
CHAPTER XII. EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS . . . 171–187
The location and condition of the Hebrews in Babylon, 171-173.
Ezekiel and his problem, I73. The call of Ezekiel, 174, 175. Denuncia-
tion of Jerusalem, I76, 177. Parable of the eagle and the cedar twig,
177–179. Jehovah deals with individuals, 180–182. News of Jeru-
salem's call reaches Babylon, 182, 183. Jehovah the shepherd of
Israel, 184, 185. The vision of dry bones, 185, 186. Estimate of
Ezekiel, 187.
CHAPTER XIII. ISAIAH OF BABYLON * - . I88–2I4
The advance of Cyrus the Great, 189. Isaiah of Babylon and
his task, Igo. A message of Comfort, Igo, IQI. Jehovah the creator
of the world, 192-194. The coming of Cyrus, the triumph of prophecy,
194. A challenge to the idols, 195. Jehovah the only God, 196.
The senseless makers of idols, 197, 198. Jehovah, the guide of Israel,
198–200. Cyrus, the long-expected liberator, 200, 201. Policy of
Cyrus, 20I. Call to go forth from Babylon, 201–203. Assurance of
great numbers and the protection of Jehovah, 203–206. “Awake,
awake, O Zion,” 206, 207. Purpose of Israel's suffering, 207, 208.
Mission of the Servant, 208, 209. Humiliation and exaltation of
Jehovah's servant, 209-2I2. The great invitation, 212, 213. Mes-
Sage of Isaiah, 2I4.
CHAPTER XIV. PROPHETIC MESSAGES IN THE NEW CITy 21 5-224
History of Babylonia following arrival of Cyrus to 519 B.C. Acces-
Sion of Darius, 215, 216. Drifting back to Jerusalem, 216, 217. The
rebuilding of the Temple, 217. . The exhortations of Haggai, 217, 218.
Zechariah encourages Zerubbabel, 219–221. Dedication of the
Temple, 22I. Nehemiah’s expedition, 222. The new revision of the
Law and its enforcement, 223
X TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER XV. VoICES OF HOPE . . . . . . . 225–230
The Prince of Peace, 225, 226. Nature's harmony, 226, 227.
The presence of Jehovah, 227, 228. A Song of Jehovah's forgiveness,
228. The mountain of Jehovah, 229. The new creation, 230.
CHAPTER XVI. JEHOVAH THE GOD OF ALL MANKIND . . 231-237
Jonah the type of disobedient Israel, 231. Jonah evades his
mission to Nineveh, 231. Heathen sailors call upon Jehovah and
are saved, 232, 233. Disobedient Jonah calls upon Jehovah and is
saved, 233, 234. Jonah again sent to Nineveh, 234. Repentance of
Nineveh, 234, 235. Jehovah's rebuke, 235, 236. Conclusion, 236,237.
LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS– *
Trade and Caravan Routes in the Ancient Semitic World 3
Palestine: The United Kingdom . * e & & 8
Palestine: *The Divided Kingdom . * & tº & 3I
The Assyrian Empire under Tiglath-pileser IV tº • IO2
The Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar II . • IO2
The Persian Empire & & * § * •º . I69
Relief Map of Palestine . e e º tº e . 216
ILLUSTRATIONS–
The Frieze of the Prophets: Sargent. Frontispiece
The Hilltop Site of Ancient Samaria & g & * > 28
A Canaanitish Rock Altar tº e tº * © c 33
The Ridge of Mount Carmel from the North . & te 35
An Ancient Tree near Hebron, Traditionally Named Abra-
ham's Oak . * * tº e tº * g & 5.I
The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II e g e º 65
Jehu's Tribute to Shalmaneser II e e ge e 67
The Wilderness of Tekoa, Showing Road across the Plain . 7o
An Assyrian God . º e & sº tº tº . IOO
Bas-Reliefs Showing Assyrian Soldiers Attacking a City . II.8
Site of Ancient Nineveh . & & º g . I46
The City of Jerusalem . © g tº gº e . I56
Passage from Micah, Showing the Hebrew Text Used in
Babylonia . * * gº te e * º . I 72
Portion of the Wall of Solomon's Temple—Wailing Place . 188
A Restoration of the Palace of Artaxerxes Mnemon, a
Typical Persian Palace. * & e & * > . 222
EDITOR'S NOTE
This volume belongs to a series of textbooks for religious educa-
tion intended to cover the period from early childhood to mature
life. A list of these books will be found at the close of the volume.
The present book is adapted to use in the later years of the academy
or high school, or in the earlier years of a college course.
The student has already pursued the consecutive study of the
lives of the Old Testament heroes and of Jesus and Paul. He is
now ready to turn to the study of the development of the religious
life and thought of the Hebrew people through their great men.
In taking up the present book the pupil should not therefore feel
that because he has already made a study of portions of the Old
Testament, he is now duplicating the work of earlier years. While
a few of the characters whose lives are treated in this volume have
become known to him in his previous study, the whole subject is
here presented from a different point of view and with greatly
multiplied selections for reading. There is, therefore, no danger
of lack of fresh interest in the subject. The student is urged to
attack the study of this volume with the same earnestness and to
apply to it the same interesting methods which he has found
successful in his study of other history and literature.
It is believed that many older people will find in this book a
helpful medium of study, since in Small compass, without reference
to other volumes, it gives through selected literature a rapid survey
of the growth of the religion of the Hebrews such as cannot easily
be obtained elsewhere.
Both editor and author desire to acknowledge the invaluable
assistance of Professor John M. Powis Smith, in the criticism of the
work from the point of view of modern historical scholarship. Only
on a basis of thorough Scholarship can the work of religious educa-
tion be effectually done for pupils who in other fields of study are
taught to search for facts and to accept the results of investigation.
xiii
xiv EDITOR'S NOTE
The editor and the author count themselves, therefore, peculiarly
fortunate in having secured the benefit of Dr. Smith's scholarly
judgment. *
For permission to use translations from the American Standard
Revised Version of the Bible, thanks are due the publishers, Messrs.
Thomas Nelson & Sons. In many cases, however, the translation
has been further revised with a view to making the selection more
clear and comprehensible to students of immature years.
April, 1911
FOREWORD TO THE STUDENT
Many years ago the author of this volume, then about sixteen
years of age, came into touch with a great teacher. Up to that
period the books bearing the names of the Hebrew prophets were to
her both unexplored and unintelligible. In a few brief class periods
at a summer School, through the wonderful presentations of this
teacher, the Hebrew prophets became living men with living mes-
sages to the world. Since that time, no year has passed in which
these men have not become more real, and their influence on human
life more clearly seen and appreciated. It is in the hope that this
experience may, in some measure, come to the boys and girls who
study these pages, that this book has been prepared. ~
In entering upon the study of the chapters contained in this
book, the reader will meet a task which, while containing many
possibilities for literary enjoyment, will need the same painstaking
care which he devotes to the study of Greek, Roman, or other
ancient history and literature. It has been too long the custom to
relegate the study of the history and literature of the Hebrews to
a half-hour on Sunday in connection with the Sunday school.
Such an expenditure of time is better than giving no attention to
the subject, but it is hoped that all who use this book will find it
possible to devote a fair amount of time to the consideration of its
pages, whether the work be performed on Sunday or a week-day,
in a school for religious instruction alone, or in connection with the
general education of the day school. We have only to remind
ourselves of the far-reaching influence of the literature of the
Hebrews upon the civic, social, and religious life of the world to
convince ourselves of its importance as a subject of study.
We must bear in mind that in the collection of literature from
which selections are presented in this volume there are many ideas
as well as frequent words and phrases which can be understood
only in the light of the history out of which the literature arose.
XV
xvi - FOREWORD TO THE STUDENT
An effort has been made, therefore, to give a sufficient historical
Setting to each selection. Because of the limitations of space
required in a practical textbook it has been impossible to make this
historical setting as complete as might be desired. This is especially
true in the latter part of the book. The period of Israel’s history
following the restoration of Jerusalem was replete with interesting
historical events. The influence and activity of the prophets in this
period, however, was less than in the earlier history of the nation,
and for this reason, as well as because of limitations of space, it
has been necessary to omit, to a very large degree, the history of
the later period. That the religious life of the people in these years
was steadily growing will be seen by the study of the small number
of Selections from the literature which are incorporated.
Many students will desire to read more fully concerning the
history of the Hebrews, especially in its relation to the work of the
prophets. For such study we recommend constant reference to
such a dictionary as Hastings’ one-volume Dictionary of the Bible"
or the Standard Bible Dictionary” which present brief articles of
value on practically every subject which will occur to the mind of
the reader. A very practical and complete one-volume history of
the Hebrews is Wade's Old Testament History. A most attractive
volume, giving a chapter to each of the Hebrew prophets, is Cornill's
The Prophets of Israel." A general book on the Old Testament
prophet is Batten's The Hebrew Prophet.* Excellent commentaries
on the prophets are found in the series, The Cambridge Bible for
Schools and Colleges,” The Bible for Home and School,7 and The
Century Bible.”
Only by constant use of the numerous maps, which have been
most carefully prepared with reference to the history which they
illustrate, and by frequent review of the summaries of historical
events, appearing for the early period in chap. viii, and for the later
period in two historical tables on pp. IoI and 169, can the history
be kept clearly in mind. These maps and tables may also profitably
* Charles Scribner’s Sons, $5.o.o. 5 Macmillan, $1.5o.
* Funk & Wagnalls, $6.o.o. * G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
3 E. P. Dutton & Co., $1.o.o. 7 Macmillan.
4Open Court Publishing Co., $1. oo. *T. C. & E. C. Jack, Edinburgh.
FOREWORD TO THE STUDENT xvii
be compared with those contained in other ancient histories in
order that the reality of the Old Testament history and its relation
to the ancient world may more fully be appreciated. It should be
remembered that the amount of territory possessed by the Hebrews
was exceedingly small and that its importance to other nations lay
entirely in its geographical situation, and since the period of its
independence was short it receives scant mention in the general
histories of ancient peoples. Its great importance to us lies not in
its political importance at any time, but in the influence which its
great thinkers have exerted upon the world.
The illustrations have been chosen chiefly with reference to their
value in assisting the student to an understanding of the subject.
The views of places are of course modern. Those of ancient build-
ings and customs are taken from walls and inscriptions. While the
frontispiece will make the largest aesthetic contribution, it will also
illustrate the character of each prophet as conceived by one of the
great artists of modern times. The original of this picture as
frescoed upon the walls of the Public Library in Boston, Mass.,
furnishes a most imposing procession of Color and majestic character.
Although it is the purpose of this book to give to the student a
fair conception of the work of the Hebrew prophets and their
messages to their own times and people, its full work will not have
been accomplished unless it assists the student to make a connection
between the problems of the prophet and those of his own day.
The messages of the prophets were essentially ethical and religious,
and the principles which they proclaimed were the universal prin-
ciples of justice, mercy, and truth, which are as greatly needed in
the world today as in Palestine centuries ago. The supreme legacy
of the prophet—the conception of one universal God whose char-
acter is perfect in power, in truth, and in justice, whose attitude
toward mankind is that of a loving father—has certainly a great
bearing upon the problems of modern life, both individual and
national. The sense of the brotherhood of man, which is the
corollary of this principle, did not come to maturity in the times
Covered by our study, but it can be understood and appreciated
most fully when approached through the long period of its early
development.
xviii FOREWORD TO THE STUDENT
Under each chapter the student’s attention is directed to one
or more special conditions in modern life which the application of
the principles of the prophet under consideration might affect. It
is hoped that many other circumstances and problems of personal
and of national importance may be approached in the same way,
G. L. C.
April 20, 1911
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The Land and the Literature of the Hebrews.-At the eastern
end of the Mediterranean Sea lies the land of Palestine, not
larger than the state of Vermont, but so situated between the great
nations of the ancient world as to present an obstacle to the free
passage of men and arms in time of war, and of commerce in Sea-
sons of peace. Now the possession of the Turk, its people poverty-
stricken and illiterate, remnants of a drifting tide from the desert,
or swarthy Jew content with the humblest home, provided it be in
his own land, it contains little to remind the traveler of the glories
of an ancient nation whose influence has reached to the ends of the
earth.
It is not because of its strange and tragic political history that
this nation has commanded the attention of the world, but because
in it was planted centuries before Christ a religion one product of
which was Christianity, and another modern Judaism, which still
finds its adherents in millions of members of the Hebrew race
scattered over the habitable globe.
The mother religion from which Christianity grew must be of
supreme interest to all who live in a Christian land. The modern
rise of interest in the Orient leads us still more thoughtfully to con-
sider that to an oriental nation came the revelation of God in its
highest perfection, and to the Hebrew prophet, priest, and Sage we
owe the literature which preserves the clearest messages of God to
humanity that have come down to us from the past.
In the Old Testament is traced through more than a thousand
years the growth of the religion of the Hebrews. This record is
not a definite chronological presentation of historical facts. It is
a collection of such literature of the Hebrews as has survived the
political and social disasters of a people bereft of their land, and
driven to the ends of the earth by wars of conquest and by persecu-
tion. These records as found in the Old Testament are incomplete
and fragmentary, but notwithstanding their deficiencies as historical
I
2 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
material they present to us a brilliant and impressive series of pic-
tures of life and thought in that ancient nation. There are breaks
in the series, many and long, which only the imagination can fill,
but in the wealth of poetry, orations, sayings, stories, visions, we
find no lack of material for the reconstruction of thrilling situations,
wars, great political and religious crises, and Social upheavals such
as find few parallels in history. a
The Tribal Dream, and the Tribal God.—In ancient times the
dream of all great nations was world Sovereignty. For centuries
the balance of world power alternated between the southern coast
of the Mediterranean Sea, where Egypt represented the highest
world civilization, and the countries on the northeast where the
Euphrates and the Tigris rivers made fertile a far-stretching plain.
Between these two countries lay Palestine, on the east walled in by
mountains and the desert, and along its western border furnishing
the only highway between Egypt and Assyria, over which marched
and countermarched for centuries the armies of both countries in a
long struggle for Supremacy. Notwithstanding this perilous geo-
graphical situation, the Hebrews from very early times were
possessed by a dream of an independent state, which led them to
brave wars of conquest and defense, even to the death, in fruitless
struggle to fulfill their dream.
This ideal of political independence and even of world supremacy
drew its strength from their religion. Ancient tradition told them
that centuries before, their great ancestor Abraham had been
divinely led to this country, a fair land with room for flocks and herds
in abundance, a fit place for the founding of a new tribe and nation.
It was said that Jehovah, their God, had selected this land as a
dwelling-place for them and for himself. It must be understood
that in these early times people had too little knowledge of God
to permit them to conceive of him as the one God of all nations.
Each nation possessed its own god, and regarded that god as Supreme
over the gods of other nations. When countries and tribes warred
with each other, therefore, they believed that it was the gods who
were at war. Victorious gods by their successes proved their
superiority, and conquered peoples became not only subjects of
their captors, but worshipers of the gods of their conquerors as well.
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INTRODUCTION 3
To Yahweh, or Jehovah, as our English Bible spells the word, the
Hebrews had sworn allegiance through a covenant between Jehovah
and Moses, a covenant never entirely lost sight of, and renewed from
generation to generation by successive great leaders. Through a
long period of conquest accompanying their settlement in the land
they held tenaciously to the belief that the land of Palestine, or
Canaan as it was then called, was Jehovah's permanent abode, and
that he had chosen them for his people. Therefore the land was
theirs, and its inhabitants, though people of higher civilization than
their own, must be driven out in order that Jehovah's people
might occupy their place. Every victory thus became a victory
of Jehovah, and every defeat was the sign of Jehovah's anger
against his people and evidence of his intention to punish them by
the temporary withdrawal of his support. The final outcome of
such supreme faith was inevitably the belief that Jehovah would
eventually conquer the world, and from the land of the Hebrews
would be administered the government of the nations."
The Rise of the Hebrew Prophet.—In the history of every people
the life of the nation moves forward by distinct stages. An ex-
amination of the facts shows the reason of this to lie in the rise
now and again of individuals, men or women who are strong enough
to impress their ideas upon large groups of people, and to incite
them to action. Not infrequently such leadership entails heroic
deeds and great self-sacrifice, especially if as in Israel the end at
stake be at many points a losing cause when its adherents face
defeated hopes and personal degradation. With the Hebrews,
patriotism and religion were one. Loyalty to the land meant loy-
alty to Jehovah. Desire for the favor of God was inseparably linked
with desire to live in his land and to enjoy its benefits. It is natural
therefore that the great patriots should have been the great reli-
* The movement known in modern times as Zionism, a movement which is lead-
ing large numbers of Jews to find homes in Palestine, contemplates the establishment
of a Jewish state in Palestine under the protection of the European powers. It should
not be looked upon as an effort of the Jewish people to realize in this age their old
dream of a world power in Palestine, to which all nations of the earth would pay hom-
age. In it, however, we see still persisting the hope of a future for the Jewish people,
which is the expression of an optimism upheld through all the ages by firm trust in
Jehovah.
4 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
giousleaders and that chief among the outstanding figures in Hebrew
history we should find the prophets of Jehovah. Regarding them-
selves as the direct representatives of Jehovah, they fought with
tongue and pen, and even life itself, to save the nation from the
attacks of its outward foes, and from the social and religious dis-
Sensions which disturbed it within.
The office of prophet was not peculiar to Israel. Among all
ancient nations the gods, deemed too remote and terrible to permit
the approach of Common mortals, were supposed to communicate
their will to men through a special class of persons whose privilege
it was to act as intermediaries between the god and his people,
interpreting the one to the other. Seers, soothsayers, the inter-
preters of the Greek Oracles, and the Roman haruspices are familiar
illustrations of this primary principle. In Israel the Hebrew word
Nabi, translated prophet, designated a man who interpreted the
will and communicated the messages of Jehovah to the people.
The following passage which presents the answer which Jehovah
was said to have made to the hesitancy of Moses, when he was
called upon to lead the captive Hebrews out of the land of Egypt,
gives a clear idea of the early thought of the office of the prophet
in Israel. .
And Moses said unto Jehovah, “Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent,
neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant;
for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” And Jehovah said
unto him, “Who hath made man's mouth P or who maketh a man
5 dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, Jehovah P. Now
therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what
thou shalt speak.” And he said, “Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by
the hand of him whom thou wilt send.” And the anger of Jehovah
was kindled against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron, thy
Io brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also,
behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he
will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put
the words in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his
mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy
15 spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall
be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God.”
INTRODUCTION 5
The word here translated “spokesman” is the word regularly
rendered “prophet” elsewhere in the English Bible."
In its beginnings the religion of the Hebrews, while differing
from other religions in certain vital ethical principles, resembled
the religion of the surrounding nations in its outward manifesta-
tions. Its prophets, in their appearance and methods of work,
were very like the prophets of neighboring gods, Chemosh of the
Moabites, or Baal of the Phoenicians. On every hand in nature
and in human life were insoluble mysteries, all of which were attrib-
uted to the gods. It was deemed inevitable that the persons speak-
ing for Jehovah, as well as those who represented other gods, should
be clothed in mystery. Accordingly we find that in early times the
prophets were subject to mysterious states of ecstasy or trance, the
cultivation of these states being frequently preparatory to the act
of prophecy. For this purpose there were employed such means
as the monotonous whirling dance, still seen in Arabia among the
dervishes, musical instruments, weird sounds and cries, strange
actions which caused the term “mad fellow” to be applied not
infrequently to the early prophet. It was supposed that when in
this excited state the prophet, possessed by the spirit of the god,
could divine his will and communicate his message, and that he
spoke in the very person of the god. Only occasionally in the Old
Testament and in the early days do we find evidences of these cus-
toms and superstitions as prevalent among the Hebrews. We
should doubtless find many more instances had not our literature
come from the hands of later prophets, who, in accordance with a
more intelligent conception of Jehovah, eliminated those elements
of the stories of which they did not approve. A striking illustration
is furnished by II Kings 3:15, where music is employed to bring on
the prophetic trance. When three kings came to Elisha, one of the
early prophets of Israel, to ask advice in an important crisis he said,
“But now, bring me a minstrel,” and the author continues, “and it
used to be that when the minstrel played that the hand of Jehovah
* The stories which cluster around the conviction of Moses that he was called to
lead his people out of bondage are found in Exod., chaps. 3, 4, of which this selection
is from 4: Io-I6.
6 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
came upon him.” The effect of this self-engendered excitement,
like intoxication of any sort, varied in different individuals. Some
persons might be rendered, for the time being, “mad,” others silent,
while to some would come eloquence and lofty inspiration not pos-
sible to them in a quieter state of mind.
But even in these early days while the Hebrew prophets, regarded
by the people with Superstitious awe, struggled in spiritual darkness
to discern and to interpret the God who was so dimly revealed to
them, a great human motive—loyalty to their land—drove them
to band themselves together in the cultivation of the spirit of
prophecy. Jehovah and the land of Palestine were regarded as in-
separable. The future of the land was of the deepest concern to his
representatives. We know little of the bands or guilds of the
prophets in their daily life, but we find them gathered together
wherever battles were in progress, war threatened, or a crisis in
government was at hand.
During the wars with the Philistines close to the garrison of the
enemy was a “high place,” a sanctuary held by a band of prophets,”
where doubtless, day by day, they practiced all their arts to over-
awe the enemy, to encourage the Hebrews, and to induce Jehovah
to drive the opposing army out of the land."
Not all the prophets in these groups were great men, not all were
wholly sincere, as we shall see in the study of later centuries in
Israel, and it will be necessary for us to devote our attention to the
great outstanding men upon whose word, many times, the nation
depended for strength in danger, and against whom they as fre-
1 For other mention of music in connection with the act of prophesying see I
Sam. Io: 5.
* High-places: In ancient times it was the custom to establish places of worship
upon hills or mountains, as being both remote from disturbing elements, and thus
favorable to religious devotion, and also nearer to the gods, who were supposed to
inhabit the regions above the earth. When the Hebrews came into Canaan they found
many high-places already in use, and doubtless not a few of these were appropriated
as centers for the worship of Jehovah, with very little if any changes in the methods
of worship.
3 The grouping of prophets in bands or guilds is referred to also in I Sam. Io: 9–12;
as “sons of the prophets” in I Kings 20:35a; II Kings 2:15-18.
4 See I Sam. Io: 5.
INTRODUCTION 7
quently turned in bitter hatred. Gradually, as we shall see, the
external characteristics which allied the Hebrew prophets with
those of other ancient religions were outgrown and fell away. The
spirit of God, which they at first believed had manifested itself in
them in such strange and even grotesque ways, came to be repre-
sented in these greater men by clear political insight, lofty ethical
ideals, and a passionate zeal for the perfection of Israel as a state,
believing that if it could fulfill the conditions of a fit dwelling-place
for Jehovah, he would one day come to earth, and establish his
sovereignty over all the world. In our consideration of the mes-
sages of a chosen few of these men we shall as frequently as possible
study their own words.
Stories of the heroism which produces great deeds, the love of
country which leads to great service, regard for the rights of one’s
fellow-man, high ideals of morality, and noble conceptions of God
and the universe are never so old as to lose their power to produce
like deeds and character. For this reason as well as for their his-
torical interest it is worth while to spend time and thought in becom-
ing familiar with these great characters of Old Testament times.
CHAPTER II
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM
The Spirit of the Conquest.—It will be desirable to get before
us a picture of conditions in Palestine at the time when the Hebrews
appeared as invaders. The land was not a land of Savages as Amer-
ica was before the coming of its conquerors, but already a garden
spot on the edge of the desert. Its inhabitants were civilized.
They cultivated the land, lived in cities, shared the civilization of
both Egypt and Phoenicia, were in constant intercourse with both,
through trade and commerce, and were vassals of Egypt for long
periods. To wrest such a land from its citizens by force seems like
a wild dream indeed for a group of tribes without organization, or
experience in the arts of war. Yet such was the purpose and the
ideal of the invading Hebrews, trusting implicitly in the co-operation
of Jehovah. º
Century by century the process of expulsion went on, the
Hebrews pushing their way, first in one direction, then in another,
frequently defeated and despondent, then victorious, and intrenched
in new territory. Each victory Served to draw the weaker tribes
toward the stronger in a union of faith in Jehovah, and to add to
the roll of heroes another leader whose faith in ultimate victory was
even greater than that of his fellows. Meanwhile from her more
civilized foes Israel was acquiring more than the arts of war—she
was learning to cultivate the land, to engage in trade, to build altars
and homes, to make herself no longer a barbarous foe. Giving by
1 There was a tradition among the Hebrews that the number of their tribes was
twelve, and that these tribes became associated with Special Sections of the land. The
Book of Joshua contains an account of an allotment of the tribes to special territory
upon their entrance to the land, but the circumstances of the conquest seem to indi-
cate that the location of only a few of the best-known tribes is at all certain,
the accounts which we have being of late origin. Upon the map for this period will be
found indicated as much as we can find basis for. The period of the conquest is
generally supposed to have extended over some two hundred years or more, perhaps
hastened at the end by the more vigorous campaigns of Saul against the Philistines.
The death of Saul is placed approximately at Iooo B.C.
8
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM 9
her prowess promise of defense against the marauding tribes of the
desert,” she was gradually absorbing large numbers of those Canaan-
ites with whom her people were living in daily intercourse.
We shall begin our study in the centuries when the conquest of
the land was drawing to a close, and the scattered tribes were weld-
ing themselves together in the beginnings of a nation. The seem-
ingly unconquerable Philistines, occupying the Southwest coast of
Palestine, a portion of the land most desirable, because of its fertil-
ity, and because it was the gateway to Egypt, were scourging the
country.” Peaceful occupation of any portion of it was impossible
while these insatiable foes held fortified cities and commanded
well-equipped armies. Among the Hebrews themselves there
was yet much of anarchy and confusion. As the writer of the
Book of Judges tells us, “Every man did that which was right in
his own eyes.”
But a new day was dawning for the Hebrews, a day when Jeho-
vah should no longer be interpreted to his people in terms of war
and conquest alone. At Shiloh, the chief of the sanctuaries, where
the mystic ark of Jehovah was guarded by priests, and where at
Stated Seasons the people of the surrounding country came to offer
* See stories of Gideon and his conquest of the Midianites in Judg., chaps. 6–9.
The great Arabian desert, situated on the east and southeast of Palestine, was the home
of wandering tribes. Upon its borders in close proximity to Palestine were strong
tribes which in the days of the conquest found great profit in reaping by stealth the
crops upon the fertile but unprotected plains of Palestine, and in carrying off from
the flocks and herds of the Hebrew people and their Canaanitish neighbors suffi-
cient booty to enable them to live as nomads, without the labor of agriculture or
Settled business.
2 Note on the map the location of the chief Philistine cities, Gaza, Ashkelon,
Ekron, Gath, and Ashdod. Note also the level plain affording great opportunities
for crops and pasturage, and easy access to Egypt on the Southwest; also the caravan
route along which merchants constantly passed bringing facilities for commercial life
and the latest accouterments of war. The Philistines were a people comparatively
civilized and wealthy, skilful in architecture, Sculpture, and work in iron and precious
metals. Their boundaries reached to Egypt, and they controlled about 2,000 square
miles of territory, much of it exceedingly fertile, upon the southwestern border of
which they seem chiefly to have lived. Four periods of Philistine oppression of Israel
seem to be recorded in the Old Testament: (1) Judg. 3:31; the deliverer being
Shamgar; (2) Judg., chaps. 13–16, when Samson was the Israelitish hero; (3) that of
Eli's times, when the ark was captured and Shiloh destroyed; and (4) in Saul’s reign
ending only with their complete subjection under his successor David.
IO THE HEBREW PROPHETS
their sacrifices and to petition Jehovah, a boy was growing up who
should one day lead Israel in Safety from a condition of scattered
tribal organization to a kingdom. To him belongs pre-eminently
the title, Samuel, “the maker of kings.”
The Records of Samuel's Life.—Two books in our Old Testa-
ment, originally one, bear the name of Samuel, and contain the nar-
ratives of this period. We do not know the author of these books,
and as they appear to us now there are traces of two, and perhaps
more, connected narratives woven together by a later historian.
One of these might be termed a narrative of Samuel, another a
narrative of Saul, another an introduction to the life of David; but
the lives of these three men were so woven together, in fact, that it
is not difficult from these combined memoirs to obtain a vivid pic-
ture of the great prophet as he moved about the country perform-
ing the triple Service of prophet, priest, and civil judge.
These three words applied to Samuel convey to us also a sug-
gestion of the informal character of the government of the tribes
which at this time formed the Israelitish community. The little
circuit” named as Samuel's route affected a comparatively small
* Shiloh may be located on the map about twelve miles south of Shechem. It
is near an old highway between Bethel and Shechem, conveniently located for the
pilgrimages of the early Hebrews. In Samuel's time a building with doors had replaced
the old tent of meeting. In this primitive temple, secluded by curtains from ordinary
view, was kept the ark, a Sacred chest of wood, which the Hebrews had brought from
their wilderness wanderings, and which signified to them the visible presence of Jeho-
vah. Within it were the tables of Stone upon which were graven the Ten Command-
ments, and other sacred relics. To Shiloh came at stated intervals groups of people
from the surrounding communities bringing from vineyards, flocks, and field, offerings
to Jehovah. Since Jehovah was supposed to be actually present at Shiloh, prayers
might be offered there with greatest assurance of response. Religious festivals with
feasting and dancing took place in the vicinity of the temple. Priests were in constant
attendance, aided by boys, acolytes, growing up under the tutelage of the priests,
expecting to succeed them as old age and other causes made vacancies in the active
priesthood. A portion of each of the offerings, at the will of the worshiper, seems to
have been given to the priest, and constituted his means of support.
* Note in I Sam. 7:15-17, the circuit which Samuel seems to have covered, prob-
ably at set times each year, acting, for the period of his stay, as the civil judge. In
addition the sacrificial feasts of the village were conducted by him as officiating priest.
As the head of the prophetic guilds, he would naturally stimulate the activities of any
band of prophets having its home in this vicinity. It is interesting to note that of the
places mentioned both Bethel and Gilgal afterward appear as prominent Sanctuaries,
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM II
section of the whole country. The tribes at the extreme north and
south were probably still less stable. There was growing, however,
the desire for competent leadership in unified effort against common
foes. We shall see in Samuel a man of strong will and clear judg-
ment who might easily have gathered into his own hand absolute
power by placing himself upon a throne as Israel's king, but who
voluntarily withdrew from a practical regency, and promoted
another to the office of king.
The Boyhood of Samuel and His Life at Shiloh.--The accom-
panying story of the boyhood of Samuel makes clear to us the perils
of wars with the Philistines and Israel’s lack of a military leader, as
well as the primitive conception of Jehovah as a god with a local
dwelling-place, manifesting himself with human voice, but with
godlike retributive power. It shows us also a government trem-
bling to its fall, under the ineffective leadership of weak men like old.
Eli and his wicked sons. This family tragedy was again repeated
in a succeeding generation when the wayward Sons of Samuel were
repudiated by the people as successors of their father; but for a
period of many years, coincident with the early manhood and the
prime of Samuel's life, we find his central figure dominating the
national life, drawing the isolated tribes into closer union one with
another, and inspiring increasing confidence in the power and love
of Jehovah, their God.
Before reading this selection, the notes on this section which are
indicated by a star should be studied, and after reading it the re-
maining notes may be consulted, and likewise with all inserted
selections.
Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not Jehovah,”
nor the due of the priests from the people. When any man offered
sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was boiling,
with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand; and he struck it into
5 the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought
up the priest took therewith. So they did in Shiloh unto all the
I I Sam. 2: 12–18; 3: I-21; 4: I (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
2 *Knew not Jehovah: did not understand his character and therefore lived in dis-
regard of his moral laws, and also of the hallowed custom of accepting such compen-
sation as the worshiper gave freely, after Jehovah's portion had been properly conse-
crated by the burning of the fat.
I 2 THE HEBREw PROPHETS
Israelites that come thither. Yea, before they burnt the fat, the
priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, “Give
flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of thee,
To but raw.” And if the man said unto him, “They will surely burn the
fat first, and then take as much as thy soul desireth”; then he
would say, “Nay, but thou shalt give it me now: and if not I will
take it by force.” And the sin of the young men was very great
before Jehovah; for the men despised the offering of Jehovah.
15 But Samuel ministered before Jehovah, being a child, girded
with a linen ephod."
To disregard thus the sacredness of the offerings brought to
Jehovah was a violation of the ritual of worship, which among all
ancient nations was regarded as a great offense to the god. It is
likely also that the enforced idleness of priests at a small sanctuary
and their inherent sense of privilege had caused many forms
of dissipation to creep into the life of the priesthood at Shiloh.
Then as now forms of worship without sincerity were valueless, and
Eli's sons were seeking only personal gain and pleasure in their
sacred office. To people of that day, however, a violation of the
ritual of Jehovah was a greater crime than a moral offense, the
dangers of which it remained for the prophets to reveal.
But the child Samuel ministered unto Jehovah before Eli. And
the word of Jehovah was precious in those days; there was no wide-
spread vision. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid
down in his place (now his eyes had begun to wax dim, so that he
5 could not see), and the lamp of God” was not yet gone out, and
Samuel was laid down3 to sleep, in the temple of Jehovah, where
the ark of God was; that Jehovah called: “Samuel, Samuel”: and he
1 *Ephod: here, a garment worn by priests; elsewhere, an instrument of divination.
a *Lamp of God: a special lamp upon the altar, probably filled with oil enough to
last for the night, so that the hour must have been near morning.
3 *Laid down: indicating that at least some of the attendants slept within the
temple inclosure.
4 *Jehovah called: Samuel was now possibly in the neighborhood of twelve or four-
teen years of age. The writer of this story undoubtedly believed that Jehovah spoke
with human voice and appeared in visible form. To us who believe that the voice of
God to the heart is stronger than any physical presence, the view of the early prophet
is important only from the point of view of the history of religious ideas. The pre-
cise method by which Jehovah communicated his wishes to Samuel is not so important
as the fact itself, namely, that he did inspire Samuel to do his bidding.
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM I3
said, “Here am I.” And he ran unto Eli, and said, “Here am I; for
thou calledst me.” And he said, “I called not; lie down again.” And
Io he went and lay down. And Jehovah called yet again,"Samuel.” And
Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here am I; for thou calledst
me.” And he answered, “I called not, my son; lie down again.” Now
Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither was the word of Jehovah
yet revealed unto him. And Jehovah called Samuel again the
I5 third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here am I;
for thou calledst me.” And Eli perceived that Jehovah had called
the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, “Go, lie down: and it
shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Jehovah; for
thy servant heareth.” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
2O And Jehovah came, and stood, and called as at other times
“Samuel, Samuel.” Then Samuel said, “Speak; for thy servant hear-
eth.” And Jehovah said to Samuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in
$srael, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall
tingle." In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have
25 spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even unto the
end. For I have told” him that I will judge his house for ever,
for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons did bring a curse
upon themselves, and he restrained them not. And therefore I
have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house
30 shall not be expiated with sacrifice nor offering for ever.”
And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doorsº of
the house of Jehovah. And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision.
Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said,
“Here am I.” And he said, “What is the thing that Jehovah hath
35 spoken unto thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me: God do so to
thee, and more also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things
that he spake unto thee.” And Samuel told him every whit, and
hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is Jehovah: let him do
what seemeth him good.” .
4o And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him, and did let none
of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to
1 *Ears shall tingle: with surprise and consternation.
2 Lines 24–30: Reference is here made to some previous communication to Eli.
s *Opened the doors: With the Hebrews great phenomena of nature were identi-
fied with the direct acts of Jehovah. The rising and the setting of the sun were sea-
sons filled with awe and marked by sacrifices. The doors of the temple were thrown
open to the east at sunrise when the morning Sacrifice also began.
I4. THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Beer-sheba' knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet
of Jehovah. And Jehovah appeared again in Shiloh; for Jehovah
revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Jehovah.
45 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.”
Samuel Leading to Victory.-Samuel next appears upon the
pages of the narrative more than twenty years after the destruc-
tion of Shiloh and the capture of the Ark by the Philistines,” in an
assembly of the people gathered at Mizpah," one of the cities of
Samuel's circuit. The Philistines were still aggressive. At
the call of Samuel, Israel put away all the foreign gods which
were a constant temptation to the people, surrounded as they were
by enemies whose success was attributed to the strength of their
gods. A great wave of enthusiasm for Jehovah, probably insti-
gated by Samuel and his associates, swept over the nation, and
assembled Israel through Samuel cried out to Jehovah for relief
from her oppressors. Great sacrifices were offered, the people call-
ing, “Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will
save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” The story of the battle
to which this assembly was a preliminary and which was won by
the Israelites is told in I Sam. 7:3–14. Peace reigned for the time
being, and Samuel enjoyed a Supremacy, which none questioned.
The record follows: “And Samuel judged Israel all the days of
his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and
Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places, and his
return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged
Israel; and he built there an altar unto the Lord.”
1 *Dan to Beersheba: Note on the map the two cities marking approximately
the northern and southern boundaries of the land.
2 Appeared in Shiloh; Of these revelations we have no further record. Whether
they refer to traditions of distinct appearances or to the fact of Samuel's ever-increas-
ing understanding of Jehovah and his will we do not know.
3 The story of the victory of the Philistines through which the threats of Jehovah
were fulfilled, and the legends of the disasters which befell the Philistine country while
the ark of God was kept in Philistine territory, resulting in its return to the Hebrews,
are told in I Sam. 4: I–7: 2. - -
4 Mizpah: The name signifies “the watchtower.” A crusaders' church now
stands over a spot which, tradition says, marks the grave of Samuel. All such sites
are, however, a matter of pure speculation.
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM I5
A Crisis in Government.—But old age came to Samuel. Pales-
tine was the center of a busy life. The caravan routes from Egypt
to the great northeast led right across the center of the land, and
along its western coastline. The more advanced civilization of
the older Philistine and other Canaanitish cities had greatly affected
the life of the Hebrews. The Philistines were still aggressively
seeking to grasp the hardly won territory of Israel. Following a
natural precedent as seen among other peoples, Samuel named
his sons as his successors. They were unworthy of the high office,
dishonest, open to bribery and corruption, and were promptly
repudiated by the people whom Samuel himself had trained to
higher ideals. “Other nations have kings,” said Israel with one
voice, “why not we?”
Samuel was now confronted with a desire for unity and a national
ambition which was largely the result of his own influence. Later
writers, as seen by one of the accounts which we shall read, empha-
sized the reluctance with which Samuel moved in response to the
request of the people, but we must believe that the Sound judgment
which had marked his career led him to see that a great military
leader would be the salvation of Israel from the hands of her foes.
In two of the accounts we find no mention of reluctance but co-opera-
tion in finding a king so prompt and definite as to suggest that
the coming of the kingdom had long been in the mind of Samuel.
Was there in the thought of Samuel at this time an ambition to be
himself the people's king? Did he shrink from the establishment
of another great power in the land, a civil power which might come
between Jehovah and his people, which might even ignore the voice
of his prophets? We have no hint of this in the earlier stories,
unless it be in Samuel's insistence that the king shall be one of
Jehovah's choice, and in this as in earlier days his judgment pre-
vailed.
* Consult the map of the Semitic World for the caravan routes.
* The Hebrews were of course familiar with the government of the older nations,
Egypt, Syria, and Assyria, and her own more insignificant neighbors, Moab, Phoenicia,
Edom, etc. But at this time they thought of a king chiefly as the leader of their
armies.
I6 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The Choice of the King.—We have three different traditions
of the actual choice of the new king." All three are here given, for
each is of peculiar interest. The important thing to note is that
in all of them Samuel is the Commanding figure. His authority
in Israel as the representative of Jehovah was not lessened by the
impending change of government. His was still a supremacy
which was allied in the minds of the people with the mysteries of
God and the universe. It could only be overthrown by failure to
interpret Jehovah truly. -*
First Account—Chosen by Samuel Privately”
Now there was a man of Benjamin,” whose name was Kish,
the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the Son of Becorath, the son of
Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of wealth. And
he had a son, whose name was Saul, a young man and a goodly:
5 and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person
than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of
the people. And the asses of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And
Kish said to Saul his son, “Take now one of the servants with thee,
and arise, go seek the asses.” And he passed through the hill-
Io country of Ephraim," and passed through the land of Shalishah,
but they found them not: then they passed through the land of
Shaalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the
land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.
When they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul Said to his serv-
15 ant that was with him, “Come, and let us return, lest my father
leave off caring for the asses, and be anxious for us.” And he said
unto him, “Behold now there is in this city a man of God,5 and he
1 It should be recalled that the records of the history of the Hebrews which we
possess are literary fragments, gathered from many sources. It is not strange there-
fore that we have seemingly divergent accounts of the same event. We can only
weigh them in the light of all that we can discover of the spirit and the life of the period,
and must even then be satisfied with knowing that we cannot get at the exact facts.
We can gather from these three accounts, however, that Saul was welcomed as king
by the people as well as by Samuel.
2 I Sam. 9:1—Io: 1; Io: 19b–24; II: 14, 15 (chiefly Am. Standard Rev. Ver.).
3 *Benjamin: one of the smallest of the tribes, whose territory can be noted on the
map.
4 Hill country of Ephraim: Trace this trip on the map.
5 *Man of God: one who officially represented God. Note that the thing which
they expected of the prophet was much the same that Some people might expect of a
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM I7
is a man that is held in honor; all that he saith cometh surely to
pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can tell us concerning
20 our journey whereon we go.” Then said Saul to his servant, “But,
behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is
spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man
of God: what have we?” And the servant answered Saul again,
and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel
25 of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.”
(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he
said, Come, and let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a
Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.) Then said Saul to his serv-
ant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went unto the city where
3o the man of God was.
As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maid-
ens going out to draw water," and said unto them, “Is the seer here?”
And they answered them, and said, “He is; behold, he is before thee:
make haste now, for he is come to-day into the city; for the people
35 have a sacrifice to-day in the high place. As soon as ye are come
into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he goeth up to
the high place to eat,” for the people will not eat until he come,
because he doth bless the sacrifice; and afterwards they eat that
are bidden. Now therefore get you up; for at this time ye shall
40 find him.” And they came within the gate; and as they came with-
in the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the
high place.
Now Jehovah had revealed unto Samuel a day before Saul
came, saying, To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man
45 out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be leader
over my people Israel; and he shall save my people out of the hand
of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their
cry is come unto me. And when Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah Said
clairvoyant today. The story indicates that it was the custom to pay for such Serv-
ices. A shekel was a piece of silver of any shape weighing 56 Troy grains, in value
about twenty cents. Note the old name for prophet, a Seer.
1 *To draw water: The water supply of Palestine was subject to exhaustion
through frequent drought. It was carefully husbanded. Each village had its common
well from which the women drew water for flocks and for domestic use. The seer was
well known in the village. The high place was on the hill back of the city, the village
well at its foot.
2 *To eat: Note the sacrificial meal and other interesting customs connected
with the offering of the Sacrifice.
I8 THE HEBREW PR()PHETS
unto him, “Behold, the man of whom I said to thee, this same shall
5o have authority over my people.” Then Saul drew near to Samuel
in the gate, and said, “Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house
is.” And Samuel answered Saul, and said, “I am the seer; go up
before me unto the high place, for ye shall eat with me to-day: and
in the morning I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thy
55 heart." And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set
not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom is all
the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's
house?” And Saul answered and said, “Am not I a Benjamite, of
the smallest of the tribes of Israel P and my family the least of all
6o the families of the tribe of Benjamin P wherefore then speakest thou
to me after this manner P”
And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into
the dining hall,” and made them sit in the chiefest place among
them that were bidden, who were about thirty persons. And
65 Samuel said unto the cook, “Bring the portion which I gave thee, of
which I said unto thee, Set it by thee.” And the Cook took up the
thigh, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And
Samuel said, Behold, that which hath been reserved! set it before
thee and eat; because unto the appointed time hath it been kept
70 for thee, for Isaid, I have invited the people.” So Saul did eat with
Samuel that day. *
And when they were come down from the high place into the
city, he communed with Saul upon the housetop. And they arose
early: and it came to pass early in the morning that Samuel called
75 to Saul on the housetop, saying, “Up, that I may send thee away.”
And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel
abroad. As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel
said to Saul, “Bid the servant pass on before us,” and he passed on,
“but stand thou still first, that I may cause thee to hear the word
8o of God.”
Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head,
and kissed him, and said, “Is it not that Jehovah hath anointed
thee to be prince over his inheritance?”3
I All that is in thy heart: Perhaps it was already Saul’s ambition to lead his
people against the Philistines.
2 *Dining-hall: connected with the Sanctuary, probably a feature of all sacrificial
CenterS.
3 ***** ah hath anointed thee: The anointing of a king by pouring oil upon his
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM I9
Second Account—Chosen by Lot with Samuel's Co-operation'
“Now therefore present yourselves before Jehovah by your
tribes, and by your thousands.” So Samuel brought all the tribes
of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. And he
brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family
5 of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken:
but when they sought him, he could not be found. Therefore they
asked of Jehovah further, “Is the man yet come hither?” And
Jehovah answered, “Behold, he hath hid himself among the
baggage.” And they ran and fetched him thence; and when he
Io stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people
from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the
people, “See ye him whom Jehovah hath chosen, that there is
none like him among all the people?” And all the people shouted,
and said, “Long live the king.”
Third Account—by Public Acclaim after a Deed of Bravery*
Then said Samuel to the people, “Come, and let us go to Gilgal,”
and renew the kingdom there.” And all the people went to Gilgal;
and there they made Saul king before Jehovah in Gilgal; and there
they offered sacrifices of peace-offerings" before Jehovah; and there
5 Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
Samuel Establishes a New Standard of Conduct.—Saul was pre-
eminently a military leader. His successful campaigns against
the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, and the Amalekites,
head was a custom followed in Egypt and adopted by the Canaanites and probably
from them by the Hebrews. With the Hebrews the ceremony was supposed to impart
special endowment of the spirit of Jehovah. It was originally used only for the con-
secration of a king.
* *The second account of the choosing of a king represents the custom of the sacred
lot cast by the representatives of the surrounding tribes, at the call of Samuel. We
do not know the exact details of the ceremony, but only that upon Saul fell the fortunate
designation.
2 *The third account should be read as a sequence of Saul’s heroic deliverance of
the men of Jabesh Gilead, found in I Sam. II: I–II. The word “renew” in vs. 14 may
be the interpretation of a later writer who was trying to harmonize this with one of
the other accounts. We may regard it, however, as only one of several different views
as to the precise method and occasion through which Saul actually took possession of
the throne.
3 *Gilgal: another of the towns on Samuel's circuit, afterward a noted sanctuary.
4 *Peace-offerings: represented general friendly relations with Jehovah.
20 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
as well as the Philistines, gave to Israel prestige as a people to be
reckoned with." Her king felt more and more his power and the
favor of Jehovah which was manifested in successful wars. He
had still to learn the strength of Samuel, jealously guarding his
ideal of the commands of Jehovah. The following story shows
Samuel in the grandeur of his unflinching demands for obedience,
before which even the king must weakly excuse himself, and finally
humbly bow. In lines 50-55 we find the essence of the religion of
Jehovah as conceived by Samuel. All other gods might be pla-
cated by great sacrifices, and external offerings. To Jehovah these
were nothing if unaccompanied by the spirit of obedience.
*And Samuel said unto Saul, “Jehovah sent me to anoint thee
to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou
unto the voice of the words of Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of
hosts, I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set
5 himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.
Now go and Smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have,
and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and
suckling, ox and sheep, Camel and ass.”
And Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim,
Io two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
And Saul Said unto the Kenites,” “Go, depart, get you down from
among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for ye showed
kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of
I5 Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
And Saul Smote the Amalekites, from Havilah as thou goest to
Shur, that is before Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the
Amalekites, alive,4 and utterly destroyed all the people with the
1 *Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Amalekites: Locate these on the map and
notice their relation to the land of the Hebrews. The tribes on the southeast had
interfered with Israel’s progress in her endeavors to enter Palestine.
2 I Sam. I5:1–23, 35 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 * Kenites: a tribe connected with Moses by marriage, and tradition said always
friendly to the Hebrews. -
4 Took Agag alive: Nations were greatly enriched by the spoils of war. It was
also customary to hold royal personages as captives for Sale rather than to kill them.
Samuel's command prohibited such profit. This was a most important victory, news
of which would quickly be carried to every part of the kingdom. Samuel was prob-
ably watching for news of the outcome.
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM 2I
edge of the Sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the
20 best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs,
and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but
everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
Then came the word of Jehovah unto Samuel, saying, “It repent-
eth me that I have set up. Saul to be king; for he is turned back
25 from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.”
And Samuel was wroth; and he cried unto Jehovah all night. And
Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning;' and it was told
Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up
a monument,” and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.”
3o And Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said unto him,"Blessed be thou
of Jehovah: I have performed the commandment of Jehovah.”
And Samuel said, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep
in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” And Saul
said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the peo-
35 ple spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto
Jehovah thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Then
Samuel said unto Saul, “Stay, and I will tell thee what Jehovah
hath said to me this night.” And he said unto him, “Say on.
And Samuel Said, “Though thou wast little in thine own sight,
40 wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Jehovah
anointed thee king over Israel; and Jehovah sent thee on a journey,
and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and
fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst
thou not obey the voice of Jehovah, but didst fly upon the spoil,
45 and didst that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah P” And Saul
said unto Samuel, “Yea, I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and
have gone the way which Jehovah Sent me, and have brought Agag
the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the
50 devoted things, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God in Gilgal.” And
Samuel said, “Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah P. Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.3 For
rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as idolatry
I To meet Saul: Samuel doubtless expected Saul to come to him for the offering
of the sacrifice in celebration of the victory.
2 Monument: to commemorate the victory.
3 Lines 50–55 represent the characteristic teaching of Samuel.
22 THE HEBREW PROPHETs
55 and teraphim." Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah,
he hath also rejected thee from being king.”
And Samuel came no more to see Saul. And Samuel mourned
on account of Saul, whom Jehovah repented that he had made king.
Samuel Selects a New King.—The withdrawal of the support
of Samuel possibly had much to do with the attacks of melancholy
and wild jealousy which made Saul’s later years a burden, and left
to posterity the memory of a morose and unjust persecutor of one
who was to be his successor, rather than that of the valiant soldier
which he as truly was.
But Samuel had not done with kings when from his point of
view Saul proved to be a failure. We find him ready as before to
seek the man for the times and to forestall the succession in Saul’s
family. That the following story does not represent Samuel's
first introduction to the family of Jesse we can hardly doubt, since
his mission to Bethlehem to offer the great sacrifice was probably
not an uncommon One.”
And Jehovah said unto Samuel, “How long wilt thou mourn for
Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? fill thy
horn with oil, and go: I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite;
for I have provided me a king among his sons.” And Samuel
5 said, “How can I go without Saul's knowledge? If he hear it, he
will kill me.”3 And Jehovah said, “Take a heifer with thee, and say,
I am come to sacrifice to Jehovah. And call Jesse to the sacrifice,
and I will show thee what thou shalt do; and thou shalt anoint
unto me him whom I name unto thee.” And Samuel did that which
Io Jehovah spake, and came to Bethlehem.” And the elders of the
city came to meet him trembling,5 and said, “Comest thou peace-
1 *Teraphim: a form of household idol.
2 I Sam. 16:1–13 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 *He will kill me: showing how bitter was the estrangement between Samuel and
Saul.
4 *Bethlehem, the birthplace of the man who became Israel's ideal king, became
also in later prophecy the place from which the great king of the Hebrew ideal state
should come. “But thou Bethlehem . . . . out of thee shall one come forth unto
me that is to be ruler in Israel.”
5 *Came to meet him trembling: The fear of the wrath of Jehovah was all-pervad-
ing in those days. Samuel's coming might mean some portentous announcement.
He is met by the officials of the city. -
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM 23
ably P” And he said, “Peaceably; I am come to sacrifice unto Jeho-
vah: sanctify yourselves,' and come with me to the sacrifice.” And
he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the Sacrifice.
I5 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on
Eliab, and said, “Surely Jehovah's anointed is before him.” But
Jehovah said unto Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on
the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for Jehovah
seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appear-
20 ance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abina-
dab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither
hath Jehovah chosen this.” Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by.
And he said, “Neither hath Jehovah chosen this.” And Jesse made
seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto
25 Jesse, “Jehovah hath not chosen these.” And Samuel Said unto Jesse,
“Are here all thy children?” And he said, “There remaineth yet
the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel
said unto Jesse, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till
he come hither.”3 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was
30 ruddy, and withal of a beautiful Countenance, and goodly to look
upon. And Jehovah said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then
Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his
brethren: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon David
from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
In Death as in Life a Ruler of Kings.”—It is not our purpose in
this volume to present a history of Israel and her kings, except in
* *Sanctify yourselves: Perhaps by ablutions, and by abstinence from anything
deemed ceremonially unclean.
* Line 20: Join this clause in thought with 15:22b. Does the need of such sincerity
as this standard demands enter into our modern life? If not what reforms are neces,
Sary P What changes in methods from those used by Samuel would be desirable
Apply the test to politics and government, religion and the church, as we see them, the
business world, individuals in Society, ourselves and others.
3 *Line 28: “We will not sit down,” meaning to the sacrificial meal.
4 *Although the monarchy was so new, it was natural to expect that Saul’s son
would succeed him. Jonathan, an honorable and lovable man, and no mean warrior,
perished with his father in the battle on Mount Gilboa, and no other son of Saul seems
to have been strong enough to forestall David in the confidence of the people. There
was a futile attempt to Set up a rival kingdom in the north, but it soon ended in dis-
a.Ster.
24 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
So far as the history was influenced by the prophets." David, com-
ing into contact with Saul's court, was soon attached to his army
and became the victorious leader of many battles. His popularity
increased while that of Saul waned. Years of persecution followed,
during which there was no hint of any sympathy with Saul on the
part of Samuel; and David, ever loyal to his people, even when an
exile, waited, probably with the expressed approval of Samuel, for
his time of authority to come. Of the time or manner of the death
of Samuel we have no record, but the last note of triumph for the
prophet is given us in a story of Saul's tragic appeal to the spirit
of Samuel in the face of an impending battle which he feared to
enter without the assurance of Jehovah's assistance. Not even
the spirit of Samuel could be prevailed upon to give comfort. Then
as before,” Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord” sounded
the death knell in the heart of Saul. Whether the visit of Saul to the
witch of Endor” be a fact or not, it is clear that to him the favor of
the prophet meant the favor of God, without which he could no
longer brave the perils of battle with his old undaunted spirit, and
his tragic death in defeat soon follows.
Another View of Saul.—The lament of David over Saul and his
son Jonathan helps us perhaps to do justice to a king whose lot
fell in troubled times, and whose faults, pictured by prophetic
writers, may have been made too greatly to overshadow his virtues.
1 The story of the changing relations of Saul and David is graphically told in I
Sam. I6: 14—II Sam., chap. I. The introduction of David to the court of Saul, his
friendship with Jonathan, Saul’s Son, his successes as the leader of Saul’s armies, his
growing popularity with the people echoed in the ancient Song of the streets and the
Camp, “Saul hath slain his thousands,
& And David his ten thousands,”
Saul’s estrangement from Samuel, his fits of depression which David’s music was said
to charm away, his bitter jealousy of the popularity of David resulting in attempts
upon the life of the latter by both stratagem and open attack, David's exile and outlaw
life—these form a tragic story of unfulfilled hopes and failing courage.
2 The story of Saul’s visit to the witch of Endor is found in I Sam. 28: 3–25, and
that of the fatal battle with the Philistines in 31: I-13. Vs. 3 of chap. 28 shows us
that the practice of consulting spirits had been and probably still was common,
although the influence of Samuel and the mandate of the king had placed such
practices under a formal ban. In Saul’s desperate state of mind there is nothing
more improbable in this story than in the Spiritualistic and clairvoyant tales of our
own day, and doubtless the same possibility of deception.
THE PROPHETS FOUNDING A KINGDOM 25
**And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul
and over Jonathan his son (it is written in the book of Jashar):3
Hear, O Judah, hard things,
Be grieved, O Israel.
5 Upon thy heights, the slain;
How are the mighty fallen!
Tell it not in Gath,”
Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon;
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Io Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.5
Ye mountains of Gilboa,"
Let there be no dew nor rain upon you, neither fields of offer-
ings:7
For there the shield of the mighty was cast away defiled,
The shield of Saul, as of one not anointed.
I5 From the blood of the slain,
From the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan turned not back,
And the Sword of Saul returned not empty.
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
20 And in their death they were not divided:
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.
Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,
Who clothed you in scarlet delicately,
25 Who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel.
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
**Tradition gives to David great prestige as a poet. Much has been ascribed
to him which was probably the production of a later date, but this old song is full of
poetic feeling, and in all probability genuine.
* II Sam. I: 19–27. *
3 *Book of Jashar: an older collection of national poetry from which our author
took this poem.
4 *Gath, Ashkelon: Philistine cities; see note, p. 9.
5 *The uncircumcised: The rite of circumcision was shared by the Hebrews with
many other ancient nations, but came with them to have the significance of adoption
into the Covenant relation with Jehovah. All uncircumcised people were supposed
to be outside the realm of his interest.
9 *Gilboa: Locate on map. 7 Line I2: as a sign of mourning.
26 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
O Jonathan, slain upon thy high places!
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me:
3o Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!
Samuel a Typical Prophet.—We have dwelt longer upon the life
of Samuel than we should have done, had it not been necessary to
establish through the study of this first great prophet certain prin-
ciples for the study of all prophecy. Is it not clear that we have
seen in this man a mighty Spirit, rising far above his fellows? As
a statesman with Sane judgment he read the signs of his times.
Forgetful of self he exalted another to an office higher than his own,
but in doing so secured the unity necessary for the development of
a national political and religious life. As a prophet of Jehovah,
denouncing the Superstitions of his age, in majestic dignity and
calm, he divined without frenzy or outward symbol the will of Jeho-
vah. Interpreting the spirit of Jehovah as well as his power, he
established for the religion of Jehovah a new ideal of sincerity,
“Obedience is better than sacrifice”—the spirit is more than the
act. As we proceed with our study we shall see that these are pre-
eminently the qualities of the great men who led Israel from pagan-
ism to the highest spiritual development, and bequeathed to us
some of the fundamental principles of our religion. And among
them none had a greater task than Samuel, who found Israel a
scattered group of warring tribes and left it a nation Secure in its faith
in Jehovah.
CHAPTER III
A CENTURY OF HISTORY
The death of Saul is placed approximately at Iooo B.C. We
shall be obliged to consider in a brief chapter the changes which
took place in Israel in one hundred and twenty-five years following
that event. The kingdom attained under David, the successor
of Saul, a territory so great as to include not only all of Palestine
(excepting only a narrow strip of coast line to the Southwest still held
by the Philistines) but also a portion of the land of Syria, on the
northeast. Friendly relations were also established with Phoe-
nicia on the northwest. Not only so, but David organized the
kingdom, strengthened it internally, ruled it so wisely, and was
so beloved by his people as to stand in all the centuries following
as the type of the perfect king. His kingdom was the ideal toward
which the efforts of Israel were ever afterward directed.
The extravagance and tyranny of his son Solomon produced a
more glorious kingdom externally, but aroused a spirit of revolt in
the hearts of a people which had never yet learned to bow to one
who ruled only by virtue of blood succession." At the death of
Solomon, therefore, the kingdom, at its greatest not larger than three
hundred miles from north to south, was divided, the inhabitants
of the northern section revolting against Rehoboam, the successor
of David’s line, and founding an independent kingdom.” It is
significant that the king who was placed upon the throne in the
north had the full support of the prophets, who were ever the
champions of the people against Oppression and injustice. The
two nations are henceforth to be known as Israel, on the north,
and Judah, on the South.
1 The system of taxation devised by Solomon by which his kingdom was divided
into twelve parts, each part being responsible for the maintenance of the royal house-
hold for the period of one month in the year, is but one of the evidences of the burden
which his increased establishment and his extravagance placed upon the people. See
I Kings, chap. 4, for this and other evidences of the splendor of Solomon’s reign. The
story of the building and dedication of the Temple follows in chaps. 5–8.
2 The story of the division of the kingdom is related in I Kings, chap. 12.
27
28 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Jerusalem remained the capital of the southern kingdom, and
the stronghold of the Jehovah religion, with its magnificent temple
erected by Solomon. Shechem, the first capital of the northern
kingdom, was afterward exchanged for Tirzah and again for Sama-
ria, built upon the hills a thousand feet above the surrounding
valley, a strong site for military defense. Jerusalem also, well
fortified by David, was well-nigh impregnable, situated upon a
rocky Summit that presented almost insuperable difficulties to a
besieging army.
It was hardly to be expected that two kingdoms of one blood
could exist peacefully side by side in such a limited territory, their
capitals but thirty miles apart. The south with Jerusalem, the
capital of the once united kingdom, longed for her old sovereignty
over the north, and her repeated attempts to establish her claim
caused almost constant warfare between Israel and Judah. Lying
back among the hills, however, apart from the main routes of travel,
with Israel to act as a buttress between her and the encroaching ar-
mies of Syria and ASSyria on the northeast, Judah remained for a
century comparatively undisturbed. The Davidic succession gave
stability to her government. The Temple, at first only a royal
sanctuary, became increasingly the center of religious worship,
and long and peaceful reigns enabled the country to develop com-
mercially and Socially.
In the north the case was far different. Continually harrassed
by warfare with Judah, Israel lay open also to the north and east,
unprotected by the natural barriers of mountain ranges and deserts
from the invasions of Syria and Assyria, who were seeking to com-
mand her coveted roads and territory. Her unstable government
founded in revolution continued under kings whose only right to
rule lay in Superior military power, temporary popularity, or party
support. The kingdom was therefore subject to conditions of
anarchy and sudden and violent changes in the ruling dynasty."
The growing power of Syria on the northeast was at times aug-
mented by her temporary alliance with Judah, and in 875 B.C.,
* For such records as we have of the anarchy and confusion of the government
in the Northern Kingdom previous to the accession of Omri read I Kings 15:25–28;
15:33—I6: 28.
VIRIVINVS JLNGHIONV JO GIJLIS JOJL'ITIH CIHL


A CENTURY OF HISTORY 29
when Ahab came to the throne, many Israelitish cities were in the
hands of the Syrians, notwithstanding the fact that Ahab's father,
Omri, was one of the strongest of the kings of northern Israel. So
great had become the danger from this source that for the time
Israel and Judah had combined against a common enemy.
But northern Israel was not only in danger of loss of territory,
but even of existence as a separate state." Exposed to all the
influences of the ancient world, torn by internal dissensions and
enduring the shocks of foreign invasion, the stream of life ran deep
and fast. Currents of thought common to the surrounding nations
swept over Israel, bringing foreign ideals of conduct and life. The
tide of commerce and of warring armies constantly ebbing and
flowing across her territory revealed the wealth and display, class
systems and moral conditions of the greater nations, which, in the
earlier days, had passed unheeded amidst the struggles of the con-
quest, yet which made a strong appeal to the ambitions and natural
proclivities of an oriental people. Jehovah worship had gradually
proved itself stronger than the Canaanitish worship, absorbing
from it what was good and shaking off, under the leadership of
Samuel and his fellows, much that was evil. But it became a
grave question as to whether Jehovah worship would not be swal-
lowed up or exterminated by foreign influences, supported as they
were by the splendor and the military prowess of these greater
nations. Social abuses, the aristocracy of wealth, formal and Osten-
tatious worship accompanied by debasing orgies, disregard of the
rights of one’s fellow-men, inability to conceive of Jehovah as a
God whose approval could not be obtained by external gifts, use
of images in the worship of Jehovah, a custom not new in Israel,
but given great prestige in the north through the royal sanctuaries
at Bethel and Dan where Jehovah was represented by the golden
calves—these were the influences in the face of which Jehcvah wor-
ship had to win the allegiance of the people or perish.
Not in the more peaceful southern kingdom, but in the busy
north in these critical days do we find the prophets of Jehovah.
Greatly increased in numbers since the days of Samuel, but still
* See chap. vi.
*
3O THE HEBREW PROPHETS
acknowledging the leadership of the great ones among them, we see
them with keen political insight and the ardor of religious en-
thusiasts throwing themselves into the task of Saving both state
and religion, which to them were inseparable.
Not even the growing influence of the throne could turn these
prophets from their ideals and their intention to force them upon
Israel. Long and bitter were the struggles of such of the prophets
as found themselves in disagreement with their kings, yet we
must believe that the prophet had always his constituency, with
the existence of which even kings had to reckon. It is to the study
of the work of such a prophet that we turn in the Succeeding chapter.
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PALESTINE: THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
















CHAPTER IV
THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL
An appreciation of the strength of Elijah the prophet who was
the central figure in this period must be based upon an appreciation
of the ability and sagacity of King Ahab of northern Israel, with
whom he measured his power. Ahab came to the throne by inherit-
ance from his father, one of the ablest kings of Israel, about 875
B.C. From his strong capital at Samaria he had, encouraged by
the prophets, assumed an aggressive attitude toward Syria, and had
in fact won two decisive battles which restored a part of Israel's
lost territory and gave assurance of temporary peace. Meantime
a new and greater foe was appearing upon the horizon. Assyria
was commencing her western campaigns, which held not only Pales-
tine but Syria in deadly fear for centuries. All three nations,
Syria, Israel, and Judah, banded themselves together in a temporary
alliance against Assyria, sharing in a defeat which ended the brief
confederacy. We find this event recorded on the Assyrian monu-
ments. But Ahab had further strengthened his kingdom by an
alliance with Phoenicia, confirmed by his marriage with the princess
Jezebel, the daughter of the priest-king of Tyre, one of the chief
principalities of Phoenicia.
In accordance with the custom of ancient nations the gods of
both parties were recognized. Jezebel, a religious enthusiast, as
well as a woman of great force, brought with her to Samaria a new
and foreign religion, the worship of the Phoenician Baal. A species
of Baalism had existed in Palestine from the earliest times, as the
old religion of the Canaanites, who had preceded the Hebrews.
It was a simple worship of the powers of nature, and had presented
no great obstacle to the religion of Jehovah, its worst practices
having been stamped out by the prophets, and its powers passed
over to the current conception of Jehovah, who was now looked
upon as the giver of fertility and the god of all the processes of
Nature. -
3I
32 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The Phoenician Baalism was something vastly different. It
not only attributed to Baal all increase in lands, flocks, and family,
but its worship was accompanied by ceremonies most debasing,
frequently amounting to debauchery and crime. Introduced as
it was by the coming of a new queen, with a large body of profes-
sional Baal prophets, such a religion, giving license under the guise
of worship to the worst passions of men and women, took a fearful
hold upon a hot-blooded oriental people. The prophets of Jehovah,
seeing clearly that it was only the distinctive and inspiring religion
of Israel that had enabled her to avoid absorption by the surrounding
nations, and that not only the religion of Jehovah was at Stake,
but the very existence of the nation itself, banded themselves to-
gether in a fury of opposition to the foreign god. It was a fight to
the death. Jezebel, resenting their interference with what she
considered her rights, instituted a persecution of the prophets of
Jehovah, in which many were slaughtered and hundreds of them
driven from the land. Her husband, King Ahab, seems not to
have abandoned the religion of his fathers, but evidently saw no
great danger in the Phoenician Baalism. -
Here was indeed a crisis for the prophets. The glories and the
insidious immoralities of Baal worship were pitted against the
simplicity and the stern morality of the religion of Jehovah. Which
would survive?
Elijah the Spokesman of the Prophets.-Although well-nigh
exterminated as an organized body, the faith of the prophets who
survived the persecution of Jezebel was not shaken. There was
need only of a spokesman strong enough for the situation. Such
a one appeared in the person of Elijah. Coming from the east of
the Jordan, clothed in the hairy mantle which seems at one time
to have characterized the dress of the prophet, fierce and majestic
in his solitude, unmindful of the terrors of Jezebel’s persecution,
he appeared before Ahab, ready, alone and unaided, to put to the
test the power of Jehovah over the forces of Nature. The rain
upon which all Palestine depended for life-giving showers should
furnish the instrument of this test. The record tells us, “And
Elijah from Tishbe of Gilead," said unto Ahab, As Jehovah the
1 Locate Gilead on the map east of the Jordan.
OCICII OGIWI JLV ŽIVLTV-XIOONI HSIJINVW NVO V

THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL 33
God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew
nor rain these three years, but according to my word.”
As suddenly as the prophet had come, he disappeared. We
have stories of him, as he passed from place to place, driven by the
drought, to find food and drink, until beyond the borders of Pales-
tine, in Phoenicia, he waited until a sufficient time had elapsed to
teach his lesson of Jehovah's hand in the drought. The following
story of his return after three years is preceded by a tragic picture
of conditions of famine in the land, as King Ahab and his chief
minister, Obadiah, traveled, each in a different direction about
the land, vainly seeking for water with which to save the lives of
a few of the horses and mules from the royal stables. It also
reveals to us the long and fruitless three years' search of Ahab
for Elijah, and suggests mysterious disappearances of the unre-
lenting prophet when Ahab's pursuers were close upon his track.
And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and
he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it thou, my lord
Elijah P” And he answered him, “It is I: go, tell thy lord, Behold,
Elijah is here.” And he said, “Wherein have I sinned, that thou
5 wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?
As Jehovah thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither
my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not
here, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found
thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah
Io is here. And it will come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee,
that the Spirit of Jehovah will carry thee whither I know not; and
so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he will slay
me: but I thy servant fear Jehovah from my youth." Was it not
told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of Jehovah,
15 how I hid a hundred men of Jehovah's prophets by fifty in a cave,
and fed them with bread and water P And now thou sayest, Go,
tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here; and he will slay me.” And
Elijah said, “As Jehovah of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I
will surely show myself unto him to-day.” -
1 * Note the thoroughness of Ahab's search. It is clear that Obadiah fears that
Elijah may disappear as he has apparently done in former times, transported, as
Obadiah thinks, by the spirit of Jehovah. Evidently there was great mystery
surrounding the coming and going of Elijah.
2 *Jehovah of Hosts: here the god of battle, but later the term came to have a
more spiritual significance.
34
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Jehovah or Baal: The Test by Fire."—It is only as we put our-
selves in the place of Elijah, to whom the long drought in accord-
ance with his prediction was the direct act of Jehovah in fulfilment
of the word of his prophet, that we can even imagine the strength
of a belief which would induce Elijah to propose to Ahab the test
by fire which the following story relates.”
5
IO
I5
2O
25
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went
to meet Elijah. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that
Ahab said unto him, “Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?” And he
answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's
house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah,
and thou hast followed the Baalim. Now therefore send, and
gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of
Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah 4 four
hundred, that eat at Jezebel's table.”
So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the
prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came near
unto all the people, and said “How long go ye limping between the
two sides? if Jehovah be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow
him.” And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah
unto the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of Jehovah; but
Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them there-
fore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for them-
selves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire
under; and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on the wood,
and put no fire under. And Call ye on the name of your god, and
I will call on the name of Jehovah: and the God that answereth
by fire, let him be God.” And all the people answered and said,
“It is well spoken.”
And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, “Choose you one
bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call
on the name of your god, but put no fire under.” And they took
1 *Fire and water: considered the most wonderful manifestations of the gods, in
all ancient religions. We must remember that there was no knowledge of science in
those days. **
2 I Kings 18:7–15, 16-40 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 *Mount Carmel: Locate on the map. Probably an old sanctuary of Jehovah
had existed there.
4 *Asherah: A nature goddess worshiped throughout the ancient world.
HIYON ŞIHL INOXII ‘IGIWRIVO LNñOJN （IO GIOCIIRI ŞIHL


THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL 35
3O
35
4O
45
5O
55
the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called
on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “O
Baal, hear us.” But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And
they leaped about the altar which was made. And it came to
pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for
he is a god: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a
journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked.” And
they cried aloud, and cut themselves” after their manner with
knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it was
so, when midday was past, that they prophesiedº until the time
of the offering of the evening oblation; but there was neither voice,
nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
And Elijah said unto all the people, “Come near unto me,” and
all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of
Jehovah that was thrown down. And Elijah took twelve stones,
according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto
whom the word of Jehovah came, saying, Israel shall be thy name.
And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah; and
he made a trench about the altar, as great as would be sown with
two seahs.4 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in
pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with
water, and pour it on the burnt-offering, and on the wood.” And
he said, “Do it the second time,” and they did it the second time.
And he said, “Do it the third time,” and they did it the third time.
And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench
also with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering
of the evening oblation, that Elijah the prophet came near, and
said, “O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let
it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am
thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
Hear me, O Jehovah, hear me, that this people may know that thou,
* *Note the irony of Elijah in his scorn of Baal, and his security in his belief that
Jehovah would demonstrate not only his own superiority, but the fact that Baal was
no god at all, or at least had no power in the land of Palestine.
**Cut themselves: in accordance with custom, in their attempts to secure the favor
of the god.
3 *Prophesied: remained in the state of frenzy in which Baal was expected to
Speak through their persons.
4 *Two seahs: 1% pecks of seed.
5 *Evening oblation: the customary sunset sacrifice.
36 - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Jehovah, art God, and that thou hast turned their heart back
again.” Then the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt-
60 offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked
up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, “Jehovah, he is God;
Jehovah, he is God.” And Elijah said unto them, “Take the proph-
ets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they took them;
65 and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them
there.
Jehovah, the God of the Rain.”—In the test by fire, Jehovah had
triumphed. Now would the rain come and add its testimony to
the superior power of Jehovah, in the land where for three years
prayers to Baal for relief had been unavailing? The faith of Elijah
did not quail. Boldly he bade Ahab break his fast, because rain
was about to come. Then we see the prophet retiring again to
Mount Carmel, the scene of his recent victory, and bowing himself
to the earth, with his head between his knees, addressing himself
in an agony of appeal to Jehovah. Once and again, and many
times, his messenger is sent to Scan the sky, and at last the cloud
appears. Quickly the word went to Ahab, “Make ready thy chariot
and get thee down to Jezreel,” that the rain stop thee not.” The
storm came—rain in abundance, with thunder and lightning, the
special manifestations of Jehovah's power. Elijah, out-distancing
Ahab in his race to Jezreel, meets him in triumph at the city gate.
Jehovah is vindicated. What is this to mean to Israel? is the
unspoken demand of the prophets.
Elijah Strong in Defeat.—Jezebel, infuriated by the death of
the priests of Baal, but fearing to kill Elijah, drove him from the
land. Straight to the traditional home of Jehovah, Mount Horebº
* The water supply of Palestine depended entirely upon the rainfalls. The
streams became dry for a large portion of the year if the rainy Seasons were too short
or if the amount of the rainfall was too Scant. In ancient times famines were therefore
COII liſloll.
2 Jezreel: Locate on map; at the head of a rich valley and commanding territory
of great strategic value. It was the site of Ahab's summer palace.
3 Mount Horeb: another designation of Mount Sinai, where Israel camped on the
first stage of the journey from Egypt, and where Jehovah was supposed to have had
his origino' dwelling-place.
THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL 37
(Sinai), he went, and there in a cave waited for some explanation
of this seeming defeat, some word of reassurance from Jehovah,
whom he had so nobly served. Standing upon the mountain side
he was shaken by a storm which broke the rocks with its fury.
Again an earthquake rent the side of the mountain, and fire followed
in its wake, but it was no longer a message of the power of Jehovah
over Nature which Elijah sought. Finally the revelation came.
And Elijah went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave.
And, behold, there came a voice unto him and said, “What doest
thou here, Elijah P” And he said, “I have been very jealous for
Jehovah the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken
5 thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets
with the Sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my
life, to take it away.”
And Jehovah said unto him, “Go, return on thy way to the wil-
derness of Damascus; and when thou comest, thou shalt anoint
Io Hazael' to be king over Syria; and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt
thou anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat
of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.”
In the assurance that Jehovah holds sway over men as well as
over nature Elijah finds his satisfaction, and bides his time.
Elijah, the Defender of the Rights of the People.—Fundamental
in the essence of the Hebrew religion was the doctrine of individual
rights. Ideals of justice between man and man had taken the shape
of crude laws very early in Israel’s history.” Custom had increased
the strength and the adaptability of these laws. The kings, reign-
ing by virtue of ability rather than blood succession, were of their
own or the people's creation, and rebellion against tyranny meant
Sooner or later vengeance upon the reigning dynasty. Once more
we find Elijah and Jezebel arrayed against each other in connection
with the stern refusal of Naboth to sell his ancestral estate to King
Ahab for a royal garden near the summer palace at Jezreel.
* Hazael, Jehu, Elisha: the first promising a weakening in the Syrian kingdom
the second, the restoration of the royal favor toward the prophets in Israel, the third,
a continuation of the work of the prophets in a worthy representative.
* See Exod., chaps. 20–23, the oldest of the formal codes which have come down
to us.
38 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The Story of Naboth and His Vineyard"
And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreel-
ite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of
Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab Spake unto Naboth, saying,
“Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs,
5 because it is near unto my house; and I will give thee for it a better
vineyard than it: or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the
worth of it in money.” And Naboth said to Ahab, “Jehovah
forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto
thee.” And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased
Io because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to
him; for he had said, “I will not give thee the inheritance of my
fathers.” And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away
his face, and would eat no bread.
But Jezebel his wife came to him and said unto him, “Why is
I5 thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread P” And he said unto
her, “Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto
him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else if it please thee, I
will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not
give thee my vineyard.” And Jezebel his wife said unto him,
20 “Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat
bread, and let thy heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard
of Naboth the Jezreelite.” So she wrote letters in Ahab's name,
and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders
and to the nobles that were in his city, and that dwelt with
25 Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast,
and set Naboth on high among the people: and set two men, base
fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying,
Thou didst curse God and the king. And then carry him out,
and stone him to death.”
3o And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who
dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, according as
it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. They
proclaimed a fast, and Set Naboth on high among the people. And
the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him; and
35 the base fellows bare witness against him, even against Naboth, in
* I Kings 21:1-21, 23, 24, 27–29 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
**In connection with the story of Naboth note his pride in the ancestral estate,
the picture of the method of trying a case, the false witnesses, the death penalty,
immediately executed according to custom in cases of blasphemy and treason.
THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL 39
the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth did curse God and the
king.” Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned
him to death with stones. Then they sent to Jezebel, Saying,
“Naboth is stoned, and is dead.” And it came to pass, when
40 Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel
said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth
the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money; for Naboth
is not alive, but dead.” And it came to pass, when Ahab heard
that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vine-
45 yard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
And the word of Jehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
“Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwelleth in
Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is
gone down to take possession of it. And thou shalt speak unto
5o him, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, Hast thou killed, and also taken
possession ? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus Saith
Jehovah, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall
dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” And Ahab said to Elijah, “Hast
thou found me, O mine enemy?” And he answered, “I have
55 found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to do that which is evil
in the sight of Jehovah. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and
will utterly sweep thee away and will cut off from Ahab every
man-child. And of Jezebel also spake Jehovah, saying, The dogs
shall eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. Him that dieth of
6o Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field
shall the birds of the heavens eat.”
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he
rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and
lay in sackcloth, and went softly.” And the word of Jehovah came
65 to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Seest thou how Ahab humbleth
himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will
not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's days will I bring the
evil upon his house.”
* Jezebel: Jezebel was the daughter of the priest-king of Tyre. Her religious
fanaticism alone, therefore, and the extremes to which she resorted in defense of her
religion would not have condemned her in the eyes of posterity. Her heartless treat-
ment of Naboth, however, reveals a character treacherous and cruel, and well deserving
of her fate.
**Note the usual signs of mourning, the rending of the garments, the wearing of
Sackcloth, a coarse cloth rough and painful to the skin. The expression “went softly”
graphically expresses the quietness and timidity of Ahab's later days, shadowed by the
curse of Elijah and the fear of Jehovah’s vengeance.
4O THE HEBREW PROPHETs
True and False Prophets.-The curse of Elijah mitigated by the
repentance of Ahab finds its first fulfilment in the mind of the pro-
phetic writer in the story of the death of Ahab. The interest of
the story for us is in the light which it throws upon prophecy as a
profession, in the sense in which the ministry is today a profession.
In it we see that many prophets, speaking in all sincerity, had
neither the statesman-like vision which enabled them to anticipate
political events truly, nor the spiritual insight to interpret the char-
acter and will of Jehovah. Neither had they the courage and per-
sistence to enable them to brave personal dangers, even risking life,
if need be, in speaking the fateful messages of Jehovah to the mon-
archs of their time. It was not a difference in profession, but in
intellect and character, which distinguished the so-called false
prophet from the true One.
Micaiah and the False Prophets”
And they continued three years” without war between Syria
and Israel. And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehosha-
phat the king of Judah came downs to Ahab the king of Israel.
And the king of Israel Said unto his servants, “Know ye that
5 Ramoth-gilead" is ours, and we are still, and take it not out of the
hand of the king of Syria P” And he said unto Jehoshaphat, “Wilt
thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead P” And Jehoshaphat
said to the king of Israel, “I am as thou art, my people as thy peo-
ple, my horses as thy horses.”
Io And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, “Inquire first, I
pray thee, for the word of Jehovah.” Then the king of Israel gath-
ered the prophets; together, about four hundred men, and said
unto them, “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I
forbear?” And they said, “Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into
1 I Kings 22: 1–37 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
2 *Three years without war: so unusual as to demand comment.
3 *Came down: the biblical writers always speak of coming down from and going
up to Jerusalem, possibly because of its location on the highest land in the Southern
Kingdom.
4 *Ramoth Gilead: one of the Israelitish cities which had been taken by Syria.
5 *Prophets: of Jehovah, not Baal, showing the restoration to favor of a large
body of prophets of Jehovah.
THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL 4I
15 the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there nothere a
prophet of Jehovah besides, that we may inquire of him P” And
the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by
whom we may inquire of Jehovah, Micaiah the son of Imlah: but
I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”
20 And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” Then the king of
Israel called an officer, and said, “Fetch quickly Micaiah the son
of Imlah.” Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of
Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in
an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the
25 prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son
of Chenaanah made him horns of iron,” and said, “Thus saith Jeho-
vah, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until they be con-
sumed.” And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, “Go up to
Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for Jehovah will deliver it into the
30 hand of the king.”
And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake unto him,
saying, “Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto
the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word
of one of them, and speak thougood.” And Micaiah said, “As Jeho-
35 vah liveth, what Jehovah saith unto me, that will I speak.” And
when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, “Micaiah,
shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear P” And
he answered him, “Go up and prosper; and Jehovah will deliver it
into the hand of the king.” And the king said unto him, “How
40 many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak unto me nothing
but the truth in the name of Jehovah P” And he said, “I saw all
Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shep-
herd: and Jehovah said, These have no master; let them return
every man to his house in peace.” And the king of Israel said to
45 Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good
concerning me, but evil?” And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear thou
the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting on his throne, and all
the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his
left. And Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go
50 up and fall at Ramoth-gilead P And one said on this manner;
1 *An open place: an interesting picture of the ancient custom of transacting
business at the city gate. -
2 *Horns of iron: An object-lesson with which to impress his message.
42
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
55
6o
65
7o
75
8o
and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit,
and stood before Jehovah, and said, I will entice him. And Jeho-
vah said unto him, Wherewith ? And he said, I will go forth, and
will be a lying Spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said,
Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also: go forth, and do so.
Now therefore, behold, Jehovah hath put a lying spirit in the
mouth of all these thy prophets; and Jehovah hath spoken evil
concerning thee.”
Then Zedekiah the Son of Chenaanah came near, and smote
Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way went the Spirit of
Jehovah from me to speak unto thee?”
And Micaiah said, “Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when
thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.” And the king
of Israel Said, “Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the
governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; and say, Thus
saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with
bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in
peace.” And Micaiah said, “If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah
hath not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, ye peoples, all of
you.”
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went
up to Ramoth-gilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehosha-
phat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou
on thy robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went
into the battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty
and two captains of his chariots, saying, “Fight neither with small
nor great, save only with the king of Israel.” And it came to pass,
when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said,
“Surely it is the king of Israel”; and they turned aside to fight
against him: and Jehoshaphat Cried out. And it came to pass, when
the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel,
that they turned back from pursuing him. And a certain man drew
his bow at a venture, and Smote the king of Israel between the
85
joints of the armor: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot,
“Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore
wounded.” And the battle increased that day: and the king was
stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even;
1 *In disguise: Note the care with which Ahab guarded against the fulfilment
of the word of Micaiah.
THE PROPHETS AND THE NEW GOD IN ISRAEL 43
and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot.
And there went a Cry throughout the host about the going down
90 of the sun, saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his
country.”
So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried
the king in Samaria.
The Extinction of Phoenician Baalism.—But great as was the
work of Elijah, the hold of the worship of the Phoenician Baal upon
the court and upon the people was greater. The fight between
Baal worship and the prophets persisted for decades. Syrian wars
devastated the country, and chief among the advisers of the king
was Elisha, the successor of Elijah. A cool-headed statesman, in
the conquest of Syria he saw the greatest hope of the extermination
of foreign worship. But Syria grew stronger. Disappointed in
his hopes, Elisha instigated the bloodiest revolution of Hebrew
history, placing upon the throne for this purpose Jehu, one of the
bodyguard of Ahab, who had doubtless listened to the threats of
Elijah against the house of Ahab." In this revolution Jezebel
perished. Besides the reigning kings of Israel and Judah” who
were together at the time, seventy Sons and grandsons of Ahab
were slain, as well as all the friends and adherents of the royal family.
Even visiting relatives from the house of Judah were included in the
slaughter.
It may be that Elijah in the prime of his power would have
found higher and more convincing proof of Jehovah's right to the
undivided loyalty of Israel than this bloodthirsty massacre, but it
serves to show the prophet, as the spokesman of Jehovah, still
supreme in Israel’s political as well as her religious life, and
foreign Baalism forever stamped out as a rival of the religion of
Jehovah. . .
1 The story of the revolution of Jehu is recorded in II Kings, chap. 9 and Io: I-28.
The whole account should be read in order to get a vivid impression of the terrible
process of this last step in the extinction of Phoenician Baalism in northern Israel.
2 King of Judah: Ahaziah, the grandnephew of King Ahab. A sister of Ahab
had been married to the king of Southern Israel in a period of temporary peace. King
of Israel: Joram, son of Ahab.
44 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The Contribution of Elijah and His Immediate Successors."—
What was the contribution of Jehovah's prophets to the religion of
the Hebrews in the century which we have just considered P To
Elijah and his followers came the conviction that upon the preser-
vation of the religion of Jehovah depended the life of the state.
Coupled with this discerning statesmanship was a pure patriotism
which kept the prophets faithfully banded together through perse-
cution and almost extinction. Beyond and above this was a reli-
gious zeal for Jehovah which took no account of personal danger
or private gain, and could brook no divided allegiance from his
people. The blood of the prophets in this crusade was not less
heroically or generously shed than that of the Christian martyrs
under the persecutions of Rome.
So in this generation was passed on to Israel of the succeeding
centuries the conception of a God whose followers might pay homage
to no other; and for one more step in the progress toward our belief
in God as the creator and ruler of the universe we are indebted to
the prophets.
1 Intertwined with the stories which relate Elijah and Elisha to the great religious
and political movements of their day are many stories of wonderful and sometimes
miraculous events which we must accept as the contribution of the people, many of
them perhaps living at a much later time. In reading these stories which are found in
the Books of Kings it is not worth while to try to explain them upon any rational
basis. It is better to accept them just as they are, trivial or grave, as testifying to the
reverence in which these great men were held, and the fact that in the estimation of
the people nothing was impossible to them as representatives of the power of Jehovah.
CHAPTER V
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE
Adjustment to New Conditions.—In carrying out modern reform
movements in state or community various methods of educating
public opinion are employed. The training of leaders, speeches
through which these leaders appeal directly to the people, and ser-
mons from the pulpit are some of the important agencies. But
in Some respects more potent than any of these are the printed
messages which by Sound logic or by attractive form persuade large
numbers of persons who cannot be reached by popular addresses.
In the early days in Israel the prophets usually presented their
messages in person, and in many cases to individuals who were
the leaders of a blindly following constituency. As the nation
developed, larger groups of people became knit together in social
and industrial activities. Constant contact with the greater nations
developed intellectual independence and ability to solve the prob-
lems of state and religion. The people could no longer be wholly
led by their rulers.
The prophets, pre-eminently men who could read the signs of
the times, were not slow in adjusting their methods to changing
conditions. They saw clearly that neither the welfare of the state
nor the purity of the national religion could permanently be pre-
served except by the cultivation of a spirit of loyalty in the hearts
of the people at large. Shut out at times from greater activities
by persecution and royal disfavor, as in the period coincident with
and following Elijah, they bent themselves to the task of preparing
a literature which should give permanency and wider influence to
their teachings. -
The prophets were not writers of fiction or of philosophy, nor
were they mere sermonizers. Certain fundamental beliefs they
had already expressed. Jehovah was the one and only god of the
I Recall the appearances of Samuel to Saul, and the visits of Nathan the prophet
to David, II Sam. I2: I-15; Ahijah to Jeroboam, I Kings II: 26–40. Recall also
the appearances of Elijah to Ahab.
45
46 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Hebrew people. He demanded their exclusive and sincere wor-
ship. His favor could not be bought with external gifts. More
than this, he took an active interest in the national life, having
directed it from the earliest times. Perfect obedience to his will
as expressed by the prophets was therefore necessary to secure his
approval. For such obedience his rewards were lavish—prosperity,
long life, abundant increase in flocks and family—and for disobe-
dience his punishments were equally swift and sure. Since Jehovah
was not only superior to the gods of the other nations, if such
existed, but vitally different in character, the prophets dimly saw
his people also as unique and destined to some great future, for
which they must be kept apart from the rest of the world, not only
as a nation, but as a race, with blood uncontaminated by that of
other peoples. Such were some of the fundamental ideas of the
prophets of this time. To cultivate such beliefs among the people
in the surest and most convincing way, was their steadfast purpose.
The Prophets and the National Traditions.—The Hebrew people,
in common with all ancient nations, possessed a large body of oral
traditions—stories of the origin of the world, of man, of varied
language, of the beginnings of civilization, stories of the early ances-
tors of their race, and their settlement in the land of Canaan.
Doubtless in different sections of the country there existed different
versions of the stories of the same great events. We can trace in
our Old Testament two distinct cycles of stories which grew up,
one in the north and one in the south, each possessing local color
given to it by the sympathies of the story-teller and his audience,
Everyone knows that a truth embodied in a story strikes the
heart, lingers longer in the memory, and does its work more surely .
than the same truth baldly stated. In their endeavor to teach the
people the prophets turned to the ancient stories and the traditional
history of their people. First in Judah, and perhaps a half-century
later in more turbulent Israel, there came into existence under the
hands of the prophets continuous stories of the nation and its God.
These two narratives were later woven together by other writers
or groups of writers and appear in the first five books of our Old
Testament, so intertwined that only experts, judging from lan-
guage, Spirit, historical allusions, and literary style can separate
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 47
them." Having for their aim instruction in religion, the prophets
Selected only such material as suited their purpose, and treated
even that in such as way as to present most strongly the lesson
which they wished to impress. The stories which follow em-
phasize one or another of the great religious teachings of the
prophets of this period. Space permits the presentation of only
a few of these stories, many of which are full of interest and religious
significance. z
Although familiar to most readers of the Old Testament, these
stories take on a new and fresh value when regarded from the point
of view of prophetic literature.
The Story of the Beginning of Sin”
The tradition of a first man and a first woman was common to
all Semitic nations. In the hands of the prophets it is used to illus-
trate and to define sin as disobedience to Jehovah, who inflicts
suffering as a punishment. Thus, in the thought of the Hebrews,
all suffering came to be regarded as punishment for wrong doing.
*In the day that Jehovah made earth and heaven, no plant
of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had
yet sprung up; for Jehovah had not caused it to rain upon
the earth; and there was not a man to till the ground; but
1 The task of separating these early documents from a third which is much later
in its origin, and from editorial comments and revisions which have been incorporated
in the text, has been the task of scholars for twenty-five years or more. Of course all
scholars do not agree in the exact details of results obtained, but there is agreement
upon the general characteristics of the different main pieces of literature combined
in the first five books of the Old Testament, generally called the Pentateuch. In the
stories which are presented in this chapter the later material has been omitted, and
so far as possible only selections from the work of the prophets of the period which
we have just studied included.
2 Gen. 2: 4–3:24, with omission of portions said to have come from later writers
(Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 * This story, as we should expect, takes no account of science. The work of the
geologists, of chemists, of physicists, and of astronomers, from whom we have learned
so much of the history of the making of the earth and of its relation to other bodies,
was yet unknown. At the time this story was current the earth was regarded as flat,
with a solid blue dome, the sky, overarching it. The Sun was supposed to travel across
the sky daily, and the moon and stars in their seasons. Where these heavenly bodies
were when not visible was a profound mystery. Doubtless the prophet and his prede-
cessors as well as his successors for many generations believed this story to give the
48 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
5 there used to go up a mist from the earth, that watered the
whole face of the ground. And Jehovah formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah planted
a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom
Io he had formed. And out of the ground made Jehovah to
grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for
food; the tree of life" also in the midst of the garden, and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” And Jehovah com-
manded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou
I5 mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.” -
And Jehovah said, “It is not good that the man should be
alone; I will make him a help meet” for him.” And out of the
20 ground Jehovah formed every beast of the field, and every
bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see
what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called
every living creature, that was the name thereof. And the
man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the heavens
25 and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not
history of the origin of man and woman, but not for this purpose did the prophet put
into written form a story which was already known to every one of his people. To
him the important thing was the disobedience of the man and woman. He observed
all about him disobedience to the commands of Jehovah. With true spiritual insight
he saw that since time began man had sinned, and he argues that the suffering which
he sees, labor, and pain, and Sorrow, are the result of sin. How far wrong was he?
Does this story reflect an attitude toward work which we do not share today, but
which was not strange in an ancient oriental people, when a system of slavery existed
throughout the world? Does it also show a true analysis of the steps in any sinful
act—the prohibition, the desire, the temptation to act, the result or punishment?
Remember that this story was current before the days of philosophy or psychology.
1 *The tree of life: a tree whose fruit would render those who ate it immortal.
2 *The tree of the knowledge of good and evil: a tree which enabled those who ate
of its fruit to become wise. Possibly in the original story which the prophet used the
fruit of the tree was in itself fatal to human life. The prophet transfers the emphasis
to the result of the act of disobedience. Forbidden fruit is a favorite feature of folk-
lore. See the legend of the tree with the golden apples in the garden of the daughters
of Hesperus, and the story of Persephone who ate a portion of a prohibited pomegranate
and was on that account obliged to Sojourn in the lower regions for a third of each year.
A story somewhat similar to the Hebrew story was found in the Babylonian literature.
From the point of view of religious teaching, however, all these stories except that of
the Hebrews were of little value.
3 *A help meet: a suitable companion or fellow-worker.
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 49
found a help meet for him. And Jehovah caused a deep sleep"
to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs,
and closed up the flesh instead thereof: and the rib, which
Jehovah had taken from the man, made he a woman, and
30 brought her unto the man. And the man said, “This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called
Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” And they were both
35 naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Now the serpent” was more subtle than any beast of the
field which Jehovah had made. And he said unto the woman,
“Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the
garden P” And the woman said unto the serpent, “Of the fruit
40 of the trees of the garden we may eat: but of the fruit of
the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,
Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall surely not
die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
45 your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be like gods,” knowing
good and evil.” And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that
the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the
fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband
50 with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed
fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they
heard the voice of Jehovah walking in the garden in the cool
of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the
55 presence of Jehovah amongst the trees of the garden.
# *Sleep: The word used for sleep here signifies a trance or supernatural slumber.
2 *The serpent: This was one of the traditions which, to ancient peoples, pre-
sented a reason why the Serpent, so common in oriental countries, traveled on the
ground, without apparent means of locomotion, instead of upright. To the ancients
there was nothing marvelous in animals talking in a primitive world, or in Jehovah
walking and talking as a man. In the mind of the prophet the natural antagonism
between the serpent and mankind was translated into a symbol of the antagonism
between good and evil, a strife in which he however saw good eventually prevailing.
3 Like gods: Among many ancient peoples there was a belief that the gods were
jealous of man and dreaded his attainment to like knowledge with themselves. It
is possible that in this expression we have a reflection of this old belief. It is interest-
ing to note here that the attainment of Spiritual likeness to God is the keynote of our
modern religion.
So THE HEBREW PROPHETS
And Jehovah called unto the man, and said unto him,
“Where art thou?” And he said, “I heard thy voice in the
garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
myself.” And he said, “Who told thee that thou wast naked P
60 Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that
thou shouldest not eat?” And the man said, “The woman
whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and
I did eat.” And Jehovah said unto the woman, “What is
this thou hast done?” And the woman said, “The serpent
65 beguiled me, and I did eat.” And Jehovah said unto the
serpent, “Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above
all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly
shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
70 and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Unto the woman he said,
“I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain
thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee.” And unto Adam he
75 said, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy
wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee,
saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: Cursed is the ground for thy
sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt
8o eat the herb of the field; in the Sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast
thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.” Therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the
garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was
85 taken. And the man called his wife's name Eve; because
she was the mother of all living. And Jehovah God made
for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.
And Jehovah God said, “Behold, the man is become as one
of us, to know good and evil,” and now, lest he put forth his
90 hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever, he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the
garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
The story of the great Flood, Genesis, chapS. 6-9, emphasizes,
on the other hand, the rewards of obedience.
1 *Cherubim: winged creatures, possibly the man-headed bulls, which were familiar
figures in ASSyria.
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THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 51
The Call of Abram'
The following story voices the hope of the prophets for a great
future for Israel.
Now Jehovah” said unto Abram, “Get thee out of thy coun-
try, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto
the land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and
5 be thou a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and
him that curseth thee will I curse: and all the families of
the earth shall be blessed through thee.” So Abram went,
as Jehovah had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and
Io all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that
they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the
land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And
Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem,”
unto the Oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the
I5 land.
And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, “Unto thy
seed will I give this land,” and there builded he an altar unto
Jehovah, who appeared unto him. And he removed from
thence unto the mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched
1 Gen. I2: 1–8 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
2 *We must consider Abram in this story not as a simple individual, but as the
chief of the tribes represented by himself and Lot. This is therefore the record of
the migration of tribes, a large company moving slowly and by successive stages, often
lingering long in a section where pasturage was good, for they doubtless moved with
them vast flocks and herds, carrying on the business of life as they went, buying, sell-
ing, and trading with the people along their route. In chap. I4 Abram appears as the
leader of 318 fighting men, born in his house. This would imply a following of many
hundred persons.
3 * Tradition places the early home of the Abrahamic tribes in Ur of the Chaldees,
a spot which is not definitely located. Two locations have been suggested, one in the
north and the other in the South of the country bordering upon the Euphrates River.
Haran, which is mentioned in the later account of Gen. II: 32 as one of the stages of
the journey, is easily located on the map. Among shepherd peoples there was always a
tendency to leave the well-settled communities and to move on toward better pasture
lands.
4 *The place of Shechem: possibly a spot where an ancient sanctuary existed.
The Oak of Moreh was probably a sacred tree such as is often mentioned in the Old
Testament in connection with a sanctuary. The name may signify the Oak of the
Soothsayer, and the tree was possibly the seat of an oracle.
52 'THE HEBREW PROPHETS
20 his tent, having Beth-el" on the west, and Ai on the east: and
there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the
name of Jehovah. -*
Jehovah Forbidding Human Sacrifice”
Another story associated with Abraham, the great ancestor of
the Hebrews, is inserted here not only because of its purpose, to
depict the wonderful character of the forerunner of the race and
to arraign the barbarous custom of human sacrifice, resorted to in
Israel in great emergencies, and common among the surrounding
nations, but also because of the perfection of the story as such.
And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove
Abraham, and said unto him, “Abraham”; and he said, “Here
am I.” And he said, “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom
thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah;3
5 and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the moun-
tains which I will tell thee of.” “And Abraham rose early in
the morning, and Saddled his ass, and took two of his young
1 *Bethel: This word means the House of God. By tradition it was associated
with Jacob and his dream. This story does not mean that the name of the place was
Bethel at the time when Abram settled there. In 28: 19, we see that the old name of
the place was Luz. Its sacred name seems to have been given by the Israelites them-
selves.
2 Gen. 22:1–19 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 The land of Moriah: Considerable trouble has been taken to locate the spot
where this offering was intended to take place. In the innermost part of the mosque
in Jerusalem which stands upon the supposed site of the ancient Temple of Solomon
is a great stone upon which the offerings of the Hebrews were made for centuries.
Tradition has said that this stone marked the spot where Isaac was placed upon the
altar, but in the time of Abraham Jerusalem was already a city, and there is no sug-
gestion in the story that Abraham went to a city to make his offering. We are quite
in the dark as to the facts, however, and speculation is useless.
4 Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, while testifying strongly to his
faith in Jehovah, was not unique. Such sacrifices were a familiar fact to him even among
his immediate neighbors, especially as a last resort in extreme distress or fanaticism.
In II Kings 3: 27, it is related of the king of Moab that he offered his son for a burnt-
offering upon the city wall, when under siege. Judg. II: 39 suggests that the daugh-
ter of Jephthah suffered the same fate. Two centuries later we find Ahaz of Judea
offering his son, “in accordance with the abominations of the heathen,” II Kings 16:3.
Doubtless this story stood for centuries as the classic denunciation of the prophets
against the practice. That it was a favorite story and was retold and rewritten num-
berless times is apparent in the perfection of the story. Not a detail is omitted, not
a non-essential included, and the story moves on from start to finish Smoothly and with
iust the right regard for climax. An effort to improve it will convince one of this.
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 53
men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the
burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which
Io God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his
eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his
young men, “Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad
will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you.”
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid
I5 it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire" and
the knife; and they went both of them together.
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, “My
father’’: and he said, “Here am I, my son.” And he said,
“Behold, the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for
20 a burnt-offering P” And Abraham said, “God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt-offering, my son”: so they went
both of them together.
And they came to the place which God, had told him of;
and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order,
25 and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the
wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the
knife to slay his son. And the angel of Jehovah called unto
him out of heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham”; and he
said, “Here am I.” And he said, “Lay not thy hand upon the
3o lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket
by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and
35 offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.
And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as
it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be
provided. And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a
second time out of heaven, and said, “By myself have I sworn,
4o saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars
of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore;
and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy
45 seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou
hast obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned unto his young
1 The fire: Kindling a fire would be difficult, so Abraham takes with him glow-
ing embers. It was sometimes customary to kindle the Sacrifice with some ceremonial
fire. Perhaps this was fire from some sacred place, or kindled in some way deemed
sacred. -
54 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and
Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
The Wooing of Isaac and Rebekah
The romantic story of Abraham's care in finding a wife for
Isaac from among his own kinsfolk presents in a most attractive
way a precedent for preserving the blood of the nation from cor-
ruption through intermarriage with foreigners, a condition which
seemed to the prophets essential to the preservation of both state
and religion.
And Abraham” was old, and well stricken in age; and Jeho-
vah had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said
unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all
that he had, “Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
5 and I will make thee Swear by Jehovah, the God of heaven
and the God of the earth, that thou wilt not take a wife for
my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I
dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred,
and take a wife for my son Isaac.” And the servant said unto
Io him, “Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow
me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the
land from whence thou camest?” And Abraham said unto
him, “Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
Jehovah, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's
15 house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spake unto
me, and who sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give
this land; he will send his angel before thee, and thou shalt
take a wife for my son from thence. And if the woman be not
willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my
1 Gen. 24:1–67 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
2 * Note the interesting features of this story, the custom of seeking a wife from
some distant but related tribe, the trustyslave, probably of as good blood and breeding
as his master, the women at the common well and their service to the strangers, the
formalities of the betrothal, the marriage arranged entirely with the members of the
bride's family, the immediate journey of the betrothed to her prospective husband,
the meeting, and the installing of the bride. It is worth while to dwell upon this pic-
ture of primitive oriental life until the feeling of the simplicity and childlike spirit of
it impresses itself upon the mind, and reveals to us the affection with which such a story
would be passed on from generation to generation. This story occupies the longest
chapter in the Book of Genesis and is illustrative of the importance attached by these
prophetic writers to the necessity of preserving the Israelitish race from mixture with
other peoples.
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 55
20 oath; only thou shalt not bring my son thither again.” And
the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his
master, and sware to him concerning this matter.
And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his mas-
ter, and departed, having all goodly things of his master's
25 in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto
the city of Nahor. And he made the camels to kneel down
without the city by the well of water at the time of evening,
the time that women go out to draw water. And he said, “O
Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray
3o thee, good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master
Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the fountain of water;
and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to
draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom
I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I
35 may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give
thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast
appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know
that thou hast showed kindness unto my master.” And
it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold,
4o Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah,
the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon
her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon,
a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down
to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And
45 the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Give me to drink, I
pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher.” And she said,
“Drink, my lord,” and she hasted, and let down her pitcher
upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done
giving him drink, she said “I will draw for thy camels also,
50 until they have done drinking.” And she hasted, and emptied
her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw
and drew for all his camels. And the man looked stedfastly
on her, holding his peace, to know whether Jehovah had made
his journey prosperous or not. And it came to pass, as the
55 camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring
of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands, of ten
shekels weight of gold, and said, “Whose daughter art thou?
tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father's house for
us to lodge in P” And she said unto him, “I am the daughter
6o of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bare unto Nahor.”
She said moreover unto him, “We have both straw and
provender enough, and room to lodge in.” And the man
56 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
bowed his head, and worshipped Jehovah. And he said,
“Blessed be Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who
65 hath not forsaken his lovingkindness and his truth toward
my master: as for me, Jehovah hath led me in the way to
the house of my master's brethren.”
And the damsel ran, and told her mother's house according
to these words. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name
7o was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the foun-
tain. And it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the
bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words
of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me;
that he came unto the man; and, behold, he was standing by
75 the camels at the fountain. And he said, “Come in, thou
blessed of Jehovah; wherefore standest thou without? for I
have prepared the house, and room for the camels.” And the
man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels; and
he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to
8o wash his feet and the feet of the men that were with him.
And there was set food before him to eat: but he said, “I will
not eat, until I have told mine errand.” And he said, “Speak
on.” And he said, “I am Abraham's servant." And Jehovah
hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and
85 he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and
men-servants and maid-Servants, and camels and asses. And
Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was
old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath. And my
master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife for
90 my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I
dwell: but thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my
kindred, and take a wife for my son. And I said unto my
master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me. And he
said unto me, Jehovah, before whom I walk, will send his angel
95 with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for
my son of my kindred, and of my father's house: then shalt
thou be clear from my oath, when thou comest to my kindred;
and if they give her not to thee, thou shalt be clear from my
oath. And I came this day unto the fountain, and said, O
Ioo Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, if now thou do pros-
per my way which I go: behold, I am standing by the foun-
1 I am Abraham's servant: According to Arab etiquette the host does not ask
the name of his guest until he has eaten of his food, lest a blood feud should be found
to exist between the tribes to which they belong. After the guest has partaken of food
he is safe with his host. .
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 57
tain of water; and let it come to pass, that the maiden that
cometh forth to draw, to whom I shall say, Give me, I pray
thee, a little water from thy pitcher to drink; and she shall say
IoS to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let
the same be the woman whom Jehovah hath appointed for my
master's son. And before I had done speaking in my heart,
behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder;
and she went down unto the fountain, and drew: and I said
IIo unto her, Let me drink I pray thee. And she made haste, and
let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and
I will give thy camels drink also: So I drank, and she made
the camels drink also. And I asked her, and said, Whose
daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel,
II5 Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the ring
upon her nose, and the bracelets upon her hands. And Ibowed
my head, and worshipped Jehovah, and blessed Jehovah, the
God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right
way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. And
12o now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me:
and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to
the left.”
Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing
proceedeth from Jehovah: we cannot speak unto thee bad or
125 good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and
let her be thy master's son's wife, as Jehovah hath spoken.”
And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard
their words, he bowed himself down to the earth unto Jehovah.
And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of
I3o gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also
to her brother and to her mother precious things.” And they
did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and
tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said,
“Send me away unto my master.” And her brother and her
135 mother said, “Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the
least ten; after that she shall go.” And he said unto them,
“Hinder me not, seeing Jehovah hath prospered my way; send
me away that I may go to my master.” And they said, “We
will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth.” And they
I4o called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this
man?” And she said, “I will go.” And they sent away
Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant,
and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her,
* Precious things: The price of a bride paid to her family.
58 - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
“Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten thousands,
I45 and let thy Seed possess the gate of those that hate them.”
And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon
the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took
Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way.
of Beer-lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the land of the South. And
I5o Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and
he lifted up his eyes, and Saw, and, behold, there were camels
coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw
Isaac, she lighted from the camel." And she said unto the
servant, “What man is this that walketh in the field to meet
155 us?” And the servant said, “It is my master,” and she took
her veil, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all
the things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his
mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his
wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his
Ióo father's death.
The Story of the Exodus From Egypt*
There was one event so firmly imbedded in the memory of tribal
Israel that the impression of it deepened rather than diminished as
the nation grew to greater self-consciousness. That was the fact
that for a period large numbers of her people had been enslaved
in Egypt, and under the leadership of Moses directed by Jehovah
* Lighted from the camel: Rebecca, Suspecting that the man whom she sees is her
betrothed husband, alights from her camel in order that she may veil herself after the
eastern custom and show him all due respect. The bridegroom cannot see the face
of the bride until after the wedding.
2 Lines I59, 160. These lines read in the Old Testament his “mother’s” death. Some
authorities prefer to think that the word has been altered and that it was the death
of his father which Isaac mourned at this time, Sarah having been dead many years.
3 * There is scarcely a prophet or a poet in all Hebrew literature who does not
allude to the Exodus from Egypt, and upon it base his faith in the love and care of
Jehovah. The stories of the event as found in the several different documents which
are interwoven in our Old Testament were so extensive as to carry the story through
a number of chapters in the Book of Exodus. The story which we give omits, however,
much of the material, giving only the last great Scourge with which it was said Jehovah
afflicted the people of Egypt, and the earliest accounts of the succeeding events. No
one can fully appreciate the story who does not read also the succeeding chapters of
Exodus to the 20th chapter, so as to get the story of the early days in the wilderness,
and the scenes at Mount Sinai. The full appreciation of the character of Moses as
here portrayed can best be gained in a survey of the events of the trying after-days
of the Exodus.
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 59
had made their escape to the wilderness, from which after many
years of wandering they had invaded Canaan. Around this event
clustered many traditions. For generations the story of this mar-
velous escape was used by the prophets in allusion and direct nar-
rative, to impress upon the people the victorious power of Jehovah
over the gods of so mighty a nation as Egypt. The story of the
event is prefaced in the Old Testament by many chapters recording
the plagues with which Jehovah vexed the people of Egypt, in order
to compel them to let his people go free. The last and most Con-
vincing of these scourges opens the selection which we present.
And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, “Go ye, serve
Jehovah; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed:” let
your little ones also go with you.” And Moses said, “Thou
must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings,
5 that we may sacrifice unto Jehovah our God. Our cattle
also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind;
for thereof must we take to serve Jehovah our God; and we
know not with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come
thither.” And Pharaoh said unto him, “Get thee from me,
Io take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou
seest my face thou shalt die.” And Moses said, “Thou hast
spoken well; I will see thy face again no more.” And Moses
said, “Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight will I go out into
the midst of Egypt: and all the first-born in the land of Egypt
I5 shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon
his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that
is behind the mill. And there shall be a great cry throughout
all the land of Egypt, such as there hath not been nor shall
be any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall
20 not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye
may know how that Jehovah doth make a distinction between
the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall
come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me,
saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and
25 after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in
hot anger.
* The oldest accounts selected from Exod., chaps. Io, II, 12, 13, 14, 15 (Am.
Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
2 *Let your flocks and your herds be stayed: as a pledge of their return, to which the
Israelites respond that they must take all their cattle, for they do not know what
Jehovah's requirements in the way of sacrifice will be. Note that the Hebrews were
not mere slaves, but owners of cattle and property. This is really an emigration.
60 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said
unto them, “Draw out, and take you lambs according to your
families, and kill. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and
3o dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel
and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin;
and none of you shall go out of the door of his house. For
Jehovah will pass through to Smite the Egyptians; and when
he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts,
35 Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the de-
stroyer to come in unto your houses to Smite you.” And the
people bowed the head and worshipped.
And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all
the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of
4o Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the cap-
tive that was in the dungeon. And Pharaoh rose up in the
night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and
there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house
where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and
45 Aaron by night, and Said, “Rise up, get you forth from among
my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve
Jehovah, as ye have said. Take both your flocks and your
herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” And
the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them
5o out of the land in haste; for they said, “We are all dead men.”
And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their
kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their
shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the
word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of
55 silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and Jehovah gave
the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they
let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyp-
tians.
And the children of Israel journeyed about six hundred
6o thousand on foot that were men, besides children. And a
mixed multitude” went up also with them; and flocks, and
herds, even very much cattle. And they baked unleavened
cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt;
for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt,
1 Not a house: In the large households of the East there would not be likely to
be a house in which there was not one firstborn.
2 *Mixed multitude: probably not only Hebrews, men, women, and children, but
hangers-on of other blood, slaves, and others who, dissatisfied in Egypt, would embrace
this opportunity to go out into a new life.
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 6I
65 and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves
any victuals. And Jehovah went before them by day in a
pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar
of fire, to give them light; that they might go by day and by
night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,
7o departed not from before the people."
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go,
that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philis-
tines, although that was near; for God said, “Lestperadventure
the people repent when they see war, and they return to
75 Egypt,” but God led the people about, by the way of the wilder-
ness by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed
out of the land of Egypt.” And Moses took the bones of Joseph
with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel,
saying, “God will Surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my
8o bones away hence with you.” And they took their journey
from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the
wilderness. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people
were fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was
changed towards the people, and they said, “What is this we
85 have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” And
he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: and
he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of
Egypt, and captains over all of them. And he pursued after
the children of Israel.
90 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted
up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after
them; and they were sore afraid; and the children of Israel
cried out unto Jehovah. And they said unto Moses, “Because
there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to
95 die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us
to bring us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we
Spake unto thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may
serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the
Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.” And
Ioo Moses said unto the people, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see
the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you to-day:
for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them
again no more for ever. Jehovah will fight for you, and ye
shall hold your peace.”
1 *Pillar of cloud; pillar of fire: Smoke and flame were familiar accompaniments
of Jehovah's manifestations.
2 *Red Sea: Study the map and note the direction of the flight.
62 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Ios And Jehovah said unto Moses, “Wherefore criest thou unto
me? Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over
the sea, and divide it.”
And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel,
removed and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud
IIo removed from before them, and stood behind them: and it
came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel;
and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light
by night: and the one came not near the other all the night.
And Jehovah caused the Sea to go back by a strong east
II5 wind all the night, and made the sea dry land. And the
Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst
of the sea. And it came to pass in the morning watch, that
Jehovah looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through
the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the
120 Egyptians. And he bound their chariot wheels, and they
drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, “Let us flee
from the face of Israel; for Jehovah fighteth for them against
the Egyptians.”
And the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overthrew
125 the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea. There remained not
so much as one of them. Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day
out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the
Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore. And Israel saw the great
work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians, and the people
13o feared Jehovah: and they believed in Jehovah, and in his
servant Moses.
This story is incomplete without the fragment of song for
generations associated with it.
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto
Jehovah, and Spake, Saying, - .
“I will sing unto Jehovah, for he hath
triumphed gloriously:
The horse and his rider hath he thrown
into the sea.”
A Great Task.-While we have no means of identifying the work
of any particular prophet in this new realm of literature we see in
the whole movement that the prophets were seizing every available
means with which to promote their ideals: that with unerring judg-
ment they chose the material which would make the strongest
appeal to national pride and to fidelity to Jehovah, and that in the
THE PROPHETS CREATING A LITERATURE 63
use of this material they freely recast the stories to suit their own
purposes, rejecting that for which they had no use, or using it but
to condemn, and saturating the whole with their own conceptions
of Jehovah and their highest ideals of national and religious life.
To us who see the printed page issued by millions from the daily
press the magnitude of the task of creating literature, and of cir-
culating it, two thousand years before the invention of the printing
press, in an age when implements were of the crudest, and in a
country where the scribal class had not yet developed, is difficult
to comprehend. Only the imagination can enable us to appreciate
it and to understand the labor of brain and hand involved, as well
as the spiritual insight manifested in the activities of the loyal and
energetic prophets in the period following Elijah and Elisha. To
them we owe the beginning of the literature of the Hebrew
people and a large section of the Old Testament.
CHAPTER VI
ISRAEL AND HER FOREIGN RELATIONSHIPS FROM 876–722 B.C.
Before taking up the specific work of another prophet it will be
necessary to make a survey of the foreign relationships of Israel
during a period extending over a century and a half, a part of which
we have already covered, and the remainder of which we must
anticipate in order to gain a background for the following chapters.
The work of the prophets is so wrapped up in the circumstances
attending these relationships that one must be clearly understood
in order that the other may be correctly interpreted. We must
not lose sight of the fact that each prophet spoke primarily to the
men of his own day and his own region.
Upon the death of Ahab at Ramoth Gilead, a period of disaster
set in for northern Israel. Ahab's Son Joram, after a troubled
reign of twelve years, was conspired against and slain by Jehu, a
captain in his army. Jehu at Once assumed the throne, and sought
to make himself secure by a wholesale slaughter of the house of
Ahab. The nation was thus robbed of the very leaders who had
helped to make it great, and its interests fell into the hands of
usurpers who were both murderers and traitors.
Thus weakened at home and torn by conflicting parties, Israel’s
misery was accentuated by attacks from external foes. Damascus,
her neighbor on the north, under the aggressive leadership of King
Hazael, invaded Israel again and again, and found her an easy prey
during the latter part of the reign of Jehu, and all the days of his
son Jehoahaz. The state of weakness to which Israel was reduced
is indicated by the following statements from the Second Book of
Kings: “For he left not to Jehoahaz of the people save fifty horse-
men, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen: for the king of
Syria destroyed them and made them like the dust of the threshing.
. . For Jehovah saw the affliction of Israel that it was very
bitter: for there was none shut up or left at large, neither was there
any helper for Israel.”
64
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THE SHALMANESER OBELISK
Containing an inscription of Shalmaneser II,
King of Assyria


ISRAEL AND HER FOREIGN RELATIONSHIPS 65
In addition to this we learn from the black obelisk inscription of
Shalmaneser II of Assyria that Jehu was forced to pay tribute to
ASSyria. This annual tax was a heavy drain upon the resources
of the almost exhausted country. Relief came however in the days
of Joash, the successor of Jehoahaz, and of his son Jeroboam II.
The Source of the deliverance was Assyria herself. This great
empire could be satisfied with nothing less than dominion over the
whole civilized world. The mountains of Elam and Persia shut
her in on the east, and her natural lines of expansion lay along the
river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates toward the northwest
and the west. In these directions she was constantly pushing.
Israel’s first contact with her was in the reign of Ahab. At that
time Assyria's encroachments upon the smaller states of western
Asia had become so pressing as to make these states recognize that
their only safety lay in a united effort to turn back the hosts of
ASSyria. Consequently a coalition of forces was accomplished and
a great contest was waged against her at Karkar in 854 B.C., the
record of which is preserved in an Assyrian inscription. Ahab of
Israel was one of the leading spirits in this enterprise. The result
was apparently indecisive. But Assyria did not return to the
attack for five years. Meantime the coalition had fallen to pieces,
and its members were fighting among themselves. Damascus in
Syria, and Israel became deadly enemies and waged war upon one
another during the entire reign of Ahab. Damascus would
undoubtedly have completely overcome Israel at this time had it
not been for the fact that Assyria took advantage of this dissension
among the allies to renew the attack upon the west. Four suc-
cessive campaigns at intervals of a few years were made by Shal-
maneser II against Damascus, and these so crippled the latter
that Ahab of Israel was able to hold his own in the otherwise un-
equal contest between Israel and Damascus. But upon the death
of Shalmaneser Assyria suffered a temporary decline in power, and
Damascus was freed from her attacks for a period of over thirty
years. Damascus took advantage of this opportunity to renew
hostilities with Israel, and the lamentable condition of Israel in
the days of Jehu and Jehoahaz was the result.
66 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
But an energetic monarch, Adad-Nirari III (812–783 B.C.) once
more ascended the throne of Assyria. One of his first steps was
the restoration of ASSyria's power in the west, and a series of cam-
paigns against Damascus reduced her to submission and enabled
Israel under Joash to free herself from that domination. Then
Set in a period of almost unexampled prosperity for Israel. Left
free to develop her own resources, she rapidly attained a position
of power and influence unknown since the days of David and Solo-
mon. Her territory is said to have extended from the upper end
of the Dead Sea in the south to the Pass of Hamath in the north.
Wealth accumulated rapidly in the hands of the nobles, as may be
learned by reference to the speeches of the prophet Amos, whose
activity falls in the days of Jeroboam II, and whose prophecies we
shall study in the next chapter. But the luxury and materialism
accompanying increasing prosperity blinded the eyes of the rich
to the rights of the poor. The long wars with Damascus, with
the heavy financial burdens which they had entailed, had as always
fallen heaviest upon the shoulders of the poorer classes. The dis-
tress of that period had left them largely at the mercy of those
who had wealth, and the latter were not hesitating to grind the faces
of the poor, or, as Amos phrases it, “to trample the head of the poor
to the dust of the earth.”
With the passing of Jeroboam II northern Israel hastened
rapidly toward its doom. Murder and anarchy displaced law and
order. King followed king upon the throne in quick succession.
Zechariah after reigning six months was murdered by Shallum, who
in turn after a month gave place to his murderer Menahem. The
latter held the throne for ten years, but was obliged to pay an enor-
mous tribute to Assyria in order to save his throne and country.
For under one of the greatest of its kings, Tiglath-pileser IV (745–
727 B.C.), Assyria was again pushing her way southward toward
Egypt. These two aspirants for world power were preparing to
match forces one against the other. The possession of Syria and
Palestine, as the bridge Connecting Assyria and Egypt, was of
immense strategic importance to the contestants. Tiglath-pileser
was the first of the two to set foot upon the bridge.
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JEHU’S TRIBUTE TO SHALMANESER II
These two reliefs from the Shalmaneser Obelisk represent Israelites bringing tribute
to the Assyrian King




ISRAEL AND HER FOREIGN RELATIONSHIPS 67
Meantime the smaller states of the west were becoming restive
under the heavy yoke of Assyria. As in the days of Ahab, so once
again they strove to form a coalition against her. Damascus under
Remaliah, and Samaria under Pekah sought the cóoperation of
Judah, which was refused. Hence they attacked Jerusalem and
strove to force her into compliance with their plans. Ahaz, her
king, sent to Tiglath-pileser for succor, thereby professing himself
a vassal of Assyria. Tiglath-pileser was not slow to avail himself
of this opportunity and hastened to the west. Damascus was
subdued and destroyed. Northern Israel was invaded and deprived
of all her territory east of the Jordan, and although she paid a
heavy tribute to Assyria, a large share of her population was de-
ported to Assyria (734 B.C.). In connection with these events Pekah,
whose actions had brought on the ASSyrian invasion, was slain by
Hoshea, who thereupon seized the throne for himself. He held it,
however, as a vassal of Assyria, paying a heavy annual tribute.
This was irksome to the freedom-loving Israelites, and they lent
a ready ear to So, king of Egypt, who encouraged them to revolt.
Relying upon the support of this inveterate and powerful enemy
of Assyria they withheld their annual tribute, thus announcing the
fact of their revolt against their overlord. The challenge was at
once accepted by the ASSyrians and an army was sent to reduce
Samaria to submission. In this time of need Egypt proved herself
unreliable. She furnished no aid, notwithstanding that she had
instigated Israel to revolt, and that it was in reality her battle that
was being fought by Israel. Hence after a desperate siege, extend-
ing through three long years, Samaria fell (722 B.C.), and the king-
dom of Israel came to an end, being incorporated as a province in
the great empire of Assyria.
The internal condition of Israel during the troubled years from
the death of Jeroboam II to the deportation under Tiglath-pileser
in 734 B.C. is reflected for us in the writings of Hosea, a prophet
of this period. He like Amos saw that the sins of Israel were exceed-
ingly great and merited punishment from Jehovah. Both Amos
and Hosea saw the shadow of ASSyria looming larger and larger
upon the horizon and were not slow to interpret the coming disaster
68 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
as an expression of Jehovah's wrath against his wicked people.
At a time when their fellow-countrymen were losing faith in Jehovah
and were ready to transfer their allegiance to the victorious gods
of Assyria, Amos and Hosea insisted that the national disasters
were but further proofs of the righteousness, justice, and power of
Jehovah, from whose care and protection the nation was separating
itself by its own misdeeds. But we must not too greatly anticipate
the story of the work of these two men.
CHAPTER VII
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM
Our study of the preceding chapter has shown us with what
perils the political life of Israel and Judah was menaced in the
period between 780 and 745 B.C. In order to appreciate most
fully the work of the prophets of this period we must place our-
selves.at its beginning, and as if unaware of the fate which actually
met Israel look forward with the differing eyes of people and
prophet.
By way of review let us recall that although in the period from
Jehu to Jeroboam II, Israel had once, and probably oftener, paid
tribute to Assyria, she regarded the greater nation as her ally against
nearer foes, the Syrians, and not yet as the all-devouring monster
which later experience revealed. Jeroboam had indeed, under the
protection of Assyria, been able to reclaim much of the territory
which had been taken from Israel by the Syrians, and now reigned
over a kingdom little less in extent than that of his ideal predecessor
David. For during part of this time it is probable that Judah also
confessed the over-lordship of northern Israel. The temporary
respite from vexing wars gave opportunity for the development of
commerce and industries. Friendly intercourse with Assyria brought
capital and stimulus for the accumulation of thqividual wealth. As
always in seasons of sudden prosperity, the rich were able to seize
the opportunity to grow richer, while the condition of the poor
was little changed. The prosperity of the kingdom manifested it-
self in the foundation of great estates, in the building of wonderful
houses, in extravagant and luxurious living among the rich, accom-
panied by disregard of the rights of the poor and even bitter
oppression. Law courts were bought by the highest bidder; money-
lenders exacted usurious fees. The poor, obliged to sell their land,
helped to add to the rich man's estate.
I See II Kings 14:23–29 for the story of the reign of Jeroboam.
69
70 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
In harmony with all this seeming prosperity" was the appre-
ciation of the people of the blessings and favor of Jehovah evidenced
in it. Rich altars with multitudinous sacrifices, offered in the
midst of extravagant festivities, bound king and people together
in a joyous religion of thanksgiving and self-congratulation. Amid
all this glory of life none seemed to fear that the friendly Assyrian
might attempt to absorb the little kingdom, or to see that the
commercial life of the people was rotten and unstable, without moral
basis, or to comprehend that the religion into which the people
threw themselves with such abandon of joy was an external and com- -
mercial acknowledgment of the favor of Jehovah, showing pro-
found ignorance of his real character, and of his requirements in
daily living. The Jehovah of their imagination was as unmoral as
were they themselves.
We said that none saw. There was one, a man of the people,
tending his Sycamore trees and following his flocks somewhere in
the wilderness of Tekoa, the arid and forbidding country south of
Bethlehem, not more than twelve miles from Jerusalem. This
man, like many a farmer of our own day, was observing with keen-
ness of vision and judgment all which took place about him.” In
Amos we find a worthy successor of the prophets who preceded him,
and an inspiration to many of the spokesmen of Jehovah who fol-
lowed. His work is disclosed to us in a book bearing his name, a
book which vividly portrays the conditions of his times, and his
To the Hebrew, who regarded his God as stronger than all other gods and who
knew no evidence of the favor of God save that of external prosperity, to dream of
disaster in the face of such evidence was impossible. Then, as now, the joy of the con-
sciousness of the favor of God lay in a right relationship to him. At that time the
conception of God was So gross, however, that people could think of him only as being
pleased with material gifts and responding to the call of his people in like gifts. To
what extent has our conception of God changed in this respect, and why?
2 In Palestine, the people were but a short time removed from the day when the
kingdom was poor, and practical equality as to circumstances existed among the peo-
ple. The occupation of a farmer or of a shepherd was honorable and useful, and essen-
tial to the well-being of the nation. A man living in Palestine could not be far away
from the centers of political life. A farmer, whose life was perhaps less strenuous
than that of those who lived in cities, would probably have more time for quiet and
thoughtful consideration of passing events; his judgment upon them would be more
unprejudiced and calm than that of those in the midst of the turmoil.
NIVT I CIHL SSOSIOV OTVORI ONIAAOHS VOSICIL JO SSOEINYICIOTTIMA GIHT,


AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 7I
vigorous and appalling interpretation of them. Unlike many of
the books of the Bible, his is prefaced by a date, “The words of
Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he spake
concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the
days of Jeroboam, the Son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before
the earthquake,” evidently a memorable date well known to the
people.
Let us imagine this sturdy shepherd in the solitude of his native
desert, yet with the towered city of Jerusalem but twelve miles
away, the highroad from Hebron to the north but one hour to the
west, and a half-hour beyond that the highland, from which the
Philistine plain stretched out toward the sea. Ten miles beyond
Jerusalem, in the territory of northern Israel, was the royal sanctu-
ary of Bethel, where the worship of Jehovah was conducted with
splendor such as had never before been seen in the Northern
Kingdom, and less than thirty miles beyond that lay Samaria, the
splendid capital, where wealth was pouring in from all sides as the
rich men of the nation gravitated toward the more important
cities.
Thus alone, yet within easy reach of the teeming life of both
his own Judea and northern cities, busied with his daily toil, or
journeying to Jerusalem, to Bethel, to Gilgal, to Samaria, and even
to Damascus, where the markets gave returns for his sheep and his
figs, Amos observed and pondered, until a mighty spirit of indig-
nation at what he saw, at what he deemed Israel’s blindness and
folly, swept over him, possessed him, and sent him forth upon the
unwelcome errand of a man whose ruling passion was justice, to a
nation wherein there was no justice. As a citizen of Judah, the
sternness of his message to northern Israel would hardly be miti-
gated by sympathy. The substance and the spirit of that message
can best be seen in extracts from the pages of his book."
# The Book of Amos contains nine chapters in our version of the Bible. It is not
chronologically arranged and consists of messages of judgment, some of which take
the form of visions, and one Small section of narrative, probably written down after a
visit to Bethel, which is described in these pages a little later. The earthquake alluded
to is not definitely dated and has not been found recorded in history. It was probably
a local disturbance, but familiar to the people of Palestine.
72 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
- Amos at Bethel
Our first selection shows Amos at the great sanctuary at Bethel
on the occasion of one of the stated religious festivals, not as a wor-
shiper, since he would naturally worship at the southern Sanctu-
aries. The king and his retinue are present in the city. No doubt
the Splendid celebration is accompanied by much dissipation,
immoderate eating and drinking, dancing, and revelry, common
to oriental religious manifestations. Unlike his predecessors Amos
breaks upon these Scenes, not with a message to the king, but to
the people,” a message before the terrors of which, back in his
mountain home where he had pleaded with Jehovah for the little
nation, even his own heart had quailed. His message takes the
form of vision,” perhaps a true representation of the pictures which
had come to his mind in former days, or it may have been only a
device chosen by the speaker to make more vivid his stinging words.4
I5
Thus the Lord Jehovah" showed me,
And lo! (Jehovah) was forming locusts,”
1 *See location of Bethel on the map. Several centers of worship have already
been noted, viz., Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, Ramah. The sanctuary at Bethel seems
to have been a place to which the king and the court were accustomed to repair for
worship at special seasons. It must be borne in mind that the people were expressing
at this festival the most intense religious life. There was no lack of religion; it was
the misconception of the character of God and of what constituted appropriate wor-
ship of such a God which made the difference between their conception of religion and
Olli OWIl.
2 The fact that Amos now appears to the people rather than to the king indicates
that the people have developed greatly since the day of Samuel and are now beginning
to think and to act independently of king or of prophet. They had come to a con-
sciousness of themselves which they did not before possess.
3 The vision was a very common form of prophetic revelation. It is simply
another way of saying “I saw,” and does not necessarily indicate that the Seeing was
with physical eyes. A vision seen only in the mind is equally as strong and as potent
in its influence upon life as one seen with the physical eye.
4 Amos 7:I0-0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8b, 9.
5 *The first strophe simply records a vision of the locusts devouring all. The
prophet appeals from such destruction to Jehovah, who relents and changes his pur-
pose of destruction.
6 *Notice that Amos uses the double name, the Lord Jehovah. It is the natural
expression of his feeling of the power and majesty of Jehovah.
7 *Locusis: The locusts were a fearful scourge in Palestine, coming in Swarms and
devouring everything green which came in their path.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 73
In the beginning of the coming up of the aftergrowth;”
And when they were making an end
5 Of devouring the herb of the land,
Then I said, “O Lord Jehovah, forgive, I pray thee,
How can Jacobº stand, for he is small?”
Jehovah repented him concerning this,
“It shall not be,” said Jehovah.
II3
Io Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me,
And lo! he was calling to contend,
By fire—the Lord Jehovah.
And it devoured the great deep,
And had begun to devour the land;
I5 And I said, “O Lord Jehovah, cease, I pray thee.
How can Jacob stand, for he is small P”
Jehovah repented him concerning this,
“Neither shall this be,” said Jehovah.
III.4, 5
Thus (the Lord) showed me,
20 And lo! the Lord was stationed
Beside a wall, with a plumb-line in his hand.
And the Lord said: “Behold I am setting a plumb-line,
# *Aftergrowth: possibly the grass which sprang up after the first crop had been
cut, or after the grass, to which the king was entitled as a tax for the provender of the
domestic and cavalry horses and asses, was cut.
2 Jacob: The prophets continually used representative names. In this case,
it is an easy transfer in the mind of the prophet from Israel, which was the name given
to Jacob of old by Jehovah, to the old name Jacob, used in this case of the people
of Israel.
3 *In the second strophe the vision is of a fire, so intense that it would burn the very
foundations of water upon which the Hebrew supposed the surface of the earth to rest,
and devour the land. At the petition of the prophet, Jehovah again withdraws his
punishment.
4 *In the third strophe, Jehovah is represented as testing the accuracy and correct-
ness of a wall with a plumb line, the wall representing Israel, a process which shows
the wall defective and worthy only of destruction.
5 *In moments of great exaltation, religious or otherwise, the poetic form of
expression is natural, especially among ancient nations. Thus we find, in the study
of the prophets, that almost all of their oracles, visions, or speeches have come down
to us in poetic form. The Hebrew poetry had no rhyme. It was chiefly evidenced
by length and syntactical arrangement of lines, by Cadences of accent in speaking,
74 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
In the midst of my people Israel,
I will not again pass by them any more.
25 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate,
And the Sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword "
IVI, a
Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me,
And lo! a basket of summer fruit!
3O And jehovah said to me, e e
“The end has come unto my people Israel,
I will not again pass them by.” .
Hear this, oh ye that tread upon the needy,
And are for making the poor of the earth to cease, saying:
35 When will the new moon' pass that we may sell grain,
And the Sabbath that we may offer corn ?
Diminishing the ephah and enlarging the shekel,
And perverting balances of deceit.
Jehovah hath sworn by the glory of Jacob: *
4o “I will never forget all their deeds.”
and by the relation of lines in the strophe or stanza. In the proverbial poetry,
which is the least exalted in tone, we find three very distinct kinds of relationship. A
line may be: (1) a repetition in another form of the line preceding it; (2) a negative
statement of the same preceding line; or (3) a continuance of the statement contained
in it. This relationship is called parallelism, and is distinguished as synonymous,
antithetic, or synthetic, according to the lines in question. In the more exalted
forms of poetry, such as those of the prophets, however, this more formal arrange-
ment is not so common. The Spirit and form of the poetry of the prophets would
correspond much more nearly with the blank verse of Shakespeare, which is a flexible
instrument bound by no hard-and-fast rules for the length, the number, or the words
terminating the lines. These poetic utterances generally fall into stanzas, or, as
they are usually called, strophes. In the Selections which follow, the strophes are
observed, but in some cases have been broken purposely, parts having been omitted,
or portions of strophes inserted. To see the stanza as it appears in our Standard
Version one must consult the Bible itself. For the sake of bringing out the thought
of a particular prophet, new juxtapositions have been made.
* Amos 8:1, 2b, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 3, Io, IIb, I2, 13, 14.
2 In the fourth vision, the prophet Sees Israel as short-lived as a basket of summer
fruit.
3 * The new moon, the first of the month, was observed as a popular holiday and
marked by religious ceremonies and suspension of trade. The tradesmen are repre-
sented as impatient of the holiday and dishonest in their business.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 75
On this account shall not the earth tremble,
And every inhabitant in her mourn ?
And shall not the whole of it rise like the Nile,"
And sink like the Nile of Egypt?
45 “And it shall come to pass in that day,”
That I will cause the Sun to set at noon,
And I will darken the earth in the clear day,
And the singing-women of the palace shall wail,”
It is the oracle of the Lord Jehovah:3 A multitude of car-
casses!
50 In every place they are cast.
“And I will turn your pilgrimages into mourning,
And all your Songs into dirges,
And I will bring sackcloth upon all loins,
And upon every head baldness,
55 And I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
And the end of it like a bitter day.”
“And I will send a famine in the land,
Not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water,
But for hearing the word of Jehovah.
6o And they shall wander from sea to sea,
And from the north even to the rising of the sun they shall
run to and fro,
To seek the word of Jehovah, but they shall not find it.”
V5, 6
I saw the Lord standing by the altar,
And he said: “Smite the capitals,” that the thresholds may
Shake,
# Therefore the anger of Jehovah at the deeds of Israel shall convulse the land as
if it were a river, rising and falling like the Nile in its annual inundations.
* The allusion in lines 45–50 is to an eclipse of the sun, which was to the people of
that time a certain indication of Jehovah's wrath. -
3 *It is the oracle of Jehovah: a technical expression among the prophets for a mes-
Sage from Jehovah. - *
4 Lines 55–60: a picture of the deepest mourning—a mourning intensified by the
lack of any word of kindness from Jehovah, to whose messages through the prophets
the people have turned a deaf ear.
5 Amos 9: I, 2, 3a, b, c, d, 4, 7, 8a, b.
9 *A fifth vision shows Jehovah and the people assembled for worship, Jehovah
in anger calling upon the building to fall and destroy the worshipers.
7 *Capitals: the top of the columns supporting the roof of the temple.
76 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
65 Yea, break them off upon the head of all of them,
And the residue of them I will slay with the sword.
There shall not escape of them a fugitive,
And there shall not be delivered of them a refugee.”
“If they dig through to Sheol,
7o Thence will my hand take them;
And if they climb up to heaven,
Thence will I bring them down; ſ
And if they conceal themselves at the top of Carmel,”
Thence will I search them out and take them.
75 “And if they hide from before mine eyes at the bottom of the
Sea,
Thence will I command the serpentº and it will bite them;
And if they go about in captivity before their enemies,
Thence will I command the Sword and it will slay them;
And I will put mine eye on them
8o For evil and not for good.”
“Are ye not as the sons of the Cushites 4 unto me,
O sons of Israel?” It is the oracle of Jehovah.
“Did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt,
And the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir P
85 Behold the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon this sinful
kingdom, •
And I will destroy it from off the face of the earth.”5
1 *Sheol: the underworld. The Hebrews had at different periods various ideas
of the future. Sheol at this time represented simply a place, dark, removed, silent,
an underworld where a man who in his extremity had even taken his own life could
not hide from Jehovah. -
2 *Carmel: the mount where Elijah offered his great sacrifice. One of the most
inaccessible summits and abounding in caves with narrow entrances.
3 *The serpent: The mountain was close by the sea; therefore, if this hiding-
place failed the culprit, the serpent of the sea would devour the fleeing fugitive.
4 *The Cushites: Ethiopians of Africa. Used to represent a people far away and
out of the realm of Jehovah. The prophet here makes the claim that all the nations
of the world, the Cushites, the Philistines, and the Arameans were equally with Israel
subject to his power, and should he choose to abandon Israel, he could command
the allegiance of whatever nation he chose.
5 The visions, five in number, as a whole represent the people utterly regardless
of Jehovah's requirement of honesty, and truth, and sincerity. The patience of Jeho-
vah is at last exhausted and destruction is imminent and unavoidable.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 77
Can we picture Amos standing in some frequented Spot speaking
thus to a scoffing crowd P What do they answer P “Only one of
those mad prophet fellows”; “We have the true prophets of Jeho-
vah with us”; “He is only wanting money”; and again, “What
he says is treason, he should be done away with.” Perhaps some
devout soul might even shake his head in pity for the man possessed
of Such a crazy notion as that Jehovah was angry with his people,
upon whom he was showering such evidences of his approval. We
have, in the account which follows, no intimation of sympathy with
the bold prophet under the arrest and the taunting accusations
which resulted. We know only that Amos continued to reiterate
his threats, picturing in even more personal terms the calamities
which war was to bring upon his pursuers. He tells the story
as follows:
And sent Amaziah,” the priest of Bethel,
To Jeroboam, the king of Israel, saying:
“Amos has conspired against thee
In the midst of the house of Israel;
5 The land is not able
To contain all his words.
“For thus has Amos said:
Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
And Israel shall surely go captive from his land.”
Io And Amaziah said unto Amos:
“O thou seer!3 Go flee thee to the land of Judah;
Eat bread there, and prophesy there.
But at Bethel no longer prophesy;
For it is the king's sanctuary,
I5 It is the royal residence.”
I Amos 7: Io-I2, I4–17.
2 *Amaziah: perhaps the chief among the priests at Bethel. Amos' act would
be considered as conspiracy, because in denouncing the king he might simply be trying
to gain sympathy in a conspiracy against the king.
3 *Thou seer: Note the old name for the prophet, used of Samuel in the story of
the search for Saul’s lost asses. It will be remembered that for his services the seer
received payment. Amaziah scornfully commands Amos to return to his own land
where he can get money for his prophecies with which to support himself.
78 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
And Amos answered and said to Amaziah;
“I am' no prophet, nor am I a prophet's son;
But a shepherd am I, and a dresser of sycamores;
Jehovah took me from behind the sheep,
20 And Jehovah said unto me:
Go, prophesy against my people, Israel.
“Now, therefore, hear the word of Jehovah:
Thou Sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel,
Nor preach against the house of Isaac-
25 “Therefore” thus hath Jehovah said:
Thy wife shall be outraged in the city,
Thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword;
And thy land shall be divided by line,”
Thou shalt die upon an unclean soil," -
3o And Israel shall surely go captive from his land.”
Jehovah the God of the Nations
Amos, expelled from the northern Sanctuary and from northern
Israel, was not without resources. His burning conviction of impend-
ing judgment had not lessened, and he was not silenced. We have
no records of further visits to the north, but doubtless there were
many, when the prophet would be eyed askance by people who had
heard of his strange words. For it must be borne in mind that the
memory of the truth of the messages of Elijah and Elisha and of
other prophets of calamities already experienced had given to the
people a superstitious fear of the prophets. Yet this man Amos,
according to his own story, was not one of the accredited number.
He had not been trained among the prophets; he seemed to the
people a mere imitator seeking for notoriety.
But in those days as now the pen was mightier than the Sword.
1 *Amos disclaims any official relation to the order of prophets. He had not
been educated under them, nor was he the Son of one who had been so educated. His
calling is simply that of conviction.
2 The last strophe is a vivid picture of the conditions in a city falling into the hands
of a foreign army. -
3 *Divided by line: measured off with new boundaries to accommodate new citi-
Z611S.
4 *Unclean soil: Palestine was the sacred ground in which every Hebrew desired
to be buried. The soil of all other lands was unclean—in other words, unconsecrated.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 79
Amos still pondered and then he wrote, and a portion of that which
he wrote has come down to us in his book. His later messages
were simple interpretations of facts, but they show to us a knowl-
edge of the working of Jehovah in human life far in advance of
that of his predecessors among the prophets. To Amos in the
quiet stretches of his pastures, the activities of Jehovah, “Jehovah
of Hosts” as he called him, were not confined to Palestine. His
was a might which controlled all nations at his will. To Israel had
been given special care and favor, and from Israel was expected a
spiritual understanding which the other nations with their character-
less gods might not possess.
“You only have I known of all the families of the earth,
Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities.”
Israel’s failure was complete. The arraignment of the surround-
ing nations” ” which follows is full of the new conception of Jehovah.
It must also be noted that the sins for which the nations are to be
punished are all breaches of some fundamental moral law, a law
set for them as well as for Israel, by Jehovah the God of nations—
a universal moral law.
I
Judgment upon Syria?
Thus hath Jehovah said:
“For three transgressions of Damascus,”
Yea, for four, I will not revoke it;
Because they have threshed with threshing instruments
of iron 5 *
5 Gilead.”
* Amos I: 3–7, 8C, a, b, d, 13–15.
* * Locate on the map the nations Syria, Philistia, Ammon, Moab, and see how
they surround Israel.
3 *Judgment upon Syria: Note the repetition of the phrase, “For three transgres-
sions, yea, for four,” indicating the fulness of the rebellious spirit which had character-
ized the actions of the nations indicated.
4 *Damascus: the capital city of Syria.
5 *Threshing instruments of iron: To appreciate this figure, we must recall the
method of threshing in Palestine, the grain being trodden out on a threshing-floor by
Oxen, in this case represented as shod with instruments of iron, or treading the
threshing sledge with its iron fingers underneath.
6 *Gilead: a section of Eastern Palestine (see map).
8o THE HEBREW PROPHETS
“And I will send a fire in the house of Hazael,”
And it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad;
And I will break the bars of Damascus.”
“And I will cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven,
Io And the scepter-holder from Beth-Eden;4
And the people of Arams shall go into captivity to Kir.”
II
Judgment upon Philistia
Thus hath Jehovah said:
“For three transgressions of Gaza,7
Yea, for four, I will not revoke it;
15 Because they carried whole-peoples into captivity
To sell them as slaves to Edom.” &
“And I will send a fire in the wall of Gaza,
And it shall devour her palaces;
And I will turn my hand against Ekron;”
20 “And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod,
And the scepter-holder from Askelon,
And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish.”
III
Judgment upon Ammon
Thus hath Jehovah said:
“For three transgressions of the children of Ammon,
25 Yea, for four, I will not revoke it;
Because they have treated inhumanly the women of Gilead,
That they might enlarge their border.”
1 *Hazael, Benhadad: refer to families or dynasties founded by these men in Syria.
2 *Bars of Damascus: the gates which closed the walls of all ancient cities.
3 *Aven: an allusion to a form of worship of the sun practiced in Syria and centered
at magnificent temples.
4 *Beth Eden: cannot be located positively. An ancient city.
5 *Aram: the name for the whole region in which Damascus was situated.
6 *Kir: supposed to have been the original home of the Syrians.
7 *Gaza: the principal city of Philistia, commanding the route between Egypt
and Syria—a center of slave traffic. The accusation of the prophet is evidently that
of the inhumanity of Gaza in appropriating whole populations for the purpose of
securing slaves for sale to the surrounding countries.
8 *Ekron, Ashdod, Ashkelon: all cities of Philistia.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 8I
“But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,"
And it shall devour her palaces,
3o With shouting in the day of battle,
“And their king shall go into exile,
He and his princes together”;
Jehovah hath said.
IV
Judgment upon Moab.”
Thus hath Jehovah said:
35 “For three transgressions of Moab,
Yea, for four, I will not revoke it;
Because they burned the bones of the king of Edom,”
Desecrating the dead in return for violence done to Moab.
“But I will send a fire in Moab,
40 And it shall devour the palaces of Keryyoth,5
With shouting, with the sound of trumpet.
“I will cut off the judge from the midst of her,
And all her princes I will slay along with him;
Jehovah hath said.”
V
Judgment upon Israel."
45 Thus hath Jehovah said:
“For three transgressions of Israel,
Yea, for four, I will not revoke it;
# *Rabbah: the capital of the Ammonites.
* Amos 2: I, 2c, a, b, d, 3, 6, 8, 7, Io, IIa, I2, IIb.
3 The Moabites were related to the Hebrews in blood and language, differing only
in dialect. Their country was wealthy but was subdued by David and again by Omri,
revolting under his son, Ahab.
4 *Burned the bones of the king of Edom: a violation of the sanctity of the
tombs of the kings. In ancient times the tomb was regarded with great reverence,
and such an indignity was not to be forgiven. We have no record of this particular
act in the history of the Hebrews.
5 * Keryyoth: probably a representative city of Moab, if not the capital.
6 Note the skill of the prophet in drawing the attention and sympathy of Israel
to his denunciations of their enemies. How much more effective is his judgment of
Israel following as a climax upon the preceding judgments, saying in effect, “I will
bring punishment upon these foreign lands who had not my message and knew not
my will, because their sins were such as any right-minded person would condemn”;
82 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Because they sell the righteous" for money,
And the needy for a pair of shoes.
50 “Because garments taken in pledge” they out-spread
Beside every altar,
And the wine of such as have been fined they drink,
In the houses of their gods.
“Who crush the head of the poor,
55 And the way of the humble they turn aside,
A man and his judge conspire together,”
Profaning my holy name.”
“Yet it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And led you in the wilderness forty years,
6o I who brought you hither to possess the land of the Amorite."
“It was I who destroyed from before them the Amorite,
Whose height was like that of the cedars, and whose strength
was like that of the oaks;
I who destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from
beneath.
“Moreover I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and
some of your youths for nazirites;
but he goes on to say, “Israel has received my message through her prophets and her
chosen men; Israel has not listened; she has closed her eyes and her ears. She is,
therefore, far more to blame for her present condition than these other nations; I will
therefore punish her with greater severity.”
1 *Sell the righteous: that is, perverted justice in the courts.
2 *Garments taken in pledge: It was not lawful in Israel for one to retain over night
the outer garment of a man taken as a pledge of the payment of a debt. This garment
was frequently used for a covering at night and as a protection from storm, as well as
for the sake of appearance, and to deprive a man of it was taking Something that was
counted too essential to be seized for debt. These unrighteous judges are represented
as offering such garments, taken from their debtors, to Jehovah, in the belief that as
gifts to him they would be acceptable. The whole picture of strophes 1, 2, and
3 in this section is that of the most cruel and heartless oppression of the poor by
the judges to whom they appealed for justice.
3 *Conspire together: that is, fix up matters without regard to the right.
4 *The Amorites: a people living east of the Jordan, ruled over by two strong
kings.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM - 83
65 But ye made the nazirites' drink wine, and upon the prophets
ye laid commandment, saying, “Yeshall not prophesy.”
Is not this indeed so, O children of Israel? It is the oracle
of Jehovah.
“Therefore, behold, it is I*
Who will make you groan in your places,
Just as the threshing-wagon makes groan
70 (The floor) filled with sheaves.”
“Then shall refuge fail to the swift,
And the strong shall not become stronger,
The warrior shall not deliver himself,
And he that handles the bow shall not stand.
75 “The swift of foot shall not rescue himself,
Nor the stoutest of heart among the warriors;
The skilled shall not deliver himself,
And he that rideth a horse shall flee away in that day.”
Israel Fails to Understand the Divine Judgments"
But the meditations of Amos were not alone upon the present.
He saw in the great calamities of Nature which had periodically
appalled the people the unsuccessful attempts of Jehovah to reveal
to them his character of justice, and to arouse them to an appre-
ciation of their situation.
“Go ye to Bethel and transgress,
In Gilgal increase transgression,
And bring every morning your sacrifices,
Every third day your tithes.
*Nazirite: a man supposed to be particularly dedicated to Jehovah by a vow
requiring him to refrain from drinking wine, approaching a dead body, or cutting
the hair or beard. Some of the prophets were probably Nazirites. Samson is men-
tioned as a Nazirite. The last strophe refers to the fact that the people had even
persuaded the Nazirites to break their vows and had closed the mouths of the prophets.
* Amos 2: I3, I4, I5a, b, I6a, I56, I6b. -
3 The strophe here represents the disasters of war, a strong nation against
a weak one, in which neither cavalry, footmen, nor archers shall be able to stand and
the horses of the cavalrymen shall be of use only to assist in their flight.
4 Amos 4: 4, 5, 6, 7a, 8b, 9, Io, II, I2a, I3e, I2b, c.
84 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
5 “Burn of leavened bread a thank-offering,
And proclaim free-will offerings, make them known,
For so ye love to do, O children of Israel”;
It is the oracle of the Lord Jehovah.
“I also it was who gave to you'
Io Cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in all your households,
But ye did not return unto me”; it is the oracle of Jehovah.
“I also it was who withheld from you the rain,
I who sent rain upon one city,
I5 While upon another city I sent none;
But ye did not return unto me”; it is the oracle of Jehovah.
“I smote you with blight and decay,
I laid waste your gardens and vineyards;
Your fig-trees and olive-trees the locust devoured;
20 But ye did not return unto me”; it is the oracle of Jehovah.
“I sent among you the pestilence as in Egypt;
I slew your young men with the sword;
And I caused the stench of your camps to rise in your nos-
trils;
But ye did not return unto me”; it is the oracle of Jehovah.
25 “I overthrew cities among you . . . .
As were overthrown Sodom and Gomorrah;”
And ye were as a brand snatched from the blaze;
But ye did not return unto me”; it is the oracle of Jehovah.
“Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel,”
3o Jehovah, God of hosts, is his name;
“Because I will do thus to thee,
Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.”
1 *The selection here presented pictures, as coming from Jehovah, such calamities
as famine in strophe 3; drought in strophe 4; disaster to crops, blight, decay, the locust,
the storm, strophe 5; pestilence and war, strophe 6—all of which Jehovah has permitted
the nation to survive. Since these disasters were sent to the people as warnings to
turn to Jehovah in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, the time has now passed
when appeal to Jehovah will save them. The people crowding to the altars with
sacrifices cannot prevail upon Jehovah to change his purpose. It would be better
for them to prepare for the terrible day of his coming as best they may.
2 *Sodom and Gomorrah: ancient cities which Jehovah had destroyed by fire from
heaven in wrath at their wickedness.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 85
The Offenses of Israel” ”
Once more we read the accusations of Amos—violation of funda-
mental moral laws, lack of common honesty and regard for the easily
recognized rights of the poor, drunkenness, dissipation, frivolity,
waste of life, not failure to worship Jehovah, but utter failure to
understand his moral requirements, and above all no knowledge
of his justice which must demand retribution in proportion to the
wilful blindness of the people.
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood,
And cast righteousness to the ground,
Because ye trample upon the meek,
And take from him exactions of grain,
5 Houses of hewn stone ye have built,
But ye shall not dwell in them,
Vineyards of delight ye have planted,
But ye shall not drink their wine.
Surely I know that many are your transgressions,
Io And great are your sins;
Therefore thus hath Jehovah said,
“I will cause shouting in all squares for mourning,
And in all streets they shall say, Woe! Woe!
And the husbandman shall summon to mourning:
I5 Yea, in all vineyards there shall be mourning,
When I pass through the midst of thee,” hath Jehovah said.
Seek good and not evil,
That ye may live;
That so may be Jehovah, God of hosts,
20 With you, as ye have said.
Hate evil and love good,
And establish justice in the gate;
Perhaps, Jehovah may be gracious,
The God of hosts, to a remnant of Joseph.
* Amos 5:7, Io, II, 12, 13, I4, I5, 16, 17.
2 The only hope held out by Amos is expressed in this passage. Perhaps a turn-
ing to good and to justice might even at this late day cause Jehovah to relent, but the
concluding phrases again picture the coming destruction, and we feel that in the heart
of Amos this hope had little foundation. The passage is the essence of the passion
for justice which controlled the prophet, a justice which would not fail to recognize
and to recompense even such a latter-day repentance.
86 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The Coming Destroyer"
But what is the destruction which Amos foresees P Is it to
come from within or from without? It is the Assyrian. Amos
reads truly the aggressive policy of that nation. He knows that
the temporary respite cannot last, and that sooner or later the
Assyrian will return and continue his conquest of the west. This
is the terrible judgment which Jehovah is bringing upon his people.
Israel’s wealth of worship can have no influence upon a moral God.
His demand is for conduct. Amos seizes upon the current belief
in a “Day of Jehovah,” to which the people look forward as the
time when Jehovah will come to earth and reign in person over the
people of his choice. But Amos represents the day as a day of
retribution, one in which Israel will hide her face from the presence
of Jehovah, one in which she will be utterly repudiated by her God,
and exterminated by the great Assyrian.
Alas for those who long for the day of Jehovah;
It is darkness, and not light.
As when one flees from a lion and a bear meets him,
Or going into the house, and leaning his hand upon the wall,
a serpent bites him.
5 Shall not Jehovah's day be darkness and not light,
Yea, deep darkness without any brightness in it?
“I hate, I despise your feasts,”
And I will not smell in your festivals.
Your burnt-offerings and meal-offerings I will not accept.
Io Take away from me the noise of your Songs and the melody
of your lyres; g
And let justice roll as waters,
And righteousness as an ever-flowing stream.
I Amos 5:18–27.
2 *I despise your feasis: The prophet does not mean to say that Jehovah will not
accept a religion expressed in Sacrifices, or that he disapproves of all forms of sacrifice.
He is simply saying that they have overdone sacrifices and religious festivals and
have utterly disregarded the real moral foundation of religion—justice and righteous-
ness. As proof of his theory of God, he recalls the life of Israel in the wilderness in
its simplicity, when there were no great shrines and no images (referring to the images
through which Jehovah was doubtless worshiped at these great shrines) but only
simple sacrifices and freewill offerings.
AMOS, THE PROPHET OF DOOM 87
“Was it only sacrifices and offerings ye brought me in the
wilderness
During forty years, O house of Israel?
I5 But now ye lift up the shrine of your king,
And an image of your God which ye have made for your-
selves;
And so I will carry you into exile beyond Damascus,”
Hath said Jehovah, God of hosts is his name.
The Lord” & Jehovah hath sworn by himself:
20 “I abhor the glory of Jacob,
His palaces I hate,
And I will deliver up the city and its contents;
And one shall Smite the great house into fragments,
And the small house into fissures.”
25 “Do horses run upon crags P
Does one plough the sea with oxen P
That ye have turned justice into poison
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.
Who rejoice in that which is not,
3o Who say: Have we not taken for ourselves horns by our
own strength P”
“Yea, behold I am raising up against you,
O house of Israel, a nation;
And they shall crush you,
From the entrance to Hamath 4
35 Unto the stream of the Arabah”;5
It is the oracle of Jehovah, God of hosts.
With these words of bitterness upon his pen we must leave our
prophet. It was not given to any one of the Old Testament teach-
# *Beyond Damascus: a plain reference to the Assyrians, whose lands lay beyond
Damascus in the region of the Euphrates.
* Amos 6:8a, c, e, IIb, c, I2, I3, 14a, c, b.
3 In this selection the prophet again reiterates the sacred oath of Jehovah that
he will destroy the nation and compares the insincerity and conceit of their present
life to the insecurity of horses running upon crags, or an attempt to plow the sea with
oxen. He again alludes most clearly to the coming of the Assyrian.
4 Hamath: mark the boundaries of Jeroboam’s great kingdom.
5 Arabah: the channel through which flowed the Jordan and the valley in which
the Dead Sea lay, running down to the extreme southern end of the kingdom.
88 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
ers to see all of God. Amos reveals him to us on a grander scale
than his predecessors conceived—Jehovah of Hosts, the commander
of the armies of the world, all powerful, perfect in justice, disciplin-
ing, chastising, teaching men of all nations the great moralities.
As we see his message thus, Amos rises before us a Titanic figure
clothed in a majesty which is the reflection of his own thought of
Jehovah. But we must not lose sight of what Israel saw, a simple,
stern shepherd of the Judean hills, strangely, even foolishly, inter-
preting the God who was showering his blessings upon them. It
is not alone in the Israel of the days of Amos that the apostles of
great reforms have been misinterpreted and scoffed at or ignored."
I Having gained a picture of the prophet Amos and his ideals of justice and right-
eousness, as well as his conception of God, raise with yourself the following questions:
Was the work of Amos likely to repel people from Jehovah or to draw them to him P
If it was a repellant message, did Amos feel that in delivering it, he would bring the
people to his conception of Jehovah P Was his conception of Jehovah a misconcep-
tion ? If so, how was he better than the people to whom he delivered the message,
who also misconceived Jehovah P Is it the privilege of every reformer to try to change
customs or conditions to conform to his higher ideals, even though he knows that the
latter are limited, and that the people coming after him will have still higher and better
ideals P
CHAPTER VIII
HOSEA, THE INTERPRETER OF JEHOVAH'S LOVE
No student of these pages will have failed to realize in some
degree in his own life that experience brings knowledge, and that
character develops in accordance with our understanding of the les-
Sons of life. In this chapter we have the story of a man who rose
out of bitter personal experience to new heights of spiritual vision,
and of knowledge of the character of Jehovah, while many of those
with whom he pleaded sank into spiritual bewilderment, and deeper
ignorance of the true character of their God.
Reference to chap. vii of the present volume, and to II Kings
I5: 8–25 shows us a veritable reign of terror in Israel following the
long and prosperous period of Jeroboam II, during which we have
seen Amos uttering his brave denunciations. Zechariah, the son
of Jeroboam, succeeded him at his death and within six months
was assassinated by a conspirator, who was himself, before a month
had passed, the victim of Menahem of Tirzah. The latter estab-
lished himself more firmly than his immediate predecessors by the
slaughter of all whose loyalty he doubted, and by the payment to
Assyria of an enormous tribute which he exacted from the people.
Thus he was able to hold the throne until his death, ten
years later. His son remained in power but little over a year,
dying by the hand of a conspirator from across the Jordan, Pekah
of the land of Gilead. This last usurpation occurred about 736
B.C., and marks the latest probable limit of the work of the prophet
whose career falls in this period. -
We cannot read even so brief a summary of conditions in Israel
without being assured that her old confidence, so marked in the
reign of the great Jeroboam II, must have given place to full con-
sciousness of the dangers which threatened the nation from within
and from without. Her princes, fawning upon the majesty of
ASSyria, paying heavy tribute, and apparently having ground for
hope of continued existence only in the maintenance of friendly
relations with that great power, yet weakly countenanced appeals
to Egypt, Some foolishly dreaming that that fast-decaying empire
89
90 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
might, if supported by the countries of the eastern Mediterranean
Coast, overcome the younger, more vigorous nation of the Eu-
phrates and the Tigris.
Thus divided against itself as to foreign policy, and utterly
demoralized as to its internal government, the political fate of
Israel should have been easy to foresee. But with the glories of
Jeroboam’s reign but a decade behind them, princes and people
clung to the belief that their confusion was only temporary. They
saw no cause for national decay in the immoral life of the people
and in the intrusion of these immoralities into the very heart of
their religion." The old sites of Canaanitish worship which had
been appropriated to the worship of Jehovah were surrounded with
associations of the ancient Baalism of Canaan, and the people were
too blind to see that the rites and ceremonies which were the
accompaniment of worship at these high-places were out of harmony
with the character of Jehovah. Images were found in all these
centers, images through which the people had been accustomed to
worship Jehovah. How easy to turn from these to the images
which represented the gods of Assyria and Egypt! Only the proph-
ets in this period saw that there could be no true worship of Jeho-
vah through such symbols, and that the people were frequently
worshiping not the spiritual God represented by the image, but the
image itself in which they believed that power dwelt. This reali-
zation marks an important stage in the development of Israel’s
religion. It was the beginning of the long struggle against image-
worship which ended only with the destruction of the nation.
# It is necessary to recall the ancient custom of worshiping the gods on elevations,
mountains, hills, the sanctuaries upon which were popularly called “high-places.”
Probably the best sites had been already appropriated to religious worship when the
Hebrews entered the kingdom, and it was only natural when the worship of Jehovah
became the national religion that these same high places should be consecrated to
him. At the same time the common people would be continually reminded of the old
gods and there would be constant inclination to continue at these scenes the forms of
the old worship, although addressed to a God of another name. In the worship at
these sanctuaries images had been freely used, and many people, as well as officiating
priests, failed to understand the importance of the Second commandment, “Thou
shalt not make unto thee graven images,” and to realize that only in absolute pro-
hibition of these instruments, so long associated with other religions, could Jehovah-
worship establish itself in the land.
HOSEA, THE INTERPRETER OF JEHOVAH'S LOVE 9I
In the midst of religious confusion and political anarchy, high-
born, well-bred, perhaps a priest of Jehovah (although this is sug-
gested only by his remarkable familiarity with internal conditions
in the priesthood of his day), we find Hosea the prophet, who came
to his work through a strange experience of shame and Sorrow.
The tragedy of his life is related by himself and is frankly made
the basis of his new realization of the character of Jehovah. In
brief it is as follows:
Wedding in early manhood, in purest love, Gomer, the woman
of his choice, he finds her unfaithful to him. After years of for-
bearance with her waywardness, years in which we can imagine
the prophet enduring the shame of publicity in his family disgrace,
as well as the agony of wounded affection, she left him with three
children, to whom in the bitterness of his soul he had given names
symbolic of his sorrow. Years elapsed. Hosea's faithful love
ripened and deepened into an infinite tenderness and patience,
which embraced not only his erring wife, but the whole people of
Israel. At last Gomer, having gone from bad to worse, reached the
slave market, where Hosea, walking in the market-place, came
upon her, bound and shackled. Overwhelmed with pity and love,
and trembling with the hope of her redemption, he purchased her,
restored her to his home and to a probation the end of which should
be, if all went well, restoration to the high office of wife and mother.
To a man of such fidelity and power to forgive came, out of the depth
of his sorrow, the call to reinterpret Jehovah to his people."
The text of no other book of the Bible has suffered so much as
that of the book of Hosea. Its broken and incoherent sentences
testify, however, not only to the loss of old material and to the
insertion of new, but to the passion and sorrow of the writer, torn
with conflicting emotions of sympathy with his people in their
national disasters, and anger at their faithlessness and blindness.
* Some scholars regard the story of Hosea’s life-tragedy as an allegory through
which he tries to develop his teaching concerning the character of God. It hardly
seems, however, that a mere allegory could have so permeated his thinking that it
would form the basis of practically every utterance. The history of thought shows
many instances of great truths born of deep experiences, and to regard the story as
a simple statement of the facts of Hosea’s life seems the most rational way to interpret
the deep feeling with which the whole book vibrates.
92 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Hosea's Complaint against Israel
The following passage voices Hosea's complaint against the
people. In it we see the sum and substance of all that Hosea
bewails, a reign of terror under which the people suffer, lying, killing,
stealing; an absolute lack of civic and Social control; a debauched
priesthood profiting by the sins of the people, who turn with equal
ease to Jehovah and to idols for Succor in their extremity; treach-
erous and usurping rulers, holding power for a day. In the words
of Hosea: - +
All their kings have fallen,
No one among them calling for Jehovah.
And above all we see an almost universal lack of knowledge of the
moral demands of their God. -
To the people:
Hear the word of Jehovah,
O children of Israel;
Jehovah has a contention
With the inhabitants of the land;
5 For there is no truth, nor love,
Nor knowledge of God” in the land;
But swearing and lying and killing and stealing and com-
mitting adultery;” -
They break into (houses), blood striking blood,
Therefore the land mourns,
To And every inhabitant languishes,
Even the beasts of the field and the fowl of the heavens,
While the fish of the Sea are taken away.”
To the Priesis: 5
Still let none find fault,
And let none reprove,
I Hos. 4: I-3, 4, 5–9, 12a, b, I3a, I6, 17. -
2 * Knowledge of God: This does not refer to mere external knowledge of Jehovah
as the God of the land, but rather to an understanding of his moral character and
requirements.
3 Lines 7,8: the sins prohibited in the Ten Commandments, which were probably
known to the people at this time, thieving, murder, dishonesty, profanity, and adultery.
4 Lines Io-I2 seem to point to a drought So Severe that it affected the inhabitants
of the land, the beasts, the birds, and even the fishes, and this drought Hosea attributes w
to the anger of Jehovah. -
5 Strophe 2: Hosea turns to the priests and the prophets, representing the recog-
nized teachers of the people, with accusations and threats.
BOSEA, THE INTERPRETER OF JEHOVAH'S LOVE 93
I5 Since my people but follow their priestlings;
O priest, thou shalt fall by day,
And the prophet also shall fall with thee,
And by night I will destroy thy mother."
My people will be destroyed by reason of their lack of knowl-
edge,
20 Because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I reject thee from being priest to me;
And because thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
I will forget thy children, even I.
Soliloquy:*
According to their number so they sin;
25 They have exchanged their glory for shame.
They feed on the sin of my people,
And unto their iniquity they lift up their souls.
And so it becomes like people, like priest:
And I will visit punishment upon his ways,
3o And his deeds I will requite to him.
For they have left off heeding Jehovah.
Yea, my people ask counsel at their wood;
Their staff declares to them the oracle.8
Upon the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,
35 And upon the hills they make offerings,
Yea, like a stubborn heifer, Israel acts stubbornly.
Can Jehovah now feed them like a lamb in a broad place P
Ephraim" is wedded to idols;5 leave him alone.
Jehovah Forsaken and Insulted"
A still more bitter arraignment, in which the princes are particu-
larly assailed for their lack of confidence in Jehovah and their
appeals to foreign nations, is found in the following:
**Thy mother: that is, the nation. -
2 Strophe 3: the prophet soliloquizes that priests are no better than common people,
that they hold their offices for private gain. The result of such conduct will lead to the
loss of their office when Jehovah rouses himself, and there will be no need of a priest.
3 *Their staff: referring to idols, and, perhaps, the divining-rod, associated with
older forms of worship. -
4 *Ephraim: the name of one of the tribes of northern Israel very frequently used
to represent the whole nation, as Judah, another tribal name, came to represent all
of Southern Israel.
5 *Wedded to idols: that is, cannot be separated from her old ideas and instru-
ments of worship.
* Hos. 5:8–14.
94 - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Blow the trumpet in Gibeah,"
The cornet in Ramah;
Cry aloud in Bethel;
Make Benjamin to tremble.”
5 Ephraim shall become a desolation,
In the day of punishment. -
Against Israel’s tribes I make known that which is sure.
The princes of Israel have become
Like removers of landmarks.”
Io Upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.
Ephraim practices oppression! He breaks down right!
Because he has determined to go after vanity.
And it is I who am like a moth to Ephraim,"
Like rottenness to the house of Israel.
I5 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Israel his sore;
Then Ephraim went to Assyria,"
Yea, Israel sent to king Jareb;"
But he cannot relieve you,
20 Nor will he heal you of your wound.
For I myself will be like a lion to Ephraim,
And like a young lion to the house of Israel.
I, even I, will rend and get me away;
I will carry off and none shall rescue.
Love, the Desire of Jehovah"
But not wholly have the people forsaken Jehovah, and in their
vacillations lie the hope and the despair of the prophet. With
I Strophe I: the prophet callsfor a proclamation from all the hills and prominences
of the destruction which is coming upon Israel's political leaders.
2 *Benjamin: Traditionally located just south of Ephraim. Perhaps meant here
as a warning that the destruction which is coming upon Israel will continue southward
and may reach Judah.
3 *Removers of landmarks: a low form of thievery, and probably the most oppro-
brious term that could be applied to the priests.
4 Strophe 2: the destruction which Jehovah is bringing upon the nation is inevi-
table, for it comes from within, like a moth or rottenness.
5 Then Ephraim went to Assyria: hoping to avert the disaster, appealing to
Assyria rather than to Jehovah. - -
6 *Jareb: the reference is not clear. No king of this name is known, but it may
have been a name applied to some Assyrian monarch or a king in Egypt.
7 Hos. 5: I5; 6: I–6. -
HOSEA, THE INTERPRETER OF JEHOVAH'S LOVE 95
patient love he faces the discouraging shallowness of their appre-
ciation of the character of their God, and reiterates with added
tenderness the old doctrine of obedience rather than Sacrifice, as
acceptable to Jehovah. In the mouth of Hosea, however, obedience
has been transformed. It is no longer the obedience inspired by
a command, but that which is incited by a desire to obey which is
rooted in love.
I will return again to my place,
Until they are confounded and seek my face.
In their distress they will seek me.
(Saying) “Come, let us turn unto Jehovah,
5 For he has torn that he may heal us,
And he has smitten that he may bind us up.
He will revive us after two or three days;
He will establish us that we may live before him.”
“Yea, let us know, let us be zealous to know Jehovah.
Io When we seek him, then we shall find him;
And he will come as the winter rain” to us,
As the spring rain" which waters the earth.”
What can I make of you, O Ephraim!
What can I make of you, O Israel!
I5 Since your love is like a morning-cloud,
Yea, like the dew which early goes away.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of my mouth, w
And my judgment is like the light which goes forth.
20 For 4 it is love that I delight in and not sacrifice; -
Yea, knowledge of God, and not burnt-offerings.
* Strophe I: Hosea predicts a time when the people will vainly try to persuade
themselves that Jehovah is but wounding in order that he may heal; when they will
turn to him with painful zeal, expecting him to send refreshing blessings, but they will
be disappointed because they have failed to understand the message of the prophets,
that life rather than worship, love rather than offerings, are the demands of Jehovah.
**The winter rain: usually a heavy, pouring rain.
3 *The spring rain: very important because necessary to an abundant harvest.
4 Love not sacrifices: The prophet does not mean to say that Jehovah does not desire
sacrifices, but that he does desire sincere worship and a religion which is expressed in
right living and a right attitude toward one's fellow-men.
95 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The Coming Destruction
The coming of the Assyrian, so clearly seen by Amos, is ever
present with Hosea. He is in the midst of the fulfilment of the
prediction of Amos. Thus he pictures the political bewilderment
of his people.
And so Ephraim has become like a foolish dove, without
understanding;
To Egypt they go, to Assyria they cry.
Such confusion could lead to but one end, the deportation which
was Assyria's accustomed way of treating the peoples whom she
conquered. But Hosea's predictions were received with the same
skepticism which his predecessors had encountered.
Rejoice” not, O Israel, like the peoples;
Threshing-floor and wine-vat shall not know them,
And the new wine shall play them false.
They shall not pour libations of wine to Jehovah,
5 Nor prepare for him their sacrifices.
Their bread shall be like the bread of mourning;
All who eat it shall defile themselves.
For their bread shall be only for their hunger,
It shall not come into Jehovah's house.
Io They shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah,3
And Ephraim shall return to Egypt;
And in Assyria they shall eat what is unclean."
What will ye do on the day of the festival?
Or on the day of feasting to Jehovah P
15 For behold they will go to Assyria,
Egypt gathering them, Memphis burying them:
Nettles inheriting their precious things of silver:
Thorns coming up in their tents.
* Hos. 9: I, 2, 4, 3, 5, 8.
2 Strophe I: a picture of a time when there shall be no worship in Jehovah's land
—perhaps addressed to the people at a time of some great religious festival in the cele-
bration of which Israel is like the peoples about her, and which debases instead of
ennobles Israel.
3 Strophe 2: the time will come when Israel, scattered in foreign lands, will be
without the means for the worship of Jehovah.
4 Unclean: That is, unconsecrated.
HOSEA, THE INTERPRETER OF JEHOVAH'S LOVE 97
The days of visitation will come;
20 The days of recompense will come;
Israel shall know.
(The people say:) “A fool, the prophet;
Mad, the man of spirit.”
(Yes;) because of the greatness of thine iniquity and thy sin.
25 Enmity exists toward Ephraim's watchman;
The prophet (finds) the snares of the fowler in all his ways;
In the (very) house of his God they dig for him a deep pit.
A Call to Repentance”
But to such a man as Hosea, there could be no hopeless Sorrow.
He cannot conceive of a God who will not forgive a repentant peo-
ple. Not all the people were bent upon their own destruction.
Perhaps there might be a saving number who could be turned to
repentance. Thus impelled, Hosea speaks stimulating words of
exhortation, pleading with the people to turn to Jehovah, while yet
there is time. But even as he speaks he sees that they will not heed,
and that final destruction cannot be long delayed.
Ephraimº indeed is a heifer loving to thresh,4
And even I myself have spared the beauty of her neck;
But now I will make Ephraim draw; Israel must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.
5 Ye have plowed wickedness, injustice ye have reaped."
Ye have eaten the fruit of lies.
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
Reap the fruit of love;
Break up your fallow ground;
Io Yet there is time to seek Jehovah,
To the end that the fruit of righteousness may come to you.
* Strophe 3: Israel now regards the prophet as mad and foolish, but the time will
Come when he will be vindicated.
* Hos. Io: II, I2, 13a, b, I4a, c, 15.
3 Strophe I: a figure indicating that Israel’s days of ease are past and trouble is
ahead. - e
4 Loving to thresh: a much easier task than that of drawing the cart and keeping
in the straight path of the plowman.
5 Strophe 2: war is coming, disaster and ruin.
98 - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Because thou didst trust in thy chariots” in the multitude
of thy mighty ones
Therefore the tumult (of war) shall arise among thy peoples,
And all thy fortresses shall be ruined.
15 The mother being broken with the children.
Thus will I do to you, O house of Israel;
Because of the evil of your evil,
In the dawn utterly undone shall be the king of Israel.
Jehovah a God, and Not Maná
The climax and the comfort of Hosea's message is reached in
the last couplet of the passage which follows. Hosea, speaking as
frequently before in the very person of Jehovah, reviews the past
and yearns over the people of his choice with Supreme tenderness,
leaving us confident that whatever may have been the outcome of
his experiment in the rebuilding of his own broken family life, in
a holy God, infinitely more than man in his patience and forgive-
ness, love must be triumphant.
When Israel" was young then I came to love him,
And out of Egypt I called him;
The more I called them,
The farther they went away from me.
5 They keep sacrificing to the Baalim,
And making offerings to images.
Yets it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them up in my arms;
And they did not know that I healed them.
Io With the cords of a man" I would draw them, with bands of
love;
I Strophe 3: an appeal to the people. From the fruits of their experience they see
the results of their immoral lives—why not turn to righteousness, love, and Jehovah P
2 Trust in thy chariots: Israel has placed her confidence in great armies rather
than in the strength of Jehovah. The armies will come, but they will be her undoing.
3 Hos. II: I–7, 8a, 9b. -
4 Strophe I: although from childhood I have called Israel they are farther away
from me than ever.
5 Strophe 2: though they were constantly going away from me, I have cared for
them, healed them, provided for them, treated them tenderly.
6 The cords of a man: The figure changes here from that of a parent leading a child
to a good driver helping his team up a steep place.
HOSEA, THE INTERPRETER OF JEHOVAH'S LOVE . 99
And I was to them as one who lifts up the yoke" from upon
their jaws, -
And I inclined unto him and would give him to eat.
He” must return to the land of Egypt,
Or Assyria will be his king; for they have refused to repent.
15 And so the sword will whirl in their cities,
And will devour in their fortresses.
My people having wearied me with their rebellions,
Unto the yoke will I appoint them,
Since I have ceased to love them.
20 How8 can I give thee up, O Ephraim!
How can I surrender thee, O Israel!
For God am I and not man,
Holy in the midst of thee and not human.
Thus we see Hosea finding in the turmoil and confusion of his
times the repetition of his own dark experience, and in his own love
and forgiveness a reflection of what he conceives to be the divine love
and forbearance of Jehovah for weak and wavering Israel. Then
as now to men who obeyed Jehovah, conforming to so much of his
will as they knew, a clearer vision of his character came. No longer
might those who heeded the prophet conceive of their God as stern,
all-powerful justice, loving and merciful only so long as their cove-
nant remained unbroken, but rather as the Father-God, chastening
his son in love, suffering in the frailties of his people, well-nigh
despairing of their redemption, yet ever seeking to draw them with
a love of which the love of husband and wife was but a suggestion.
Hosea thought only of Israel, but he left not only Israel but all the
world richer for his experience, and better prepared for the teaching
of the Prophet of Nazareth in whose thought the divine Fatherhood
I Lifts up the yoke: so adjusts the yoke that the oxen may eat with ease.
2 Strophe 3: he can no longer remain in his land; he has wearied me with his
rebellion.
3 Strophe 4: yet, I cannot utterly surrender thee, for mine is not a love limited
and human, but divine and infinite. This whole passage is full of paternal fondness
and tenderness; nothing else in all prophecy so simply and exquisitely pictures the
patience and love of Jehovah manifested in his dealings with Israel.
IOO THE HEBREW PROPHETS
reached not alone to a nation, or to men of Israel’s blood, but to all
who would accept his love and the yoke of his service.*
1 As we proceed with our study we begin to realize through what struggles of men
and nations the religious conceptions which Surround us have come into existence.
Have we any right to be indifferent to these ideas? Are we not under the deepest
obligation to consider them and to assume toward them a personal relation, which will
influence our lives and lead us to new and helpful relations with our God?
AN ASSYRIAN GOD

TABLE OF IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS
B.C.
745-727
743-74O
738
735-7I5
735
734
727–722
725
724–721
72I–705
720
720–71o
715–688
712–700
7II
705-681
705
701
690
688–663
688
681–668
668–626
668
66I
639
745 B.C. to 568 B.C.
Tiglath-pileser IV, king of Assyria. Revival of Assyrian power.
ASSyrian campaigns against Arpad, in Syria.
ASSyrian campaign against Hamath, in Syria.
Ahaz, king of Judah.
Alliance of Northern Israel and Syria against Judah.
Ahaz appeals to Tiglath-pileser, thus becoming a vassal of ASSyria
and subject to tribute.
Tiglath-pileser destroys Damascus, invades Northern Israel, and
deports large numbers of the inhabitants.
Hoshea becomes king of Israel as a vassal of Assyria.
Shalmaneser IV, king of Assyria.
Rebellion of Syria and Israel against Assyria.
Siege of Samaria; its capture by Sargon. End of Northern Israel.
Sargon, king of ASSyria.
Sargon captures Hamath, in Syria.
Merodach-baladan, king in Babylon, a province of Assyria, becomes
hostile to Assyria.
Hezekiah, king of Judah.
Shabaka, king of Egypt.
Shabaka incites revolt in Palestine and Syria against Sargon.
Sargon invades Syria and Palestine and captures Ashdod.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria.
Merodach-baladan again for a little while active in Babylon against
Assyria.
Revolt in Palestine.
Sennacherib invades Palestine; overruns Judah and besieges Jeru-
salem; defeats Egyptian army at Altaqu; raises the siege of
Jerusalem and returns to Assyria; Judah tributary to ASSyria.
Destruction of Babylon by Assyria.
Tirhaka, king of Egypt; revival of Egyptian power.
Manasseh becomes king of Judah, as a vassal of Assyria.
Esarhaddon, king of Assyria.
Four Assyrian campaigns against Tirhaka of Egypt with varying
success. Memphis taken by Esarhaddon and the Delta made
an Assyrian province (670).
Ashurbanipal, king of ASSyria.
Ashurbanipal captures Memphis, in Egypt, which had revolted.
Height of Assyria’s power. Ashurbanipal plunders Thebes and
controls Egypt.
Josiah becomes king of Judah.
IOI
IO2
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
626
62I
608
606(?)
605
6oo
597
597
588
586
573
568
Scythian hordes overrun western Asia.
Beginning of prophetic activity of Jeremiah and Zephaniah.
Discovery of the law book.
Inauguration of the reformation by King Josiah.
Pharaoh Necho invades Palestine and is intercepted by King Josiah
at Megiddo, where Josiah is slain. k .
Jehoahaz is crowned king of Judah by the people and reigns for three
months.
Pharaoh deposes Jehoahaz, carries him to Egypt, and places
Jehoiakim on the throne in his stead as a vassal of Egypt.
Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, falls under the joint attack of the
Medes and the Babylonians. The Assyrian empire comes to an
end. Nahum, the prophet, celebrates her downfall in a paean
of triumph.
Pharaoh Necho, advancing to seize upon the territory of the fallen
Assyrian, is met at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchad-
nezzar, son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, and defeated.
Pharaoh retires from western Asia and Palestine.
Nebuchadnezzar succeeds to the throne of Babylon.
Jehoiakim transfers his allegiance from Egypt to Babylonia.
Jehoiakim, weary of paying tribute, revolts from Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar sends his allies from among the neighbors of Judah
to attack Jehoiakim.
Jehoiakim dies and is succeeded by Jehoiachin.
After Jehoiachin has reigned three months Nebuchadnezzar in person
besieges Jerusalem, captures the city, deports Jehoiachin and
ten thousand of the leading citizens to Babylon, and places
Zedekiah on the throne as his vassal.
Habakkuk, the prophet, seeks to reassure Judah.
Zedekiah, instigated by Pharaoh Hophra, revolts from Babylon and
Jerusalem is subjected to a three-years' siege by Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah counsels Surrender.
Pharaoh Hophra seeks to relieve Jerusalem by invading Palestine,
but is driven back by Nebuchadnezzar.
Jerusalem falls. Large numbers of the people are taken into exile
in Babylonia. Numbers flee to Egypt.
Gedaliah is appointed governor by Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah remains with Gedaliah at Mizpeh.
Gedaliah is assassinated by Ishmael, one who refuses to submit to
Babylon.
Large numbers, fearing the vengeance of Babylon, flee to Egypt and
compel Jeremiah to accompany them. -
Nebuchadnezzar captures Tyre, after a siege of thirteen years.
Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt and renders impossible further
activity on her part in Palestine.
RED SEA
27
The ASSyrian Empire under
Tiglath-Pileser IV
Solid Color: The Provinces of Assyria .
Cross-barred: Wassal States of Assyria

38
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---------Tº-----
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34
MEDITER ANEAN SEA
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The Babylonian Empire under
Nebuchadnezzar || |







































CHAPTER IX
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS
The prophets of the century following the time of Hosea wrought
in the face and under the shadow of an impending national disaster
which colors the work of all of them. Against the background of
the Assyrian invasions we see clearly that the fall of Samaria
could not long be delayed. Without strong leaders, already a
vassal to Assyria, her kings too lacking in discernment to see that
in loyalty to Assyria lay their only safety, it was but a question of
time when the Assyrian destroyer would have his way. To us
who see only the map, with its thirty miles of hill and plain stretch-
ing between Samaria and Jerusalem, it seems almost inconceivable
that more than one hundred years could elapse before the city of
Jerusalem would share the fate of its sister capital. That such
was the fact was due not to the strength of the city, nor to the wis-
dom of her kings, but to the work of the prophets. Believing that
Jehovah would never abandon his people, they fed the hopes of the
nation, checked the rashness of kings, and by their statesmanlike
Counsels averted many a disaster.
First, and possibly chief among these men was Isaiah of Jeru-
salem. The story of his life may be gathered from his writings'
more fully and clearly than that of any prophet before him. Unlike
Amos and Hosea, the field of his activity was in the Southern
Kingdom, and chiefly in the city of Jerusalem itself. Separated
by only one generation from Amos, growing into manhood within
a few miles of the Tekoan home of his predecessor, seeing distinctly
what Amos less clearly discerned, the oncoming Assyrian conqueror,
his conception of Jehovah, while as uncompromising as that of
Amos, was shot through with gleams of hope, and sustained by a
faith which proved for the time being the salvation of the nation.
* The last twenty-seven chapters of the Book of Isaiah belong to a period much
later than that of Isaiah, and reflect a much more advanced conception of God. A
literary confusion perhaps of Some editor has brought these two distinct books
together into one. -
IO3
IO4 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
We may recall that the Assyrian armies, which were busy in
other directions, had left Palestine unmolested for many years,
with the result that the reign of Jeroboam II in the North had
been as prosperous as it was long. For the same reason Judah in the
South, under Uzziah, had extended her territory and developed her
resources in undisturbed peace through fifty years. Butin both the
Northern and the Southern Kingdoms, beneath seeming prosperity
lay the rottenness of commercial greed, extortion and craft, spend-
thrift luxury, low ideals of personal and national life, and a formal
worship which constantly belied the character of Jehovah.
Riches and pleasure brought with them the same kind of uncon-
trolled joy that had characterized the life of the North in Jero-
boam’s day, and this joy found expression in extravagant religious
demonstrations. In Jerusalem at the great temple, the worship
of Jehovah was dishonored by excesses similar to those accompany-
ing the worship of heathen gods. Throughout the land images
were freely used, and the religious zeal of the people was so great
that it could not expend itself in the worship of Jehovah alone.
But this fanatical religious life was based upon the old sordid con-
ception of God which regarded him as pleased above all with
material gifts and elaborate ceremonial. His moral requirements,
simple honesty, justice, mercy, and truth, were not apprehended
or were disregarded.
The Call of Isaiah.”
But we must not suppose that no one in Jerusalem had a higher
conception of Jehovah. There were doubtless some who had
taken to heart the messages of Amos and Hosea, though spoken
to their northern neighbors. Some there were who saw the nation
weakening under the strain of the debauched life of the people.
To Isaiah belonged not only this clearer vision, but the power to
act in accordance with it. He has himself given us the story of
the hour when it was borne in upon his understanding that he
must carry a message to his people. Doubtless the account was
written years afterward, and bears the imprint of the prophet's
* See pp. 64–70, for conditions under Jeroboam II.
* Isa., chap. 6.
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS IO5
later experience, as he looked back upon fruitless labors. But that
the story is the description of a real and vital experience we cannot
doubt. It makes clear to us the source of that enthusiasm which
the passing years transformed into stern and patient determina-
tion.
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the
temple. Above him stood the seraphim:* each one had six
wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he
5 covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried
unto another, and said,
“Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts;
The whole earth is full of his glory.”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice
Io of him that cried, and the house was filled with Smoke. Then
said I,
“Woe is me! for I am undone;
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:
I5 For mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.”
Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a hot stone
in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the
altar: and he touched my mouth with it, and said,
“Lo, this hath touched thy lips;
20 And thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin removed.”
* (790-739 B.C.): For the biblical account of the reign of Uzziah or Azariah See
II Kings 15:1–7. The death of the king from leprosy, a disease which the Hebrews
always regarded as a visitation of the displeasure of Jehovah, would make a strong
impression upon a man of Isaiah’s type of mind. That he should be found in the tem-
ple, absorbed in contemplation and adoration of the holy character of Jehovah, that
out of this there should arise an overpowering conviction of duty for himself, and that
he should describe his experience, even to himself, in terms of a vision—all this is but
natural for a man of Isaiah’s deep piety and mystical temperament.
* Seraphim: This is the only use of the term in either the Old or the New Testa-
ments. There are other allusions in Isaiah to a “fiery flying serpent” which suggest
the conclusion that the seraphim of this vision were glowing dragon or Serpent forms
with wings as described.
3 Have seen the king: The glory of his vision overwhelmed Isaiah with a Sense
of humiliation, and also of fear, for he recalled the old tradition that, “No man may
look upon the face of Jehovah and live.”
4 Thy sin is removed: Burned away by the heat of the stone.
Ioé THE HEBREW PROPHETS
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for us?”
Then I said,
25 “Here am I; send me.”
And he said,
“Go, and tell this people,
Go on hearing, but understand not;
Go on Seeing, but perceive not.
3o Make the heart of this people fat,"
And make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
And their heart should understand and they be healed
again.”
Then said I,
35 “Lord, how long?”
And he answered,
“Until cities be waste without inhabitant,
And houses without man, and the land be left a desolation,
And Jehovah have removed men far away,
40 And the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land.
And if there be yet a tenth in it,
It also shall in turn be burnt, like the terebinth,” and like
the oak,
Whose stock remaineth when they are felled.”
A Demand for Reform
The first effect upon the prophet of this vision of holiness was
to make still more abhorrent to him the sham and paltriness of
the national life, and to strengthen in him the belief that the God
of whom he had had a vision would not long bear with such a people.
In the menacing Assyrian he saw the instrument of Jehovah's
* Make the heart, etc.: These imperative commands state rather a great law—that
unheeded warnings leave men more callous than before, until their power to heed is
lost completely. With the experience of Amos and Hosea behind him Isaiah saw little
probability that the people of Judah would listen to his message, or that the destruc-
tion of the nation would be less complete than that of a tree when the stump is burned.
Can we overestimate the courage of a man who would undertake so hopeless a task?
* Terebinth: A tree common in Palestine, but somewhat less so than the oak.
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS Io?
wrath descending in punishment upon his people. But to Isaiah
punishment was an instrument of reform, not an act of vengeance.
He felt that the nation was not to be utterly destroyed, but to be
regenerated. Faith and hope were ever his strongest allies. Never
despairing, he threw himself into a fight for moral and religious
reform, seeking to startle the nation from its fancied security, and
to make a remnant of the people fit to survive the destruc-
tion which he so clearly foresaw. The following selection will
serve to illustrate this early campaign of Isaiah against the Social
evils of his day.
* For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, .
Doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and
staff, -
The whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,
The mighty man, and the man of war;
5 The judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder:
The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the
counsellor,
And the expert charmer, and the skilful enchanter.
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall
rule over them.
And the people shall be oppressed, one by another, and each
by his neighbour:
Io The child shall behave himself proudly against the old man,
and the base against the honourable.
When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of
his father, saying,
“Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler,
And let this ruin be under thy hand.”
In that day shall he lift up his voice, saying,
I5 “I will not be a healer;
For in my house is neither bread nor clothing:
Ye shall not make me ruler of the people.”
* Isa. 3: I-15 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission). This passage enumer-
ates all the different classes of leaders in commercial, social, and religious life. It
pictures them swept away, and Superseded by inexperienced and childish leaders,
whose only qualification for their position is the fact that they can afford to possess
the necessary garments of state.
IO3 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen:
Because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah,
20 To provoke the eyes of his glory. *
Their respecting of persons doth witness against them;
And they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.” W
Woe unto their soul! For they have done evil unto them-
selves.
Happy is the righteous, for it is well with him:
25 For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Woe unto the wicked! it is ill with him:
For what his hands have done shall be done unto him.
As for my people, children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them. f
30 O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err,
And destroy the way of thy paths.
Jehovah standeth up to contend,
And standeth to judge the people,
Jehovah will enter into judgment
35 With the elders of his people, and the princes thereof:
“It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard;
The spoil of the poor is in your houses:
What mean ye that ye crush my people,
And grind the face of the poor?”
Isaiah Pronounces the Doom of Israel
Isaiah tells us that he undertook his work in the year that King
Uzziah died. Jotham,” Uzziah’s son, succeeded to the throne.
Perhaps in his reign, but certainly in the early years of that of his
son Ahaz,4 the combined armies of Northern Israel and Syria
* For Jerusalem is ruined: This is not a lament over a city already fallen, but a
picture of disaster so imminent as to make the prophet's words bring trembling to the
hearts of his hearers.
* Lines 21, 22: “Anyone who looks can see their sin.” It can no longer be hidden.
The leaders are the most conspicuous sinners of all. Upon them rests the responsi-
bility of having led the nation astray.
3 Jotham (739–735 B.C.): For the biblical account of his reign see II Kings 15:32–
38.
4 Ahaz (735–715 B.C.): For the biblical account of his reign see II Kings 16:1–20.
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS IOg
invaded Judah, carrying dismay to the hearts of king and people.
The prophet seized upon this opportunity to impress his message
of moral and social reform, proclaiming that the wickedness of
both Israel and Judah was the cause of their misfortunes. War
he declared to be but the expression of Jehovah's chastening anger.
*The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
And it hath lighted upon Israel.
And all the people shall know,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
5 That say in pride and in stoutness of heart,” -
“The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone:
The sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their
place.”
Therefore Jehovah will raise up enemies against him,
And will goad on his foes;
To The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.”
Yet the people turn not unto him that smiteth them,
15 Neither seek they Jehovah of hosts.
Therefore Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail,
Palm-branch and rush, in one day.
For they that lead this people cause them to err;
And they that are led of them are destroyed.
20 Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men,
Neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and
widows:
For every one is profane and an evil-doer,
And every mouth speaketh folly.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
25 But his hand is stretched out still.4
* Isa. 9:8–Io: 4; 5:26–30.
* Lines 1–5: Samaria had already suffered greatly, having been compelled to
pour her treasure into the coffers of Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria. The words
“stoutness of heart” well expressed the persistence with which these Palestinian cities
held to their hope of renewed prosperity. \
3 Lines 13, 25: Note the impressive sternness of these lines which constitute a
refrain appearing at the end of each strophe.
4 Strophe 2: As it was in Judah, so in Samaria, it is the leaders whom the prophet
arraign.S.
I IO . THE HEBREW PROPHETS
For wickedness burneth as the fire;
It devoureth the briers and thorns;
Yea, it kindleth in the thickets of the forest,
And they roll upward in a column of smoke.
3o Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land
burnt up:
The people are as the fuel of fire.
No man spareth his brother;
And one shall Snatch on the right hand, and be hungry;
And he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satis-
fied: -
35 They shall eat every man the flesh of his neighbor;
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh:
And they together shall be against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.
4o Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
And to the writers that write perverseness:
To turn aside the needy from justice,
And to rob the poor of my people of their right;
That widows may be their spoil,
45 And that they may plunder Orphans!
And what will ye do in the day of visitation,
And in the desolation which shall come from far P
To whom will ye flee for help!
And where will ye leave your possessions P
5o So as not to bow down under the prisoners,
And fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
But his hand is stretched out still.”
And again the prophet says:
55 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far,
And will hiss for them from the end of the earth:
And, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
None shall be weary, nor stumble among them:
None shall slumber nor sleep;
I Strophe 3: A picture of anarchy, greed, and blind strife introduced under the
imagery of a forest fire. “Neither shall Judah escape in this general turmoil,” says
the prophet.
* Strophe 4: “To whom will the unjust legislators turn when the more distant
nation comes with its visitation of desolation ?”
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS III
60 Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed,
Nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
Whose arrows are sharp,
And all their bows bent;
Their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint,
65 And their wheels as a whirlwind:
Their roaring shall be like a lioness,
They shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar,
And lay hold of the prey, and carry it away Safe,
And there shall be none to deliver.
7o And they shall roar over them in that day like the roaring
of the sea:
And if one look unto the land, behold darkness and distress,
And the light is darkened in the clouds thereof."
Isaiah Fighting a Foreign Alliance
The invasion of Northern Israel and Syria, which brought such
fear in its train, seems certainly to have been due to the intention
of the two northern nations to force Ahaz of Judah into a triple
confederacy against Assyria, of whom the northern nations were
rebellious vassals. Ahaz was reluctant but frightened. Should
he refuse the demand, he was not prepared to maintain war against
the combined forces of Israel and Syria. On the other hand, he
was too good a statesman to fail to see that even with his aid the
trio could not hold back such a formidable foe as Assyria. By an
appeal to Assyria herself, however, he might be able to get rid of his
neighboring foes, and at the same time forestall any attack from
Assyria. This is the situation which confronted the king when
Isaiah,” already a man who commanded the respectful attention
of the royal household, assumed a definitely political rôle, seeking
to keep the nation free from foreign alliances, and in comparatively
safe neutrality. º
In the accounts which follow we see the prophet striving to
* *Line3 55–70: Note the wonderful description of the oncoming of an army, swift
and sure. The prophet here represents Jehovah as actually calling the foreign army
to execute his purpose. He does not merely allow it to come.
* Isaiah: We have no definite knowledge of the family or position of Isaiah.
We may infer, however, from the close relation which he held to the king, even when
arrayed against him, that he was of good family and familiar with the life of the court.
II 2 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
reassure Ahaz, to persuade him to rely upon Jehovah alone, and
to show him that he has nothing to fear from the fast decaying
nations on the north. Isaiah’s faith in the truth of his message
led him to employ expedients peculiar to himself. He not only
spoke words of counsel, but enforced them by illustration. By
the very names which he gave to his children he kept before the
people a continual reminder of his message. Upon one occasion,
we are told, Ahaz was returning from an inspection of the water
Supply of the city, preparatory to a possible siege. Isaiah, going
out to meet him, took with him his son whom he called by the sym-
bolical name “Shear-jashub” (a remnant shall turn). He exhorted
Ahaz to take courage, for the record tells us “the heart of Ahaz
was moved, and the hearts of his people, as the trees of the forest
are moved with the wind.” Says Isaiah:
*Take heed and be quiet;
Fear not, neither let thy heart be faint,
Because of these two tails of Smoking fire-brands,
For the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of
Remaliah.”
5 Because Syria hath counselled evil against thee,
Ephraim also, and the Son of Remaliah, saying,
“Let us go up against Judah and vexit,
And let us make a breach therein for us,
And set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel.”3
Io Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,
“It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
For the head of Syria is Damascus,
And the head of Damascus is Rezin:
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
15 And the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son.”
But the king was already considering what seemed to him the
one open door of Safety, an appeal to ASSyria, and the attempt of
* Isa. 7:4–9 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
* * Son of Remaliah: A contemptuous way of naming Pekah, king of Israel.
3 * Son of Tabeel: Perhaps a rival of Ahaz, who was willing to be subservient
to the will of Rezin and Pekah.
4 Summary: “Do not fear, Ahaz. These two nations whom you so greatly dread
will certainly be destroyed. They are already like burnt-out firebrands.”
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS II.3
Isaiah to turn him aside from his strengthening purpose was unsuc-
cessful.
The days passed. Again we find the prophet, this time perhaps
in the court, before the king and his assembled household, offer-
ing to perform some sign" which should attest the validity of
his message as coming from Jehovah, for like his predecessors,
Isaiah Could conceive of himself only as the direct representative
of Jehovah. But Ahaz, possibly having already made his appeal
to Assyria, claimed superiority to any such requirement.
Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah.”
And Isaiah said,
*“Hear ye now, O house of David: is it a small thing for
you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also P
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign;
5 Behold, a young woman shall bear a son,
And shall call his name Immanuel.3
Butter and honey shall he eat,"
When he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose
the good,5
Io The land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken.”
Later the prophet, convinced that Ahaz has already made the
alliance which he was striving to avert, again appeared before the
king with a bitter denunciation. He presented a picture of devas-
tation at the hands of Assyria which plainly showed that he under-
stood the situation. With keener insight than Ahaz he foresaw
that the destruction which the appeal of Ahaz would precipitate
upon the Northern Kingdom would not stop there. It must sweep
through Judah and leave the land shaved with the very razor
which the king had hired to destroy his enemies.
* A sign: Some sign of the authenticity of a prophet’s message was very commonly
given. Isaiah offered to give such a sign in heaven or on earth. See Isa. 7: Io, II.
* Isa. 7: I2–16. Again a prophecy of destruction for the Northern nations.
3*Immanual: “God is with us.” This might be a comfort or a menace, according
to whether Jehovah should come as a defense or in judgment.
4*Butter and honey: The natural simple food of the land, all other resources being
gone.
5*When he knoweth to choose, etc.: Would it be at about five or six years of age?
II4 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
*Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and
upon thy father's house, days that have not come from the
day that Ephraim departed from Judah;” even the king of
Assyria.
5 And it shall come to pass in that day,
That the Lord will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost
part of the rivers of Egypt,
And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.”
And they shall come, and shall rest all of them
In the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks,
Io And upon all thorn-hedges, and upon all pastures.
In that day will the Lord shave
With a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River,
even with the king of Assyria,
The head and the hair of the feet;
And it shall also consume the beard."
I5 And it shall come to pass in that day,
That a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep:
And it shall come to pass, that because of the abundance of
the yield of milk he shall eat butter:
For butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the
midst of the land.6
And it shall come to pass in that day,
20 That every place where there were a thousand vines at a
thousand silverlings,
Shall even be for briers and thorns.
With arrows and with bow shall one come thither;
Because all the land shall be brier and thorns.
And all the hills that were digged with the mattock,
* Isa. 7:17–25; 8:5-8 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
* Ephraim departed from Judah: The kingdom was divided at the death of Solo-
In OIl.
3 Lines 5-Io: Note the striking figure of Jehovah calling the nations as a bee-
master calls the bees, and with the same quick response.
4 Lines II-I5: The figure changes to one which will represent the complete
devastation of the land. -
5 Lines 15–18: Only the natural products of the land, the wild honey and the
milk of one cow and two goats, will be needed to nourish the people who remain after
the foreign army has swept over it.
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS II5
25 Thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns.
But it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the
treading of sheep.”
And the Lord spake unto me yet again, saying,
“Forasmuch as this people hath refused
The waters of Shiloah” that go softly,
3o And faint because of Rezin, and Remaliah's Son;
Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them
The waters of the River,3 strong and many,
Even the king of Assyria and all his mass;
And it shall come up over all its channels,
35 And go over all its banks:
And it shall sweep onward into Judah and shall overflow
And shall pass through, reaching even to the neck;
And the stretching out of its wings shall fill
The breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.”4
Graphically and more publicly, at still another time the prophet
pictured the coming destruction. Taking a great tablet he wrote
upon it the words, Maher-shalal-hash-baz," a combination of words
which, in view of the encroachments of Assyria, was calculated to
strike terror to all who read them. Another child of the prophet
received the words as his name, and the father announced, “before
the child shall have knowledge to cry” “My father’ and “My mother’
* Lines 20–26: The vineyards will be fit only for hunting-fields, and the gardens
for wild pasture.
**Waters of Shiloah: A figure drawn from the pool and spring which watered
the Temple hill in Jerusalem, used to represent the gently refreshing and supporting
but forgotten presence of Jehovah.
3*Waters of the River: i.e., the great river, the Euphrates, representing the Assyrian
army.
4 Immanuel: The name is here perhaps used with some irony, as meaning that
Jehovah's presence is now an occasion of punishment instead of deliverance, as it
might have been had Ahaz heeded the prophet’s advice.
5 Isa. 8: I-4.
* Maher-shalal-hash-baz: “the spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth.”
7 * Knowledge to cry, etc.: Would this be at about two years of age P. We cannot
fix the actual date of these prophecies. It is apparent however that the fall of Samaria
has become more imminent since the last child prophecy. Possibly the end did not
come quite as Soon as Isaiah had expected, for no man could have considered Samaria
able to endure the three years' siege by the Assyrians which ended in her destruction in
72 I B.C.
II6 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried
away by the king of Assyria.”
The Fall of Damascus and Samaria
What in fact was the effect of the appeal of Ahaz to the Assyri-
ans? Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, welcoming the opportu-
nity to punish Damascus and Samaria for their rebellion, promptly
marched westward. In 734 B.C. he invaded Northern Israel,
left a weak vassal on the throne, and in 732 B.C. took Damascus,
the Syrian capital. Judah was saved for the moment. The price
which she paid in gold and in Submission is briefly suggested in
II Kings 16:7–9. Ahaz had gained a respite but lost his independ-
ence. In all probability he was as fast bound to the Assyrian
monarch by annual tribute, and more active surveillance, as the
vassal king of rebellious Northern Israel. We read of a friendly
meeting of Ahaz and Tiglath-pileser at Damascus, where the con-
queror received his vassals, and interchange of courtesies took
place, but these could hardly atone for the loss of Judah’s ancient
freedom. Neither was there prospect of long-continued protection
under the patronage of the treacherous Assyrian.
The death of Tiglath-pileser in 727 B.C.” gave another oppor-
stunity for rebellion in Northern Israel. The older civilization of
Egypt, for centuries in earlier days the overlord of Palestine, had
never lost its attraction for the Palestinian kings. So, the king
of Egypt persuaded Northern Israel to withhold the annual tribute
from the new king of Assyria, Shalmaneser IV.4 The punishment
was swift and sure. Siege was laid against Samaria. Because of
her wonderful location upon the hills, the city was able to hold
the Assyrian outside her walls for three years, and at last when her
exhausted and starving people Surrendered, it was not to Shal-
maneser, but to his general and Successor, Sargon. Twenty-seven
* II Kings I6: Io.
**Tiglath-pileser (745–727 B.C.): Study the map and note the extent of the actual
conquest of this king as well as his tributary states.
3 II Kings 17:4.
4 *Shalmaneser IV. (727–722 B.C.) and Sargon (722-705 B.C.).
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS II 7
thousand Hebrews were deported to Assyria, and their places
filled by a mixed company of captives of war from other lands,
fruits of recent conquests of the Assyrian kings (721 B.C.).
Isaiah’s message was vindicated. The northern cities were no
more, but the barriers which these two hostile nations had inter-
posed between Judah and Assyria were swept away, and the terri-
tory of Judah lay open to the common foe.
Isaiah Fighting an Egyptian Alliance
For ten years our records give us no clue to the work of Isaiah,
but we can imagine him zealously prosecuting his moral reforms,
and counseling the king to be loyal to his overlord, that he might
escape the fate of his northern neighbors.
In 7II B.C. another coalition, this time headed by the cities of
Philistia, was attempted. Perhaps the influence of Isaiah kept
Judah out of this conspiracy for a time, but on the death of Sargon,
the revolt became so general that Judah seems to have been swept
into the insurrection. A strong party favoring appeal to Egypt is
found in Jerusalem. Isaiah saw the futility of the dream, for he not
only believed that Egypt too would fall into the hands of the world-
conquering Assyrian, but that the strength of Jehovah alone would
suffice for his people. His faith in the power and the will of Jehovah
to save his nation was Supreme in every crisis, and appeal to an
outside nation seemed to him nothing less than an insult to Jehovah.
Discarding his outer garment, appearing in the garb of a captive
of war, he walked the streets barefooted for the three years of
the uncertain outcome of the conspiracy. His words explain his
act:
*“And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath
walked uncovered and barefoot three years for a sign, so shall
the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt uncovered
and barefoot, to the shame of Egypt. . . . . And the inhab-
5 itant of the coast land shall say in that day, Behold such is
our expectation, whither we fled for help from the Assyrian:
and we, how shall we escape?”
*Isaiah 20:3, 4, 6.
II8 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Isaiah and the Campaign of Sennacherib'
Sargon's Son and Successor, Sennacherib, was a general no less
able than Sargon himself. After a swift conquest of rebellious
subjects in the east Sennacherib turned to the west. Down the
Mediterranean coast he marched, taking city after city as he passed.
Phoenicia and Philistia were quickly reduced to subjection. Judah
lay off the main route of the march, but toward her Sennacherib
turned after his coast campaign. In one of his inscriptions the
Assyrian monarch tells us that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, then
upon the throne of Judah, saw forty-six of his fortified cities fall
into the hands of the Assyrians. Sending messengers to treat with
the conqueror, Hezekiah purchased temporary peace at the cost of
a tribute so vast as to impoverish the kingdom, but the relief was
of short duration. Sennacherib feared to trust a Palestinian king.
In a little while his armies appeared at the gates of Jerusalem
demanding unconditional Surrender.
Previous to this fresh invasion we find no allusions to Isaiah
after we saw him walking the streets of Jerusalem in the garb of a
captive of war, reminding the people of the fate which awaited the
nation in whom they were seeking to put their trust. Perhaps
the earlier overtures of Hezekiah were the result of his wise counsels.
We cannot believe that he was silent or without influence during
those years. But a terrible crisis was now at hand. Isaiah main-
tained more firmly than ever his belief that Jehovah was but punish-
ing and disciplining Judah, and that he would not allow his city
to fall into the hands of the enemy. He could not conceive of
Jehovah without a city in which to dwell. The sight of the people
rushing to the Temple with their offerings, crowding its courts,
and falling over each other in their eagerness to approach Jehovah,
and to placate him with offerings disgusted him and filled him with
despair. He arraigned and pleaded:
I “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,
For Jehovah hath spoken;
**Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.): Study the map as before. Note with care the extent
of the territory of Assyria at this time. One of the phenomenal events of history
is the downfall of this nation, Soon to become apparent.
* Isaiah I: 2–26 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission, with revisions).
º
BAS-RELIEFS SHOWING ASSYRIAN SOLDIERS ATTACKING A CITY

ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS II9
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against me.
5 The ox knoweth his owner,
And the ass his master’s crib;
But Israel doth not know,
My people doth not consider.””
II Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
Io A seed of evil-doers, children that deal corruptly:
They have forsaken Jehovah,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
Why will ye be still stricken,
That ye revolt more and more?”
III I5 The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no
Soundness in it; x
But wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes:
They have not been closed, neither bound up,
2O Neither mollified with oil.3
IV Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire;
Your land, strangers devour it in your presence,
And it is desolate, like the overthrow of Sodom.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard,
25 As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a remnant,
We should have been as Sodom, we should have been like
unto Gomorrah.” 4
V Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom;
Give ear unto the teaching of our God, ye people of
Gomorrah.
3o “What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices?”
saith Jehovah.
* Strophe I: Let all the world see that my people have ceased to know me.
* Strophe 2: They have forsaken me in their sin.
3 Strophe 3: You are a sick and wounded nation. Why do you continue in your
way of independence courting fresh injury P
4 Strophe 4: Your city stands alone and unprotected. Only by a remnant are
we saved from the total destruction which visited Sodom and Gomorrah.
I2O THE HEBREW PROPHETs
“I am sated with the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat
of fed beasts;
And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or
of he-goats.
VI “When ye come to appear before me,
Who hath required this at your hand, to trample my
courts?
35 Bring no more the vain oblation;
It is a loathsome incense unto me; -
New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies,
I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn meeting.
VII “Your new moons and your appointed feasts
4o My Soul hateth:
They are a cumbrance to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When ye spread forth your hands,
I will hide mine eyes from you:
45 Yea, when ye make many prayers,
I will not hear:*
VIII “Your hands are full of blood.
Wash you, make you clean;
Put away the evil of your doings
50 From before mine eyes;
Cease to do evil:
Learn to do well.
Seek justice,
Relieve the oppressed,
55 Judge the orphan,
Plead for the widow.”
Ix “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Saith Jehovah;3
“If your sins be as Scarlet,
6o Can they be as white as Snow P
If they be red like crimson
Can they be as wool?
* Strophes 5, 6, 7: Your multitudinous sacrifices and ceremonials avail nothing
and are a weariness to me.
* Strophe 8: I will not accept your petitions until they are presented with clean
hands and pure hearts.
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS I2I
If ye be willing and obedient,
Ye shall eat the good of the land:
65 But if ye refuse and rebel,
Ye shall be devoured with the Sword.”
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.”
x *How is the faithful city
Become an harlot! \
70 She that was full of judgment!
Righteousness lodged in her,
But now murderers.
Thy silver is become dross,
Thy wine mixed with water.
XI 75 Thy princes are rebellious,
And companions of thieves:
Every one loveth bribes,
And followeth after rewards:
They judge not the orphan,
8o Neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
XII Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel,
“Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries,
And avenge me of mine enemies:
85 And I will bring my hand again upon thee,
And as with lye purge away thy dross,
And will take away all thine alloy.
And I will restore thy judges as at the first,
And thy counsellors as at the beginning:
90 Afterward thou shalt be called The City of Righteousness,
The Faithful City.”
Thus we see Isaiah as before in act and word making clear to
the faithful his hope and establishing their confidence in the very
face of despair. A letter from the king of Assyria about to besiege
the city of Hezekiah reads as follows:
* Strophe 9: You must choose between forgiveness and obedience on the one hand
and rebellion and punishment on the other. -
* The remainder of this poem constitutes a dirge in the regular elegiac measure
which is evident only in the Hebrew. Note that Isaiah holds firmly to his belief
that eventually the city will be cleansed and purified and restored. Can we appre-
ciate the strength of his faith in this respect?
I 22
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
5
IO
*Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying,
Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of
Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt
thou be delivered P’ Have the gods of the nations delivered
them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran,
and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar P
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah P
Hezekiah’s prayer as he presented his outspread letter before
Jehovah was that of a sincere man.
IO
I5
*And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the
messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house
of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah, saying, O Jehovah
of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim,
thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the
earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine
ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see:
and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to defy
the living God. Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria
have laid waste all the countries, and their land, and have
cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the
work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore they have
destroyed them. Now therefore, Jehovah, our God, save us
from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that thou Jehovah art the Lord, even thou only. -
Can we comprehend the situation ? The Assyrian army
encamped within sight of the city. Hezekiah as Sennacherib's
* Isa. 37: Io-I3.
* All the cities of this paragraph were located either in Assyria or Syria and
although unknown for the most part to us were to Hezekiah probably conspicuous
testimony to the power of the Assyrian king.
3 Isa. 37: 14–20. Study this prayer, and note in it the hope, the conception of
the unique character of Jehovah among the gods of the earth, and an appreciation of
his relation to all the nations of the earth which could only be attributed to the influ-
ence of some great soul like that of Isaiah whose vision of Jehovah far transcended
the common thought of his day.
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS I23
own inscription tells us, “shut up like a bird in a cage, in Jeru-
salem, his royal city.” No help from north, east, South, or West;
the city despoiled of her treasure; the people disheartened and
dying; the army reduced to a remnant. Why should the evil
but inevitable day of surrender be postponed? Had not Jehovah
at last forsaken his people?
In this unprecedented crisis Isaiah's faith rises triumphant.
He sends the answer of Jehovah to the prayer of Hezekiah. Read
the majestic words addressed to the arrogant ASSyrian conqueror.
*Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Whereas thou hast
prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, this is the
word which Jehovah hath spoken concerning him:
“The virgin daughter of Zion
5 Hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn;
The daughter of Jerusalem
Hath shaken her head at thee.
Whom hast thou defied and blasphemed P
And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice
Io And lifted up thine eyes on high P
Even against the Holy One of Israel.
“By thy servants hast thou defied Jehovah
And thou hast said,
“With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the
height of the mountains,
15 To the innermost parts of Lebanon;
And I will cut down the tall cedars thereof,
And the choice fir trees thereof;
And I will enter into its farthest height,
The forest of its fruitful field.
2O I have digged and drunk water,
And with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of
Egypt.” . .
* Isa. 37:21–29 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission). Here we have again
in the Hebrew the elegiac measure in a song of not only the ultimate doom of Assyria
and Egypt, but of the immediate humiliation of Assyria, followed by the most definite
promises of deliverance for Jerusalem and the future building-up of the nation. Only
by getting the situation clearly in mind can we appreciate the strength and the temerity
of Isaiah in this crisis.
I24 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
“Hast thou not heard how I have done it long ago;
And formed it of ancient times?
Now have I brought it to pass,
25 That thou art to lay waste fortified cities
Into ruinous heaps:
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power,
They were dismayed and confounded;
They were as the grass of the field,
3o And as the green herb,
As the grass on the housetops, and as a field of grain
Before it be grown up.
“But, I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy
Coming in,
And thy raging against me.
35 Because of thy raging against me,
And because thine arrogancy is come up into mine ears,
Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose,"
And my bridle in thy lips,
And I will turn thee back by the way
4o By which thou camest.”
Strong words of comfort and promise to Judah follow:*
Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria,
“He shall not come into this city,
Nor shoot an arrow there,
Neither shall he come before it with shield,
5 Nor cast up a mound against it.
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return,
And he shall not come unto this city,” saith Jehovah.
For I will defend this city to save it, -
For mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
Io “And this shall be the sign unto thee:
Ye shall eat this year that which groweth of itself,
And in the second year that which springeth of the same;
And in the third year sow ye, and reap,
And plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.
*A common method of treatment on the part of the Assyrian conquerors toward
their prisoners. Such scenes may be found in Assyrian bas-reliefs.
* Isa. 37:30–35.
ISAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS I25
I5 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah
Shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward.
For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant,
And out of mount Zion they that shall escape:
The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.
Was the word of the prophet vindicated? One verse in the
record tells all the story:
And the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the
Camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five
thousand; and when men arose early in the morning, behold,
these were all dead bodies."
What was the terrible visitation ? No one knows. From a
portion of another narrative we learn that Sennacherib returned
to ASSyria, and did not again visit Palestine. If the dread scourge
was in the form of a pestilence he may in those days of supersti-
tion have easily attributed it to the vengeance of Judah’s God, and
have refrained from venturing into his territory. The picturesque
Conclusion of the biblical narrative leaves ample room for the
imagination to picture the disaster that overtook the Assyrian
army.
Isaiah Again Demanding Reform
We have few messages from Isaiah after the marvelous escape
recounted above. We might easily suppose that the influence
of the prophet would have been greatly increased by such wonder-
ful testimony to his insight and power to interpret Jehovah's
plans. That he returned to his mission of social regeneration we
cannot doubt. Listen to his Song of the Vineyard,” voicing his
disappointment in the results of his work:
Let me sing of my well-beloved -
A song of my beloved touching his vineyard.
My well-beloved had a vineyard
In a very fruitful hill:
* Isa. 37:36.
* Isa. 5: 2–8 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
I26 THE HEBREw PROPHETs
5 And he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof,
And planted it with the choicest vine,
And built a tower in the midst of it,
And also hewed out a winepress therein:
And he looked that it should bring forth grapes,
Io And it brought forth wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem,
And men of Judah,
Judge, I pray you, between me
And my vineyard.
15 What could have been done more to my vineyard,
That I have not done in it?
Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes,
Brought it forth wild grapes?
And now, I will tell you
20 What I will do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned:
I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down:
And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed;
But there shall come up briers and thorns:
25 I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah the plant of his delight:
And he looked for justice, but behold oppression;
3o For righteousness, but behold a cry.
We do not know when Isaiah completed his work. Hezekiah
was succeeded by his son Manasseh, a man who made Jerusalem
a mere outpost of Assyria. Tradition ascribes to him a persecu-
tion of the prophets of Jehovah in an attempt to silence their pro-
testing voices. So influential a man as Isaiah would hardly escape
in such a persecution. We can only surmise the end. But was
it the end ? Can we today realize how the thoughts and ideals of
Isaiah have permeated our own civic and religious life P Clean
politics, cautious statesmanship, international fidelity, the courage
and calmness of profound conviction in political crises, all these
are Isaiah's contribution to our national ideals. Clean lips, a pure
[SAIAH AND THE ASSYRIAN INVASIONS I27
heart, and undying faith and hope in the wisdom and strength of
Jehovah are the heritage which we as individuals may make our
OWI). - .
As for Isaiah the man, he stands as the poet, orator, prophet,
statesman, and idealist of his age, without a peer among the
prophets of his day, and perhaps we may safely say unsurpassed
by those of any land or time.*
* When a man ever reaching out for more truth has faithfully lived up to all the
truth he knows, is it right for later generations to condemn him because he failed to see
all the truth which later ages have learned P Parents are sometimes as great as the chil-
dren who in the light of a later generation have reached a new realm of facts. In
other words is it knowledge which makes men great, or qualities of character? Al-
though later history shows Isaiah mistaken in his dream of the inviolability of Jeru-
salem, the glory of his character and his clearer conception of Jehovah remain un-
dimmed through the barrier of twenty centuries.
CHAPTER X
MICAH OF MORESHETH
The writings of Isaiah give a vivid picture of conditions in Jerusa-
lem under siege. We must not overlook the fact that there were
many Hebrew towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem which were not
protected by walls and fortifications as was the greater city. Upon
these fell the horrors of war in fullest measure. Villages were dev-
astated or burned, crops consumed by Soldiers, and agriculture
brought to a standstill. Owners of great estates had fled to the
city for safety, and the poor were left without means of support
or defense. Even in times of peace social conditions outside
Jerusalem were very different from those within its walls. Rich
landowners preferred to live in the city rather than upon their
greater estates. The country people supplied in large measure
the food for the city. The agriculturist was at the mercy of his
richer neighbor, and there was every opportunity for the grati-
fication of greed and the practice of extortion and tyranny. Thus
there was ever a touch of bitterness in the attitude of the country-
men toward the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Micah of Moresheth, a prophet whose home was in the midst
of the fertile plain of the Philistines to the southwest of Jerusalem,
has left us a few fragments" which reflect this attitude toward the
city, as well as a less sanguine view of her fate than that of Isaiah.
The details of his eventful life we cannot even conjecture, but the
boldness of his words may well have brought to him both friends
and enemies. Like Isaiah he saw destruction descending upon
Samaria, and interpreted it as a visitation of Jehovah on account
of her sins.
Hear, all ye people;
|Hearken, O earth, and all that therein is:
And let the Lord Jehovah be witness against you,
The Lord from his holy temple.
*Selections are here given from chaps. I and 3.
I28
MICAH OF MORESHETH I29
5 For behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place,
And will Come down, and tread upon the high places of the
earth.
And the mountains shall be melted under him,
And the valleys shall be cleft,
As wax before the fire,
Io AS waters that are poured down a steep place.
For the transgression of Jacob is all this,
And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria P
“Therefore will I make Samaria as a heap of the field,
I5 And as places for planting vineyards:
And I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley,
And I will uncover the foundations thereof.”
Isaiah reared in the very shadow of the Temple courts could
only believe that Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, must maintain
an inviolable dwelling-place among his people. To Micah, this
same city of Jerusalem was synonymous with tyranny and oppres-
Sion, greed and dishonesty, heaped-up riches, gathered in the fields
of his neighbors—a city too corrupt for Jehovah to endure. When
therefore Sennacherib came marching down the coast he saw no
hope for Jerusalem. He cries:
“I will lament and wail,
I will go stripped and uncovered:*
I will make a wailing like the jackals,
And a lamentation like the ostriches.3
5 For her wound is incurable;
For it is come unto Judah;
It reacheth unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.”
His denunciations have in them a ring of fierceness which is
almost personal and we wonder what tragic experiences lie back
* Jehovah is here represented as having a contention with his people, which will
bring him to the earth, with great upheavals of nature in his train. In the midst of
this terrible visitation Samaria will be destroyed.
* Stripped and uncovered: That is, without an outer garment. Recall Isaiah’s
symbolic act in connection with the proposed alliance with Egypt. There is no note
of hope in Micah’s lamentation.
3. Like the ostriches: The allusion is to the shrill cry of these birds.
I3O - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
of them. The ruling classes receive no more bitter arraignment
than their leaders, the false prophets, who “cry, peace, when there
is no peace.” Did Micah perhaps include Isaiah in this class of
false leaders, because of his promise of the deliverance of Jerusalem P
“Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob,
And rulers of the house of Israel;
Is it not for you to know justice P
Ye who hate the good, and love the evil:
5 Who pluck their skin from off them,
And their flesh from off their bones;
Who also eat the flesh of my people,
And flay their skin from off them,
And break their bones,
Io And chop them in pieces as for the pot,
And as flesh within the cauldron.” -
Then" shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answer
them: &
Yea, he will hide his face from them at that time.
According as they have wrought evil in their doings.
15 Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my
people err,
That bite with their teeth and cry, Peace,
And whoso putteth not into their mouths,
They even declare war against him. -
“Therefore it shall be night unto you, that ye shall have no
vision;
20 And it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine;
And the sun shall go down upon the prophets,
And the day shall be dark over them.
And the seers shall be put to shame and the diviners con-
founded. -
Yea, they shall all cover their lips;
25. For there is no answer of God.” -
But as for me, I am full of power by the spirit of Jehovah,
And of judgment, and of might, -
To declare unto Jacob his transgression,
And to Israel his sin.
* Then: The prophet here looks forward to the day of punishment which he
believes to be at hand,
MICAH OF MORESHETH I31
3o Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob,
And rulers of the house of Israel,
That abhor justice, and pervert all equity,
They build up Zion with blood,
And Jerusalem with iniquity.
35 The heads thereof judge for reward,
And the priests thereof teach for hire,
And the prophets thereof divine for money:
Yet will they lean upon Jehovah, and Say,
“Is not Jehovah in the midst of us
4o No evil shall come upon us.”
Therefore shall Zion, on your account, be plowed as a field
And Jerusalem shall become heaps,
And the mountain of the house, as the high places of the
forest.” -
We see that two prophets of the same generation, influenced by
differing traits and experiences, differed radically in their judgment
as to the outcome of political events, but each based his theory upon
his conception of the character of Jehovah as an ethical God,
demanding right relations between man and man, as well as between
God and man. In the words of a later prophet:
“What doth Jehovah require of thee,
But to deal justly,
To love mercy, .
And to walk humbly with thy God?”
* The mountain of the house: The Temple hill.
* Note in the last lines of this selection the climax of the arraignment. The
people assuring themselves that Jehovah cannot desert them see no cause for serious
alarm. The prophet sees them doomed to captivity, and their land a desolation.
The picture contained in the first strophe is so strong as to be almost repulsive.
Is it not however almost as appropriate a representation of Some existing conditions
today?
CHAPTER XI
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM
The long and wicked reign of Manasseh in Judah (685–641 B.C.)
served to establish more firmly than ever idolatrous worship and
the immoral practices of the people. Of the prophets of Jehovah,
some perished in a general persecution, others were silenced for the
time. That those who survived were not inactive is evidenced by
later events. Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon whose reign
of less than two years, ending in assassination, was not distinguished
in morals and religion from that of his father. Perhaps the death
of this worthless monarch may have been directly or indirectly
the result of feeling stirred up by priests and prophets of Jehovah,
for it would seem that the eight-year-old boy, Josiah, the son of
Amon, who was placed upon the throne at the death of his father
was watched over by both priests and prophets with jealous care.
During all this period, faith seems to have been kept with Assyria
and the fate of rebellious vassal kingdoms avoided. But about
626 B.C. a new foe appeared upon the horizon of western Asia, and
Palestine lay in the path of the invaders. * ,
The Scythians were a nomadic people, rude and barbarous, but
apparently invincible in war, who originated in Southeastern
Europe, and spread eastward throughout central Asia. Little
is known of them. Herodotus is responsible for the statement
that at about this date a horde of uncivilized and brutal Scythians
swept eastward and Southward seeking to overthrow the Medes,
a people from the northwest who had their eyes fixed upon the
riches of the Assyrian kingdom, and the fertile valleys of the
Tigris and the Euphrates. Herodotus reports that the Scythians
became masters of Asia, and sought to extend their conquests to
Egypt, but were met by the king of Egypt in Palestine, and in
response to tribute and entreaties turned back upon their path.
Whatever may have been the exact extent of their conquests, a
wave of terror must have spread before them, heralding their
approach. In Judah, lying directly in the path to Egypt, with
I32
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I33
all her outlying defenses swept away by previous invaders,” the out-
look was most alarming. Oppressive as was the Assyrian yoke,
it was preferable to the barbarous conquests of this new foe.
The Call of Jeremiah
We are not surprised under the circumstances to see a prophet
of Jehovah again at the front, warning, counseling and consoling.
Jeremiah of Anathoth,” in Benjamin,” the son of a priest, living in
a Community of priests, tells a poetic and passionate story of his
call to be a prophet to his people."
Now the word of Jehovah came unto me saying, “Before
I formed thee I knew thee, and before thou wast born I sancti-
fied thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.”
Then said I, “Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how
5 to speak, for I am a child.”5
But Jehovah said unto me, “Say not, I am a child; for to
whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever
I shall command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid because
of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee,” saith Jehovah.
Io Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth;
and Jehovah said unto me, “Behold, I have put my words in
thy mouth: see, I have this day set thee over the nations and
over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to
destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
15 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
“Jeremiah, what seest thou?” -
*See chap. ix, pp. II8–25, on the invasions of Sennacherib.
**Anathoth: A community of priests from early times from which possibly groups
of priests were accustomed to go by turns to minister in the temple in Jerusalem, about
three miles distant. The family of Jeremiah was among the land owners of this village.
The custom of celibacy was not followed by Hebrew priests, and they lived with their
families when not on duty at the temple. Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a priest, .
and was in all probability himself trained for the priesthood. His sympathetic and
passionate nature would quickly rebel against the devotion of his life to the formal and
empty ceremonies of the temple worship.
3 *Benjamin: See tribal map, opposite p. 8.
4 Jer. I:4–19 (revised from Am. Standard Rev. Ver.).
* I am a child: That is, young and inexperienced for so great a task as that to be
imposed upon him.
* As in the case of Isaiah, we see here the effect of later experience upon the
story of the prophetic call.
I34 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
And I said, “I see a rod of an almond-tree.”
Then said Jehovah unto me, “Thou hast well seen: for I
watch over my word to perform it.”
20 And the word of Jehovah came unto me the Second time,
saying, “What seest thou?”
And I said, “I see a boiling cauldron;” and the face thereof
is from the north.”
Then Jehovah said unto me, “Out of the North evil shall
25 break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I
will call all the families of the kingdoms of the North,” and they
shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the
entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls
thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And
3o I will utter my judgments against them touching all their
wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned
incense unto other gods, and worshiped the works of their
own hands. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and
speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed
35 at them, lest I dismay thee before them. For, behold, I have
made thee this day a fortified city," and an iron pillar, and
brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of
Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof,
and against the people of the land. And they shall fight
40 against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee: for I
am with thee,” saith Jehovah, “to deliver thee.”
The Scythian Invasion a Punishment for Idolatry
A “boiling cauldron” was an apt description of the surrounding
nations during the eventful fifty years which followed the day on
which Jeremiah’s conviction of his mission drove him to his work.
* An almond tree: The significance of this comparison is lost in the English. It
depends upon a similarity between the Hebrew word for the almond tree, which bloomed
when other trees were bare, and the word for watching, or to be wakeful, the mental
picture of the tree suggesting to the prophet the act of watching.
* A boiling cauldron: That is, just ready to boil up and discharge its contents:
a figure of the disaster which was brewing in the North, already manifesting itself as a
menace to Judah.
3 The kingdoms of the North: The North was an unknown country to the inhabit-
ants of Palestine. Out of it had already come great nations, and beyond might be
many more. .
* A fortified city: The assurance of strength at the very outset of his ministry was
most inspiring, but we shall see that it may well have been the expression of Jeremiah's
own sense of his power of resistance as it was developed in his experience.
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I35
To him as to all true worshipers of Jehovah in his day, the Scythians
represented the scourging wrath of Judah’s God on account of the
shortcomings of his people. Judah’s apostasy was to them suffi-
cient cause for the employment of another dread nation as the
instrument of Jehovah's chastening. One of the prophets, a little
later but under similar circumstances, however, voiced the question
of many hearts: “Why does Jehovah use a wicked nation to execute
his purposes against his disobedient people?” There was to them
no satisfactory answer, but the fact that he did use heathen
nations for this purpose seemed only too apparent.
In this situation Jeremiah lamented over the sins of his people
and made passionate appeals to them to return to Jehovah, and
so avert disaster. It was against idolatry,” as representing the
primal sin of disloyalty to Jehovah, that Jeremiah directed his
early efforts.
*A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the
supplications of the children of Israel; because they have
perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God.
“Return ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.”
5 “Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our
God. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the
hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God
is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing 4 hath
devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks
Io and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie
down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we
have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers,
from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed
the voice of Jehovah our God.”
* Viz., Habakkuk.
**Idolatry: The idolatry of this period was not only widespread, but universal
in character. The worship of Jehovah was not by any means abandoned, but it was
placed on a level with the worship of the heavenly bodies, of images, and of powers
of Nature. Many phases of worship in these various cults were far more attractive
to the mass of the people than the older forms of Jehovah worship. Doubtless in the
temple and at the high places Jehovah himself was frequently worshiped through
heathen rites and ceremonies. The ethical qualities of justice and simplicity
required by Jehovah in his worship were entirely lost sight of, and his demands were
accounted just such as those Supposed of other gods.
3 Jer. 3: 21—4: 2 (revised from Am. Standard Rev. Ver.).
4 The shameful thing: that is idolatry.
I36 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
15 “If thou wilt return, O Israel,” saith Jehovah, “if thou
wilt return unto me, and if thou wilt put away thine abomina-
tions out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed; and
thou shalt swear, As Jehovah liveth, in truth, in justice, and
in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in
20 him, and in him shall they glory.”
Deliverance Conditional upon Moral Reform
In his zeal to abolish idolatry Jeremiah did not abandon the old
theme of his predecessors among the prophets, the necessity for
the kind of righteousness which included justice, mercy, and truth.
The nation was directed to Jehovah for refuge from the impending
calamity, but no deliverance was promised Save on the condition
of complete moral reform.”
3For thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jeru-
Salem,
“Break up your fallow ground, and Sow not among thorns.
Consecrate yourselves to Jehovah, ye men of Judah and
inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can
quench it
5 Because of the evil of your doings.
* Thou shalt not be removed: As events progressed, this promise drops out of
Jeremiah's messages. In these early days of his ministry, he has strong hopes of turn-
ing the people back from idolatry.
**Zephaniah, a prophet of whose personal life we can conjecture nothing, has
left us evidence of his work in this period. He was a great-great-grandson of King
Hezekiah and was probably the first to attempt to bring the people back to Jehovah
after the long period of superstition and idolatry under Manasseh and Amon. His
addresses are plainly influenced by the threatened Scythian invasion. They are full
of gloom, picturing the day of Jehovah as rapidly approaching, a day of wrath and
trouble. Not all of the chapters which bear his name in our Old Testament are his, .
but the following quite certainly come from this situation: I: 2–6, 7–18; 2: I-8, 12–15;
3:1-7. The following is an extract from one of his addresses:
Near is the day of Jehovah! near and rapidly approaching!
Near is the bitter day of Jehovah, and strong men will then cry out;
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and battle cry,
Against the fortified cities and against the high battlements.
And I will bring distress upon men and they shall walk as the blind
And their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as dung.
3 Jer, 4:3–8, 11–21; 5:1-3, i5-17; 6:16–26 (revised from Am. Standard Rev.
Ver.).
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I37
“Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say,
Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say,
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.
Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not;
Io For I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations;
He is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, -
To make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste,
without inhabitant.”
For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail;
I5 For the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.”
At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem,
“A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward
the daughter of my people,
Not to winnow, nor to cleanse;
A full wind from these shall come for me:
20 Now will I also utter judgments against them.”
Behold, he shall come up as clouds,
And his chariots shall be as the whirlwind:
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe unto us! for we are ruined.”
25 O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou
mayest be saved.
How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee?
For a voice declareth from Dan,
And publisheth evil from the hills of Ephraim.
Make ye mention to the nations;
3o Behold, publish against Jerusalem,
That watchers come from a far country,
And give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
As keepers of a field are they against her round about,
Because she hath been rebellious against me,”
35 Saith Jehovah. -
“Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto
thee; -
This is thy wickedness; for it is bitter,
For it reacheth unto thy heart.”3
* A call to the inhabitants of the land to prepare for a great invasion by taking
refuge in the fortified cities; an invasion from the North, sent by Jehovah in fierce anger.
* “It will be like a great wind-storm from the hot desert, destroying everything
in its path.” ‘. .
3 “The wickedness of Jerusalem is responsible for the scourge.”
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
4O
45
IO
My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart;
My heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace;
Because thou hast heard, O my soul,
The Sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Destruction upon destruction is cried;
For the whole land is laid waste:
Suddenly are my tents destroyed,
And my curtains in a moment.
How long shall I see the standard,
And hear the sound of the trumpet?"
JERUSALEM WHOLLY DEPRAVED’
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see
now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can
find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh
truth; and I will pardon her. And though they say, “As
Jehovah liveth,” surely they swear falsely. O Jehovah, do
not thine eyes look upon truth P Thou hast stricken them,
but they were not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but
they have refused to receive correction: they have made
their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
“Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of
Israel,” saith Jehovah: “it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient
nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither
I5
understandest what they say. Their quiver is an open
Sepulchre, they are all mighty men. And they shall eat up
thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters
should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they
shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees; they shall beat down
thy fortified cities wherein thou trustest, with the sword.”3
PERSISTENT SIN AND IMMINENT PUNISHMENT 4
Thus saith Jehovah,
“Stand ye in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths,
Where is the good way; and walk therein,
And ye shall find rest for your souls:”
* The prophet’s cry of anguish over the desolation which seems to him inevitable.
* Jer. 5:1–3, 15–17 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 “The stranger nation shall come and the fortified cities in which the people
have taken refuge will be beaten down.”
4Jer. 6:16–26 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission),
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I39
But they said, “We will not walk therein.”
And I set watchmen over you, saying,
“Hearken to the sound of the trumpet,”
But they said, “We will not hearken.”
Io Therefore hear, ye nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.
Hear, O earth: - -
“Behold, I will bring evil upon this people,
Even the fruit of their thoughts,
15 Because they have not hearkened unto my words,
And as for my law, *
They have rejected it.
To what purpose cometh there to me frankincense from
Sheba,
And the sweet cane from a far country P
20 Your burnt-offerings are not acceptable,
Nor your sacrifices pleasing unto me.”
Therefore thus saith Jehovah,
“Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people;
And the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against
them;
25 The neighbor and his friend shall perish.
Thus saith Jehovah,
“Behold, a people cometh from the north country;
And a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost
parts of the earth.
They lay hold on bow and spear;
3o They are cruel, and have no mercy; -
Their voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses,
Every one set in array, as a man to the battle,
Against thee, O daughter of Zion.”
We have heard the report thereof; - .
35 Our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us.
Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way;
For the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side.
* Lines I-2I: “Jehovah has persuaded in vain. Ye would not listen. Obedience,
not sacrifice, is the desire of Jehovah.”
I4O THE HEBREW PROPHETS
O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth,
And wallow thyself in ashes:
4o Make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamenta-
tion; * .
For the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us."
But the Scythian destroyer turned back without greater devasta-
tion than that made by his predecessors, and Judah was saved for
the time. Jeremiah's predictions lost their significance to the
people, and the prophet was treated with contempt, but not silenced.
§
The New Law Book and the Reformation
The prophets were practical men as well as idealists. Jeremiah
and his associates saw that ignorance of Jehovah and his funda-
mental laws was one of the chief obstacles to reform. Perhaps
among these associates we may count the young king who had
been growing up under the shadow of the Temple and the tutelage
of priests and prophets. The only formal law code which we
know as existing at this time was from an early period, custom
having dictated such additions as were necessary.” At all events
if any more systematic code had been formulated it had not become
operative in the confused state of Israel's political and religious life.
Just here a story which we find in the records of the kings of
Judah helps out our history. In the eighteenth year of king Josiah
(621 B.C.), at his direction, a general repairing of the Temple was
undertaken. During this process a book was found, which con-
tained an elaborate code of laws including all the ancient laws
of Israel as believed to have been given by Jehovah through his
servant Moses, now newly formulated, and such later additions as
would meet the approval of priests and prophets of Jehovah.
Written in a new and striking literary form, and saturated with
* Lines 22–41: “The destroyer is cruel and invincible. Put on mourning for he
will quickly and suddenly come.”
* The early code: Exod, chaps. 20 to 23, contains the only formal code of laws
promulgated previous to this time. It contains the Ten Commandments and a series
of laws suitable to an agricultural people, laws such as would enable a community of
people to live comfortably and peaceably together in mutual respect for each other's
personal and property rights. -
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I4I
the ethical ideals of the prophets of Josiah’s day, the book was
well calculated to make a deep impression. It was especially
directed against the worship of idols, and the distribution of worship
at the many local shrines throughout the land. It reiterated in
many forms the principle of one God for Israel, and that God Jeho-
vah; one place of worship, and that place the Temple in Jerusalem.
It also placed limitations upon the priesthood which would insure
the purity of worship." -
The origin of the book is unknown; it was perhaps a part of a
plan of priests and prophets to move the king to action, or possibly
a book which had been prepared in the time of Hezekiah, and lost
sight of during the reaction from Jehovah-worship under the reigns
of Manasseh and Amon. At all events the book bore the stamp of
the ancient lawgiver, Moses, and found its basis in his teaching.
The king was greatly moved by his reading of the book, and Com-
manded that it be read in public. He then inaugurated a reform
which was both drastic and far reaching, abolishing all local
sanctuaries in Judah, destroying their equipment, and making all
worship save that of Jehovah, at the Temple in Jerusalem, illegal.
We can imagine Jeremiah deeply engaged in the propagation of
the principles of this book, in which a new motive for obedience to
Jehovah was continually set forth. “Thou shalt love Jehovah thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy
* The book: This book, which was found, is supposed to be the central portion of
the Book of Deuteronomy, chaps. I2–26. A comparison of this book with the code in
Exodus shows that it contains practically all of the Exodus code, but in a form better
adapted to the life of the nation in Josiah’s times, and with the addition of many laws
which were not needed in the simpler life of the early days. The idea of Jehovah which
it presents could hardly have been conceived earlier than the days of Hosea. The
fact that the authorship of this book was attributed to Moses does not, as in modern
times, necessarily indicate the real authorship. Literary authorship was not as uni-
versally claimed in ancient times as now, and it was the custom to attach the name of a
man who had achieved greatness in Some direction to many productions of a like char-
acter but from different authors. This was sometimes designed and Sometimes
accidental, the real author being unknown. Thus, the name of Moses, the first law-
giver, stood for Law, and all laws were published under his name. Solomon had a
reputation for wisdom, and whole editions of proverbs and wisdom-sayings were
attributed to him. David was a poet and therefore many poems other than those
which he wrote became attached to his name,
I42 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
might.” Fear and expedience had too frequently been the motive
urged by prophets in the past. A new note became dominant
when the prophets of Jeremiah's day insisted upon love and grati-
tude as the basis of obedience. In the face of disasters past and
to come, it took courage to make such a principle the basis of
appeal to the people now flourishing under idolatry. We are
not surprised to find that Jeremiah frequently does not count
upon it sufficiently to modify the language or the spirit of his
message.
The word” that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men
of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say thou
unto them: Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel:
5 “Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this
covenant,3 which I commanded your fathers in the day that I
brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron
furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all
which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will
Io be your God; that I may establish the oath which I sware
unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and
honey, as at this day.” Then answered I, and said, “Amen,
O Jehovah.”
The Death of Josiah and the Reaction
The finding of the new law book and the enforced reformation
under Josiah took place in 621 B.C. and the years immediately
following. How many of the people thus forced into Jehovah-
worship really changed their views we do not know, but an event
which occurred some twelve years later again swung the pendulum
* Deut. 6:5.
* Jer. II: I-5 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 Covenant: Reference to the Book of Deuteronomy will show that in every case the
promise of Jehovah to protect and bless his people was conditioned upon their obedience
and loyalty. That is, Jehovah entered into a covenant or agreement with his people
to be faithful to them if they would be faithful to him. See Deut. 6: I-3.
4 Amen: so be it.
5 See the full story of Josiah’s reformation as described in II Kings, chaps. 22, 23,
and compare also Deut., chap. I2.
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I43
over to the side of idolatry." Egypt under a strong king, Pharaoh
Necho,” took advantage of the weakening of the Assyrian empire
to strike a blow for supremacy in the Orient. Josiah, whether as
champion of his overlord Assyria, or in defense of his own territory,
went out against the king of Egypt. The two kings met at Megid-
do” in Palestine. A battle ensued in which the king of Judah was
killed. The mass of the people could interpret this disaster in
but one way, the failure of Jehovah to protect his king. Under
the idolatrous reign of Manasseh and Amon the country had been
free from great disasters. “The idols are better than Jehovah,”
must have been the verdict of those who judged by external events.
The nation relapsed into idolatry more universal than before the
reformation. In vain did the prophets explain that the disaster
was the result of past sins. Their demands for reform fell upon
the unheeding ears of the new king Jehoahaz and his supporters.
Before three months had passed Pharoah Necho, having cause to
suspect the fidelity of Jehoahaz, deposed him, and carried him to
Egypt where he remained an exile to the end of his life. The
Second Son of Josiah was placed upon the throne as a servant of
the king of Egypt, and for eleven years succeeded in remaining
there. Those were trying years for Jeremiah. Jehovah was
popularly deemed one of many gods promiscuously worshiped.
To do homage to all gods meant to secure the protection of all.
Read Jeremiah's speech delivered in the great gate of the Temple
to the people coming to worship Jehovah.
* Would a reformation which represented no initiative on the part of any large
part of the people be likely to have in it the quality of permanence? We must recall
also that although the shrines about which many traditions clustered were all destroyed,
worship at a comparatively distant temple could not appeal to the masses and would
not command attention when the legal ban placed upon worship elsewhere was removed
by the death of the king.
* Pharaoh Necho: the second king of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egyptian
kings (610–594 B.C.). He is known only by the references to his reign in the Old
Testament and in Herodotus. In accordance with the plans of his father Psammeticus
he devoted much of his activity to the development of Egypt's commercial interests.
*Megiddo: See map, opposite p. Too. A very old town, formerly Canaanitish,
situated in the pass over the ridge of Mount Carmel, through which ran the great road
from Egypt to the North. It was probably during the passage of this defile that
Josiah’s Soldiers attacked Pharaoh's army. -
I44 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
*Hear the word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, that enter in
at these gates to worship Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of
hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your doings,
and I will cause you to dwell in this place.” Trust ye not in
5 lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of
Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these. For if yethoroughly
amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute
justice between a man and his neighbor; if ye oppress not the
sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not inno-
Io cent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your
own hurt: then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the
land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even for evermore.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will
ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and Swear falsely, and
I5 burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods that ye
have not known, and come and stand before me in this house,
which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that
ye may do all these abominations? Is this house, which is
called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?
20 Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith Jehovah.
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh,” where I
caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it
for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because
ye have done all these works, saith Jehovah, and I spake unto
25 you, rising up early and Speaking, but ye heard not; and I
called you, but ye answered not: therefore will I do unto
the house which is called by my name, wherein.ye trust, and
unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I
did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I
3o have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of
Ephraim.
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up
cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for
I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities
35 of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem 2 The children
* Jer. 7:2b–23 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
a Amend your ways: In this address Jeremiah strikes a hard blow at the elaborate
worship of Jehovah in the Temple as well as the worship of other gods. Conduct,
not worship, is the essential thing. It is the old prophetic doctrine of obedience
rather than sacrifice as acceptable to Jehovah. -
3 *Shiloh. This will be remembered as the old sanctuary from which Samuel came,
and which was destroyed by the Philistines. See preceding note, p. Io. The prophet
says, “As Jehovah did to Shiloh so will he do to this Temple.”
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I45
gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women
knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and
to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may
provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger ?” saith
40 Jehovah; “do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion
of their own faces?” Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
“Behold, mine anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon
this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of
the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn,
45 and shall not be quenched.”
Thus Saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your
burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. For I
Spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day
that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning
5o burnt-offerings or sacrifices: but this thing I commanded
them, saying, Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God,
and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that
I command you, that it may be well with you.”
The Fall of Assyria
Reference to the outline of the events of the period, and to the
maps opposite p. Ioo, will show us that in 606 B.C. an event took
place which shocked the whole Asiatic world. The kingdom of
ASSyria had never been able to hold firmly its province of Baby-
lonia, an extensive and ancient kingdom to the southeast. Neither
was Assyria a well-knit kingdom in any of its parts. The vassal
states were held wholly by military force, rather than by sympathy
and common interests. Whenever an enemy arose in any direc-
tion, instead of being able to command her vassal states for defense,
ASSyria was faced by a series of rebellions in her own conquered
provinces. When therefore the Medes' sought to join the Baby-
lonians in an alliance against Assyria, they found ready response. .
* Lines 34–40: The material for sacrifices to be offered to the heavenly bodies.
* That it may be well with you: There is still hope in the heart of the prophet that
he may be successful in bringing about reform.
3 *The Medes: A people from the region of the Persian Gulf. From the Assyrian
inscriptions we learn that they obeyed no central authority, but were divided into a
number of small independent states. “They were the advance guard of a migration
of Indo-Germanic peoples which was to overwhelm the ancient oriental world and
.*
I46 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Judah soon saw Assyria, for centuries past her dreaded foe, helpless
in the power of her combined enemies, and Nineveh her capital
razed to the ground."
Taking advantage of his opportunity Pharaoh Necho advanced
to the northeast, but was met by Nebuchadnezzar, the son of the
king of Babylon, at Carchemish,” and driven back to his own land.
Thus Babylon reigned Supreme in western Asia. Judah suffered
materially from the ravages of the soldiery and her rejoicing in
the downfall of her enemy was tempered by the uncertainty of
her own fate in the shuffling of powers which was going on about
her. In this crisis Jeremiah saw no hope for the nation.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts,”
“Consider ye, and call for the mourning women," that they
may Come; -
And send for the skilful women, that they may come:
And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us,
5 That our eyes may run down with tears,
And our eyelids gush out with waters.
For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,
How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded,
Because we have forsaken the land,
To Because they have cast down our dwellings.”
usher in a new era.” In the division of the Assyrian empire the Medes received the
eastern and northern mountainous regions, and the Babylonians the valley west of the
Tigris, and the Mediterranean Coast lands. See map, opposite p. Ioo. The inhabi-
tants of Babylonia were of the Chaldi race, therefore chiefly called Chaldeans in the
Hebrew narrative.
* For the feelings with which Judah contemplated the fate of Nineveh, see the
Book of Nahum.
**Carchemish: See map, opposite p. Ioo; an old Assyrian city on the west bank
of the Euphrates River. This was one of the most important battles of ancient history,
for with it practically ended the struggle of Egypt to regain the Supremacy over
Western Asia which had been hers in the days of her prime.
3 Jer, 9:17–22; 10:17–22 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
4 Mourning women: women who were employed as professional mourners for the
dead. Some of them were most skilful in their ability to touch the hearts of the friends
of the deceased by appropriate allusions to the dead, and by Sympathetic lamentations.
The prophet sees, as if it were already present, the destruction of the city and the death
of its inhabitants.
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JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I47
Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women,
And let your ear receive the word of his mouth;
And teach your daughters wailing,
And every one her neighbor lamentation.
15 For death is come up into our windows,
It is entered into our palaces;
To cut off the children from without,
And the young men from the streets.
Speak, Thus saith Jehovah,
20 “The dead bodies of men shall fall as refuse upon the open
field,
And as the handful after the harvestman;
And none shall gather them.”
Gather up thy wares out of the land,
O thou that abidest in the siege.
25 For thus saith Jehovah,
“Behold I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this
time,
And will distress them, that they may feel it.
“Woe is me because of my hurt!
My wound is grievous:
3o Truly this is my grief,
And I must bear it.
My tent” is destroyed, and all my cords are broken:
My children are gone forth from me,
And they are not:
35 There is none to spread my tent any more,
And to set up my curtains.
For the shepherds are become brutish,
And have not inquired of Jehovah:
Therefore they have not prospered,
4o And all their flocks are scattered.
* Jer. 9:17–22: A part of a much longer address from the prophet in which he
laments the fate of the people, well deserved as he claims it to be. Read from the Bible
vSs. I–II of this chapter.
* My tent: The old tabernacle or tent of worship is here used as a figure to repre-
sent Jehovah-worship in Jerusalem.
3 The shepherds: The leaders of the people.
I48 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The voice of tidings, behold, it cometh,
And a great commotion out of the north country,
To make the cities of Judah a desolation, -
A dwelling-place of jackals.”
Jeremiah’s Visit to Anathoth
For some reason which we do not know, perhaps weary of the
hopelessness of his work in Jerusalem, Jeremiah went to Anathoth,
his old home. But his reputation had preceded him. All un-
suspecting of the enmity of his old neighbors, he found himself in
the midst of a conspiracy against his life, which hurt his sensitive
spirit more than it daunted his courage.
*And Jehovah gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it: then
thou showedst me their doings. But I was like a gentle lamb
that is led to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had
devised devices against me, saying, “Let us destroy the trees
5 with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of
the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”
But, O Jehovah of hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest
the heart and the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them;
for unto thee have I revealed my cause. Therefore thus
Io saith Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, that seek thy
life, saying, “Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of Jehovah,
that thou die not by our hand,” therefore thus saith Jehovah
of hosts, “Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall
die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by
I5 famine; and there shall be no remnant unto them: For I
will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of
their visitation.” 4
* Jer. Io: 17–22: The prophet represents Jehovah as wounded and grieved at the
forgetfulness of the people. º
• Jer. II:18—12:6 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 The tree: The people refer to Jeremiah as a tree, a very common oriental figure
for a man.
4 Lines 5–15: Do not indicate a curse on Jeremiah's part, against his enemies, but
a direct statement which reflects his opinion of Jehovah's justice. Jeremiah repre-
sents the wrong party according to the ideas of the men of Anathoth, and therefore they
attempt to silence him permanently. Is there not something distinctly modern in
this attempt to keep honest men from Speaking their views when they are contrary to
popular sentiment? In a small town like Anathoth there would be little room for
difference of opinion.
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I49
Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee;
yet would I reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the
20 way of the wicked prosper?" Wherefore are all they at ease
that deal very treacherously P Thou hast planted them, yea,
they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit:
thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart. But
thou, O Jehovah, knowest me; thou seest me, and triest my
25 heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long shall
the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither P
For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are
consumed, and the birds, because they said, “He shall not see
3o our latter end.”
The Answer of - Jehovah:
* “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied
thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And though
in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the
pride of the Jordan 2 For even thy brethren, and the house
35 of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee;
even they have cried aloud after thee: believe them not,
though they speak fair words unto thee.” n
* Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? This was the question which con-
fronted every thoughtful Hebrew in the days of the national decline. The old doctrine
that prosperity was always an indication of righteousness, and suffering an indication
of sin was becoming unsettled, and as yet nothing better had taken its place.
Another phase of this question is presented by another prophet of this period.
The facts of his life are unknown to us. Habakkuk’s prophecy might be reduced
in plain prose to the following:
Prophet: Why, O Lord, when we cry, being in such wretchedness, dost thou not
answer 3 Jehovah: Behold! I will do a thing—ye will not believe it; I will bring the
Chaldeans, strong and mighty, who abandon themselves to the worship of Selfish
force. Prophet: I am sure we shall not die; but how can you, such a God, allow the
Chaldeans to triumph over us? Jehovah: (No answer.) Prophet: I will wait in
meditation, on the watchtower, for further answer. Jehovah: An important matter;
Babylon is proud and ambitious, but the righteous shall live, if they remain faithful.
The nations gathered in by the Chaldean king will curse him, because of his covetous-
ness, rapacity, his selfishness, his passion for building, and Consequent oppression,
his delight in conquest, his idolatry. Prophet: Let all the world be silent in the presence
of Jehovah.
* If thou hast run: The answer of Jehovah is not a direct answer to the question
but rather a word of reproof and stimulus. “How are you to be a good servant of
Jehovah if you are already discouraged P Strengthen yourself for what is to come.
Your dependence is not upon man but upon Jehovah.”
I5o THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The Visit to the Potter and Its Consequences
Many of the stories of Jeremiah come from the hand of his
faithful secretary Baruch,” who when Jeremiah could no longer
command listeners wrote many of his messages, and preserved
memorabilia of the life of the prophet, which are of the greatest
value to us. To him we possibly owe the following story of Jere-
miah’s visit to the potter, the public interpretation of which
brought upon him a mob from whose fury he turned in pathetic
appeal to Jehovah.
The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
“Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will
cause thee to hear my words.” Then I went down to the
potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the
5 wheels.” And when the vessel that he made of the clay was
marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another
vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, “O house
of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?” saith Jehovah.
Io “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my
hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak con-
cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and
to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning
which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the
* Jer. 18:1–20. Throughout this story the prophet is seeking to make clear
that Jehovah is able to make over the nation if it will only turn to him in obedience.
Jehovah does not wish to destroy it. He will do so only if it proves itself worthless.
To a man whose whole mind was bent upon his message the things which he saw about
him were constantly suggesting comparisons and illustrations which he freely used.
.* Baruch: See Jer. 32: I2, 36:4 for references to Baruch. Tradition says that
the faithful scribe was with Jeremiah until his death. Some say that he went to
Babylonia after the death of his master, and died there twelve years after the fall of
Jerusalem. The fact that the prophet employed such a scribe shows us that his work.
of prophesying was really a profession, just as the work of a preacher is a profession
today. Jeremiah did not however receive remuneration. It is possible that a con-
siderable number of the stories of Jeremiah which we have were written after the death
of the prophet. The story of the fate of one of the rolls prepared by Baruch is found
in the 36th chapter of Jeremiah. -
3 Wheels: The clay was shaped by means of two round stones. The upper one
supported the clay, the lower one was turned by the feet. •
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I5I
15 evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I
shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom,
to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my
sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the
good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.* Now therefore,
20 speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jeru-
25
3O
35
4o
Salem, saying, Thus Saith Jehovah: -
“Behold, I frame evil against you,
And devise a device against you:
Return ye now every one from his evil way,
And amend your ways and your doings.”
But they say, “It is in vain;
For we will walk after our own devices,
And we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil
heart.”
Therefore thus saith Jehovah: “Ask ye now among the
nations, who hath heard such things? |
The virgin of Israel” hath done a very horrible thing.
Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field P
Or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried
up P
For my people have forgotten me,
They have burned incense to false gods;
And they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the
ancient paths,
To walk in by-paths, in a way not cast up;
To make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual
hissing. - * ,
Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and
shake his head.
I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy;
I will show them the back, and not the face,
In the day of their calamity.”3
* Lines II-19: give in terse form the theory of the prophets of Jeremiah's day that
the judgments of Jehovah were always conditional. Repentance will avert judgment.
Jehovah threatens only that he may reform, not that he may take vengeance for its
own sake. Conversely, promised blessings are conditioned upon right conduct. Is
this the vital principle in the teaching of the prophets and of all great religious
teachers—true religion must find its expression in conduct?
* The virgin of Israel; meaning Israel the nation.
3 Lines 30–41: Punishment is as inevitable as the coming down of the waters
from the snow-clad mountains in the melting Season.
I52 - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Then said they, “Come, and let us devise devices against
Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor
counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet.
45 Come, and let us Smite him with the tongue, and let us not give
heed to any of his words.” -
(Jeremiah protests): “Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and
hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. Shall
evil be recompensed for good P for they have digged a pit
50 for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak
good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them.”
The persecutors had their way. One of the infuriated Temple
officers had Jeremiah placed in the stocks for twenty-four hours.
Released once more, Jeremiah's wretched body longed to turn from
his thankless task, but his great spirit could not keep silent. His
impulse to speak he describes as a “burning fire” within him.
4 O Jehovah, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded;
Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed:
I am become a laughing-stock all the day;
Every one mocketh me.
5 For as often as I speak, I cry out;
I cry, Violence and destruction!
Because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me,
and a derision, all the day."
And if I say, I will not make mention of him,
Nor speak any more in his name, -
Io Then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up
in my bones, x
And I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain."
+ Lines 42–46: The record of the effect of this speech upon the hearers of the
prophet: “What matter if we kill Jeremiah? There will be plenty more prophets,”
is the thought.
2 Lines 47–51: The prophet turns to Jehovah as to the only one who can appreci-
ate the fact that he is giving his life to the work of Saving the people.
3 The stocks: Probably the ancient stocks were like those of more modern times:
a solid piece of wood set up on edge, in which were five holes, through which the neck,
arms, and legs were placed, thus bending the body into a cramped position and keep-
ing it immovable. It was one of the most painful of the lesser forms of punishment,
especially when so long continued as in the case of Jeremiah.
4 Jer. 20:7–9, 14–18 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
5 Lines 1–7: “I have obeyed thy words, O Jehovah, but now see the result.”
6 Lines 8–II: “Nevertheless I cannot keep still, I must speak.”
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I53
Cursed be the day wherein I was born:
Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying,
I5 “A man-child is born unto thee;” making him very glad.
And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew
and repented not:
And let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at
noontime;
Because he slew me not at birth.
Wherefore came I into this world to see labor and sorrow,
2O That my days should be consumed with shame?"
The First Deportation
Through all this period the prophet's position was made more
acute by the fact that Jehoiakim the king was utterly out of
Sympathy with him. He disregarded and destroyed all messages
from Jeremiah. Although Jerusalem was in imminent danger of
destruction he busied himself with the construction of a fine
palace, the accumulation of great possessions, and the imitation
of the monarchs of surrounding countries. He lived in extravagant
and Selfish neglect of his people. In the year 605 B.C. Nebuchad-
nezzar, then king of Babylon,” demanded the submission of Judah.
Jehoiakim submitted and paid tribute for that and the two
succeeding years. Then he foolishly revolted. He did not him-
self suffer the penalty of his folly for, before Nebuchadnezzar
could conveniently begin the siege of Jerusalem, he died. His
eighteen-year-old son Jehoiachin succeeded him, and was forced
to stand a siege which after only three months ended in surrender
(597 B.C.).3
Bitter indeed were the feelings of Jeremiah as he saw the best
* Lines 12–20: “O, that I had never been born.”
* Nebuchadnezzar: king of Babylon, or Chaldea, 604–561 B.C., was the son of Nabo-
polassar under whom the Chaldean kingdom was established at the overthrow of
Assyria. As his father’s general Nebuchadnezzar defeated Necho, king of Egypt,
at the battle of Carchemish (see p. 146), in 605 B.C. While on this campaign he was
notified of his father's death. He secured the throne without opposition. Under
Nebuchadnezzar the city of Babylon, which was the capital of his empire, became the
most magnificent political, religious, and commercial center of the Asiatic world. For
the extent of his conquests see map, opposite p. Ioo.
3 For the full story of the siege and its results see II Kings 24:10–18.
I54 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
blood of Jerusalem, the king, the princes, the men of wealth with
their families transported to Babylon. They carried with them
for the enrichment of the coffers of Assyria all the booty which
Nebuchadnezzar chose to demand, and the amount was not small.
But the city itself was not destroyed. Zedekiah," the eldest son of
Josiah, who had hitherto been passed over in the selection of kings,
was made subject king, Swearing a Solemn oath of allegience to
Nebuchadnezzar. From this time onward Jeremiah devoted him-
self to keeping Zedekiah faithful to his pledge, plainly seeing that
in quiet submission to Babylon* lay the only possibility of saving
the city from complete destruction.
Letters to the Exiles in Babylon
In the people who now remained in Jerusalem Jeremiah saw no
material for the upbuilding of the Jerusalem of his dreams, and he
directed his encouragement not to the people in the city but to
the exiles in Babylon. The attitude of the citizens of Jerusalem
toward those exiles was most exasperating. Because they had
been left in the land by Jehovah they assumed that they were
more virtuous than their brethren in exile and spoke of them with
SCOTIl. -
Jeremiah could see that if the religion of Jehovah was to be
preserved it must be through the more intelligent class of
* Zedekiah: the eldest Son of Josiah. Why he had not previously been chosen
king instead of his younger brother we do not know. Perhaps however it was because
of his character, a study of which is well worth while. It is difficult to decide whether
he had a superstitious fear of Jeremiah, as the representative of Jehovah, or a real
desire to be loyal to Jehovah. If the latter was the case he had not the strength of mind
to stand by his own convictions. He seems to have been ruled by the princes of the
realm, rather than to have been their ruler. Are there evidences that he was both
cowardly and kindly, a mixture of good and bad, with a weak will with which to
control these warring elements?
a Submission to Babylon: Any statesman at this time could have seen that in
submission to Babylon lay the only hope of Saving the city of Jerusalem from destruc-
tion. But in Jerusalem Superstition reigned. Statesmanship was not cultivated.
Religion was the criterion of everything. As yet religion and morals had not become
identified as dependent upon each other, and moral decay of the worst type could go
on where religion as it was then conceived was most flourishing. Since also submission
to Babylon meant in ordinary thought acceptance of the Babylonian gods, we can well
see why the people regarded Jeremiah as inconsistent and “crazy.”
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I55
Jews who had been deported. To the prophet as well as to his
exiled brethren was coming the grave question whether Jehovah
could be worshiped in any land but Palestine. It was the question
of a lost religion and a lost God which confronted the prophets at
this point. It is easy to predict that to the prophets would first
come the conviction that Jehovah would not fail his people in any
land.
To the exiles Jeremiah addressed letters, an extract from one
of which gives the purport of his message. He counsels patience
under a prolonged residence in Babylon in which the exiles should
engage in building and planting, “seeking the peace of the city
in which ye dwell.” He warns against prophets who may predict
speedy return. More than this he avers that Jehovah will hear the
prayers which the people offer in Babylon and will respond to those
who seek him with the heart.”
*Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the
prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders
of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and
to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away
5 captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, by the hand of Elasah
the Son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah (whom
Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchad-
nezzar, king of Babylon).
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all
Io the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive
from Jerusalem unto Babylon: “Build ye houses, and dwell
in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Take
ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for
your Sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they
I5 may bearsons and daughters: and multiply ye there, and be
not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I
have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto
Jehovah for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.”
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: “Let not
* We see in this crisis how the preservation of the religion of Jehovah seemed to
depend upon the faithfulness of a single prophet. We must however conclude that
there were other true and sincere followers of this religion, but they were not strong
enough to impress themselves upon the world as Jeremiah has done.
* Jer. 29: I-I3 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
I 56 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
20 your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners,
deceive you; neither hearken ye to your dreams which ye
cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in
my name: I have not sent them,” saith Jehovah. For thus
saith Jehovah, “After seventy years are accomplished for
25 Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward
you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you,” saith Jehovah, “thoughts
of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.
And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me,
30 and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
It is difficult for us to appreciate the skepticism which met the
statement of a truth which in our later conception of God is so
obvious, but ideas have a history as well as events."
Jeremiah and the Court Prophets
In Jerusalem, Jeremiah was surrounded by prophets who sought
to console Zedekiah by predictions of a speedy end to the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar. So Sudden and startling had been the recent
changes in the Assyrian and Babylonian world that we cannot
blame the optimistic prophets for their hopeful attitude, yet to
one who saw deeper than the external political events the obstacles
to the restoration of Judah as an independent state were within
herself. She had no longer the moral and Social stability necessary
to the making of a state.”
Like his predecessor Isaiah, Jeremiah saw nothing inappropriate
in making of himself a walking reminder of his belief that Nebuchad-
nezzar was divinely appointed to reign over the Palestinian states
so long as Jehovah willed it, a belief which brought him directly
into opposition to the court prophets who were promising a speedy
return. The following story is possibly but one of many incidents
of this character.
* This is an indication of the step by which the idea of Jehovah passed from that
of a local god, attached to the land, to that of God of the whole world. But the step
was not yet complete.
* What are the qualities which are necessary in order that a state may be inde-
pendent and self-governing P
THE CITY OF JERUSALEM
The domed mosque in the foreground stands on the traditional site of the Temple


JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I57
*Thus saith Jehovah to me: “Make thee bonds and bars,”
and put them upon thy neck; and send them to the king of
Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children
of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon,”
5 by the hand of the messengers" that come to Jerusalem unto
Zedekiah king of Judah: and give them a charge unto their
masters, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of
Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters: I have made the
earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the
Io earth, by my great power and by my out-stretched arm; and
I give it unto whom it seemeth right unto me. And now have
I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the
king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also
have I given him to serve him. And all the nations shall
15 serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his
own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall
make him their bondman.
And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom
which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Baby-
20 lon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the
king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, Saith Jehovah,
with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence,
until I have consumed them by his hand.
But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to
25 your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your sooth-Sayers,
nor to your sorcerers," that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall
not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie" unto
you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should
drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nation that
3o shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,
* Jer. 27: 2–22; 28:1–17 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
* Bonds and bars: an oriental yoke such as would be used for an ox, the symbol of
servitude, and of the Babylonian yoke which Judah was seeking to break.
3 Lines 1-4: Note the enumeration of the nations which shared Judah’s servi-
tude. Consult the map, opposite p. 8.
4 Envoys from the neighboring kings were busy in Jerusalem Seeking to persuade
Zedekiah to join in a general revolt against Babylon.
5 Lines 25–29: The king was evidently accustomed to use all the oriental methods
of divining the will of the gods. -
* Prophesy a lie: This whole episode is one of the most enlightening upon
the subject of the so-called false prophets. See pp. 40–43, concerning the prophet
Micaiah.
I58 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land,
saith Jehovah; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.”
And I spake to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all
these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the
35 king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence, as Jehovah hath spoken con-
cerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon P
And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak
40 unto you, Saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for
they prophesy a lie unto you. For I have not sent them, saith
Jehovah, but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may
drive you out, and that ye may perish, ye, and the prophets
that prophesy unto you.”
45 Also I Spake to the priests and to all this people, saying,
“Thus saith Jehovah: Hearken not to the words of your
prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels
of Jehovah's house shall now shortly be brought again from
Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. Hearken not unto
5o them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should
this city become a desolation ? But if they be prophets, and
if the word of Jehovah be with them, let them now make
intercession to Jehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left
in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah,
55 and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. For thus saith Jehovah
of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and
concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels
that are left in the city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Baby-
lon took not, when he carried away captive Jehoiachin the
Óo Son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon,
and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; yea, thus saith
Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels
that are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the
king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: They shall be carried to
65 Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit
them,” saith Jehovah; then will I bring them up, and restore
them to this place.”
And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the
reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the
70 fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet,
: The day that I visit them: that is the day of their overthrow when Jehovah will
visit them in judgment.
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I59
who was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of Jehovah,
in the presence of the priests and of all the people, Saying,
“Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I
have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two
75 full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of
Jehovah's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took
away from this place, and carried to Babylon: and I will
bring again to this place Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim, king
of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went to Babylon,
8o saith Jehovah; for I will break the yoke of the king of Baby-
lon.”
*Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananjah
in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the
people that stood in the house of Jehovah, even the prophet
85 Jeremiah said, “Amen: Jehovah do so; Jehovah perform thy
words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels
of Jehovah's house, and all them of the captivity, from Baby-
lon unto this place. Nevertheless hear thou now this word
that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people:
90 The prophets that have been before me and before thee of
old prophesied against many countries, and against great
kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet
that prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall
come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that Jehovah
95 hath truly sent him.” Then Hananiah the prophet took
the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it.
And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying,
“Thus saith Jehovah: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebu-
chadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the
Ioo neck of all the nations.” And the prophet Jeremiah went his
way.
Then the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, after that
Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck
of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Go, and tell Hananiah,
IoS Saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast broken the bars of
wood; but thou hast made in their stead bars of iron. For
thus Saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a
yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may
* Lines 82–85: Jeremiah’s yoke has become unendurable to the officials. This
meeting was probably by appointment.
* Lines 85–95: Jeremiah says, “would that your prophecy might be true, but
I know better. All our past history shows that the prophets have been most true
when they have prophesied disaster.”
I6o THE HEBREW PROPHETS
serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve
IIo him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.”
Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet,
“Hear now, Hananiah: Jehovah hath not sent thee; but thou
makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith
Jehovah, Behold, I will send thee away from off the face of
II5 the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken
rebellion against Jehovah.” So Hananiah the prophet died
the same year in the seventh month.
Jeremiah and the Rechabites”
The following story presents an incident illustrating another
of the ingenious object-lessons which Jeremiah employed in order
to emphasize the fact that for disobedience and apostasy the nation
was suffering under the hand of Jehovah.
The word which came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, say-
ing, “Go unto the house of the Rechabites,” and speak unto
them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of
the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”
5 Then I took the whole house of the Rechabites; and I
brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of
the sons of Hanan, the man of God, which was by the chamber
of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the
son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold." And I set before
To the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine,
and cups; and I said unto them, “Drink ye wine.”
* Lines III–I6: Jeremiah seems to mistrust the sincerity of Hananiah as well as
his judgment, hence this stinging rebuke. This somewhat spectacular method of
teaching was natural to the oriental mind.
* Jer. 35:1–19 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 *The Rechabites: A tribe of people descended from the Kenites who were bound
together by a vow neither to drink wine, nor to dwell in houses or cities. The
inconvenience of such a vow in Palestine, the land of the grape and the wine, was
great. Yet out of loyalty to their common ancestor these people had kept to the
simplicity of their old tribal life until driven into the city for refuge. The incident
presented a very striking lesson in a country where the vow was ordinarily associated
with a promise to the god.
4 Note that the incident took place in the closest proximity to the princes and
would thus attract the curiosity and attention of just the people whom Jeremiah
wished to reach.
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM IóI
But they said, “We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the
Son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall
drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons, for ever: neither
I5 shall ye build house, nor Sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have
any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may
live many days in the land wherein ye sojourn. And we have
obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in
all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our
20 wives, our sons, or our daughters; nor to build houses for us to
dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: but
we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according
to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to
pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the
25 land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear
of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the
Syrians; so we dwell at Jerusalem.”
Then" came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, saying
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: “Go, and say
30 to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will
ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? Saith
Jehovah. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he
commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and
unto this day they drink none, for they obey their father's
35 Commandment. But I have spoken unto you, rising up early
and speaking; and ye have not hearkened unto me. I have
sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up
early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man
from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after
40 other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which
I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not
inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. -
Forasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have
performed the commandment of their father which he com-
45 manded them, but this people hath not hearkened unto me;
therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of
Israel: “Behold I will bring upon Judah and upon all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced
against them; because I have spoken unto them, but they
5o have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have
not answered.”
* Lines 28–51: The prophet’s strange plan has secured an audience, and he turns
to it with an application of his lesson.
I62 - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, “Thus
Saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have
obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept
55 all his precepts, and done according unto all that he com-
manded you; therefore thus Saith Jehovah of hosts, the God
of Israel: Jonadab the Son of Rechab shall not want a man to
stand before me for ever.” -
Zedekiah Breaks with Babylonia
Not all the experience of his predecessors, much less the exhorta-
tions of Jeremiah, Could hold the king true to his agreement with
Babylon. The alluring claims of Egypt were to him as to former
Palestinian kings the cause of his undoing. He was detected in
treasonable negotiations with Pharaoh Hophra,” and brought upon
the already well-nigh ruined city a siege by Nebuchadnezzar.
Zedekiah, faithless as he was, turned to Jeremiah to learn
Jehovah's will. Jeremiah had no word of comfort to offer. He
told the king that the city would be taken and burned, and that
its king would go to Babylon as a captive.
In the midst of such confusion, a relative of the prophet who
had no longer use for the worthless land of his inheritance in
Anathoth offered in a Spirit of irony to sell it to Jeremiah. The
prophet seeing in Compliance with this request an opportunity
to show his faith in the fidelity of Jehovah to the land, notwith-
standing the apostasy of its people, bought the field, and thereby
brought upon himself further derision. He hardly understood his
own action, but believed it to be the will of Jehovah.
3Behold, the mounds, they are come unto the city to take
it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans that
fight against it, because of the Sword, and of the famine, and
of the pestilence; and what thou hast spoken is come to
5 pass; and, behold, thou seest it. And thou hast said unto me,
* He dismisses his “object-lesson” with words of approval rare upon his lips.
* Pharaoh Hophra: The fourth king of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, 585–569 B.C.
He is mentioned only in the Bible and by Herodotus. His chief ambition was to gain
for Egypt her old Asiatic control, but his efforts met with no success. Babylonian
domination extended to the borders of Egypt under Nebuchadnezzar.
3 Jer. 32: 24–27 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I63
O Lord Jehovah, “Buy thee the field for money, and call
witnesses”; whereas the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans.
Then came the word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah, Saying,
Io “Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh: is there anything
too hard for me P”
Jeremiah a Prisoner
But no suggestion of return of the exiles could atone for the
immediate effect of Jeremiah’s prediction of the unfavorable out-
come of the siege. His utterances could only be interpreted as
counsel to surrender, and were not calculated to put courage.
into the hearts of the defenders of the city who could but hope for
some sudden deliverance such as that of Isaiah's day. We can
imagine the worshipers of Jehovah contrasting Jeremiah's grim
predictions with those of Isaiah under the former siege.
*Then the princes said unto the king, “Let this man, we
pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as he weakeneth the
hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the
hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them:
5 for this man seeketh not the welfare of his people, but the hurt.”
And Zedekiah the king said, “Behold, he is in your hand; for
the king is not he that can do anything against you.” Then
took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon” of Mal-
chijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard; and
* In this act we see Jeremiah holding with what seems almost stubbornness to his
belief in the possibility of a reinstated Judah. The statement of lines Io-II is indeed
a triumph of faith.
* Jer. 38: 4–6 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
3 The dungeon was probably an old cistern, an ignominious prison indeed for the
prophet. The story of the death of another prophet, Uriah, is told in Jer. 26:20–24,
as follows: “And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Uriah
the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against
this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim the king,
with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put
him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt.
And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the Son of Achbor,
and certain men with him, into Egypt; and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt,
and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast
his dead body into the graves of the common people.” Jeremiah was fortunate in
escaping with his life. For the full story see Jer., chap. 38.
I64 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
To they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon
there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire."
From the dungeon Jeremiah was rescued by an officer of the
king's household and placed under guard in the courtyard of the
prison. From this point he was allowed to come and go with a
certain degree of freedom.
A new element had by this time come into the situation. The
king of Egypt approached with his army to the defense of the city.
The Babylonians were drawn off temporarily, giving a brief respite
in the siege. A messenger from the king brought Jeremiah secretly
into the palace where in the hope of Some such message as that of
Isaiah he was questioned as to the fate of the city. Note Jere-
miah’s characteristic reply.
Thus saith Jehovah,” the God of Israel, “Thus shall ye say
to the king of Judah, that Sent you unto me to inquire of me:
Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall
return to Egypt into their own land. And the Chaldeans
5 shall come again, and fight against this city; and they shall
take it, and burn it with fire.”
Thus saith Jehovah, “Deceive not yourselves, saying, The
Chaldeans shall surely depart from us; for they shall not
depart. For though he had smitten the whole army of the
Io Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but
wounded men among them, yet would they rise up every man
in his tent, and burn this city with fire.” -
During the temporary break in the siege Jeremiah attempted to
go to Anathoth to look after his property. This act was interpreted
as an effort to reach the Babylonians, and he was seized and im-
prisoned in the dungeon in the house of one Jonathan the scribe.
The king, unable to satisfy himself without the further word of the
prophet, again sent secretly for him, and asked for a message from
1 There was here a real problem to those who held to their belief that the power
of Babylonia would be quickly broken. To them Jeremiah seemed a dangerous man
and a menace to the city. This incident shows the weakness of Zedekiah in the hands
of his princes.
a Jer. 37:7–10 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission). -
3 Jeremiah is bending all his energies to save the city from being burned and its
people from the outrages of a victorious soldiery. He risks his life in vain, however.
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM I65
Jehovah. Jeremiah was in imminent danger of losing his life.
Branded as a traitor, a word from the king would have ended all.
He knew his danger, yet with no thought of himself pleaded with
the king to avert, by a timely surrender, the coming horrors of the
sacking and burning of the city. -
Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah,” “Thus saith Jehovah,
the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If thou wilt go forth unto
the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and
this city shall not be burned with fire. But if thou wilt not
5 go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city
be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn
it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.” And
Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the
Jews that are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver
To me into their hand, and they mock me.” But Jeremiah said,
“They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice
of Jehovah, in that which I speak unto thee: So it shall be
well with thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to
go forth, this is the word that Jehovah hath showed me:
15 Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s
house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes,
and those women shall say, Thy familiar friends have set thee
on, and have prevailed over thee: now that thy feet are sunk
in the mire, they are turned away back. And they shall
20 bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans;
and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken
by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause
this city to be burned with fire.”
The Fall of Jerusalem
But the king, fearing his princes, allowed the siege to continue
until after many months a breach in the walls" was made and the
* Jer. 38:17–23 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
* Note the littleness of the king who for fear of personal mockery from renegade
Jews will sacrifice a city. For Zedekiah must surely by this time have been convinced
that Jeremiah spoke the truth (lines 7–10). The mockery of the members of the
king's own household when they are seized by the conqueror will be worse than that
which he fears.
3 A breach in the walls: To those who are familiar with modern warfare the length
of time which ancient cities withstood a siege is remarkable. The walls of a city were
its chief defense. Thus Jerusalem, stripped of its valiant men and all its wealth, was
able to stand a considerable siege before falling into the hands of the enemy.
I66 THE HEBRFW PROPHETS
army of Nebuchadnezzar poured into the city. Under cover of
the night Zedekiah and his guard escaped by way of the king's
gardens, but the party was discovered by the Babylonians, when but
a few miles from the city. They were captured and taken to
Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah in Hamath. No quarter was given to
Zedekiah. His eyes were put out, his sons and his guard killed,
and he himself was sent in fetters to Babylon. The story of the
destruction of the city as told in the memoirs of Jeremiah is graphic."
And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses
of the people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem.
Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away
captive into Babylon the residue of the people that remained
5 in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him, and the
residue of the people that remained. But Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, that had
nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and
fields at the same time.”
The Last Days of Jeremiah
Jeremiah was too important a man to be overlooked by Nebu-
chadnezzar. He was given his choice, to go to Babylon and live in
comfort or to remain with the hopelessly poor and inefficient
little group of Jews left in the ruined city. With the latter he
cast in his lot, under Gedaliah who was appointed governor
of the colony by Nebuchadnezzar. The scattered Jews who had
fled to places of safety prior to the siege gathered again and planting
and sowing was resumed in the long-forsaken fields. But the life
of the colony was broken up by a conspiracy from within, in which
Gedaliah was killed and many of his sympathizers as well. The
leaders who remained, fearing lest Nebuchadnezzar should hold
them responsible for the death of Gedaliah,” resolved to go down
* Jer. 39:8–Io (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
* Note that the king of Babylon does not wish to depopulate the land entirely,
but to maintain there a harmless colony. He would doubtless have preferred to spare
the city had it been safe to do so.
3 Gedaliah: seems to have been a brave man, but he was not able to cope with
the difficult situation. For the full story of this incident and the record of the remain-
der of the prophet’s life in the little Colony, read Jer., chaps. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44.
JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM 16]
into Egypt for safety. Jeremiah uttered a last unheeded protest,
and followed the people into their self-appointed exile. In a
foreign land against whose enticements he had set his face for a
life time, old and spent with suffering, Jeremiah did not fail, in
the atmosphere of idolatry into which his companions So easily
settled, to lift his voice against strange gods. The last words
which have come down to us are words of warning to those who
in Egypt burned incense to the Queen of Heaven.
*Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, all Judah that
dwell in the land of Egypt:
“Behold, I have sworn by my great name,” saith Jehovah,
“that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any
5 man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord
Jehovah liveth. Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not
for good; and all the men of Judah that are in the land of
Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until
there be an end of them. And they that escape the sword
Io shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah,
few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone
into the land of Egypt to Sojourn there, shall know whose
word shall stand, mine, or theirs. And this shall be the sign
unto you,” saith Jehovah, “that I will punish you in this
15 place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand
against you for evil:” Thus saith Jehovah, “Behold, I will
give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I
gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar
20 king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.”
The Contribution of Jeremiah
Whether Jeremiah died in Egypt or upon Palestinian soil, or
eventually joined the exiles in Babylon, we do not know. It
remains only to gather from the preceeding pages the essence of his
contribution to the religion of the Hebrews, and to reflect upon
his character. Self-forgetting, courageous, and loyal, his message
forced him to hide a heart which was bleeding with sorrow for his
people, in a stern and rigid proclamation of the displeasure of
Jer. 44; 26–30 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
I68 THE HEBREW PROPHETS ſº
Jehovah. He literally laid down his life for his enemies, not sud-
denly and in spectacular heroism, but patiently, day by day, in
ignominy and persecution, through a period of fifty years. His
spirit was his greatest contribution to the religion of his people.
In Jeremiah also we see dawning a conception of the importance
of the individual in his relation to God, a relation depending not
upon residence in Palestine nor upon worship at the Temple in
Jerusalem, but upon the attitude of the individual heart of the Jew
wherever he might turn to Jehovah for help. This conception
carried with it unlimited faith in the power of Jehovah over all the
nations of the earth, and his ability to carry out his purposes
regardless of the attitude of the chosen people.
Not only this, but more clearly than any of his predecessors
does Jeremiah emphasize the willingness of Jehovah to forgive
and to change his purpose of punishment into blessing if only “ye
will turn from your evil way.” "
“And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for
me with all your heart.”
“I am Jehovah the God of all flesh. Is there anything too
hard for me?” -
* A comparison of the lives of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah leads us to raise
the question whether sympathy is not the greatest motive power in human life. Could
Isaiah with his commanding presence, his lofty conception of Jehovah, but with his
aloofness from the people, have accomplished as much as Jeremiah whose heart was
continually torn with the anguish of the Suffering nation ? Was Jeremiah’s life and
work a step in the progress toward our modern idea of God as the essence of love and
sympathy? Has every man his own particular work to do in the world, a necessary
work without which a link in the chain, however Small, is missing?
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TABLE OF IMPORTANT HISTORICAL EVENTS
B.C. THE PERSIAN PERIOD OF JEWISH HISTORY
586 Jerusalem captured by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and all the
people of Judah except “the poorest of the land” taken captive
to Babylonia.
Ezekiel commenced his work of prophesying among the exiles a little
later.
56I Nebuchadnezzar succeeded upon the throne of Babylon by his son
Evil-Merodach. -
Jehoiachin, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had kept in a
dungeon, is liberated by Evil-Merodach and honored as a royal
prisoner. -
558 Evil-Merodach assassinated by Nergal-sharezer who seizes the
throne for himself.
554 Nergal-sharezer dies and is succeeded by Labashi-Marduk, his
young Son, who was murdered by his nobles after a reign of
nine months.
Nabonidus chosen king by the conspirators.
549 Cyrus, king of Persia and of Anshan (a province of Elam) and a
vassal of Media, overthrows the Median king, and himself
becomes king of the great empire of the Medes; but he fixes
his title as “King of Persia.”
545 Cyrus defeats Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia in Asia Minor,
and pushes his conquests as far as the Aegean Sea.
The “prophet of the Exile” (Isa., chaps. 40–55) begins to preach in
Babylonia.
538 Cyrus enters Babylon without resistance.
Exiles begin to return in Small numbers to Judah. Shesh-bazzar,
perhaps a Son of Jehoiachin, becomes the first governor of
Judah. - -
Zerubbabel, probably a nephew of Shesh-bazzar, succeeds him as
governor of Judah.
529 Cambyses succeeds to the throne of Persia upon the death of his
father, Cyrus the Great.
525 Cambyses completes the conquest of Egypt.
523 P Gaumata, a pretended son of Cyrus, seizes the throne of Persia.
522 Cambyses on his way home from Egypt commits suicide.
Revolts break out all over the Persian empire.
52I Gaumata slain by conspirators, who place Darius upon the throne.
52O Darius undertakes to reduce revolting Babylon and other rebellious
provinces to Submission; this task requires a full year.
Haggai and Zechariah arouse Zerubbabel and the people of Judah
to the rebuilding of the temple. -
5I6 Completion and dedication of the temple.
490 Battle of Marathon, in which the Greeks defeat a Persian army,
much larger than their own
I69
I70
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
486
48o
479
464
459-453
444
432
424
4O4.
4OI
359
345
338
336
336
333
332
33I
33O
Xerxes becomes king of Persia upon the death of his father, Darius.
Egypt revolts from Persia, but was at once reduced to submission
by Xerxes. -
Battle of Thermopylae, where the Spartans made a heroic stand
against an overwhelming force of Persians.
The Greeks win a great naval victory over Persia at Salamis.
The Greeks defeat the Persians at Plataea, and drive them back
into Asia. -
Artaxerxes I succeeds to the throne of Persia upon the death of
Xerxes. g
Athens sent an army against Memphis to aid Egypt in throwing off
the Persian yoke. Though successful at first, the Persian
general Megabyzus after a six years' war expelled the Greeks
and subdued Egypt.
Nehemiah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes, leads an expedition to Jerusalem
and rebuilds the walls of the city, over which he was appointed
governor. -
Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after a visit to Babylon.
Ezra leads an expedition from Babylon to Jerusalem and institutes
a religious reform, based upon a new revision of the Mosaic
law.
Artaxerxes I dies and Xerxes II, his Son, becomes king of Persia.
Xerxes II after a few weeks is slain by Sogdianus, his half-brother,
who seizes the throne.
Sogdianus in turn is slain by Ochus, another half-brother of Xerxes
II, who ascended the throne as Darius II (Nothus).
Darius II dies and is succeeded by his oldest son Artaxerxes II.
Cyrus, the younger brother of Artaxerxes II, leads an army, including
Io,000 Greek mercenaries, against Babylon but is defeated and
slain. . (The story of the return of the Greeks is told by
Xenophon in The Anabasis.)
Artaxerxes III (Ochus) succeeds his father upon the Persian throne.
The Jews join the Phoenicians and Egyptians in a revolt against
Persia, which is put down by Bagoses, the Persian general, who
oppressed Judah for seven years.
Artaxerxes III is poisoned by Bagoses, who placed the king's young
son, Arses, upon the throne.
Arses is in turn slain by Bagoses, who gave the throne to Darius III,
a great-grandson of Artaxerxes II.
Alexander the Great becomes king of Macedonia.
Alexander defeats a great Persian army in the battle of the Granicus.
Darius hopelessly beaten by Alexander in the battle of Issus.
Alexander conquers Egypt.
Alexander again defeats Darius at Gaugamela.
Alexander pursues Darius into Media, where the latter is slain by
his own soldiers, and the Persian Empire comes to an end.
CHAPTER XII
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS
To the surrounding nations and to us who have followed its
story, the siege and fall of Jerusalem seemed the closing chapter in
the history of the Hebrew people. Not so however to the prophets
of Jehovah. In righteous dissatisfaction with their present, they
were ever beholding in imagination a new and better future and
bending themselves under the burden of bringing it to pass.
We must now retrace our steps in point of time to 597 B.C. when
the first great company of Hebrews passed out of the gates of
Jerusalem and started upon their weary march of eight or nine
hundred miles to the city of Babylon." In that company was the
king, Jehoiachin, and with him all the princes and noble families
of Jerusalem, as well as skilled craftsmen and tradesmen, in all a
company numbering about ten thousand men, women, and children.
Nebuchadnezzar and his predecessors had too long trusted the
fidelity of the Hebrew kings. In the selection of these his captives
he assured himself that there remained in the city of Jerusalem no
strong leaders of noble, or even of common blood of sufficient
ability to organize a revolt. We have already followed the vacilla-
tions of the weak king Zedekiah and his courtiers, and know that,
while Nebuchadnezzar underrated the tenacity with which the
humblest Hebrews clung to their ideal of an independent state, he
was not mistaken in the character of the men whom he left in the
city. Henceforth the blood and brawn of the Hebrew people were
no longer in Palestine, but in Babylon. There by the “river
Chebar,” a long navigable canal which intersected a rich tract of
land between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, south and east
of the city of Babylon, in the midst of fertile plains, was planted the
colony of Hebrews.
The term “captive” does not rightly describe the relation of the
Hebrews in Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar. He was a wise and
* See chap. xi of this book, p. 153, and II Kings 24: Io-18. -
I71
172 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
not ungenerous ruler. He sought to disable the smaller states
which were his by conquest, rather than to oppress them. His
building operations are among the most famous of the ancient world.
He rebuilt Babylon on a magnificent Scale, and made it a city of
splendor and delight. Among the Hebrews in the colony by the
Chebar, prosperity reigned just in proportion to the industry and
ability of the individuals. Were we considering the literature of
the Hebrews primarily we should also see that, stimulated by the
intellectual atmosphere of Babylon and the emotions aroused by
their new situation, as well as by the relief from pressing political
responsibilities, the Hebrews themselves developed great literary
activity. In this period were produced a large number of the
greatest masterpieces of their literature" as well as a new revision
of their national history and their law Code.” Those who had been
leaders in Jerusalem had doubtless the opportunity to lead in the
life of this community, and we may easily imagine after a few
years of residence a thriving colony, whose prosperity was the
greater because so closely related to the city of Babylon.
But external prosperity does not always reflect peace of mind.
The Hebrews could not yet easily think of their God as accessible
in a foreign land. The prophets of Jehovah had but recently
declared that worship was acceptable to him only in his temple
at Jerusalem. There seemed to the less loyal Hebrews but one
alternative, and that, to accept the gods of Babylon and seek pro-
tection and prosperity from them. Moreover the Babylonian
religion was all-pervasive and alluring. It entered into every act
of business or social life. Contracts and legal agreements made
even with Hebrews were bound by Oaths in the name of the gods of
* Masterpieces of literature: It can hardly be that all the literature of this period
has come down to us. The Book of Job which is a dramatic poem dealing with the
problem “Why do the righteous suffer?” may have been written during this period, as
well as many of the most beautiful of the Psalms.
* Law Code: This version of the Hebrew law may be found in the Book of Leviticus.
It contains a rewriting of the laws which had been previously presented in Deuter-
onomy, and additional laws for use in the new city of Jerusalem when the people should
return to it, for it was in confident anticipation of this event that the law was prepared.
To this book, as to Deuteronomy, the name of Moses was attached as representing the
great lawgiver of Israel’s early days. See note on Deuteronomy, p. 141.
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EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS I73
Babylonia. The worship in the temples was magnificent. Doubt-
less a large majority of the people would have been more than con-
tent to turn to Nebo and Bel, had it not been for the presence of
certain priests and prophets of Jehovah among the captives. To
them the message of Jehovah had been so real that although sepa-
rated from what they deemed his land by a long and weary march
of almost a thousand miles they could not believe themselves to
be separated from Jehovah's power and presence.
Ezekiel, the first of the prophets of this period whose work we
shall consider, was of the priestly class, of the family of Zadok, one
of that aristocracy of the priesthood whose ministry was in the
temple at Jerusalem. Perhaps Ezekiel may himself have assisted
there upon occasion. Although he never alludes to Jeremiah, he
was Surely a younger contemporary of the older prophet, and could
hardly have failed to know of his work, and to be influenced by it.
Through all that long and trying reign of Jehoiakim when Jeremiah
was trying constantly, but in vain, to show the king his folly,
Ezekiel must have been watching with equal anxiety the outcome
of events. Perhaps, at a later time when Jerusalem had fallen,
Jeremiah's knowledge that Ezekiel was at work in Babylon was an
added reason for his choosing to remain among the faint-hearted,
scattered, and bewildered populace of the ruined city.
But what was the problem which faced Ezekiel in the colony
by the Chebar? The hope and promise of Isaiah so useful in his
own day was now the fixed principle upon which the Hebrews in
Babylon as well as in Jerusalem confidently relied. Some said,
“We have offended Jehovah. He has brought us into captivity as
a punishment, but his anger will soon be appeased and we shall return
to our own land.” Some said, “Our fathers sinned and we are
bearing their punishment.” “The fathers have eaten sour grapes
and the children’s teeth are set on edge” was a current proverb
at this time. Many devout souls there were who wept over their
sins, and longed with unspeakable yearning for the Temple.
“By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept,
When we remembered Zion.”
* Read this Psalm, No. 137.
I 74 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
But few or none save the prophets, and chief among the latter
Ezekiel, could admit the possibility that Jerusalem would not
eventually shake off the yoke of Babylon, or negotiate a peace
which would permit the people to return to an unharmed city."
To impress Jehovah's purpose to destroy unrepentant and idola-
trous Jerusalem, and to interpret that purpose to the captives in
Babylon was the difficult task of Ezekiel. Should the news of
the destruction of Jerusalem come before at least a nucleus of the
people could be persuaded that it was Jehovah himself who willed
its destruction, faith in Jehovah would not survive the fall of the
city. That Jehovah was responsible for the city's disasters and
that therefore the only escape was through repentance and turning
from idolatry Ezekiel believed. Had he not at least partially
succeeded in his task of persuasion, faith in Jehovah would have
perished.
The Call of Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a strange, stern man. He received his messages in
a spectacular way and delivered them as Conspicuously. To the
ordinary reader the story of his call is a confused picture of man and
creatures, of wings and wheels and glowing shapes from which pro-
ceeded a voice saying:”
3Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, who have
rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed
* “Jehovah's city is inviolate,” that is, it cannot be entered by a foreign army
or destroyed, because it is the dwelling-place of the god of the people, was the watch-
word of the people.
* From the period of the captivity until the final destruction of the second Jerusa-
lem in the first century A.D. there was an increasing tendency among the Hebrews to
employ as a literary device for impressing their ideas the most elaborate visions.
Perhaps this was due in part to the necessity that they should write in such a way that
only the initiated would understand. Their literature was many times treasonable
in its claims and anticipations and if understood by the nations who were their rulers
would have brought more bitter persecutions than they were already receiving. But
visions were also a characteristic of Babylonian literature, and doubtless the Hebrews
were influenced in their literary style by the examples of literature which commanded
their admiration in Babylonia, and they probably gathered from their surroundings there
many of the images which are found in the visions. It will be well worth while to
read a few chapters from Ezekiel in order to get the impressions of these visions, even
though they be not easily comprehended, and may sometimes seem fantastic and
meaningless.
3 Ezek. 2:3–6.
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS I75
against me even unto this very day. I do send thee unto them;
and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah.
5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse
(for they are a rebellious house), shall know that there hath
been a prophet among them. And thou, Son of man, be not
afraid of them, or of their words, though briers and thorns" are
with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid
Io of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are
a rebellious house.
The prophet's acceptance of the commission was no less strangely
clothed. He beheld a hand holding a leather roll of a book upon
which were inscribed woes and lamentations.” This book the
prophet was commanded to eat. Having summoned his courage
to devour it he found it sweet and wholesome. By this we judge
that he intended to assert that although assigned a mission as
uninviting as that of Jeremiah, he accepted it from Jehovah, and
found pleasure in its performance because it represented duty.
But Ezekiel did not underrate his task, for he says:
3So the Spirit lifted me up," and took me away; and I
went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of
Jehovah was strong upon me. Then I came to them of the
captivity at Tel-abib,5 that dwelt by the river Chebar; and
5 I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.
Denunciation of Jerusalem
For ten years the prophet denounced the people of Jerusalem
with the exiled Hebrews as an audience, and in turn exhorted his
hearers to heed Jehovah's warnings. All the abominations of
* Briers and thorns: Ezekiel’s words were as little likely to be heeded as those of
his predecessors among the prophets, and the path of his duty was to be a thorny one.
His enemies would be as venomous and plentiful as the scorpions in that eastern land.
* Ezek. 2:8–3:3. 3 Ezek. 3: I4, 15.
4 * The Spirit lifted me up: Many persons consider this a description of a kind of
trance into which Ezekiel fell. It is easier to understand it, however, as a figure meant
by Ezekiel to express the uplifting experience of his soul when the conviction that he
was destined to deliver the messages of Jehovah to his people in this most critical
time was borne in upon his mind and heart.
5 * Tel-abib.: This name does not appear elsewhere, but it probably designates the
particular portion of the general territory in which the Hebrews were settled.
176 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
idolatry which were reported to him by the frequent travelers from
Jerusalem he clothed in the form of visions seen by himself. He
assailed the worship of the Sun, of beasts, and of idols, and then in
wrath proclaimed Jehovah's message of destruction for the city.
*Then he said unto me, “Hast thou seen this, O son of man?
Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the
abominations which they commit here P for they have filled
the land with violence, and have continually provoked me
5 to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.” There-
fore will I also deal in wrath; mine eye shall not spare, neither .
will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a
loud voice, yet will I not hear them.”
Then he cried in mine ears with a loud voice, saying,
Io “Cause ye them that have charge over the city to draw near,
every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.” And
behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which
lieth toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon
in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in
15 linen, with a writer's inkhorns by his side. And they went in,
and stood beside the brazen altar.
And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the
cherubim" whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house;
* Ezek. 8:17—9: II (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., with revisions).
2 The branch to their nose: Possibly this act was a feature of the ceremonies of
the worship of the sun. The Persian sun worshipers were said to hold a branch of
date, palm, or other tree before their faces when worshiping the Sun. It may, however,
be only a phrase to indicate some expression of contempt for Jehovah.
3 They have made Jehovah but one of many gods in his own land. He will not
heed their calls.
4 He; The visionary man who had carried Ezekiel in his imagination to Jerusalem.
He is described in 8: 2 as follows: “a likeness as of the appearance of fire, from his
loins and downward fire, and from his loins and upward as the appearance of bright-
ness, as it were glowing metal. And he put forth the form of a hand, and the Spirit
lifted me up.”
s An inkhorn: a case for holding reed pens, with an ink holder attached. It
was carried in the girdle.
6 Cherubim: These were possibly human-headed bull figures with wings. The
descriptions of these strange figures vary in different portions of Ezekiel's visions, and
elsewhere. Wherever they were, however, they indicated the special presence of
Jehovah, and in the Temple where they had guarded the ark they had been said to be
accompanied with a shining light. In Ezekiel's visions the “Glory of the Lord” ap-
pears riding upon the cherubim.
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS I 77
and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's
20 inkhorn by his side. And Jehovah said unto him, “Go through
the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a
mark' upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry
over all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.”
And to the others he said in my hearing, “Go ye through the
25 city after him, and Smite: let not your eye spare, neither have
ye pity; slay utterly the old and the young men, and little
children and women; but come not near any upon whom is the
mark: and begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the
old men that were before the house. And he said unto them,
30 “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain; go ye
forth.” And they went forth, and smote in the city. And it
came to pass, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I
fell upon my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord Jehovah!
wilt thou destroy all the remnant of Israel in the pouring of
35 thy wrath upon Jerusalem P”
Then said he unto me, “The sin of the house of Israel and
Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the
city full of injustice: for they say, Jehovah hath forsaken the
land, and Jehovah seeth not. Mine eye shall not spare,
4o neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way upon their
head. And, behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the
inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done
as thou hast commanded me.”
The Parable of the Eagle and the Cedar Twig
A serious problem confronted the prophet in the attitude of the
citizens remaining in Jerusalem toward the Hebrews in captivity.
The former said, “We are the righteous. Jehovah has carried
away the wicked into captivity. We shall see them no more until
his wrath is appeased. Our city will now be delivered.” But
Ezekiel met such reports with a parable of condemnation for
confident Jerusalem and of comfort for the captives.
*And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, “Son of
man, put forth a riddle,” and speak a parable unto the house
* Set a mark: to distinguish them from the idolaters.
* Injustice: That is, in the courts.
3 Ezek., chap. 17 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., with further revisions).
4 Riddle, parable: These terms are synonymous here, and the latter gives the better
meaning. Note carefully the detailed interpretation of the parable of lines I-28, in
the remainder of the chapter. -
178
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
IO
I5
2O
25
3O
35
of Israel; and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: A great
eagle" with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers,
which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon,” and took the top
of the cedar: he cropped off the topmost of the young twigs
thereof, and carried it unto a land of traffic; he set it in a
city of merchants. He took also of the seed of the land, and
planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside abundant
waters; he set it as a slip that it might grow, and become a
spreading vine of low stature, whose branches would turn
toward him, and the roots thereof could be under him: So it
became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth
Sprigs.
“There was also another great eagle with great wings and
many feathers; and, behold, this vine did bend its roots toward
him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of
its plantation, that he might water it. It was planted in a
good soil by abundant waters, that it might bring forth
branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly
vine. Say thou, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Shall it
prosper ? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off
the fruit thereof, that it may wither; that all its fresh spring-
ing leaves may wither ? and not by a strong arm or much people
can it be raised from the roots thereof. Yea, behold, when
planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the
east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the beds where it
grew.”
Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
“Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these
things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon came to
Jerusalem, and took the king thereof, and the princes thereof,
and brought them to him to Babylon. And he took of the
family royal, and made a covenant with him; he also brought
him under an oath, and took away the might of the land;
that the kingdom might be submissive, that it might not lift
itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might serve him.
But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into
Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people.
* An eagle: Nebuchadnezzar. Conquerors were frequently represented as eagles.
* Lebanon: the high mountain range in Northern Palestine, here taken to represent
the land.
3 Another great eagle: Egypt.
4 He; King Zedekiah.
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS I79
40 Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth Such things?
shall he break the covenant, and yet escape? As I live, Saith
the Lord Jehovah, surely in the place where the king dwelleth
that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose
covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon
45 he shall die. Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army
and great company help him in the war, when they cast up
mounds and build forts, to cut off many persons. For he hath
despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold,
he had given his hand in pledge, and yet hath done all these
5o things: he shall not escape. Therefore thus saith the Lord
Jehovah: As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised,
and my covenant that he hath broken, I will even bring it
upon his own head." And I will spread my net upon him,
and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to
55 Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his
trespass that he hath trespassed against me. And all his choice
men in all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that
remain shall be scattered toward every wind; and ye shall
know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it.
6o “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will also take of the lofty
top of the cedar, and will plant it; I will crop off from the
topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it
upon a high and lofty mountain: in the mountain of the
height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs,
65 and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall
dwell all birds of every feather; in the shade of the branches
thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall
know that I, Jehovah, have brought down the high tree, have
exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have
7o made the dry tree to flourish: I, Jehovah,” have spoken and
have done it.”
Jehovah Deals with Each Man Separately
Out of the darkest hours in the history of many nations have
come great ideas and new light.
To Ezekiel, perplexed by the problem of what good could come
out of the present situation, appeared a new theory of Jehovah.
* Mine oath, my covenant: Jehovah's, because the king was always considered a.S
the representative of the god of the land. -
* Note the promise that the Hebrews now in Babylon, despised by their fellow-
countrymen, but comprising the best blood of old Jerusalem, will be the nucleus of the
I8o - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The city of Jerusalem must fall. The national life might be at
an end. What would become of the people who were loyal and
true to Jehovah P Was the proverb of the sour grapes just and
true? Ezekiel was forced by his belief in the faithfulness and
power of Jehovah to answer No, Jehovah will deal with men as
individuals, not in masses, as in a nation. His message at this
point is worth careful study because it marks a great step in the
progress of religion toward a recognition of the responsibility of
every man or woman for his own acts.
*The word of Jehovah came unto me again, saying, “What
mean ye that ye use this proverb in the land of Israel, saying,
The fathers have eaten Sour grapes, and the children’s teeth
are set on edge? As I live, Saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall
5 no more use this proverb in Israel. Behold, each Soul is mine,
the soul of the father, also the Soul of the son is mine: the
soul that sinneth, it alone shall die.”
“But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
and hath not wronged any, but hath restored to the debtor
Io his pledge, hath taken nought by robbery, hath given his
bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a gar-
ment; he that hath not given forth upon interest, neither hath
taken any increase,” that hath withdrawn his hand from sin,
hath executed true justice between man and man,” hath
I5 walked in my statutes," and hath kept mine Ordinances, to
deal truly; he is just, he shall Surely live, Saith the Lord
Jehovah. -
new nation. To these men the folly of Zedekiah was even more apparent than in
Jerusalem, for the strength of Babylon and the character of Nebuchadnezzar were
best appreciated in his own Country. *
* Ezek. 18:1–5, 7–10, 14, 175–19, 20–23.
* The significance of this series of passages cannot be overestimated. Jehovah had
formerly been conceived of as dealing with people in large groups. The old Hebrew law
required the extermination of a man and his family for the sin of the man. The worth
of the individual soul to God had not yet appeared. Ezekiel first clearly states that
henceforth Jehovah will deal with each man Separately, rewarding and punishing
each according to his acts. Moreover, he will gladly receive the repentant sinner
who turns to him. He takes no delight in punishment, and much prefers that men
should turn to him and live. Y
3 Has not charged more than the legal rate of interest, or has not exacted interest
from the poor who were unable to pay it.
4. When acting as judge in the Courts.
5 Statutes, ordinances: that is, laws,
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS I8I
“If he have a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and
that doeth any one of these things, and that doeth not any of
20 those duties, that son shall Surely die; his blood shall be upon
him. -
“Now, lo, if a wicked father beget a son, that seeth all his
father's sins, which he hath done, and feareth, and doeth not
Such like; and hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die
25 for the sin of his father, he shall surely live. As for his father,
because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did
that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die
in his iniquity.” -
Yet say ye, Wherefore doth not the son bear the sin of the
30 father Pº The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall
not bear the sin of the father, neither shall the father bear the
sin of the Son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon
himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
Moreover if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath
35 committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is
lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None
of his transgressions that he hath committed shall be remem-
bered against him: because of his righteousness that he hath
done he shall live. “Have I any pleasure in the death of the
4o wicked P” saith the Lord Jehovah; “and not rather that he
should return from his way, and live?”
This was a revolutionary view of Jehovah, for had not the old
commandment described him as “visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children even unto the third and fourth generation”?
The prophet argues with his hearers and drives home his lesson of
the responsibility of each man for his own choice of life or death.
*But when the righteous turneth away from his righteous-
ness, and committeth sin, and doeth according to all the
abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? None
of his righteous deeds that he hath done shall be remembered:
5 in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he
hath sinned, in them shall he die.
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not just.” Hear now, O
* See the second commandment, Exod. 20:5, 6, the old law to which the people
were accustomed.
* Ezek. 18:24-32 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., with revisions).
3 The Hebrews could not readily comprehend the fact that Jehovah would receive
the repentant sinner. They clung to the theory that Jehovah loved most the exercise
of power, and that vengeance upon the sinner was his delight.
I82 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
house of Israel: “Is not my way just? are not your ways unjust?
When the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness,
Io and committeth sin, and dieth therein; in his sin that he hath
done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth
away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth
that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his trans-
15 gressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall
not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord
is not just. O house of Israel, are not my ways just? are not
your ways unjust?”
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one
20 according to his ways,” saith the Lord Jehovah. “Return ye,
and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so sin shall
not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions,
wherein ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and
a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I
25 have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth,” saith the
Lord Jehovah: “wherefore turn yourselves, and live.”
Consternation in Babylon
Meanwhile Jerusalem was under siege. One day the prophet's
wife died, but so great was the anxiety of the community over
the fate of Jerusalem that this calamity seemed but an inci-
dent. Ezekiel, absorbed in the common suspense, postpones his
period of mourning in anticipation of that universal mourning
in which his brethren would wail out their grief over fallen
Jerusalem. At last the news came. The city had been de-
stroyed, and soon might be expected the new accession to the
colony, headed by the blinded Zedekiah, to be brought in by the
generals of Nebuchadnezzar.
Could we but live through those first months in which the new-
Comers, no longer able to claim Jehovah's special favor, recounted to
their fellows the events and scenes of the siege, the warnings of
Jeremiah, the contradictions of the false prophets, the vacillations
of the king; could we have heard their speculations in regard to
Jehovah and the future, we could better understand the task of
the prophets of these times.
The consternation of the community in Babylon which had been
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS 183
expectantly waiting a recall was great. Where now was Jehovah,
since his city was destroyed P. Many had refused to worship the
gods of Babylonia. Now their own god had deserted his land.
If indeed some had come to think of Jehovah as with them in
Babylon, what was he worth, since he had not been able to resist the
power of the gods of Babylon, represented by Nebuchadnezzar
and his armies? Faith and reason staggered under the blow. The
people were bewildered and confused. What of the future now P
To whom could they appeal but to the prophet whose name was
upon every lip, but whose words accomplished their purpose in
but few of the hearts of his hearers.
*And as for thee, son of man, the children of thy people talk
of thee on the streets and in the doors of the houses, and speak
One to one another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I
pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from
5 Jehovah. And they come unto thee, and they sit before thee
as my people, and they hear thy words, but do them not;
for with their words they show much love, but their heart
goeth after their gain. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very
lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play
Io well on an instrument; for they hear thy words, but they do
them not.” -
Jehovah the Shepherd of Israel
Henceforth Ezekiel spoke to a people who were full of sorrow
and humility, and who needed comforting words. For these he had
a message of hope. To hearts longing for the home land, and the
Temple of Jehovah he gave promise of return. The old message
of denunciation and Coming punishment was almost entirely aban-
doned. The new conditions called for a new message.
* We must keep in mind that the Hebrews regarded Jehovah as dwelling in Jeru-
salem. He could not dwell in a ruined city, and the very fact of its ruin showed that
he had deserted it, whether because of weakness or anger no one knew.
* Ezek. 33:30–32.
3 Ezekiel's speeches were interesting, strange, and stirring, but the people went to
him from habit, and listened as people too frequently listen to sermons for the pleasure
of the emotions stirred by them. Few practical results followed.
184 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
*For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: “Behold, I myself, even
I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a
shepherd” seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his
sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep;
5 and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been
scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them
out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries,
and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them
upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all
Io the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with
good pasture; and upon the mountains of the height of Israel
shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold;
and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of
Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I
I5 will lead them to pasture, Saith the Lord Jehovah. I will seek
that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven
away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will
strengthen that which was sick: over the fat and the strong
I will watch.
2O “And I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall
feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and
he shall be their shepherd. And I, Jehovah, will be their
God, and my servant David prince among them; I, Jehovah,
have spoken it.
25 “And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will
cause evil beasts to cease out of the land;4 and they shall
dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And
I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing;
and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there
30 shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall
yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they
* Ezek. 34:11–16, 23–31 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver. with revisions).
* The figure of a shepherd was a favorite one for the ideal ruler promised by the
prophets, as well as for Jehovah himself. The times demanded emphasis upon the
tenderness of Jehovah and his care for his people.
3 My servant David: To this kingless captive nation came the most wonderful
dreams of the future—a kingdom, glorious in power, universal in authority, with all
nations coming to it for counsel and judgment. The ideal ruler of this kingdom is
always represented as a descendant of the House of David, the one king to whom the
people looked back as a perfect head.
4 Evil beasts: In the ideal kingdom peace and harmony between the wild beasts
and man is always pictured.
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS I85
shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am
Jehovah, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have
delivered them out of the hand of those that made bondmen of
35 them. And they shall no more be a prey to the nations,
neither shall the beasts of the earth devour them; but they
shall dwell Securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I
will raise up unto them a plantation for renown, and they
shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither
40 bear the contempt of the nations any more. And they shall
know, that I Jehovah, their God, am with them, and that they,
the house of Israel, are my people,” saith the Lord Jehovah.
“And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am
your God,” saith the Lord Jehovah.
The Vision of Dry Bones
Although strong in his own belief that Jehovah would restore at
least the faithful of his people to their own land, what evidence
could Ezekiel bring to convince the disappointed and hopeless ones
in the community that the future promised hope. Years passed.
The people lost their spirit, and to many Jehovah seemed but a
name. Those who hoped with Ezekiel feared that all national
feeling would be lost before opportunity for return could come, for
such an opportunity might be expected only in the breaking-up of
the Babylonian empire. All save the prophet lost heart. He
vividly pictured his faith in the power of Jehovah to revive even
the dry and bleaching bones of the Hebrew nation in captivity,
and to fulfil his promises to the faithful.
*The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me out
in the Spirit of Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the
valley; and it was full of bones.” And he caused me to pass
by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in
5 the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said
unto me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered,
“O Lord Jehovah, thou knowest.” Again he said unto me,
“Speak to these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of Jehovah. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah.
* Ezek. 37:1–14 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., with revisions).
* This vision seems like a dream, rather than a literary device. It appears to
bring into new relations the prophet's despair over his people and the power of Jehovah.
I86 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Io Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall
live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh
upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you,
and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.”
So I spoke as I was commanded: and as I spoke, there was
I5 a noise, and, behold, an earthquake; and the bones came
together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and, lo, there were
sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them
above; but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto
me, “Speak unto the wind, and say to the wind, Thus saith the
2O Lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O wind, and breathe
upon these slain, that they may live.” So I spoke as he com-
manded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
Then he said unto me, “Son of man, these bones are the
25 whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up,
and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off." Therefore speak,
and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold,
I will open your graves,” and cause you to Come up out of your
graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of
30 Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have
opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your
graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye
shall live, and I will place you in your own land; and ye shall
know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it and performed it, saith
35 Jehovah.” -
How long Ezekiel continued his labors we do not know.
Whether he lived to see the death of Nebuchadnezzar and the
succession of his son Evil-Merodach, under whom the captive
Hebrew king, Jehoiachin, was liberated and treated as a royal pris-
oner, we cannot say. He need have reached no great age to have
seen the assassination of Evil-Merodach in 558, and the succession
in one year, 554 B.C., of three different kings of Babylon. But his
work as we have it reflects no such turbulent conditions, but rather
the serene contemplation of one who dwells upon his visions of the
* Clean cut off: We are dead as a nation, nothing can revive us.
2 Not literally, but figuratively. The exiles buried in exile among the nations
of the world, viz., in Egypt, Babylonia, and elsewhere would be gathered together in
their old home, and the nation now dead would be restored to new life, prosperity
and power.
EZEKIEL, THE MAN OF VISIONS 187
future with delight. The later chapters of his book are devoted
to a most elaborate description of the new Jerusalem of his dreams,
in which he pictures a wonderful temple, with perfect worship
of the Holy God, in the midst of a land where “waters fail not,”
and “trees bring forth fruit every month,” and where no man, be he
stranger or homeborn, shall oppress his brother, and none shall
fail in his duty to Jehovah.
Ezekiel as a man seems to stand aloof from the people. His
messages are couched in stately phrases, in sharp contrast with
the broken utterances of Jeremiah’s sympathetic heart. Perhaps
his early training in the exclusive circle of the temple priests had
made him something of an aristocrat. None the less was he able
to interpret Jehovah in a new light. No longer would the prophets
of Israel address their promises to a nation, nor even to those indi-
viduals alone who had been true to Jehovah, but to every member
of the Hebrew community who of his own free will should choose the
way of Jehovah and walk in it. “The soul that sinneth, it shall
die” was supplemented by “the soul that repents and turns from its
evil way shall live and his sin shall be remembered no more.” And
so by this transition step the God of the Hebrews might in time
come to be understood as extending his forgiveness and blessing
to men of other nations should they freely choose to serve him."
* Can we appreciate the increase in the estimate of the value of human life, which
is bound up in the idea that Jehovah considers and deals with each individual man
according to his own acts? That which Jehovah valued could not be disregarded by
men. This was the chief contribution of Ezekiel. How does it compare in value with
the contributions of the prophets who preceded him P
CHAPTER xIII
ISAIAH OF BABYLON
To Nebuchadnezzar Babylonia owed more than her wonderful
city and her monumental buildings. Largely by his military
genius the empire had been wrested from the Assyrians, and by his
political Sagacity and consideration for his vassal states the other-
wise unrelated parts of the empire were held together in more or
less loyal cohesion during his reign of forty-three years. At his
death he bequeathed a well-ordered and powerful empire to his
son Evil-Merodach.
One of the acts of this new king was the liberation of Jehoiachin
who had been confined in Babylonian prisons since the coming of
the first deportation." We can easily see that in the bitterness of
their disappointment at the fall of Jerusalem the Jews may have
become restive, especially since the new king was known to be
weak in character and rule. After a brief reign of two years Evil-
Merodach” was assassinated by his brother-in-law, who followed
much more closely the policy of Nebuchadnezzar. For four years
this new king labored, building great temples and palaces and guard-
ing himself well against the conspiracies which he feared. Then
he died, leaving his throne to his son, a mere child, who within
nine months was murdered by his nobles. -
Nabonidus,” a prince of Babylon, was chosen king by the con-
spirators. His interests were chiefly religious, and he spent his
energies in building new temples and renovating old ones, making
collections.of old gods and manufacturing new ones, at the same time
neglecting his kingdom and its affairs, deeming it impossible that
one who devoted himself to the gods so faithfully should ever lack
their support and favor.
* See chap. xi, p. I53.
2 Evil-Merodach: See Table of Historical Events, p. 169. .
3 Nabonidus: See Table of Historical Events, p. 169. Nabonidus left the govern-
ment of the city chiefly to his son Bel-shar-uzur, who carried on the government with-
out the title. He joined the king of Egypt in an alliance against Cyrus of Persia.
When Cyrus entered Babylon as conqueror the Son of Nabonidus was killed and he
himself was banished to Karamania.
I88
PLACE
THE WAILING
[(Said to be a portion of the wall of Solomon's Temple—a spot to which the Jews to this day resort to bewail the fall of Jerusalem)

ISAIAH OF BABYLON 189
In the midst of all these changes the Hebrews were not disinter-
ested spectators. They possibly suffered much in the death of so
able a monarch as Nebuchadnezzar and under his successor fared
worse. There is ample opportunity for oppression and injustice
under anarchistic government, and anarchy was rampant in Baby-
lon during all these years. The Babylonian gods seemed not to
be demonstrating their ability to maintain a strong government.
“Were they losing their power, or was Babylonia in disfavor with
them P” questioned the Hebrews.
Meanwhile, something of momentous importance to Babylon,
and to the captives was taking place in the North. One of the
great world-conquerors of antiquity, Cyrus the Great," was rapidly
coming to the front. Originally he had held the throne of Persia
and of Anzan, a province of Elam, as a vassal of the great Median
empire. By a series of events, some of which were natural, and
some the result of intrigues, Cyrus himself assumed the throne of
Media about 551 B.C. He quickly established himself south of the
Tigris, and north of Babylonia, and then proceeded to the con-
quest of Lydia, on the western coast of Asia Minor, whose king,
Croesus, controlled the whole of Asia Minor. Following this the
Greek colonies were attacked and brought into subjection, then the
less civilized peoples east of his empire.
By no people more eagerly than by the Jews in Babylonia was
the course of Cyrus watched. Rumors of his high character in
addition to those of his military prowess assured captive nations of
lenient treatment, perhaps even the return of some to their native
lands. Would such an all-conquering hero stop short of Babylon P
To others in Babylon besides the Hebrews the prospect was not
unpleasing, for among the residents in Babylonia were many
deported peoples whose interest in the city was that of adoption
rather than of blood.
In this crisis a prophet, perhaps the greatest among the Hebrews,
appeared. We will call him Isaiah of Babylonia, because in the
confusion of the passing years his wonderful utterances were bound
* Cyrus the Great: This remarkable king is the hero of Xenophon’s Cyropoedia.
The student will find it most interesting to search for information concerning him in
histories and biographies.
I90 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
up with those of Isaiah of Jerusalem whose work preceded his by
more than half a century." He is really unknown, not only in his
name, but also as to the facts of his life, Save only that he was among
the captive Hebrews in Babylonia. His words portray not him-
self, but the glory of Jehovah, and the great manifestation of his
power and favor which was about to appear.
This man like his predecessors had his peculiar task. The
political upheavals in Babylonia and the appearance of Cyrus
seemed to promise the long-hoped-for opportunity for a return to
Palestine. How many of the people were ready for Such a move-
ment?” To arouse the old national spirit, to kindle hope and enthu-
siasm in dead and indifferent Souls, to build up a faith in Jehovah
which would result in the return of the people, and the restoration
of Jerusalem to something of her former splendor—that was the
great task which Isaiah of Babylonia joyously and ardently assumed
and in doing so gave expression to the most Sublime Conception of
Jehovah which the Hebrews had yet known.
He announces his message as one of Comfort to a people whose
suffering had more than compensated for past sins.
3“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,”
Saith your God.
“Speak ye tenderly to Jerusalem,”
And say unto her,
5 That her hard service is accomplished,
That her guilt is pardoned;
That she hath received of Jehovah's hand
Double for all her sins.”
* The work of this prophet, as we have it, appears in chaps. 40–55 of the Book of
Isaiah. Chaps. I-39 of this book we have studied as the work of Isaiah of Jerusalem.
Chaps. 56 and following seem to be from still later poets and prophets. For what
reason or by what accident all were bound together, and the chapters numbered con-
secutively we do not know. Each section of the book is distinguishable from the others
by differences in language and literary style, and by the background of history which
it reflects.
* Recall the spirit of indifference against which Ezekiel had worked, and the
superior attractions of Babylonia as a place of residence, in view of the generous rule
of Cyrus which was confidently expected.
3 Isa. 4o: I–II.
4 Addressed to ruined Jerusalem, but intended to encourage especially the people
of the captivity whom the prophet was trying to inspire to a great movement in favor
of return to Palestine.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON I9I
IO
I5
2O
25
Hark! One is crying, “Prepare ye in the wilderness the
way of Jehovah,
Make level in the desert a highway for Our God.
Let every valley be exalted, and every mountain and hill
made low:
And the crooked be made straight, and the rough places
plain.”
And the glory of Jehovah will be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it."
Hark! One is saying, “Cry,” and one answered, “What
shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the
flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; when the breath
of Jehovah bloweth upon it:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth;
But the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,” get thee up on a
high mountain;
O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy
voice with strength;
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say unto the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and
his arm will rule for him:
Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before
him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd,” he will gather
the lambs in his arm,
He will carry them in his bosom,
Gently leading those that have their young.
* The prophet in his imagination pictures Israel taking the straight road to Pales-
tine, across deserts and over mountains, all obstacles being removed from her path.
* Zion: The name of the hill upon which Jerusalem was located, now used as the
name of the city as Jerusalem in the first strophe, to represent the nation.
3 Like a shepherd: The shepherd and his flock were common figures used to repre-
sent Jehovah and his people, especially in this later period of her history.
192 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Jehovah the Creator of the World
But the power of Jehovah to perform this great act of deliver-
ance must be proven, and we find him pictured as the omnipotent
creator inspiring with strength and Courage all those who serve
him. Beside this great God, who could mention the manufactured
gods of Babylon P
‘Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,”
And measured heaven with a span,
Or enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,
And weighed the mountains in scales,
5 And the hills in a balance?
Who hath directed the spirit of Jehovah,
Or as his counsellor hath taught him P -
With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him,
And taught him in the path of justice,
Io And shewed him the way of understanding P
Behold! the nations are as a drop from a bucket,
And are accounted as Small dust on the balance:
Behold! he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
And Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel,
15 Nor the beasts thereof for a burnt offering.3
All the nations are as nothing before him;
They are accounted by him less than nothing, and vanity.
To whom then will ye liken God?4
Or what likeness will ye compare unto him P
20 The image, a workman hath cast it,
And the goldsmith layeth it over with gold,
Each helpeth his neighbour;
And saith to his brother, “Be of good courage.”
* Isa. 4o: I2–19; 4I: 6, 7; 4o: 20–31.
* In order to appreciate the wonderful lines which follow one must picture with
the prophet, Jehovah in the act of Creating the earth, with scales and measure weighing
and balancing mountains and valleys. The stupendous character of this thought of
God as the creator of the universe had but just begun to take full hold upon the
imagination of both prophet and people.
3 For such a God the forests of Mount Lebanon would not contribute a sufficient
number of beasts nor a large enough quantity of fuel for an adequate Sacrifice.
4 We must consider that the prophet was addressing a people surrounded on every
hand by idols. Upon these idols the Babylonians were constantly calling, and upon
ISAIAH OF BABYLON I93
25
3O
35
4O
45
5o
So the craftsmen encourageth the goldsmith,
And he that smootheth with the hammer him that Smiteth
the anvil,
Saying of the plating, “It is good”;
And he fasteneth it securely with nails.
He that is too poor for this
Chooseth a tree that will not rot;
He seeketh him a skilful workman
To set up a graven image, that shall not totter.
Do ye not know P Do you not hear?
Hath it not been told you from the beginning?
Have ye not understood from the foundations of the
earth P
It is Jehovah that sitteth above the circle of the earth,
And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;
That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
It is he that bringeth princes to nothing;
He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
Scarcely have they been planted; scarcely have they
been sown;
Scarcely hath their stock" taken root in the earth:
When he bloweth upon them, and they wither,
And a whirlwind carrieth them away like stubble.
To whom then will ye liken me,
That he should be equal? Saith the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who hath created these.”
He bringeth out their host by number;
He calleth them all by name;
In the greatness of his might and his power
Not one is missing.
them they were depending for food and drink, for temporal and spiritual prosperity,
and for the preservation of the nation of Babylonia at home, as well as for success in
wars abroad. Who can tell how many Hebrews who would not have bowed them-
selvesdownto these images had a borrowed confidence in them, or at least regarded them
with superstitious awe ? It was necessary that the prophet should destroy in them all
faith in idols if he would create a sufficient faith in Jehovah to lead them to return to
their own land.
* The stock: using the figure of a plant with its main stalk.
* These: the stars and the moon.
IQ4 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel,
“My way is hid from the Lord,
55 And my right is passed away from my God” P
Hast thou not known P. Hast thou not heard?
Jehovah the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of
the earth,
Fainteth not, neither is weary;
There is no searching of his understanding.
60 He giveth power to the faint;
And to him that hath no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths may faint and be weary,
And the young men utterly fall:
But they that trust in Jehovah renew their strength;
65 They shall mount up on wings like eagles;
They shall run, and not be weary;
They shall walk, and not faint."
The Coming of Cyrus the Triumph of Prophecy
Has not Jehovah raised up Cyrus as his own emissary, giving
nations to him as stubble? Was not this all planned by Jehovah
from the beginning? This was the conclusion of the prophet.
*Keep silence before me, O islands;
Let the people come near; then let them speak:
Let us come near together to judgment.
Who hath raised up one from the east,
5 Calling him in righteousness to his foot;
Giving the nations before him,
And making him rule over kings?
He giveth them as the dust to his sword,
As the driven stubble to his bow.
Io Who hath wrought and done it,
Calling the generations from the beginning?
I, Jehovah, the first,
And with those yet to come, I am he.
The isles saw, and feared; -
15 The ends of the earth trembled; they drew near, and came.
* Summary: O Israel, your God, Jehovah, the creator of the earth is incomparable.
He is the source of all power. He will strengthen you and carry you over all obstacles.
Trust yourselves to him.
* Isa. 4I: I-5. 3 Representing far countries.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON I95
The prophet calls upon the idols of Babylon to bear some testi-
IIIony to their own power, to do anything which will prove their
intelligence. At the same time he declares that it is Jehovah the
God of the Hebrews who has raised up Cyrus, this new conqueror,
for the very purpose of releasing his people from their bondage.
*Produce your champion, saith Jehovah;
Bring forth your idols, saith the King of Jacob.
Let them come near and declare unto us what shall
IO
I5
2O
25
happen:
Declare ye things past, what was their cause
That we may consider them, and know the issue of them;
Or declare the things that are to come hereafter,
That we may know that ye are gods:
Yea, do good, or do evil,
That we may both see it and be dismayed.
Behold, ye are of nothing,
And your work is nought:
An abomination is he that chooseth you.”
I have raised up one from the north, and he is come;
From the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name:
And he shall trample upon rulers as upon mortar,
And as the potter treadeth clay.
Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we might
know P
And aforetime, that we might say, “He is right” 2
Yea, there was none that declared it, none that announced
it, -
Yea, there was none that heard your words.
I am the first to say unto Zion, “Behold, behold them”:
And to give to Jerusalem good tidings.
And when I look there is no one;
Among the idols no counsellor,
That, when I ask of them, can answer a word.
Behold, all of their works are vanity and nought.
Their molten images are wind and emptiness.
* Isa. 4I: 2I–24, 25-29.
* The idols which have been summoned to exhibit their power make no response.
The inference is that they are unable to do so, and the prophet heaps upon them his
scorn. They cannot justify the claims of their worshipers.
I96 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Add to this the following stanzas, and note that at last we have
the clear belief that there is but one only God, omnipotent over
all the world, that is, by his ability to predict the future and to
bring to pass his predictions Jehovah has established in the mind
of the prophet his identity as the one God of the world and of
human history.
*Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel,
And his redeemer Jehovah of hosts:
I am the first, and I am the last:
And besides me there is no God.
5 And who, as I, could proclaim,”
Could declare it, and set it in order before me,
The things that are coming, announcing,
And that which shall come to pass, declaring.
Fear ye not, neither be afraid:
Io Have I not declared unto thee of old Pye are my witnesses.
Is there a God besides me? -
Yea, there is no Rock, not any.
The Senseless Makers of Idols
Still more effective for the prophet's purpose is the following
description of the idol-makers, whose trade was probably greatly in-
creased by the misfortunes of Babylon and the consequent necessity
of appeals to the gods. Can we appreciate the audacity of this
arraignment in a land teeming with idols?
3They that fashion images are all of them vanity;”
And the things that they delight in are worthless.
* Isa. 44:6–8.
* “Jehovah alone has through his prophets predicted the coming of a deliverer
for his people, and the overthrow of the great nations. The fate of Babylon is about
to illustrate the truth of the prophet’s message. Jehovah had planned all from the
beginning. All things are in his hands and the idols are nothing.”
3 Isa. 44:9-19.
4 The description of the process by which men made for themselves gods of metal
and of wood and stone is full of the keenest sarcasm. A comparison of this with the
prophet's glowing descriptions of Jehovah's character and attributes helps us to see
the full force of his argument.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON I97
Their own witnesses see not,
Nor know that they are put to shame.
5 Who hath fashioned a god,
Or molten an image that is nothing?
Behold, all his worshipers shall be ashamed;
And the workmen, they are but men."
Let them” all be gathered together, let them stand up;3
Io They shall fear, they shall be ashamed together.
The Smith prepareth it in the coals,
He fashioneth it with hammers,
And worketh it with his strong arm:
Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth;
15. He drinketh no water, and is faint.
The carpenter stretcheth out a line;
He marketh it out with a pencil;
He shapeth it with Scraping tools, and with the compasses,
He shapeth it after the figure of a man,
20 Like the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
One heweth down cedars,
And chooseth the holm tree and the oak,
And strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the
forest:
He planteth a fir tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
25 Then it is used by a man to burn:
He taketh from it, and warmeth himself;
Yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread:
Yea, he maketh a god, and worshipeth it;
He maketh it into an image, and falleth down thereto.
30 He burneth part of it in the fire;
With part thereof he roasteth flesh;
He eateth the roast, and is satisfied:
Yea, he warmeth himself, and saith,
“Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire”.
* Men: that is, mere men, not gods.
2 Them: the idols.
3 Stand up: to justify themselves.
I98 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
35 With the rest of it he maketh a god,
He worships his image: he falleth down unto it,
He prayeth unto it, and Saith,
“Deliver me; for thou art my god.”
They know not, neither do they consider:
4o For their eyes are shut, that they cannot see;
And their hearts, that they cannot understand.
And none taketh thought,
Neither is there knowledge nor understanding to ask,
“I have burned part of it in the fire;
45 Yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof;
I have roasted flesh and eaten it:
And shall I make from the rest of it an abomination ?
Shall I fall down to a block of wood P”
Jehovah Hath Redeemed Israel
Isaiah’s messages of hope Contain no contradiction of the state-
ments of Ezekiel and of Jeremiah that the misfortunes of the people
were a judgment for past sins, but he regards that punishment as
now complete. Indeed it is a new generation to whom he speaks
for it is about fifty years since the Surrender of Jerusalem to Nebu-
chadnezzar. Those of the younger generation who had kept them-
selves free from idolatry were in exile, not because of their own
sin, but as a result of that of their fathers.
*Who gave Jacob for a spoil,
And Israel to the robbers ?
Did not Jehovah P. he against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways we would not walk,
5 Neither were we obedient unto his law.
Therefore he poured upon him the fierceness of his anger,
And the strength of battle;
It set him on fire round about, yet he comprehended not;3
It burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
* “The people who worship the idols are too stupid to see that they are worshiping
mere blocks of wood,” is the statement of the prophet.
* Isa. 42: 24–25; 43: I-7; 44; 21–23.
3 Comprehended not: that is, that it was Jehovah who was chastening and disciplin-
ing him.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON I99
Io But now thus saith Jehovah that created thee, O Jacob,
And he that formed thee, O Israel: -
Fear not, for I have redeemed thee;
I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee:
15 Through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be
burned;
Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
For I am Jehovah thy God,
The Holy One of Israel, thy saviour:
20 I have given Egypt as thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee."
Because thou hast been precious in my sight,
Honored and beloved by me;
Therefore will I give men for thee,
25 And peoples for the sake of thy life.
Fear not; for I am with thee:
I will bring thy children from the east,
And gather thee from the west;
I will say to the north, “Give up”;
3o And to the south, “Withhold not;
“Bring my sons from far,
And my daughters from the end of the earth;
Every one who is called by my name,
And whom I have created for my glory.”
35 Remember these things, O Jacob;
Yea Israel, for thou art my servant:
I have formed thee; thou art my servant:
O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
I have blotted out, as with a mist, thy transgressions,
4o And, with a cloud, thy sins:
Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
* The prophet sees that Cyrus will be the conqueror of Egypt and Ethiopia
(Seba was possibly a section of Ethiopia), and considers that all these nations are to be
conquered in order that Israel may be allowed to build up her kingdom of peace in
Palestine. -
* From all places where the Hebrews have been carried as captives of war or
scattered by ill-fortune they shall be recalled by Jehovah, said the prophet.
2OO THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done it;
Shout, ye depths of the earth;
Break forth into singing, ye mountains,
45 O forest, and every tree therein:
For Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob,
And hath glorified himself in Israel.
Cyrus the Long Expected Liberator
At last, in October, 538 B.C., Cyrus turned toward Babylon.
His conquest was easy. Dissatisfaction within the city lent
sympathetic victory to the battles fought on the northern borders
of Babylonia, and the army of Cyrus entered the city practically
without resistance. The king was banished and Cyrus made his
triumphal entry before the end of the month. His spirit was inspir-
ing and wholly constructive, rebuilding fortifications and temples,
and restoring law and order to the demoralized provinces.
Whether the following poem was circulated before or after the
coming of Cyrus we do not know, but it expresses emphatically
the well-founded hopes of the Hebrews.
*Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden,
To subdue nations before him,
Loosing the loins of kings;
5 To open doors before him,
That gates may not be shut;
“I will go before thee,
And make the rugged places plain:
I will break in pieces the doors of brass,
Io And cut in Sunder the bars of iron.:*
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness,8
And hidden riches of Secret places,
That thou mayest know that it is I, Jehovah,
Who calleth thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.
* Isa. 45: I-7, I2-I5.
* That is, “It is I, Jehovah, who have called Cyrus, and have opened all doors
before him.”
3 Treasures of darkness: the wealth hidden away in remote corners.
ISAIAH OF BABLY ON 2O I
I5 For Jacob my servant’s sake,
And Israel my chosen,
I have called thee by thy name:
I have surnamed thee," though thou hast not known me.
I am Jehovah, and there is none else;
20 Besides me there is no God:
“I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me:
That they may know from the east and from the west,
That there is none beside me: -
I am Jehovah, and there is none else.
25 I form the light, and create darkness;
I make good fortune, and create disaster;
I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things.”
I have made the earth,
And created man upon it:
3o I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens,
And all their host have I commanded.
It is I that hath raised him up in righteousness,
And made straight all his ways; -
He shall build my city,
35 And he shall let my exiles go free,
Not for price and not for reward,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
Go Ye Forth from Babylon
The policy of Cyrus was that of clemency, generosity, and
general religious toleration. He worshiped all gods and found favor
with all peoples whom he made his subjects. It is understood that
he extended to the exiles within his domains the privilege of return
to their native land, and even that they were allowed to take with
them the wealth of their cities which had been the plunder of their
Conquerors.
And thus the way was at last opened for the long-looked-for
return of the Hebrews. But the way was long and the journey
arduous. The city of Jerusalem, never uninhabited, had possibly
* Surnamed: given a title of honor. Recall that Jacob was made Israel, Abram
was renamed Abraham, each because of some special relation to himself which Jehovah
established.
2O2 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
been somewhat restored and contained a small but poor and strug-
gling population. Not even the Hebrew prophets could promise
that houses and temples would be miraculously built, that old
relations of business and Social life could immediately be restored.
Was not Babylonia under the glories of the coming reign of Cyrus
a more promising home than the city of Jerusalem?
Great need was there for the preaching of a prophet who believed
that Jehovah would re-establish the center of his kingdom in
Jerusalem.
*Hearken unto me, O Jacob,
And Israel whom I have called:
I am he; who am the first,
I also am the last.
5 Yea, mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth,
And my right hand hath spread out the heavens:
When I call unto them,”
They stand forth together.
Assemble yourselves, all ye, and hear;
To Which among them hath foretold these things?
He whom Jehovah hath loved shall perform his pleasure
on Babylon,
And his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him:
I have brought him, and made his way prosperous.
I5 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this;
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
From the time that it was, there am I.
Thus saith Jehovah, thy redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
20 I am Jehovah God,
Which teacheth thee to profit,
Which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments!
Then had thy peace been as a river,
25 And thy righteousness as the waves of the sea;
Thy children also had been as the sand,
And thy descendants like the grains thereof:
His name should not be cut off,
Nor destroyed from before me.
* Isa. 48:12–21. * Them: the heavenly bodies.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON 2O3
3o Go ye forth of Babylon,
Flee ye from the Chaldeans;
With a voice of singing declare ye, tell this,
Utter it even to the end of the earth:
Say ye, “The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
35 And they thirsted not when he led them through the
deserts:
He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them:
He clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.”
If the people responded, “Jehovah hath forsaken his city, and
hath forgotten us,” quickly came the prophet's reply, couched in
words of supreme tenderness:
*Can a woman forget her babe,
That she should not have compassion on her own child?
Yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;
5 Thy walls are continually before me.
Did the faithful count themselves too few in numbers for the
adventure into unknown difficulties? For we must believe that
not all the younger generation had remained free from the influences
of Babylonian idolatry, and many of the former generation had
abandoned the worship of Jehovah. The prophet is ready with
his answer, a promise of gathering multitudes:
3Thy children make haste; -
Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go
forth of thee. . . -
Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold:
All these gather themselves together and come to thee.
5 As I live, Saith Jehovah,
Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an
Ornament,
And gird thyself with them, like a bride.
For, as for thy waste and thy desolate places
And thy land that hath been destroyed,
Io Surely now shalt thou be too small for thine inhabitants,
And they that Swallowed thee up shall be far away.
I The song contained in the last four lines may have been already a familiar
“campaign song” which had been used by the prophet in his efforts to inspire the
people, many times before.
* Isa. 40: 15, 16. 3 Isa. 49: 17–23.
2O4 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The children of which thou hast been bereft
Shall yet say in thine ears,
The place is too small for me;
15 Give room to me that I may dwell.
Then shalt thou say in thine heart,
Who hath borne me these,
Seeing I was bereaved of my children, and was solitary,
An exile, and wandering to and fro P --
20 And who hath brought up these ?
Behold, I was left alone;
These, where were they P
Thus saith Jehovah: .
Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the nations,
25 And set up my signal to the peoples:
And they shall bring thy Sons in their bosom,
And thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
And kings shall be thy foster fathers, -
And their queens thy nursing mothers:
30 They shall bow down to thee with their faces to the
earth,
And lick the dust of thy feet;
And thou shalt know that I am Jehovah,
And they that trust in me shall not be put to shame.
Again he cites the events of their own history—Abraham who
was but one and became many, and the great deliverance at the
Red Sea—all in order that he may give to the halting and fear-filled
people courage to make a start.
*Hearken to me, ye that long for righteousness,
Ye that seek Jehovah:
Consider the rock whence ye were hewn,
And the pit whence ye were quarried.
5 Look unto Abraham your father,
And unto Sarah that bare you:
For when he was but one I called him,
And I blessed him, and made him many.”
* Isa. 51: I–I6.
* The prophet argues that what Jehovah has done before in making a nation from
small beginnings he can and will do again.
ISAIAH OF BABLYON 2O5
So the Lord hath comforted Zion:
Io He hath considered all her ruins,
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of Jehovah;
Joy and gladness shall be found therein,
Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
I5 Hearken unto me, O my people;
And give ear unto me, O my nation;
For a law shall go forth from me,
And I will make my teaching for a light of the peoples.
My righteousness is near,
2O My Salvation is gone forth,
And mine arms shall rule the peoples;
Even the coast lands wait for me,"
Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look upon the earth beneath;
25 For the heavens shall vanish away like Smoke,
And the earth shall wear out like a garment.
And they that dwell therein shall die in like manner:
But my salvation shall be for ever,
And my righteousness will not fail.
30 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,
The people in whose heart is my law;
Fear ye not the reproach of men
Neither be ye dismayed at their revilings.
For the moth shall consume them like a garment,
35 And the worm shall eat them as wool:
But my righteousness shall be for ever,
And my Salvation unto all generations.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah;”
Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient
times.
4o Was it not thou that cut Rahabº in pieces,
That pierced the dragon P
* Note that not alone of Israel is Jehovah the direct ruler, but in the prophet’s
thought, the remotest lands are to recognize gladly his authority.
* Jehovah exhorts his own arm of power to fulfil the promise of the past history
of the nation, and to complete the work of redemption commenced so long ago.
3 *A name applied to Egypt.
2O6
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
45
5O
55
Óo
65
Was it not thou which dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a way
For the redeemed to pass over ?
And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return,
And come with singing unto Zion;
And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads:
They shall obtain gladness and joy,
And Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
It is I, even I, that comforteth you:
Who art thou, that thou art afraid of man that shall die,
And of the son of man which shall be made as grass?
Hast thou forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that stretched
forth the heavens,
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That thou fearest continually all the day
Because of the fury of the oppressor P
When he maketh ready to destroy,
Where is the fury of the oppressor P
The captive exile shall speedily be loosed;
And he shall not die and go down into Sheol,
Neither shall his bread fail."
For I am Jehovah thy God,
Which stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar:
Jehovah of hosts is his name.
I have put my words in thy mouth,
And have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand,
Stretching out the heavens, and laying the foundations of
the earth,
And saying unto Zion, “Thou art my people.”
Awake, Awake, O Zion
Awake, awake! is the ever-recurring Cry. Arouse yourselves!
All that you have dreamed and more is before you. Jehovah
awaits only your acceptance of joy and peace.
*Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion;
Put on thy beautiful garments, .*
O Jerusalem, the holy city;
* This stanza reflects strongly the doubt and discouragement of the people and
the difficulties against which the prophet was struggling.
*Isa. 52: I-I2.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON 2O7
For henceforth there shall no more come into thee
5 The alien and the unclean.
Shake thyself from the dust; arise, O Jerusalem:
Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck," O captive
daughter of Zion.
How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
To That publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of
deliverance,
That publisheth Salvation;
That saith to Zion, “Thy God reigneth”!
Hark, thy watchmen! they lift up the voice,
Together do they sing; X
15 For they see, eye to eye,
Jehovah returning to Zion.
Break forth into joy, sing together,
Ye ruins of Jerusalem:
For Jehovah hath comforted his people,
20 He hath redeemed Jerusalem.
Jehovah hath made bare his holy arm”
In the eyes of all nations:
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The deliverance of our God.
25 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out thence,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean,
Ye that bear the vessels of Jehovah.
For ye shall not go out in haste,
30 Neither shall ye go by flight:
For Jehovah will go before you;
And the God of Israel will be your rearward.
The Purpose of Israel’s Suffering
But not alone for her own joy was Israel now to be redeemed.
Not alone for her own sake had she been suffering in Babylonia.
To Isaiah of the captivity had come a vision of a world mission
* Throw off thy captivity.
* In the exhibition of his power in preparing for the redemption of his people.
3 Vessels of Jehovah: Temple furnishings.
2O8
THE HEBREW PROPHETs
for the faithful remnant of the people, the “servant of Jehovah”
who should teach not alone the Hebrews, but all the nations, not
only of the authority of the one true God, but of his character and
his wondrous dealings with his chosen people.
*Listen, O isles, unto me;
IO
I5
And hearken, ye peoples, from far:
The LORD hath called me from the birth;
From the beginning hath he made mention of my name.
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me;
And he hath made me a polished shaft,
In his quiver hath he kept me close:
And he said unto me, “Thou art my servant;
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
But I said, “I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nought and vanity.
Yet surely my judgment is with Jehovah,
And my recompense with my God.”
And now saith Jehovah
That formed me from my birth to be his servant,
2O
To bring Jacob again to him,
And that Israel be gathered unto him: º
(For I am honourable in the eyes of Jehovah,
And my God is become my strength:)
Yea, he saith, “It is too small a thing that thou shouldest
be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved of Israel:
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,
That thou mayest be my Salvation unto the end of the
earth.”
The Mission of the Servant
*Behold, my servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen, in whom my soul delighteth:
I have put my spirit upon him;
He shall bring forth righteousness to the Gentiles.
* Isa. 49: I-6. Isa. 42: I-7.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON 209
5 He shall not lift up a cry
Nor let his voice be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break,
And the dimly burning wick shall he not quench:
He shall bring forth teaching in truth.
Io He shall not fail nor be discouraged,
Till he have set his law in the earth;
And the isles shall wait for his word.
Thus saith the one God, Jehovah,
He that created the heavens, and stretched them forth;
I5 He that spread abroad the earth and that which it
beareth;
He that giveth breath unto the people upon it,
And spirit to them that walk upon it:
“I Jehovah have called thee in righteousness,
I will hold thy hand, and will keep thee,
20 And I will give thee for a covenant of the people,
For a light to the Gentiles;
To open the eyes that are blind,
To bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
Those that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”
The Humiliation and the Exaltation of Jehovah's Servant
The prophet mentally surveys the history of the group of the
faithful who had entered Babylon a half-century before. He
recalls the revilings and scorn which they received from their
fellow captives who had turned to the Babylonian gods, and
further that nearly all of these faithful ones had passed away in
ignorance of the great light which they were destined to bring
to the world. He recalls too how the whole nation had stood before
the world as a despised and broken people, forsaken of their God,
and how Jehovah himself had been held in derision by scornful
nations. The prophet has been trying to convince his fellow-
exiles that God was omnipotent, that he was loving toward Israel,
* Note that in this passage the prophet does not say that the Gentiles shall receive
teaching from Jehovah directly or through their own great thinkers, but only through
the Hebrews. It was yet too much for the prophet to conceive that Jehovah could
have a similar relation to all men of whatever race.
2 IO THE HEBREW PROPHETS
and that he would speedily restore them to their old home. But
in order to persuade them to belief in his message he is under the
necessity of finding a satisfactory explanation of the sufferings
they have been forced to undergo. If God was all-powerful and
all-loving as the prophet had said, why did he permit Israel to be
so cruelly oppressed ? The answer to that question is given in
the message concerning “the suffering servant.” A new inter-
pretation of all this tragedy has come to the prophet and when
he recounts these sad events to his hearers, he places in striking
contrast with them the great destiny of the people and the
exalted position which they shall occupy among the nations
in the future. Suffering was necessary to the bringing-forth of
the new and deeper knowledge, and the light that was to fill
the world with glory. Only through this suffering could they
have learned to know the true character of the God who had been
teaching them, the one true God, who would bring all men as
worshipers to his feet. The picture is so clear to the mind of the
prophet that he seems almost to be talking of a person, and some
people have even thought that he was describing the sufferings of
Jeremiah. But as we reflect further we see that he is giving
voice to a great fact and principle that spiritual knowledge has
come and will continue to come to the world through the suffering
of nations and individuals, but that through their sufferings they
are exalted.
*Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted,”
He shall be lifted up, and shall be very high.
Like as many were astonished at him,
So shall he startle many nations;
5 Kings shall shut their mouths before him:
For that which had not been told them shall they see;
And that which they had not heard shall they understand.
* Isa. 52: I3–53: I3.
* The student should not be surprised if he finds the following selection difficult.
A frequent reading of it will impress its beauty and power. The message of the
mission of suffering is one which does not come to youth, as to more mature years,
yet even the young have frequently seen illustrations of suffering cheerfully and faith-
fully borne in order that another might be made better or happier. Even in the pro-
ISAIAH OF BABYLON *. 2 II
Who hath believed our report?
And to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Io For he grew up before us as a sickly plant,
And as a root out of dry ground:
He hath no form that we should regard him;
And no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised, and forsaken of men;
15 A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
And as one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs,
And carried our sorrows:
20 Yet we did esteem him stricken,
Smitten of God and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement of our peace was upon him;
25 And with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep had gone astray;
We had turned every one to his way;
And Jehovah laid upon him
The guilt of us all.
30 He was afflicted, yet he humbled himself.
As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
And as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb;
So he opened not his mouth.
By oppressive judgment he was taken away;
35 And of his generation, who considered
That he was cut off out of the land of the living,
For the transgression of my people had been stricken?
And they made his grave with the wicked,
And with the evildoers his burial place;
4o Although he had done no violence,
Neither was any deceit in his mouth.
cesses of nature, we see that out of darkness and pain frequently come life and joy.
So bitter experiences are frequently the forerunners of wisdom and happiness. The
principle which the prophet has here so beautifully portrayed as characteristic of the
servant of Jehovah, by whom he meant faithful Israel, has been exhibited in many of
the lives of later servants of Jehovah, and is universal in character.
2 I 2 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Yet it seemed good to Jehovah to bruise him;
To make of his soul an offering for sin,
He shall see his posterity, he shall prolong his days,
45 And the pleasure of the LORD shall be manifest in his
hand.
He shall see out of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied.
By his knowledge shall my servant make many righteous
And he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I give him a portion with the great,
5o And he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
Because he poured out his soul unto death,
And was numbered with the transgressors:
Bearing the sin of many,
And making intercession for the transgressors.
Come Ye to Jehovah
So the lesson was set forth. The righteous, beloved of God,
may learn, through suffering, truth which shall bless not only
themselves but all mankind, and by this path Jehovah has revealed
himself to the world. To all quarters went out the call from
the prophet, “We know our God whereof we speak. Come to him.”
*Ho, every one that thirsteth,” come ye to the waters,
And he that hath no money come,
Buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
5 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?
And your labour for that which satisfieth not?
Hearken diligently unto me, that ye may eat that which
is good, - -
And let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me;
Io Hear, and your Soul shall live:
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
As the sure promises to David.
Isa. 55: I-I3.
* Thirsteth: for hope and satisfaction.
ISAIAH OF BABYLON 2I3
Even as I gave him for a witness" to the peoples,
A leader and commander to the peoples,
I5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not,”
And a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee,
Because of Jehovah thy God,
And for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found,
20 Call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts:
And let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have
mercy upon him;
And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
25 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are my ways higher than your ways,
And my thoughts than your thoughts.
30 For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven,
And returneth not thither, but watereth the earth,
And maketh it bring forth and bud,
And giveth seed to the Sower, and bread to the eater;
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
35 It shall not return unto me empty,
But it shall accomplish that which I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
For ye shall go out with joy,
And be led forth with peace:
40 The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you
into singing, -
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree:
And it shall be to Jehovah for a name,
45 For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
* Witness: a witness to Jehovah's power and favor.
* That is, a foreign nation.
3 Because of: hearing of Jehovah and his wonderful deliverance of his people.
“What I promise shall be accomplished.
2I4. THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Have we in Isaiah of Babylonia reached the highest point of
prophecy P. There is one step still higher, and for its development
we must wait another century and more. At this moment we have
but to reflect that out of this period of spiritual darkness and
apparent desertion, isolated in the midst of a populous land, and
surrounded by the allurements of idolatry, the people came into
a clear vision of Jehovah as the one God, creator of the universe,
ruler of all nations, the moving force in human history. With this
vision came also to Israel the consciousness of having been chosen
by Jehovah not for her own Sake but for the accomplishment of
a divine purpose—to reveal the true God to all the world. Surely
is was a great thing to be the first to give this interpretation of
God to the world.”
* We should do well to consider the courage and vision of the prophet who amid the
darkest hours of the captivity and the lack of enthusiasm on the part of his people only
sang the louder of the joys which were to come. This is the sort of faith and courage
which is needed by any man or woman who would arouse people to a great movement
of any sort, for it was a political movement which Isaiah was championing.
CHAPTER XIV
PROPHETIC MESSAGES IN THE NEW CITY
As we recall the inspiring predictions of the two prophets whose
work was recorded in the immediately preceding pages, we feel
that the only fitting theme for the present chapter would be the
story of a glorious return to Jerusalem, and the restoration of the
city, as so vividly depicted by the prophets, but ours is not so
acceptable a task.
It would naturally be expected that the literature through which
the later history of Israel could be traced would be more systematic
and accessible than the sources from which we gather the history of
earlier years, but such is not the case. The events of the period
from the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 538 B.C. until about
520 B.C. are recorded only in the Book of Ezra and the record seems
quite clearly to be made up at a much later time with scattered and
undated documents as a basis. The editor like ourselves was
obliged to depend upon his imagination to fill in the gap.” We know
that Cyrus reigned but nine years. He died in 529 B.C. and was
succeeded by his son Cambyses who within four years completed
the conquest of Egypt. Three years later Cambyses committed
suicide anticipating difficulty with an impostor, Gaumata, who had
rallied discontented vassal states to his support during the absence
of the king on his Egyptian campaigns. The usurper was in turn
dethroned by Darius, who led a conspiracy of the nobles and claimed
to be a descendant of the royal family from which Cyrus had come.
In 519 B.C. Darius became master of the situation and established
* The books of Ezra and Nehemiah give us a story of events in Jerusalem com-
mencing with a decree of Cyrus, said to have come from the first year of the reign of
that king, and continuing for about Ioo years. A careful study of these accounts with
an effort to adjust the events to the established names and dates of Persian history
results in confusion. This, with the further fact that the prophets whose writings
come from a period not far removed from this make no allusion to so important an
event as the decree of Cyrus, or the simultaneous return of So large and important a
company of people, leads us to conclude that the account was much later than the
events, and is highly colored by the author, who had little reliable data upon which
to base his work, but concluded that the predictions of the prophets must have been
fulfilled in this systematic and imposing way.
2I5
216 THE HEBREW PROPHETs
himself firmly upon the throne of the Persian empire, having sub-
dued Babylon and other provinces which had taken advantage of
the civil war in the Persian empire to revolt from its authority.
Did the Hebrews in Babylon accept the opportunity which the
policy of Cyrus gave for a general return to Palestine? Did Isaiah
of Babylon succeed in inspiring a large number of his fellow-country-
men with courage to exchange the familiar walls of Babylon for
the fields and ruins of the city of their fathers? We do not know.
We must conclude that in the sixty-six years since the fall of Jeru-
salem people had been gathering about the site of the city, in some
measure rendering it habitable. Many would naturally drift in
from the open country with its ruined villages as well as from Egypt
and from other localities where they had fled for refuge during the
long siege. We recall that the little colony of which Jeremiah was
a member was last seen in Egypt. But no Country once civilized
is easily quite depopulated, and the site of Jerusalem was still the
most favorable in Palestine for defense and for commercial life.
Doubtless therefore a considerable population had accumulated
before Cyrus came to the throne of Babylonia. But the character
of this miscellaneous population must have been much below that
of the party of the faithful in captivity, who, originally of the best
blood, had, in a compact body, lived and suffered together; who
had, inspired by the intellectual and literary influences by which
they were surrounded, made a careful study of the nation's history,
rewriting large portions of it and Creating a national literature.
These exiled Hebrews had also never been without a great prophet
to keep alive in them the religion of Jehovah and to carry them on
to higher and higher conceptions of his character.
That some of the Babylonian Hebrews did return we are sure,
since we find reported as governor of the province of Judah, Zerub-
babel, one of the royal house, probably a grandson of Jehoiachin
the captive king, who traced his descent from David. (We recall
that all the royal house were carried into captivity.) His honor
and authority were shared by Joshua the high priest." In
* The new community seems to have made no attempt to establish itself upon
a political basis of equality with its neighbors. Its life was no longer that of a nation,
but of a community whose bond of unity was that of religion. We find little evidence
RELIEF MAP OF
PALESTINE
Based upon the Palestine Ex-
ploration Funds Map, by George
Armstrong.
The Jewish community in Palcs-
tine included within black lines.










PROPHETIC MESSAGES IN THE NEW CITY 217
all probability a company of enthusiasts were stirred by exilic
prophets to return, and others followed from time to time. The
stories in the Book of Ezra indicate that an attempt was early
made to rebuild the temple, but after the foundations had been
laid the work was interrupted and finally stopped by the inter-
ference of Samaritan neighbors on the north.
If we knew how large a body of Babylonian Hebrews had drifted
back to Palestine, or had come in expeditions for the restoration of
the city, we should know better from what source came the inspira-
tion for the revival of interest in the temple and its worship which
was the theme of the preaching of two prophets, Haggai and
Zechariah, about 520 B.C. Perhaps they saw in the succession
of disasters" which Babylon was passing through a possibility of
large numbers of Hebrews returning to Jerusalem. Possibly they
felt that the rebuilding of the Temple and the re-establishment of
an elaborate ritual of worship would be a signal for a general rally-
ing of the Hebrews, scattered in many lands, and the beginning of
that ideal kingdom which had been in the mind of the prophets
for generations. -
That the self-appointed task of these prophets was not easy
and that their words fell upon many unheeding ears we can easily
gather from their sermons. The community had suffered from
poverty induced by poor crops, the result of drought and bad man-
agement. The land had been neglected too long to respond
readily to cultivation. Haggai the prophet, however, voiced the
feeling of a considerable party when he announced that their ill
fortune was the result of Jehovah's displeasure because his house
was still lying in ruins. His exhortation to the people follows:
*In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month,3
in the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by
in the writings of this period that idolatry existed in the community which was now
almost wholly united in the worship of Jehovah. The chief religious officer, the high
priest, was therefore the most important man in the community and shared the
honors and authority more than equally with the civil head, the governor appointed
by the Persian king. .
* See p. 215. - * Hag. I: I–II.
3 Sixth month: i.e., September. The Hebrew calendar year began in our spring
month of April. - - -
218 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel,
governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the
5 high priest, saying, “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, This people
say, The time has not yet come to build Jehovah's house.”
Then came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, say-
ing, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled
houses, while this temple lieth in ruins?” Now therefore
1o thus saith Jehovah of hosts: “Consider. Ye sow much, and
bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but
ye are not filled; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm;
and he that earneth wages putteth his wages into a bag
with holes.”
15 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: “Consider your ways. Go
up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the temple;
and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith
Jehovah. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and
when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it.” Why? saith
20 Jehovah of hosts. Because of my temple that lieth in ruins,
while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore because
of you the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth with-
holdeth its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land,
and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the
25 new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground
bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all
the labor of the hands.”
With what tact the prophet encouraged the people, who saw in
the simple structure which the little community was able to build
no suggestion of the glories of the former temple, and who lost
heart and feared lest the new temple would not be acceptable to
Jehovah, we shall see.
3Who is there among you that saw this house in its former
glory? and how do ye see it now P is it not in your eyes as
nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah;
and be strong, O Joshua, the high priest; and be strong, all
5 ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, and work: for I am with
you, saith Jehovah of hosts, according to the word that I Cove-
* “Ye work hard, but get poor results, and your money is wasted because it
does not bring good returns for your investment.” tº
* I did blow upon it: to destroy it, indicating dissatisfaction with the people.
3 Hag. 2:3-9 (Am. Standard Rev. Ver., by permission).
PROPHETIC MESSAGES IN THE NEW CITY 2I9
nanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit
abode among you: fear ye not. For thus saith Jehovah of
hosts: “In a little while, I will shake the heavens, and the
Io earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all
nations; and the precious things of all nations shall Come;
and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts.
The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith Jehovah of
hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the
I5 former,” saith Jehovah of hosts; “and in this place will I give
peace,” saith Jehovah of hosts.
The words of Haggai were reinforced by those of Zechariah,
another prophet of this period. He encouraged the prince Zerub-
babel to believe that the work upon the temple, although progress-
ing slowly and fitfully, delayed by bad Seasons and fluctuating
interest, would certainly be completed in his lifetime.
*This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying,
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah
of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain P before Zerub-
babel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the
5 top stone” with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it.” Moreover
the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, “The hands of
Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands
shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts
hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of
Io small things? for they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet"
in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
The old walls of the city, broken down and in many places
completely destroyed, afforded no protection to the citizens from
the depredations of wild beasts, robbers, and the malicious attacks
of jealous neighbors. The prophet saw no immediate prospect of
the restoration of the walls, but he courageously pictured the wall
* Shake all nations: This seemed to be a literal description of what was passing
in the world about the Hebrews. The Babylonians, Susanians, and Medes all revolted
from the Persian empire at the death of Cambyses. It remained to be seen whether
Darius could permanently hold such rebellion in check. A general breaking-up of the
world powers threatened.
* Zech. 4:6b–Io.
3 Topstone: the last finishing touch.
4 The plummet: by which the wall shall be tested to see if it is straight and perfect.
22O THE HEBREW PROPHETS
of fire with which Jehovah would surround the city, and naively
explains that the inhabitants will be so numerous that walls will be
impracticable.
*And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw a man with a measuring
line in his hand. Then said I, “Whither goest thou?” And
he said unto me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the
breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.” And,
5 behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another
angel went out to meet him, and Said unto him, “Run, speak
to this young man, Saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as
villages without walls, by reason of the multitude of men and
cattle therein. But I,” saith Jehovah, “will be unto her a
Io wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of
her.”
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and
I will dwell in the midst of thee,” saith Jehovah. And many
nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall
I5 be his people; and he will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou
shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee.
And Jehovah shall inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land,
and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before
Jehovah; for he is waked up out of his holy habitation.
That Jehovah should dwell in his city was the fundamental
condition of prosperity in the estimation of every devout Hebrew.
To some, it is true, there had come the conception of Jehovah as a
world power, but to all the center of his activities was ever to be
the little country of Palestine. Notwithstanding the assurances
of the prophets, Jehovah seemed not yet to have come with his
presence and the fulfilment of his promise of prosperity. Gradually
there grew up the feeling that the delay was due to the fact that the
people were not sufficiently righteous. Had not Jehovah always
given evidence of his displeasure by misfortune when the people
had sinned P So argues Zechariah.
3Thus saith Jehovah: “I have returned unto Zion, and will
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called
The city of truth; and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, The
* Zech. 2: 1–5, Io-13.
* Daughter of Zion: a favorite poetic designation for Jerusalem.
3 Selected from Zech., chap. 8.
PROPHETIC MESSAGES IN THE NEW CITY 22I
5
IO
I5
2O
holy mountain.” Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: “Old men and
old women shall yet dwell in the broad places of Jerusalem,
every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the
streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the
streets thereof.” Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: “Because it
seemeth marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people,
should it also be marvellous in mine eyes?” Thus saith Jeho-
vah of hosts: “Behold, I will save my people from the east
country, and from the west country; and I will bring them,
and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall
be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteous-
ness.”
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: “These are the things
that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth with his
neighbor: execute the judgment of truth and peace in your
gates; and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his
neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that
I hate.”
And the word of Jehovah of hosts came unto me, saying,
Thussaith Jehovah of hosts: “The fast of the fourth month,
25
3O
and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the
fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and glad-
ness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace.”
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: peoples and the inhabitants
of many cities shall come; and the inhabitants of one city shall
go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor
of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts: I will go also. Yea,
many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah of
hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Jehovah. Thus
saith Jehovah of hosts: “In those days ten men shall take
35
hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take
hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with
you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
But we learn from Ezra's memoirs that the temple was finally
completed and dedicated in 516 B.C. The ceremonies were as elabo-
rate and the sacrifices as plentiful as the people could provide.”
* The presence upon the streets of men and women of all ages and of young
children in happy play would indicate a long period of peace and prosperity when
family life went on uninterruptedly.
* The fasts with which the people were wont to express their penitence and their
lamentations over Jerusalem are to become occasions of rejoicing because of the bless-
ings
which Jehovah will bring.
3 Ezra. 6: I6–18,
222 THE HEBREW PROPHETs
Then follows a period of seventy years of silence in the records,'
but we can imagine the community slowly growing. Its very
insignificance was its protection in the midst of the wars raging
about it. The Persians swept onward into Europe and were de-
feated by the Greeks at Marathon. Rebellion in Egypt brought
Xerxes, who had succeeded his father Darius, through Palestine
again with his marauding armies. Whether Hebrews were drafted
into the armies of the Persians we do not know, but we surmise
that when taxes to the Persian government were regularly paid little
else was expected of So insignificant a colony, and little notice was
taken by the legal protectors of Palestine of her exposed condition
and unavailing struggles after prosperity.
It is an interesting fact that in whatever country a group of
Hebrews found a temporary home, some among them rose to places
of power. In the Persian capital of Susa” was a Hebrew who held
the important office of cupbearer to the king, possibly Arta-
xerxes I. An appeal to this man, Nehemiah,” presented by a group
of his fellow-countrymen, who graphically pictured the needs of
Jerusalem, met with sympathetic response. By permission of the
king, with whom he was a favorite courtier, he organized an expedi-
tion to relieve Jerusalem. He carried with him his credentials
as governor of the province of Judah, and papers which gave him
the privilege of the royal forests for the Selection of building
materials. To follow step by step the task of this brave officer, at
first welcomed by only the Smaller and more devout party among the
* It is probable that the prophecy of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament,
was written in this period. It is concerned wholly with the religious condition of the
Jewish community. It charges the people in general and the priests in particular with
being careless and insolent toward Jehovah in their conduct of the temple worship and
offerings (1:6—2:9) and with lacking all faith in his goodness and justice (2:17–
3:14, 15). This is the reason why the community has not seen Jehovah's love mani-
fested toward it more generously (1:2 f.). But a day of judgment is at hand when
Jehovah will destroy the wicked out of the community and exalt the righteous to a
place of honor (4:1–3). Lest the work of destruction should be too wide-sweeping,
Jehovah will send a prophet before the coming of the day of judgment whose preach-
ing will bring about a change of heart among the wicked of the community.
* Locate Susa on the map.
3 The story of Nehemiah is found in the book of that name, but this is a part of
the chronicle to which the Book of Ezra belongs, and it is not easy to reconstruct the
history from it.
A TYPICAL PERSIAN PALACE
A restoration of the Palace of Artaxerxes Mnemon


PROPHETIC MESSAGES IN THE NEW CITY 223
citizens of Jerusalem but later recognized by all within the Com-
pleted walls" as the champion of justice and fair dealing, would be
a pleasant task, but we must recall that we are considering the
prophets, and must leave other heroic lives for future study.
Back in Babylon devout Hebrews had learned that it was easier
to obey a written law than a prophet’s exhortations. At this time,
as in the days preceding the reformation of Josiah, quiet preparation
had been made to meet the necessity for a new revision of the laws.
Priests and prophets in Babylon had been working diligently, and
at last was produced a revision of the old laws with the addition
of many new ones which would make provision for the new con-
ceptions of Jehovah's holiness, and for the consequent necessity
of purification of sinful man. At just what date the expedition,
headed by a priest, Ezra, appeared, bearing this law from Babylon,
we do not know, but this was the most important company which
came from Babylon to Jerusalem. They were probably accom-
panied by Nehemiah who had returned to the Persian capital.”
A long period of instruction and persuasion passed after the arrival
of the expedition, before the people were ready to accept all the law.
One of the first conditions of the purification of the nation was the
putting-away of all the foreign wives who had been brought into
the community by Hebrews who had been friendly with the
neighboring peoples. But at last these were expelled, or the
* Nehemiah’s first work was to organize the citizens of Jerusalem for the recon-
struction of the ruined walls of the city. By constant supervision and rapid work
each citizen being drafted into service for building or for defense, for a specific period,
the walls were completed in fifty-two days after the work was commenced. The story
of the difficulties encountered is recorded in the Book of Nehemiah, chaps. I-7.
* The editor of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah has arranged his materials in such
a way as to make it appear that Ezra was the first to leave Babylon for Jerusalem and
that Nehemiah came at a later date. Facts which space does not permit to be cited
here seem to show that Nehemiah was the pioneer instead of Ezra and that the editor's
reason for transposing the two expeditions was the fact that he wished to give the honor
of inaugurating this great reconstruction movement to Ezra, a priest, rather than to
Nehemiah, a layman. One of the main purposes of the history contained in Chronicles,
Ezra, and Nehemiah, all of which were edited by the same man, was to bring out clearly
and to glorify the work of the priesthood in Israel and the splendor of the services
conducted by the priests in the great temple. Nehemiah’s first trip to Jerusalem as
governor was probably in 444 B.C., and his return after his visit to the Persian court
was in 433 B.C.
224 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
families removed from Jerusalem, and at a great assembly of the
people the law was formally accepted. Henceforth the people led
by their priests measured their fitness for the coming of Jehovah
by their obedience to the written law."
The priest became the tutor of the people, and a passion for
holiness seized upon the devout. This led to greater and greater
rigidness in the observance of the ceremonials of worship. Prac-
tically every act of life became a religious act and was regulated
by law. It is easy to see that many who had not taken to heart
the spiritual lessons of the past would observe these laws as merely
a formal matter, while to others they would furnish the means
of expression of the deepest devotion to Jehovah, and a sincere
desire to satisfy his requirements in holy living.
* We should recall the former revision of the laws which appeared in the reign of
Josiah and constituted the basis of the reformation. These laws are found in
Deuteronomy. The newly revised code of Ezra's day is found chiefly in the Book
of Leviticus. Its appropriateness to a religious community rather than a kingdom
can easily be discovered, as also the longing for holiness which was a characteristic of
the new life in Jerusalem.
CHAPTER XV
VOICES OF HOPE
Were the prophets forever silenced by the new conditions in
Jerusalem P As men having an authoritative place in the com-
munity perhaps, yes. Never again did they need to lift their
voices against idolatry, for Israel had learned her lesson of the one
true God. But since a religion of law is not always and for all its
adherents a religion of the spirit, there were prophets unknown
to us by name who found need as in earlier years to emphasize the
necessity for honesty, justice, truth, sincerity, and mercy. Human
nature had not changed under the new law. The rich still oppressed
the poor. The sinner still thought that sacrifice would buy for-
giveness from Jehovah. And still to the disheartened faithful
the prophets needed to paint their pictures of the king and the
kingdom of peace, in which Jehovah should dwell with his purified
people and Jerusalem should rule the world, not by power but
by her wisdom. Some of the most beautiful of these pictures
follow:
The Prince of Peace"
*The people that are walking in darkness
See a great light:
They that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them doth the light shine.
5 Thou hast multipled the nation,
Thou hast increased their joy;
They joy before thee as men rejoice at the harvest time,
As men exult when they divide the spoil.
* This poem pictures the wonderful ruler who shall bring in an era of prosperity
and peace which shall never cease. Note that it is by wisdom and courage and the
force of his own character rather than by military or political power that he is to
establish his supremacy. Is this ideal of peace nearer realization today than when
the prophet was speaking?
* Isa. 9: 2-7.
225
226 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
For the yoke of his burden,
Io And the cross bar upon his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
Thou hast broken as in the day of Midian."
For all the armour of the warrior in the tumult,
And the garments drenched in blood,
15 Shall even be for burning,
As fuel for the flame.
For unto us a child is born,
Unto us a son is given;
And the government shall be upon his shoulder:
20 And his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor,
God of a Hero, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall
be no end,
Upon the throne of David and throughout his kingdom,
To establish it, and to uphold it in justice and in righteous-
• IleSS
25 From henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of Jehovah of hosts shall bring this to pass.
Nature's Harmony?
4And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of
Jesse,'
And a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit:
And the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
5 A spirit of counsel and might,
A spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.
* Day of Midian: possibly referring to the victory of Gideon over the Midianites
described in Judg., chaps. 6-8.
a God of a Hero: a god-like hero, greater than any which had yet appeared.
Eternal Father: that is, in the Sense of the Hebrew word for eternity, which means
a very long time. The title designates one who will always be characterized by the
quality of fatherly love. -
In this poem the peace which is to accompany the reign of the ideal king is
represented as including even the animal kingdom, and all this is to be the result of the
widespread knowledge of Jehovah.
4 Isa. II: I-9.
s Jesse: the name of the father of David, used to represent the house of David.
The ideal king is always pictured as a descendant of David.
VOICES OF HOPE 227
And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
Nor reprove according to the hearing of his ears:
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,
Io And with equity the needy of the earth:
And he shall Smite the oppressor with the rod of his mouth,
And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the band about his waist.
I5 And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
And the calf and the young lion will graze together;
And a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall be friends;
20 Their young ones shall lie down together:
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the babe shall play about the hole of the asp,
And the child shall put his hand on the viper's nest.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
25 In all my holy mountain:
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah,
As the waters cover the sea.
The Presence of Jehovah
*In that day” shall the branch of Jehovah be beautiful
and glorious,
And the fruit of the land shall be perfect and comely for
them that are escaped of Israel.
And it shall be, that he that is left in Zion,
Yea he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy,
5 Even every one that is written among the living in Jeru-
Salem:
When the Lord shall have washed away the sin of the
daughters of Zion,
And shall have cleansed the blood stains of Jerusalem
from the midst thereof,
By the spirit of justice and by the spirit of burning.
* Isa. 4: 2–6.
* In that day: This phrase and others like it clearly suggest that the day of wonder-
ful things is yet in the future when the prophet is speaking.
228 - THE HEBREW PROPHETS
And Jehovah will come and he will create over the whole
habitation of Mount Zion,
Io And over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day,
And the shining of a flaming fire by night:
For over all the glory shall be spread a canopy.
And there shall be a pavilion for a shadow in the daytime
from the heat,
And for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from
rain."
A Song of Jehovah's Forgiveness”
*And in that day thou shalt say,
“I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord;
For though thou wast angry with me,
Thine anger is turned away,
5 And thou comfortedst me.
“Behold, God is my helper;
I will trust, and will not be afraid:
Jehovah is my strength and Song;
And he is become my deliverer.”
Io Therefore with joy shall ye draw water
Out of the wells of deliverance.
And in that day shall ye say,
“Give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name,
Make known his doings among the peoples,
15 Declare that his name is exalted.
“Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done wonderful things:
Let this be known through all the earth.
Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion:
For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.”
* “This new day is delayed in order that Jerusalem may become sufficiently holy
to permit of Jehovah's coming to dwell with his people. The misfortunes which are
in the midst of her are a part of the purifying process of Jehovah.”
* The poet seeks to voice the spirit of thankfulness and joy which will pervade
the community in that ideal future when Jehovah's forgiveness is complete and
his presence in the Community is constant and permanent.
# Isa: I.2:1–6.
VOICES OF HOPE 229
The Mountain of Jehovah
*In the latter days it shall come to pass,
That the mountain of Jehovah's house”
Shall be established on the top of the mountains
And it shall be exalted above the hills.”
5 All peoples shall flow unto it,
And many nations" shall go and Say,
Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah
And to the house of the God of Jacob;
That he may teach us of his ways,
Io That we may walk in his paths.
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
And the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem;
And he will arbitrate between many peoples,
And will render decisions for strong nations afar off:
I5 And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning-hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.
But each man shall sit under his vine and under his fig-tree
20 And none shall make them afraid: -
For the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken it.
In that day, saith Jehovah,
I will assemble that which is lame,
And I will gather that which is driven away,
25 And that which I have afflicted;
And I will make that which was lame a remnant;
And that which was cast far off a strong nation;
And Jehovah will reign over them
In mount Zion from henceforth even for ever.
* Mic. 4: 1–4, 6, 7.
* The mountain of Jehovah's house: another phrase to indicate Jerusalem, convey-
ing in itself the thought of exaltation.
3 This does not mean that Jerusalem will be elevated physically above the sur-
rounding hills, but rather that as the place honored by the presence of Jehovah's
temple it will be renowned above all other spots. The language is boldly figurative.
4 Many nations: “Jerusalem is to be the center of the world, where all peoples
shall gather for instruction in religion and life.”
5 Swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks: because of no more war.
23o
THE HEBREW PROPHETS
5
IO
I5
2O
25
The New Creation"
*For, behold, I am about to create new heavens and a new
earth: -
And the former things shall not be remembered, nor come
to mind.
But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create.
For, behold, I create Jerusalem exulting, and her people
a joy.
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and in my people.
No more shall be heard in her the voice of weeping, nor
the sound of crying. - -
There shall no more go out from thence a young infant,
Nor an old man that hath not lived out his days:
For the child shall die an hundred years old.
And they shall build houses, and dwell in them;
And they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
They shall not build, and another inhabit;
They shall not plant, and another eat: .
For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people,
And my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labour in vain,
Nor bear children for calamity;
For they are the blessed of the Lord,
And their children with them.
And, before they call, I will answer;
And while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox:
And dust shall be the Serpent’s meat.
They shall not hurt nor destroy
In all my holy mountain, Saith the Lord.
* A grand summing-up of the glories of the future. To appreciate fully the com-
forting nature of these wonderful songs of the prophets of these times, we must recall
frequently the meager background of the struggling community in Jerusalem, the
sordid questions of daily life, and the hopeless outlook for the future, so far as any
political relationships of importance were concerned. Without these songs, and the
faithful lives of those who penned them, we could hardly expect that the Jews would
have succeeded in maintaining a separate existence.
They must soon have been
swallowed up by the surrounding nations, and their religion dissipated.
* Isa. 65: I'7–25.
CHAPTER XVI
JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF ALL MANKIND
Yet one other great message had the prophets and with this our
studies will come to an end." Was the old dream of Jerusalem as
the one city of Jehovah a practical one? Was it not inevitable
that the time should come when the prophets could see that if
Jehovah had created all men he must be interested in all men, of
whatever race, wherever they might be? The name of the prophet
who added this last note to the wonderful conception of God, built
up step by step by his predecessors, we do not know. It comes
to us clothed in a series of stories, each a distinct parable, but
clustered around the name of Jonah, one of the prophets of early
Israel. Jonah is represented as a prophet entrusted by Jehovah
with a message of warning to a wicked city, Nineveh. Jonah, with
his narrow thought of Jehovah, thinks that by fleeing from Pales-
tine he can escape him and his disagreeable task at the same time.
But we will let the prophet tell us his own story, and as we read
let us think of Jonah as representing disobedient Israel of old,
entrusted with a message from Jehovah to all the world, yet unfaith-
ful to her mission, as Isaiah of Babylon had so graphically set forth.
*Now the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah; the son of
Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh," that great city, and
*To make a complete survey of the materials of prophecy, we should need to
include in our study the books of Joel and Daniel, and Zech., chaps. 9–14. But these
all belong to a later form of prophecy, which is separated from the earlier prophecy
by such clearly marked characteristics as to constitute it a new kind of literature.
To it the term “apocalyptic” is applied. Joel and Zech., chaps. 9-14, belong some-
where in the early part of the Greek period of Jewish history, which began with
Alexander's conquest of the Orient in 333 B.C. Daniel was called forth by the life-
and-death struggle waged on the part of the Jews at the time of the Maccabaean revolt,
about 165 B.C.
* Jonah, chap. I: I-17.
3 Jonah: We do not know whether there is any special significance to be attached
to the selection of the name of the prophet of Jeroboam’s time as a type of the dis-
obedient nation, since the only data which we have concerning his life are found in
II Kings I4:25. If we recall the state of religion and politics in Jeroboam’s reign we
may well surmise that Jonah may have been associated in the mind of the prophets of
a later day with worldly-mindedness and inability to understand Jehovah.
4 Nineveh: Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, had long since been
destroyed. It was a typical heathen city and was chosen by this prophet to represent
the whole Gentile world.
23I
232 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of
5 Jehovah; and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship
going to Tarshish:* So he paid the fare thereof, and went down
into it, to go unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah.
But Jehovah sent out a great wind upon the sea, and there
was a mighty tempest on the Sea, so that the ship was likely
Io to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every
man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares? that were
in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But Jonah
was gone down into the hold of the ship; and he lay, and was
fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto
15 him, “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy
god," if so be that that god will think upon us, that we perish
not.”5 And they said every one to his fellow, “Come, and let
us cast lots," that we may know for whose cause this evil is
upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
20 Then said they unto him, “Tell us, we pray thee, for whose
cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation ? and
whence comest thou? what is thy country P and of what
people art thou?” And he said unto them, “I am a Hebrew;
and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who hath made the
25 sea and the dry land.” Then were the men exceedingly
afraid, and said unto him, “What is this that thou hast done?”
For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of
Jehovah, because he had told them.
Then said they unto him, “What shall we do unto thee,
30 that the sea may be calm unto us?” for the sea grew more
and more tempestuous. And he said unto them, “Take me
up, and cast me forth into the sea; SO shall the sea be calm
unto you: for I know that on my account this great tempest
is upon you.” Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them
* Joppa: a well-known port of Palestine, on the Mediterranean, directly west of
ancient Shiloh. See map, opposite p. 31, unnamed Seaport north of Philistia.
Tarshish: an ancient mercantile city of the Phoenicians in the South of Spain.
3 Wares: merchandise. It was a galley ship, a merchant vessel.
4 Call upon thy god: Jonah was the only man upon the ship who was not praying
to his god for help in this peril.
s The shipmaster thinks that here may be the opportunity to call upon another
god than those who seem deaf to their appeals.
6 Cast lots: a common custom practiced in order to ascertain who was the cause
of some special misfortune. See story of Jonathan (I Sam. I4:36–46).
JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF ALL MANKIND 233
35 back to the land; but they could not: for the sea grew more and
more tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto
Jehovah, and said, “We beseech thee, O Jehovah, we beseech
thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us
innocent blood; for thou, O Jehovah, hast done as it pleased
4o thee.” So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the
sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared
Jehovah exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice unto Jehovah
and made vows." -
And Jehovah prepared a great fish to Swallow up Jonah;
45 and Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.
Thus the heathen sailors who had possibly never before heard of
Jehovah put Jonah to shame by worshiping the God whom he
sought to escape, and more significant still Jehovah the God of the
Hebrews heard the cry of the sailors and delivered them from their
danger, heathen though they were.
Will Jehovah our God hear the prayers of the heathen P This
was the question of the thoughtful Hebrews in this period.
Meanwhile the life of Jonah, who had been cast into the sea,
was saved. A great fish (was it typical of the nation of Babylonia P.)
swallowed him. Was this a picture of the captivity ? The psalm
through which Jonah voices the darkness of his prison is full of
phrases which were common in the psalms written in the exile, or
which recalled the nation’s experience during that period.
*I called by reason of mine affliction unto Jehovah,
And he answered me;
Out of the depths of Sheol cried I,
And thou heardest my voice.
5 For thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the
SeaS,
And the flood was round about me;
All thy waves and thy billows passed over me.
And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes;
Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
* Made vows: a religious ceremony. Vows were frequently made to cover a limited
period of time, and might represent a great variety of acts. See vows of Jephthah,
Judg., chap. II; of Jacob, Gen. 28:20, 2I, etc.
* Jonah 2: I-9.
234 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
Io The waters compassed me about, even to the soul;
The deep was round about me;
*The weeds were wrapped about my head.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed upon me for ever:
15 Yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah
my God.
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah;
And my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple.
I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay that which I have vowed.
When Jonah had learned his lesson of obedience he was cast
forth and found himself in a place of safety.
A Second opportunity is given the prophet to deliver his message
of warning to the heathen city, the non-Hebrew world. Here
again the experience of the sailors is repeated. The city repents,
turns to Jehovah, and is saved. God changed for them as he had
changed for Israel when Israel turned to him from the depths of
the exile.
*And the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the second time,
Saying, “Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach
unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” So Jonah arose, and
went unto Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now
5 Nineveh was an exceeding great city, three days’ journey
across. And Jonah entered into the city a day's journey,
and he cried and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown.”
And the people of Nineveh believed his warning; and they
Io proclaimed a fast, and put on Sackcloth, from the greatest
of them even to the least of them. And the tidings reached
the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid
his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in
ashes.” And he made proclamation and published through
15 Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let
* If the reader will bear in mind the figurative character of the story he will not
be troubled by the peculiarities of this description, in view of the supposed situation.
* Jonah 3: I–Io.
3 Sackcloth, a fast, sat in ashes: all signs of mourning. Sackcloth was a coarse
cloth which irritated the skin and was worn especially as a symbol of repentance and
self-punishment,
JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF ALL MANKIND 235
neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let
them not feed, nor drink water; but let them be covered with
sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily unto
God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from
20 the violence that is in his hands." Who knoweth whether
God will not repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that
we perish not?” And God saw their works, that they turned
from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he
said he would do unto them; and he did it not.
The argument of the situation is made clear by the last chapter.
Jonah does not understand. He maintains that he had from the
start no confidence in Jehovah's promise to punish Nineveh and
that was the reason for declining to deliver the message. Now
his reputation as a prophet is ruined; he prays to die. Jehovah
through a simple object-lesson teaches him the gospel of mercy
and forgiveness.
| *But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, “I pray thee, O
Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my
country? Therefore I hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I
5 knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger,
and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the
evil. Therefore now, O Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my
life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” And
Jehovah said, “Art thou very angry P” Then Jonah went
Io out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there
made him a booth,” and sat under it in the shade, till he might
see what would become of the city.
And Jehovah God prepared a gourd," and made it to come
up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to de-
15 liver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceeding glad
because of the gourd. But God prepared a worm next day
in the early morning, and it Smote the gourd, so that it withered.
* Note that cattle are represented as able to share in the miraculous change of
heart of the city of Nineveh.
* Jonah 4: I–II.
3 Booth: a shelter from the tropical sun.
* Gourd: A plant or vine common in tropical countries which grows to enormous
size very rapidly, but not so rapidly as to render the story other than that of a miracle.
236 THE HEBREW PROPHETS
And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared
a Sultry east wind; and the Sunbeat upon the head of Jonah, so
20 that he was faint, and requested that he might die, saying,
“It is better for me to die than to live.” And God said to
Jonah, “Art thou very angry on account of the gourd P” And
he said, “I am exceedingly angry, even unto death.” And
Jehovah said, “Thou hast had regard for the gourd, for which
25 thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came
up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I have
regard for Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore
thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and
their left hand; and also much cattle 3’’
“More simply, as something quite self-evident, and therefore
more sublimely and touchingly, the truth was never told in the
Old Testament that God as creator of the whole earth must also
be the God and Father of the entire world, in whose loving, kind,
and fatherly heart all men are equal, before whom there is no differ-
ence of nation and confession, but only men whom he has created
in his own image.”
Shall not the God who made all men care for all men P
“Look unto me, and be ye saved,
All ye ends of the earth,
For I am God, and there is none else.”
This seems a simple view of God to us who have so long ac-
cepted the thought of human brotherhood, and divine fatherhood.
But few of us know or think of the long process by which the
chains of ignorance and idolatry were shaken off and the idea of
God, one, universal, all-powerful, all-loving, emerged from the dark-
ness, took possession of the human heart, and fired the imagina-
tion of great souls the world over. Truth comes slowly, and the
greater the truth the larger the preparation necessary.
Even at this point our chain is incomplete, for we have made no
mention of the prophet of Nazareth, but our task like that of the
Hebrew nation was to prepare the way for larger truth, whether
from the lips of Hebrew or Gentile. We therefore leave our study
here, content if those heroic men, whose names and a few of whose
words and deeds these pages record, stand forth as living men with
a message to humanity as well as to their own times and people.
JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF ALL MANKIND 237
To us as to men of old in our search for truth comes the assur-
ance, “Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren. Unto him shall ye hearken.” And
how shall we recognize the prophets of our own day ? Only by the
test of time. Today as yesterday, and in all the past, he who
would bring a message from God through science or art or litera-
ture, philosophy or religion must be content to wait for the passing
years to testify to the truth of his words, but no true prophet will
on this account be deterred from giving that message, no matter
how difficult a task it may be.

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