,this e,book was produced by ,anne ,folland1 ,tiffany ,vergon1 ,charles ,franks and the ,online ,distributed ,proofreading ,team ,,introduction ,,to ,,the ,,old ,,testament ,by ,,john ,,edgar ,mc,f,a,d,y,e,n1 ,m4,a4 7,glas47 ,b4,a4 7,oxon47 ,professor of ,old ,testament ,literature and ,exegesis1 ,knox ,college1 ,toronto ,to ,my ,pupils ,past and ,present ,,preface ,this ,introduction does not pretend to offer anything to specialists4 ,it is written for theological students1 ministers1 and laymen1 who desire to understand the modern attitude to the ,old ,testament as a whole1 but who either do not have the time or the inclination to follow the details on which all thorough study of it must ultimately rest4 ,these details are intricate1 often perplexing1 and all but innumerable1 and the student is in danger of failing to see the wood for the trees4 ,this ,introduction1 therefore1 concentrates attention only on the more salient features of the discussion4 ,no attempt has been made1 for example1 to relegate every verse in the ,pentateuch#a to its documentary source2 but the method of attacking the ,pentateuchal problem has been presented1 and the larger documentary divisions indicated4 ,footnote #a3 ,pentateuch and ,hexateuch are used in this volume to indicate the first five and the first six books of the ,old ,testament respectively1 without reference to any critical theory4 ,as the first five books form a natural division by themselves1 and as their literary sources are continued not only into ,joshua1 but probably beyond it1 it is as legitimate to speak of the ,pentateuch as of the ,hexateuch4 ,it is obvious1 therefore1 that the discussions can in no case be exhaustive2 such treatment can only be expected in commentaries to the individual books4 ,while carefully considering all the more important alternatives1 ,i have usually contented myself with presenting the conclusion which seemed to me most probable2 and ,i have thought it better to discuss each case on its merits1 without referring expressly and continually to the opinions of ,english and foreign scholars4 ,in order to bring the discussion within the range of those who have no special linguistic equipment1 ,i have hardly ever cited ,greek or ,hebrew words1 and never in the original alphabets4 ,for a similar reason1 the verses are numbered1 not as in the ,hebrew1 but as in the ,english ,bible4 ,i have sought to make the discussion read continuously1 without distracting the attention--excepting very occasionally-by foot-notes or other devices4 ,above all things1 ,i have tried to be interesting4 ,critical discussions are too apt to divert those who pursue them from the absorbing human interest of the ,old ,testament4 ,its writers were men of like hopes and fears and passions with ourselves1 and not the least important task of a sympathetic scholarship is to recover that humanity which speaks to us in so many portions and so many ways from the pages of the ,old ,testament4 ,while we must never allow ourselves to forget that the ,old ,testament is a voice from the ancient and the ,semitic world1 not a few parts of it--books1 for example1 like ,job and ,ecclesiastes--are as modern as the book that was written yesterday4 ,but1 first and last1 the ,old ,testament is a religious book2 and an ,introduction to it should1 in my opinion1 introduce us not only to its literary problems1 but to its religious content4 ,i have therefore usually attempted--briefly1 and not in any homiletic spirit--to indicate the religious value and significance of its several books4 ,there may be readers who would here and there have desiderated a more confident tone1 but ,i have deliberately refrained from going further than the facts seemed to warrant4 ,the cause of truth is not served by unwarranted assertions2 and the facts are often so difficult to concatenate that dogmatism becomes an impertinence4 ,those who know the ground best walk the most warily4 ,but if the old confidence has been lost1 a new confidence has been won4 ,traditional opinions on questions of date and authorship may have been shaken or overturned1 but other and greater things abide2 and not the least precious is that confidence1 which can now justify itself at the bar of the most rigorous scientific investigation1 that1 in a sense altogether unique1 the religion of ,israel is touched by the finger of ,god4 ,,john ,e4 ,mc,f,a,d,y,e,n4 ,,engelberg1 ,,switzerland4 ,,contents ,,the ,,order ,,of ,,the ,,books ,,genesis ,,exodus ,,leviticus ,,numbers ,,deuteronomy ,,joshua ,,the ,,prophetic ,,and ,,priestly ,,documents ,,judges ,,samuel ,,kings ,,isaiah ,,jeremiah ,,ezekiel ,,hosea ,,joel ,,amos ,,obadiah ,,jonah ,,micah ,,nahum ,,habakkuk ,,zephaniah ,,haggai ,,zechariah ,,malachi ,,psalms ,,proverbs ,,job ,,song ,,of ,,songs ,,ruth ,,lamentations ,,ecclesiastes ,,esther ,,daniel ,,ezra-,,nehemiah ,,chronicles ,,the ,,order ,,of ,,the ,,books ,in the ,english ,bible the books of the ,old ,testament are arranged1 not in the order in which they appear in the ,hebrew ,bible1 but in that assigned to them by the ,greek translation4 ,in this translation the various books are grouped according to their contents--first the historical books1 then the poetic1 and lastly the prophetic4 ,this order has its advantages1 but it obscures many important facts of which the ,hebrew order preserves a reminiscence4 ,the ,hebrew ,bible has also three divisions1 known respectively as the ,law1 the ,prophets1 and the ,writings4 ,the ,law stands for the ,pentateuch4 ,the ,prophets are subdivided into 7i7 the former prophets1 that is1 the historical books of ,joshua1 ,judges1 ,samuel and ,kings1 regarded as four in number2 and 7ii7 the latter prophets1 that is1 the prophets proper--,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 ,ezekiel1 and the ,twelve 7i4e4 the ,minor ,prophets74 ,the ,writings designate all the rest of the books1 usually in the following order--,psalms1 ,proverbs1 ,job1 ,song of ,songs1 ,ruth1 ,lamentations1 ,ecclesiastes1 ,esther1 ,daniel1 ,ezra-,nehemiah1 ,chronicles4 ,it would somewhat simplify the scientific study even of the ,english ,bible1 if the ,hebrew order could be restored1 for it is in many ways instructive and important4 ,it reveals the unique and separate importance of the ,pentateuch2 it suggests that the historical books from ,joshua to ,kings are to be regarded not only as histories1 but rather as the illustration of prophetic principles2 it raises a high probability that ,ruth ought not to be taken with ,judges1 nor ,lamentations with ,jeremiah1 nor ,daniel with the prophets4 ,it can be proved that the order of the divisions represents the order in which they respectively attained canonical importance--the law before #djj ,b4,c41 the prophets about #bjj ,b4,c41 the writings about #ajj ,b4,c4--and1 generally speaking1 the latest books are in the last division4 ,thus we are led to suspect a relatively late origin for the ,song and ,ecclesiastes1 and ,chronicles1 being late1 will not be so important a historical authority as ,kings4 ,the facts suggested by the ,hebrew order and confirmed by a study of the literature are sufficient to justify the adoption of that order in preference to that of the ,english ,bible4 ,,genesis ,the ,old ,testament opens very impressively4 ,in measured and dignified language it introduces the story of ,israel's origin and settlement upon the land of ,canaan 7,gen4--,josh47 by the story of creation1 i4-ii4 #d;a1 and thus suggests1 at the very beginning1 the far-reaching purpose and the world-wide significance of the people and religion of ,israel4 ,the narrative has not travelled far till it becomes apparent that its dominant interests are to be religious and moral2 for1 after a pictorial sketch of man's place and task in the world1 and of his need of woman's companionship1 ii4 #d;b-#be1 it plunges at once into an account1 wonderful alike in its poetic power and its psychological insight1 of the tragic and costly#a disobedience by which the divine purpose for man was at least temporarily frustrated 7iii474 ,his progress in history is1 morally considered1 downward4 ,disobedience in the first generation becomes murder in the next1 and it is to the offspring of the violent ,cain that the arts and amenities of civilization are traced1 iv4 #a-bb4 ,thus the first song in the ,old ,testament is a song of revenge1 iv4 #bc1 #bd1 though this dark background of cruelty is not unlit by a gleam of religion1 iv4 #bf4 ,after the lapse of ten generations 7v47 the world had grown so corrupt that ,god determined to destroy it by a flood2 but because ,noah was a good man1 ,he saved him and his household and resolved never again to interrupt the course of nature in judgment 7vi4-viii474 ,in establishing the covenant with ,noah1 emphasis is laid on the sacredness of blood1 especially of the blood of man1 ix4 #a-ag4 ,though grace abounds1 however1 sin also abounds4 ,noah fell1 and his fall revealed the character of his children3 the ancestor of the ,semites1 from whom the ,hebrews sprang1 is blessed1 as is also ,japheth1 while the ancestor of the licentious ,canaanites is cursed1 ix4 #ah-bg4 ,from these three are descended the great families of mankind 7x47 whose unity was confounded and whose ambitions were destroyed by the creation of diverse languages1 xi4 #a-i4 ,footnote #a3 ,death is the penalty 7iii4 #bb-bd74 ,another explanation of how death came into the world is given in the ancient and interesting fragment vi4 #a-d4 ,it is against this universal background that the story of the ,hebrews is thrown2 and in the new beginning which history takes with the call of ,abraham1 something like the later contrast between the church and the world is intended to be suggested4 ,upon the sombreness of human history as reflected in ,gen4 i4-xi41 a new possibility breaks in ,gen4 xii41 and the rest of the book is devoted to the fathers of the ,hebrew people 7xii4-l474 ,the most impressive figure from a religious point of view is ,abraham1 the oldest of them all1 and the story of his discipline is told with great power1 xi4 #aj-xxv4 #aj4 ,he was a ,semite1 xi4 #aj-cb1 and under a divine impulse he migrated westward to ,canaan1 xii4 #a-i4 ,there various fortunes befell him--famine which drove him to ,egypt1 peril through the beauty of his wife1#a abounding and conspicuous prosperity--but through it all ,abraham displayed a true magnanimity and enjoyed the divine favour1 xii4 #aj-xiii41 which was manifested even in a striking military success 7xiv474 ,despite this favour1 however1 he grew despondent1 as he had no child4 ,but there came to him the promise of a son1 confirmed by a covenant 7xv471 the symbol of which was to be circumcision 7xvii472 and ,abraham trusted ,god1 unlike his wife1 whose faith was not equal to the strain1 and who sought the fulfilment of the promise in foolish ways of her own1#b xvi41 xviii4 #a-ae4 ,then follows the story of ,abraham's earnest but ineffectual intercession for the wicked cities of the plain--a story which further reminds us how powerfully the narrative is controlled by moral and religious interests1 xviii4 #af-xix4 ,faith is rewarded at last by the birth of a son1 xxi4 #a-g1 and ,abraham's prosperity becomes so conspicuous that a native prince is eager to make a treaty with him1 xxi4 #bb-cd4 ,the supreme test of his faith came to him in the impulse to offer his son to ,god in sacrifice2 but at the critical moment a substitute was providentially provided1 and ,abraham's faith1 which had stood so terrible a test1 was rewarded by another renewal of the divine assurance 7xxii474 ,his wife died1 and for a burial-place he purchased from the natives a field and cave in ,hebron1 thus winning in the promised land ground he could legally call his own 7xxiii74 ,among his eastern kinsfolk a wife is providentially found for ,isaac 7xxiv471 who becomes his father's heir1 xxv4 #a-f4 ,then ,abraham dies1 xxv4 #g-aa1 and the uneventful career of ,isaac is briefly described in tales that partly duplicate#c those told of his greater father1 xxv4 #g-xxvi4 ,footnote #a3 ,this story 7xii4 #aj-bj7 is duplicated in xx42 also in xxvi4 #a-aa 7of ,isaac74 ,footnote #b3 ,the story of the expulsion of ,hagar in xvi4 is duplicated in xxi4 #h-ba4 ,footnote #c3 xxvi4 #a-aaxii4 #aj-bj 7xx472 xxvi4 #bf-ccxxi4 #bb-cd4 ,the story of ,isaac's son ,jacob is as varied and romantic as his own was uneventful4 ,he begins by fraudulently winning a blessing from his father1 and has in consequence to flee the promised land1 xxvii4-xxviii4 #i4 ,on the threshold of his new experiences he was taught in a dream the nearness of heaven to earth1 and received the assurance that the ,god who had visited him at ,bethel would be with him in the strange land and bring him back to his own1 xxviii4 #aj-bb4 ,in the land of his exile1 his fortunes ran a very checkered course 7xxix4-xxxi474 ,in ,laban1 his ,aramean kinsman1 he met his match1 and almost his master1 in craft2 and the initial fraud of his life was more than once punished in kind4 ,in due time1 however1 he left the land of his sojourn1 a rich and prosperous man4 ,but his discipline is not over when he reaches the homeland4 ,the past rises up before him in the person of the brother whom he had wronged2 and besides reckoning with ,esau1 he has also to wrestle with ,god4 ,he is embroiled in strife with the natives of the land1 and he loses his beloved ,rachel 7xxxii4-xxxv474 ,into the later years of ,jacob is woven the most romantic story of all--that of his son ,joseph 7xxxvii4-l47#a the dreamer1 who rose through persecution and prison1 slander and sorrow 7xxxvii4-xl47 to a seat beside the throne of ,pharaoh 7xli474 ,nowhere is the providence that governs life and the ,nemesis that waits upon sin more dramatically illustrated than in the story of ,joseph4 ,again and again his guilty brothers are compelled to confront the past which they imagined they had buried out of sight for ever 7xlii4-xliv474 ,but at last comes the gracious reconciliation between ,joseph and them 7xlv471 the tender meeting between ,jacob and ,joseph 7xlvi471 the ultimate settlement of the family of ,jacob in ,egypt1#b and the consequent transference of interest to that country for several generations4 ,the book closes with scenes illustrating the wisdom and authority of ,joseph in the time of famine 7xlvii471 the dying ,jacob blessing ,joseph's sons 7xlviii471 his parting words 7in verse7 to all his sons 7xlix471 his death and funeral honours1 l4 #a-ad1 ,joseph's magnanimous forgiveness of his brothers1 and his death1 in the sure hope that ,god would one day bring the ,israelites back again to the land of ,canaan1 l4 #ae-bf4 ,footnote #a3 xxxvi4 deals with the ,edomite clans1 and xxxviii4 with the clans of ,judah4 ,footnote #b3 ,in one version they are not exactly in ,egypt1 but near it1 in ,goshen 7xlvii4 #f74 ,the unity of the book of ,genesis is unmistakable2 yet a close inspection reveals it to be rather a unity of idea than of execution4 ,while in general it exhibits the gradual progress of the divine purpose on its way through primeval and patriarchal history1 in detail it presents a number of phenomena incompatible with unity of authorship4 ,the theological presuppositions of different parts of the book vary widely2 centuries of religious thought1 for example1 must lie between the ,god who partakes of the hospitality of ,abraham under a tree 7xviii47 and the majestic1 transcendent1 invisible ,being at whose word the worlds are born 7i474 ,the style1 too1 differs as the theological conceptions do3 it is impossible not to feel the difference between the diffuse1 precise1 and formal style of ix4 #a-ag1 and the terse1 pictorial and poetic manner of the immediately succeeding section1 ix4 #ah-bg4 ,further1 different accounts are given of the origin of particular names or facts3 ,beersheba is connected1 e4g4 with a treaty made1 in one case1 between ,abraham and ,abimelech1 xxi4 #ca1 in another1 between ,isaac and ,abimelech1 xxvi4 #cc4 ,but perhaps the most convincing proof that the book is not an original literary unit is the lack of inherent continuity in the narrative of special incidents1 and the occasional inconsistencies1 sometimes between different parts of the book1 sometimes even within the same section4 ,this can be most simply illustrated from the story of the ,flood 7vi4 #e;ff471 through which the beginner should work for himself-at first without suggestions from critical commentaries or introductions--as here the analysis is easy and singularly free from complications2 the results reached upon this area can be applied and extended to the rest of the book4 ,the problem might be attacked in some such way as follows4 ,ch4 vi4 #e-h announces the wickedness of man and the purpose of ,god to destroy him2 throughout these verses the divine ,being is called ,jehovah4#a ,in the next section1 vv4 #i-ac1 ,he is called by a different name--,god 7,hebrew1 ,elohim7--and we cannot but notice that this section adds nothing to the last2 vv4 #i1 #aj are an interruption1 and vv4 #aa-ac but a repetition of vv4 #e-h4 ,corresponding to the change in the divine name is a further change in the vocabulary1 the word for destroy being different in vv4 #g and #ac4 ,verses #ad-bb continue the previous section with precise and minute instructions for the building of the ark1 and in the later verses 7cf4 #ah1 #bj7 the precision tends to become diffuseness4 ,the last verse speaks of the divine ,being as ,god 7,elohim71 so that both the language and contents of vv4 #i-bb show it to be a homogeneous section4 ,note that here1 vv4 #ai1 #bj1 two animals of every kind are to be taken into the ark1 no distinction being drawn between the clean and the unclean4 ,noah must now be in the ark2 for we are told that he had done all that ,god commanded him1 vv4 #bb1 #ah4 ,footnote #a3 ,wrongly represented by the ,lord in the ,english version2 the ,american ,revised ,version always correctly renders by ,jehovah4 ,god in v4 #e is an unfortunate mistake of ,a4,v4 ,this ought also to be the ,lord1 or rather ,jehovah4 ,but1 to our surprise1 ch4 vii4 starts the whole story afresh with a divine command to ,noah to enter the ark2 and this time1 significantly enough1 a distinction is made between the clean and the unclean-seven pairs of the former to enter and one pair of the latter 7vii4 #b74 ,it is surely no accident that in this section the name of the divine ,being is ,jehovah1 vv4 #a1 #e2 and its contents follow naturally on vi4 #e-h4 ,in other words we have here1 not a continuous account1 but two parallel accounts1 one of which uses the name ,god1 the other ,jehovah1 for the divine ,being4 ,this important conclusion is put practically beyond all doubt by the similarity between vi4 #bb and vii4 #e1 which differ only in the use of the divine name4 ,a close study of the characteristics of these sections whose origin is thus certain will enable us approximately to relegate to their respective sources other sections1 verses1 or fragments of verses in which the important clue1 furnished by the name of the divine ,being1 is not present4 ,any verse1 or group of verses1 e4g4 involving the distinction between the clean and the unclean1 will belong to the ,jehovistic source1 as it is called 7,j74 ,this is the real explanation of the confusion which every one feels who attempts to understand the story as a unity4 ,it was always particularly hard to reconcile the apparently conflicting estimates of the duration of the ,flood2 but as soon as the sources are separated1 it becomes clear that1 according to the ,jehovist1 it lasted sixty-eight days1 according to the other source over a year 7vii4 #aa1 viii4 #ad74 ,brief as the ,flood story is1 it furnishes us with material enough to study the characteristic differences between the sources out of which it is composed4 ,the ,jehovist is terse1 graphic1 and poetic2 it is this source in which occurs the fine description of the sending forth of the raven and the dove1 viii4 #f-ab4 ,it knows how to make a singularly effective use of concrete details3 witness ,noah putting out his hand and pulling the dove into the ark1 and her final return with an olive leaf in her mouth4 ,a similarly graphic touch1 interesting also for the sidelight it throws on the ,jehovist's theological conceptions is that1 when ,noah entered the ark1 ,jehovah closed the door behind him1 vii4 #af4 ,altogether different is the other source4 ,it is all but lacking in poetic touches and concrete detail of this kind1 and such an anthropomorphism as vii4 #af would be to it impossible4 ,it is pedantically precise1 giving the exact year1 month1 and even day when the ,flood came1 vii4 #aa1 and when it ceased1 viii4 #ac1 #ad4 ,there is a certain legal precision about it which issues in diffuseness and repetition2 over and over again occur such phrases as fowl1 cattle1 creeping things1 each after its kind1 vi4 #bj1 vii4 #ad1 and the dimensions of the ark are accurately given4 ,where ,j had simply said1 ,thou and all thy house1 vii4 #a1 this source says1 ,thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee1 vi4 #ah4 ,from the identity of interest and style between this source and the middle part of the ,pentateuch1 notably ,leviticus1 it is characterized as the priestly document and known to criticism as ,p4 ,thus1 though the mainstay of the analysis1 or at least the original point of departure1 is the difference in the names of the divine ,being1 many other phenomena1 of vocabulary1 style1 and theology1 are so distinctive that on the basis of them alone we could relegate many sections of ,genesis with considerable confidence to their respective sources4 ,in particular1 ,p is especially easy to detect4 ,for example1 the use of the term ,elohim1 the repetitions1 the precise and formal manner1 the collocation of such phrases as fowl1 cattle1 creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth1 i4 #bf 7cf4 vii4 #ba71 mark out the first story of creation1 i4-ii4 #d;a1 as indubitably belonging to ,p4 ,besides the stories of the creation and the flood1 the longest and most important1 though not quite the only passages#a belonging to ,p are ix4 #a-ag 7the covenant with ,noah71 xvii4 7the covenant with ,abraham71 and xxiii4 7the purchase of a burial place for ,sarah74 ,this is a fact of the greatest significance4 ,for ,p1 the story of creation culminates in the institution of the ,sabbath1 the story of the flood in the covenant with ,noah1 with the law concerning the sacredness of blood1 the covenant with ,abraham is sealed by circumcision1 and the purchase of ,machpelah gives ,abraham legal right to a footing in the promised land4 ,in other words the interests of this source are legal and ritual4 ,this becomes abundantly plain in the next three books of the ,pentateuch1 but even in ,genesis it may be justly inferred from the unusual fulness of the narrative at these four points4 ,footnote #a3 ,the curious ch4 xiv4 is written under the influence of ,p4 ,here also ritual interests play a part in the tithes paid to the priest of ,salem1 v4 #bj 7i4e4 ,jerusalem74 ,in spite of its array of ancient names1 xiv4 #a1 #b1 which have been partially corroborated by recent discoveries1 this chapter is1 for several reasons1 believed to be one of the latest in the ,pentateuch4 ,when we examine what is left in ,genesis1 after deducting the sections that belong to ,p1 we find that the word ,god 7,elohim71 characteristic of ,p1 is still very frequently and in some sections exclusively used4 ,the explanation will appear when we come to deal with ,exodus3 meantime the fact must be carefully noted4 ,ch4 xx41 e4g41 uses the word ,elohim1 but it has no other mark characteristic of ,p4 ,it is neither formal nor diffuse in style nor legal in spirit2 it is as concrete and almost as graphic as anything in ,j4 ,indeed the story related--,abraham's denial of his wife--is actually told in that document1 xii4 #aj-bj 7also of ,isaac1 xxvi4 #a-aa72 and in general the history is covered by this document1 which is called the ,elohist#a and known to criticism as ,e1 in much the same spirit1 and with an emphasis upon much the same details1 as by ,j4 ,in opposition to ,p1 these are known as the prophetic documents1 because they were written or at least put together under the influence of prophetic ideas4 ,the close affinity of these two documents renders it much more difficult to distinguish them from each other than to distinguish either of them from ,p1 but within certain limits the attempt may be successfully made4 ,the basis of it must1 of course1 be a study of the duplicate versions of the same incidents2 that is1 such a narrative as ch4 xx41 which uses the word ,god 7,elohim7 is compared with its parallel in xii4 #aj-bj1 which uses the word ,jehovah1 and in this way the distinctive features and interests of each document will most readily be found4 ,the parallel suggested is easy and instructive1 and it reveals the relative ethical and theological superiority of ,e to ,j4 ,j tells the story of ,abraham's falsehood with a quaint navet 7xii472 ,e is offended by it and excuses it 7xx474 ,the theological refinement of ,e is suggested not only here1 xx4 #c1 #f1 but elsewhere1 by the frequency with which ,god appears in dreams and not in bodily presence as in ,j 7cf4 iii4 #h74 ,similarly the expulsion of ,hagar1 which in ,j is due to ,sarah's jealousy 7xvi471 in ,e is attributed to a command of ,god1 xxi4 #h-ba2 and the success of ,jacob with the sheep1 which in ,j is due to his skill and cunning1 xxx4 #bi-dc1 is referred in ,e to the intervention of ,god1 xxxi4 #e-ab4 ,in general it may be said that ,j1 while religious1 is also natural1 whereas ,e tends to emphasize the supernatural1 and thus takes the first step towards the austere theology of ,p4#b ,footnote #a3 ,in this way it is distinguished from ,p1 which1 as we have seen1 is also ,elohistic1 but is not now so called4 ,footnote #b3 ,a detailed justification of the grounds of the critical analysis will be found in ,professor ,driver's elaborate and admirable ,introduction to the ,literature of the ,old ,testament1 where every section throughout the ,hexateuch is referred to its special documentary source4 ,to readers who desire to master the detail1 that work or one of the following will be indispensable3 ,the ,hexateuch1 edited by ,carpenter and ,battersby1 ,addis's ,documents of the ,hexateuch1 ,bacon's ,genesis of ,genesis and ,triple ,tradition of the ,exodus1 or ,kent's ,student's ,old ,testament 7vol4 i47 ,j is the most picturesque and fascinating of all the sources-attractive alike for its fine poetic power and its profound religious insight4 ,this is the source which describes the wooing of ,isaac's bride 7xxiv471 and the meeting of ,jacob and ,rachel at the well1 xxix4 #b-ad2 in this source1 too1 which appears to be the most primitive of all1 there are speaking animals--the serpent1 e4g41 in ,genesis iii4 7and the ass in ,num4 xxii4 #bh74 ,the story of the origin of sin1 in every respect a masterpiece1 is told by ,j2 we do not know whether to admire more the ease with which ,jehovah1 like a skilful judge1 by a few penetrating questions drives the guilty pair to an involuntary confession1 or the fidelity with which the whole immortal scene reflects the eternal facts of human nature4 ,the religious teaching of ,j is extraordinarily powerful and impressive1 all the more that it is never directly didactic2 it shines through the simple and unstudied recital of concrete incident4 ,it is one of the most delicate and not the least important tasks of criticism to discover by analysis even the sources which lie so close to each other as ,j and ,e1 for the literary efforts represented by these documents are but the reflection of religious movements4 ,they testify to the affection which the people cherished for the story of their past2 and when we have arranged them in chronological order1 they enable us further1 as we have seen1 to trace the progress of moral and religious ideas4 ,but1 for several reasons1 it is not unfair1 and1 from the beginner's point of view1 it is perhaps even advisable1 to treat these documents together as a unity3 firstly1 because they were actually combined1 probably in the seventh century1 into a unity 7,,je71 and sometimes1 as in the ,joseph story1 so skilfully that it is very difficult to distinguish the component parts and assign them to their proper documentary source2 secondly1 because1 for a reason to be afterwards stated1 beyond ,ex4 iii4 the analysis is usually supremely difficult2 and1 lastly1 because in language and spirit1 the prophetic documents are very like each other and altogether unlike the priestly document4 ,for practical purposes1 then1 the broad distinction into prophetic and priestly will generally be sufficient4 ,wherever the narrative is graphic1 powerful1 and interesting1 we may be sure that it is prophetic1#a whereas the priestly document is easily recognizable by its ritual interests1 and by its formal1 diffuse1 and legal style4 ,footnote #a3 ,if inconsistencies1 contradictions or duplicates appear in the section which is clearly prophetic1 the student may be practically certain that these are to be referred to the two prophetic sources4 ,cf4 the two derivations of the name of ,joseph in consecutive verses whose source is at once obvious3 ,god 7,elohim7 has taken away my reproach 7,e72 and ,jehovah adds to me another son 7,j71 ,gen4 xxx4 #bc1 #bd4 ,cf4 also the illustrations adduced on pp4 #ac1 #ad4 ,the documents already discussed constitute the chief sources of the book of ,genesis2 but there are occasional fragments which do not seem originally to have belonged to any of them4 ,there were also collections of poetry1 such as the ,book of ,jashar 7cf4 ,josh4 x4 #ac2 #b ,sam4 i4 #ah71 at the disposal of those who wrote or compiled the documents1 and to such a collection the parting words of ,jacob may have belonged 7xlix474 ,the poem is in reality a characterization of the various tribes2 v4 #ae1 and still more plainly vv4 #bc1 #bd1 look back upon historical events4 ,the reference to ,levi1 vv4 #e-g1 which takes no account of the priestly prerogatives of that tribe1 shows that the poem is early 7cf4 xxxiv4 #be72 but the description of the prosperity of ,joseph 7i4e4 ,ephraim and ,manasseh71 vv4 #bb-bf1 and the pre-eminence of ,judah1 vv4 #h-ab1 bring it far below patriarchal times--at least into the period of the ,judges4 ,if vv4 #h-ab is an allusion to the triumphs of ,david and vv4 #bb-bf to northern ,israel1 the poem as a whole1 which can hardly be later than ,solomon's time--for it celebrates ,israel and ,judah equally--could not be earlier than ,david's2 but probably the various utterances concerning the different tribes arose at different times4 ,the religious interest of ,genesis is very high1 the more so as almost every stage of religious reflection is represented in it1 from the most primitive to the most mature4 ,through the ancient stories there gleam now and then flashes from a mythological background1 as in the intermarriage of angels with mortal women1 vi4 #a-d1 or in the struggle of the mighty ,jacob1 who could roll away the great stone from the mouth of the well1 xxix4 #b1 #aj1 with his supernatural visitant1 xxxii4 #bd4 ,it is a long step from the second creation story in which ,god1 like a potter1 fashions men out of moist earth1 ii4 #g1 and walks in the garden of ,paradise in the cool of the day1 iii4 #h1 to the first1 with its sublime silence on the mysterious processes of creation 7i474 ,but the whole book1 and especially the prophetic section1 is dominated by a splendid sense of the reality of ,god1 ,his interest in men1 ,his horror of sin1 ,his purpose to redeem4 ,broadly speaking1 the religion of the book stands upon a marvellously high moral level4 ,it is touched with humility-its heroes know that they are not worth of all the love and the faithfulness which ,god shows them1 xxxii4 #aj2 and it is marked by a true inwardness-for it is not works but implicit trust in ,god that counts for righteousness1 xv4 #af4 ,yet in practical ways1 too1 this religion finds expression in national and individual life2 it protests vehemently against human sacrifice 7xxii471 and it strengthens a lonely youth in an hour of terrible temptation1 xxxix4 #i4 ,,exodus ,the book of ,exodus--so named in the ,greek version from the march of ,israel out of ,egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which ,genesis had closed4 ,israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in ,egypt 7i47 and the story of the book is the story of her redemption4 ,ultimately it is ,israel's ,god that is her redeemer1 but ,he operates largely by human means2 and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer1 ,moses1 whose parentage1 early training1 and fearless love of justice mark him out as the coming man 7ii474 ,in the solitude and depression of the desert1 he is encouraged by the sight of a bush1 burning yet unconsumed1 and sent forth with a new vision of ,god#a upon his great and perilous task 7iii474 ,though thus divinely equipped1 he hesitated1 and ,god gave him a helper in ,aaron his brother 7iv474 ,then begins the ,titanic struggle between ,moses and ,pharaoh--,moses the champion of justice1 ,pharaoh the incarnation of might 7v474 ,blow after blow falls from ,israel's ,god upon the obstinate king of ,egypt and his unhappy land3 the water of the ,nile is turned into blood 7vii471 there are plagues of frogs1 gnats1 gadflies 7viii471 murrain1 boils1 hail 7ix471 locusts1 darkness 7x471 and--last and most terrible of all--the smiting of the first-born1 an event in connexion with which the passover was instituted4 ,then ,pharaoh yielded4 ,israel went forth2 and the festival of unleavened bread was ordained for a perpetual memorial 7xi41 xii472 also the first-born of man and beast was consecrated1 xiii4 #a-af4 ,footnote #a3 ,the story of the revelation of ,israel's ,god under ,his new name1 ,jehovah1 is told twice 7in ch4 iii4 and ch4 vi474 ,israel's troubles1 however1 were not yet over4 ,their departing host was pursued by the impenitent ,pharaoh1 but miraculously delivered at the ,red ,sea1 in which the ,egyptian horses and horsemen were overwhelmed1 xiii4 l#g-xiv4 ,the deliverance was celebrated in a splendid song of triumph1 xv4 #a-ba4 ,then they began their journey to ,sinai--a journey which revealed alike the faithlessness and discontent of their hearts1 and the omnipotent and patient bounty of their ,god1 manifested in delivering them from the perils of hunger1 thirst and war1 xv4 #bb-xvii4 #af4 ,on the advice of ,jethro1 ,moses' father-in-law1 ,god-fearing men were appointed to decide for the people on all matters of lesser moment1 while the graver cases were still reserved for ,moses 7xviii47#a,the arrival at ,sinai marked a crisis2 for it was there that the epoch-making covenant was made--,jehovah promising to continue ,his grace to the people1 and they1 on their part1 pledging themselves to obedience4 ,thunder and lightning and dark storm-clouds accompanied the proclamation of the ten commandments1#b which represented the claims made by ,jehovah upon the people whom ,he had redeemed1 xix4-xx4 #bb4 ,connected with these claims are certain statutes1 partly of a religious but much more of a civil nature1 which ,moses is enjoined to lay upon the people1 and obedience to which is to be rewarded by prosperity and a safe arrival at the promised land1 xx4 #bc-xxiii4 #cc4 ,this section is known as the ,book of the ,covenant1 xxiv4 #g4 ,the people unitedly promised implicit obedience to the terms of this covenant1 which was then sealed with the blood of sacrifice4 ,after six days of preparation1 ,moses ascended the mountain in obedience to the voice of ,jehovah 7xxiv474 ,footnote #a3 ,this chapter is apparently misplaced4 ,in ,deut4 i4 #i-ah the incident is set just before the departure from ,sinai 7cf4 i4 #ai74 ,it may therefore originally have stood after ,ex4 xxxiv4 #i or before ,num4 x4 #bi4 ,footnote #b3 ,or rather1 the ten words4 ,in another source1 the commands are given differently1 and are ritual rather than moral1 xxxiv4 #aj-bh 7,j74 ,at this point the story takes on a distinctly priestly complexion1 and interest is transferred from the fortunes of the people to the construction of the sanctuary1 for which the most minute directions are given 7xxv4-xxxi471 concerning the tabernacle with all its furniture1 the ark1 the table for the shewbread1 the golden candlestick 7xxv471 the four-fold covering for the tabernacle1 the wood-work1 the veil between the holy and the most holy place1 the curtain for the door 7xxvi471 the altar1 the court round about the tabernacle1 the oil for the light 7xxvii471 the sacred vestments for the high priest and the other priests 7xxviii471 the manner of consecration of the priests1 the priestly dues1 the atonement for the altar1 the morning and evening offering 7xxix471 the altar of incense1 the poll-tax1 the laver1 the holy oil1 the incense 7xxx471 the names and divine equipment of the overseers of the work of constructing the tabernacle1 the sanctity of the ,sabbath as a sign of the covenant 7xxxi474 ,after this priestly digression1 the thread of the story is resumed4 ,during the absence of ,moses upon the mount1 the people imperilled their covenant relationship with their ,god by worshipping ,him in the form of a calf2 but1 on the very earnest intercession of ,moses they were forgiven1 and there was given to him the special revelation of ,jehovah as a ,god of forgiving pity and abounding grace4 ,in the tent to which the people regularly resorted to learn the divine will1 ,god was wont to speak to ,moses face to face1 xxxii4 #a-xxxiv4 #i4 ,then follows the other version of the decalogue already referred to--ritual rather than moral1 xxxiv4 l#j-bh--;and an account of the transfiguration of ,moses1 as he laid ,jehovah's commands upon the people1 xxxiv4 #bi-ce4 ,from this point to the end of the book the atmosphere is again unmistakably priestly4 ,chs4 xxxv4-xxxix1 beginning with the ,sabbath law1 assert with a profusion of detail that the instructions given in xxv4-xxxi4 were carried out to the letter4 ,then the tabernacle was set up on ,new ,year's day1 the divine glory filled it1 and the subsequent movements of the people were guided by cloud and fire 7xl474 ,the unity of ,exodus is not quite so impressive as that of ,genesis4 ,this is due to the different proportion in which the sources are blended1 ,p playing a much more conspicuous part here than there4 ,without hesitation1 more than one-fourth of the book may be at once relegated to this source3 viz4 xxv4-xxxi41 which describe the tabernacle to be erected with all that pertained to it1 and xxxv4-xl41 which relate that the instructions there given were fully carried out4 ,the minuteness1 the formality and monotony of style which we noticed in ,genesis reappear here2 but the real spirit of ,p1 its devotion to everything connected with the sanctuary and worship1 is much more obvious here than there4 ,this document is also fairly prominent in the first half of the book1 and its presence is usually easy to detect4 ,the section1 e4g41 on the institution of the passover and the festival of unleavened bread1 xi4 #i-xii4 #bj1 is easily recognized as belonging to this source4 ,of very great importance is the passage1 vi4 #b-ac1 which describes the revelation given to ,moses1 asserting that the fathers knew the ,god of ,israel only by the name ,el ,shaddai1 while the name of ,jehovah1 which was then revealed to ,moses for the first time1 was unknown to them4 ,the succeeding genealogy which traces the descent of ,moses and ,aaron to ,levi1 vi4 #ad-cj1 and ,aaron's commission to be the spokesman of ,moses1 vii4 #a-g1 also come from ,p4 ,this source also gives a brief account of the oppression and the plagues1 and the prominence of ,aaron the priest in the story of the latter is very significant4 ,in ,e the plagues come when ,moses stretches out his hand or his rod at the command of ,jehovah1 ix4 #bb1 x4 #ab1 #ba2 in ,p1 ,jehovah says to ,moses1 ,say unto ,aaron1 ',stretch forth thy hand' or 'thy rod1' viii4 #e1 #af4 ,the story to which we have just alluded1 of the revelation of the name ,jehovah1 is also told in ch4 iii41 where it is connected with the incident of the burning bush4 ,apart from the improbability of the same document telling the same story twice1 the very picturesque setting of ch4 iii1 is convincing proof that we have here a section from one of the prophetic documents1 and we cannot long doubt which it is4 ,for while one of those documents 7,j71 as we have seen1 uses the word ,jehovah without scruple throughout the whole of ,genesis1 and regards that name as known not only to ,abraham1 xv4 #g1 but even to the antediluvians1 iv4 #bf1 the other regularly uses ,elohim4 ,this prophetic story1 then1 of the revelation of the name ,jehovah to ,moses1 must belong to ,e1 who deliberately avoids the name ,jehovah throughout ,genesis1 because he considers it unknown before the time of ,moses4 ,this very fact1 however1 greatly complicates the subsequent analysis of the prophetic documents in the ,pentateuch2 because1 from this point on1 both are now free to use the name ,jehovah of the divine ,being1 and thus one of the principal clues to the analysis practically disappears4#a ,considering the affinity of these documents1 it is therefore competent1 as we have seen1 to treat them as a unity4 ,footnote #a3 ,naturally there are other very important and valuable clues4 e4g1 the holy mount is called ,sinai in ,j and ,horeb in ,e4 ,the proof1 however1 that both prophetic documents are really present in ,exodus1 if not at first sight obvious or extensive1 is at any rate convincing4 ,in one source1 e4g4 7,j71 the ,israelites dwell by themselves in a district called ,goshen1 viii4 #bb 7cf4 ,gen4 xiv4 #aj72 in the other1 they dwell among the ,egyptians as neighbours1 so that the women can borrow jewels from them1 iii4 #bb1 and their doors have to be marked with blood on the night of the passover to distinguish them from the ,egyptians1 xii4 #bb4 ,again in ,j1 the people number over #fjj1jjj1 xii4 #cg2 in ,e they are so few that they only require two midwives1 i4 #ae4 ,similar slight but significant differences may be found elsewhere1 particularly in the account of the plagues4 ,in ,j1 e4g41 ,moses predicts the punishment that will fall if ,pharaoh refuses his request1 and next day ,jehovah sends it3 in ,e1 ,moses works the wonders by raising his rod4 ,in ,exodus1 as in ,genesis1 ,j reveals the divine through the natural1 ,e rather through the supernatural4 ,it is an east wind1 e4g41 in ,j1 as in the poem1 xv4 #aj1 that drives back the ,red ,sea1 xiv4 #ba;a 7as it had brought the locusts1 x4 #ac72 in ,e this happens on the raising of ,moses' rod1 xiv4 #af4 ,here again1 as in ,genesis1 we find that ,e has taken the first step on the way to ,p4 ,for this miracle 7in ,e7 at the ,red ,sea1 which in ,j is essentially natural1 and miraculous only in happening at the critical moment1 is considerably heightened in ,p1 who relates that the waters were a wall unto the people on the right hand and on the left1 xiv4 #bb4 ,these three great documents constitute the principal sources of the book of ,exodus2 but here1 as in ,genesis1 there are fragments that belong to a more primitive order of ideas than that represented by the compilers of the documents 7cf4 iv4 #bd-bf72 there is1 besides the two decalogues1 a body of legislation1 xx4 #bc-xxiii4 #cc2 and there is a poem1 xv4 #a-ah4 ,the ,book of the ,covenant1 as it is called1 is a body of mainly civil but partly religious law1 practically independent of the narrative4 ,the style and contents of the code show that it is not all of a piece1 but must have been of gradual growth4 ,the #bnd pers4 sing41 e4g41 sometimes alternates with the pl4 in consecutive verses1 xxii4 #ba1 #bb4 ,again1 while some of the laws state1 in the briefest possible words1 the official penalty attached to a certain crime1 xxi4 #ab1 others are longer and introduce a religious sanction1 xxii4 #bc1 #bd1 and a few deal definitely with religious feasts1 xxiii4 #ad-ai1 obligations1 xxii4 #bi-ca1 or sanctuaries1 xx4 #bc-bf4 ,in general1 the code implies the settled life of an agricultural and pastoral people1 and the community for which it is designed must have already attained a certain measure of organization1 as we must assume that there were means for enacting the penalties threatened4 ,a remarkably humanitarian spirit pervades the code4 ,it mitigates the lot of the slave1 it encourages a spirit of justice in social relations1 and it exhibits a fine regard for the poor and defenceless1 xxii4 #ba-bg4 ,it probably represents the juristic usages1 or at least ideals1 of the early monarchy4 ,the ,song of ,moses1 xv4 #a-ah1 also appears to belong to the monarchy4 ,the explicit mention of ,philistia1 ,edom and ,moab in vv4 #ad1 #ae imply that the people are already settled in ,canaan1 and the sanctuary in v4 #ag;b is most naturally1 if not necessarily1 interpreted of the temple4 ,the poem appears to be an elaboration of the no doubt ancient lines3 ,sing to ,jehovah1 for ,he hath triumphed gloriously2 ,the horse and his rider ,he hath thrown into the sea 7xv4 #ba74 ,the religious1 as opposed to the theological1 interest of the book lies entirely within the prophetic sources4 ,here the drama of redemption begins in earnest1 and it is worked out on a colossal scale4 ,from his first blow struck in the cause of justice to the day on which1 in indignation and astonishment1 he destroyed the golden calf1 ,moses is a figure of overwhelming moral earnestness4 ,few books in the ,old ,testament have a higher conception of ,god than ,exodus4 ,the words of the decalogue are ,his words1 xx4 #a1 and the protest against the calf-worship 7xxxii4-xxxiv47 is an indirect plea for ,his spirituality4 ,but the highest heights are touched in the revelation of ,him as merciful and gracious1 long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth1 xxxiv4 #f--;a revelation which lived to the latest days and was cherished in these very words by the pious hearts of ,israel 7cf4 ,pss4 lxxxvi4 #ae2 ciii4 #h2 cxi4 #d2 cxlv4 #h74 ,,leviticus ,the emphasis which modern criticism has very properly laid on the prophetic books and the prophetic element generally in the ,old ,testament1 has had the effect of somewhat diverting popular attention from the priestly contributions to the literature and religion of ,israel4 ,from this neglect ,leviticus has suffered most4 ,yet for many reasons it is worthy of close attention2 it is the deliberate expression of the priestly mind of ,israel at its best1 and it thus forms a welcome foil to the unattractive pictures of the priests which confront us on the pages of the prophets during the three centuries between ,hosea and ,malachi4 ,and if we should be inclined to deplore the excessively minute attention to ritual1 and the comparatively subordinate part played by ethical considerations in this priestly manual1 it is only fair to remember that the hymn-book used by these scrupulous ministers of worship was the ,psalter-enough surely to show that the ethical and spiritual aspects of religion1 though not prominent1 were very far from being forgotten4 ,in xvii4-xxvi4 the ethical element receives a fine and almost surprising prominence3 the injunction to abstain from idolatry1 e4g41 is immediately preceded by the injunction to reverence father and mother1 xix4 #c1d4 ,indeed1 ch4 xix4 is a good compendium of the ethics of ancient ,israel2 and1 while hardly to be compared with ,job xxxi41 still1 in its care for the resident alien1 and in its insistence upon motives of benevolence and humanity1 it is an eloquent reminder of the moral elevation of ,israel's religion1 and is peculiarly welcome in a book so largely devoted to the externals of the cult4 ,the book of ,leviticus illustrates the origin and growth of law4 ,occasionally legislation is clothed in the form of narrative--the law of blasphemy1 e4g41 xxiv4 #aj-bc 7cf4 x4 #af-bj7--thus suggesting its origin in a particular historical incident 7cf4 ,i ,sam4 xxx4 #be72 and traces of growth are numerous1 notably in the differences between the group xvii4-xxvi4 and the rest of the book1 and very ancient heathen elements are still visible through the transformations effected by the priests of ,israel1 as in the case of ,azazel xvi4 #h1bb1 a demon of the wilderness1 akin to the ,arabic jinns4 ,strictly speaking1 though ,leviticus is pervaded by a single spirit1 it is not quite homogeneous3 the first group of laws1 e4g4 7i4-vii471 expressly acknowledges different sources--certain laws being given in the tent of meeting1 i4 #a1 others on ,mount ,sinai1 vii4 #ch4 ,the sections are well defined--note the subscriptions at the end of vii4 and xxvi4--and marked everywhere by the scrupulous precision of the legal mind4 ,there is no trace in ,leviticus of the prophetic document ,,je4 ,that the book is essentially a law book rather than a continuation of the narrative of the ,exodus is made plain by the fact that that narrative 7,ex4 xl47 is not even formally resumed till ch4 viii4 ,i4 ,,laws ,,of ,,sacrifice 7i4-vii47 7a7 ,for worshippers1 i4-vi4 #g4 ,laws for the burnt offering of the herd1 of the flock1 and of fowls 7i474 ,laws for the different kinds of cereal offerings--the use of salt compulsory1 honey and leaven prohibited 7ii474 ,laws for the peace-offering--the offerer kills it1 the priest sprinkles the blood on the sides of the altar and burns the fat 7iii47 ,for an unconscious transgression of the law1 the high priest shall offer a bullock1 the community shall offer the same1 a ruler shall offer a he-goat1 one of the common people shall offer a female animal 7iv474 ,a female animal shall be offered for certain legal and ceremonial transgressions2 the poor may offer two turtle doves1 or pigeons1 or even flour1 v4 #a-ac4 ,sacred dues unintentionally withheld or the property of another man dishonestly retained must be restored together with twenty per cent4 extra1 v4 #ad-vi4 #g4 7b7 ,for priests1 vi4 #h-vii4 #ch4 ,laws regulating the daily burnt offering1 the cereal offering1 the daily cereal offering of the high priest1 and the ordinary sin offering1 vi4 #h-cj4 ,laws regulating the guilt offering1 the priests' share of the sacrifices1 the period during which the flesh of sacrifice may be eaten1 the prohibition of the eating of fat and blood 7vii474 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,consecration ,,of ,,the ,,priesthood 7viii4-x47 ,this section is the direct continuation of ,exodus xl41 which prescribes the inauguration of ,aaron and his sons into the priestly office4 ,laws regulating the consecration of the high priest and the other priests--washing1 investiture1 anointing1 sin offering1 burnt offering1 with accompanying rites 7viii41 cf4 ,exod4 xxix474 ,the first sacrificial service at which ,aaron and his sons officiate--the benediction being followed by the appearance of ,jehovah's glory 7ix474 ,the first violation of the law of worship and its signal punishment1 x4 #a-g4 ,officiating priests forbidden to use wine1 x4 #h-aa4 ,priests' share of the meal and peace offerings1 x4 #ab-ae4 ,an error forgiven after an adroit explanation by ,aaron 7law in narrative form71 x4 #af-bj4 ,,iii4 ,,laws ,,concerning ,,the ,,clean ,,and ,,the ,,unclean 7xi4-xvi47 ,this section appropriately follows x4 #aj1 where the priests are enjoined to distinguish between the clean and the unclean4 ,laws concerning the animals which may or may not be eaten--quadrupeds1 fish1 birds1 flying insects1 creeping insects1 reptiles--and pollution through contact with carcasses 7xi474 ,laws concerning the purification of women after childbirth 7xii474 ,laws for the detection of leprosy in the human body1 xiii4 #a-df1 and in garments1 xiii4 #dg-ei4 ,laws for the purification of the leper and his re-adoption into the theocracy1 xiv4 #a-cb4 ,laws concerning houses afflicted with leprosy1 xiv4 #cc-eg4 ,laws concerning purification after sexual secretions 7xv474 ,the laws of purification are appropriately concluded by the law for the great day of atonement1 with regulations for the ceremonial cleansing of the high priest and his house1 the sanctuary1 altar1 and people 7xvi474 ,two originally independent sections appear to be blended in this chapter-one 7cf4 vv4 #a-d7 prescribing regulations to be observed by the high priest on every occasion on which he should enter the inner sanctuary1 the other with specific reference to the great day of atonement4 ,,iv4 ,,law ,,of ,,holiness 7xvii4-xxvi47 ,this section1 though still moving largely among ritual interests1 differs markedly from the rest of the book1 partly by reason of its hortatory setting 7cf4 xxvi471 but especially by its emphasis on the ethical elements in religion4 ,it has been designated the ,law of ,holiness because of the frequently recurring phrase1 ,ye shall be holy1 for ,i1 ,jehovah1 am holy1 xix4 #b1 xx4 #bf--;a phrase which1 though not peculiar to this section 7cf4 xi4 #dd71 is highly characteristic of it4 ,animals are to be slaughtered for food or sacrifice only at the sanctuary xvii4 #a-i2 the blood and flesh of animals dying naturally or torn by beasts is not to be eaten1 xvii4 #aj-af4 ,laws regulating marriage and chastity with threats of dire punishment for violation of the same 7xviii474 ,penalties for ,moloch worship1 soothsaying1 cursing of parents and unchastity 7xx471 with a hortatory conclusion1 xx4 #bb-bd1 similar to xviii4 #bd-cj4 ,ch4 xix4 is the most prophetic chapter in ,leviticus1 and bears a close analogy to the decalogue1 vv4 #c-h corresponding to the first table1 and vv4 #aa-ah to the second4 ,the holiness which ,jehovah demands has to express itself not only in reverence for ,himself and ,his ,sabbaths1 but in reverence towards parents and the aged2 in avoiding not only idolatry and heathen superstition1 but dishonesty and unkindness to the weak4 ,the ideal is a throroughly moral one4 ,a modern reader is surprised to find in so ethical a chapter a prohibition of garments made of two kinds of stuff mingled together v4 #ai2 no doubt such a prohibition is aimed at some heathen superstition--perhaps the practice of magic4 ,laws concerning priests and sacrifices 7xxi41 xxii474 ,the holiness of the priests is to be maintained by avoiding1 as a rule 7without exception in the case of the high priest71 pollution through corpses and participation in certain mourning rites1 and by conforming to certain conditions in their choice of a wife4 ,the physically deformed are to be ineligible for the priesthood 7xxi474 ,regulations to safeguard the ceremonial purity of the sacred food3 imperfect or deformed animals ineligible for sacrifice 7xxii474 ,in ch4 xxiii41 which is a calendar of sacred festivals1 the festivals are enumerated in the order in which they occur in the year1 beginning with spring--the passover1 regarded as preliminary to the feast of unleavened bread2 the feast of weeks 7,pentecost7 seven weeks afterwards2 the new year's festival1 on the first day of the seventh month2 the day of atonement2 and the festival of booths4 ,there are signs that the section dealing with new year's day and the day of atonement1 vv4 #bc-cb1 is later than the original form of the rest of the chapter dealing with the three great ancient festivals that rested on agriculture and the vintage4 ,of kindred theme to this chapter is ch4 xxv4--the sacred years--7a7 the sabbatical year3 the land1 like the man1 must enjoy a ,sabbath rest1 vv4 #a-g2 7b7 the jubilee year1 an intensification of the ,sabbatical idea3 every fiftieth year is to be a period of rest for the land1 liberation of ,hebrew slaves1 and restoration of property to its original owners or legal heirs1 vv4 #h-ee4 ,in xxiv4 #a-i1 are regulations concerning the lampstand and the shewbread2 the law1 in the form of a narrative1 prohibiting blasphemy1 vv4 #aj-bc1 is interrupted by a few laws concerning injury to the person1 vv4 #ag-bb4 ,the laws of holiness conclude 7xxvi47 with a powerful exposition of the blessing which will follow obedience and the curse which is the penalty of disobedience4 ,the curse reaches a dramatic climax in the threat of exile1 from which1 however1 deliverance is promised on condition of repentance4 ,ch4 xxvii4 constitutes no part of the ,law of ,holiness--note the subscription in xxvi4 #df4 ,it contains regulations for the commutation of vows 7whether persons1 cattle or things7 and tithes-commutation being inadmissible in the case of firstlings of animals fit for sacrifice and of things and persons that had come under the ban4 ,special importance attaches to the ,law of ,holiness1 known to criticism as ,h 7xvii4-xxvi474 ,in its interest in worship1 it marks a very long advance on the ,book of the ,covenant 7,exod4 xxi4-xxiii471 and it would seem to stand somewhere between ,deuteronomy and the priestly codex4 ,it is profoundly interested1 like the former1 in the ethical side of religion1 and yet it is almost as deeply concerned about ritual as the latter4 ,but though it may be regarded as a preliminary step to the priestly code1 it is clearly distinguished from it1 both by its tone and its vocabulary3 the word for idols1 e4g4 7things of nought71 xix4 #d1 xxvi4 #a1 does not occur elsewhere in the ,pentateuch4 ,it specially emphasizes the holiness of ,jehovah2 as has been said1 in ,h ,he is the person to whom the cult is performed1 while the question of how is more elaborately dealt with in ,p4 ,there are stray allusions which almost seem to point to pre-exilic days2 e4g4 to idols1 xxvi4 #cj1 ,moloch being explicitly mentioned1 xviii4 #ba1 xx4 #b2 and the various sanctuaries presupposed by xxvi4 #ca would almost seem to carry us back to a point before the promulgation of ,deuteronomy in #fba ,b4,c42 but on the other hand the exile appears to be presupposed in xviii4 #bd-cj1 xxvi4 #cd4 ,this code1 like all the others in the ,old ,testament1 was no doubt the result of gradual growth--note the alternation of #bnd pers4 sing4 and pl4 in ch4 xix4--but the main body of it may be placed somewhere between #fjj and #eej ,b4,c4 ,the section bears so strong a resemblance to ,ezekiel that he has been supposed by some to be the author1 but this is improbable4 ,it is easy to see how the minuteness of the ritual religion of ,leviticus could degenerate into casuistry4 ,its emphasis on externals is everywhere visible1 and its lack of kindly human feeling is only too conspicuous in its treatment of the leper1 xiii4 #de1 #df4 ,but over against this1 to say nothing of the profound symbolism of the ritual1 must be set the moral virility of the law of holiness--its earnest inculcation of commercial honour1 reverence for the aged1 xix4 #cb1 and even unselfish love4 ,for it is to this source that we owe the great word adopted by our ,saviour1 ,thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself1 xix4 #ah1 though the first part of the verse shows that this noble utterance still moves within the limitations of the ,old ,testament4 ,,numbers ,like the last part of ,exodus1 and the whole of ,leviticus1 the first part of ,numbers1 i4-x4 #bh--so called1#a rather inappropriately1 from the census in i41 iii41 7iv471 xxvi4--is unmistakably priestly in its interests and language4 ,beginning with a census of the men of war 7i47 and the order of the camp 7ii471 it devotes specific attention to the ,levites1 their numbers and duties 7iii41 iv474 ,then follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean1 v4 #a-d1 for determining the manner and amount of restitution in case of fraud1 v4 #e-aj1 the guilt or innocence of a married woman suspected of unfaithfulness1 v4 #aa-ca1 and the obligations of the ,nazirite vow1 vi4 #a-ba4 ,this legal section ends with the priestly benediction1 vi4 #bb-bg4 ,then1 closely connected with the narrative in ,exodus xl41 is an unusually elaborate account of the dedication gifts that were offered on the occasion of the erection of the tabernacle 7vii474 ,this quasi-historical interlude is again followed by a few sections of a more legal nature--instructions for fixing the lamps upon the lampstand1 viii4 #a-d1 for the consecration of the ,levites and their period of service1 viii4 #e-bf1 for the celebration of the passover1 and1 in certain cases1 of a supplementary passover1 ix4 #a-ad4 ,then1 with the divine guidance assured1 and the order of march determined1 the start from ,sinai was made1 ix4 #ae-x4 #bh4 ,footnote #a3 ,in the ,greek version1 followed by the ,latin4 ,this is the only book of the ,pentateuch in which the ,english version has retained the ,latin title1 the other titles being all ,greek4 ,the ,hebrew titles are usually borrowed from the opening words of the book4 ,the ,hebrew title of ,numbers is either ,and he said or in the wilderness2 the latter is fairly appropriate--certainly much more so than the ,greek4 ,at this point1 the old prophetic narrative 7,exod4 xxxii4-xxxiv471 interrupted by ,exodus xxxv4 #a-,numbers x4 #bh1 is resumed with an account of the precautions taken to secure reliable guidance through the wilderness1 x4 #bi-cb1 and a very interesting snatch of ancient poetry1 through which we may easily read the unique importance of the ark for early ,israel1 x4 #cc-cf4 ,the succeeding chapters make no pretence to be a connected history of the wilderness period2 the incidents with which they deal are very few1 and these are related rather for their religious than their historical significance1 e4g4 the murmuring of the people1 the terrible answer to their prayer for flesh1 the divine equipment of the seventy elders1 the magnanimity of ,moses 7xi471 and the vindication of his prophetic dignity 7xii474 ,before the actual assault on ,canaan1 spies were sent out to investigate the land4 ,but the people allowed themselves to be discouraged by their report1 and for their unbelief the whole generation except ,caleb 7and ,joshua7#a was doomed to die in the wilderness1 without a sight of the promised land 7xiii41 xiv474 ,the thread of the narrative1 broken at this point by laws relating to offerings and sacrifices1 xv4 #a-ca1 the hallowing of the ,sabbath1 xv4 #cb-cf1 and the wearing of fringes1 xv4 #cg-da1 is at once resumed by a complicated account of a rebellion against ,moses1 which ended in the destruction of the rebels1 and in the signal vindication of the authority of ,moses1 the privileges of the tribe of ,levi1 and the exclusive right of the sons of ,aaron to the priesthood 7xvi41 xvii474 ,again the narrative element gives place to legislation regulating the duties1 relative position and revenues of the priests and ,levites 7xviii47 and the manner of purification after defilement 7xix474 ,footnote #a3 ,caleb alone in ,,je1 ,joshua also in ,p4 ,these laws are followed by a section of continuous narrative4 ,moses and ,aaron1 for certain rebellious words1 are divinely warned that they will not be permitted to bring the people into the promised land--a warning which was followed soon afterwards by the death of ,aaron on ,mount ,hor4 ,edom haughtily refused ,israel permission to pass through her land 7xx474 ,sore at heart1 they fretted against ,god and ,moses1 and deadly serpents were sent among them in chastisement1 but the penitent and believing were restored by the power of ,god and the intercession of ,moses4 ,then ,israel turned north1 and began her career of conquest by defeating ,sihon1 king of the ,amorites1 and ,og1 king of ,bashan 7xxi474 ,her success struck terror into the heart of ,balak1 the king of ,moab2 he accordingly sent for ,balaam1 a famous soothsayer1 with the request that he would curse ,israel 7xxii474 ,instead1 however1 he foretold for her a splendid destiny 7xxiii41 xxiv474 ,but the reality fell pitifully short of this fair ideal1 for ,israel at once succumbed to the seductions of idolatry and impurity1#a and the fearful punishment which fell upon her for her sin was only stayed by the zeal of ,phinehas1 the high priest's son1 who was rewarded with the honour of perpetual priesthood1 xxv4 #a-ae4 ,implacable enmity was enjoined against ,midian1 xxv4 #af-ah4 ,footnote #a3 ,moabite idolatry1 and intermarriage with the ,midianites-- ultimately1 it would seem1 the same story4 ,,je gives the beginning of it1 vv4 #a-e1 and ,p the conclusion1 vv4 #f-ah4 ,from this point to the end of the book the narrative is1 with few exceptions1 distinctly priestly in complexion2 the vivid scenes of the older narrative are absent1 and their place is taken1 for the most part1 either by statistics and legislative enactments or by narrative which is only legislation in disguise4 ,a census 7xxvi47 was taken at the end1 as at the beginning of the wanderings 7i471 which showed that1 except ,caleb and ,joshua1 the whole generation had perished 7cf4 xiv4 #bi1 #cd74 ,then follow sections on the law of inheritance of daughters1 xxvii4 #a-aa1 the announcement of ,moses' imminent death and the appointment of ,joshua his successor1 xxvii4 #ab-bc1 a priestly calendar defining the sacrifices appropriate to each season 7xxviii41 xxix471 and the law of vows 7xxx474 ,in accordance with the injunction of xxv4 #af-ah a war of extermination was successfully undertaken against ,midian 7xxxi474 ,the land east of the ,jordan was allotted to ,reuben1 ,gad and the half tribe of ,manasseh1 on condition that they would help the other tribes to conquer the west 7xxxii474 ,following an itinerary of the wanderings from the exodus to the plains of ,moab 7xxxiii47 is a description of the boundaries of the land allotted to the various tribes 7xxxiv471 directions for the ,levitical cities and the cities of refuge 7xxxv471 and1 last of all1 a law in narrative form1 determining that heiresses who possessed landed property should marry into their own tribe 7xxxvi474 ,even this brief sketch of the book of ,numbers is enough to reveal the essential incoherence of its plan1 and the great divergence of the elements out of which it is composed4 ,no book in the ,pentateuch makes so little the impression of a unity4 ,the phenomena of ,exodus are here repeated and intensified2 a narrative of the intensest moral and historical interest is broken at frequent intervals by statistical and legal material1 some of which1 at least1 makes hardly any pretence to be connected with the main body of the story4 ,by far the largest part of the book comes from ,p1 and most of it is very easy to detect4 ,no possible doubt1 e4g41 can attach to i4-x41 #bh1 with its interest in priests1 ,levites1 tabernacle and laws4 ,as significant as the contents is the style which is not seldom diffuse to tediousness1 e4g41 in the account of the census 7i471 the dedication gifts 7vii471 or the regulation of the movements of the camp by the cloud1 ix4 #ae-bc4 ,ch4 xv41 with its laws for offerings1 sacrifices and the ,sabbath1 ch4 xvii41 with its vindication of the special prerogatives of the tribe of ,levi1 and chs4 xviii41 xix41 which regulate the duties and privileges of priests and ,levites1 and the manner of purification1 are also unmistakable4 ,chs4 xxvi4-xxxi41 as even the preliminary sketch of the book would suggest1 must1 for similar reasons1 also have the same origin4 ,to ,p also clearly belong xxxiii4 and xxxiv4 with their statistical bent1 and xxxv4 and xxxvi4 with their interest in the ,levites and legislation4 ,besides these sections1 however1 the presence of ,p is certain--though not always so easily detected1 as it is in combination with ,,je--in some of the more distinctively narrative sections1 e4g4 in the account of the spies 7xiii41 xiv471 of the rebellion against the authority of ,moses and ,aaron 7xvi471 of the sin of ,moses and ,aaron1 xx4 #a-ac1 and of the settlement east of the ,jordan 7xxxii474 ,about such narratives as the death of ,aaron1 xx4 #bb-bi1 or the zeal and reward of ,phinehas1 xxv4 #f-ah1 there can be no doubt4 ,with the exception of a few odd verses1 all that remains1 after deducting the passages referred to1 belongs to the prophetic narrative 7,,je74 ,the radical difference in point of style and interests between ,,je and ,p occasionally extends even to their account of the facts4 ,the story of the spies furnishes several striking illustrations of this difference4 ,in ,,je they go from the wilderness to ,hebron in the south of ,judah1 xiii4 #bb1 in ,p they go to the extreme north of ,palestine1 xiii4 #ba4 ,in ,,je ,caleb is the only faithful spy1 xiii4 #cj1 xiv4 #bd1 ,p unites him with ,joshua1 xiv4 #f1ch4 ,in ,,je the land is fertile1 but its inhabitants are invincible1 in ,p it is a barren land4 ,the story of the rebellion of ,korah1 ,dathan and ,abiram is peculiarly instructive 7xvi474 ,it will be noticed that ,dathan and ,abiram are occasionally mentioned by themselves1 vv4 #ab1 #be1 and ,korah by himself1 vv4 #e1 #ai4 ,if this clue be followed up1 it will be found that the rebellion of ,dathan and ,abiram is essentially against the authority of ,moses1 whom they charge with disappointing their hopes1 vv4 #ac1 #ad4 ,on the other hand1 the rebellion headed by ,korah is traced to two sources3#a it is regarded in one of these as a layman's protest against the exclusive sanctity of the tribe of ,levi1 v4 #c1 and1 in the other1 as a ,levitical protest against the exclusive right of the sons of ,aaron to the priesthood1 vv4 #h-aa4 ,perhaps the most striking difference between ,,je and ,p is in the account of the ark4 ,in ,,je it goes before the camp1 x4 #cc 7cf4 ,exod4 xxxiii4 #g71 in ,p the tabernacle1 to which it belongs1 is in the centre of the camp1 ii4 #ag1 which is foursquare4 ,footnote #a3 ,two strata of ,p are plainly visible here4 ,much more than in ,genesis1 and even more than in ,exodus have ,j and ,e been welded together in ,numbers--so closely1 indeed1 that it is usually all but impossible to distinguish them with certainty2 but1 here1 as in ,exodus1 there are occasional proofs of compositeness4 ,the apparent confusion of the story of ,balaam1 e4g4 7xxii471 in which ,god is angry with him after giving him permission to go1 is to be explained by the simple fact that the story is told in both sources4 ,this duplication extends even to the poetry in chs4 xxiii4 and xxiv4 7cf4 xxiv4 #h1 #i1 xxiii4 #bb1 #bd74 ,there is not a trace of ,p in the ,balaam story4 ,all the romantic and religious1 as opposed to the legal and theological interest of the book1 is confined to the prophetic section 7,,je72 and it greatly to be regretted that more of it has not been preserved4 ,the structure of the book plainly shows that it has been displaced in the interests of ,p1 and from the express reference to the ten times that ,israel tempted ,jehovah1 xiv4 #bb1 we may safely infer that much has been lost4 ,but what has been preserved is of great religious1 and some historical value4 ,of course1 it is not history in the ordinary sense3 a period of thirty-eight years is covered in less than ten chapters 7x4 ,,ii-xix474 ,but much of the material1 at least in the prophetic history ,,je1 rests on a tradition which may well have preserved some of the historical facts1 especially as they were often embalmed in poetry4 ,the book of ,numbers throws some light on the importance of ancient poetry as a historical source4 ,it cites a difficult fragment and refers it to the book of the wars of ,jehovah1 xxi4 #ad1 it confirms the victory over ,sihon by a quotation from a war-ballad which is referred to a guild of singers1 xxi4 #bg1 it quotes the ancient words with which the warriors broke up their camp and returned to it again1 x4 #ce1 #cf1 and it relieves its wild war-scenes by the lovely ,song of the ,well1 xxi4 #ag1 #ah4 ,probably other episodes in the books of ,numbers1 ,joshua and ,judges 7e4g4 ch4 v47 ultimately rest upon this lost book of the wars of ,jehovah4 ,the fine poetry ascribed to ,balaam1 which breathes the full consciousness of a high national destiny1 may belong to the time of the early monarchy1 xxiv4 #g1 perhaps to that of ,david1 to whom xxiv4 #ag-ai seems to be a clear allusion4 ,the five verses that follow ,balaam's words1 xxiv4 #bj-bd1 are apparently a late appendix2 the mention of ,chittim in v4 #bd would almost carry the passage down to the ,greek period 7#dth cent4 ,b4,c471 and of ,asshur in v4 #bb at least to the ,assyrian period 7#hth cent471 unless the name stands for a ,bedawin tribe 7cf4 ,gen4 xxv4 #c74 ,historically ,p is of little account4 ,this is most obvious in his narrative of the war with ,midian 7xxxi471 in which1 without losing a single man1 ,israel slew every male in ,midian and took enormous booty4 ,it is suspicious that the older sources 7,,je7 have not a single word to say of so remarkable a victory2 but the impossibility of the story is shown by the fact that1 though all the males are slain1 the tribe reappears1 as the assailant of ,israel1 in the days of ,gideon 7,jud4 vi4-viii474 ,the real object of the story is to illustrate the law governing the distribution of booty1 xxxi4 #bg--;a law which is elsewhere traced1 with much more probability1 to an ordinance of ,david 7,i ,sam4 xxx4 #bd74 ,from this unhistorical1 but highly instructive chapter1 we learn the tendency to refer all ,israel's legislation1 whatever its origin1 to ,moses1 and the further tendency to find a historical precedent1 which no doubt once existed1 for the details of the legislation4 ,it is from this point of view that the narratives of ,p have to be considered4 ,the story of the fate of the ,sabbath-breaker is simply told to emphasize the stringency of the ,sabbath law1 xv4 #cb-cf1 the particular dilemma in ix4 #f-ad is created1 as a precedent for the institution of the supplementary passover1 the case of the daughters of ,zelophehad serves as a historical basis for the law governing the property of heiresses 7xxxvi474 ,in other words1 ,p is not a historian2 his narrative1 even where it is explicit1 is usually but the thin disguise of legislation4 ,as in ,genesis and ,exodus1 almost every stage in the development of the religion of ,israel is represented by the book of ,numbers4 ,through the story in xxi4 #d-aa we can detect the practice of serpent-worship1 which we know persisted to the time of ,hezekiah 7#b ,kings xviii4 #d72 and the trial by ordeal1 v4 #aa-ca1 though in its present form late1 represents no doubt a very ancient custom4 ,p throws much light on the usages and ideas of post-exilic religion4 ,but it is to the prophetic document we must go for passages of abiding religious power and value4 ,here1 as in ,exodus1 the character of ,moses offers a brilliant study--in his solitary grandeur1 patient strength1 and heroic faith2 steadfast amid jealousy1 suspicion and rebellion1 and vindicated by ,god ,himself as a prophet of transcendent privilege and power 7xii4 #h74 ,over against the narrow assertions of ,levitical and priestly prerogative 7xvi41 xvii71 which reflect but too faithfully the strife of a later day1 is the noble prayer of ,moses that ,god would make all the people prophets1 and put ,his spirit upon them every one1 xi4 #bi4 ,,deuteronomy ,owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section1 it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of ,deuteronomy4 ,in the first section1 i4-iv4 #dj1 ,moses1 after reviewing the recent history of the people1 and showing how it reveals ,jehovah's love for ,israel1 earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping ,his laws1 reminding them of ,his spirituality and absoluteness4 ,then follows the appointment1 iv4 #da-dc--;here irrelevant 7cf4 xix4 #a-l#c7--of three cities of refuge east of the ,jordan4 ,the second section1 v4-xi41 with its superscription1 iv4 #dd-di1 is a hortatory introduction to the more specific injunctions of xii4-xxviii41 and deals with the general principles by which ,israel is to be governed4 ,the special relation between ,israel and ,jehovah was established on the basis of the decalogue 7,ex4 xx471 and with this ,moses begins1 reminding the people of their promise to obey any further commands ,jehovah might give 7v474 ,but as the source of all true obedience is a right attitude1 ,israel's deepest duty is to love ,jehovah1 serving ,him with reverence1 and keeping ,his claims steadily before the children 7vi474 ,to do this effectively1 ,israel must uncompromisingly repudiate all social and religious intercourse with the idolatrous peoples of the land1 and ,jehovah their ,god will stand by them in the struggle 7vii74 ,in the past the discipline had often indeed been stern and sore1 but it had come from the hand of a father1 and had been intended to teach the spiritual nature of true religion2 worldliness and idolatry would assuredly be punished by defeat and destruction 7viii474 ,and just as deadly as worldliness is the spirit of self-righteousness1 a spirit as absurd as it is deadly2 for ,israel's past has been marked by an obstinacy so disgraceful that1 but for the intercession of ,moses1 the people would already have been devoted to destruction1#a ix4 #a-x4 #aa4 ,true religion is the loving service of the great ,god and of needy men1 and it ought to be inspired by reverent fear4 ,obedience to the divine commands will bring life and blessing1 disobedience will be punished by the curse and death1 x4 #ab-xi4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch1 x4 #f-i is an interpolation2 vv4 #f1 #g a fragment of an itinerary relating the death of ,aaron1 and vv4 #h1 #i the separation of the tribe of ,levi to priestly functions4 ,this hortatory introduction is succeeded by the specific laws which form the main body of the book 7xii4-xxvi41 xxviii474 ,roughly they may be classified as affecting 7a7 religious 7xii4-xvi471 7b7 civil 7xvii4-xx471 and 7c7 social 7xxi4-xxv47 life1 the religious being made the basis of the other two4 7a7 ,as the true worship is jeopardized by a multiplicity of sanctuaries1 these sanctuaries are declared illegal1 and their paraphernalia are to be destroyed2 worship is to be confined henceforth to one sanctuary 7xii471 and every idolatrous person and influence are to be exterminated 7xiii474 ,the holiness of the people is to be maintained by their abstaining from the flesh of certain prohibited animals#a xiv4 #a-ba1 and the sacred dues such as the tithes1 xiv4 #bb-bi1 and firstlings1 xv4 #ai-bc1 are regulated4 ,religion is to express itself in generous consideration for the poor and the slave1 xv4 #a-ah1 as well as in the three annual pilgrimages to celebrate the passover1 the feast of weeks1 and the feast of booths1 xvi4 #a-ag4 ,footnote #a3 ,this section is not altogether in the spirit of ,deut4 and is found with variations in ,lev4 xi4 ,if it is not a late insertion in ,deut4 from ,lev41 probably both have borrowed it from an older code4 7b7 ,besides the local courts there is to be a supreme central tribunal1 xvi4 #ah-bj1 xvii4 #h-ac4 ,no idolatrous symbols are to be used in the ,jehovah worship2 idolatry is to be punished with death1 xvi4 #ba-xvii4 #g4 ,the character and duties of the king are defined1 and his obligation to rule in accordance with the spirit of ,israel's religion1 xvii4 #ad-bj2 the revenues and privileges of the ,levitical priests are regulated and the high position and function of the prophets are defined in opposition to the representatives of superstition in heathen religion 7xviii474 ,following the laws affecting the officers of the theocracy are laws--which finely temper justice with mercy--concerning homicide1 murder and false witness#a 7xix474 ,a similar combination of humanity and sternness is illustrated by the laws--whether practicable or not--regulating the usages of war1 xx41 with which may be taken xxi4 #aj-ad4 ,footnote #a3 ,kindred in theme is xxi4 #a-i1 dealing with the expiation of an uncertain murder4 7c7 ,the laws in xxi-xxv4 are of a more miscellaneous nature and deal with various phases of domestic and social life--such as the punishment of the unfilial son1 the duty of neighbourliness1 the protection of mother-birds1 the duty of taking precautions in building1 the rights of a husband1 the punishment of adultery and seduction1 the exclusion of certain classes from the privilege of worship1 the cleanliness of the camp1 the duty of humanity to a runaway slave1 the prohibition of religious prostitution1 the regulation of divorce1 the duty of humanity to the stranger1 the fatherless and the widow1 and of kindness to animals1 the duty of a surviving brother to marry his brother's childless widow1 the prohibition of immodesty1 etc4 ,by two simple ceremonies1 one of thanksgiving1 the other a confession of faith1 ,israel acknowledges her obligations to ,jehovah#a 7xxvi471 and the great speech ends with a very impressive peroration in which blessings of many kinds are promised to obedience1 while1 with a much greater elaboration of detail1 disaster is announced as the penalty of disobedience 7xxviii474 ,in chs4 xxix11 xxx41 which are of a supplementary nature1 ,moses briefly reminds the people of the goodness of their ,god1 and warns them of the disaster into which infidelity will plunge them1 though--so gracious is ,jehovah--penitence will be followed by restoration4 ,in a powerful conclusion he sets before them life and death as the recompense of obedience and disobedience1 and pleads with them to choose life4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 xxvii41 which1 besides being in the #crd person1 interrupts the connection between xxvi4 and xxviii41 can hardly have formed part of the original book4 ,it prescribes the inscription of the law on stones1 its ratification by the people1 and the curses to be uttered by the ,levites4 ,the speeches are over1 and the narrative of the ,pentateuch is resumed4 ,in a few parting words1 ,moses encourages the people and his successor ,joshua1 who1 in xxxi4 #ad1 #ae1 #bc1 receives his divine commission1 and finally gives instructions for the reading of the law every seven years1 xxxi4 #a-ac4 ,verses #af-cj 7except #bc7 constitute the preface to the fine poem known as the ,song of ,moses1 xxxii4 #a-dc1 which celebrates1 in bold and striking words1 the loving faithfulness of ,jehovah to ,his apostate and ungrateful people4#a ,this poem1 after a few verses in which ,moses finally commends the law to ,israel and himself receives the divine command to ascend ,nebo and die1 is followed by another known as the ,blessing of ,moses 7xxxiii474 ,in this poem1 which ought to be compared with ,gen4 xlix41 the various tribes are separately characterized in language which is often simply a description#b rather than a benediction1 and the poem concludes with an enthusiastic expression of joy over ,israel's incomparable ,god4 ,the book ends with an account of the death of ,moses 7xxxiv474 ,footnote #a3 ,the song must be much later than ,moses1 as it describes the effect1 v4 #ae;ff41 on ,israel of the transition from the nomadic life of the desert1 v4 #aj1 to the settled agricultural life of ,canaan1 and expressly regards the days of the exodus as long past1 v4#g4 ,it is difficult to say whether the enemy from whom in vv4 #cd-dc1 the singer hopes to be divinely delivered are the ,assyrians or the ,babylonians3 on the whole1 probably the latter4 ,in that case1 the poem would be exilic2 v4 #cf too seems to presuppose the exile4 ,footnote #b3 ,these descriptions--to say nothing of v4#d 7,moses commended us a law7--are conclusive proof that the poem was composed long after ,moses' time4 ,reuben is dwindling in numbers1 ,simeon has already disappeared 7as not yet in ,gen4 xlix74 ,judah is in at least temporary distress1 and the banner tribe is ,ephraim1 whose glory and power are eloquently described1 vv4#ac-ag4 ,levi appears to be thoroughly organized and held in great respect1 vv4 #h-ll4 ,the poem must have been written at a time when northern ,israel was enjoying high prosperity1 probably during the reign of ,jeroboam ,,ii and before the advent of ,amos 7#ggj ,b4,c4874 ,deuteronomy is one of the epoch-making books of the world4 ,it not only profoundly affected much of the subsequent literature of the ,hebrews1 but it left a deep and abiding mark upon ,hebrew religion1 and through it upon ,christianity4 ,the problem of its origin is as interesting as the romance which attached to its discovery in the reign of ,josiah 7#fba ,b4,c474 ,generally speaking1 the book claims to be the valedictory address of ,moses to ,israel4 ,but even a superficial examination is enough to show that its present form1 at any rate1 was not due to ,moses4 ,the very first words of the book represent the speeches as being delivered on the other side of the ,jordan--an important point obscured by the erroneous translation of ,a4,v4 ,now ,moses was on the east side1 and obviously the writer to whom the east side was the other side1 must himself have been on the west side4 ,the law providing for the battlement on the roof of a new house1 xxii4 #h1 shows that the book contemplates the later settled life of cities or villages1 not the nomadic life of tents2 and the very significant law concerning the boundary marks which had been set up by those of the olden time1 xix4 #ad1 is proof conclusive that the people had been settled for generations in the land4 ,the negative conclusion is that the book is not1 in its present form1 from the hand of ,moses1 but is a product1 at least several generations later1 of the settled life of the people4 ,but it is at once asked1 ,do the opening words of the book not commit us expressly to a belief in the ,mosaic authorship1 in spite of the resultant difficulties8 ,is it not explicitly said that these words are his words8 ,the answer to this question lies in the literary freedom claimed by all ancient historians4 ,thucydides1 one of the most scrupulous historians who ever wrote1 states1 in an interesting passage1 the principles on which he composed his speeches 7i4 #bb73 ,as to the various speeches made on the eve of the war or in its course1 ,i have found it difficult to retain a memory of the precise words which ,i heard spoken2 and so it was with those who brought me reports4 ,but ,i have made the persons say what it seemed to me most opportune for them to say in view of each situation2 at the same time ,i have adhered as closely as possible to the general sense of what was actually said4 ,this statement represents the general practice of the ancient world2 the conditions of historical veracity were satisfied if the speech represented the spirit of the speaker4 ,and this1 as we shall see1 is eminently true of the book of ,deuteronomy1 which is an eloquent exposition and application of principles fundamental to the ,mosaic religion4 ,if1 on the other hand1 it be urged that the book contains deliberate assertions that it was written by ,moses--e4g41 when ,moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book1 xxxi4 #bd1 cf4 #i--the simple reply is that this very phrase1 all the words of this law1 is elsewhere used of a body of law so small that it can be inscribed upon the memorial stones of the altar to be set up on ,mount ,ebal1 xxvii4 #c4 ,we are free1 then1 to consider the date of ,deuteronomy by an examination of the internal evidence4 ,the latest possible date for the book1 as a whole1 is determined by the story of its discovery in #fba ,b4,c4 7#b ,kings xxii41 xxiii474 ,there can be no doubt that the book then discovered by the priest ,hilkiah1 and read by the chancellor before the king1 was ,deuteronomy4 ,it is called the book of the covenant 7#b ,kings xxiii4 #b71 but it clearly cannot have been the ,pentateuch4 ,for one thing1 that was much too long2 the book discovered was short enough to have been read twice in one day 7#b ,kings xxii4 #h1 #aj74 ,and again1 the swift and terrible impression made by it could not have been made by a book so heterogeneous in its contents and containing romantic narratives such as the patriarchal stories4 ,nor again can the discovered book have been ,exodus xxi4-xxiii41 though that is also called the book of the covenant 7,exod4 xxiv4 #g72 for some of the most important points in the succeeding reformation are not touched in that book at all4 ,it is clear from the narrative in #b ,kings xxii4 ff4 that the book must have been a law book2 no other meets the facts of the case but ,deuteronomy1 and this meets them completely4 ,point for point1 the details of the reformation are paralleled by injunctions in ,deuteronomy--notably the abolition of idolatry1 the concentration of the worship at a single sanctuary 7xii471 the abolition of witchcraft and star-worship1 and the celebration of the passover4 ,some of these enactments are found in other parts of the ,pentateuch1 but ,deuteronomy is the only code in which they are all combined4 #fba ,b4,c4 then is the latest possible date for the composition of ,deuteronomy4 ,it is possible1 however1 to fix the date more precisely4 ,the most remarkable element in the legislation is its repeated and emphatic demand for the centralization of worship in the place which ,jehovah your ,god shall choose out of all your tribes to put ,his name there1 xii4 #e4 ,only by such a centralization could the ,jehovah worship be controlled which1 at the numerous shrines scattered over the country1 was being stained and confused by the idolatrous practices which ,israel had learned from the ,canaanites4 ,this demand is recognized as something new1 xii4 #h4 ,in the ninth and eighth centuries1 when the prophetic narratives of ,genesis were written1#a these shrines1 which were the scenes of an enthusiastic worship1 are lovingly traced back to an origin in patriarchal times4 ,as late as #gej-gce ,b4,c41 ,amos and ,hosea1 though they deplore the excesses which characterized those sanctuaries1 and regard their worship as largely immoral1 do not regard the sanctuaries themselves as actually illegal2 consequently ,deuteronomy must be later than #gce4 ,but the situation was even then so serious that it must soon have occurred to men of practical piety to devise plans of reform1 and that the only real remedy lay in striking the evil at its roots1 i4e4 in abolishing the local shrines4 ,the first important blow appears to have been struck by ,hezekiah1 who1 possibly under the influence of ,isaiah1 is said to have removed the high places 7#b ,kings xviii4 #d71 and the movement must have been greatly helped by the immunity which the temple of ,jerusalem enjoyed during the invasion of ,judah by ,sennacherib in #gja ,b4,c4 ,but the singular thing is that no appeal was made in this reformation to a book1 as was made in #fba1 and as it is natural to suppose would have been made1 had such a book been in existence4 ,somewhere then between ,hezekiah and ,josiah we may suppose the book to have been composed4 ,footnote #a3 ,see below ,the most probable supposition is that the reformation of ,hezekiah gave the first impulse to the legislation which afterwards appeared as ,deuteronomy4 ,but in the terrible reign of his son ,manasseh1 the efforts of the reformers met with violent and bloody opposition4 ,judah was under the iron heel of ,assyria1 and1 to the average mind1 this would prove the superiority of the ,assyrian gods4 ,judah and her king1 ,manasseh1 would seek in their desperation to win the favour of the ,oriental pantheon1 and this no doubt explains the idolatry and worship of the host of heaven which flourished during his reign even within the temple itself4 ,it was just such a crisis as this that would call out the fierce condemnation of the idolatrous high places which characterizes ,deuteronomy 7cf4 xii47 and create the imperative demand for such a control of the worship as was only possible by centralizing it at ,jerusalem4 ,during this period1 too1 such a book may very well have been hidden away in the temple by some sorrowing heart that hoped for better days4 ,it is improbable in itself 7cf4 xviii4 #f-h71 and unjust to the narrative in #b ,kings xxii41 xxiii41 to suppose that the book was written by those who pretended to find it4 ,it was really lost2 had it been written during the earlier part of ,josiah's reign1 there was nothing to hinder its being published at once4 ,in all probability1 then1 the book was in the main written and lost during the reign of ,manasseh 7circa #ffj ,b4,c474 ,it has been observed that in some sections the #bnd pers4 sing1 is used4 in others the pl41 and that the tone of the plural passages is more aggressive than that of the singular2 the contrast1 e4g41 between xii4 #bi-ca 7thou7 and xii4 #a-ab 7you7 is unmistakable4 ,we might1 then1 limit the conclusion reached above by saying that the passages in which a milder tone prevails probably came from ,hezekiah's reign1 and the more aggressive sections from ,manasseh's4 ,this date agrees with conclusions reached on other grounds concerning other parts of the ,pentateuch4 ,the prophetic narratives ,j and ,e were written in or before the eighth century ,b4,c41 the priestly code 7,p7 is1 broadly speaking1 post-exilic4#a ,now if it can be proved that ,deuteronomy knows ,,je and does not know ,p1 the natural inference would be that it falls between the eighth and the sixth or fifth century4 ,but this can easily be proved1 for both in its narrative and legislative parts1 ,deuteronomy rests on ,,je4 ,as an illustration of the former1 cf4 ,deuteronomy xi4 #f1 where only ,dathan and ,abiram are the rebels1 not ,korah as in ,p 7cf4 ,num4 xvi1 #ab1 #be72 as an illustration of the latter1 cf4 the law of slavery in ,exodus xxi4 #b;ff4 with that in ,deuteronomy xv4 #ab-ah1 which clearly rests upon the older law1 but deliberately gives a humaner turn to it1 extending its privileges1 e4g41 to the female slave4 ,footnote #a3 ,see below4 ,again in many important respects the legislation of ,deuteronomy either ignores or conflicts with that of ,p4 ,it knows nothing1 e4g41 of the forty-eight ,levitical cities 7,num4 xxxv472 it regards the ,levite1 in common with the fatherless and the widow1 as to be found everywhere throughout the land1 xviii4 #f4 ,it knows nothing of the provision made by ,p for the maintenance of the ,levite 7,num4 xviii472 it commends him to the charity of the worshippers1 xiv4 #bi4 ,above all it knows nothing of ,p's very sharp and important distinction between priests and ,levites 7,num4 iii41 iv472 any ,levite is qualified to officiate as priest 7cf4 the remarkable phrase in xviii4 #a1 the priests the ,levites74 ,deuteronomy must1 therefore1 fall before ,p1 as after ,,je4 ,a not unimportant question here arises3 ,what precisely was the extent of the book found in #fba ,b4,c48 ,certainly the legislative section1 xii4-xxvi41 xxviii41 possibly the preceding hortatory section1 v4-xi41 but in all probability not the introductory section1 i4 i-iv4 #dj4 ,these three sections are all approximately written in the same style1 but i4 i-iv4 #dj has more the appearance of an attempt to provide the legislation with a historical introduction summarizing the narrative of the journey from ,horeb to the borders of the promised land4 ,certain passages1 e4g4 iv4 #bg-ca1 seem to presuppose the exile1 and thus suggest that the section is later than the book as a whole4 ,the discrepancy between ii4 #ad1 which represents the generation of the exodus as having died in the wilderness1 and v4 #c;ff4 hardly makes for identity of authorship2 and the similarity of the superscriptions1 i4 #a-e1 and iv4 #dd-di1 looks as if the sections i4-iv4 and v4-xi4 were originally parallel4 ,whether v4-xi4 was part of the book discovered is not so certain4 ,much of the finest religious teaching of ,deuteronomy is to be found in this section2 but1 besides being disproportionately long for an introduction1 it repeatedly demands obedience to the statutes and judgments1 which1 however1 are not actually announced till ch4 xii42 it seems more like an addition prefixed by one who had the commandments in xii4-xxvi4 before him4 ,ch4 xxvii41 which is narrative and interrupts the speech of ,moses1 xxvi1 xxviii41 besides in part anticipating xxviii4 #ae;ff41 cannot have formed part of the original ,deuteronomy4 ,on the other hand1 xxviii4 was certainly included in it1 as it must have been precisely the threats contained in this chapter that produced such consternation in ,josiah when he heard the book read 7#b ,kings xxii474 ,the hortatory section that follows the legislation 7xxix41 xxx471 is also probably late1 as the exile appears to be presupposed1 xxix4 #bh1 xxx4 #a-c4 ,on this supposition1 too1 the references to the legislation as this book1 xxix4 #bj1 #ba1 xxx4 #aj1 are most naturally explained4 ,the publication of the book of ,deuteronomy was nothing less than a providence in the development of ,hebrew religion4 ,it was accompanied1 of course1 by incidental and perhaps inevitable evils4 ,by its centralization of worship at the ,jerusalem temple1 it tended to rob life in other parts of the country of those religious interests and sanctions which had received their satisfaction from the local sanctuaries2 and by its attempt to regulate by written statute the religious life of the people1 it probably contributed indirectly to the decline of prophecy1 and started ,israel upon that fatal path by which she ultimately became the people of the book4 ,but on the other hand1 the service rendered to religion by ,deuteronomy was incalculable4 ,the worship of ,jehovah had been powerfully corrupted from two sources2 on the one hand1 from the early influence of the ,canaanitish ,baal worship1 practically a nature-worship1 which set morality at defiance1 xxiii4 #ah2 and on the other1 from her powerful ,assyrian conquerors4 ,idolatry not only covered the whole land1 it had penetrated the temple itself 7#b ,kings xxiii4 #f74 ,the cause of true religion was at stake4 ,there had been sporadic attempts at reform1 but ,deuteronomy1 for the first time1 struck at the root by rendering illegal the worship--nominally a ,jehovah1 but practically a ,baal worship--which was practised at the local sanctuaries4 ,again ,deuteronomy rendered a great service to religion1 by translating its large spirit into demands which could be apprehended of the common people4 ,the book is splendidly practical1 and formed a perhaps not unnecessary supplement to the teaching of the prophets4 ,society needs to have its ideals embodied in suggestions and commands1 and this is done in ,deuteronomy4 ,the writers of the book legislate with the fervour of the prophet1 so that it is not so much a collection of laws as a catechism of religion and morals4 ,doubtless the prophets had done the deepest thing of all by insisting on the new heart and the return to ,jehovah1 but they had offered no programme of practical reform4 ,just such a programme is supplied by ,deuteronomy1 and yet it is saved from the externalism of being merely a religious programme by its tender and uniform insistence upon the duty of loving ,jehovah with the whole heart4 ,the love of ,jehovah to ,israel--love altogether undeserved1 ix4 #e1 and manifested throughout history in ways without number--demands a human response4 ,israel must love ,him with an uncompromising affection1 for ,he is one and there is none else1 and she must express that love for the ,god who is a spirit invisible1 iv4 #ab1 by deeds of affection towards the creatures whom ,god has made1 even to the beasts and the birds1 xxv4 #d1 but most of all to the needy--the stranger1 the ,levite1 the fatherless and the widow4 ,again and again these are commended by definite and practical suggestions to the generosity of the people1 and this generosity is expected to express itself particularly on occasions of public worship4 ,religion is felt to be the basis of morality and of all social order1 and therefore1 even in the legislation proper 7xii4-xxviii471 to say nothing of the fine hortatory introduction 7v4-xi471 its claims and nature are presented first4 ,the book abounds in profound and memorable statements touching the essence of religion4 ,it answers the question1 ,what doth thy ,god require of thee8 x4 #ab4 ,it reminds the people that man lives not by bread alone1 viii4 #c4 ,it knows that wealth and success tend to beget indifference to religion1 viii4 #ac;ff41 and that chastisement1 when it comes1 is sent in fatherly love1 viii4 #e2 and it presses home upon the sluggish conscience the duty of kindness to the down-trodden and destitute1 with a sweet and irresistible reasonableness--,love the sojourner1 for ye were sojourners in the land of ,egypt1 x4 #ai4 ,,joshua ,the book of ,joshua is the natural complement of the ,pentateuch4 ,moses is dead1 but the people are on the verge of the promised land1 and the story of early ,israel would be incomplete1 did it not record the conquest of that land and her establishment upon it4 ,the divine purpose moves restlessly on1 until it is accomplished2 so after the death of ,moses1 ,jehovah spake to ,joshua1 i4 #a4 ,the book falls naturally into three divisions3 7a7 the conquest of ,canaan 7i4-xii471 7b7 the settlement of the land 7xiii4-xxii471 7c7 the last words and death of ,joshua 7xxiii41 xxiv474 ,this period seems to be better known than that of the wilderness wanderings1 and1 especially throughout the first twelve chapters1 the story moves forward with a firm tread4 ,on the death of ,moses1 ,joshua assumes the leadership1 and makes preparations for the advance 7i474 ,after sending men to ,jericho to spy and report upon the land 7ii471 the people solemnly cross the ,jordan1 preceded by the ark 7iii472 and1 to commemorate the miracle by which their passage had been facilitated1 memorial stones are set up 7iv474 ,after circumcision had been imposed1 v4 #a-i1 the passover celebrated1 v4 #aj-ab1 and ,joshua strengthened by a vision1 v4 #ac-ae1 the people assault and capture ,jericho 7vi474 ,this initial success was followed by a sharp and unexpected disaster at ,ai1 for which ,achan1 by his violation of the law of the ban1 was held guilty and punished with death 7vii474 ,a renewed assault upon ,ai was this time successful4#a 7viii474 ,fear of ,israel induced the powerful ,gibeonite clan to make a league with the conquerors 7ix474 ,success continued to remain with ,israel1 so that south 7x47 and north1 xi4 #a-ae1 the arms of ,israel were victorious1 xi4 #af-xii4 ,footnote #a3 ,the book of ,joshua describes only the southern and northern campaigns2 it gives no details concerning the conquest of ,central ,palestine4 ,this omission is apparently due to the ,deuterouomic redactor1 who1 in place of the account itself1 gives a brief idealization of its results in viii4 #cj-ce4 ,much of the land remained still unconquered1 but arrangements were made for its ideal distribution4 ,the two and a half tribes had already received their inheritance east of the ,jordan1 and the rest of the land was allotted on the west to the remaining tribes4 ,judah's boundaries and cities are first and most exhaustively given2 then come ,manasseh and ,ephraim1 with meagre records1 followed by ,benjamin1 which again is exhaustive1 then by ,simeon1 ,zebulon1 ,issachar1 ,asher1 ,naphtali and ,dan 7xiii4-xix474 ,three cities on either side of ,jordan were then set apart as cities of refuge for innocent homicides1 and for the ,levites forty-eight cities with their pasture land1 xx4 #a-xxi4 #db4 ,as ,israel was now in possession of the land in accordance with the divine promise1 xxi4 #dc-de1 ,joshua dismissed the two and a half tribes to their eastern home with commendation and exhortation1 xxii4 #a-h4 ,incurring the severe displeasure of the other tribes by building what was supposed to be a schismatic altar1 they explained that it was intended only as a memorial and as a witness of their kinship with ,israel1 xxii4 #i-cd4 ,the book concludes with two farewell speeches1 the first 7xxiii47 couched in general1 the second xxiv4 #a-bc1 in somewhat more particular terms1 in which ,joshua reminds the people of the goodness of their ,god1 warns them against idolatry and intermarriage with the natives of the land1 and urges upon them the peril of compromise and the duty of rendering ,jehovah a whole-hearted service4 ,the people solemnly pledge themselves to obedience1 xxiv4 #bc-bh4 ,then ,joshua's death and burial are recorded1 and past was linked to present in the burial of ,joseph's bones 7,gen4 #a4 #be7 at last in the promised land1 xxiv4 #bi-cc4 ,the documentary sources which lie at the basis of the ,pentateuch are present1 though in different proportions1 in the book of ,joshua1 and in their main features are easily recognizable4 ,the story of the conquest 7i4-xii47 is told by the prophetic document ,,je1 while the geographical section on the distribution of the land 7xiii4-xxii47 belongs in the main to the priestly document ,p4 ,joshua1 in common with ,judges1 ,samuel 7in part7 and ,kings1 has also been very plainly subjected to a redaction known to criticism as the ,deuteronomic1 because its phraseology and point of view are those of ,deuteronomy4 ,this redactional element1 which1 to any one fresh from the study of ,deuteronomy1 is very easy to detect1 is more or less conspicuous in all of the first twelve chapters1 but it is especially so in chs4 i4 and xxiii41 and it would be well worth the student's while to read these two chapters very carefully1 in order to familiarize himself with the nature of the influence of the ,deuteronomic redaction upon the older prophetico-historical material4 ,very significant1 e4g41 are such phrases as the land which ,jehovah your ,god giveth you to possess1 i4 #aa1 ,deuteronomy xii4 #a3 equally so is the emphasis upon the law1 i4 #g1 xxiii4 #f1 and the injunction to love ,jehovah your ,god1 xxiii4 #aa4 ,the most serious effect of the ,deuteronomic influence has been to present the history rather from an ideal than from a strictly historical point of view4 ,according to the redaction1 e4g41 the conquest of ,canaan was entirely effected within one generation and under ,joshua1 whereas it was not completely effected till long after ,joshua's death3 indeed the oldest source frankly admits that in many districts it was never thoroughly effected at all 7,jud4 i4 #bg-cf74 ,a typical illustration of the ,deuteronomic attitude to the history is to be found in the statement that ,joshua obliterated the people of ,gezer1 x4 #cc1 which directly contradicts the older statement that ,israel failed to drive them out1 xvi4 #aj4 ,the ,deuteronomist is1 in reality1 not a historian but a moralist1 interpreting the history and the forces1 divine as well as human1 that were moulding it4 ,to him the conquest was really complete in the generation of ,joshua1 as by that time the factors were all at work which would ultimately compel success4 ,the persistency of the ,deuteronomic influence1 even long after the priestly code was written1 is proved by xx4 #d-f1 which1 though embodied in a priestly passage1 is in the spirit of ,deuteronomy 7cf4 ,deut4 xix474 ,as this passage is not found in the ,septuagint1 it is probably as late as the third century ,b4,c4 ,p is very largely represented4 ,its presence is recognized1 as usual1 by its language1 its point of view1 and its dependence upon other parts of the ,pentateuch1 demonstrably priestly4 ,while in the older sources1 e4g41 it is ,joshua who divides the land1 xviii4 #aj1 in ,p not only is ,eleazar the priest associated with him as ,aaron with ,moses 7,exod4 viii4 #e1 #af71 but he is even named before him 7xiv4 #a1 cf4 ,num4 xxxiv4 #ag74 ,it is naturally also this document which records the first passover in the promised land1 v4 #aj-ab4 ,the cities of refuge and the ,levitical cities are set apart 7xx41 xxi47 in accordance with the terms prescribed in a priestly chapter of ,numbers 7xxxv474 ,the prominence of ,judah and ,benjamin in the allocation of the land is also significant4 ,the section on the memorial altar1 xxii4 #i-cd1 apparently belonging to a later stratum of ,p1 is clearly stamped as priestly by its whole temper--its formality1 v1 #ad1 its representation of the congregation as acting unanimously1 v4 #af1 its repetitions and stereotyped phraseology1 and by the prominence it gives to ,phinehas the son of ,eleazar the priest1 vv4 #cj-cb4 ,that this document in ,joshua was partly narrative so well as statistical is also suggested by its very brief account of ,achan's sin in ch4 vii41 and of the treachery and punishment of the ,gibeonites1 ix4 l#g-bl--an account which may well have been fuller in the original form of the document4 ,the most valuable part of ,joshua for historical purposes is naturally that which comes from the prophetic document1 which is the oldest4 ,it is here that the interesting and concrete detail lies1 notably in chs4 i4-xii41 but also scattered throughout the rest of the book in some extremely important fragments1 which indicate how severe and occasionally unsuccessful was the struggle of ,israel to gain a secure footing upon certain parts of the country4#a ,many of the difficulties revealed by a minute study of i4-xii4 make it absolutely certain that the prophetic document is really composite 7,,je71 but owing to the thorough blending of the sources the analysis is peculiarly difficult and uncertain4 ,that there are various sources1 however1 admits of no doubt4 ,the story of the crossing of the ,jordan in chs4 iii41 iv41 if we follow it carefully step by step1 is seen to be unintelligible on the assumption that it is a unity4 ,in iii4 #ag all the people are already over the ,jordan1 but in iv4 #d1 #e1 the implication is that they are only about to cross4 ,ch4 iv4 #b repeats iii4 #ab almost word for word4 ,in iv4 #i the memorial stones are to be placed in the ,jordan1 in iv4 #bj at ,gilgal4 ,in vii4 #be;b1 #bf;a1 ,achan alone appears to be stoned1 in v4 #be;c the family is stoned too4 ,a similar confusion prevails in the story of the fall of ,jericho 7vi474 ,in one version1 ,israel marches six days silently round the city1 and on the seventh they shout at the word of ,joshua2 on the other1 they march round seven times in one day1 and the seventh time they shout at the blast of the trumpet4 ,footnote #a3 ,cf4 xv4 #ad-ai1 #fc2 xvi4 #aj2 xvii4 #aa-ah2 xix4 #dg4 ,enough has been said to show that the prophetic document1 as we have it1 is composite1 though there can seldom be any manner of certainty about the ultimate analysis into its ,j and ,e constituents4 ,there is reason to believe that most of the isolated notices of the struggle with the ,canaanites scattered throughout xiii4-xxii4 and repeated in ,judges i4 are from ,j1 while ch4 xxiv41 with its interest in ,shechem and ,joseph1 and its simple but significant statement1 ,they presented themselves before ,god 7,elohim71 xxiv4 #a1 is almost entirely from ,e4 ,it used to be maintained1 on the strength of a phrase in v4 #a--until we were passed over--that the book of ,joshua must have been written by a contemporary4 ,but the true reading there is undoubtedly that given by the ,septuagint--until they passed over-which involves only a very slight change in the ,hebrew4 ,on what1 then1 do the narratives of the book really rest8 ,the answer is suggested by x4 #ab1 #ac1 where the historian appeals to the book of ,jashar in confirmation of an incident in ,joshua's southern campaign4 ,doubtless the whole battle was described in one of the war-ballads in this famous collection 7cf4 ,jud4 v471 and it is not unreasonable to suppose that other narratives in the book of ,joshua similarly rest upon other ballads now for ever lost4 ,the capture of ,jericho1 e4g41 may well have been commemorated in a stirring song which was an inspiration alike to faith and patriotism4 ,if1 however1 it be true that the book of ,joshua has thus a poetic basis1 it is only fair to remember that its prose narratives must not be treated as bald historical annals2 they must be interpreted in a poetic spirit4 ,there is the more reason to insist upon this1 as a later editor1 by a too inflexible literalism1 has misinterpreted the very passage from the book of ,jashar to which we have alluded4 ,what the precise meaning of ,joshua's fine apostrophe to sun and moon may be1 is doubtful--whether a prayer for the prolongation of the day or rather perhaps a prayer for the sudden oncoming of darkness4 ,the words mean1 ,sun1 be thou still1 and if this be the prayer1 it would perhaps be answered by the furious storm which followed4 ,but1 in either case1 the appeal to the sun and moon to lend their help to ,israel in her battles is obviously poetic--a fine conception1 but grotesque if literally pressed4 ,this1 however1 is just what has been done by the editor who added x4 #ad1 and thus created a miracle out of the bold but appropriate imagery of the poet4 ,similarly it is not necessary to suppose that the walls of ,jericho fell down without the striking of a blow on the part of ,israel1 for this too may be poetry4 ,it may be just the imaginative way of saying that no walls can stand before ,jehovah when ,he fights for ,his people4 ,that this is the real meaning of the story1 and that there was more of a struggle than the poetical narrative of ch4 vi4 would lead us to believe1 is made highly probable by1 the altogether incidental but very explicit statement in xxiv4 #aa1 ,the men of ,jericho fought against you4 ,with its large geographical element the book of ,joshua is not particularly rich in scenes of direct religious value2 yet the whole narrative is inspired by a sublime faith in the divine purpose and its sure triumph over every obstacle4 ,in particular1 the story of the ,gibeonites suggests the permanent obligation of reckoning with ,god in affairs of national policy1 ix4 #ad1 while ,gilgal is a reminder of the duty of formally commemorating the beneficent providences of life 7iii41 iv474 ,the story of ,achan reveals the national bearings of individual conduct and the large and disastrous consequences of individual sin4 ,the valedictory addresses of ,joshua are touched by a fine sense of the importance of a grateful and uncompromising fidelity to ,god4 ,but perhaps the greatest thing in the book is the vision of the heavenly leader encouraging ,joshua on the eve of his perilous campaign1 v4 #ac-ae1 a noble imagination1 fitted to remind those who are fighting the battles of the ,lord that they are sustained and aided by forces unseen4 ,,the ,,prophetic ,,and ,,priestly ,,documents ,of the three principal documents1 ,j1 ,e and ,p1 to whose fusion is due the account of ,israel's origin and early history contained in the ,hexateuch1 nothing can be known except by inference2 but within certain limits their date and origin may be fixed4 ,in ,genesis1 ,j and ,e alike love to trace the sacred places of the ,hebrews to some revelation or incident in the life of the patriarchs4 ,now from the prominence assigned to ,hebron in ,j1 together with the rle assigned to ,judah in the story of ,joseph1 xxxvii4 #bf1 and the special interest in ,judah displayed by ,genesis xxxviii41 it may be inferred that ,j originated in ,judah2 while the special attention paid in ,e to the sanctuaries of the northern kingdom1 such as ,shechem and ,bethel1 is not unreasonably held to imply that ,e originated in ,israel4 ,it is impossible to assign more than an approximate date to the origin of these documents1 but they can hardly be earlier than the monarchy1 which is clearly alluded to in ,genesis xxxvi4 #ca4 ,such incidental statements as that the ,canaanite was then in the land1 xii4 #f1 xiii1 #g1 imply that by the author's time the situation had changed2 and1 as their subjection was not attained till the time of ,solomon 7#a ,kings ix4 #ba7 the documents can hardly be earlier than that4 ,the sanctuaries glorified in the ,pentateuch are the very sanctuaries at which a sumptuous but misguided worship was practised as late as the eighth century1 in the days of ,amos and ,hosea 7cf4 ,amos iv4 #d2 ,hosea xii4 ,,ii72 but1 generally speaking1 the conception of ,god found in the prophetic history1 though as robust and intense as that of the early prophets1 is more primitive4 ,it is not afraid of anthropomorphisms 7,gen4 iii4 #h2 ,exod4 iv4 #bd71 and theophanies1 and it has not very clearly grasped the idea that ,god is spirit4 ,on these grounds alone it would not be unfair to place the prophetic documents somewhere between ,solomon and ,amos4 ,j probably belongs to the ninth century1 and ,e1 which1 as we saw reason to believe1 was later1 to the eighth4 ,p takes us into a totally different world4 ,the witchery of the prophetic documents has disappeared2 poetry has given place to legislation1 theophany to ritual1 religion to theology4 ,from the late historical books1 such as ,ezra-,nehemiah1 we learn that legalism dominated post-exilic religion to an extent out of all proportion to what can be proved1 or what is probable1 for pre-exilic times2 and it would be natural to suppose that another writing1 such as ,p1 dominated by precisely the same spirit1 is a product of the same time4 ,this supposition becomes a practical certainty in the light of two or three facts4 ,firstly1 in not a few respects ,p is at variance with the legislative programme drawn up by the exilic prophet ,ezekiel 7xl4-xlviii474 ,now if ,p had been in existence1 such a programme would have been unnecessary1 and1 in any case1 ,ezekiel would hardly have ventured to contradict a code which enjoyed so venerable a sanction and bore the honoured name of ,moses4 ,it is easier to suppose that ,ezekiel's programme is a tentative sketch1 which was modified and improved upon by the authors of ,p4 ,again there was every inducement during and immediately after the exile to formulate definitely the ritual practice of pre-exilic times1 and to modify it in the direction of existing or future needs4 ,so long as the temple stood1 custom could be trusted to take care of the ritual tradition1 but the violent breach with their country and their past would impose upon the exiles the necessity of securing those traditions in permanent and accessible form4 ,p is therefore referred almost unanimously by scholars to the exilic and early post-exilic age1 and may be roughly put about #ejj ,b4,c4 ,the documents ,j1 ,e and ,p1 which1 for convenience1 we have treated as if each were the product of a single pen1 represent in reality movements which extended over decades and even centuries4 ,the ,jehovist1 e4g41 who traces the descent of shepherds1 musicians1 and workers in metal to antediluvian times 7,gen4 iv4 #ai-bb71 cannot be the ,jehovist who told the story of the ,flood1 which interrupted the continuity of human life4 ,these distinctions are known to criticism as ,jl1 ,j#b1 etc42 but1 though they stand for undoubted literary facts1 it is altogether futile to attempt1 on this basis1 an analysis of the entire document into its component parts4 ,the presence of several hands may also be detected1 though not so readily1 in ,e4 ,most scholars suppose ,j to precede ,e1 but one or two reverse the order4 ,the truth is that there are passages in ,j inspired by splendid prophetic conceptions1 which must be later than the earliest edition of ,e2 and the moment it is recognized that a long period elapsed before either document reached its present form1 the question of priority becomes relatively unimportant4 ,p is even more obviously the result of a long process marked by repeated additions and refinements4 ,numbers xviii4 #g1 e4g41 implies that ordinary priests might pass within the vail1 whereas in ,leviticus xvi4 this is possible only to the high priest1 and even to him only once a year4 ,exodus xxix4 #g represents only the high priest as anointed1 ,exodus xxviii4 #da the other priests as well4 ,the section in ,exodus xxx4 #a-aj on the altar of incense must be later than the list in xxvi4 #ca-cg1 where it is not mentioned4 ,the age1 too1 at which the ,levites might enter upon their service appears to have been repeatedly changed2 in ,numbers iv4 #c it is put at thirty years1 in viii4 #bd at twenty-five 7and i ,chron4 xxiii4 #bd at twenty74 ,all this only shows the unceasing attention that was paid by the priests to the problem of worship2 and the length of the period over which this attention was spread may be inferred from the fact that1 even in the third century ,b4,c41 as we know from the ,septuagint1 the ,hebrew text of ,exodus xxxv4-xl4 was not absolutely fixed4 ,we may conceive the composition of the ,pentateuch to have passed through approximately the following stages4 ,earliest of all and fundamental to all come the ancient traditions and the ancient poetry1 such as the book of the wars of ,jehovah1 and the book of ,jashar4 ,upon this basis1 during the monarchy men of prophetic spirit in both kingdoms--not improbably at the sanctuaries--wrote the history of the ,hebrew people4 ,these documents1 ,j and ,e1 were subsequently combined into a single history 7,,je71 possibly in the seventh century1 though how long1 if at all1 ,j and ,e continued to enjoy an independent existence we have no means of knowing4 ,during the exile1 the book of ,deuteronomy was added 7,,jed74 ,its influence1 as we have seen1 is very prominent in ,joshua1 and occasionally traceable even in the earlier books 7cf4 ,gen4 xviii4 #ai1 xxvi4 #e74 ,after the exile ,p was incorporated1 and the ,hexateuch had assumed practically its present form about the middle of the fifth century ,b4,c4 ,,judges ,for the understanding of the early history and religion of ,israel1 the book of ,judges1 which covers the period from the death of ,joshua to the beginning of the struggle with the ,philistines1 is of inestimable importance2 and it is very fortunate that the elements contributed by the later editors are so easily separated from the ancient stories whose moral they seek to point4 ,that moral is most elaborately stated in ii4 #f-;iii4 #f1 which is a sort of programme or preface to iii4 #g-xvi4 #ca1 which constitutes the real kernel of the book of ,judges--chs4 xvii4-xxi41 as we shall see1 being a supplement and i4 #a-;ii4 #e an introduction4 ,briefly stated1 the moral is this3 in the ancient history1 unfaithfulness to ,jehovah was regularly followed by chastisement in the shape of foreign invasion1 but when the people repented and cried to ,jehovah ,he raised up a leader to deliver them4 ,unfaithfulness1 chastisement2 penitence1 forgiveness4 ,this philosophy of history1 if such it can be called1 had of course the practical object of inspiring the people with a sense of the importance of fidelity to ,jehovah4 ,both the ideas and the phraseology of this passage1 ii4 #f-;iii4 #f1 are unmistakably those of ,deuteronomy3 therefore here1 as in ,joshua1 we speak of the ,deuteronomic redaction4 ,the moral expressed in the preface and repeated in a less elaborate form elsewhere1 vi4 #g-aj1 x4 #f-af1 is amply illustrated by the stories that follow--the stories of ,othniel1 ,ehud1 ,deborah and ,barak1 ,gideon1 ,jephthah and ,samson4 ,this does not exhaust the list of judges1 but it exhausts the list of those whose stories are used to illustrate the ,deuteronomic scheme4 ,the story of ,abimelech1 e4g4 7ix471 has no such preface or conclusion as these six have2 neither has the notice of ,shamgar in iii4 #ca2 the preface is also lacking in the very bald notices of the five minor judges1 x4 #a-e1 xii4 #h-ae4 ,it is clear1 therefore1 that they fell without the original ,deuteronomic scheme2 but it is equally clear that the later editors of the book intended to represent the period by twelve judges1 ,abimelech being apparently reckoned a judge1 though he is not called one4 ,another computation1 which ignored ,abimelech1 reached the number twelve by adding ,shamgar1 iii4 #ca1 whom a comparison of iii4 #ca with iv4 #a shows not to have belonged to the original book2 the name was probably suggested by v4 #f;a4 ,chs4 xvii4-xxi41 which consist of two appendices 7xvii41 xviii1 the origin of the sanctuary at ,dan1 and xix4-xxi41 the vengeance of ,israel on ,benjamin for the outrage at ,gibeah71 also clearly fell without the ,deuteronomic redaction3 the section is untouched either by the language or ideas of ,deuteronomy4 ,further1 these chapters are clearly out of place where they stand2 for1 generally speaking1 the order of the book is chronological1 beginning with the death of ,joshua and ending with the ,philistine invasion which lasted on into the days of ,samuel1 whereas both stories in the appendix refer to quite an early period1 two of the characters named being the grandsons of ,moses and ,aaron respectively 7xviii4 #cj1 xx4 #bh74a ,footnote #a3 ,in ch4 xviii4 #cj the word now read as ,manasseh was originally ,moses4 ,the introduction1 i4 ,i-ii4 #e1 also plainly falls without the scheme1 for the book proper1 ii4 #f;ff41 is a direct continuation#a of ,joshua xxiv4 #bg1 and i4 i-ii4 #e really duplicates1 in the main1 accounts and isolated notices scattered through ,joshua xv41 xvi41 xvii41 xix4 ,the incidents related in these chapters are assigned to ,joshua's lifetime2 the phrase with which the book of ,judges begins--,it came to pass after the death of ,joshua--is clearly a later attempt to connect the two books1 and inconsistent with ii4 #f;ff41 which carries the story back to a period before ,joshua's death4 ,footnote #a3 #b ,ch4 ii4 #f1 #g;,josh4 xxiv4 #bh1 #ca2 ,jud4 ii4 #h1 #i;,josh4 xxiv4 #bi1 #cj4 ,the original book of ,judges1 then1 as edited by the ,deuteronomist1 is represented#a by ii4 #f-xv41 minus the notices of ,shamgar1 ,abimelech and the minor judges4 ,the moral pointed by the redaction1 valuable as it may be1 is not always suggested by the history4 ,the redaction assigns the national misfortunes to idolatry1 though only once is idolatry mentioned with reprobation in the ancient stories themselves1 vi4 #be-cb4 ,the redaction shows a further indifference to history in giving a national#b turn to the tale of apostasy and deliverance1 whereas the original stories show that the interests are really not as yet national1 but only tribal4 ,the chronology of the book--which is also part of the redaction--with its round numbers1 #bj1 #dj1 #hj1 etc41 appears to contain an artificial element1 and to form part of the scheme indicated in i ,kings vi4 #a1 which assigns #dhj years1 i4e4 twelve generations1 to the period between the exodus and the building of the temple4 ,many considerations make it practically certain that the periods of the judges1 which are represented as successive1 were often really synchronous1 and that therefore the period covered by the entire book is only about two centuries4 ,footnote #a3 ,note that ch4 xv4 #bj was apparently designed to conclude the story of ,samson1 raising the suspicion that ch4 xvi4 7with a similar conclusion7 was added later4 ,footnote #b3 ,cf4 iii4 #ab4 ,the children of ,israel did evil again in the sight of ,jehovah1 and ,jehovah strengthened ,eglon the ,king of ,moab against ,israel2 so vv4 #ad1 #ae1 etc4 ,there is reason to believe that the original ,deuteronomic book of ,judges included the stories of ,eli and ,samuel1 and ended with ,i ,samuel xii4 ,it is expressly said in ,judges xiii4 #e that ,samson is to begin to deliver ,israel out of the hand of the ,philistines1 and it is reasonable to suppose that the completion of the deliverance was also related2 besides1 ,samuel's farewell address contains many reminiscences of the familiar formulae of the book of ,judges 7,i ,sam4 xii4 #i;ff47 and an appropriate summary of the teaching and some of the facts of that book 7cf4 v4 #aa74 ,it is easy to imagine1 however1 why the stories of ,eli and ,samuel were ultimately separated from the book of ,judges3 partly because they were felt to be hardly judges in the old sense of defenders1 deliverers--,eli was a priest1 and ,samuel a prophet--and still more because the story of ,samuel1 at any rate1 was bound up with the history of the monarchy4 ,the book received its present form from post-exilic redactors4 ,this is rendered certain by the unmistakable marks of the influence of the priestly code in chs4 xx41 xxi4 ,the unanimity with which ,israel acts1 the extraordinarily high numbers1#a the prominence of such words as congregation1 constitute indubitable evidence of a priestly hand4 ,some post-,deuteronomic hand1 if not this same one1#b added the other appendix1 xvii41 xviii41 the introduction1 i4-ii4 #e1 and the sections in the body of the book already shown to be late4#c4 ,the motives which prompted these additions were varied4 ,with regard to the minor judges1 e4g41 some suppose that the object was simply to make up the number twelve2 but generally speaking1 the motive for the additions would be the natural desire to conserve extant relics of the past4 ,the introduction1 and appendix1 though added late1 contain very ancient material4 ,many of the historical notices in ch4 i4 are reproductions of early and important notices in the book of ,joshua1 though with significant editorial additions1 usually in honour of ,judah2 ,footnote3 ,cf4 ch4 i4 #h1 which contradicts i4 #ba2 and i1 #ah1 which contradicts i4 #ai4 and the story of the origin of the sanctuary at ,dan1 with its very candid account of the furniture of the sanctuary and the capture of the priest1 is obviously very old4 ,doubtless also there is a historical element in xix4-xxi41 though it has been seriously overlaid by the priestly redaction--possibly also in the notices of the minor judges4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 xx4 #b 7of4 ,num4 xxxi474 ,contrast ,jud4 v4 #h4 ,footnote #b3 ,note the phrase in both stories4 ,in those days there was no king in ,israel1 xviii4 i1 xix4 ,i4 ,footnote #c3 ,shamgar iii4 #ca2 ,abimelech 7ix72 minor judges1 x4 #a-e1 xii4 #h-ae2 ,samson 7xvi47 ,this raises the question of the sources and historical value of the stories in the body of the book1 which1 as we have seen1 are very easily separated from the redactional elements4 ,indeed1 as those elements are confined to the beginning and the end of the stories1 we may assume that the stories themselves were not composed by the redactors1 but already reached them in a fixed and finished form4 ,further1 it is important to note that1 just as in the prophetic portions of the ,hexateuch1 duplicates are often present--very probably in the stories of ,ehud1 iii4 #ab;ff41 ,deborah and ,barak 7iv471 ,abimelech 7ix471 and ,micah 7xvii41 xviii471 but certainly in the story of ,gideon#a 7vi4-viii474 ,according to the later version1 ,gideon is the deliverer of ,israel from the incursions of the ,midianites1 and the princes slain are ,oreb and ,zeeb1 vii4 #bd-viii4 #c2 according to the earlier version1 viii4 #d-ba1 which is on a smaller scale1 ,gideon1 accompanied by part of his clan1 takes the lives of ,zebah and ,zalmunna to avenge his brothers1 whom they had slain4 ,in the case of duplicated stories1 the ,deuteronomic redactors apparently found the stories already in combination1 so that the original constituent documents must be further back still4 ,as the narratives1 with their primitive religious ideas and practices and their obvious delight in war1 are clearly the echo of an early time1 we shall be safe in relegating the original documents1 at the latest1 to the eighth or ninth century ,b4,c4 ,it is a point on which unanimity has not yet been reached1 whether these documents are the ,jehovist and ,elohist of the ,hexateuch2 but considering the fact that the older notices in i4-ii4 #e1 on account of the prominence of ,judah and for other reasons1 are usually assigned to ,j1 and that some of the characteristics of these two documents recur in the course of the book1 the hypothesis that ,j and ,e are continued at least into ,judges must be regarded as not improbable4 ,footnote #a3 ,in the story of ,jephthah1 ch4 xi4 #ab-bh1 which interrupt the connexion and deals with ,moab1 not with ,ammon1 is a later interpolation4 ,fortunately we are able in one case to trace the source of a story4 ,the story of ,deborah and ,barak is told in chs4 iv4 and v4 ,ch4 #e1 which is so graphic that it must have come from a contemporary-one had almost said an eye-witness--is undoubtedly the older form of the story1 as it is in verse4 ,partly on the basis of this poem ch4 iv4 has been built up1 and the account of ,sisera's death in this chapter1 iv4 #ba1 which differs from that in v4 #bf1 #bg1 rests on a misunderstanding of the situation in v4 #bf4 ,here we see the risks which the ballads ran when turned into prose1 but more important is it to note the poetical origin of the story4 ,probably ch4 v4 originally belonged to such a collection as the book of the wars of ,jehovah or the book of ,jashar1 and it is natural to suppose that other stories in the book of ,judges--e4g4 the exploits of ,gideon--may have similarly originated in war-ballads4 ,the religion of the book of ,judges is powerful but primitive4 ,the ideal man is the ideal warrior4 ,grim tales of war are told with unaffected delight1 and the spirit of ,god manifests itself chiefly in the inspiration of the warrior4 ,gideon and ,micah have their idols4 ,chemosh and ,dagon are as real1 though not so powerful1 as ,jehovah4 ,unlike the redaction1 the earlier tales are not given to moralizing1 and yet once at least the moral is explicitly pointed1 ix4 #ef;ff4 ,but elsewhere the power of religion in life is suggested1 not by explicit comment1 but rather by the naturalness with which every interest and activity of life are viewed in a religious light4 ,nowhere is this more obvious than in the priceless song of ,deborah#a 7v474 ,israel's battles are the battles of ,jehovah2 her triumph is ,his triumph4 ,the song is inspired by an intense belief in the national ,god1 but there was little that was ethical in the religion of the period4 ,jephthah offers his child in sacrifice4 ,jael is praised for a murder which was a breach of the common ,semitic law of hospitality4 ,by revealing1 however1 so candidly the meagre beginnings of ,israel's religion1 the book of ,judges only increases our sense of the miracle which brought that religion to its incomparable consummation in the fulness of the times4 ,footnote #a3 ,the song is not necessarily and not probably composed by ,deborah4 ,in v4 #ab she is addressed in the #bnd person1 and v4 #g may be similarly read1 ,till thou1 ,deborah1 didst arise4 ,,samuel ,alike from the literary and the historical point of view1 the book#a of ,samuel stands midway between the book of ,judges and the book of ,kings4 ,as we have already seen1 the ,deuteronomic book of ,judges in all probability ran into ,samuel and ended in ch4 xii42 while the story of ,david1 begun in ,samuel1 embraces the first two chapters of the first book of ,kings4 ,the book of ,samuel is not very happily named1 as much of it is devoted to ,saul and the greater part to ,david2 yet it is not altogether inappropriate1 as ,samuel had much to do with the founding of the monarchy4 ,the ,jewish tradition that ,samuel was the author of the book is1 of course1 a palpable fiction1 as the story is carried beyond his death4 ,footnote #a3 ,two books in the ,greek translation1 as in modern ,bibles2 originally one in the ,hebrew1 but two from the year #aeag ,a4,d4 ,the book deals with the establishment of the monarchy4 ,its ultimate analysis is very difficult2 but1 if we regard the summary notices in #a ,samuel xiv4 #dg-ea and #b ,samuel viii4 as the conclusion of sections--and this seems to have been their original intention--the broad outlines are clear enough1 and the book may be divided into three parts3 the first 7#a ,sam4 i4-xiv47 dealing with ,samuel and ,saul1 the second 7i ,sam4 xv4-#b ,sam4 viii47 with ,saul and ,david1 and the third 7#b ,sam4 ix4-xx41 concluding with ,i ,kings i41 ii47 with ,david1 xxi4-xxiv4 being1 like ,judges xvii4-xxi41 in the nature of an appendix4 ,the book opens in the period of the ,philistine wars4 ,samuel's birth1 call and influence are described 7,i ,sam4 i4-iii471 and the disastrous defeat which ,israel suffered at the hand of the ,philistines4 ,jehovah1 however1 asserted ,his dignity1 and the ark1 which had been captured1 was restored to ,israel 7iv4-vii474 ,but the peril had taught ,israel her need of a king1 and1 by a providential course of events1 ,saul becomes the chosen man4 ,he gains initial successes 7viii4-xiv474 ,but1 for a certain disobedience and impetuosity1 his rejection by ,god is pronounced by ,samuel1 and ,david steps upon the arena of history as the coming king4 ,his successes in war stung the melancholy ,saul1 who at first had loved him1 into jealousy2 and the tragedy of ,saul's life deepens4 ,recognizing in the versatile ,david his almost certain successor1 he seeks in various ways to compass his destruction1 but more than once ,david repays his malice with generosity4 ,saul's persecution1 however1 is so persistent that ,david is compelled to flee1 and he takes refuge with his country's enemy1 the ,philistine king of ,gath4 ,at the decisive battle between ,israel and the ,philistines on ,gilboa1 ,saul perishes4 ,soon afterwards1 ,david is made king of ,judah2 and emerging successfully from the subsequent struggle with ,saul's surviving son1 he becomes king over all ,israel1 seizes ,jerusalem1 and makes it his civil and religious capital 7#a ,sam4 xv4-#b ,sam4 viii474 ,the story of his reign is told with great power and candour1 and is full of the most diverse interest--his guilty passion for ,bathsheba1 which left its trail of sorrow over all his subsequent career1 the dissensions in the royal family1 the unsuccessful rebellion of his son ,absalom1 the strife between ,israel and ,judah 7#b ,sam4 ix4-xx474 ,the story is concluded in #a ,kings i41 ii41 by an account of the intrigue which secured the succession of ,solomon1 and finally by the death and testament of ,david4 ,the appendix1 which interrupts the story and closes the book of ,samuel 7xxi4-xxiv47 consists of 7a7 two narratives1 with a dominant religious interest1 which chronologically appear to belong to the beginning of ,david's reign--the atonement by which ,jehovah's anger1 expressed in famine1 was turned away from the land1 xxi4 #a-ad1 and the plague which1 as a divine penalty1 followed ,david's census of the people 7xxiv472 7b7 two psalms--a song of gratitude for ,god's gracious deliverances 7xxii4,ps4 xviii471 and a brief psalm expressing confidence in the triumph of justice1 xxiii4 #a-g2 7c7 two lists of ,david's heroes and their deeds1 xxi4 #ae-bb1 xxiii4 #h-ci4 ,in the book of ,samuel1 even more distinctly than in the ,hexateuch1 composite authorship is apparent4 ,little or no attempt has been made by the redactor#a to reduce1 by omissions1 adaptations1 or corrections1 the divergent sources to a unity1 so that we are in the singularly fortunate position of possessing information which is exceedingly early1 and in some cases all but contemporary1 of persons1 events and movements1 which exercised the profoundest influence on the subsequent history of ,israel4 ,the book has been touched in a very few places by the ,deuteronomic redactor--not to anything like the same extent as ,judges or ,kings4 ,the few points at which he intervenes1 however1 are very significant2 his hand is apparent in the threat of doom pronounced upon ,eli's house 7#a ,sam4 ii4 #bg-cf71b in the account of the decisive battle against the ,philistines represented as won for ,israel by ,samuel's intercession 7#a ,sam4 vii4 #c-af71 in ,samuel's farewell address to the people 7#a ,sam4 xii47 and--most important of all--in ,nathan's announcement to ,david of the perpetuity of his dynasty 7#b ,sam4 vii474 ,a study of these passages reveals the didactic interest so characteristic of the redactors4 ,footnote #a3 ,come and let us renew the kingdom1 #a ,sam4 xi4 #ad1 is a redactional attempt to reconcile the two stories of the origin of the monarchy4 ,footnote #b3 ,cf4 #b ,kings xxiii4 #i2 ,deut1 xviii4 #f-h4 ,such a book as ,samuel offered little opportunity for a priestly redaction1 but it has been touched here and there by a priestly hand1 as we see from #a ,samuel vi4 #ae1 with its belated introduction of the ,levites to do what had been done already1 v4 #ad1 and from the very significant substitution of all the ,levites for ,abiathar in #b ,samuel xv4 #bd1 cf4 #bi4 ,the composite quality of the book of ,samuel could hardly fail to strike even a careless observer4 ,many of the events1 both important and unimportant1 are related twice under circumstances which render it practically impossible that two different incidents are recorded4 ,two explanations are given1 e4g41 of the origin of the saying1 ,is ,saul also among the prophets8 ,i ,sam4 x4 #aa1 xix4 #bd4 ,similarly1 the story of ,david's magnanimity in sparing ,saul's life is twice told 7#a ,sam4 xxiv41 xxvi471 and there is no allusion in the second narrative to the first1 such as would be natural1 if not necessary1 on the assumption that the occasions were really different4 ,there are also two accounts of ,david's sojourn among the ,philistines and of his speedy departure from a situation fraught with so much peril 7#a ,sam4 xxi4 #aj-ae1 xxvii41 xxix474 ,of course there are not unimportant differences between these two narratives3 the voluntary departure of the one story becomes a courteous1 though firm1 dismissal in the other2 but in the light of so many other unmistakable duplicates1 it is hard to believe that these are not simply different versions of the same story4 ,there are two accounts of the death of ,saul3 according to the one1 he committed suicide 7#a ,sam4 xxxi4 #d71 according to the other he was slain by an ,amalekite 7#b ,sam4 i4 #aj74 ,the ,amalekite's story may1 of course1 be fiction1 but it is not necessary to suppose this4 ,the differences between the duplicate accounts are sometimes so serious as to amount to incompatibility4 ,in one document1 e4g41 teraphim are found in the house of a devout worshipper of ,jehovah1 #a ,sam4 xix4 #ac1 in another they are the symbol of an idolatry which is comparable to the worst of sins1 #a ,sam4 xv4 #bc4 ,again1 there is no reason to doubt the statement in the apparently ancient record of the deeds of ,david's heroes1 that ,elhanan slew ,goliath of ,gath1 #b ,sam4 xxi4 #ai4 ,but if this be so1 what becomes of the elaborate and romantic story of i ,samuel xvii41 which claims this honour for ,david8 ,the difficulty created by this discrepancy was felt as early as the times of the chronicler1 who surmounts it by asserting that it was the brother of ,goliath whom ,elhanan slew 7#a ,chron4 xx4 #e74 ,connected with this story are other difficulties affecting the relation of ,david to ,saul4 ,in this chapter1 ,saul is unacquainted with ,david1 #a ,samuel xvii4 #ef1 whereas in the preceding chapter ,david is not only present at his court1 but has already won the monarch's love1 xvi4 #ba4 ,the ,david of the one chapter is quite unlike the ,david of the other2 in xvi4 #ah he is a mature man1 a skilled and versatile minstrel-warrior1 and the armour-bearer of the king2 in xvii4 #ch1 #ci1 he is a young shepherd boy who cannot wield a sword1 and who cuts a sorry figure in a coat of mail4 ,many of these undoubted difficulties are removed by the ,septuagint#a which omits xvii4 #ab-ca 1#da1 #ej1 #ee-xviii4 #e1 and the question is raised whether the ,septuagint omitted these verses to secure a more consistent narrative1 or whether they were wanting1 as seems more probable1 in the ,hebrew text from which the ,greek was translated4 ,in that case these verses1 which give an idyllic turn 7cf4 ch4 xvi47 to the story of ,david1 may have been added after the ,greek version was written1 i4e1 hardly earlier than #bej ,b4,c41 and a curious light would thus be shed upon the history of the text and on the freedom with which it was treated by later ,jewish scholars4 ,equally striking and important are the conflicting conceptions of the monarchy entertained in the earlier part of the book4 ,one source regards it as a blessing and a gift of ,jehovah2 the first king is anointed by divine commission to be prince over my people ,israel1 and he shall save my people out of the hand of the ,philistines1 #a ,sam4 ix4 #af2 the other regards the request for an earthly king as a rejection of the divine king1 and the monarchy as destined to prove a vexation1 if not a curse 7viii474 ,centuries seem to separate these conceptions--the one expressing the exuberant enthusiasm with which the monarchy was initiated1 the other--perhaps about ,hosea's time 7cf4 ,hosea viii4 #d7--reflecting the melancholy experience of its essential impotence4#b ,footnote #a3 ,the ,greek text of ,samuel is often of great value4 ,in #a ,sam4 xiv4 #ah it preserves the undoubtedly original reading1 bring hither the ephod1 for he carried the ephod that day before ,israel1 instead of ,being hither the ark of ,god4 and in v4 #da the ,greek version makes it clear that the ,urim and ,thummim were the means employed to determine the lot4 ,footnote #b3 ,if other proof were wanted that the book is not an original literary unit1 it might be found in the occasional interruption of the natural order4 #b ,sam4 xxi4-xxiv4 is the most extensive and obvious interruption4 ,but #b ,sam4 iii4 #b-e is also out of place1 it goes with v4 #f-af4 ,so ,i ,sam4 xviii4 #aj1 #aa1 which is really a duplication of xix1 #i1 #aj is psychologically inappropriate at so early a stage4 ,these considerations suggest that at any rate as far as #b ,samuel viii4--for it is universally admitted that #b ,samuel ix4-xx4 is homogeneous--there are at least two sources1 which some would identify1 though upon grounds that are not altogether convincing1 with the ,jehovist and ,elohist documents in the ,hexateuch4 ,one of these sources is distinctly early and the other distinctly late1 and the early source contains much ancient and valuable material4 ,its recognition of ,samuel as a local seer willing to tell for a small piece of money where stray asses have gone1 its enthusiastic attitude to the monarchy1 its obvious delight in the splendid presence and powers of ,saul1 its intimate knowledge of the ecstatic prophets1 its conception of the ark as a sort of fetish whose presence insures victory--all these things bespeak for the document that relates them a high antiquity4 ,the other document represents ,samuel as a great judge and virtual regent over all ,israel1 it has a wide experience of the evils of monarchy1 it idealizes ,david1 and it regards ,saul as a rejected man4 ,it is possible that these documents1 in their original form1 were biographical--,saul being the chief hero in the one and ,david in the other4 ,a biography of ,samuel1 which may or may not have included the story of the war with the ,philistines 7,i ,sam4 iv4-vii4 #b71 possibly existed separately1 though in its present form it is interwoven with the story of ,saul4 ,it would be difficult to overpraise the literary and historical genius of the writer who in #b ,samuel ix4-xx4 traces the checkered course of ,david's reign4 ,he has an unusually intimate knowledge of the period1 a clear sense of the forces that mould history1 a delicate insight into the springs of character1 and an estimable candour in portraying the weakness as well as the strength of his hero4 ,the writer's knowledge is so intimate that one is tempted to suppose that he must have been a contemporary2 and yet such a phrase as to this day1 #b ,sam4 xviii4 #ah1 unless it be redactional1 almost compels us to come lower down4 ,probably1 however1 it is not later than the time of ,solomon1 whose reign appears to have been marked by literary as well as commercial activity4#a ,footnote l3 ,the ,book of ,jashar1 whose latest known reference comes from the reign of ,solomon 7cf4 p4#ajb71 is supposed by some to have been edited in that reign4 ,the last four chapters1 which interrupt the main narrative1 contain some ancient and some late material4 ,the two tales1 xxi4 #a-ad1 xxiv41 which have much in common1 were preserved because of their religious interest2 and although part of ch4 xxiv4 7cf4 vv4 #aj-ad7 is in the later style1 both stories throw much welcome light on the early religious ideas of ,israel4 ,of the poems #b ,samuel xxii4 in its present form can hardly be ,david's1#a and the same doubt may be fairly entertained with regard to xxiii4 #a-g4 ,even if v4 #a be not an imitation of ,numbers xxiv4 #c1 #ae1 it is hardly likely that ,david would have described himself in terms of the last clause of this verse4 ,the eschatological complexion of vv4 #f1 #g also suggests1 though perhaps it does not compel1 a later date2 further1 it is not exactly in favour of the ,davidic authorship of either of these psalms that they are found in a section which was obviously interpolated later4#b ,on the other hand1 there can be no reasonable doubt that the incomparable elegy over ,saul and ,jonathan in #b ,samuel i4 #ai-bg is ,david's4 ,poetically it is a gem of purest ray2 but1 though its position in the book of ,jashar#c shows that it was regarded as a religious poem1 it strikes no distinctively religious note4 ,the little fragment on the death of ,abner1 #b ,sam4 iii4 #cc;ff41 is also no doubt his4 ,footnote #a3 ,see pp4 #bdg1 #bdh4 ,footnote #b3 ,the song of ,hannah1 #a ,sam4 ii4 #a-aj1 is proof that later editors inserted poems at points which they deemed appropriate4 ,if the anointed king1 for whom prayer is offered in v4 #aj1 be one of the historical kings1 then the ,ps4 is pre-exilic2 if the ,messianic king of the latter days1 post-exilic4 ,but in neither case could the prayer be ,hannah's1 as there was no king yet4 ,the clause in v4 #e--the barren hath borne seven--suggested the interpolation of the poem at this point4 ,footnote #c3 ,this may either mean the book of the upright or brave1 i4e4 the heroes of ,israel1 or it may mean the book of ,israel herself4 ,the book of ,samuel offers a large contribution to our knowledge of the early religion of ,israel4 ,it presents us with a practical illustration of the rigorous obligations of the ban 7#a ,sam4 xv471 of the effects of technical holiness 7#a ,sam4 xxi4 #d1 #e71 of the appearance of the images known as teraphim 7#a ,sam4 xix4 #ac71 of the usages of necromancy 7#a ,sam4 xxviii471 of the peril of unavenged bloodshed 7#b ,sam4 xxi471 of the almost idolatrous regard for the ark 7#a ,sam4 iv471 of the nature of the lot 7#a ,sam4 xiv4 #da1 lxx471 of the place of fasting and the inviolability of oaths 7#a ,sam4 xiv474 ,to the student of human nature1 the book is peculiarly rich in material4 ,the career of ,david and still more that of ,saul--,david with his weakness and his magnanimity1 and ,saul1 a noble character1 ruined by jealousy and failure combined working upon a predisposition to melancholy--present a most fascinating psychological study4 ,the ethical interest1 too1 though seldom obtruded1 is always present4 ,in the parable of ,nathan1 it receives direct and dramatic expression2 but the whole story of ,david's reign is haunted by a sense of the ,nemesis of sin4 ,,kings ,the book#a of ,kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative4 ,its comparative brevity1 its curious perspective1 and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony1 are obvious to the most cursory perusal1 and to understand these things is1 in large measure1 to understand the book4 ,it covers a period of no less than four centuries4 ,beginning with the death of ,david and the accession of ,solomon 7#a ,kings i41 ii47 it traverses his reign with considerable fulness 7#a ,kings iii4-xi471 then carries on the history of the monarchy in both countries from the disruption to the fall of the northern kingdom 7#a ,kings xii4-#b ,kings xvii471 and traces the story of ,judah from that point to the exile 7#b ,kings xviii4-xxv474 ,footnote #a3 ,originally and till #aeag ,a4,d4 ,kings was reckoned in the ,hebrew ,bible as one book4 ,the ,greek translation reckons it as two books1 which it entitles the third and fourth books of the kingdoms1 the first two being represented by the two books of ,samuel4 ,during this period events of epoch-making importance in politics and religion were taking place4 ,in it literary prophecy was born1 trade and commerce arose with their inevitable cleavage of society into the rich and the poor1 the northern kingdom disappeared as a political force1 and many of her people were carried into exile4 ,judah was dominated in turn by ,assyria and ,babylonia1 with the result that her religious usages were profoundly affected by theirs4 ,but of all this we learn very little from the book of ,kings4 ,most of what we do know of the inner history of the period comes from the prophets4 ,to understand the state of society1 e4g4 in the time of ,jeroboam ,,ii1 we go not to the book of ,kings but to ,amos and ,hosea4 ,again the perspective is strange4 ,it is not only that brief reigns like those of ,shallum and ,pekahiah 7#b ,kings xv47 are dismissed in a verse or two1 but even long and very important reigns1 such as that of ,jeroboam ,,ii4 7#b ,kings xiv4 #bc-bi74 ,omri1 the father of ,ahab1 was1 we know1 a much more important person than the few verses devoted to him in ,i ,kings xvi4 #ba-bh would lead us to suppose4 ,the reign of ,ahab himself1 on the other hand1 is dealt with at considerable length 7,i ,kings xvi4 #bi-xxii4 #dj71 and ,solomon receives no less than nine chapters 7,i ,kings iii4-xi474 ,the stories of ,jeroboam ,i 7,i ,kings xii471 ,hezekiah 7#b ,kings xviii4-xx471 ,josiah 7#b ,kings xxii4 ff47 are told with comparative fulness4 ,whenever the narrative begins to expand it is plain that the interest of the author is predominantly and almost exclusively religious2 in other words1 his aim is to write not a political1 but an ecclesiastical history4 ,this at once explains his insertions and omissions4 ,omri's reign was not marked by anything of conspicuous importance to religion1 while it was under ,ahab that the great struggle of ,jehovah worship against ,baalism took place4 ,solomon is of unique importance1 as he was the founder of the temple4 ,hezekiah's career touches that of the prophet ,isaiah1 while his reign and ,josiah's are marked by attempts at religious reform4 ,the author is writing for men who have access to records of the political history1 and to these chronicles of the kings of ,israel and ,judah1 as they are called1 he repeatedly refers readers who are interested in the political facts4 ,finally1 though some of the narratives--notably the ,elijah group-are dramatic and powerful to the last degree1 the book has not1 generally speaking1 that flexibility and movement which we are accustomed to look for in a modern historian4 ,it has been artificially conformed to a scheme4 ,the various kings are introduced and dismissed and their reigns are criticized1 in set formulae1 and these formulae are ,deuteronomic4 ,with the exception of ,hezekiah1 all the kings before ,josiah are implicitly condemned for worshipping upon the high places2 and the centralization of the worship at ,jerusalem was1 as we have already seen1 the chief feature of the ,deuteronomic legislation4 ,the book of ,kings1 like ,joshua1 ,judges and ,samuel 7in part71 has been subjected to a ,deuteronomic redaction1 of which the most obvious feature is the summary notice and criticism of the various kings4 ,this redaction cannot have taken place earlier than #fba ,b4,c4 7the date of the publication of ,deuteronomy7 nor later than #eig ,b4,c41 as the reference to the chronicles of the kings of ,judah ceases with the reign of ,jehoiakim1 #b ,kings xxiv4 #e4 ,parts of the book presuppose that the temple is still standing1 ,i ,kings viii4 #bi1 and the exile not yet an accomplished fact4 ,there was1 however1 a later redaction some years after the pardon of ,jehoiachin in #efa ,b4,c4 7#b ,kings xxv4 #bg71 and sporadic traces of this are seen throughout the book1 parts of which clearly imply the exile1 #a ,kings viii4 #df1 #dg1 and the destruction of the temple1 #a ,kings ix4 #g1 #h4 ,these redactions are known to criticism as ,d and ,d#b respectively4 ,on none of the historical books has the influence of ,deuteronomy been so pervasive as on ,kings4 ,the importance of the ,deuteronomic law receives emphatic reiteration1 #a ,kings ii4 #c1 #d1 ix4 #a-i1 and once that law is cited practically word for word1 #b ,kings xiv4 #f2 cf4 ,deut4 xxiv4 #af4 ,naturally the affairs of the temple as the exclusive seat of the true worship receive considerable attention4 ,this explains the elaborate treatment accorded to the reign of ,solomon1 who founded the temple1 and to the description of the temple itself 7#a ,kings vi472 and on his prayer of dedication the ,deuteronomic influence is very conspicuous 7#a ,kings viii474 ,it is also unmistakable in the chapter which concludes the story of the northern kingdom and attempts to account for the disaster 7#b ,kings xvii474 ,the chapter presents what may be called a ,deuteronomic philosophy of history1 corresponding to the scheme which is thrown into the forefront of the book of ,judges 7ii4 #f-;iii4 #f74 ,traces of a hand that is still later than the second ,deuteronomic redaction are to be found here and there in the book2 e4g41 in #a ,kings viii4 #d1 the ,levites are a later insertion to satisfy the requirements of the post-exilic priestly law--the words are not supported by the ,septuagint4 ,here we see the influence of the priestly point of view1 but the traces are far too few to justify us in speaking of a priestly redaction2 the course which such a redaction would have taken we see from the book of ,chronicles4 ,but that the book was touched by post-exilic hands is certain2 #a ,kings xiii4 #cb actually speaks of the cities of ,samaria1 a phrase which implies that ,samaria was a province1 as it was not till after the exile4 ,it is fortunate that one of the longest1 most important1 and impressive sections of the book--the ,elijah and ,elisha narratives 7#a ,kings xvii4-#b ,kings viii41 xiii4 l#d-bl7--has not been touched by the ,deuteronomic redaction4 ,the ,elijah narratives not only recognize the existence of altars all over the land1 #a ,kings xix4 #aj1 but the great contest between ,jehovah and ,baal is actually decided at the sanctuary on ,carmel1 xviii4 #bj1 a sanctuary which1 by the ,deuteronomic law1 was illegal4 ,again1 the advice given by ,elisha to cut down the fruit trees in time of war1 #b ,kings iii4 #ai1 is in direct contravention of the ,deuteronomic law 7,deut4 xx4 #ai74 ,these narratives must precede the redaction of the book by a century and a half or more1 and we have them pretty much as they left the hand of the original writers4 ,a post-exilic hand1 however1 is evident in #a ,kings xviii4 #ca1 #cb;a4 ,to a later age1 which believed in the exclusive rights of ,jerusalem1 the altar on ,carmel1 which was said to be repaired by ,elijah1 v4 #cj1 was naturally an offence2 so the repairing of this old altar is represented as the erection of a new and special one1 typical of the unity of ,israel4 ,the lateness of the insertion is further proved by its containing a quotation from ,p 7,gen4 xxxv4 #aj74 ,as the book was redacted by ,judean writers1 it is not unnatural that the summary notices of the kings of ,judah are more elaborate than those of ,israel4 ,in the former case1 but not in the latter1 the age of the king at his accession and the name of his mother are mentioned4 ,one curious feature of these notices is that the statement of a king's accession1 whether in ,israel or ,judah1 is always accompanied by a statement of the corresponding year in the contemporary reign of the sister kingdom4 ,the notices conform to this type3 ,in the twenty and seventh year of ,jeroboam1 king of ,israel1 began ,azariah1 son of ,amaziah1 king of ,judah1 to reign1 #b ,kings xv4 #a4 ,it is practically certain that these synchronisms1 as they are called1 are not contemporary but the work of the redactors4 ,there is no reason to suppose that the kings of either country would have dated their own reigns with reference to the other2 besides1 the synchronisms do not strictly agree with the other chronological notices of the reigns4 ,the period between the division of the kingdoms and the fall of ,samaria is estimated as #bfj years in the story of the kings of ,judah1 but only as #bdb in the case of ,israel4 ,probably the original documents contained the number of years in the reign1 and the dates of the more important events2 but the synchronisms represent an artificial scheme created by the redactor4 ,traces of such a system are present in #a ,kings vi4 #a1 according to which #dhj years1 i4e4 twelve generations of forty years each1 elapsed between the exodus and the building of the temple4 ,so much for the redaction2 what1 then1 were the sources of the redaction8 ,three are expressly mentioned--the book of the acts of ,solomon1 #a ,kings xi4 #da1 the book of the chronicles of the kings of ,israel1 and the book of the chronicles of the kings of ,judah4 ,the nature of these books may be inferred1 partly from the facts recorded in our book of ,kings1 and especially from the facts in support of which they are cited4 ,they seem to have contained1 e4g41 accounts of wars1 conquests1 conspiracies1 buildings1 #a ,kings xiv4 #ai1 xv4 #bc1 xvi4 #bj1 but it is not probable that they were official annals4 ,there was indeed a court official whose name is sometimes translated the recorder1 #b ,sam4 viii4 #af1 #a ,kings iv4 #c4 ,but besides the probable inaccuracy of this translation1#a it is very unlikely that1 in the northern kingdom at any rate1 with its frequent revolutions1 court annals were continuously kept2 the annalist could hardly have recorded the questionable steps by which his monarch often succeeded to the throne1 though doubtless official documents were extant1 capable of forming material for the subsequent historian4 ,but in any case1 the chronicles to which the book of ,kings refers cannot have been official annals2 it is assumed that they are accessible to everybody1 as they would not have been had they been official chronicles4 ,they were in all probability finished political histories1 something like the elaborate section devoted to ,solomon in our present book of ,kings4 ,the chronicles of the kings of ,israel and ,judah probably formed1 not one book1 as has been supposed1 but two2 the same event1 e4g41 the campaign of ,hazael1 is sometimes mentioned in two distinct and independent connections1 #b ,kings x4 #cb1 xiii4 #c1 cf4 xii4 #ah;f4--a fact which further suggests that the redactor treated his sources with at least comparative fidelity4 ,footnote #a3 ,the word strictly means one who calls to mind1 and would appropriately designate an official who brought the affairs of the kingdom before the king4 ,the book of ,kings1 as we have seen1 concentrates attention almost exclusively on the religious elements in the history1 and these were determined largely by the prophets4 ,it is not surprising1 therefore1 that many of the longer sections deal with the utterances or activities of prophets at critical junctures of the history4 ,the part played by ,ahijah at the time of the disruption of the kingdom1 by ,elijah in the great struggle between ,baal and ,jehovah worship1 by ,elisha during the ,aramean assaults upon ,israel1 by ,isaiah at the invasion of ,sennacherib--these and similar episodes are dealt with so fully as to suggest that biographies of the prophets1 written possibly by literary members of the prophetic order1 were at the disposal of the redactors of the book of ,kings4 ,temple affairs are also discussed1 from the days of ,solomon to ,josiah 7,i ,kings vi4 vii41 #b ,kings xi41 xii41 xvi41 xxii41 xxiii471 with a sympathy and a minuteness which almost suggest the inference that a regular temple history was kept2 but occasional statements which are anything but flattering to the priests 7#b ,kings xii4 #g1 #ae7 render the inference somewhat precarious4 ,besides the chronicles and biographies1 there are hints that the redactors had access to other sources4 ,the words in which ,solomon dedicated the temple1 only partially preserved in the ,hebrew1 are1 by a very probable emendation of the ,greek text1 taken from the book of ,jashar3-- ,the sun hath ,jehovah set in the heavens1 ,he himself hath determined to dwell in the darkness4 ,and so ,i have built ,thee an house to dwell in1 ,even a place to abide in for ever and ever4 7#a ,kings viii4 #ab1 #ac2 ,septuagint1 v4 #ec74 ,again1 #a ,kings xx41 xxii4 appears to come from a different source from the ,elijah narratives in #a ,kings xvii4-xix41 xxi4 ,the former section takes a distinctly more favourable view of ,ahab than the ,elijah stories do1 and1 unlike them1 it alludes to ,ahab seldom by name1 but usually as the king of ,israel2 further1 in it the great prophet of the period is ,micah rather than ,elijah4 ,both these groups of narrative belong no doubt to the northern kingdom4#a ,footnote #a3 ,chs4 xx41 xxii4 obviously so2 but no less xvii4-xix41 xxi41 for in #a ,kings xix4 #c ,beersheba is described as belonging to ,judah4 ,a ,judean writer would not have appended such a note4 ,it is important to consider the value of the sources of the book of ,kings4 ,we have already seen that the redactor occasionally deals with them in a spirit of praiseworthy scrupulousness1 repeating the same fact from different sources1 and making no attempt to dovetail the one narrative into the other4 ,sometimes the sources have been demonstrably followed word for word1 phrases like to this day being used of situations which had passed away by the time the book was redacted4#a ,the facts1 though lamentably meagre1 have usually the appearance of being thoroughly trustworthy2 the quotation from the book of ,jashar is no doubt as genuine as it is interesting1 and the brief account of the submission of ,hezekiah to the tribute imposed by ,sennacherib1 #b ,kings xviii4 #ad-af1 is supported by the ,assyrian records4 ,but it is evident that the history does not always rest upon contemporary sources1 and that early events and personalities are touched with the colours of legend or romance4 ,much of the story of ,solomon1 e4g41 is unmistakably historical--his luxury1 his effeminacy1 his commerce1 his unscrupulousness4 ,but there are stories of another sort which1 on the face of them1 must be decades1 if not centuries1 later than ,solomon's reign4 ,there came no more1 we are informed1 such abundance of spices as those which the queen of ,sheba gave to king ,solomon 7#a ,kings x4 #aj74 ,the age of ,solomon is clearly long past1 and his glory has been enhanced by the lapse of time2 for silver was nothing accounted of in the days of ,solomon1 x4 #ba4 ,tales are told of his almost fabulous revenue1 x4 #ad1 which can hardly be reconciled with the story of his loan from ,hiram1 ix4 #ad4 ,the story of ,solomon is really a compilation1 and its various elements are by no means all of the same historical value4 ,footnote #a3 ,e4g41 #a ,kings xii4 #ai implies the existence of ,israel1 and #b ,kings viii4 #bb 7,edom revolted from under the hand of ,judah unto this day7 ignores the later conquest of ,edom by ,amaziah1 xiv4 #g4 ,the career of ,elisha is also seen through the colours of a rich and reverent imagination4 ,it is1 in the main1 intended to be a replica of ,elijah's1 and many of his miracles are obviously suggested by his4 ,the story of ,elisha's resuscitation of the dead child is an expansion of the similar story told of ,elijah 7#b ,kings iv41 #a ,kings xvii471 and his miracle wrought in behalf of the widow1 #b ,kings iv4 #a-g1 is modelled on a similar miracle wrought by ,elijah1 #a ,kings xvii4 #h-af4 ,there is further an element of magic in his miracles which differentiates them from ,elijah's1 and throws them more upon the level of mediaeval hagiography2 such1 e4g41 as the floating of the iron upon the water1 or the raising of a dead man by contact with the prophet's bones4 ,the ,elijah narratives1 on the other hand1 represent a higher type of religious thought4 ,the figure of that great prophet may also have been glorified by tradition1 but in any case his was a personality of the most commanding power4 ,he was indeed fortunate in his biographer2 his story is told with great dramatic and literary art4 ,in its account of the struggle with the greed of ,ahab and the licentiousness of ,baalism1 it sheds a brilliant light upon one of the most crucial epochs of ,hebrew history4 ,even this story1 however1 is not all of a piece4 ,there is linguistic and other evidence that the chapter 7#b ,kings i471 in which two companies of fifty men are consumed by fire from heaven at the word of ,elijah1 is very late4 ,in the story1 which is rather mechanical and lacks the splendid dramatic power of the other ,elijah stories1 the prophet is only a wonder-worker1 and his action is not determined by any moral consideration4 ,it was not so much the spirit of ,elijah himself1 but rather that of the late redactor1 that ,jesus rebuked1 when ,he said to ,his disciples1 who quoted the prophet's conduct for a precedent1 ,ye know not what spirit ye are of4 ,perhaps the chapter of least historical value in the book of ,kings is that in which ,jeroboam ,i is condemned and denounced for his idolatry at ,bethel 7#a ,kings xiii474 ,it contains an unparelleled instance of predictive prophecy3 ,josiah is foretold by name three centuries before he appears1 v4 #b4 ,the difficulty of this prediction is so keenly felt that one orthodox commentator feels constrained to dispose of it by assuming that the name is to be taken1 not as a proper name1 but in its etymological sense as one whom ,jehovah supports1 ,the sudden withering of the hand and its equally sudden restoration to health are hardly more surprising than the definite prediction of the fate of the idolatrous priests1 v4 #b1--;a prediction which appears to be fulfilled to the letter1 #b ,kings xxiii4 #af-ah4 ,but when we examine the account of the fulfilment1 we find that the passage is later than its context#a and inconsistent with it4 ,the conduct of the old prophet1 whose lying counsel is attributed to an angel1 is1 morally considered1 disreputable1 and it is surely no accident that the man of ,god1 whose message and fate are thus strangely told1 is anonymous1 though1 as the opponent of the famous ,jeroboam ,i1 the leader of the disruption1 he ought to have been well known4 ,the vagueness and improbabilities of the story can only be accounted for by its very late date4 ,fortunately we are able to show that the story is1 at the earliest1 post-exilic4 ,as we have already seen1 there is an allusion in v4 #cb to the cities of ,samaria1 which implies that ,samaria was a province1 and stamps the passage at once as post-exilic4 ,even within the post-exilic period1 it probably falls quite late--a precursor of the book of ,chronicles4 ,the historical spirit is in abeyance1 and edification is the only consideration4 ,the story is a late attempt to illustrate the great truth that ,god's word is immutable and must be uncompromisingly obeyed4 ,footnote #a3 ,verse #af1 in which the bones are burned on the altar1 contradicts v4 #ae1 in which the altar is already destroyed4 ,the religious value of the book of ,kings is general rather than particular4 ,there are individual sections of great religious power and value--most of all the great group of ,elijah narratives2 but the book has been shorn1 by the thoroughness of the redaction1 of much that would have been of the deepest interest to the modern student of ,israel's religious no less than political development4 ,taken as a whole1 it has a certain melancholy grandeur4 ,beginning in the splendid glitter of ,solomon's reign1 the monarchy passed with unsteady gait across the centuries1 menaced by foes without and within1 and ended at last in the irretrievable disaster of exile4 ,but through the sombre march of history1 a divine purpose was being accomplished4 ,the disaster which swallowed up the nation renewed and spiritualized the religion1 and thus the seeming loss proved great gain4 ,,isaiah ,,chapters ,i-,,xxxix ,isaiah is the most regal of the prophets4 ,his words and thoughts are those of a man whose eyes had seen the ,king1 vi4 #e4 ,the times in which he lived were big with political problems1 which he met as a statesman who saw the large meaning of events1 and as a prophet who read a divine purpose in history4 ,unlike his younger contemporary ,micah1 he was1 in all probability1 an aristocrat2 and during his long ministry 7#gdj-gja ,b4,c41 possibly1 but not probably later7 he bore testimony1 as unremitting as it was brilliant1 to the indefeasible supremacy of the unseen forces that shape history1 and to the quiet strength that comes from confidence in ,god4 ,during this period three events stand out as of unique importance3 the coalition--due to fear of ,assyria--formed by ,aram and ,israel against ,judah in #gce ,b4,c4 7vii4 #a-;ix4 #f71 the capture of ,samaria by the ,assyrians in #gba ,b4,c41 and the deliverance of ,jerusalem in #gja ,b4,c4 from the menace of ,sennacherib4 ,in these and in all crises1 ,isaiah's message was a religious one1 but instinct1 as the sequel showed1 with political wisdom4 ,it rested ultimately upon the vision with which his ministry had been inaugurated--the vision of the ,king1 the ,lord of hosts1 upon a throne high and lifted up1 whose glory filled the whole earth4 ,the ,king was holy1 partly1 no doubt1 in the ethical sense--for the man of unclean lips is afraid in ,his presence--but also partly in the older sense of being separated1 elevated1 lifted above the chances and changes of humanity4 ,holiness here is almost equivalent to majesty1 it is the other side of the divine glory2 and it is this thought that inspires the message of ,isaiah with such serene confidence4 ,his ,god is on the throne of the universe3 ,he is the ,lord of hosts4 ,his purposes concern not only ,judah1 but the whole world1 xiv4 #bf1 and ,his kingdom must eventually come4 ,therefore it is that when1 at the news of the confederacy of ,aram and ,israel against ,judah1 the heart of ,ahaz and his people shook as shake the forest trees before the wind1 vii4 #b1 ,isaiah remains firm as a rock2 for1 to paraphrase his own great alliterative words1 ,faith brings fixity1 vii4 #i;b4 ,this word of his early ministry is also one of his latest 7#gja73 he who believeth shall not give way1 xxviii4 #af4 ,that is the precious foundation stone that abides unshaken amid the shock of circumstance1 and can bear any weight that may be thrown upon it4 ,this1 then1 is ,isaiah's great contribution to religion3 he is before all things1 the prophet of faith4 ,in quietness and confidence your strength shall be1 xxx4 #ae4 ,it is easy from this point of view to understand the scorn which ,isaiah heaps upon the common objects of men's trust1 whether ships1 walls or towers 7ii471 lip-worship1 xxix4 #ac;f41 or the gorgeous services of the sanctuary1 cunning diplomacy or the projected alliance with ,egypt or ,assyria 7xxx474 ,isaiah is the sworn foe of materialism3 the contrast between human and divine resource is to him nothing less than infinite4 ,the ,egyptians are men1 and not ,god2 and their horses flesh1 and not spirit1 7xxxi4 #c74 ,it is in harmony with this insistence upon the supremacy of the spiritual that ,isaiah regarded religion as separable not only from political form1 but even from ecclesiastical organization2 for 7if the text of viii4 #af;b can be trusted7 he committed his message not to the contemporary church1 but to a few disciples1 transforming thereby the existing conception of the church1 and taking a step of immeasurable significance for the development of true religion4 ,the majesty and originality of ,isaiah's thought have their counterpart in his language4 ,very powerful1 e4g41 is his description of the ,assyrian army-- ,see6 hastily1 swiftly he comes1 ,none weary1 none stumbling among them1 ,the band of his loins never loosed1 ,the thong of his shoes never torn4 ,his arrows are sharpened1 ,his bows are all bent4 ,the hoofs of his horses are counted as flint1 ,and his wheels as the whirlwind4 ,his roar is like that of the lioness4 ,and like the young lions he roars1 ,thundering1 seizing the prey1 ,and bearing it off to a place of security4 v4 #bf-bi4 ,the book is full of poetry as fine as this4 ,whether describing the mighty roar of the sea1 xvii4 #ab-ad1 or ,jehovah's power to defend ,israel1 xxxi4 #d1 or singing a tender vineyard song 7v472 ,isaiah is equally at home4 ,he effects his transitions with consummate skill3 note1 e4g41 the swift application he makes of the parable of the vineyard1 v4 #e-g1 or the scathing retort he makes to those who complain of the monotony and repetition of his message 7xxviii4 #aa74a ,footnote #a3 ,the real irony of this passage1 xxviii4 #aj-ac1 can only be appreciated in the ,hebrew4 ,the prophecies that fall within the first thirty-nine chapters are practically all on a very high religious and literary level2 yet it is all but universally conceded that they are not entirely from the hand of ,isaiah4 ,some prophecies1 e4g4 xiii41 xiv41 may be nearly two centuries later than his time1 others1 e4g4 xxiv4-xxvii1 four or six2 indeed large sections or fragments of the book are relegated by the more radical critics to the second century ,b4,c4 and connected with the ,maccabean times4 ,but even the more conservative scholars admit that several oracles of ,isaiah have been worked over by later hands1 possibly by pupils1 and that isolated sections1 e4g4 xxiv4-xxvii41 have to be relegated to the post-exilic age1 and even to a comparatively late period within that age4 ,these questions can only be settled1 if at all1 by exegetical1 theological and historical considerations1 for which this is not the place2 but in sketching the contents of the various prophecies1 the more probable alternatives will be indicated1 where a solution is important4 ,it is plain that the present order of the book is not strictly chronological2 otherwise it would have begun with the inaugural vision which now appears in ch4 vi4 ,generally speaking1 there are six more or less sharply articulated divisions in the first thirty-nine chapters1 i4-xii41 xiii4-xxiii41 xxiv4-xxvii41 xxviii4-xxxiii41 xxxiv4-xxxv41 xxxvi4-xxxix4 ,chs1 i4-xii4 ,prophecies concerning ,judah1 ,jerusalem 7and ,israel7 ,the first division1 like the fourth1 deals in the main with ,judah and ,jerusalem4 ,as the next division1 xiii4-xxiii41 deals with foreign peoples1 i4#a can serve as a preface only to the first division and not to the whole book4 ,the prophecy opens with an arraignment of ,judah1 intensely ethical in spirit4 ,it was placed here1 not because it was first in point of time1 but as a sort of frontispiece2 for1 though the different sections of the ch41 e4g4 vv4 #b-i1 #aj-bj1 may come from different times1 the first at any rate implies the ravaging of ,judah1 i4 #g1 and appears to point to the invasion of ,sennacherib in #gja ,b4,c43 it would thus be one of the latest in the book4 ,the land is wasted1 the body politic diseased1 i4 #a-i2 the people seek the favour of their ,god by assiduous and costly ceremony1 which the prophet answers by an appeal for a moral instead of a ritual service1 vv4 #aj-bj4 ,but1 as injustice and idolatry are rampant1 they will be surely punished1 vv4 #ba-ca4 ,as a foil to this picture of the depravity of ,zion1 a foil also to the immediately succeeding description of her pride and idolatry1 is the beautiful vision of ,zion in the issue of the days1 ii4 #b-e1 as the city to which all nations shall resort for religious instruction1 and their obedience to the expressed will of the ,god of ,zion will usher in a reign of universal peace4 ,the passage appears1 with an additional verse1 in ,micah iv4 #a-e1 where it seems to be preserved in a more original form2 yet ,isaiah can hardly have borrowed it from ,micah1 who was younger than he4 ,it used to be supposed that both adopted it from an older poet4 ,but the contents of the oracle1 assigning as it does a world-wide significance to ,zion1 its temple1 and its torah1 while not absolutely incompatible with ,isaianic authorship1 rather point to a post-exilic date4 ,we are the more at liberty to assume that the passage was later inserted as a foil to the preceding description of ,zion as ,sodom1 as neither in ,isaiah nor in ,micah does it fit the context4 ,the general theme of ii4-iv4 is the divine judgment which will fall on all the foolish pride of ,judah4 ,how it will come1 ,isaiah does not say--the prophecy is one of the earliest 7#gce87--;but the storm that will sweep across the land will reveal the impotence of superstition and idolatry and material resources of every kind1 ii4 #f-bb4 ,all the supports of ,judah's political life will be taken away3 indeed1 the leaders are either so weak or rapacious that the country is already as good as ruined1 iii4 #a-ae2 and the women1 who are as guilty as the men1 will also be involved in their doom1 iii4 #af-;iv4 #a4 ,strangely enough1 this eloquent threat of judgment ends in a vision of comfort and peace1 iv4 #b-f4 ,the land is one day to be wondrously fruitful1 her people to be cleansed and holy1 and the glory of ,jehovah will be over ,zion as a shelter and shade4 ,the theological implications of this last passage seem late1 and it was probably appended by another hand than ,isaiah's as a contrast and consolation4 ,then follows a lament1 in the form of a vineyard song1 which skilfully ends in a denunciation of ,judah1 the vineyard of ,jehovah1 v4 #a-g1 merging thereafter into a sixfold woe1 pronounced upon her rapacious land-holders1 drunkards1 sceptics1 enemies of the moral order1 worldly wise men1 besotted and unjust judges1 v4 #h-bd4 ,this is fittingly followed by the announcement that ,jehovah will summon against ,judah the swift1 unwearied and invincible hosts of ,assyria1 v4 #be-cj4 ,in the noble vision 7#gdj ,b4,c47 which inaugurated his prophetic ministry 7vi471 ,isaiah saw the glorious ,jehovah attended by seraphim and received from ,him the call to go forth and deliver his message to an unbelieving people4 ,this vision appropriately introduces the prophecies proper in vii4-xii42 but it is practically certain that though the vision itself was early1 the account of it is later4 ,the hopelessness of his prospective ministry looks rather like the retrospect of a disappointing experience4 ,though ,isaiah elsewhere expresses his faith in the salvation of a remnant1 this chapter asserts the utter annihilation of the people1 vv4 #aa-ac;ab4 ,an attempt has been made to relieve the gloom in the last clause of the chapter1 v4 #ac c1 by a comparison of the stump of the tree that remained1 after felling1 to the holy seed2 but this clause1 which is wanting in the ,septuagint1 and utterly blunts the keen edge of the prophecy1 is no part of the original chapter4 ,the next section1 vii4 i-ix4 #f1 plunges us into the war which the allied arms of ,aram and ,israel waged against ,judah in #gce1 doubtless in the desire to force her to join a coalition against ,assyria4 ,isaiah1 vii4 #a-ag1 seeks to reassure the faith of the trembling king ,ahaz2 and when ,ahaz refuses to put the prophetic word to the test1 ,isaiah boldly declares that the land will be delivered from the menace before two or three years are over2 and many a child--or it may be some particular child--soon to be born1 will be given the name ,immanuel1 and will thereby bear witness to the faith that1 despite the stress of invasion1 ,god will not forget ,his people1 but that ,he is with us4#a ,to the same period1 but probably not the same occasion1 belongs the prophecy of the devastation of ,judah by ,assyria1 vii4 #ah-be4 ,but the blow is to fall first1 and within two or three years1 on ,aram and ,israel1 with their respective capitals4 ,it did not fall so quickly as ,isaiah had expected3 ,damascus was indeed taken in #gcb1 but ,samaria not till #gba3 in spirit1 however1 if not in the letter1 the prophecy was fulfilled1 viii4 #a-d4 ,the unbelief of ,judah will also be punished by the hosts of ,assyria1 but the ultimate purpose of ,jehovah will not be frustrated1 viii4 #e-aj4 ,he alone is to be feared1 and no combination of confederate kings need alarm1 viii4 #aa-ae4 ,the prophet commits his message to his disciples1 and with patience and confidence looks for vindication to the future1 viii4 #af-ah4 ,desperate days would come1 viii4 #ai-ia1 but they would be followed by a brilliant day of redemption when ,jehovah would remove the yoke from the shoulder of ,his burdened people by sending them a glorious prince with the fourfold name4 ,footnote #a3 vii4 #h;b ,this latter prophecy1 ix4 #b-g1 has been denied to ,isaiah1 but apparently with insufficient reason4 ,the passage falls very naturally into its context4 ,the northern districts of ,israel 7ix4 #a7 had been ravaged by ,assyria in #gcd ,b4,c4 7#b ,kings xv4 #bi71 and upon this darkness it is fitting that the great light should shine2 and the yoke to be broken might well be the heavy tribute ,judah was now obliged to pay4 ,there are undoubted difficulties1 e4g4 the mention of a ,davidic king1 ix4 #g1 after a specific reference to the fortunes of ,israel over which the ,davidic king had no jurisdiction2 and it is probable that we do not possess the oracle in its original form or completeness4 ,but1 in any case1 the vision of the righteous and prosperous king ruling over a delivered people fittingly closes this series of somewhat loosely connected oracles4 ,the next section1 ix4 #h-x4 #d1 forms a very artistic whole1 consisting of four strophes1 each of four verses1#a concluding with the refrain-- ,for all this ,his wrath is not turned1 ,and ,his hand is stretched out still4 ,the poem1 which falls about #gcd1 lashes the pride and ambition of ,israel 7not ,judah7 and threatens her people with loss of territory and population1 anarchy and civil war4 ,the passage was probably originally followed by v4 #bf-bi1 which has a similar refrain1 and which1 with its vivid description of the terrible ,assyrian army1 would form an admirable climax to this poem4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 ix4 #h is an introduction and v4 #ac an interpolation4 ,chs4 x4 #e-xii4 #f4 ,assyria1 then1 is the instrument with which ,jehovah chastises ,israel4 ,but because she executes her task in a spirit of presumption and pride1 she in her turn is doomed to destruction2 but the remnant of ,jehovah's people will be saved1 x4 #e-bg4 ,the gradual approach of the ,assyrians to ,jerusalem is then described in language full of word-play1 vv1 #bh-cb1 which forcibly reminds us of a very similar passage in ,isaiah's contemporary ,micah1 i4 #aj-ae4 ,this chapter is probably about twenty years later than those that immediately precede it4 ,there is an obvious advance in the prophet's attitude to ,assyria1 and the boast in vv4 #i-aa carries the chapter later than the fall of ,samaria 7#gba7 and ,carchemish 7#gag74 ,it is even possible that the description of the ,assyrian advance in vv4 #bh-cb implies ,sennacherib's campaign in ,judah in #gja4 ,after the destruction of the enemy before ,jerusalem in x4 #cc1 #cd follows an enthusiastic description of the ,messianic king--of his wisdom and justice1 and of the universal peace which will extend even to the animal world1 xi4 #a-i4 ,it is the counterpart of ix4 #b-g1 though here again1 and perhaps with more reason1 the ,isaianic authorship has been doubted4 ,the peculiar emphasis upon the equipment with the spirit is hardly1 in these ethical relationships1 demonstrably pre-exilic1 and the stem out of which the shoot is to grow suggests that the monarchy had fallen1 but the word may possibly be used to indicate its decadent condition4 ,in any case1 there seems very little doubt that the rest of the section1 xi4 #aj-xii4 #f1 strikingly appropriate as it is in this place1 is post-exilic4 ,it describes how in the ,messianic days just pictured1 theexiles of ,israel and ,judah will be gathered from the ends of the earth to their own land1 where their near neighbours will all be vanquished1 xi4 #aj-af4 ,then follows a simple song of gratitude for the redemption ,jehovah has wrought1 xii4 ,the presuppositions of the dispersion here described are not such as fit into ,isaiah's time2 they would not even apply to the conditions after the fall of ,jerusalem and the exile of ,judah in #ehf1 still less to the fall of ,samaria and the exile of ,israel in #gbl--the passage must be post-exilic4 ,but though much later than ,isaiah's time it forms a very skilful conclusion to the first division of his book1 and is an admirable counterpart to the gloomy scenes of ch4 i4 ,chs4 xiii4-xxiii4 ,prophecies concerning foreign nations ,chs4 xiii4 #a-xiv4 #bc4 ,the ,downfall of ,babylon4 ,the oracle concerning ,babylon1 the first of the series of oracles concerning foreign nations1 is one of the most magnificent odes in literature4 ,a day of destruction to be executed by the ,medes is coming upon ,babylon the proud 7xiii47 and the exiles will return to their own land1 xiv4 #a-c4 ,the triumph song that follows discloses a weird scene in the underworld1 where the fallen king of ,babylon receives an ironical welcome from the shadow-kings of the other nations4 ,there can be no doubt that this prophecy is not by ,isaiah4 ,it glows with a passionate hatred of ,babylon2 but the ,babylon which figured in the days of ,isaiah 7xxxix47 was only a province of ,assyria1 not an independent and oppressive world-power2 nor would its destruction have meant the return of the exiles of northern ,israel4 ,the situation is plainly that of the period during the later exile of ,judah before the capture of ,babylon by ,cyrus in #ech1 as the horrors which the poet anticipated 7xiii4 #ae;f47 did not take place4 ,in the spirit of ch4 x41 xiv4 #bd-bg proclaims the invincible triumph of ,jehovah's purpose and the destruction of the ,assyrians in the land of ,judah4 ,the assassination of ,sargon in #gje ,b4,c4 was the cause of wild rejoicing throughout the western vassal states3 the joy of ,philistia is rebuked by the prophet in vv4 #bh-cb with the warning that worse is yet in store--an allusion1 no doubt1 to an expected ,assyrian invasion4 ,if this be the theme of the passage1 v4 #bh can hardly be correct1 as ,ahaz had died ten or twenty years before4 ,chs4 xv41 xvi4 ,oracle concerning ,moab4 ,the subscription to this prophecy1 xvi4 #ac1 indicates that we have here an older prophetic oracle1 given heretofore4 ,strictly speaking1 it is not so much a prophecy as an elegy over the fate of ,moab whose land had been devastated by an invader from the north4 ,the fugitives1 arriving in ,edom1 send in vain for help to the people of ,judah4 ,who the invader was it is hard to say--possibly ,jeroboam ,,ii of ,israel1 whose conquests were extensive 7#b ,kings xiv4 #be2 ,amos vi4 #ad74 ,the oracle1 besides being diffuse1 is altogether destitute of higher prophetic thought1 and is certainly not ,isaiah's1 though he adapted it to the existing situation and foretold a similar and speedy devastation of ,moab1 no doubt at the hands of the ,assyrians1 xvi4 #ad4 ,ch4 xvii4 ,i-,,ii4 ,this prophecy concerning ,aram and ,israel falls1 no doubt1 within the period when these two countries were leagued against ,judah1 about #gce4 ,the doom of ,aram is to be utter destruction2 that of ,israel1 all but utter destruction4 ,in the next two passages1 xvii4 #ab-ad1 xviii41 ,isaiah appears to return to his favourite theme of the sure destruction of the ,assyrians1 though they are not mentioned by name4 ,in xvii4 #ab-ad their hosts are compared to the noise of many waters1 while in xviii4 their doom is announced by the prophet in answer to an embassy sent by the ,ethiopians1 who were alarmed at the prospect of an invasion by the ,assyrians1 doubtless under ,sennacherib4 ,ch4 xix4 ,oracle concerning ,egypt4 ,for ,egypt the prophet announces a doom of civil war1 oppression at the hands of a hard master1 and public and private distress which will issue in despair1 vv4 #a-ag4 ,in their terror1 however1 the ,egyptians will cry to ,jehovah1 who will reveal ,himself to them and be in consequence honoured and worshipped on ,egyptian soil4 ,then a triple alliance will be formed between ,egypt1 ,assyria and ,israel1 and they shall all be ,jehovah's people1 vv4 #ah-be4 ,the dream of such an alliance is very attractive and not too bold for so original a thinker as ,isaiah4 ,but the passage is beset by difficulties4 ,the attitude to ,egypt appears to be much friendlier in vv4 #ah-be than in vv4 #a-ag2 and it seems quite impossible to find within ,isaiah's age a place for five 7several87 ,hebrew-speaking cities in ,egypt1 v4 #ah1 whereas such a reference would excellently fit the later post-exilic time when there were extensive ,jewish colonies in ,egypt4 ,if the city specially mentioned at the end of the verse be1 as it seems to be1 either ,sun-city 7,heliopolis7 or ,lion-city 7,leontopolis7 then it would not be unnatural to find1 in the next verse1 with its worship of ,jehovah upon ,egyptian soil1 a reference to the founding of a temple at ,leontopolis by ,onias in #afj ,b4,c4 ,in that case1 ,assyria in v4 #bc stands1 as occasionally elsewhere1 for ,syria1 from which ,israel had suffered more severely during the second century ,b4,c4 than the earlier ,israel from ,assyria2 and the dream of ,palestine1 ,syria1 and ,egypt1 united in the worship of the true ,god1 would be just as striking and generous in the second century as in the eighth4 ,at first1 v4 #ai seems to tell powerfully in favour of the ,isaianic authorship1 as the massebah 7pillar7 here regarded as innocent was proscribed a century after ,isaiah by the ,deuteronomic law 7,deut4 xii4 #c74 ,but the ,egyptian ,jews may not have been so stringent as the ,palestinian1 or we may even suppose that the pillar has here nothing to do with worship1 but stands1 for some other purpose1 on the boundary line4 ,there is no adequate reason1 however1 why vv4 #a-ag1 or at least vv4 #a-ae1 should not be assigned to ,isaiah4 ,in ch4 xx4 7#gaa ,b4,c41 cf4 v4 #a1 capture of ,ashdod7 ,isaiah indicates in symbolic prophecy--which1 however1 was not fulfilled--that the people of ,egypt and ,ethiopia would be deported by the ,assyrians4 ,the prophet's object was to dissuade the people of ,judah from the ,egyptian alliance which they were contemplating4 ,the theme of xxi4 #a-aj is the same as that of xiii41 xiv4--the impending fate of ,babylon--and the passages may be almost contemporary4 ,warriors of ,elam and ,media are sent against ,babylon1 and the issue is awaited with tremulous excitement1 till at last the watchman proclaims the welcome news1 ,babylon is fallen1 is fallen4 ,the importance here aligned to ,babylon and her fall1 the express mention of ,elam and ,media1 v4 #b1 as her assailants1 and the description of ,jehovah's people as threshed point unmistakably to the last years of the exile1 after the rise of ,cyrus in #edi1 and before the fall of ,babylon in #ech1 so that the passage cannot be from ,isaiah4 ,with this seems to go the next little enigmatic oracle concerning ,edom1 xxi4 #aa1 #ab1 whose fate1 as affected by the fall of ,babylon1 is as yet uncertain4 ,the desert tribes1 xxi4 #ac-ag1 will also be affected by the general upheaval and be driven from the regular caravan routes4 ,ch4 xxii4 is the only chapter in this division 7xiii4-xxiii47 which is not concerned with foreign nations4 ,it probably owes its place here to its peculiar superscription which conforms to the other superscription in xiii4-xxiii4 ,in this chapter the prophet laments and very sternly rebukes the frivolity of the people of ,jerusalem--whether shortly before the invasion of ,sennacherib or after his retreat1 it is hard to say4 ,trusting in their armour and fortifications they give the rein to their appetites1 but he solemnly declares that their sin will be punished with death4 ,unique among the oracles of ,isaiah are the two pieces1 xxii4 #ae-ah and #ai-be1 which deal with persons4 ,shebna1 one of the court officials and probably a foreigner1 is threatened with exile and the consequent loss of his office3 probably he championed the policy of an ,egyptian alliance4 ,his place will be taken1 according to ,isaiah1 by ,eliakim1 who1 curiously enough1 is threatened in his turn4 ,probably vv4 #ai-bc are an adaptation of #b ,kings xviii4 #ah1 where ,eliakim is holding an office here held by ,shebna1 while ,shebna is only a scribe4 ,a prophetic lament over ,tyre 7xxiii47 concludes the oracles dealing with the foreign peoples4 ,the glad ancient merchant city will be brought to silence1 vv4 #a-ad1 though after seventy years she is to be revived1 and the proceeds of her traffic are to be enjoyed by the people of ,jerusalem1 vv4 #ae-ah4 ,there was a siege of ,tyre during ,isaiah's time1 but it is probably not that which is celebrated here1 as the poem lacks the nobility and grandeur of the prophet's style4 ,if the oracle is held to imply the conquest of ,tyre1 it would require to be brought down to the time of ,alexander the ,great2 but it may well be only an anticipatory lament and therefore earlier1 contemporary perhaps with a similar oracle of ,ezekiel concerning the siege of ,tyre 7,ez4 xxvi4-xxviii47 ,verses #ae-ah are clearly dependent on ,jeremiah's view of the duration of the ,chaldean oppression 7,jer4 xxv4 #aa1 xxix4 #aj72 and the whole chapter may be exilic4 ,chs4 xxiv4-xxvii4 ,late prophecy concerning the glorious issue of some world-catastrophe4 ,this section is very peculiar1 obscure1 and in the ,old ,testament altogether unique4 ,contemporary historical facts are seen now in the lurid light of fear1 more often in the more brilliant light of eschatological hopes4 ,in ch4 xxiv4 a great catastrophe is impending4 ,the world is weary1 and joy has vanished4 ,the city 7,jerusalem87 is desolate4 ,something has happened to revive ,jewish hopes and kindle high expectations as to the issue of the coming calamity1 but in the immediate future new woes are impending--the earth will reel2 on that day1 however1 ,jehovah will suddenly punish the powers supernatural and terrestrial1 and come down to reign in glory on ,mount ,zion4 ,then 7xxv47 follows an enthusiastic song of praise1 because a certain strong city 7unnamed7 has been laid low4 ,a great banquet is prepared on ,zion for all the sorrow-ridden nations of the world--emblem of their reception into the ,kingdom of ,god--tears are wiped from every eye1 and1 with their reproach removed1 the ,jews praise their ,god for the victory4 ,another song of praise follows in xxvi4 #a-xxvii4 #a for the power with which ,jehovah has defended ,his own city1 and laid her proud rival low4 ,the wicked will not learn from the divine judgments2 but1 while they are destroyed1 not only do ,jehovah's own people increase1 but their dead are restored to life1 to participate in ,his glorious kingdom2 and the dragon is smitten4 ,then follows xxvii4 #b-f1 a song of the vineyard-counterpart to v4 l-#g--which praises ,jehovah's care for ,judah1 with whom ,he is angry no more4 ,her rival shall become a desolation1 but she herself shall be forgiven and re-established1 if only she remove all signs of heathen worship1 and from the ends of the earth her exiled sons shall gather to worship at ,jerusalem4 ,the origin of this piece is wrapped in obscurity2 and it would seem that the author1 for some reason1 deliberately concealed the historical situation4 ,it is not even certain that the piece is a unity3 the song1 e4g41 in xxv4 #a-e interrupts the description of judgment1 and the connection is occasionally loose4 ,there is no clue to what is meant by the strong city which is to be overthrown4 ,it is plain1 however1 that the writer lived in ,palestine1 doubtless in or near ,jerusalem1 xxv4 #f1 #g1 at a time when the ,jews were scattered throughout many lands1 xxiv4 #ad-af1 xxvii4 #ab1 #ac1 and when there were at least three great world powers1 xxvii4 #a4 ,this could hardly have been earlier than the end of the ,persian period1 and probably the tidings that rang from the isles of the sea1 xxiv4 #ad1 #ae1 were those of the victorious advance of ,alexander the ,great4 ,no earlier date would suit the theological implications of the passage3 e4g4 the judgment upon the hosts of heaven1 xxiv4 #ba1 #bb 7cf4 ,dan4 xi471 the resurrection from the dead1 xxvi4 #ai1 the banquet of the nations on ,zion1 xxv4 #f4 ,the style of the passage is nearly as peculiar as its thought1 it abounds in assonance and alliteration4 ,it is assigned by some to the close of the second century ,b4,c42 but1 in any case1 it can hardly be earlier than the later half of the fourth century ,b4,c41 and may well express the wild expectations to which disappointed ,jewish hearts were lifted by the conquests of ,alexander4 ,chs4 xxviii4-xxxiii4 ,prophecies concerning ,judah and ,jerusalem ,we now return to the undoubted prophecies of ,isaiah4 ,this group begins with a woe1 xxviii4 #a-d1 pronounced not long before the fall of ,samaria in #gba ,b4,c41 ending in two verses1 #e1 #f1 presenting another outlook1 apparently by a later hand4 ,in vv4 #g-bb1 probably about the time of the ,egyptian alliance1 ,judah is also threatened for the drunkenness of her leaders1 and for the false confidence which leads the people scornfully to close their ears to prophetic instruction4 ,the interesting little section which follows1 vv4 #bc-bi1 shows how the farmer adapts his methods to the particular work he has to do4 ,the connection1 however1 is anything but obvious3 it may be intended as a reminder to the sceptics of ,judah that the divine penalties1 though slow1 v4 #ai1 are sure2 or it may be meant to suggest that ,god's judgments are tempered with mercy4 ,to the same period belongs the prophecy of the distress that is to be inflicted on ,ariel1 i4e4 ,jerusalem1 by a great multitude of all the nations1 clearly ,sennacherib's army1 xxix4 #a-ae2 but in a prophecy1 probably much later1 which is dramatically appended to it1 a promise of redemption and restoration is held out1 xxix4 #af-bd4 ,in xxx41 xxxi41 also before the invasion of ,sennacherib1 the prophet denounces the folly of trusting the impotent aid of ,egypt1 when their real strength lay in quietly trusting their ,god3 for ,jehovah will smite the ,assyrian with a mysterious blow and defend his dear ,jerusalem4 ,though such promises undoubtedly fall within the range of ,isaiah's message1 the ideas and the general tone of xxx4 #ah-bf are sufficient to place that passage almost certainly in the post-exilic period4 ,against the background of calamity in the two preceding chapters1 xxxii4 #a-h throws up a picture--whether from ,isaiah's or a later hand--of the ,messianic age1 when rulers would be just and character transformed4 ,the imminent desolation of ,jerusalem1 with which the women are threatened1 is again immediately contrasted with the fruitfulness and security of the land1 when the spirit will be poured out from on high1 xxxii4 #i-bj4 ,this group is closed by a song of triumph 7xxxiii47 over the prospective annihilation of the foreign foes who have crushed ,israel1 by the glorious ,god who defends ,jerusalem4 ,there is much in the passage1 especially towards the end1 vv4 #ai-ba1 which looks as if the ,assyrians were the enemy1 and the prophecy1 like most of those in this group1 fell shortly before ,sennacherib's invasion4 ,but1 besides lacking the vigour of ,isaiah's acknowledged prophecies1 the passage contains ideas which are hardly his3 e4g4 the sinners in ,zion1 v4 #ad1 are not to be destroyed but forgiven1 v4 #bd4 ,the allusion to the king in v4 #ag1 if the text is correct1 helps us little1 as the king may be ,jehovah4 ,there is a growing conviction that the passage is post-exilic1 some scholars even bringing it down to the ,maccabean times1 about #afc ,b4,c4 ,chs4 xxxiv41 xxxv4 ,prophecy concerning the redemption and return of ,israel4 ,a fitting conclusion to the whole book--ignoring xxxvi4-xxxix41 which is an historical appendix--is afforded by the picture of the world-judgment1 the redemption of ,israel1 and the destruction of her enemies in xxxiv41 xxxv4 ,edom is singled out as the special object of ,jehovah's vengeance1 xxxiv4 #e-ag2 and1 in contrast to her desolation1 is the blessedness of ,israel1 returning to her own land across the blossoming wilderness with exceeding joy4 ,ch4 xxxv41 at any rate1 seems to point to the return of the exiles from ,babylon1 and ch4 xxxiv4 may also without violence be fitted into this time4 ,the ,jews never forgot or forgave the ,edomites for their cruelty on the occasion of the destruction of ,jerusalem 7,lam4 iv4 #ba;ff41 ,ps4 cxxxvii4 #g7 and the joy of their own redemption would be heightened by the ruin of ,edom 7,mal4 i4 #b-e74 ,if1 however1 xxxiv4 #af implies1 as we are not bound to believe1 a fixed prophetic canon1 the chapters would be very late1 falling somewhere within the second century ,b4,c4 ,more probably they were written1 like xiii41 xiv41 towards the end of the exile4 xxxvi4-xxxix4 ,historical ,appendix ,separating the earlier from the later of the two great divisions of the book of ,isaiah 7i4-xxxv41 xl4-lxvi47 stands a purely historical section1 practically identical with and probably borrowed from #b ,kings xviii4 l#c-xx4 #ai1 which finds its place here1 no doubt simply because of its connection with the prophet ,isaiah4 ,it tells the story of ,sennacherib's invasion of ,judah1 his insulting demands1 whether transmitted through the ,rabshakeh 7xxxvi47 or by letter 7xxxvii471 of ,hezekiah's terror and ,isaiah's divine word of reassurance1 and of the ultimate departure of the ,assyrian army4 ,ch4 xxxviii4 contains ,isaiah's prophecy to ,hezekiah of his recovery from sickness1 with the king's song of gratitude4 ,this is followed by another prophecy of the ,babylonian exile1 occasioned by an embassy sent to ,hezekiah by ,merodach ,baladan1 king of ,babylon 7xxxix474 ,this account omits the very important statement in #b ,kings xviii4 #ad-af of the heavy tribute paid by ,hezekiah to the ,king of ,assyria1 and inserts the psalm of ,hezekiah1 xxxviii4 #i-bj1 which is no doubt later than the redaction of the book of ,kings as it is not found there1 and is1 in all probability1 a post-exilic psalm4 ,it is not certain whether the accounts in xxxvi4 #a-xxxvii4 #i;a and xxxvii4 #i;b-#cg are simply parallel versions of the same incident1 or refer to two different campaigns4 ,in the distinctly prophetical portion1 xxxvii4 #bb;ff1 though there is much that recalls ,isaiah1 the passage in its present form can hardly be his4 ,ch4 xxxvii4 #bf1 e4g4 would be a pertinent appeal to ,israel1 but hardly to ,sennacherib2 it rests1 no doubt1 on the later ,isaiah 7xl4 #bh1 xlvi4 #aa74 ,the prophecy of exile to ,babylon1 xxxix4 #f1 #g1 is not natural at a time when ,assyria1 not ,babylon1 was the enemy4 ,again1 xxxvii4 #cc1 which denies that even an arrow would be shot1 is hardly reconcilable with ,isaiah's prophecy of an arduous siege for the city1 xxix4 #a-d4 ,further1 the minute prediction that ,hezekiah's life would be prolonged for fifteen years is not in the manner of ,isaiah1 nor indeed of any of the great prophets1 whose precise numbers1 where they occur1 are to be interpreted as round numbers 7e4g4 seventy years in ,jer4 xxv4 #aa1 xxix4 #aj72 and the story of the reversal of the shadow on the sun-dial reflects the later conception of the prophet as a miracle-worker 7cf4 ,i ,kings xiii4 #c-f74 ,the section1 in its present form1 must be post-exilic4 ,,chapters ,,xl4-,,lv4 ,with ch4 xl4 we pass into a different historical and theological atmosphere from that of the authentic prophecies of ,isaiah4 ,the very first word1 ,comfort ye1 strikes a new note3 in the main1 the message of ,isaiah had been one of judgment4 ,jerusalem and the cities of ,judah are in ruins1 xlv4 #ac4 ,the people are in exile in the land of the ,chaldeans1 xlvii4 #e1 #f1 from which they are on the point of being delivered1 xlviii4 #bj4 ,the time of her sorrow is all but over1 xl4 #b2 and her redemption is to come through a great warrior who is twice expressly named as ,cyrus1 xliv4 #bh1 xlv4 #a1 and occasionally alluded to as a figure almost too familiar to need naming1 xli4 #be1 xlv4 #ac4 ,he it is who is to overthrow ,babylon1 xlviii4 #ad4 ,such1 then1 is the situation3 the exile is not predicted1 it is presupposed1 and the oppressor is not ,assyria1 as in ,isaiah's time1 but ,babylon4 ,now it is a cardinal1 indeed an obvious principle1 of prophecy that the prophet addresses himself1 at least primarily1 to the situation of his own time4 ,prophecy is a moral1 not a magical thing2 and nothing would be gained by the delivery of a message over a century and a half before it was needed1 to a people to whom it was irrelevant and unintelligible4 ,the literary style of these chapters also differs widely from that of ,isaiah4 ,no doubt there are points of contact1 notably in the fondness for the phrase1 the holy ,one of ,israel--a favourite phrase of ,isaiah's and rare elsewhere4 ,the influence of ,isaiah is unmistakable1 but the differences are no less striking4 ,isaiah mounts up on wings as an eagle3 the later prophet neither mounts nor runs1 he walks1 xl4 #ca4 ,he has not the older prophet's majesty2 he has a quiet dignity1 and his tone is more tender4 ,nor has he ,isaiah's exuberance and fertility of resource3 the same thoughts are repeated1 though with pleasing and ingenious variations1 over and over again4 ,all his characteristic thoughts already appear in the first two chapters3 the certainty and joy of ,israel's redemption1 the omnipotence of ,jehovah and the absurdity of idolatry1 the call of ,cyrus to execute ,jehovah's purpose1 the ultimate design of that purpose as the bringing of the whole world1 through redeemed ,israel1 to a knowledge of the true ,god4 ,the theological ideas of the prophecy are different from those of ,isaiah4 ,unique emphasis is laid on the creative power of ,jehovah1 and this thought is applied to the case of forlorn ,israel with overwhelming effect2 for it is none other than the eternal and omnipotent ,god that is about to reveal ,himself as ,israel's redeemer1 in fulfilment of ancient words of prophecy1 xliv4 #g1 #h4 ,this very attitude to prophecy marks the book as late2 it would not be possible in a pre-exilic prophet4 ,but the most original conception of the book is one which finds no parallel whatever in ,isaiah1 viz4 the suffering servant of ,jehovah4 ,this servant is the exclusive theme of the four songs1 xlii4 #a-d1 xlix4 #a-f1 l4 #d-i1 lii4 l#c-liii4 #ab2 but more or less he is involved in the whole prophecy4 ,the function of the servant is to give light to the ,gentiles--in other words1 to bring the world to a knowledge of ,jehovah 7cf4 xlii4 #a1 xlv4 #ad74 ,who is the servant8 ,the difficulty in answering this question is twofold3 7i47 while the servant is often undoubtedly a collective term for the people of ,israel1 xli4 #h1 xliv4 #a1 #b1 the descriptions of him1 especially in the songs alluded to1 are occasionally so intimately personal as to seem to compel an individual interpretation 7cf4 liii474 ,but in this connection we have to remember the ease with which the ,oriental could personify1 and apply even the most personal detail to a collective body4 ,grey hairs are upon him1 says ,hosea1 vii4 #i1 not of a man but of the nation2 and ,isaiah himself1 i4 #f1 described the body politic as sick from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot 7cf4 ,ezek4 xvi41 xxiii74 ,clearly1 therefore1 individual allusions do not necessarily compel an individual interpretation2 and there is no reason in the nature of the case1 and still less in the context1 to assume a reference to any specific individual4 ,the songs are an integral part of the prophecy3 the function of the servant is the same1 and the servant must also be the same in both4 ,indeed one passage in the second song1 xlix4 #c1 expressly identifies the servant with ,israel2 and in liii41 an intensely personal chapter1 where the servant1 after death1 is to rise again and take his place victoriously in the world1 the collective interpretation of the servant as ,israel1 emerging triumphantly from the doom of exile1 is natural1 if not necessary4 ,but 7ii47 admitting that the servant is everywhere ,israel1 a new difficulty emerges4 ,the terms in which he is described are often apparently contradictory4 ,at one time he is blind and deaf1 xlii4 #ah1 #ai2 at another he is ,jehovah's witness and minister to the blind and deaf1 i4e4 to the heathen world1 xliii4 #h-aj1 xlii4 #g4 ,this contrast1 which runs through the prophecy1 is simply to be explained as a blending of the real and the ideal4 ,the people contemplated are in both cases the same2 but1 at one time1 the prophet contemplates them as they are1 unreceptive and irresponsive to their high destiny2 at another1 he regards them in the light of that destiny--called1 through their experience of suffering and redemption1 to bring the world to a saving knowledge of the true and only ,god4 ,chapters xl4-xlix4 fall somewhere about #edj ,b4,c4-between the decisive victories of ,cyrus over the ,lydians in #edf 7cf4 xli4 #a-e7 and the capture of ,babylon in #ech4 ,the prophecy opens with a word of consolation4 ,the exile of ,judah is all but over1 her redemption is very nigh2 for the eternal purpose of ,jehovah must be fulfilled1 xl4 #a-aa1 ,he is a ,god whose power and wisdom are beyond all imagining1 and ,he will be the strength of those who put their trust in ,him 7xl4 #ab-cl74#a ,for ,he has raised up a great warrior from the north-east 7cf4 xli4 #b1 #be71 i4e4 ,cyrus1 through whom ,israel's happy return to her own land is assured 7xli4 #a-bj74 ,israel's ,god is the true ,god2 for ,he alone foretold this day1 as no heathen god could ever have done1 xli4 #ba-bi4 ,the mission of ,his servant ,israel is to spread the knowledge of ,his name throughout the world1 and that mission must be fulfilled1 xlii4 #a-i4 ,let the world rejoice1 then1 at the glorious redemption ,jehovah has wrought for ,his people1 xlii4 #aj-ag2 for their sorrow1 xlii4 #ah-be1 and their redemption alike1 xliii4 #a-g1 spring from a deep purpose of love4 ,israel is now fitted to be ,jehovah's witness before the world1 for her impending deliverance from ,babylon is more marvellous than her ancient deliverance from ,egypt1 xliii4 #h-ba4 ,her grievous sins are freely forgiven1 xliii4 #bb-bh1 and soon she shall enter upon a new and happy life1 xliv4 #a-e1 for her ,god1 the eternal and the only ,god1#b forgives and redeems1 xliv4 #f-bc4 ,footnote #a3 ,between xl4 #ai and #bj probably xli4 #f1 #g should be inserted4 ,footnote3 ,ch4 xliv4 #i-bj1 though graphic1 is diffuse1 and interrupts the context3 it is probably a later addition4 ,the deliverance of ,israel is to be effected through ,cyrus1 who is honoured with the high titles1 ,shepherd and ,messiah of ,jehovah1 xlv4 #a1 and assured by him of a triumphant career1 for ,israel and the true religion's sake1 xliv4 #bd-xlv4 #h4 ,those who are surprised at ,jehovah's call of the foreign ,cyrus are sternly reminded that ,jehovah is sovereign and can call whom ,he will1 xlv4 #i-ac1 and the ultimate object of ,his call is that through the redemption of ,israel1 which he is commissioned to effect1 all men shall be saved1 and the worship of ,jehovah established throughout the whole world1 xlv4 #ad-be4 ,in xlvi4 the impotence of the ,babylonian gods to save themselves when the city is taken by ,cyrus is contrasted with the incomparable power of ,jehovah as shown in history1 and in ,his foreknowledge of the future1 and made the basis of a warning to ,israel to cast away despondency4 ,then follows a song of triumph over ,babylon1 the proud and luxurious1 whose doom all her magic and astrology cannot avert 7xlvii474 ,ch4 xlviii4 strikes in places a different note from that of the previous chapters4 ,they are a message of comfort2 and1 where the people are censured1 it is for lack of faith and responsiveness4 ,in this chapter1 on the other hand1 the tone is in places stern1 almost harsh1 and the people are even charged with idolatry4 ,probably an original prophecy of ,deutero-,isaiah has been worked over by a post-exilic hand4 ,this chapter is in the nature of a summary4 ,it emphasizes ,jehovah's fore-knowledge as witnessed by the ancient prophecies and their fulfilment in the coming deeds of ,cyrus2 and the section fittingly closes with a ringing appeal to ,israel to go forth out of ,babylon4#a ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 xlviii4 #bb is probably borrowed from lvii4 #ba1 where it is in place1 to divide xl4-lxvi4 into three equal parts4 ,chapters xlix4-lv4 presuppose the same general situation as xl4-xlviii42 but whereas the earlier chapters deal incidentally with the victories of ,cyrus and the folly of idolatry1 xlix4-lv4 concentrate attention severely upon ,israel herself1 which is often addressed as ,zion4 ,the group begins with the second of the servant songs1 xlix4 #a-f1 its theme being ,israel's divine call1 through suffering and redemption1 to bring the whole world to the true religion4 ,in earnest and beautiful language ,israel is assured of restoration and a happy return to her own land1 of the rebuilding of her ruins1 and the increase of her population2 and no power can undo this marvellous deliverance1 for ,jehovah1 despite ,his people's slender faith1 is omnipotent1 xlix4 #g-l4 #c4 ,in l4 #d-i the servant tells of the sufferings which his fidelity brought him1 and his confidence in ,jehovah's power to save and vindicate him4#a ,the glorious salvation is near and sure2 let ,israel but trust in her omnipotent ,god and cast away all fear of man1 li4 #a-af4 ,bitter has been ,jerusalem's sorrow1 but now she may break forth into joy1 for messengers are speeding with good tidings of her redemption1 li4 l#g-lii4 #ab4 ,the fourth and last song of the servant1 lii4 l#c-liii4 #ab1 celebrates the strange and unparalleled sufferings which he bore for the world's sake-his death1 resurrection1 and the consequent triumph and vindication of his cause4 ,in fine contrast to the sufferings of the servant acquainted with grief is the joy that follows in ch4 liv4--joy in the vision of the restored1 populous and glorious city1 or rather in the everlasting love of ,god by which that redemption is inspired4#b ,nothing remains but for the people to lay hold1 in faith1 of the salvation which is so nigh1 and which is so high above all human expectation 7lv474 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 #a4 #aj1 #aa are apparently late4 ,footnote #b3 ,from liv4 #ag and on we hear of the servants of ,jehovah1 not as in xl4-liii41 of the servant4 ,,chapters ,,lvi4-,,lxvi4 ,the problem of the origin and date of this section is one of the most obscure and intricate in the ,old ,testament4 ,the general similarity of the tone to that of xl4-lv4 is unmistakable4 ,there is the same assurance of redemption1 the same brilliant pictures of restoration4 ,but1 apart from the fact that1 on the whole1 the style of lvi4-lxvi4 seems less original and powerful1 the situation presupposed is distinctly different4 ,in xl4-lv41 ,israel1 though occasionally regarded as unworthy1 is treated as an ideal whole1 whereas in lvi4-lxvi4 there are two opposed classes within ,israel itself 7cf4 lvii4 #c;ff41 #ae;ff474 ,one of these classes is guilty of superstitious and idolatrous rites1 lvii4 #c;ff41 lxv4 #c1 #d1 lxvi4 #ag1 whereas in xl4-lv4 the ,babylonians were the idolaters1 xlvi4 #a4 ,again1 the kind of idolatry of which ,israel is guilty is not ,babylonian1 but that indigenous to ,palestine1 and it is described in terms which sometimes sound like an echo of pre-exilic prophecy1 lvii4 #e1 #g 7,hos4 iv4 #ac7--so much so indeed that some have regarded these passages as pre-exilic4 ,the spiritual leaders of the people are false to their high trust1 lvi4 #aj-ab4 ,this last passage implies a religious community more or less definitely organized--a situation which would suit post-exilic times1 but hardly the exile2 and this presumption is borne out by many other hints4 ,the temple exists1 lvi4 #g1 lx4 #g1 #ac1 but religion is at a low ebb4 ,fast days are kept in a mechanical spirit1 and are marred by disgraceful conduct 7lviii474 ,judah suffers from raids1 lxii4 #h1 ,jerusalem is unhappy1 lxv4 #ai1 her walls are not yet built1 lx1 #aj4 ,the gloomy situation explains the passionate appeal of lxiii4 #g-lxiv4 to ,god to interpose--an appeal utterly unlike the serene assurance of xl4-lv43 it explains1 too1 why threat and promise here alternate regularly1 while there the predominant note was one of consolation4 ,in its general temper and background1 though not in its style1 the chapters forcibly recall ,malachi4 ,there is the same condemnation of the spiritual leaders 7lvi4 #aj-ab2 ,mal4 i4 ii471 the same emphasis on the fatherhood of ,god 7lxiii4 #af1 lxiv4 #h2 ,mal4 i4 #f1 ii4 #aj1 iii4 #ag71 the same interest in the institutions of ,judaism 7lvi471 the same depressed and hopeless mood to combat4 ,from lx4 #aj 7lxii4 #f87 it may be inferred that the book falls before the building of the walls by ,nehemiah--probably somewhere between #dfj and #dej ,b4,c4 ,this conclusion1 of course1 is very far from certain2 it is not even certain that the chapters constitute a unity4 ,various scholars isolate certain sections1 assigning1 e4g41 lxiii4-lxvi4 to a period much later than lvi4-lxii41 others regarding xlix4-lxii4 as written by the same author as xl4-xlviii41 but later and other different conditions1 others referring lvi4-lxii4 to a pupil of ,deutero-,isaiah1 who wrote not long after #ebj 7cf4 ,hag41 ,zech474 ,to complicate matters1 the text of certain passages of crucial importance seems to be in need of emendation 7cf4 lxiii4 #ah72 and it is practically certain that there are later interpolations4 ,one can see how intricate the problem becomes1 if ,marti is right in denying so important a passage as lxiv4 #aj-ab to the author of the rest of the chapter1 and assigning it to ,maccabean times4 ,but1 though there are undoubted difficulties in the way1 it seems not impossible to regard lvi4-lxvi4 as1 in the main1 a unity1 and its author as a contemporary of ,malachi4 ,in that case1 the superstitious and idolatrous people1 whose presence is at first sight so surprising in the post-exilic community1 would be the descendants of the ,jews who had not been carried into exile1 and who1 being but superficially touched1 if at all1 by the reformation of ,josiah1 would perpetuate ancient idolatrous practices into the post-exilic period4 ,this prophecy begins with a word of assurance to the proselytes and eunuchs that1 if they faithfully observe the ,sabbath1 they will not be excluded from participation in the temple worship1 lvi4 #a-h4 ,but the general situation 7in ,judah7 is deplorable4 ,the spiritual leaders of the community are indolent and fond of pleasure1 men of no conscience or ideal 7cf4 ,mal4 ii471 with the result that the truly godly are crushed out1 lvi4 #i-lvii4 #b1 and the old immoral idolatry is rampant1 lvii4 #c-ac4 ,the sinners will therefore be punished1 but the godly whom they have persecuted will be comforted and saved1 lvii4 #ad-ba4 ,the people1 who have been zealously keeping fast-days1 are surprised and vexed that ,jehovah has not yet honoured their fidelity by sending happier times3 the prophet replies that the real demands of ,jehovah are not exhausted by ceremonial1 but lie rather in the fulfilment of moral duty1 and especially in the duty of practical love to the needy 7lviii474 ,it is not the impotence of ,jehovah1 but the manifold sins of the people1 that have kept back the day of salvation1 lix4 #a-ae2 but ,he will one day appear to punish ,his adversaries and redeem the penitent and faithful1 lix4 #af-ba4 ,then the city of ,jerusalem shall be glorious3 her scattered children shall stream back to her1 her walls shall be rebuilt by the gifts of the heathen nations1 and she shall be mistress of the world1 enjoying peace and light and prosperity 7lx474 ,again the good news is proclaimed3 the ,jews shall be1 as it were1 the priests of ,jehovah for the whole world1 ,jerusalem shall be secure and fair and populous 7lxi41 lxii474 ,but if ,judah is thus to prosper1 her enemies must be destroyed1 and their#a destruction is described in lxiii4 #a-f1 a unique and powerful song of vengeance4 ,footnote #a3 ,the enemy is not ,edom alone4 ,instead of from ,edom and ,bozrah in lxiii4 #a;a should be read1 ,who is this that comes stained with red1 with garments redder than a vine-dresser's8 ,a very striking contrast to all this dream of victory and blessedness is presented by lxiii4 #g-lxiv4 #ab1 in which the people sorrowfully remind themselves of the brilliant far-off days of the ,exodus when the ,spirit was with them--the ,spirit whom sin has now driven away--and passionately pray that ,jehovah1 in ,his fatherly pity1 would mightily interpose to save them4#a ,the devotees of superstitious cults are threatened with destruction1 lxv4 #a-g1 while brilliant promises are held out to the faithful--long and happy life in a world transformed1 lxv4 #h-be4 ,again destruction is predicted for those who1 while practising superstitious rites1 are yet eager to build a temple to ,jehovah to rival the existing one in ,jerusalem2 while the faithful are comforted with the prospect of victory1 increase of population and resources1 and the perpetuity of their race 7lxvi474 ,footnote #a3 ,professor ,g4 ,a4 ,smith refers this prayer to the period of disillusion after the return and before the new religious impulse given by ,haggai and ,zechariah--about #ebe ,b4,c4 ,,jeremiah ,the interest of the book of ,jeremiah is unique4 ,on the one hand1 it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers2 on the other1 it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase1 manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves4 ,at his call1 in #fbf ,b4,c41 he was young and inexperienced1 i4 #f1 so that he cannot have been born earlier than #fej4 ,the political and religious atmosphere of his ministry was alike depressing4 ,when it began1 the ,scythians were overrunning ,western ,asia1 and ,judah was the vassal of ,assyria1 as she continued to be till the fall of ,nineveh in #fjf ,b4,c4 ,josiah1 in whose reign ,jeremiah began his ministry1 was a good king2 but the idolatries of his grandfather ,manasseh had only too surely left their mark1 and the reformation which was inaugurated on the basis of ,deuteronomy 7#fba7 had produced little permanent result4 ,idolatry and immorality of all kinds continued to be the order of the day1 vii4 #i 7about #fjh74 ,the inner corruption found its counterpart in political disaster4 ,the death of ,josiah in #fji at ,megiddo1 when he took the field1 probably as the vassal of ,assyria1 against the king of ,egypt1 was a staggering blow to the hopes of the reformers1 and formed a powerful argument in the hands of the sceptics4 ,the vassalage of ,assyria was exchanged for the vassalage of ,egypt1 and that1 in four years1 for the vassalage of ,babylonia1 whose supremacy over ,western ,asia was assured by her victory on the epoch-making field of ,carchemish 7#fje74 ,there was no strong ruler upon the throne of ,judah during the years preceding the exile4 ,jehoahaz1 the successor of ,josiah1 deposed by the ,egyptians and exiled after a three months' reign1 xxii4 #aj-ab1 was succeeded by the rapacious ,jehoiakim 7#fjh-eig71 who cared nothing for the warning words of ,jeremiah 7xxxvi471 and his successor ,jehoiachin1 who was exiled to ,babylon after a three months' reign1 was followed by the weak and vacillating ,zedekiah1 who reigned from #eig to #ehf1 when ,jerusalem was taken and the monarchy perished4 ,the priests and prophets were no more faithful to their high office than the kings4 ,the prophets were superficial men who did not realize how deep and grievous was the hurt of the people1 xxiii4 #i-dj1 and who imagined that the catastrophe1 if it came1 would speedily be reversed1 xxviii42 and the priests reposed a stubborn confidence in the inviolability of the temple 7xxvi47 and the punctiliousness of their offerings1 vii4 #ba1 #bb4 ,jeremiah1 though he came of a priestly family1 knew very well that there was no salvation in ritual4 ,he saw that the root of the evil was in the heart1 which was deceitful above all things and desperately sick1 xvii4 #i1 and that no reformation was possible till the heart itself was changed4 ,it was for this reason that he called upon the people to circumcise their heart1 iv4 #d1 and to search for ,jehovah with all their heart1 xxix4 #ac4 ,it would be interesting to know what was ,jeremiah's attitude to the law-book discovered and published in #fba1 but unfortunately the problems that gather round the authenticity of the text of ,jeremiah are so vexatious that we cannot say with certainty4 ,on the one hand1 we know that1 though at that time a prophet of five years' standing1 he was not consulted on the discovery of the book 7#b ,kings xxii4 #ad72 on the other hand1 xi4 #a-ad explicitly connects him with an itinerant mission throughout the province of ,judah for the purpose of inculcating the teaching of the words of this covenant1 which can only be the book of ,deuteronomy4 ,but there is fairly good reason for supposing that this passage1 which is diffuse1 and very unlike the poems that follow it1 vv4 #ae1 #af1 #ah-bj1 is one of the many later scribal additions to the book4 ,even if ,jeremiah did support the ,deuteronomic movement1 he must have felt1 in the words of ,darmesteter1 that it is easier to reform the cult than the soul1 and that the real solution would never be found in the statutes of a law-book1 but only in the law written upon the heart1 xxxi4 #ca-cc4 ,here again1 this great prophecy of the law written upon the heart1 has been denied to ,jeremiah--by ,duhm1 for example3 but at any rate1 it is conceived in the spirit of the prophet4 ,it is unfortunate that some of the noblest utterances on religion in the book of ,jeremiah have been1 for reasons more or less convincing1 denied to him3 e4g4 the great passage which looks out upon a time when the dearest material symbols of the ancient religion would no longer be necessary2 days would come when men would never think of the ark of the covenant1 and never miss it1 iii4 #af4 ,but even if it could be proved that these words were not ,jeremiah's1 it was a sound instinct that placed them in his book4 ,he certainly did not regard sacrifice as essential to the true religion1 or as possessing any specially divine sanction1 vii4 #bb1 and the thinker who could utter such a word as vii4 #bb is surely on the verge of a purely spiritual conception of religion1 if indeed he does not stand already within it4 ,if the temple is not indispensable1 vii4 #d1 neither could the ark be4 ,this severely spiritual conception of religion is but the outcome of the intensely personal religious experience of the prophet4 ,there is no other prophet whose intercourse with the divine spirit is so dramatically portrayed1 or into the depths of whose heart we can so clearly see4 ,he speaks to ,god with a directness and familiarity that are startling1 ,why hast ,thou become to me as a treacherous brook1 as waters that are not sure8 xv4 #ah4 ,he has little of the serene majesty of ,isaiah whose eyes had seen the king4 ,his tender heart1 ix4 #a1 is vexed and torn till he curses not only his enemies1 xi4 #bj;ff41 but the day on which he was born1 xx4 #ad-ah4 ,he did not choose his profession1 he recoiled from it2 but he was thrust into the arena of public life by an impulse which he could not resist4 ,the word1 which he would fain have hidden in his heart1 was like a burning fire shut up in his bones1 and it leaped into speech of flame1 xx4 #i4 ,as a poet1 ,jeremiah is one of the greatest4 ,he knows the human heart to its depths1 and he possesses a power of remarkably terse and vivid expression4 ,nothing could be more weird than this picture of the utter desolation of war2-- ,i beheld the earth1 ,and lo6 it was waste and void4 ,i looked to the sky1 ,and lo6 its light was gone4 ,i beheld the mountains1 ,and lo6 they trembled4 ,and all the hills ,swayed to and fro4 ,i beheld 7the earth7 ,and lo6 there was no man1 ,and all the birds of the heaven ,had fled4 iv4 #bc-be4 ,a world without the birds would be no world to ,jeremiah4 ,of singular power and beauty is the lament which ,jeremiah puts into the mouths of the women3-- ,death is come up at our windows1 ,he has entered our palaces1 ,cutting off the children from the streets ,and the youths from the squares4 ,then the figure changes to ,death as a reaper3-- ,there fall the corpses of men ,upon the face of the field1 ,like sheaves behind the reaper ,which none gathers up4 ix4 #ba1 #bb4 ,the book appropriately opens with the call of ,jeremiah1 and represents him as divinely preordained to his great and cheerless task before his birth4 ,in two visions he sees prefigured the coming doom 7i47 and the prophecies that immediately follow1 though but loosely connected1 appear to come from an early stage of his ministry1 and to be elicited1 in part1 by the inroads of the ,scythians--the enemy from the north4 ,false to the love she bore ,jehovah in the olden time1 ,israel has turned for help to ,egypt1 to ,assyria1 and to the impotent ,baals with their licentious worship1 ii1 #a-;iii4 #e2 but#a;if in her despair and misery she yet turns with a penitent heart to ,jehovah1 the prophet assures her of ,his readiness to receive her1 iii4 #ai-;iv4 #d4 ,the rest of ch4 iv4 contains several poems of remarkable power4 ,the ,scythians are coming swiftly from the north1 and ,jeremiah's patriotic soul is deeply moved4 ,he sees the desolation they will work1 and counsels the people to gather in the fortified cities4 ,the scene changes in v4 and vi4 to the capital1 where ,jeremiah's tender and unsuspecting heart has been harrowed by the lack of public and private conscience2 and again the land is threatened with invasion from the swift wild ,scythian hordes4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 iii4 #f-ah contains much that is altogether worthy of ,jeremiah1 especially the great conception in v4 #af of a religion which can dispense with its most cherished material symbols4 ,it interrupts the connection1 however1 between vv4 #e and #ai1 and curiously regards ,israel as the northern kingdom1 distinct from ,judah1 whereas in the surrounding context1 ii4 #c1 iii4 #bc1 ,israel stands for ,judah4 ,the difference is suspicious4 ,again1 v4 #ah would appear to presuppose that ,judah is in exile or on the verge of it1 which would make the passage among the latest in the book4 ,if it is ,jeremiah's1 it must be much later than its context4 ,the following chapter 7vii47 introduces us to the reign of ,jehoiakim4#a ,the prophet strenuously combats the confidence falsely reposed in the temple and the ritual3 the former is but a den of robbers1 the latter had never been commanded by ,jehovah1 and neither will save them4 ,with sorrowful eyes ,jeremiah sees the coming disaster1 and he sings of it in elegies unspeakably touching 7viii4-x43 cf4 viii4 #ah-bb1 ix4 #ba1 #bb74b ,footnote #a3 ,the scene in ch4 vii4 is very similar to1 if not identical with that in ch4 xxvi41 which is expressly assigned to the beginning of ,jehoiakim's reign 7#fjh74 ,footnote #b3 ,ch4 ix4 #bb is directly continued by x4 #ag4 ,of the three passages intervening1 ix4 #bc1 #bd 7the true and false objects of confidence7 and ix4 #be1 #bf 7punishment of those uncircumcised in heart or flesh7 are both in the spirit of ,jeremiah1 but they cannot belong to this context4 ,ch4 x4 #a-af1 on the other hand1 can hardly be ,jeremiah's4 ,its theme is the impotence of idols and the omnipotence of ,jehovah--a favourite theme of ,deutero-,isaiah 7cf4 ,is4 xl471 and it is elaborated in the spirit of ,is4 xliv4 #i-bj4 ,the warning not to fear the idols is much more natural if addressed to an exilic audience than to ,jeremiah's contemporaries4 ,it may be taken for granted that the passage is later than ,jeremiah4 ,in ch4 xi4 ,jeremiah is divinely impelled to undertake an itinerant mission throughout ,judah in support of the ,deuteronomic legislation1 but he is warned that1 for their disobedience1 the people will be overtaken by disaster1 which he must not intercede to avert1 xi4 #a-ag4 ,a cruel conspiracy formed against him by his own townsmen raises perplexities in his mind touching the moral order1 but he is reminded that still harder things are in store1 xi4 l#h-xii4 #f4 ,then follows a poem1 xii4 #g-ac1 lamenting the desolation of the land1 though who the aggressors are it is hard to say2 but1 in vv4 #ad-ag1 a passage possibly much later1 there is an ultimate possibility of restoration both for ,judah and her ravaged neighbours1 if they adopt the religion of ,judah4 ,in ch4 xiii4 which possibly belongs to ,jehoiachin's short reign1 #eig ,b4,c4 7cf4 v4 #ah with #b ,kings xxiv4 #h71 the utter and incurable corruption of the people is symbolically indicated to ,jeremiah1 who announces the speedy fall of the throne and the sorrows of exile4 ,the elements that make up chs4 xiv4-xvii4 are very loosely connected4 ,generally speaking1 the situation of the people is desperate4 ,the doom--already inaugurated in the form of a drought-is hastening on2 no excuse will be accepted and no intercession can avail4 ,in a bold and striking poem1 xv4 #aj-ba1 ,jeremiah complains of his bitter and lonely fate1 and is reassured of the divine support4 ,in view of the impending misery he is forbidden to marry1 and more and more he is thrown back upon ,jehovah as his absolute and only hope4#a ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 xvii4 #ai-bg is almost certainly post-exilic1 and probably belongs to ,nehemiah's time 7about #dej74 ,jeremiah nowhere else emphasizes the ,sabbath1 and it would be very unlike him to represent the future prosperity of ,judah as conditional upon the people's observance of a single law1 especially one not distinctively ethical4 ,such emphasis on the ,sabbath suggests the post-exilic church 7cf4 ,neh4 xiii42 ,is4 lviii474 ,chs4 xviii4-xx4 ,a chance sight of a potter refashioning a spoiled vessel suggests to ,jeremiah the conditional nature of prophecy4 ,but as ,judah remains obstinate1 the threat must be irretrievably fulfilled4 ,the proclamation of this truth in the temple court led to his imprisonment4 ,on his release he distinctly and deliberately announces the exile to ,babylon1 and then breaks out into a passionate cry1 which rings with an almost unparalleled sincerity1 over the misery of his life1 especially of that prophetic life to which he had been mysteriously but irresistibly impelled4 ,ch4 xxi4 #a-aj1 one of the latest pieces in the book1 contains ,jeremiah's answer to the question of ,zedekiah relative to the issue of the siege of ,jerusalem1 which had already begun 7#ehh74 ,then follow two sections1 one dealing with kings1 xxi4 #aa-xxiii4 #h1 the other with prophets1 xxiii4 #i-dj4 ,the former1 after an introduction which emphasizes the specific functions of the king1 deals successively with ,jehoahaz 7,shallum71 ,jehoiakim and ,jehoiachin1 ,jehoiakim's oppressive methods being pointedly contrasted with the beneficent regime of his father ,josiah2 and against the present incompetence of the rulers and misery of the monarchy is thrown up a picture of the true king and the ,messianic days1 xxiii4 #e-h4 ,the latter section1 xxiii4 #i-dj1 denounces the prophets for their immorality1 their easy optimism and their lack of independence4 ,in ch4 xxiv41 which falls in ,zedekiah's reign1 after the first deportation 7about #eif ,b4,c471 it is symbolically suggested to ,jeremiah that the exiles are much better than those who were allowed to remain in the land1 and their ultimate fate would be infinitely happier4 ,the battle of ,carchemish in #fje showed that ,babylonian supremacy was ultimately inevitable2 to this year belongs ch4 xxv41 in which ,jeremiah definitely announces the duration of the exile as seventy years4 ,many lands beside ,judah would be included in the doom1 and finally ,babylon itself would be punished4 ,chs4 i4-xxv4 represent in the main the words of ,jeremiah2 we now come to a group of narratives by ,baruch1 xxvi4-xxix4 ,ch4 xxvi4 relates how a courageous sermon of ,jeremiah's 7#fjh ,b4,c47 provoked the hostility of the professional clergy1 and nearly cost him his life4 ,chs4 xxvii4-xxix4 show how the calm wisdom of ,jeremiah met the ambitions and hopes cherished by his countrymen at home and in exile during the reign of ,zedekiah4#a ,in view of a coalition that was forming against ,babylon in ,western ,asia1 he announces that the supremacy of ,nebuchadrezzar is divinely ordained1 and any such coalition is doomed to failure 7xxvii474 ,that supremacy will last for many a day2 and a strange fate overtakes the shallow prophet who supposes that it will be over in two years 7xxviii474 ,the exiles are therefore advised by ,jeremiah in a letter to settle down contentedly in their adopted land1 though the letter naturally rouses the resentment and opposition of the superficial prophets among the exiles 7xxix474 ,footnote #a3 ,in ch4 xxvii4 #a1 for ,jehoiakim read ,zedekiah1 cf4 vv4 #c1 #ab4 ,the next four chapters1 xxx4-xxxiii41 are full of promise3 they look out upon the restoration1 in which1 despite the seeming hopelessness of the prospect1 ,jeremiah never ceased to believe4 ,it is a voice from the dark days of the siege of ,jerusalem1 #ehg 7xxxii4 #a;ff472 but the present sorrow is to be followed by a period of joy1 when the city will be rebuilt1 and the mighty love of ,jehovah will express itself in the restoration not only of ,judah but of ,israel1 a love to which there will be a glad spontaneous response from men who have the divine law written in their hearts4 ,this prophecy of the new covenant is one of the noblest and most daring conceptions in the ,old ,testament1 very naturally appropriated by our ,lord and the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews 7xxx41 xxxi474 ,so confident was ,jeremiah in the divine assurance that ,palestine would one day be freed from the ,babylonian yoke that1 even during the siege of the city1 he purchased fields belonging to a kinsman1 and took measures to preserve the title deeds 7xxxii474 ,ch4 xxxiii4 still further confirms the assurance of restoration4 ,there can be no doubt that ,jeremiah both believed in and announced the restoration3 the very straightforward story in ch4 xxxii41 which1 by the way1 throws considerable light on the psychology of prophecy1 is proof enough of that4 ,but there can be equally little doubt that the section xxx4-xxxiii4 did not come1 as it stands1 from the hand of ,jeremiah4 ,many verses have no doubt been needlessly suspected3 the attitude to northern ,israel in ch4 xxxi41 especially vv4 #d1 #e1 practically forbids a reference of these verses to post-exilic times4 ,but xxxi4 #g-l#d--the glad return--is exactly in the spirit of ,deutero-,isaiah1 and appears to be dependent upon him4 ,whatever doubt1 however1 may be attached to these sections1 it is practically certain that the concluding section1 xxxiii4 #ad-bf1 which has a special word of promise1 not only for the house of ,david1 but for the ,levitical priests1 is not ,jeremiah's4 ,the verses are wanting in the ,septuagint1 and so were not in the ,hebrew copy from which that translation was made2 but more fatal still to their authenticity is their attitude to the priests and offerings4 ,the religion advocated by ,jeremiah was a purely spiritual one1 which could dispense with temple and sacrifice 7ch4 vii474 ,to the false prophets1 as ,robertson ,smith has said1 and the people who followed them1 the ark1 the temple1 the holy vessels1 were all in all4 ,to ,jeremiah they were less than nothing1 and their restoration was no part of his hope of salvation4 ,it is very significant in this connection that the ,septuagint omits the restoration of the holy vessels in xxvii4 #bb4 ,from the ideal pictures of the last group1 ch4 xxxiv4 flings us back into the stern reality4 ,the city and the king alike are doomed1 and their fate is thoroughly justified by the treachery displayed towards the ,hebrew slaves1 who were compelled by their masters to return to the bondage from which1 in the stress of siege1 they had emancipated them4 ,the next chapter1 xxxv41 carries us back to the reign of ,jehoiakim1 and1 in an interesting and important passage1 contrasts the faithfulness of the ,rechabites to the commands of their ancestor ,jonathan with the popular disregard of ,jehovah4 ,the long section which follows 7xxxvi4-xlv47 is almost purely historical4 ,it comes in the main from ,baruch1 but it has been expanded here and there by subsequent writers2 e4g4 xxxix4 #d-ac is not found in the ,septuagint2 the importance of ,jeremiah is heightened in this passage by his being the object of the special care of ,nebuchadrezzar1 vv4 #aa;ff41 whereas in all probability his fate was decided1 not by the king1 but by his officers 7ci4 #c1 #ac1 #ad74 ,but after making every deduction1 these chapters remain as a historical source of the first rank4 ,the section begins by revealing the reckless impiety of ,jehoiakim in burning the prophecies of ,jeremiah in #fje ,b4,c41 but the other chapters gather round the siege of ,jerusalem1 eighteen years later1 and the events that followed it4 ,they describe the cruel and successive imprisonments of the prophet for his fearless and seemingly unpatriotic proclamation of the ,babylonian triumph1 the pitiful vacillation of the king1 the final capture of the city1 the appointment of ,gedaliah as governor of ,judah1 his assassination and the attempt to avenge it1 the consequent departure of many ,jews to ,egypt against the advice of ,jeremiah1 who was forced to accompany them1 the prophet's denunciation of the idolatry practised in ,egypt and announcement of the conquest of that land by ,nebuchadrezzar4 ,the section closes 7xlv47 with a word of meagre consolation to ,baruch1 whose courage was giving way beneath the strain of the times4 ,the interest attaching to the oracles against the foreign nations 7xlvi4-li47 is not very great1 as1 for good reasons1 the authenticity of much--some say all--of the section may be disputed1 and with the exception of the oracle against ,egypt1 they are lacking1 as a whole1 not only in distinctness of situation1 but also in that emotion and originality so characteristic of ,jeremiah4 ,the whole group 7except the oracle against ,elam1 xlix4 #cd-ci1 which is expressly assigned to ,zedekiah's reign7 is suggested by reflection on the decisive influence which the battle of ,carchemish was bound to have on the fortunes of ,western ,asia1 xlvi4 #b4 ,nebuchadrezzar is alluded to1 either expressly1 xlix4 #cj1 or figuratively1 xlviii4 #dj1 as the instrument of the divine vengeance4 ,in the ,septuagint1 this group of oracles appears between xxv4 #ac and xxv4 #ae1 a chapter likewise assigned to the year of the battle of ,carchemish1 xxv4 #a4 ,ch4 xlvi4 contains two oracles against ,egypt1 the first of which1 at least vv4 #a-ab1 is graphic and powerful1 and the second1 vv4 #ac-bf1 announces the conquest of ,egypt by ,nebuchadrezzar1 which took place in #efh ,b4,c4 ,the vengeance upon ,egypt1 v4 #aj1 in which the writer evidently exults1 may be vengeance for the defeat of ,josiah at ,megiddo4#a ,a certain vigour also characterizes the oracle against the ,philistines 7xlvii471 and the conception of the enemy out of the north1 v4 #b1 is a familiar one in ,jeremiah4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 xlvi4 #bg1 #bh1 hardly in place here1 were borrowed from xxx4 #aj;f4 and doubtless added later4 ,even if1 however1 these oracles could be rescued for ,jeremiah1 those that follow are1 in all probability1 nothing but later literary compilations resting upon a close study of the earlier prophetical literature4 ,the oracle against ,moab 7xlviii47 besides being unpardonably diffuse1 is essentially an imitation of the old oracle preserved in ,isaiah xv41 xvi4 ,the oracle against ,ammon1 xlix4 #a-f1 is followed by another against ,edom1 vv4 #g-bb1 which again borrows very largely from ,obadiah4 ,doom is further pronounced on ,damascus1 vv4 #bc-bg1 ,kedar and ,hazor1 vv4 #bh-cc1 and1 about seven years later1 on ,elam1 vv4 #cd-ci4 ,it is not1 indeed1 impossible that ,jeremiah should have uttered a prophetic word concerning at least some of these nations--witness his reply to the ambassadors of the neighbouring kings in ch4 xxvii4--though the relevance of ,elam in such a connection is hard to see2 but it is very improbable that a writer and thinker so independent as ,jeremiah should have borrowed in the wholesale fashion which characterizes the bulk of this group of oracles4 ,the oracle against ,egypt might be his1 not impossibly the oracle against the ,philistines also2 but the group as a whole1 consisting of seven oracles--omitting the oracle against ,elam1 which1 by its date1 falls outside--appears to be a later artificial composition1 utilizing the more familiar names in xxv4 #ai-bf1 and expanding the hint in vv4 #ae-ag that the nations would be compelled to drink of the cup of the fury of ,jehovah4 ,the climax of the foreign oracles is that against ,babylon 7l4-li4 #eh74 ,this prophecy is written with great vigour and intensity and characterized by a tone of triumphant scorn4 ,a nation from the north1 l4 #c1 explicitly designated as the ,medes1 li4 #aa1 is to assail ,babylon and reduce her to a desolation4 ,jehovah's people are urged to leave the doomed city2 with sins forgiven they will be led back by ,jehovah to their own land1 and the poet contemplates with glowing satisfaction the day when ,babylon the destroyer will be herself destroyed4 ,this oracle purports to be a message which ,jeremiah sent with an officer ,seraiah1 who accompanied ,king ,zedekiah to ,babylon 7li4 #ei74 ,there is no probability1 however1 that the oracle was written by ,jeremiah4 ,doubtless the prophet foretold the destruction of ,babylon1 xxv4 #aj1 but his attitude to that great power in this oracle is altogether different from what we know it to have been1 judging by other authentic oracles of this period 7xxvii4-xxix474 ,there he counsels patience--it is the false prophets who hope for a speedy deliverance--here there is an eager expectancy which amounts to impatience4 ,but the contents of the oracle show that it cannot belong to the year to which it is assigned4 ,the temple is already destroyed1 l4 #bh1 li4 #aa1 so that the exile is presupposed1 and indeed the ,medes are definitely named as the executors of vengeance upon ,babylon4 ,all this carries us down to the conquests of ,cyrus and the close of the exile1 indeed to the time of ,isaiah xl4-lv4 ,the oracle bears a striking resemblance both in spirit and expression to ,isaiah xiii41 and might well come from the same time 7about #edj74 ,it may1 however1 be later4 ,not only is it diffuse in expression and slipshod in arrangement1 but it borrows extensively from other exilic or post-exilic parts of the book of ,jeremiah 7cf4 li4 #ae-ai with x4 #ab-af1 l4 #dd-df with xlix4 #ai-ba71 late exilic parts of ,isaiah 7cf4 ,jer4 l4 #ci;ff1 with ,isa4 xiii4 #ai-bb71 and from ,ezekiel 7cf4 ,jer4 li4 #be with ,ezek4 xxxv4 #c74 ,besides1 the author appears to have no clear conception of the actual situation1 as he seems to regard ,israel and ,judah as living side by side in ,babylon1 l4 #d1 #cc4 ,in all probability the oracle against ,babylon is a post-exilic production inspired by the yearning to see the ancient oppressors not only humbled1 but destroyed4 ,the oracle just discussed is supposed to be an expansion of the message given by ,jeremiah1 in writing1 to ,seraiah1 li4 #fj;a1 when he went with the king to ,babylon4 ,but though this narrative1 li4 #ei-fd1 possibly rests on a basis of fact1 it cannot have come1 in its present form1 from ,jeremiah1 for it presupposes the preceding oracle against ,babylon1 which has just been shown not to be authentic4 ,with the composition of ch4 lii41 which narrates the capture of ,jerusalem and the exile of the people1 ,jeremiah had nothing whatever to do4 ,the chapter1 except vv4 #bh-cj1 which is additional1 is simply taken bodily from #b ,kings xxiv4 #ah-xxv4 #cj1 with the omission of the account of the appointment and assassination of ,gedaliah 7#b ,kings xxv4 #bb-bf7 as that story had already been fully told in ,jeremiah xl4-xliii4 ,the ,greek version of ,jeremiah is of more than usual interest and importance4 ,it is about #b1gjj words1 or one-eighth of the whole1 shorter than the ,hebrew text1 though it has about #ajj words or so not found in the ,hebrew4 ,the order1 too1 is occasionally different1 notably in the oracles against the foreign nations 7xlvi4-li471 which in the ,septuagint are placed between xxv4 #ac and xxv4 #ae 7verse #ad being omitted74 ,after making every deduction for the usual number of mistakes due to incompetence and badly written manuscripts1 it has to be admitted that1 in certain respects1 the ,greek text is superior to the ,hebrew4 ,this is especially plain if we examine its omissions4 ,considering the later tendency to expand1 its relative brevity is a point in its favour2 but1 when we examine particular cases1 the superiority of the ,septuagint1 with its omissions1 is evident at once4 ,ch4 xxvii41 e4g41 is considerably longer in the ,hebrew than in the ,greek text2 but the additions in the ,hebrew text represent ,jeremiah as interested in the temple vessels and prophesying their restoration to the temple when the exile was over1 in a way that is utterly unlike what we know of ,jeremiah's general attitude to the material symbols of religion4 ,similarly1 xxxiii4 #ad-bf1 which promises1 among other things1 that there would never be lacking a ,levitical priest to offer burnt offerings1 is wanting in the ,septuagint2 here again the ,greek must be regarded as more truly representing ,jeremiah's attitude to sacrifice 7vii4 #bb74 ,it would1 of course1 be unfair to infer from this that the briefer readings of the ,septuagint were invariably superior to the longer readings of the ,massoretic text1 for it can be shown that the ,greek translators often omitted or passed lightly over what they did not understand2 nevertheless1 their omissions often indicate a better and more original text4 ,with regard to the oracles against the foreign nations1 there can be little doubt that their position in the ,hebrew text is to be preferred to that of the ,greek4 ,a certain plausibility attaches to the ,greek text which places them after xxv4 #ac1 the last clause of which--that which ,jeremiah prophesied against all the nations--is taken as a title2 but1 besides completely breaking up the surrounding context1 whose theme is altogether ,judah1 the ,greek position of the oracles is exceedingly clumsy1 preceding as it does the enumeration in xxv4 #ae-bi1 which it might indeed follow1 but could not reasonably precede4 ,further the ,hebrew arrangement of the oracles within this group is much more probable than the ,greek4 ,the former appropriately reserves the oracle against ,babylon to the end1 the latter places it third1 i4e4 among the nations which are to be punished by ,babylon herself1 xxv4 #i4 ,we possess some direct information about the composition of the book of ,jeremiah1 but the present arrangement is marked by considerable confusion1 and can in no case be original4 ,a glance at the contents of consecutive chapters is enough to show that the order is not rigorously chronological4 ,ch4 xxv41 e4g41 falls in #fje ,b4,c41 whereas the preceding chapter is at least eight years later 7cf4 xxiv4 #a1 #h74 ,ch4 xxi4 #a-aj1 which reflects the period of the siege of ,jerusalem1 is one of the latest passages in the book 7#ehg ,b4,c474 ,there are occasional traces of a topical order3 e4g4 chs4 xviii41 xix41 give lessons from the potter1 xxi4 #i-xxiii4 #h is a series of prophecies concerning kings1 xxiii4 #i-dj another concerning prophets4 ,chs4 xxx4-xxxiii4 gather up the prophecies concerning the restoration4 ,chs4 xxxvii4-xliv4 constitute a narrative dealing with the siege of the city and events immediately subsequent to it4 ,here we touch one of the striking peculiarities of the book of ,jeremiah that much of it is purely narrative4 ,again1 in the narrative portion1 sometimes the prophet speaks himself in the first person1 as in the account of his call 7i471 sometimes he is spoken of in the third1 xxviii4 #e4 ,this suggests that some passages are more directly traceable to ,jeremiah than others1 and the clue to this fact is to be found in the interesting story told in ch4 xxxvi4 ,there we are informed that ,jeremiah dictated to his disciple ,baruch the scribe the messages of his ministry since his call twenty-one years before4 ,after being read before the public gathering at the temple1 and then before the court1 they were destroyed by the king1 ,jehoiakim2 but the messages were rewritten by ,baruch1 and many similar words1 we are told1 were added1 xxxvi4 #cb4 ,it is clear that the book written by ,baruch to ,jeremiah's dictation cannot have been very long1 as it could be read three times in one day1 but it is impossible to say what precisely were its constituent elements4 ,roughly speaking1 they must be confined to chs4 i4-xxv41 as the following chapters 7except xlvi4-li47 are either narrative1 like xxvi4-xxix41 xxxvii4-xliv41 or1 if prophetic words of ,jeremiah1 come from a later date 7cf4 xxx4-xxxiii41 xxxii4 #a74 ,but the book cannot have included all of i4-xxv41 for1 as we have seen1 parts of this section are later than #fje1 when the book was first dictated 7cf4 xxiv41 xxi4 #a-aj71 and some are very late 7cf4 x4 #a-af1 exilic at the earliest1 and xvii4 #ai-bg1 post-exilic74 ,the difficulty of determining the constituents is increased by the fact that several of the chapters are undated 7e4g4 xiv4 #a-xvii4 #ah74 ,no doubt most of chs4 i4-xii4 and much of xiii4-xxv4 were included within the original book dictated4 ,it is further important to note that the book was dictated2 that is to say1 it was not written by ,jeremiah's own hand1 and it was dictated from memory1 though very possibly on the basis of notes4 ,obviously we cannot in any case have in these few chapters more than a summary of the words spoken during a ministry which at that time had already covered twenty-one years4 ,the strong personal feeling which animates so much of ,jeremiah's early prophecies1 especially the poetry1 we owe directly to his own dictation4 ,the narrative sections1 in which he is spoken of in the third person1 but most of which obviously came from some one who was thoroughly conversant with the prophet's life1 we owe1 no doubt1 to the faithful ,baruch1 who clearly held the prophet's words not only in respect1 but in reverence1 xxxvi4 #bd4 ,the biography1 which1 in its earlier chapters1 assumes a somewhat annalistic form1 xxvi4 i1 xxviii4 i1 xxix4 i1 develops an easy and flowing style when it comes to deal with the siege of ,jerusalem 7xxxvii4-xliv474 ,speaking very generally1 the biography covers chs4 xxvi4-xlv4 7except xxx41 xxxi41 xxxiii474 ,but long after ,baruch was in his grave1 the book of ,jeremiah continued to receive additions4 ,some of these1 from exilic and post-exilic times1 we have already seen 7of1 #a41 li474 ,a relatively large literature grew up around the book of ,jeremiah3 #b ,chron4 xxxvi4 #ba even quotes as ,jeremiah's a prophecy which does not occur in our canonical book at all4 7cf4 ,lev4 xxvi4 #cd;f74 ,often those who added to the book had no clear imagination of the historical situation whatever2 one of them represents ,jeremiah as addressing the kings of ,judah--as if they had all lived at the same time--on the question of the ,sabbath day 7xvii4 #bj1 cf4 xix4 #c74 ,the extent of these additions has already been illustrated by comparison with the ,septuagint1 and very often the passages which are not supported by the ,greek text are historically the least trustworthy1 cf4 xxxix4 #aa1 #ab4 ,these different recensions of the original text attest the wide popularity of the book2 an ,aramaic gloss in x4 #aa shows the liberties which transcribers took with the text1 the integrity of which suffered much from its very popularity4 ,the interest of the later scribes was rather in homiletics than in history1 and very probably most of the writing that seems tedious and diffuse in the book of ,jeremiah is to be set down to the count of these teaching scribes4 ,jeremiah was a very gifted poet1 with unusual powers of emotional expression1 and it is greatly to be regretted that his own message has been so inextricably involved in the inferior work of a later age4 ,,ezekiel ,to a modern taste1 ,ezekiel does not appeal anything like so powerfully as ,isaiah or ,jeremiah4 ,he has neither the majesty of the one nor the tenderness and passion of the other4 ,there is much in him that is fantastic1 and much that is ritualistic4 ,his imaginations border sometimes on the grotesque and sometimes on the mechanical4 ,yet he is a historical figure of the first importance2 it was very largely from him that ,judaism received the ecclesiastical impulse by which for centuries it was powerfully dominated4 ,corrupt as the text is in many places1 we have in ,ezekiel the rare satisfaction of studying a carefully elaborated prophecy whose authenticity is practically undisputed and indisputable4 ,it is not impossible that there are1 as ,kraetzschmar maintains1 occasional doublets1 e4g4 ii4 #c-g and in4 #d-i2 but these in any case are very few and hardly affect the question of authenticity4 ,the order and precision of the priestly mind are reflected in the unusually systematic arrangement of the book4 ,its general theme might be broadly described as the destruction and the reconstitution of the state1 the destruction occupying exactly the first half of the book 7i4-xxiv47 and the reconstitution the second half 7xxv4-xlviii474 ,the following is a sketch of the book4 ,after five years of residence in the land of exile1 ,ezekiel1 through an ecstatic vision in which he beholds a mysterious chariot with ,god enthroned above it1 receives his prophetic call to the rebellious exiles 7i41 ii471 and is equipped for his task with the divine inspiration2 that task is partly to reprove1 partly to warn 7iii474 ,at once the prophet addresses himself thereto1 announcing the siege of ,jerusalem and the captivity of ,judah--,israel has already been languishing in exile for a century and a half 7iv474#a ,the threefold fate of the inhabitants is described 7v471 and a stern and speedy fate is foretold for the mountain land of ,israel 7vi47 and for the people 7vii474 ,how deserved that fate is becomes too pathetically plain in the descriptions of the idolatrous worship with which the temple is desecrated 7viii47 and in chastisement for which the inhabitants are slain 7ix47 and their city burned 7x474 ,jehovah solemnly departs from ,his desecrated temple 7xi474 ,footnote #a3 ,for #cij in iv4 #e the ,septuagint correctly reads #aij1 and this includes the forty years of ,judah's captivity4 ,this general theme of the sin and fate of the city is continued with variations throughout the rest of the first half of the book4 ,the horrors of the siege and exile are symbolically indicated1 xii4 #a-bj1 and the false prophets and prophetesses1 xiii4 #ag1 are reproved and denounced for encouraging1 by their shallow optimism1 the unbelief of the people1 xii4 #ba-xiv4 #aa4 ,for the judgment will assuredly come and no intercession will avail1 xiv4 #ab-bc4 ,israel1 in her misery1 is like the wood of the vine1 unprofitable to begin with1 and now1 besides1 scarred and burnt 7xv472 her whole career has been one of consistent infidelity--,israel and ,judah alike 7xvi474 ,and her kings are as perfidious as her people-witness ,zedekiah's treachery to the king of ,babylon 7xvii474 ,but contrary to prevalent opinion1 the present generation is not atoning for the sins of the past2 every man is free and responsible and is dealt with precisely as he deserves--the soul that sinneth1 it shall die 7xviii474 ,then follows a beautiful elegy over the princes of ,judah--,jehoahaz taken captive to ,egypt1 and ,jehoiachin to ,babylon 7xix474 ,the third cycle 7xx4-xxiv47 is1 in the main1 a repetition of the second4 ,from the very day of her election1 ,israel has been unfaithful1 giving herself over to idolatry1 immorality1 and the profanation of the ,sabbath 7xx474 ,but the devouring fire will consume1 and the sharp sword of ,nebuchadrezzar will be drawn1 first against ,jerusalem1 and then against ,ammon 7xxi474 ,the corruption of ,jerusalem is utter and absolute--princes1 priests1 prophets1 and people 7xxii472 and this corruption has characterized her from the very beginning--,samaria and ,jerusalem1 the northern and southern kingdoms alike 7xxiii474 ,so the end has come3 the filth and rust of the empty caldron--symbolic of ,jerusalem after the first deportation in #eig ,b4,c4--will be purged away by a yet fiercer fire4 ,the besieged city is at length captured1 and1 like the prophet's wife1 it perishes unmourned 7xxiv474 ,the ministry of judgment1 so far as it concerns ,jerusalem1 is now over1 and ,ezekiel is free to turn to the more congenial task of consolation and promise4 ,but a negative condition of the restoration of ,israel is the removal of impediments to her welfare1 and next to her own sins her enemies are the greatest obstacle to her restoration2 it is with them1 therefore1 that the following prophecies are concerned4 ,the seven oracles in chs4 xxv4-xxxii4 7#ehg-ehf ,b4,c41 cf4 xxvi4 #a1 except xxix4 #ag-ba in #egj ,b4,c47 are directed against ,ammon1 ,moab1 ,edom1 ,philistia 7xxv471 ,tyre1 xxvi4 #a-xxviii4 #ai1 ,sidon1 xxviii4 #bj-bf1 and ,egypt 7xxix4-xxxii474 ,tyre and ,egypt receive elaborate attention2 the other peoples are dismissed with comparatively brief notice4 ,the general reason assigned for the destruction of the smaller peoples in xxv4 is their vengeful attitude to ,israel4 ,ammon in particular is singled out for her malicious joy over the destruction of the temple and her mockery of the captive ,jews4 ,the destruction of these people is no doubt to be brought about indirectly1 if not directly1 as in the case of ,tyre1 xxvi4 #g1 and ,egypt1 xxix4 #ai1 by ,nebuchadrezzar4 ,the oracle against ,tyre is one of ,ezekiel's most brilliant compositions4 ,the glorious city is to be stormed and destroyed by ,nebuchadrezzar 7xxvi471 and her fall is celebrated in a splendid dirge1 in which she is compared to a noble merchant ship wrecked by a furious storm upon the high seas 7xxvii472 her proud prince will be humbled to the ground 7xxviii474 ,egypt is similarly threatened with a desolating invasion at the hands of ,nebuchadrezzar2 the conquest of that country is to be his recompense for his failure1 contrary to ,ezekiel's expectations1 to capture ,tyre 7xxix474 ,the day of ,jehovah draws nigh upon ,egypt 7xxx472 like a proud cedar she will be felled by the hand of ,nebuchadrezzar 7xxxi471 and her fall is celebrated in two dirges--one in which ,pharaoh is compared to a crocodile2 the other1 weird and striking1 describes the arrival of the slain ,egyptians in the world below 7xxxii474 ,with the disappearance of ,israel's enemies1 one of the great obstacles to her restoration has been removed2 but the greatest obstacle is in ,israel herself4 ,she has been stiff-necked and rebellious3 now that the prophet's words have proved true1#a each individual for himself must give heed to his warning voice1 not merely consulting him1 but obeying him 7xxxiii474 ,then ,jehovah will manifest ,his grace in many ways4 ,he will send them an ideal king1 unlike the mercenary rulers of the past1 who had plundered the flock 7xxxiv474 ,he will destroy the unbrotherly ,edomites 7xxxv47 and bless ,his people ,israel with the peaceful possession of a fruitful land1 and with the better blessing of the new heart 7xxxvi474 ,finally1 ,he will wake the people1 who are now as good as dead1 to a new life1 and unite the long sundered ,israel and ,judah under one sceptre for ever 7xxxvii474 ,in the final assault which will be made against ,his people by the mysterious hordes of ,gog from the north1 ,he will preserve them from danger1 and multitudes of the assailants will fall and be buried in the land of ,israel 7xxxviii41 xxxix474 ,footnote3 ,in xxxiii4 #ba the twelfth year should be the eleventh 7cf4 xxvi4 #a74 ,the news of the fall of ,jerusalem would not take over a year to travel to ,babylon4 ,probably the book originally ended here3 but from ,ezekiel's point of view1 the remaining chapters 7xl4-xlviii47 are thoroughly integral to it1 if indeed they be not its climax4 ,the people are now redeemed and restored to their own land3 the problem is1 how shall they maintain the proper relations between themselves and their ,god8 ,the unorganized community must become a church1 and an elaborate organization is provided for it4 ,the temple1 with its buildings1 is therefore first minutely described1 as that is to be the earthly residence of the people's ,god2 then the rights and duties of the priests are strictly regulated3 and lastly the holy land is so redistributed among the tribes that the temple is practically in the centre4 ,chs4 xl4-xliii4 embrace the description and measurement of the temple1 with its courts1 gateways1 chambers1 decorations1 priests' rooms and altar4 ,when all is ready1 ,jehovah solemnly enters1 xliii4 #a-ab1 by the gate from which ,ezekiel had in vision seen ,him leave almost nineteen years before1 x4 #ai4 ,the sanctity of the temple where ,jehovah is henceforth to dwell must be scrupulously maintained1 and this is secured by the regulations in xliv4-xlvi4 ,the menial services of the sanctuary1 which were formerly performed by foreigners1 are to be henceforth performed by ,levites4 ,then follow regulations determining the duties and revenues of the priests1 the territory to be occupied by them1 also by the ,levites1 the city and the prince2 the religious duties of the prince1 and the rite of atonement for the temple4 ,the whole description is a striking counterpart to the earlier vision of the desecration of the temple 7viii474 ,the last section 7xlvii41 xlviii47 deals with the land which in these latter days is to share the redemption of the people4 ,the barren ground near the ,dead ,sea is to be made fertile1 and the waters of that sea sweet1 by a stream issuing from underneath the temple4 ,the land will be redistributed1 seven tribes north and five south of the temple1 and the city will bear the name ,jehovah is there--symbolic of the abiding presence of the people's ,god4 ,whatever be the precise meaning of the much disputed thirtieth year in i4 #a1 ,ezekiel was born probably about or not long before the time ,jeremiah began his ministry in #fbf ,b4,c4 ,as a young man1 he must have heard ,jeremiah preach1 and this1 coupled with the fact that some of ,jeremiah's prophecies were in circulation about eight years before ,ezekiel went into exile 7#fje-eig7 explains the profound influence which the older prophet plainly exercised upon the younger4 ,with ,jehoiachin and the aristocracy1 ,ezekiel was taken in #eig to ,babylon1 where he lived with his wife1 xxiv4 #af1 among the ,jewish colony on the banks of the ,chebar1 one of the canals tributary to the ,euphrates1 i4 #c4 ,never had a prophet been more necessary4 ,the people left behind in the land were thoroughly depraved1 xxxiii4 #be;ff41 the exiles were not much better1 xiv4 #c;ff4--they are a rebellious house1 ii4 #f2 and even worse than they are the exiles who came with the second deportation in #ehf1 xiv4 #bb4 ,idolatry of many kinds had been practised 7viii472 and now that the penalty was being paid in exile1 the people were helpless1 xxxvii4 #aa4 ,for six years and a half--till the city fell--,ezekiel's ministry was one of reproof2 after that1 of consolation4 ,the prophet becomes a pastor4 ,his ministry lasted at least twenty-two years1 the last dated prophecy being in #egj 7xxix4 #ag72 for thirteen years before the writing of chs4 xl4-xlviii4 in #egb ,b4,c4 there is no dated prophecy1 xxxii4 #a1 #ag1 so that this sketch of ecclesiastical organization1 pathetic as embodying an old man's hope for the future1 stands among his most mature and deliberate work4 ,his absolute candour is strikingly shown by his refusal to cancel his original prophecy of the capture of ,tyre by ,nebuchadrezzar1 xxvi4 #g1 #h1 which had not been fulfilled2 he simply appends another oracle and allows the two to stand side by side1 xxix4 #ag-bj4 ,it is obvious that in ,ezekiel prophecy has travelled far from the methods1 expressions and hopes that had characterized it in the days of ,amos and ,isaiah1 or even of ,ezekiel's immediate predecessor and contemporary1 ,jeremiah4 ,in these books there are visions1 such as those of ,amos1 vii4 #a1 viii4 #a1 ix4 #a1 and symbolic acts like that of ,isaiah1 xx4 #b1 walking barefoot2 but there such things are only occasional1 here they abound4 ,their interpretation1 too1 is beset by much uncertainty4 ,some maintain that the symbolic actions1 unless when they are obviously impossible1 were really performed2 others regard them simply as part of the imaginative mechanism of the book4 ,the dumbness1 e4g41 with which ,ezekiel was afflicted for a period1 iii4 #bf1 xxiv4 #bg1 xxxiii4 #bb1 and which has been interpreted as a sense of restraint and defeat1 may very well have been real1 and connected1 as has been recently supposed1 with certain pathological conditions2 but it is hardly to be believed that he lay on one side for #aij days#a 7iv4 #e74 ,again1 though the curious action representing the threefold fate of the inhabitants of the city in ch4 v4 is somewhat grotesque1 it is not absolutely impossible2 but it is difficult to see how the command to eat bread and drink water with trembling can be taken literally1 xii4 #ah4 ,as the first symbolic action in the book--the eating of the roll1 iii4 #a-c--must be interpreted figuratively1 it would seem not unfair to apply this principle to all such actions4 ,it is even applied by ,reuss to the very circumstantial story of the death of the prophet's wife1 xxiv4 #ae;ff41 which he characterizes as an easily deciphered hieroglyph4 ,footnote #a3 ,so the ,septuagint4 ,again1 in spite of their highly elaborated detail1 the visions appeal1 and are intended to appeal1 rather to the mind than to the eye4 ,such a vision as that of the divine chariot in ch4 i4 could not be transferred to canvas2 and if it could1 the effect would be anything but impressive4 ,regarded1 however1 as a creation of the intellectual imagination1 suggesting as it does certain attributes of ,god1 and clothing them with a mysterious and indefinable majesty1 it is not without an impressiveness of its own4 ,a similar sense of unreality has been held to pervade the speeches4 ,it has been asserted that they are simply artificial compositions1 never addressed and not capable of being addressed to any audience of living men4 ,certainly one can hardly conceive of the last chapters1 with their minute description of the temple buildings1 officers and ceremonies1 as forming part of a public address2 and some even of the earlier chapters1 e4g4 xvi41 xxiii41 do not suggest that living contact with an audience which invests the earlier prophets with their perennial dramatic interest4 ,at the same time1 to regard him simply as an author and in no sense as a public man would undoubtedly be to do him less than justice1 cf4 xi4 #be4 ,he was in any case a pastor--a new office in ,israel1 to which he was led by his overwhelming sense of the indefeasible importance of the individual 7iii4 #ah;ff41 xviii41 xxxiii474 ,but--especially in his earlier ministry1 till the fall of the city--he was prophet as well as pastor1 with a public message of condemnation very much like that of his predecessors4 ,his reputation as a prophet naturally rose with the corroboration which his words had received from the fall of the city1 xxxiii4 #cj1 but even before this it must have been high1 as we find him frequently consulted1 viii4 #a1 xiv4 #a1 xx4 #a2 and though behind the real audience he addresses1 we often cannot help feeling that his words have in view that larger ,israel of which the exiles form a part 7cf4 vi471 the chapters1 as they now stand1 are no doubt in most cases expansions of actual addresses4 ,this view is strengthened by the precision of the numerous chronological notices1 cf4 viii4 #a4 ,there is another important aspect in which the contrast between ,ezekiel and the pre-exilic prophets is very great3 viz4 in his attitude to ritual4 ,every one of them had expressed in emphatic language the relative1 if not the absolute1 indifference of ritual to true religion 7,amos v4 #be1 ,hos4 vi4 #f1 ,isa4 i4 #aa;ff41 ,mic4 vi4 #f-h74 ,no one had expressed himself in language more strong and unmistakable than ,ezekiel's contemporary1 ,jeremiah4 ,yet ,ezekiel himself devotes no less than nine chapters to a detailed programme for the ecclesiastical organization of the state after the return from exile 7xl4-xlviii474 ,with some justice ,lucien ,gautier has called him the clerical prophet1 and ,duhm goes so far as to say that he annihilated spontaneous and ethical religion4 ,this1 as we shall see1 is a grave exaggeration2 but there can be no doubt that in ,ezekiel the centre of gravity of prophecy has shifted4 ,he threw ritual into a prominence which1 in prophecy1 it had never had before1 and which1 from his day on1 it successfully maintained 7cf4 ,hag41 ,zech41 ,mal474 ,it is difficult to estimate justly the importance to ,hebrew religion of the new turn given to it by ,ezekiel3 it seems to be1 and in reality it is1 a descent from the more purely spiritual and ethical conception of the earlier prophets4 ,but two things have to be remembered 7#a7 that1 for the situation contemplated by ,ezekiel1 such a programme as that which he drew up was a practical religious necessity4 ,the spiritual atmosphere in which ,jeremiah drew his breath so freely was too rare for the average ,israelite4 ,religious conceptions had to be expressed in material symbols4 ,the land and the temple had been profaned by sin 7viii472 after the return1 their holiness must be secured and guaranteed1 and ,ezekiel's legislation makes the necessary provision by translating that idea into specific and concrete applications4 ,but 7#b7 though ritual interests are very prominent towards the close of the book1 they do not by any means exhaust the religious interests of ,ezekiel4 ,if not very frequently1 at any rate very deliberately and emphatically1 he asserts the ethical elements that are inseparable from true religion and the moral responsibility of the individual 7iii41 xviii41 xxxiii474 ,indeed1 the background of xl4-xlviii4 is a people redeemed from their sin4 ,the worshippers are the redeemed2 and even in this almost exclusively ritual section ethical interests are not forgotten1 xlv4 #i;ff4 ,in interpreting the mind of the man who sketched this priestly legislation1 it is surely unfair to ignore those profound and noble utterances touching the necessity of the new heart1 xviii4 #ca1 xxxvi4 #bf1 and the new spirit1 xi4 #ai1 utterances which have the ring of some of the greatest words of ,jeremiah4 ,it must be admitted1 however1 that ,ezekiel did not fully realize the implications of these profound words3 he at once proceeds to apply them in a somewhat mechanical way1 which suggests that his religion is a thing of statutes and judgments1 if it is also a thing of the spirit1 xxxvi4 #bg 7cf4 xx4 #aa1 #ac71 and this tendency to a mechanical view of things is characteristic of the prophet4 ,even in the great chapter asserting the responsibility of the individual 7xviii47 something of this tendency appears in the isolation of the various periods of the individual life from each other4 ,it shows itself again in his description of the river that issues from under the threshold of the temple1 xlvii4 #c-f4 ,his imagination1 which was considerably influenced by ,babylonian art1 is undisciplined4 ,images are worked out with a detail artistically unnecessary1 and aesthetically sometimes offensive 7xvi41 xxiii474 ,on the other hand the book is not destitute of noble and chastened imaginations4 ,the weird fate of ,egypt in the underworld1 xxxii4 #ag-cb1 the glory of ,tyre and the horror which her fate elicits 7xxvii47 are described with great power4 ,nothing could be more impressive than the vision of the valley of dry bones--the fearful solitude and the mysterious resurrection 7xxxvii474 ,ezekiel's imaginative power perhaps reaches its climax in his vision of the destruction of ,jerusalem and her idolatrous people4 ,on the judgment day we see the corpses of the sinners1 slain by supernatural executioners1 lying silently in the temple court1 the prophet prostrate and sorrowful1 and the angel departing with glowing coals to set fire to the guilty city1 ix4 i-x4 #g4 ,the two chief elements in later ,judaism practically owe their origin to ,ezekiel1 viz4 apocalypse and legalism4 ,the former finds expression in chs4 xxxviii1 xxxix41 where1 preliminary to ,israel's restoration1 ,gog of the land of ,magog--an ideal1 rather than1 like the ,assyrians or ,babylonians1 an historical enemy of ,israel--is to be destroyed4 ,we have already seen how prominent the legalistic interest is in xl4-xlviii41 but it is also apparent elsewhere4 ,ezekiel1 e4g41 lays unusual stress upon the institution of the ,sabbath1 and counts its profanation one of the gravest of the national sins1 xx4 #ab1 xxii4 #h1 xxiii4 #ch4 ,the priestly interests of ,ezekiel are easily explained by his early environment4 ,he belonged by birth to the ,jerusalem priesthood1 i4 #c1 xliv4 #ae1 and he received his early training under the prophetico-priestly impulse of the ,deuteronomic reformation4 ,from the critical standpoint1 the book of ,ezekiel is of the highest importance4 ,chs4 xl4-xlviii4 fall midway between the simpler legislation of ,deuteronomy1 and the very elaborate legislation of the priestly parts of the ,pentateuch4 ,this is especially plain in the laws affecting the priests and the ,levites4 ,in ,deuteronomy no distinction is made between them2 there the phrase is1 the priests the ,levites 7,deut4 xviii4 #a72 in the priestly code 7cf4 ,num4 iii41 iv41 v47 they are very sharply distinguished1 the ,levites being reserved for the more menial work of the sanctuary4 ,now the origin of this distinction can be traced to ,ezekiel1 according to whom the ,levites were the priests who had been degraded from their priestly office1 because they had ministered in idolatrous worship at the high places1 xliv4 #f;ff41 whereas the priests were the ,zadokites who had ministered only at ,jerusalem4 ,the natural inference is that1 at least in this respect1 the priestly legislation of the ,pentateuch is later than ,ezekiel4 ,a close study of chs4 xl4-xlviii4 enables us to extend this inference4 ,between ,ezekiel and that legislation there are serious differences 7cf4 xlvi4 #ac1 ,exod4 xxix4 #ch1 ,num4 xxviii4 #d71 which1 as early as the beginning of the ,christian era1 gave much perplexity to ,jewish scholars4 ,according to the traditional view1 as ,reuss has said1 ,ezekiel would be reforming1 not ,israel1 but ,moses1 the man of ,god1 and the mouth of ,jehovah ,himself4 ,we have no alternative1 then1 but to suppose that ,ezekiel is earlier than the priestly legislation of the ,pentateuch1 and that this sketch in xl4-xlviii4 prepared the way for it4 ,in ,ezekiel the older prophetic conception of ,god has undergone a change4 ,it has become more transcendental1 with the result that the love of ,god is overshadowed by ,his holiness4 ,it is of ,his grace1 no doubt1 that the people are ultimately saved2 but1 according to ,ezekiel1 ,he is prompted to ,his redemptive work not so much out of pity for the fallen people1 xxxvi4 #bb1 but rather for ,his name's sake1 xx4 #dd--that name which has been profaned by ,israel in the sight of the heathen1 xx4 #ad4 ,the goal of history is1 in ,ezekiel's ever-recurring phrase1 that men may know that ,i am ,jehovah4 ,corresponding to this transcendental view of ,god is his view of man as frail and weak--over and over again ,ezekiel is addressed as child of man--and history has only too faithfully exhibited that inherent and all but ineradicable weakness4 ,while other prophets1 like ,hosea and ,jeremiah1 had seen in the earlier years of ,israel's history1 a dawn which bore the promise of a beautiful day1 to ,ezekiel that history has from the very beginning been one unbroken record of apostasy 7xvi41 xxiii474 ,on the other hand1 ,ezekiel laid a wholesome1 if perhaps exaggerated1 emphasis on the possibility of human freedom4 ,a man's destiny1 he maintained1 was not irretrievably determined either by hereditary influences1 xviii4 #b;ff41 or by his own past1 xxxiii4 #aj;f4 ,further1 ,jeremiah had felt1 if he had not said1 that the individual1 not the nation1 is the real unit in religion3 to ,ezekiel belongs the merit of supplementing this conception by that other1 that religion implies fellowship1 and that individuals find their truest religious life only when united in the kingdom of ,god 7xl4-xlviii474 ,,hosea ,the book of ,hosea divides naturally into two parts3 i4-iii4 and iv4-xiv41 the former relatively clear and connected1 the latter unusually disjointed and obscure4 ,the difference is so unmistakable that i4-iii4 have usually been assigned to the period before the death of ,jeroboam ,,ii1 and iv4-xiv4 to the anarchic period which succeeded4 ,certainly ,hosea's prophetic career began before the end of ,jeroboam's reign1 as he predicts the fall of the reigning dynasty1 i4 #d1 which practically ended with ,jeroboam's death4#a ,but i4-iii4 seem to be the result of long and agonized meditation on the meaning of his wedded life3 it was not at once that he discovered ,gomer to be an unfaithful wife1 i4 #b1 and it must have been later still that he learned to interpret the impulse which led him to her and threw such sorrow about his life1 as a word of the ,lord1 i4 #b4 ,these chapters were probably therefore written late1 though the experiences they record were early4 ,footnote #a3 ,zechariah his son reigned for only six months4 ,of the date1 generally speaking1 of iv4-xiv4 there can be no doubt3 they reflect but too faithfully the confusion of the times that followed ,jeroboam's death4 ,it is a period of hopeless anarchy4 ,moral law is set at defiance1 and society1 from one end to the other1 is in confusion1 iv4 #a1 #b1 vii4 #a4 ,the court is corrupt1 conspiracies are rife1 kings are assassinated1 vii4 #c-g1 x4 #ae4 ,we are irresistibly reminded of the rapid succession of kings that followed ,jeroboam--,zechariah his son1 ,shallum1 ,menahem1 ,pekahiah1 ,pekah4 ,gilead1 however1 is still part of the northern kingdom1 vi4 #h1 xii4 #aa1 so that the deportation effected by ,tiglath ,pileser in #gcd ,b4,c4 has not yet taken place 7#b ,kings xv4 #bi74 ,further1 there is no mention of the combination of ,israel and ,aram against ,judah2 and1 as ,hosea was a very close observer of the political situation1 his silence on this point may be assumed to imply that his prophecies fall earlier than #gce4 ,the date of his prophetic career may safely be set about #gdc-gcf ,b4,c4 ,in chs4 i4 and iii4 ,hosea reads the experiences of his wedded life as a symbol of ,jehovah's experience with ,israel4 ,gomer bore him three children1 to whom he gave names symbolic of the impending fate#a of ,israel1 i4 #a-i4 ,the faithless ,gomer abandons ,hosea for a paramour1 but he is moved by his love for her to buy her out of the degradation into which she has fallen1 and takes earnest measures to wean her to a better mind4 ,all this ,hosea learns to interpret as symbolic of the divine love for ,israel1 which refuses to be defeated1 but will seek to recover the people1 though it be through the stern discipline of exile 7iii474 ,ch4 ii4 elaborates the idea1 suggested by these chapters1 of ,israel's adultery1 i4e4 of her unfaithfulness to ,jehovah1 of the fate to which it will bring her1 and of her redemption from that fate by the love of her ,god4#b ,footnote #a3 ,chs4 i4 #aj-;ii4 #a interrupts the stern context with an outlook on the ,messianic days1 considers ,judah as well as ,israel1 presupposes the exile of ,judah1 and anticipates ii4 #ba-bc4 ,it can hardly therefore be ,hosea's2 nor can i4 #g1 which is quite irrelevant and appears to be an allusion to the deliverance of ,jerusalem from ,sennacherib in #gja ,b4,c4 ,footnote #b3 ,it is much more satisfactory to interpret i41 iii4 as a real experience of ,hosea1 and not simply as an allegory4 ,if it be objected1 on the one hand1 that the names of the last two children are not probable names1 it may be urged1 on the other1 that ,gomer seems to be an actual name1 for which no plausible allegorical meaning has been suggested4 ,it is quite impossible even to attempt a summary of iv4-xiv41 partly because of the hopeless corruption of the text in very many passages1 partly from the brevity and apparently disjointed nature of the individual sections4 ,possibly this is due1 in large measure1 to later redactors of the book1 or to the fragmentary reports of the prophet's addresses2 perhaps1 however1 it also expresses something of the abrupt passion of his speeches1 which1 as ,kautzsch says1 were more sob than speech4 ,the general theme of this division appears in its opening words1 ,there is no fidelity or love or knowledge of ,god in the land1 iv4 #a4 ,that knowledge of ,god is in part innate and universal3 it is knowledge of ,god1 and not specifically of ,jehovah--not knowledge of a code1 but fidelity to the demands of conscience4 ,it was1 however1 the peculiar business of the priests to proclaim and develop that knowledge2 and for the deplorable perversity of ,israel1 they are largely held responsible1 iv4 #f4 ,the worship of ,jehovah1 which ought to be a moral service1 vi4 #f1 is indistinguishable from ,baal worship 7ii47 and idolatry4 ,upon the calf1 the symbol under which ,jehovah was worshipped1 and upon those who worship ,him thus1 ,hosea pours indignant and sarcastic scorn1 viii4 #e1 #f1 x4 #e1 xiii4 #b4 ,ignorance of the true nature of ,god is at the root of the moral and political confusion4 ,it is this that leads the one party to coquet with ,egypt and the other with ,assyria1 vii4 ,,ii1 viii1 #i1 xi4 #e1 xii4 #a1 and the price paid for ,assyrian intervention was a heavy one 7#b ,kings xv4 #ai1 #bj1 cf4 ,hosea v4 #ac74 ,the native kings1 too1 are as impotent to heal ,israel's wounds as the foreigners1 vii4 #g1 x4 #g2 and though it might be too much to say that ,hosea condemns the monarchy as an institution1 viii4 #d1 the impotence of the kings to stem the tide of disaster is too painfully clear to him1 x1 #g1 #ae4 ,whether ,hosea ever alludes to ,judah in his genuine prophecies is very doubtful4 ,some of the references are obvious interpolations 7cf4 i4 #g71 and for one reason or another1 nearly all of them are suspicious3 in vi4 #d1 e4g41 the parallelism 7cf4 v4 #aj7 suggests that ,israel should be read instead of ,judah4 ,but there can be no doubt that the message of ,hosea is addressed in the main1 if not exclusively1 to northern ,israel4 ,it is her land that is the land1 i4 #b1 cf4 #d1 her king that is our king1 vii4 #e1 the worship of her sanctuaries that he exposes1 and her politics that he deplores4 ,if ,amos is the ,st4 ,james of the ,old ,testament1 ,hosea is the ,st4 ,john4 ,it is indeed possible to draw the contrast too sharply between ,amos and ,hosea1 as is done when it is asserted that ,amos is the champion of morality and ,hosea of religion4 ,amos is not1 however1 a mere moralist2 he no less than ,hosea demands a return to ,jehovah1 iv4 #f1 #h1 v4 #f1 but he undoubtedly lays the emphasis on the moral expression of the religious impulse1 while ,hosea is more concerned with religion at its roots and in its essence4 ,thus ,hosea's work1 besides being supplementary to that of ,amos1 emphasizing the love of ,god where ,amos had emphasised ,his righteousness1 is also more fundamental than his4 ,there is something of the mystic1 too1 in ,hosea3 in all experience he finds something typical4 ,the character of the patriarch ,jacob is an adumbration of that of his descendants 7xii471 and his own love for his unfaithful wife is a shadow of ,jehovah's love for ,israel 7i4-iii474 ,his message to ,israel was a stern one1 probably even sterner than it now reads in the received text of many passages1 e4g41 xi4 #h1 #i4 ,he represents ,jehovah as saying to ,israel3 ,shall ,i set thee free from the hand of ,sheol8 ,shall ,i redeem thee from death8 ,hither with thy plagues1 ,o death6 ,hither with thy pestilence1 ,o ,sheol6 ,repentance is hidden from mine eyes1 xiii4 #ad4 ,but it is too much to say with some scholars that the sternness is unqualified and to deny to the prophet the hope so beautifully expressed in the last chapter4 ,there were elements in ,hosea's experience of his own heart which suggested that the love of ,jehovah was a love which would not let ,his people go1 and ch4 xiv4 7except v4 #i7 may well be retained1 almost in its entirety1 for ,hosea4 ,his passion1 though not robust1 like that of ,amos1 is tender and intense1 xi4 #c1 #d3 as ,amos pleads for righteousness1 he pleads for love 7,hos4 vi4 #f71 hesed1 a word strangely enough never used by ,amos2 and it is no accident that the great utterance of ,hosea--,i will have love and not sacrifice1 vi4 #f--;had a special attraction for ,jesus 7,matt4 ix4 #ac1 xii4 #g74 ,,joel ,the book of ,joel admirably illustrates the intimate connection which subsisted for the prophetic mind between the sorrows and disasters of the present and the coming day of ,jehovah3 the one is the immediate harbinger of the other4 ,in an unusually devastating plague of locusts1 which1 like an army of the ,lord1#a has stripped the land bare and brought misery alike upon city and country1 man and beast--for the beasts of the field look up sighing unto ,thee1 i4 #bj--the prophet sees the forerunner of such an impending day of ,jehovah1 bids the priests summon a solemn assembly1 and calls upon the people to fast and mourn and turn in penitence to ,god4 ,their penitence is met by the divine pity and rewarded by the promise not only of material restoration but of an outpouring of the spirit upon all ,judah1#b which is to be accompanied by marvellous signs in the natural world4 ,the restoration of ,judah has as its correlative the destruction of ,judah's enemies1 who are represented as gathered together in the valley of ,jehoshaphat--i4e4 the valley where ,jehovah judges--and there the divine judgment is to be executed upon them4 ,footnote #a3 ,some regard the locusts as an allegorical designation for an invading army4 ,but without reason3 in ii4 #g they are compared to warriors1 and the effect of their devastations is described in terms inapplicable to an army4 ,footnote #b3 ,the sequel1 in which the nations are the objects of divine wrath1 shows that the all flesh1 ii4 #bh1 must be confined to ,judah4 ,the theological value of the book of ,joel lies chiefly in its clear contribution to the conception of the day of ,jehovah4 ,as ,marti says1 ,the book does not present one side of the picture only1 but combines all the chief traits of the eschatological hope in an instructive compendium--the effusion of the spirit1 the salvation of ,jerusalem1 the judgment of the heathen1 the fruitfulness of the land1 the permanent abode of ,jehovah upon ,zion4 ,these features of the ,messianic hope are1 in the main1 characteristic of post-exilic prophecy2 and now1 with very great unanimity1 the book is assigned1 in spite of its position near the beginning of the minor prophets1 to post-exilic times4 ,a variety of considerations appears to support this date4 ,judah is the exclusive object of interest4 ,israel has no independent existence1 and1 where the name is mentioned1 it is synonymous with ,judah1 ii4 #bg1 iii4 #b1 #af4 ,further1 the people are scattered among the nations1 iii4 #b1 and strangers are not to pass through the holy ,jerusalem any more1 iii4 #ag4 ,the exile and the destruction of ,jerusalem by ,nebuchadrezzar in #ehf ,b4,c4 appear therefore to be presupposed4 ,but the temple has been rebuilt2 there are numerous allusions to priests and to meal and drink offerings1 i4 #i1 #ac1 ii4 #ad1ag1 and an assembly is summoned to the house of ,jehovah your ,god1 i4 #ad3 the reference to the city wall1 ii4 #i1 would bring the date as late as ,nehemiah in the fifth century4 ,other arguments1 though more precarious1 are not without weight1 e4g41 the ease and smoothness of the language1 the allusion to the ,greeks1 in4 #f1 the absence of any reference to the sin of ,judah1#a the apparent citations from or allusions to other prophetic books4#b ,footnote #a3 ,though it may be implied in ii4 #ab;f ,footnote #b3 ,obad4 v4 #ag1 ,jo4 ii4 #cb2 ,amos i4 #b1 ,jo4 iii4 #af2 ,amos ix4 #ac1 ,jo4 iii4 #ah2 ,ezek4 xlvii4 #a;ff41 ,jo4 iii4 #ah4 ,the effect of this cumulative argument has been supposed to be overwhelming in favour of a post-exilic date4 ,recently1 however1 ,baudissin1 in a very careful discussion1 has ably argued for at least the possibility of a pre-exilic date4 ,precisely in the manner of ,joel1 ,amos iv4 #f-i links together locusts and drought as already experienced calamities4 ,both alike complain of the ,philistine and ,phoenician slave-trade4 ,the enemies--,edom1 ,phoenicia1 ,philistia1 iii4 #d1 l#i--;fit the earlier period better than the ,persian or ,greek4 ,in the ninth century1 ,judah was invaded by the ,philistines and ,arabians according to the ,chronicler 7#b ,chron4 xxi4 #af;ff471 whose statements in such a matter there is no reason for doubting1 and ,jerusalem may then have suffered3 in any case1 we know that the treasures of temple and palace were plundered as early as ,rehoboam's time 7#a ,kings xiv4 #be;ff471 and this might be enough to satisfy the allusion in ,joel iii4 #ag4 ,again1 if ,joel is smooth1 ,amos is not much less so2 and linguistic peculiarities that seem to be late might be due to dialect or personal idiosyncrasy4 ,with regard to the argument from citations1 it would be possible to maintain that ,joel's simple and natural picture of the stream from the temple watering the acacia valley1 iii4 #ah1 was not borrowed from1 but rather suggested the more elaborate imagery of ,ezekiel1 xlvii4 ,for these and other reasons ,baudissin suggests with hesitation that a date slightly before ,amos is by no means impossible4#a ,footnote #a3 ,it is interesting to note that ,vernes1 ,rothstein and ,strack have independently reached the conclusion that chs4 i41 ii4 have a different origin from iii41 iv4 ,in the former1 the state still exists1 and the calamity is a plague of locusts2 in the latter1 no account is taken of the locusts--it is a time of national disaster4 ,the reasons1 however1 are hardly adequate for denying the unity of the book4 ,the question is much more than an academic one1 for on the answer to it will depend our whole conception of the development of ,hebrew prophecy4 ,sacerdotal interests1 e4g41 here receive a prominence in prophecy which we are accustomed to associate only with the period after the exile4 ,here again1 the promises are for ,judah1 the threats for her enemies--an attitude also characteristic of post-exilic prophecy3 it is customary to deny to the pre-exilic prophets any word of promise or consolation to their own people4 ,obviously if the priest and the element of promise have already so assured a place in the earliest of the prophets1 the ordinary view of the course of prophecy will have to be seriously modified4 ,the lack of emphasis displayed by ,joel on the ethical aspect of religion1 which has been made to tell in favour of a late date1 might tell equally well in favour of a very early one4 ,indeed1 the book is either very early or very late2 and1 if early1 it represents what we might call the pre-prophetic type of ,israel's religion1 and especially the non-moral aspirations of those who1 in ,amos's time1 longed for the day of ,jehovah1 and did not know that for them it meant thick darkness1 without a streak of light across it 7,amos v4 #ah74 ,on the whole1 however1 the balance leans to a post-exilic date4 ,the ,jewish dispersion seems to be implied1 iii4 #b4 ,the strange visitation of locusts suggests to the prophet the mysterious army from the north1 ii4 #bj1 which had haunted the pages of ,ezekiel 7xxxviii41 xxxix472 and in this book1 prophecy 7i41 ii47 merges into apocalyptic 7iii41 iv474 ,,amos ,amos1 the first of the literary prophets1 is also one of the greatest4 ,hosea may be more tender1 ,isaiah more serenely majestic1 ,jeremiah more passionately human2 but ,amos has a certain ,titanic strength and rugged grandeur all his own4 ,he was a shepherd1 i4 #a1 vii4 #ae1 and the simplicity and sternness of nature are written deep upon his soul4 ,he is familiar with lions and bears1 iii4 #h1 v4 #ai1 and the terrors of the wilderness hover over all his message4 ,he had observed with acuteness and sympathy the great natural laws which the experiences of his shepherd life so amply illustrated1 iii4 #ae41 and his simple moral sense is provoked by the cities1 with the immoral civilization for which they stand4 ,with a lofty scorn this desert man looks upon the palaces1 i4 #d1 etc41 the winter and the summer houses1 iii4 #ae1 in which the luxurious and rapacious grandees of the time indulged1 and contemplates their ruin with stern satisfaction4 ,those were the days of ,jeroboam ,,ii1 i4 #a1 and1 as the period is marked by an easy self-assurance1 and the ancient boundaries of ,israel are restored1 vi4 #ad 7cf4 #b ,kings xiv4 #be1 #bh71 ,amos belongs1 no doubt1 to the latter half of his reign1 probably as late as #gej ,b4,c41 for he knows1 though he does not name1 the ,assyrians1 vi4 #ad1 and he finds in their irresistible progress westwards an answer to the moral demands of his heart1 ,israel's exhausting wars with the ,arameans were now over4 ,aram herself had been weakened by the repeated assaults of ,assyria1 and ,israel was enjoying the dangerous fruits of peace4 ,extravagance was common1 and drunkenness1 no less among the women than the men1 iv4 #a4 ,the grossest immorality is associated even with public worship1 ii4 #g1 and religion is being eaten away by the canker of commercialism1 viii4 #e4 ,the poor are driven to the wall1 and justice is set at defiance by those appointed to administer it1 ii4 #f1 v4 #g4 ,such was the society1 brilliant without and corrupt within1 into which ,amos hurled his startling message that the ,god who had chosen them1 iii4 #b1 guided their history1 ii4 #i1 and sent them prophets to interpret ,his will1 ii4 #aa1 would punish them for their iniquities1 iii4 #b4 ,it is not certain whether the unusually skilful disposition of the book of ,amos is due to himself or to a much later hand4#a ,it has three great divisions3 7a7 the judgment 7i41 ii471 7b7 the grounds of the judgment 7iii4-vi471 7c7 visions of judgment1 with an outlook on the ,messianic days 7vii4-ix474 ,in chs4 i41 ii41 with his sense of an impartial and universal moral law1 ,amos sees the judgment sweep across seven countries in the west--,aram1 ,philistia1 ,phoenicia1 ,edom1 ,ammon1 ,moab and ,israel4#b ,the sins denounced are1 e4g41 the barbarities of warfare and the cruelties of the slave trade2 but ,amos dwells with special emphasis and detail on the sins of ,israel1 as that is the country to which1 though a ,judean1 he has been specially sent1 vii4 #aj1 #ae4 ,footnote #a3 ,note the refrains in i41 ii41 cf4 i4 #c1 #f2 iii4-vi4 are held together by three hears1 iii4 #a1 iv4 #a1 v4 #a1 and apparently by three woes1 v4 #g 7emended text71 v4 #ah1 vi4 #a2 so the visions in vii4-ix4 are introduced by ,thus hath 7the ,lord ,jehovah7 shown me4 ,footnote #b3 ,it is difficult to believe that the colourless oracle against ,judah1 ii4 #d1 #e1 couched in perfectly general terms1 is original4 ,doubts that are not unreasonable have also been raised regarding the oracle against ,edom1 i4 #aa1 #ab4 ,in the next section 7b7 he begins by asserting that ,israel's religious prerogative will only the more certainly ensure her destruction1 and justifies his threat of doom by his irrepressible assurance of having heard the divine voice1 iii4 #a-h4 ,the doom is deserved because of the rapacity1 luxury1 iii4 #i-ae1 and drunkenness1 iv4 #a-c1 nor will their sumptuous worship save them1 iv4 #d1 #e4 ,warnings enough they have had already1 but as they have all been disregarded1 ,god will come in some more terrible way1 iv4 #f-ac4 ,then follows a lament1 v4 #a-c1 and an appeal to hate the evil and seek ,god and the good1 v4 #d-ae2 otherwise ,he will come in judgment and the day of ,jehovah1 for which the people long1 will be a day of storm and utter darkness1 v4 #af-bj4 ,to-day1 as in the time of the ,exodus1 ,jehovah's demands are not ritual but moral1 and the neglect of them will end in captivity1 v4 #ba-bg4 ,the luxury and self-assurance of the people are again scornfully denounced1 and the doom of exile foretold 7vi474 7c7 ,then follow visions of destruction from locusts and drought1 vii4 #a-f1 the vision of the plumbline1 symbolical of the straightness to which ,israel has failed to conform1 vii4 #g-i1 the vision of the summer fruit1 which1 by a play upon words1 portended the end1 viii4 #a-c1 and the vision of the ruined temple1 ix4 #a-g4 ,these visions are interrupted by the exceedingly interesting and instructive story of the encounter of the prophet with the supercilious courtier-priest of ,bethel1 and ,amos's fearless reiteration of his message1 vii4 #aj-ag2 and also by the section viii4 #d-ad1 with its exposition of the evils and its threats of judgment--a section more akin to iii4-vi4 than to vii4-ix4 ,the book concludes with an outlook on the redemption and prosperity which will follow in the ,messianic age1 ix4 #h-ae4 ,it is hardly possible that this outlook can be ,amos's own4 ,in one whose interest in morality was so overwhelming1 it would be strange1 though perhaps not impossible1 that the golden age should be described in terms so exclusively material2 but the historical implications of the passage are not those of ,amos's time4 ,it is further an express contradiction of the immediately preceding words1 ix4 #b-e1 in which1 with dreadful earnestness1 the prophet has expressed the thought of an inexorable and inevitable judgment from which there is no escape4 ,besides1 while ,amos addresses ,israel1 this passage deals with ,judah1 presupposes the fall#a of the dynasty 7cf4 v4 #aa7 and the advent of the exile 7ix4 #ad1 #ae74b ,footnote #a3 ,even if only the decay were pre-supposed1 the words would be quite inapplicable to the long and prosperous reign of ,uzziah1 i4 #a4 ,footnote3 ,the authenticity of a few other passages1 cf4 viii4 #aa1 #ab1 has been doubted for reasons that are not always convincing4 ,most doubt attaches to the great doxologies1 iv4 #ac1 v4 #h1 #i1 ix4 #e1 #f4 ,the utmost that can be said with safety is that these passages are in no case necessary to the context1 while v4 #h1 #i is a distinct interruption1 but that the conception of ,god suggested by them1 as omnipotent and omnipresent1 is not at all beyond the theological reach of ,amos4 ,amos must have had predecessors1 ii4 #aa2 but even so the range and boldness of his thought are astonishing4 ,history1 reflection and revelation have convinced him that ,israel has had unique religious privileges1 iii4 #b2 nevertheless she stands under the moral laws by which all the world is bound1 and which even the heathen acknowledge1 iii4 #i--;,amos has nothing to say of any written law specially given to ,israel--and by these laws she will be condemned to destruction1 if she is unfaithful1 just as surely as the ,philistines and ,phoenicians 7i474 ,indeed1 so sternly impartial is ,amos that he at times even seems to challenge the prerogative of ,israel4 ,the ,philistines and ,arameans had their ,god-guided exodus no less than ,israel1 and she is no more to ,jehovah than the swarthy peoples of ,africa1 ix4 #g4 ,the universal and inexorable claims of the moral law have never had a more relentless exponent than ,amos2 and1 though there is in him a soul of pity1 vii4 #b1 #e1 it was his peculiar task1 not to proclaim the divine love1 but to plead for social justice4 ,god is just and man must be so too4 ,perhaps ,amos's message is all the more daring and refreshing that he was not a professional prophet1 vii4 #ad4 ,his culture1 though not formal1 is of the profoundest4 ,he is familiar with distant peoples1 ix4 #g1 he has thought long and deeply about the past1 he knows the influences that are moulding the present4 ,the religion for which he pleaded was not a thing of rites and ceremonies1 but an ideal of social justice--a justice which would not be checked at every step by avarice and cruelty1 but would flow on and on like the waves of the sea1 v4 #bd4 ,,obadiah ,the book of ,obadiah--shortest of all the prophetic books--is occupied1 in the main1 as the superscription suggests1 with the fate of ,edom4 ,her people have been humbled1 the high and rocky fastnesses in which they trusted have not been able to save them4 ,neighbouring ,arab tribes have successfully attacked them and driven them from their home 7vv1 #a-g74a ,this is the divine penalty for their cruel and unbrotherly treatment of the ,jews after the siege of ,jerusalem1 vv4 #aj-ad1 #ae;b4 ,nay1 a day of divine vengeance is coming upon all the heathen1 when ,judah will utterly destroy ,edom1 and once again possess all the land1 north1 south1 east and west1 that was formerly theirs1 and the kingdom shall be ,jehovah's1 vv4 #ae;a1 #af-ba4 ,footnote #a3 ,verses #h1 #i1 which imply that the catastrophe is yet to come1 and speak of ,edom in the third person1 appear to be later than the context4 ,for thy mighty men1 ,o ,teman1 in v4 #i;a1 probably we should read1 the mighty men of ,teman4 ,the date of the prophecy seems to be fixed by the unmistakable allusion in vv4 #aa-ad to the capture of ,jerusalem by ,nebuchadrezzar in #ehf ,b4,c4--an occasion on which the ,edomites abetted the ,babylonians 7,ezek4 xxxv42 ,lam4 iv4 #ba ff42 ,ps4 cxxxvii4 #g74 ,but the case is gravely complicated by the similarity1 which is much too close to be accidental1 between ,obadiah #a-i and the oracle against ,edom in ,jeremiah1 xlix4 #g-bb 7especially vv4 #ad-af1 #i1 #aj1 #g1 #bb72 and1 though in one or two places the text of ,obadiah is superior 7cf4 ,ob4 #b1 #c2 ,jer4 xlix4 #ae1 #af71 the resemblance is such that the passage in ,jeremiah must be dependent on ,obadiah4 ,now the date assigned to ,jeremiah's oracle is #fje ,b4,c4 7xlvi4 #b72 but obviously ,jeremiah could not adopt in #fje a prophecy which was not written till #ehf4 ,a way out of this difficulty has usually been sought in the assumption that both prophets have made use1 in different ways1 of an older oracle against ,edom1 vv4 #a-i or #aj4 ,but there is no adequate reason for separating vv4 #aa-ad1 which must refer to the capture of ,jerusalem in #ehf1 from vv4 #a-g4 ,the assumption just mentioned becomes quite unnecessary when we remember that ,jeremiah xlix4 #g-bb1 as we have already seen1 is probably1 at least in its present form1 from a period very much later than ,jeremiah4 ,the priority therefore rests with ,obadiah1 whose prophecy has been utilized in ,jeremiah xlix4 ,in vv4 #a-g the catastrophe is not predicted for ,edom1 it has already fallen3 it was probably an earlier stage of the ,bedawin assaults1 whose desolating effect upon ,edom is described in ,malachi i4 #a-e1 and must therefore be relegated to a period about the middle of the fifth century4 ,we are probably not far from the truth in dating ,obadiah #a-ad about #ejj ,b4,c4 ,the memory of ,edom's cruelty would still rankle a generation after the return4 ,but in vv4 #ae;a1 #af-ba the literary and religious colouring is different2 vv4 #a-ad is marked by a certain graphic vigour1 vv4 #ae-ba is diffuse4 ,the judgment of ,edom in vv4 #a-ad is in vv4 #ae-ba made only an episode in a great world-judgment4 ,above all1 in v4 #a the nations are to execute this judgment1 in v4 #ae they are to be the victims of it4 ,further1 vv4 #ai1 #bj seem to imply an extensive dispersion of the ,jews4 ,probably1 therefore1 this passage expresses the bold eschatological hopes of a later time1 when ,judah was to be finally redeemed and the heathen annihilated4 ,the section may be later than the oracle in ,jeremiah xlix1 as no use is made of it there4 ,,jonah ,the book of ,jonah is1 in some ways1 the greatest in the ,old ,testament3 there is no other which so bravely claims the whole world for the love of ,god1 or presents its noble lessons with so winning or subtle an art4 ,jonah1 a ,hebrew prophet1 is divinely commanded to preach to ,nineveh1 the capital of the great ,assyrian empire of his day4 ,to escape the unwelcome task of preaching to a heathen people1 he takes ship for the distant west1 only to be overtaken by a storm1 and thrown into the sea1 when1 by the lot1 it is discovered that he is the cause of the storm4 ,he is immediately swallowed by a fish1 in the belly of which he remains three days and nights 7i474 ,then follows a prayer3 after which the prophet is thrown up by the fish upon the land 7ii474 ,this time he obeys the divine command1 and his preaching is followed by a general repentance1 which causes ,god to spare the wicked city 7iii471 whereat ,jonah is greatly displeased2 but1 by a new and miraculous experience1 he is taught the shame and folly of his anger1 and the infinite greatness of the divine love 7iv474 ,on the face of it1 the narrative is not meant to be strictly historical4 ,its place among the prophetic books shows that its importance lies1 not in its facts1 but in the truths for which it pleads4 ,much detail is wanting which we should expect to find were the narrative pure history1 e4g4 the name of the ,assyrian king1 the results of ,jonah's mission1 etc4 ,other circumstances stamp it as unhistorical3 considering the poor success the ,hebrew prophets had in their own land1 such a wholesale conversion of a foreign city1 even if such a visit as ,jonah's were likely1 must be regarded as extremely improbable1 to say nothing of the impossibility of the animals fasting and wearing sackcloth1 iii4 #g1 #h4 ,the miraculous fish and the miraculous tree which grew up in a single night forbid us to look for history in the book4 ,nineveh's fame is a thing of the past1 iii4 #c2 the book is written after1 probably long after1 its fall in #fjf ,b4,c4 ,the lateness of the book and its remoteness from the events it records1 are proved in other ways4 ,its language has the ,aramaic flavour of the later books1 and such a phrase as the ,god of heaven1 i4 #i1 only occurs in post-exilic literature4 ,it contains several reminiscences of late books#a 7e4g4 ,joel871 and its ideas are most intelligible as the product of post-exilic times1 especially if it be regarded as a protest against a loveless and narrow-hearted type of ,judaism4 ,all the conditions point to a date not much1 if at all1 earlier than #cjj ,b4,c4 ,footnote #a3 ,there are many points of contact between the prayer in ,jonah ii4 and the ,psalter2 but the prayer must be later than the original book of ,jonah4 ,it is in reality not a prayer but a psalm of gratitude1 and is quite inappropriate to ,jonah's horrible situation in the belly of the fish4 ,even if the metaphors from the sea were interpreted literally1 they would not be applicable to ,jonah's case2 e4g41 the weeds were wrapped about my head1 v4 #e4 ,the ,psalm1 which is partly1 but not altogether1 a compilation1 must have been inserted here by a later hand1 hardly by the author of the book1 who would have noticed the impropriety of it4 ,jonah is himself a historical character2 there is no reason to doubt that the prophet1 in whose time ,nineveh is standing1 i4 #b1 is contemporary with the ,jonah mentioned in #b ,kings xiv4 #be as living in the reign of ,jeroboam ,,ii1 and prophesying the restoration of ,israel to its ancient boundaries4 ,it may have been as the representative of an intense and exclusive nationalism that he was chosen as the hero of this book4 ,here and there the story trenches on ,babylonian and ,greek legend1 but the spirit1 if not also the form1 is altogether the author's own4 ,the book abounds in religious suggestion2 even its incidental touches are illuminating4 ,it suggests that man cannot escape his divinely appointed destiny1 and that ,god's will must be done4 ,it suggests that prophecy is conditional2 a threatened destruction can be averted by repentance4 ,it is peculiarly interesting to find so generous an attitude towards the religious susceptibilities and capacities of foreigners3 in this we are reminded of ,jesus' parable of the good ,samaritan4 ,the foreign sailors cry1 in their perplexity1 to their gods1 and end by acknowledging the ,god of ,israel2 the people of ,nineveh repent at the prophet's preaching4 ,all this forms a splendid foil to the smallness and obstinacy of ,jonah4 ,with his mean views of ,god1 he would not only exclude the heathen from the divine mercy1 but rejoice in their destruction4 ,in this the prophet is typical of later ,judaism1 with its longing for the annihilation of the nations as the obverse of the redemption of ,zion4 ,this attitude was greatly encouraged by the rigorous legislation of ,ezra2 and ,jonah1 like ,ruth1 may be a protest against it1 or at least against the bigotry which it engendered4 ,if ,israel is1 in any sense1 an elect people1 she is but elected to carry the message of repentance to the heathen2 and the book of ,jonah is indirectly1 though not perhaps in the intention of the author1 a plea for foreign missions4 ,the greatest lesson of the book is skilfully reserved to the end1 iv1 #b1 #aj1 #aa4 ,it is that ,god is patient and merciful1 that ,he loves all the world which ,he created1 that ,his love stretches not only beyond the ,jews and away to distant ,nineveh1 but even down to the animal creation4 ,he hears the prayer of the foreign sailors1 ,he delights in the repentance of ,nineveh1 ,he cares for the cattle1 iv4 #aa4 ,this book is the ,old ,testament counterpart to ,god so loved the world4 ,,micah ,micah must have been a very striking personality4 ,like ,amos1 he was a native of the country--somewhere in the neighbourhood of ,gath2 and he denounces with fiery earnestness the sins of the capital cities1 ,samaria in the northern kingdom1 and ,jerusalem in the southern4 ,to him these cities seem to incarnate the sins of their respective kingdoms1 i4 #e2 and for both ruin and desolation are predicted1 i4 #f1 iii4 #ab4 ,micah expresses with peculiar distinctness the sense of his inspiration and the object for which it is given2 he is conscious of being filled with the spirit of ,jehovah to declare unto ,jacob his transgression and unto ,israel his sin1 iii4 #h4 ,in his ringing sincerity1 he must have formed a strange contrast to the prophets who regulated their message by their income1 iii4 #e1 and preached to a people whose conscience was slumbering1 a welcome gospel of materialism1 ii4 #aa4 ,the words of ,micah must have burned themselves into the memories1 if not the consciences1 of his generation2 for more than a hundred years after--though doubtless by this time the prophecy was written--we find his unfulfilled prediction of the destruction of ,jerusalem alluded to by the elders who pled for the life of ,jeremiah1 xxvi4 #ag;ff4 ,it is certain from this reference that he prophesied during the reign of ,hezekiah2 whether also under ,jotham and ,ahaz 7,mic4 i4 #a7 is not so certain1 and depends upon whether his prophecy of the destruction of ,samaria1 i4 #f1 was made before1 or as seems equally possible1 after the capture of that city in #gba ,b4,c4 ,at any rate his message was addressed to ,judah1 and must have fallen 7at least i4-iii47 before #gja ,b4,c4--the year in which the city was saved beyond all expectation from an attack by ,sennacherib1 iii4 #ab4 ,micah begins by describing the coming of ,jehovah4 ,he is coming in judgment upon ,samaria and ,jerusalem1 the wicked capitals of wicked kingdoms1 i4 #a-i2 and in the difficult verses1 i4 #aj-af1 the devastating march of the enemy through ,judah is allusively described4 ,the judgment is thoroughly justified--it is due to the violent and grasping spirit of the wealthy1 who do not scruple to crush the poor and defenceless1 ii4 #a-aa4 ,the prophet then#a brings his charge in detail against the leaders of the people--officials1 judges1 priests1 prophets--accuses them of being mercenary and time-serving1 and ends with the terrible threat that the holy hill will one day be made a desolation 7iii474 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 ii4 #ab1 #ac1 which interrupt the stern address of the prophet1 ii4 #aa1 iii4 #a with a promise which implies that ,israel is scattered1 are probably exilic2 they can hardly be ,micah's4 ,these chapters are assigned almost unanimously to ,micah4 ,but serious critical difficulties are raised in connection with the rest of the book4 ,chs4 iv4 and v4 constitute a section by themselves1 and may be considered separately4 ,their general theme is the certainty of salvation1 but it is quite clear that they do not form an original unity2 iv4 #a-d1 e4g41 with its generous attitude to the foreign nations1 is inconsistent with iv4 #aa-ac1 which predicts their destruction4 ,again1 iv4 #aj describes a siege of ,jerusalem1 which is to issue in exile1 iv4 #aa-ac1 a siege which is to end in the annihilation of the besiegers4 ,similar difficulties characterize ch4 v2 in vv4 #g-i1 #ae the enemies are to be destroyed4 ,no consecutive outline of the chapters is possible in their present disconnected form4 ,ch4 iv4 #a-e describes the ,messianic age1 in which the nations will come to ,jerusalem to have their cases peacefully arbitrated1 iv4 #f-h promise that those scattered 7in exile7 will be gathered again1 and the kingdom of ,judah restored4 ,siege of ,jerusalem1 exile1 and redemption1 iv4 #i1 #aj4 ,unsuccessful siege of ,jerusalem and annihilation of the enemy1 iv4 #aa-ac4 ,another siege3 ,israel's suffering1 v4 #a4 ,promise of a victorious king1 v4 #b-d4 ,judah's victory over ,assyria1 v4 #e1 #f and all her enemies1 v4 #g-i4 ,all the apparatus of war and idolatry will be removed from the land1 v4 #aj-ad1 and vengeance taken on the enemy1 v4 #ae4 ,the summary shows how disjointed the chapters are4 ,they may not impossibly contain reminiscences or even utterances of ,micah2 e4g4 the prediction of the fatal siege1 v4 #a1 or of the overthrow of idolatry1 v4 #aj-ad4 ,but many elements could not possibly be ,micah's3 e4g4 iv4 #h implies that the kingdom of ,judah is already a thing of the past4 iv4 #f postulates the exile1#a and the prophecy of exile to ,babylon1 iv4 #aj1 would be unnatural in ,micah's time1 when ,assyria was the dominant power4#b ,again it is exceedingly improbable that ,micah would have blunted the edge of his terrible threat in iii4 #ab by following it up with so brilliant a promise as iv4 #a-d1 especially as not a word is said about the need of repentance4 ,the story in ,jeremiah xxvi4 #ag;ff4 raises the legitimate doubt whether ,micah's prophecy1 which was certainly one of threatening1 iii4 #ab1 also contained elements of promise4 ,on the whole it seems best to assume that the fine picture of the glory and importance of ,zion in the latter days1 iv4 #a-d1 was set by some later writer as a foil to the stern threat with which the original prophecy closed1 cf4 ,isaiah ii4 #a-d4 ,chs4 iv4 and v4 may be regarded as a collection of prophecies emphasizing the certainty of salvation and intended to supplement i4-iii4 ,footnote #a3 ,this might conceivably1 though not very naturally1 refer to the deportation of ,israel in #gba4 ,footnote #b3 ,some retain iv4 #i1 #aj for ,micah1 and assume either that the ,babylon clause is a later interpolation1 or that ,babylon has displaced another proper name4 ,chs4 vi4 and vii4 take us again into another atmosphere1 more like ,micah's own4 ,the people1 who attempt to defend themselves against ,jehovah's charge of ingratitude on the plea that they are ignorant of ,his demands1 are reminded that those demands are ancient and simple3 justice1 love as between man and man1 and a humble walk with ,god1 vi4 #a-h4 ,but instead1 dishonesty and injustice are rampant everywhere1 and the judgment of ,god is inevitable1 vi4 #i-af4 ,the prophet laments the utter and universal degradation of the people1 which has corrupted even the intimacies of family life1 vii4 #a-f4 ,in the rest of the chapter the blow predicted has already fallen2 in their sorrow the people await the fulfilment of ,jehovah's purpose in patience and faith1 pray to ,him to restore the land which once was theirs on the east of the ,jordan1 and thus to compel from the heathen an acknowledgment of ,his power4 ,he is the incomparable ,god who can forgive and restore1 vii4 #g-bj4 ,the accusations and laments of these two chapters come very strangely after the repeated promises of chs4 iv4 and v42 and if the whole book had been by ,micah1 it is hardly possible that this order should have been original4 ,probably these chapters were appended to ,micah's book because of several features which they have in common with i4-iii43 notice1 e4g41 the prominence of the word hear1 i4 #b1 iii4 #a1 #i1 vi4 #a1 #i1 ,most scholars agree with ,ewald in supposing that these chapters--at any rate vi4 i-vii4 #f--;come from the reign of ,manasseh4 ,the situation is that of i4-iii41 only aggravated3 the reference to ,ahab1 vi4 #af1 with whom ,manasseh is compared in #b ,kings xxi4 #c1 points in the same direction4 ,even if written in this reign1 ,micah may still have been the author2 but the general manner of the chapters and the individuality they reveal appear to be different from his4 ,but1 considering their noble insistence upon the moral elements in religion 7esp4 vi4 #f-h7 they are1 if not his1 yet not inappropriately appended to his book4 ,the concluding section1 however1 vii4 #g-bj1 is almost certainly post-exilic4 ,the punishment has come1 therefore the exile is the earliest possible date4 ,but there are exiles not only in ,babylon1 but scattered far and wide throughout the world1 vii4 #ab1 and there is the expectation that the walls of ,jerusalem will be rebuilt1 vii4 #aa4 ,as this took place under ,nehemiah1 the section will fall before his time 7#ejj-dej ,b4,c474 ,this passage of promise and consolation is a foil to vi4 #a-vii4 #f1 intended to sustain the same relation to that section as iv41 v4 to i4-iii4 ,thus many hands appear to have contributed to the little book of ,micah1 and the voices of two or three centuries may be heard in it3 earlier words of threatening and judgment are answered by later words of hope and consolation4 ,but wherever else the true ,micah is to be found--and his spirit at any rate is certainly in vi4 #f-h--;he is undoubtedly present in i4-iii4 ,it is a peculiar piece of good fortune that we should possess the words of two contemporary prophets who differed so strikingly as ,micah the peasant and ,isaiah the statesman4 ,unlike ,isaiah1 ,micah has nothing to say about foreign politics and their bearing upon religion2 he confines himself severely to its moral aspects1 and like ,amos1 that other prophet of the country1 hurls his accusations and makes his high ethical demands1 with an almost fierce power1 iii4 #b1 #c4 ,his prophecy justifies his claim to speak in the power and inspiration of his ,god1 iii4 #h4 ,,nahum ,poetically the little book of ,nahum is one of the finest in the ,old ,testament4 ,its descriptions are vivid and impetuous3 they set us before the walls of the beleaguered ,nineveh1 and show us the war-chariots of her enemies darting to and fro like lightning1 ii4 #d1 the prancing steeds1 the flashing swords1 the glittering spears1 iii4 #b1c4 ,the poetry glows with passionate joy as it contemplates the ruin of cruel and victorious ,assyria4 ,in the opening chapter1 i41 ii4 #b1 ,jehovah is represented as coming in might and anger to take vengeance upon the enemies of ,judah1 whom ,he is to destroy so completely that not a trace of them will be left2 and ,judah1 now delivered1 will be free to worship her ,god in peace4 ,in ch4 ii4 the enemy1 through whom ,assyria's destruction is to be wrought1 is at the gates of ,nineveh1 v4 #h1 in all the fierce pomp of war4 ,the city is doomed1 the defenders flee1 everywhere is desolation and ruin1 the ravenous ,assyrian lion is slain by the sword4 ,it is because of her sins that this utter ruin is coming upon her1 iii4 #a-g1 nor need she think to escape2 for the populous and all but impregnable ,thebes 7,no-,amon7 was taken1 and ,nineveh's fate will be the same4 ,already the people are quaking for fear1 some of the strongholds of ,assyria are taken2 it is time to prepare to defend the capital4 ,but there is no hope1 her doom is already sealed1 iii4 #h-ai4 ,from the historical implications of the prophecy1 which belongs1 as we shall see1 to the seventh century1 and also from definite allusions 7cf4 i4 #ae71 ,nahum must have been a ,judean2 and1 of the three traditions concerning ,elkosh his birthplace1 which place it respectively in ,mesopotamia1 in ,galilee1 and near ,eleutheropolis in southern ,judah1 the last must be held to be very much the most probable4 ,within certain limits1 the date is easy to fix4 ,ch4 iii4 #h-aj1 which are historically the most concrete verses in the prophecy1 imply the capture of ,thebes1 which we now know to have been taken by the ,assyrians in #ffc ,b4,c4 ,on the other hand1 ,nineveh has not yet fallen3 the theme of the prophecy is just the certainty of its fall4 ,it was taken by the ,medians under ,kyaxares1 leagued with ,nabopolassar of ,babylon in #fjf ,b4,c4 ,the prophecy therefore falls between #ffc and #fjf4 ,the fixing of the precise date depends on two considerations3 7#a7 whether the allusion to ,thebes in iii4 #h-aj implies that its capture was very recent1 and 7#b7 whether we must suppose that the prophecy was inspired by a definite historical situation4 ,it is usually felt that the reference to ,thebes implies that the memory of its capture is fresh1 and that the prophecy must stand very near it--not later perhaps than #fej2 and just about this time there was a ,babylonian rebellion against ,assyria4 ,this date must be regarded as by no means impossible4 ,on the whole1 however1 a later date appears to be distinctly more probable ,the last few verses1 iii4 #ab;f41 #ah;f41 imply the thorough weakness1 disorganization and impending dissolution of the ,assyrian empire1 and so early a date as #fej hardly meets the case4 ,we must apparently come down to the time when the fate of ,nineveh was obviously inevitable and her conqueror was on the way1 ii4 #a4 ,probably ,marti is not far from the truth in suggesting #faj ,b4,c4 ,the reference to ,thebes is intelligible even at this later date1 when we remember that the capture of so strong a city1 already famous in ,homer's time1 must have left an indelible impression on the mind of ,western ,asia4 ,it is no doubt abstractly possible that the prophecy is not intimately connected with any historical situation1 and therefore might be much earlier2 but to say nothing of the concreteness of the detail1 such a supposition would be altogether contrary to the analogy of ,hebrew prophecy4 ,when ,jehovah reveals ,his secret to the prophets1 it is because ,he is about to do something 7,amos iii4 #g74 ,the concreteness of detail just alluded to is characteristic only of the second and third chapters4 ,ch4 i41 however1 is confessedly vague1 and moves for the most part along the familiar lines of theophanic descriptions4 ,it is not plain in i4 7cf4 ii4 #h7 who are the enemies to be destroyed1 as i4 #a is probably a later addition4 ,further1 as far as v4 #aj the prophecy is alphabetic3 this circumstance has given rise to the view that i41 ii4 #b originally formed a complete alphabetic psalm whose second half has either been worked over1 or displaced by i4 #aa-ae1 ii4 #b1 the object of the psalm being to present a general picture of the judgment into which the particular doom of ,nineveh is fitted1 and to give the prophecy a theological complexion which it appeared to need4 ,the acknowledged vagueness of the chapter and the demonstrably alphabetic nature of at least part of it1 certainly render its authenticity very doubtful4 ,the theological interest of ,nahum is great4 ,it is the first prophecy dealing exclusively with the enemies of ,judah4 ,there is a hint of the sin of ,nineveh1 but little more than a hint1 iii4 #a1 #d2 she is the enemy and oppressor of ,judah1 and that is enough to justify her doom4 ,whether we accept the earlier or the later date for the prophecy1 the reign of ,manasseh or that of ,josiah1 the moral condition of ,judah herself was deplorable enough1 and so clear-eyed a prophet as ,jeremiah saw that her doom was inevitable4 ,nahum probably represents the sentiment of narrowly patriotic party1 which regarded ,jerusalem as inviolable1 and ,jehovah as a jealous ,god ready to take vengeance upon the enemies of ,judah4 ,,habakkuk ,the precise interpretation of the book of ,habakkuk presents unusual difficulties2 but1 brief and difficult as it is1 it is clear that ,habakkuk was a great prophet1 of earnest1 candid soul1 and he has left us one of the noblest and most penetrating words in the history of religion1 ii4 #d;b4 ,the prophecy may be placed about the year #fjj ,b4,c4 ,the ,assyrian empire had fallen1 and by the battle of ,carchemish in #fje ,b4,c41 ,babylonian supremacy was practically established over ,western ,asia4 ,josiah's reformation1 whose effects had been transient and superficial1 lay more than twenty years behind4 ,the reckless ,jehoiakim was upon the throne of ,judah1 a king who regarded neither the claims of justice 7,jer4 xxii4 #ac-ai7 nor the words of the prophet 7,jer4 xxxvi4 #bc71 and his rebellion drew upon him and his land the terrible vengeance of ,babylon1 first in #fja ,b4,c41 then in #eig4 ,the prophet begins by asking his ,god how long the lamentable disorder and wrong are to continue1 i4 #a-d4 ,for answer1 he is assured that the ,chaldeans are to be raised up in chastisement1 who1 with their terrible army1 will mockingly defy every attempt to check their advance1 i4 #e-aa1 ,but in i4 #ab-ag the prophet appears to be confounded by their impiety2 they have been guilty of barbarous cruelty--how can ,jehovah reconcile this with ,his own holiness and purity8 ,the prophet finds the answer to his question when he climbs his tower of faith2 there he learns that the proud shall perish and the righteous live4 ,the solution may be long delayed1 but faith sees and grasps it already3 ,the just shall live by his faithfulness1 ii4 #a-d4 ,then follows a series of woes1 ii4 #e-bj1 which expand the thought of ii4 #d;a--the sure destruction of the proud4 ,woes are denounced upon the cruel rapacity of the conquerors1 their unjust accumulation of treasure1 their futile ambitions1 their unfeeling treatment of the land1 beasts and people1 and finally their idolatry4 ,in contrast to the stupid and impotent gods worshipped by the oppressor is the great ,god of ,israel1 whose temple is in the heavens1 and before whom the earth is summoned to silence1 ii4 #bj4 ,for ,he is on ,his way to take vengeance upon the enemies of ,his people1 as ,he did in the ancient days of the exodus1 when ,he came in the terrors of the storm and overthrew the ,egyptians4 ,his coming is described in terms of older theophanies 7,jud4 v41 ,deut4 xxxiii472 and this prayer1 as it is called in the superscription1 concludes with an expression of unbounded confidence and joy in ,jehovah1 even when all customary and visible signs of ,his love fail 7iii474 ,simple and coherent as this sequence seems to be1 it is1 in reality1 on closer inspection1 very perplexing4 ,ch4 i4 #a-d reveals a picture of confusion within ,judah1 but it is impossible to say whether it is foreigners who are oppressing ,judah as a whole1 or powerful classes within ,judah itself that are oppressing the poor4 ,perhaps the latter is the more natural interpretation4 ,in that case1 the ,chaldeans are raised up to chastise the native oppressor1 i4 #e-aa4 ,this section1 however1 has fresh difficulties of its own2 vv4 #e1 #f suggest that the ,chaldeans are not yet known to be a formidable power1 they are only about to be raised up1 v4 #f1 and what they will do is as yet incredible1 v4 #e4 ,the minute description which follows1 however1 looks as if their military appearance and methods were thoroughly familiar4 ,assuming that i4 #ab-ag is the continuation of i4 #e-ll--and the descriptions are very similar--the ,chaldeans1 whose coming was the answer to the prophet's prayer1 now constitute a fresh problem2 they swallow up those who are more righteous than themselves1 v4 #ac1 i4e4 ,judah4 ,it cannot be denied that such a characterization of ,judah sounds strange after the charge levelled at her in i4 #a-d1 unless we assume an interval of time between the sections1 or at least that in i4 #ab-ag1 ,judah is regarded as relatively righteous1 i4e4 in comparison with the ,chaldeans4 ,the situation is further complicated by the very close resemblance that prevails between i4 #a-d and i4 #ab-ag4 ,the very same words for righteous and wicked occur in i4 #ac as in i4 #d2 do they or do they not designate the same persons8 ,if they do1 then1 as in i4 #ab-ag1 the wicked oppressor is almost certainly the ,chaldean and the righteous is ,judah1 and we shall have to interpret the confusion pictured in i4 #b-d as due to the ,chaldean suzerainty1 and perhaps to assign the section to a period after the first capture of ,jerusalem in #eig ,b4,c4 ,in that case1 as it is obvious that the ,chaldeans could not be raised up to execute divine judgment upon themselves1 the section1 i4 #e-aa1 would have to be regarded as an independent piece1 whether ,habakkuk's or not1 announcing the rise of the ,chaldeans1 and not inappropriately placed here1 considering that the sections on both sides of it have the ,chaldeans for their theme4 ,on the other hand1 however1 it may be urged that the identification of the righteous and wicked in i4 #ac with i4 #d1 though natural1#a is not necessary2 and by denying it the prophecy becomes distinctly more coherent4 ,the wrong done by ,judah1 i4 #a-d1 is avenged by the coming of the ,chaldeans1 i4 #e-aa2 they1 however1 having overstepped the limits of their divine commission1 only aggravate the prophet's problem1 i4 #ab-ag1 and he finally finds the solution on his watch-tower1 in the assurance that somehow1 despite all seeming delay1 the purpose of ,god is hastening on to its fulfilment1 and that the moral constitution of the world is such as to spell the ultimate ruin of cruelty and pride and the ultimate triumph of righteousness1 ii4 #a-d4 ,his faith was historically justified by the fall of the ,babylonian empire in #ech ,b4,c4 ,footnote #a3 ,some scholars feel so strongly that the historical background of i4 #a-d and i4 #ab-ag is the same1 that they regard the latter section as the direct continuation of the former4 ,budde1 followed by ,cornill1 ingeniously supposes that the oppressor in these two sections is the ,assyrian 7about #fae ,b4,c471 and it is this power that the ,chaldeans1 i4 #e-aa1 are raised up to chastise4 ,these scholars put i4 #e-aa after ii4 #d as a historical amplification of its moral and more indefinite statement4 ,but the strength of ,habakkuk rather seems to lie in this1 that he abandons the immediate historical solution1 i4 #e1 and is content with the moral one1 ii4 #d1 though no doubt he believes that the moral solution will realize itself in history4 ,the authenticity#a of some of the woes in ch4 ii4 may be contested1 e4g4 vv4 #ab-ad1 which appears to be a partial reproduction of ,jer4 li4 #eh1 ,isa4 xi4 #i4 ,it is very improbable that ch4 iii4 is ,habakkuk's3 it is not even certain that the poem is a unity4 ,the situation in vv4 #ag-ai 7especially v4 #ag7 seems different from that in the rest of the chapter3 there an enemy was feared1 here rather infertility4 ,again the general temper of the ode is hardly that of ii4 #c1 #d4 ,there the vision was to be delayed1 here the interposition seems to be impatiently awaited and expected soon4 ,if thine anointed in iii4 #ac refers to the people--and the parallelism makes this almost certain--then the days of the monarchy are over and the poem cannot be earlier than the exile4 ,probably1 as the superscription1 subscription1 and threefold ,selah suggest1 we have here a post-exilic psalm4 ,the psalm1 however1 is fittingly enough associated with the prophecy of ,habakkuk4 ,its belief in the accomplishment of the divine purpose and its emphasis on a faith independent of the things of sight1 are akin in spirit1 though not in form to ii4 #d4 ,footnote #a3 ,marti explains the book thus3 7a7 i4 #b-d1 #ab;a1 #ac1 ii4 #a-d1 a psalm1 belonging to the fifth or perhaps the second century1 giving the divine answer to the plaint that judgment is delayed2 7b7 i4 #e-aa1 #ab;b1 #ad-ag1 a prophecy about #fje ,b4,c4 dealing with the effect of the battle of ,carchemish2 7c7 ii4 #e-ai1 the woes3 about #edj1 when the ,chaldean empire is nearing its end2 7d7 iii41 a post-exilic psalm4 ,patience and faith are the watch-words of ,habakkuk1 ii4 #c1 #d4 ,there was a time when he had expected an adequate historical solution to his doubts in his own day1 i4 #e2 but1 as he contemplates the immoral progress of the ,chaldeans1 he recognizes his difficulty to be only aggravated by this solution1 and he is content to commit the future to ,god4 ,he is comforted and strengthened by a larger vision of the divine purpose and its inevitable triumph--if not now1 then hereafter4 ,though it tarry1 wait for it1 for it is sure to come1 it will not lag behind4 ,that purpose wills the triumph of justice1 and though the righteous may seem to perish1 in reality he lives1 and shall continue to live1 by his faithfulness4 ,,zephaniah ,if the ,hezekiah who was ,zephaniah's great-great-grandfather1 i4 #a1 was1 as is probable1 the king of that name1 then ,zephaniah was a prince as well as a prophet1 and this may lend some point to his denunciation of the princes who imitated foreign customs1 i4 #h4 ,he prophesied in the reign of ,josiah1 i4 #a1 and the fact that he censures not the king but the king's children1 i4 #h1 points to the period when ,josiah was still a minor 7about or before #fbf ,b4,c474 ,with this coincides his description of the moral and religious condition of ,judah1 which necessitates a date prior to the reformation in #fba4 ,idolatry1 star-worship and impure ,jehovah-worship are rampant1 i4 #d1 #e1 #i4 ,the rich are easy-going and indifferent to religion1 supposing that ,god will leave the world to itself1 i4 #ab4 ,the people of ,jerusalem are incorrigible1 iii4 #b1 reckless of the lessons that ,god has written in nature and history1 iii4 #e;ff42 their leaders--princes1 prophets1 priests--are immoral or incompetent4 ,the prophecy may be placed between #fcj and #fbf1 and the prophet must have been a young man4 ,to this idolatrous and indifferent people he announces the speedy coming of the day of ,jehovah1 whose terrors he describes with a certain solemn grandeur 7i474 ,the judgment is practically inevitable1 i4 #ah1 but it may perhaps yet be averted by an earnest quest of ,jehovah1 ii1 #a-c4 ,that judgment will sweep along the coast through the ,philistine country1 ii4 #d-g1 and on to ,egypt1 and afterwards turn northwards and utterly destroy ,assyria with her great capital ,nineveh1 ii4 #ab-ae4 ,again the prophet turns to ,jerusalem1 and for the sins of her people and their leaders proclaims a general day of judgment1 from which1 however1 the humble will be saved1 iii4 #a-ac 7except vv4 #i1 #aj474 ,the book ends with a fine vision of the latter days1 when the dispersed of ,judah will be restored to their own land1 and rejoice in the omnipotent love of their ,god1 iii4 #ad-bj4 ,the prophecy presents a very impressive picture of the day of ,jehovah1 but it cannot all be from the pen of ,zephaniah4 ,besides adopting a very different attitude towards ,jerusalem from the rest of the prophecy1 iii4 #ad-bj clearly presupposes the exile1 v4 #ai1 towards the end of which it was probably written4 ,ch4 ii4 #aa1 iii4 #i1 #aj1 containing ideas which are hardly earlier than ,deutero-,isaiah1 are also probably exilic or post-exilic4 ,the oracle against ,moab and ,ammon1 ii4 #h-aj1 countries which lay off the line of the ,scythian march southwards from ,philistia1 v4 #g1 to ,egypt1 v4 #ab1 are for linguistic1 contextual1 and other reasons1 also probably late4 ,prophecy has practically always an historical occasion1 and the thought of the black and terrible day of ,jehovah was no doubt suggested to ,zephaniah by the formidable bands of roving ,scythians which scoured ,western ,asia about this time1 sweeping all before them 7,hdt4 i4 #aje74 ,they do not seem to have touched ,judah2 but it is not surprising that men like ,jeremiah and ,zephaniah should have regarded them as divinely ordained ministers of vengeance upon ,jehovah's degenerate people4 ,,haggai ,the post-exilic age sharply distinguished itself from the pre-exilic 7,zech4 i4 #d71 and nowhere is the difference more obvious than in prophecy4 ,post-exilic prophecy has little of the literary or moral power of earlier prophecy1 but it would be very easy to do less than justice to ,haggai4 ,his prophecy is very short2 into two chapters is condensed a summary1 probably not even in his own words1 of no less than four addresses4 ,meagre as they may seem to us1 they produced a great effect on those who heard them4 ,the addresses were delivered between ,september and ,december in the year #ebj ,b4,c4 ,the people were suffering from a drought1 and in the first address1 i4 #a-aa1 ,haggai interprets this as a penalty for their indifference to religion--in particular1 for their neglect to build the temple4 ,the effect of the appeal was that three weeks afterwards a beginning was made upon the building1 i4 #ab-ae4 ,the people1 however1 seem to be discouraged by the scantiness of their resources1 and a month afterwards ,haggai has to appeal to them again1 reminding them that with the silver and the gold1 which are ,his1 ,jehovah will soon make the new temple more glorious than the old1 ii4 #a-i4 ,two months later the prophet again reminds them that1 as their former unholy indifference had infected all their life with failure1 so loyal devotion to the work now would ensure success and blessing1 ii4 #aj-ai2 and on the same day ,haggai assures ,zerubbabel a unique place in the ,messianic kingdom which is soon to be ushered in1 ii4 #bj-bc4 ,the appeals of ,haggai and ,zechariah were successful 7,ezra v4 #a1 vi4 #ad71 and within four years the temple was rebuilt 7,ezra vi4 #ae74 ,it was now the centre of national life1 and therefore also of prophetic interest4 ,haggai was probably not himself a priest1 but in so short a prophecy his elaborate allusion to ritual is very significant1 ii4 #aa;ff4 ,this prophecy1 like pre-exilic prophecy1 was no doubt conditioned by the historical situation4 ,the allusion to the shaking of the world in ii4 #g1 #bb1 appears to be a reflection of the insurrections which broke out all over the ,persian empire on the accession of ,darius to the throne in #eba ,b4,c42 and probably the ,jews were encouraged by the general commotion to make a bold bid for the re-establishment of an independent national life4 ,that they cherished the ambition of being once more a political as well as a religious force1 seems to be suggested by the frequency with which ,haggai links the name of ,zerubbabel1 of the royal line of ,judah1 with that of ,joshua the high priest2 and1 in particular1 by the extraordinary language applied to him--in ii4 #bc he is the elect of ,jehovah1 ,his servant and signet4 ,clearly he is to be king in the ,messianic kingdom which is to issue out of the convulsion of the world4 ,it cannot be safely inferred from ii4 #c that ,haggai was among those who had seen the temple of ,solomon and was therefore a very old man4 ,simple as are his words1 his faith is strong and his hope very bold4 ,considering the meagre resources of the post-exilic community1 it is touching to note the confidence with which he assures the people that ,jehovah will bring together the treasures of the world to make ,his temple glorious4 ,,zechariah ,,chapters ,i-,,viii ,two months after ,haggai had delivered his first address to the people in #ebj ,b4,c41 and a little over a month after the building of the temple had begun 7,hag4 i4 #ae71 ,zechariah appeared with another message of encouragement4 ,how much it was needed we see from the popular despondency reflected in ,hag4 ii4 #c1 ,jerusalem is still disconsolate 7,zech4 i4 #ag71 there has been fasting and mourning1 vii4 #e1 the city is without walls1 ii4 #e1 the population scanty1 ii4 #d1 and most of the people are middle-aged1 few old or young1 viii4 #d1 #e4 ,the message they need is one of consolation and encouragement1 and that is precisely the message that ,zechariah brings3 ,i have determined in these days to do good to ,jerusalem and to the house of ,judah2 fear not1 viii4 #ae4 ,the message of ,zechariah comes in the peculiar form of visions1 some of them resting apparently on ,babylonian art1 and not always easy to interpret4 ,after an earnest call to repentance1 i4 #a-f1 the visions begin1 i4 #g-vi4 #h4 ,in the first vision1 i4 #g-ag1 the earth1 which has been troubled1 is at rest2 the advent of the ,messianic age may therefore be expected soon4 ,the divine promise is given that ,jerusalem shall be graciously dealt with and the temple rebuilt4 ,the second is a vision1 i4 #ah-ba1 of the annihilation of the heathen world represented by four horns4 ,the third vision 7ii47--that of a young man with a measuring-rod--announces that ,jerusalem will be wide and populous1 the exiles will return to it1 and ,jehovah will make ,his abode there4 ,these first three visions have to do1 in the main1 with the city and the people2 the next two deal more specifically with the leaders of the restored community on its civil and religious side1 ,zerubbabel the prince and ,joshua the priest4 ,in the fourth vision 7iii47 ,joshua is accused by the ,adversary and the accuser is rebuked--symbolic picture of the misery of the community and its imminent redemption4 ,joshua is to have full charge of the temple1 and he and his priests are the guarantee that the ,branch1 i4e4 the ,messianic king 7,jer4 xxiii4 #e1 xxxiii1 #ae71 no doubt ,zerubbabel 7,zech1 iii4 #h1 vi4 #ab2 ,hag4 ii4 #bc71 is coming4 ,in the fifth vision 7iv47#a the prophet sees a lampstand with seven lamps and an olive tree on either side1 the trees representing the two anointed leaders1 ,zerubbabel and ,joshua1 enjoying the divine protection4 ,footnote #a3 ,except vv4 #f;b-#aj;a1 which appears to be a special assurance1 hardly here in place1 that ,zerubbabel would finish the temple which he had begun4 ,the next two visions elaborate the promise of iii4 #i3 ,i will remove the iniquity of that land1--and indicate the removal of all that taints the land of ,judah1 alike sin and sinners4 ,the flying roll of the sixth vision1 v4 #a-d1 carries the curse that will fall upon thieves and perjurers2 and in the somewhat grotesque figure of the seventh vision1 v4 #e-aa1 ,sin is personified as a woman and borne away in a closed cask by two women with wings like storks1 to the land of ,shinar1 i4e4 ,babylon1 there to work upon the enemy of ,judah the ruin she has worked for ,judah herself4 ,in the last vision1 vi4 #a-h1 which is correlate with the first--four chariots issuing from between two mountains of brass--the divine judgment is represented as being executed upon the north country1 i4e4 the country opposed to ,god1 and particularly ,babylonia4 ,the cumulative effect of the visions is very great4 ,all that hinders the coming of the ,messianic days is to be removed1 whether it be the great alien world powers or the sinners within ,jerusalem itself4 ,the purified city will be blessed with prosperity of every kind1 and over her civil and religious affairs will be two leaders1 who enjoy a unique measure of the divine favour4 ,in an appendix to the visions vi4 #i-ae1 ,zechariah is divinely commissioned to make a crown for ,zerubbabel 7or for him and ,joshua7#a out of the gold and silver brought by emissaries of the ,babylonian ,jews1 and the hope is expressed that peace will prevail between the leaders--a hope through which we may perhaps read a growing rivalry4 ,footnote #a3 ,it seems practically certain that the original prophecy in v4 #aa has been subsequently modified1 doubtless because it was not fulfilled4 ,the last clause of v4 #ac--the counsel of peace shall be between them both--shows that two persons have just been mentioned4 ,the preceding clause must therefore be translated1 not as in ,a4 ,v4 and ,r4 ,v41 and he shall be a priest upon his throne1 as if the office of king and priest were to be combined in a single person1 but and there shall be 7or1 as ,wellhausen suggests1 and ,joshua shall be7 a priest upon his throne1 7or no doubt more correctly1 with the ,septuagint1 a priest at his right hand74 ,as two persons are involved1 and the word crowns in v4 #aa is in the plural1 it has been supposed that the verse originally read1 set the crowns upon the head of ,zerubbabel and upon the head of ,joshua4 ,on the other hand1 in v4 #ad the word crown must be read in the singular1 and should probably also be so read in v4 #aa 7though even the plural could refer to one crown74 ,in that case1 if there be but one crown1 who wears it8 ,undoubtedly ,zerubbabel3 he is the ,branch1 iii4 #h1 and the ,branch is the ,davidic king 7,jer4 xxiii4 #e1 xxxiii4 #ae74 ,the building of the temple here assigned to the ,branch1 vi4 #ab1 is elsewhere expressly assigned to ,zerubbabel1 iv4 #i4 ,it is1 therefore1 he who is crowned3 in other words1 v4 #aa1 may have originally read1 set it upon the head of ,zerubbabel4 ,whether we accept this solution or the other1 it seems certain that the original prophecy contemplated the crowning of ,zerubbabel4 ,as the hopes that centred upon ,zerubbabel were never fulfilled1 the passage was subsequently modified to its present form4 ,the concluding chapters of the prophecy 7vii41 viii471 delivered two years later than the rest of the book1 vii4 #a1 are occupied with the ethical conditions of the impending ,messianic kingdom4 ,to the question whether the fast-days which commemorated the destruction of ,jerusalem are still to be observed1 ,zechariah answers that the ancient demands of ,jehovah had nothing to do with fasting1 but with justice and mercy4 ,as former disobedience had been followed by a divine judgment1 so would obedience now be rewarded with blessing1 fast-days would be turned into days of joy and gladness1 and the blessing would be so great that representatives of every nation would be attracted to ,jerusalem1 to worship the ,god of the ,jews4 ,in ,zechariah even more than in ,haggai it is clear that prophecy has entered upon a new stage4#a ,there is the same concentration of interest upon the temple1 the same faith in the unique importance of ,zerubbabel4 ,but the apocalyptic element1 though not quite a new thing1 is present on a scale altogether new to prophecy4 ,again1 the transcendence of ,god is acutely felt--the visions have to be interpreted by an angel4 ,we see1 too1 in the book the rise of the idea of ,satan 7iii47 and of the conception of sin as an independent force1 v4 #e-aa4 ,the yearning for the annihilation of the kingdoms opposed to ,judah1 i4 #ah-ba1 has a fine counterpart in the closing vision1 viii4 #bb1 #bc1 of the nations flocking to ,jerusalem because they have heard that ,god is there4 ,the book is of great historical value1 affording as it does contemporary evidence of the drooping hopes of the early post-exilic community1 and of the new manner in which this disappointment was met by prophecy4 ,but1 though ,zechariah's message was largely concerned with the building of the temple1 and was delivered for the most part in terms of vision and apocalyptic1 the ethical elements on which the former prophets had laid the supreme emphasis1 were by no means forgotten1 viii4 #af1 #ag4 ,footnote #a3 ,zechariah himself is conscious of the distinction1 which is more than a temporal one1 between himself and the pre-exilic prophets3 notice the manner of his allusion to the former prophets1 i4 #d1 vii4 #g1 #ab4 ,,chapters ,,ix4-,,xiv4 ,practically all the distinctive features of the first eight chapters disappear in ix4-xiv4 ,the style and the historical presuppositions are altogether different4 ,there are two new superscriptions1 ix4 #a1 xii4 #a1 but there is no reference to ,zerubbabel1 ,joshua1 or the situation of their time4 ,there the immediate problem was the building of the temple2 here1 more than once1 ,jerusalem is represented as in a state of siege4 ,a sketch of the contents will show how unlike the one situation is to the other4 ,the general theme of ix4 #a-xi4 #c is the destruction of the world-powers and the establishment of the kingdom of ,god4 ,judgment is declared at the outset upon ,damascus1 ,phoenicia and ,philistia1 while ,jerusalem is to enjoy the divine protection and to be the seat of the ,messianic ,king1 ix4 #a-i4 ,greece1 the great enemy1 will be overcome by ,judah and ,ephraim1 who are but weapons in ,jehovah's hand1 ix4 #aj-ag4 ,then follows#a a passage in which the shepherds are threatened with a dire fate4 ,judah receives a promise of victory1 and ,ephraim is assured that her exiles will be gathered and brought home from ,egypt and ,assyria to ,gilead and ,lebanon2 the cedars of ,lebanon and the oaks of ,bashan--types perhaps of foreign rulers--will be laid low1 x4 #c-xi4 #c4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 x4 #a1 #b appears to stand by itself4 ,it is an injunction to bring the request for rain to ,jehovah and to put no faith in teraphim and diviners4 ,the next section is of a different kind4 ,in it the prophet is divinely commissioned to tend the flock which has been neglected and impoverished by other shepherds4 ,to this end he takes two staves1 named ,favour and ,unity1 to indicate respectively the favour enjoyed by ,judah in her relations with her neighbours1 and the unity subsisting between her and ,israel 7or ,jerusalem1 according to two codices72 and thus invested with the instruments of the pastoral office he destroyed three shepherds in a short time4 ,but the flock grew tired of him1 and1 in consequence he broke the staves1 i4e4 the relations of favour and unity were ruptured4 ,a foolish and careless shepherd is then raised up1 who abuses the flock1 and over him a woe is pronounced1 xi4 #d-ag1 more minutely defined in xiii4 #g-i1 which appears to have been misplaced4 ,jehovah will slay the shepherd and scatter the sheep2 a third of the flock after being purified by fire will constitute the people of ,jehovah4 ,the next section1 xii4 #a-xiii4 #f1 introduces us to a siege of ,jerusalem by the heathen1 abetted by ,judah4 ,suddenly1 however1 ,judah changes sides2 by the help of ,jehovah they destroy the heathen1 and ,jerusalem is saved1 xii4 #a-h4 ,then the people and their leaders are moved by the outpouring of the spirit to confess and entreat forgiveness for some judicial murder which they have committed and which they publicly and bitterly lament1 xii4 #i-ad4 ,the prayer is answered2 people and leaders are cleansed in a fountain opened1 with the result that idolatry and prophecy of the ancient public type are abjured1 xiii4 #a-f4 ,the theme of the last section also 7xiv47 is a heathen attack upon ,jerusalem1 but this time the city is destroyed and half the inhabitants exiled4 ,then ,jehovah intervenes1 and by a miracle upon the ,mount of ,olives the rest of the people effect their escape1 and ,jehovah ,fights with all ,his angels against the heathen4 ,those glorious ,messianic days1 when ,jehovah will be ,king over all the earth1 will know no heat or cold1 or change from light to darkness4 ,jerusalem will be secure and the land about her level and fruitful1 watered east and west by a living stream4 ,those who have made war against her will waste away1 while the rest of the world will make pilgrimages to the holy city to worship ,jehovah and celebrate the feast of booths4 ,then the mighty war-horses1 once the object of ,his hatred1 will be consecrated to ,his service1 and the number of pilgrims will be so great that every pot in the city and in the province of ,judah will be needed for ceremonial purposes4 ,few problems in the ,old ,testament are more perplexing than that of the origin and relation of the sections composing1 ix4-xiv4 to one another4 ,the utmost that can be said with comparative certainty is that the prophecy1 in its present form1 is post-exilic1 while certain elements in it1 especially in ix4-xi41 are1 if not pre-exilic1 at any rate imitations or reminiscences of pre-exilic prophecy4 ,many scholars even deny that ix4-xiv4 is a unity and assign it to at least two authors4 ,though the superscription in xii4 #a1 which seems to justify this distinction1 was probably added1 like ,malachi i4 i1 by a later hand1 the presence of certain broad distinctions between ix4-xi4 and xii4-xiv4 can hardly be denied4 ,in the former section1 ,ephraim is occasionally mentioned in combination with ,judah1 cf4 ix4 #ac2 in the latter1 ,judah alone is mentioned1 and partly1 on the strength of this1 the former section is assigned to a period between ,tiglath ,pileser's invasion of the north of ,palestine in #gcd 7xi4 #a-c7 and the fall of the northern kingdom in #gba1 while the latter is assigned to a period between the death of ,josiah in #fji1 to which the mourning in ,megiddo is supposed to allude1 xii4 #aa1 and the fall of the southern kingdom in #ehf4 ,even within these sections there are differences which are held to be incompatible with the unity of each section4 ,the most notable difference is perhaps that affecting the siege of ,jerusalem4 ,in ch4 xii4 the heathen are destroyed before ,jerusalem1 while the city itself remains secure2 in ch4 xiv4 the houses are rifled1 the women ravished1 and half of the people go into captivity before ,jehovah intervenes to protect the remainder4 ,these and other differences are unmistakable1 yet it may be questioned whether they are so serious as to be fatal to the unity of the whole section1 ix4-xiv4 ,it is not impossible that they may be due to the eclectic spirit of an author who gathered from many quarters material for his eschatological pictures4 ,besides1 the sections which have been by some scholars relegated to different authors1 occasionally seem to imply each other4 ,the general assault on ,jerusalem in ch4 xii41 e4g41 is the natural result of the breaking of the staves1 ,favour and ,unity1 in ch4 xi4 ,but1 even if ix4-xiv4 be a unity1 it is well to remember1 as ,cornill reminds us1 that there is much in these chapters which will ever remain obscure and unintelligible1 because our knowledge of the whole post-exilic and especially of the early ,hellenic period is extremely deficient4 ,this leads to the question of date4 ,the last section 7xii4-xiv47 at any rate is obviously post-exilic4 ,the idea of the general assault on ,jerusalem is undoubtedly suggested by ,ezekiel xxxviii42 the curiously condemnatory attitude to prophecy in xiii4 #b-f would have been impossible in pre-exilic times2 the phrase1 ,uzziah king of ,judah1 xiv4 #e1 rather implies that the dynasty is past1 and the reference to the earthquake in his reign has the flavour of a learned reminiscence4#a ,these and other circumstances practically necessitate a post-exilic date1 and the objection based upon xii4 #aa falls to the ground1 as that verse alludes1 in all probability1 not to lamentations for the death of ,josiah1 which would no doubt have taken place in ,jerusalem1 but to laments which accompanied the worship of the ,semitic ,adonis4 ,nor can any objection be grounded upon the allusion to idolatry in xiii4 #b1 as idolatry persisted into post-exilic times4#b ,footnote #a3 ,even if the earliest possible date 7about #fjj7 for this section be accepted1 the earthquake had taken place a century and a half before4 ,footnote #b3 ,cf4 ,job xxxi4 #b;eff4 and perhaps also ,ps4 xvi4 ,if ix4-xiv4 be a unity1 a definite terminus a quo is provided in ix4 #ac by the mention of the ,greeks1 whose sons are opposed to the sons of ,zion4 ,such a relation of ,jews to ,greeks is not conceivable before the time of ,alexander the ,great1 and this fact alone would throw the prophecy1 at the earliest1 into the fourth century ,b4,c4 ,but there are other facts which seem to some to make for a pre-exilic date3 e4g4 the mention of ,judah and ,ephraim together1 ix4 #ac 7cf4 ix4 #aj71 seems to presuppose the existence of both kingdoms1 and ,egypt and ,assyria are placed side by side1 x4 #aj1 #aa1 precisely in the manner of ,hosea 7ix4 #c1 xi4 #e74 ,but these facts1 significant as they may seem1 are by no means decisive in favour of a pre-exilic date4 ,assyria was the first great world power with which ,israel came into hostile contact1 and the name was not unnaturally transferred by later ages to the hostile powers of their own day--to ,babylon in ,lam4 v4 #f1 to ,persia in ,ezra vi4 #bb1 and possibly to ,syria in ,isaiah xxvii4 #ac4 ,consequently1 in a context which assigns the passage1 at the earliest1 to the ,greek period1 ,assyria and ,egypt would very naturally designate the ,seleucid and ,ptolemaic kingdoms respectively1 and the prophecy might be safely relegated to the third century1 ,b4,c4#a ,the allusion to ,ephraim is not incompatible with this date1 for the prophecy presupposes a general dispersion1 x4 #i1 which must be later than the fall of ,judah in #ehf1 considering that residence in ,egypt1 x4 #aj1 is implied 7cf4 ,jer4 xlii4-xliv474 ,nothing more need be implied by the allusion to ,ephraim than that there will be a general restoration of all the tribes that were once driven into exile and are now scattered throughout the world4 ,footnote #a3 ,marti puts it as late as #afj4 ,one of the most important clues would be furnished by xi4 #h--;,i cut off the three shepherds in one month--if the reference were not so cryptic4 ,advocates of a pre-exilic date find in the words an allusion to three successors of ,jeroboam ,,ii4 of ,israel--,zechariah1 ,shallum and some unknown pretender 7about #gdj72 others1 to the rapid succession of high priests before the ,maccabean wars 7about #agj74 ,one month probably signifies generally a brief time4 ,if chs4 ix4-xiv4 belong to the third century ,b4,c41 they give us an interesting glimpse into the aspirations and defects of later ,judaism4 ,they reveal an unbounded faith in the importance of ,jerusalem1 and in the certainty of its triumph over the assaults of heathenism2 on the other hand1 they are inspired by a fine universalism1 xiv4 #af;ff4 ,but this universalism has a distinctly ,levitical and legalistic colouring1 xiv4 #ba4 ,membership in the kingdom of ,god involves abstinence from food proscribed by the ,levitical law1 ix4 #g2 and even for the heathen the worship of ,jehovah takes the form of the celebration of the feast of booths1 xiv4 #af4 ,there is in the prophecy a noble appreciation of the world-wide destiny of the true religion1 but hardly of its essentially spiritual nature4 ,,malachi ,it is not inappropriate that ,malachi1#a though not the latest of the prophets1 should close the prophetic collection4 ,the concluding words of this book1 which predict the coming of the great prophet ,elijah1 iv4 #e;f1 and the apocalyptic tone of ,malachi1 show that prophecy feels itself unable to cope adequately with the moral situation and is conscious of its own decline4 ,here1 as in ,haggai1 interest gathers round ritual rather than moral obligation1 though the latter is not neglected1 iii4 #e1 and the religion for which ,malachi pleads is far from being exhausted by ritual4 ,he takes a lofty view1 approaching to ,jesus' own1 of the obligations of the marriage relation1 ii4 #af2 and perfunctory ritual he abhors1 chiefly because it expresses a deep-seated indifference to ,god and ,his claims1 iii4 #h4 ,the clergy or the laity who offer ,god their lame or blemished beasts are guilty of an offence that goes deeper than ritual4 ,their whole ideal of religion and service is insulting2 they have forgotten that ,jehovah is a great ,king1 i4 #ad4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 i4 #a is late1 modelled1 like ,zech4 xii4 #a on ,zech4 ix4 #a4 ,the word ,malachi has no doubt been suggested by ,malachi in iii4 i 7 my messenger74 ,the prophecy is really anonymous4 ,the prophecy of ,malachi is closely knit together4 ,addressing a people who doubt the love of their ,god1 he begins by pointing-strangely enough from the ,christian standpoint1 but intelligibly enough from that of early post-exilic ,judaism--to the desolation of ,edom1 ,judah's enemy 7cf4 ,obadiah7 in poof of that love1 i4 #b-e2 and asks how ,judah has responded to it4 ,the priests present inferior offerings1 thus forming1 in their insulting indifference1 a strange contrast to the untutored heathen hearts all the world over1 which offer ,god pure service2 they have put to shame the ancient ideals1 i4 #f-;ii4 #i4 ,the people1 too1 are as guilty as the priests2 for they had divorced their faithful ,jewish wives who had borne them children1 and married foreign women who were a menace to the purity of the national religion1 ii4 #aj-af4 ,those who are beginning to doubt the moral order because ,jehovah does not manifestly interpose as the ,god of justice1 are assured by the prophet that the ,lord1 preceded by a messenger1 is on ,his way2 and ,he will punish1 first the unfaithful priests1 and then the unfaithful people1 ii4 #ag-;iii4 #e4 ,his apparent indifference to the people is due to their real indifference to ,him2 if they bring in the tithes1 the blessing will come1 iii4 #f-ab4 ,as before1 ii4 #ag;ff41 the despondent are assured that ,jehovah has not forgotten them2 ,he is writing their names in a book1 and when ,he comes in judgment1 the faithful will be spared1 and then the difference between the destinies of the good and the bad will be plain for all to see4 ,the wicked shall be trampled under foot1 and upon the dark world in which the upright mourn shall arise the sun1 from whose gentle rays will stream healing for bruised minds and hearts1 iii4 #ac-;iv4 #d4 ,before that day ,elijah will come to heal the dissensions of the home1 iv4 #e1 #f4 7cf4 ii4 #ad74 ,the atmosphere of the book of ,malachi is very much like that of ,ezra-,nehemiah4 ,the same problems emerge in both--foreign marriages1 neglect of payment of tithes1 etc4 ,but the allusion to the presents given the governor1 i4 #h1 shows that the book was not written during the governorship of ,nehemiah1 who claims to have accepted no presents 7,neh4 v4 #ad-ah74 ,on the other hand1 the state of affairs presented by the book is inconceivable after the measures adopted by ,ezra and ,nehemiah2 therefore1 ,malachi must precede them4 ,probably however1 not by much2 it was ,malachi and others like-minded who prepared the way for the reformation1 and his date may be roughly fixed at #dfj-dej ,b4,c4 ,consistently with this1 the priests are designated ,levites1 ii4 #d1 iii4 #c1 as in ,deuteronomy2 the book must therefore precede the priestly code which sharply distinguishes priests and ,levites4 ,there is an unusual proportion of dialogue in ,malachi4 ,good men are perplexed by the anomalies of the moral order1 and they are not afraid to debate them4 ,malachi's solution is largely1 though not exclusively1 iii4 #h-ab1 apocalyptic2 and though in this1 as in his emphasis on the cult1 iii4 #d1 and his attitude to ,edom1 i4 #b;ff41 he stands upon the level of ordinary ,judaism1 in other respects he rises far above it4 ,coming from one to whom correct ritual meant so much1 his utterance touching heathen worship is not only refreshingly1 but astonishingly bold4 ,in all the ,old ,testament1 there is no more generous outlook upon the foreign world than that of i4 #aa4 ,though the priests of the temple at ,jerusalem insult the name of ,jehovah and are wearied with ,his service1 yet from sunrise to sunset ,my name is great among the 7heathen7 nations1 and in every place pure offerings are offered to ,my name2 for great is ,my name among the heathen1 saith ,jehovah of hosts4 ,,psalms ,the piety of the ,old ,testament ,church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the ,psalter than in any other book of the ,old ,testament4 ,it constitutes the response of the ,church to the divine demands of prophecy1 and1 in a less degree1 of law2 or1 rather1 it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand4 ,it is the speech of the soul face to face with ,god4 ,its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be1 for it is the genius of ,hebrew poetry to lay little stress upon artifices of rhyme and rhythm4 ,by its simple device of parallelism1 it suggests a rhythm profounder than the sound of any words--the response of thought to thought1 the calling of deep to deep1 the solemn harmonies that run throughout the universe4 ,whether the second thought of a verse is co-ordinate with the first1 as-- ,let us break their bands asunder1 ,and cast away their cords from us1 ii #c4 or contrasted with it1 as-- ,jehovah knows the way of the righteous1 ,but the way of the ungodly shall perish1 i4 #f1 the resulting parallelism is essentially simple1 and the ,hebrew poet can express his profoundest thoughts and feelings with lucidity and freedom4 ,it is the depth and sincerity of its emotion1 coupled with this unrivalled simplicity of expression that has given the ,psalter its abiding-place in the religious history of humanity4 ,with the partial exception of ,psalm xlv41 which is a marriage song1 the songs of the ,psalter are exclusively religious4 ,indeed most of the poetry of the ,old ,testament is religious2 the ,song of ,deborah1 e4g4 7,jud4 v471 or the ,psalm of ,hezekiah 7,isa4 xxxviii474 ,but1 from scattered hints it is abundantly plain that1 especially before the exile1 ,hebrew poetry must have ranged over a wide variety of themes4 ,so far as we know1 the ,hebrews never had an epic2 and though a certain epic power is occasionally suggested by the extant literature1 it may be doubted whether the ,hebrew genius1 which was essentially lyrical1 would have been capable of the long sustained effort demanded by a great epic4 ,but the lyrical genius of the ,hebrew found abundant opportunity in life's common joys1 sorrows and activities4 ,victories in battle were celebrated in ballads1 which made the blood leap1 love songs were sung at weddings1 and dirges were chanted over the dead4 ,the labour of drawing water1 of reaping the fields or gathering the vintage1 was relieved by snatches of song4 ,there was all this and more1 but it has nearly all perished1 leaving little more than an echo1 because the men who compiled and edited the ,old ,testament were dominated by an exclusively religious interest4 ,but if the interest of the ,psalter be exclusively religious1 we have no reason to complain of its variety4 ,from the deepest despair to the highest exaltation1 every mood of the soul is uttered there4 ,many a classification of the ,psalter has been attempted1 e4g4 into 7a7 psalms of gladness1 such as thanksgiving 7xlvi471 adoration 7viii472 7b7 psalms of sadness1 such as lamentation 7lxxiv471 confession 7li471 supplication 7cii472 7c7 psalms of reflection1 such as the occasional didactic poetry 7cxix471 or discussions of the moral order 7lxxiii474 ,but in the nature of the case1 no classification can ever hope to be completely satisfactory1 if for no other reason than that the psalms1 being for the most part lyrics1 are often marked by subtle and rapid changes of feeling1 passing sometimes1 as in ,psalm xxii41 from the most touching laments to the most daring expressions of hope and gladness4 ,the following classification1 though exposed1 as all such classifications must be1 to the charge of cross-division1 will afford a working basis for the study of the ,psalter3-- 7#a7 ,psalms of ,adoration1 including 7a7 adoration of ,god for ,his revelation in nature1 viii41 xix4 #a-f1 xxix41 civ42 7b7 adoration of ,him for ,his love to ,his people1 xxxiii41 ciii41 cxi41 cxiii41 cxv41 cxvii41 cxlvii42 7c7 praise of ,his glorious kingdom1 cxlv41 cxlvi41 ending with the call to universal praise1 cxlviii41 cl4 7#b7 ,psalms of ,reflection 7a7 upon the moral order of the world1 ix41 x41 xi41 xiv41 xxxvi41 xxxvii41 xxxix41 xlix41 lii41 lxii41 lxxiii41 lxxv41 lxxxii41 xc41 xcii41 xciv42 7b7 upon ,divine ,providence1 xvi41 xxiii41 xxxiv41 xci41 cxii41 cxxi41 cxxv41 cxxvii41 cxxviii41 cxxxiii41 cxxxix41 cxliv4 #ab-ae2 7c7 on the value of ,scripture1 i41 xix4 #g-ad1 cxix42 7d7 on the nature of the ideal man1 xv41 xxiv4 #a-f1 l4 7#c7 ,psalms of ,thanksgiving1 most of them for historical deliverances1 e4g4 from the exile1 or from the ,syrians in the second century ,b4,c41 xxx41 xl41 xlvi41 xlviii41 lxv41 lxvi41 lxvii41 lxviii41 lxxvi41 cxvi41 cxviii41 cxxiv41 cxxvi41 cxxix41 cxxxviii41 cxliv4 #a-aa1 cxlix4 7#d7 ,psalms in ,celebration of ,worship1 v41 xxiv41 #g-aj1 xxvi41 xxvii41 xlii4-xliii41 lxxxiv41 cxxii41 cxxxiv4 7#e7 ,historical ,psalms 7a7 emphasizing the unfaithfulness of the people1 lxxviii41 lxxxi41 cvi42 7b7 emphasizing the love or power of ,god1 cv41 cxiv41 cxxxv41 cxxxvi4 7#f7 ,imprecatory ,psalms1 lviii1 lix41 lxix41 lxxxiii41 cix41 cxxxvii4 7#g7 ,penitential ,psalms1 vi41 xxxii41 xxxviii41 li41 cii41 cxxx41 cxliii4 7#h7 ,psalms of ,petition 7a7 prayers for deliverance1 preservation or restoration1 iii41 iv41 vii41 xii41 xiii41 xvii41 xxv41 xxxi41 xxxv41 xli41 xliv41 liv41 lv41 lx41 lxiv41 lxxi41 lxxiv41 lxxvii41 lxxix41 lxxx41 lxxxv41 lxxxvi41 lxxxviii41 cxx41 cxxiii41 cxxxi41 cxl41 cxli41 cxlii2 7b7 answered prayers1 xxii41 xxviii41 lvi41 lvii4 7#i7 ,royal ,psalms 7a7 king's coronation1 xxi42 7b7 marriage1 xlv42 7c7 prayers for his welfare and success1 xx41 lxi1 lxiii42 7d7 his character1 lxxii41 ci42 7e7 dominion1 ii41 xviii41 cx42 7f7 yearning for the ,messianic ,king1 lxxxix41 cxxxii4 7#aj7 ,psalms concerning the universal reign of ,jehovah1 i4e4 ,messianic psalms in the largest sense of the word1 xlvii41 lxxxvii41 xciii41 xcv41 xcvi41 xcvii41 xcviii41 xcix41 c4 ,the ,psalter has plainly had a long history4 ,in its present form it obviously rests upon groups1 which in turn rest upon individual psalms1 that are no doubt often far older than the groups in which they stand4 ,like the ,pentateuch1 and perhaps in imitation of it1 the ,psalter is divided into five books1 whose close is indicated1 in each case1 by a doxology 7xli41 lxxii41 lxxxix41 cvi471 except in the case of the last psalm1 which is itself a doxology 7cl474 ,this division appears to have been artificially effected4 ,psalm cvii41 which starts the last book1 goes naturally with cv4 and cvi41 which close the fourth book2 and the circumstance that the number of psalms in the fourth book corresponds exactly with that of the third1 raises a strong suspicion that the break was deliberately made at ,psalm cvi4 ,it is very probable1 too1 that the doxology at the close of ,psalm cvi4 7cf4 #a ,chron4 xvi4 #cf71 which differs somewhat from the other doxologies1 was originally intended as a doxology to that psalm only1 and not to indicate the close of the book4 ,in any case1 the contents of books #d and #e1 which are very largely liturgical1 are so similar that they may be practically considered as one book4 ,books #b and #c may also be similarly regarded2 for whereas in books #a1 #d and #e the name of the divine ,being is predominantly ,jehovah1 in books #b and #c it is predominantly ,elohim 7,god71 and there can be no doubt that these two books1 at least as far as ,ps4 lxxxiii41 have been submitted to an ,elohistic redaction4 ,psalm xiv41 e4g41 reappears in the #bnd book as ,psalm liii4 in a form practically identical1 except for the name of ,god1 which is ,jehovah in the one 7xiv47 and ,elohim in the other 7liii472 the change is1 therefore1 undoubtedly deliberate4 ,this is also made plain by the presence of such impossible phrases as ,god1 thy ,god1 xlv4 #g1 #a4 #g1 instead of the natural and familiar ,jehovah1 thy ,god4 ,whatever the motive for the choice of this divine name 7,elohim7 may be1 it is so thoroughly characteristic of books #b and #c that they may not unfairly be held to constitute a group by themselves4 ,in this way the ,psalter falls into three great groups--book ,i 7i4-xli471 which is ,jehovistic1 books #b and #c 7xlii4-lxxxix471 which are ,elohistic1 and books #d and #e 7xc4-cl471 which are ,jehovistic44 ,these greater groups rest1 however1 upon other smaller ones1 some formally acknowledged1 e4g4 the so-called ,psalms of ,ascent or ,pilgrim psalms 7cxx4-cxxxiv471 the ,psalms of ,david1 ,psalms of the ,korahites 7xlii4-xlix41 etc471 ,psalms of ,asaph 7lxxiii4-lxxxiii41 etc471 and others not so obvious in a translation1 e4g4 the ,hallelujah ,psalms1 cxi4-cxiii41 cxlvi4-cl4 ,these groups must often have enjoyed an independent reputation as groups1 and even been invested with a certain canonical authority1 for occasionally the same psalm appears in two different groups 7xiv4liii41 xl4 #ac-aglxx41 cviii4lvii4 #g-aa lx4 #f-ab74 ,such repetition proves that the final editors did not consider themselves at liberty to make any change within the groups4 ,the principle of the arrangement of individual psalms within the group was probably not a scientific one3 e4g4 xxxiv4 and xxxv4 seem to be placed together for no other reason than that both refer to the angel of ,jehovah1 xxxiv4 #g1 xxxv4 #e4 ,sometimes a psalm has been wrongly divided into two 7cf4 xlii41 xliii41 originally one psalm7 and occasionally two psalms have been united1 usually for reasons that are transparent 7so perhaps xix41 the revelation in the heavens and the revelation in the ,scriptures1 and xxiv41 the entrance of ,jehovah into ,his temple1 and the essential conditions for the entrance of man74 ,the original order of the groups themselves appears to have been dislocated4 ,whoever added the subscription to ,psalm lxxii4 can hardly have been aware of the eighteen psalms which1 in the subsequent books of the ,psalter1 are ascribed to ,david2 nor is it natural to suppose that the ,asaphic 7l47 and ,korahitic psalms 7xlii4-xlix47 stood in the second book when that subscription was written4 ,it is not improbable that ,psalms xlii4-l4 originally belonged to the third book1 along with the ,asaphic group1 lxxiii4-lxxxiii41 and that lxxii4 #bj1 ,the prayers of ,david the son of ,jesse are ended1 was intended as the subscription of all the ,davidic psalms that had then been collected 7,book ,i1 except ,pss4 i41 ii41 x41 xxxiii41 and book #b1 ,pss4 li4-lxx474#a ,the first two books originally represented a ,davidic hymn-book2 they probably represent1 as a whole1 the oldest part of the ,psalter4 ,footnote #a3 ,psalms i4 and ii4 were placed at the beginning as prefatory to the whole ,psalter4 ,they deal with the two cardinal points of ,judaism--the law and the ,messianic hope4 ,psalms ix4 and x4 originally constituted one alphabetic psalm1 and xxxiii4 is ascribed to ,david in the ,septuagint4 ,the problem of the authorship of the ,psalms is one of the thorniest in the ,old ,testament4 ,one hundred psalms are ascribed to definite authors3 one is ascribed to ,moses 7xc471 seventy-three to ,david1 two to ,solomon 7lxxvii41 cxxvii472 and yet there are not a few scholars who maintain that1 so far from any psalm being ,mosaic1 or even ,davidic1 there is not a single pre-exilic psalm in the ,psalter1 and the less radical critics do not allow more than thirty or forty4 ,the question must be settled entirely upon internal evidence1 as the superscriptions1 definite as they often are1 are never demonstrably reliable1 while some of them are plainly impossible4 ,to begin with1 doubt attaches to the meaning of the ,hebrew preposition in the phrase1 ,psalm of ,david4 ,it is the same preposition as that rendered by for in the phrase1 ,for the chief musician1 and as in this phrase authorship is out of the question1 it may be seriously doubted whether it is implied in the phrase rendered ,psalm of ,david4 ,this doubt is corroborated by the phrase1 ,psalms of the sons of ,korah4 ,plainly all the ,korahites did not cooperate in the composition of the psalms so superscribed2 and the most natural inference is that the phrase does not here designate authorship1 but that the psalm is one of a collection in some sense belonging to or destined for the ,korahitic guild of temple-singers4 #a ,in that case the phrase would have a liturgical sense1 and the parallel phrase of 7or for7 ,david1 might have to be similarly explained4 ,it must be confessed1 however1 that whatever the actual origin of the superscription1 of 7or for7 ,david1 it certainly came to be regarded as implying authorship--the many historical notices in the superscriptions of ,psalms li4-lx4 are proof enough of that2 and no other explanation is possible of the superscription of ,moses in ,psalm1 xc 7cf4 ,is4 xxxviii4 #i1 the writing of ,hezekiah74 ,footnote #a3 ,it is not absolutely impossible that the phrase might point to a collection composed by this guild1 cf4 ,moravian brethren4 ,but the other supposition is more likely4 ,in later times1 then1 authorship was plainly intended by the superscriptions4 ,but it is quite certain that the superscriptions themselves are no original and integral parts of the psalms4 ,in the ,septuagint they occasionally differ from the ,hebrew1 assigning psalms that are anonymous in the ,hebrew 7xcv41 cxxxvii47 to ,david1 or to other authors 7e4g41 cxlvi4-cxlviii4 to ,haggai and ,zechariah47 ,the ease with which psalms were1 without warrant1 ascribed to ,david may be seen from the ,greek superscription to ,psalm xcvi4 ,when the house i4e4 the temple was being built after the captivity2 a song of ,david3 in other words1 an admittedly post-exilic psalm is ascribed to ,david4 ,the superscriptions were added probably long after the psalms1 and there is no reason to suppose that the ,hebrews were exempt from the uncritical methods and ideas which characterized the ,greek translators4 ,that they shared them is abundantly proved by the historical superscriptions4 ,one at least 7,ps4 xxxiv47 in substituting the name of ,abimelech 7,gen4 xx47 for ,achish 7#a ,sam4 xxi47 shows either ignorance or carelessness1 and casts a very lurid light on the reliability of the superscriptions4 ,the contents of other psalms are manifestly irreconcilable with the assumed authorship3 ,asaph1 e4g41 whom the ,chronicles regards as a contemporary of ,david 7#a ,chron4 xvi #g71 laments in ,psalms lxxiv41 lxxix4 the devastation of the temple1 which was not at that time in existence4 ,the principles on which the superscriptions were added were altogether superficial and uncritical4 ,psalm cxxvii4 is ascribed to ,solomon1 chiefly because its opening verse speaks of the building of the house1 which was understood to be the temple4 ,so ,psalm lxiii4 is described as a psalm of ,david when he was in the wilderness of ,judah1 simply on the strength of the words1 ,my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and weary land where no water is--words which are taken literally1 though they were undoubtedly intended metaphorically4 ,a parallel case is that of the psalm inserted in ,jonah ii41 obviously a church psalm whose figurative language has been too literally pressed4 ,enough has been said to show that the superscriptions are later than the psalms themselves1 and often1 if not always1 unreliable2 we are therefore wholly dependent upon internal evidence1 and the criteria for ,davidic authorship must be sought outside the ,psalter4 ,the only absolutely undisputed poems of ,david's are the elegy over ,saul and ,jonathan in #b ,samuel i4 and the lament over ,abner 7#b ,sam4 iii4 #cc1 #cd74 ,there is no means of proving that #b ,samuel xxii4 7,ps4 xviii47 and #b ,samuel xxiii4 #a-g are ,david's1 as they are interpolated in a section of ,samuel which is itself an interpolation 7xxi4-xxiv471 interrupting as it does the continuity of #b ,samuel xx4 and ,i ,kings i4 ,the data offered by the elegy are much too slender to enable us to decide whether any particular psalm is ,david's or not4 ,some have ventured to ascribe a dozen psalms or so to him on the strength of their peculiar vigour and originality1 but obviously all such decisions must be altogether subjective4 ,what is certain is that ,david was an accomplished musician 7#a ,sam4 xvi4 #ah7 and a great poet 7#b ,sam4 i471 a man of the most varied experience1 rich emotional nature and profound religious feeling1 a devoted worshipper of ,jehovah1 and eager to build ,him a temple2 and it is not impossible that such a man may have written religious songs1 but in the nature of the case it can never be proved that he wrote any of the songs in the ,psalter4 ,psalm xviii4 has been by many assigned to him with considerable confidence because of the support it is thought to receive from its appearance in a historical book2 but besides the fact that this support1 as we have seen1 is slender1 the psalm can hardly1 at least in its present form1 have come from ,david4 ,the superscription assigns it to a later period in his life when he had been delivered from all his enemies2 but at that time he could not have looked back over the past1 stained by his great sin1 with the complacency which marks the confession in vv4 #bj-bd4 ,others have supposed that xxiv4 #g-aj1 with its picture of the entrance of ,jehovah through the ancient gates1 may well be his4 ,it may be1 if the gates are those of the city2 but if1 as is more probable1 they are the temple gates1 then the psalm must be long after the time of ,solomon4 ,in the quest for ,davidic psalms we can never possibly rise above conjecture4 ,later ages regarded ,david as the father of sacred song1 just as they regarded ,moses as the author of ,hebrew law4 ,there can be little doubt1 however1 that there are pre-exilic psalms or fragments in the ,psalter4 ,from ,psalm cxxxvii4 #c1 #d we may safely infer that already1 by the time of the exile1 there were songs of ,jehovah or songs of ,zion4 ,we cannot tell what these songs were like2 but when we remember that for nearly two centuries before the exile great prophets had been working--and we cannot suppose altogether ineffectually1 for they had disciples--it is difficult to see why1 granting the poetic power which the ,hebrew had from the earliest times1 pious spirits should not have expressed themselves in sacred song1 or why some of these songs may not be in the ,psalter4 ,we appear to be on tolerably sure ground in at least some of the royal psalms4 ,doubtless it is often very hard to say1 as in ,psalms ii41 lxxii41 whether the king is a historical figure or the ,messianic ,king of popular yearning2 and possibly 7cf4 lxxii47 a psalm which originally contemplated a historical king may have been in later times altered or amplified to fit the features of the ideal king4 ,other psalms1 again 7e4g41 lxxxix41 cxxxii471 clearly are the products of a time when the monarchy is no more4 ,but there remain others1 expressing1 e4g4 a wish for the king's welfare 7xx41 xxi471 which can only be naturally referred to a time when the king was on the throne4 ,it is not absolutely impossible to refer these to the period of the ,hasmoneans1 who bore the title from the end of the second century ,b4,c42 but the history of the canon renders this supposition extremely improbable4 ,the contents of these psalms are not above pre-exilic possibility1 and their position in the first book would1 generally speaking1 be in favour of the earlier date4 ,psalm xlv4 also1 which celebrates the marriage of a king to a foreign princess1 seems almost to compel a pre-exilic date4 ,some scholars1 struck by the resemblance between many of the sorrowful psalms and the poetry of ,jeremiah1 have not hesitated to ascribe some of them to him 7cf4 xl4 #b74 ,such a judgment is necessarily subjective1 but there can be little doubt that ,jeremiah powerfully influenced ,hebrew religious poetry4 ,the ,greek superscriptions1 again1 which assign certain psalms to ,haggai and ,zechariah1 though doubtless unreliable1 are of interest in suggesting the liturgical importance of the period following the return from the exile4 ,this period seems to have produced several psalms4 ,psalm cxxvi11 with its curiously complex feeling1 apparently reflects the situation of that period1 and the group of psalms which proclaim ,jehovah as ,king1 and ring with the notes of a new song1 were probably composed to celebrate the joy of the return and the resumption of public worship in the temple 7xciii41 xcv4-c41 cf4 xcvi4 #a74 ,the history of the next three centuries is very obscure1 and many a psalm which we cannot locate may belong to that period2 but the psalms which celebrate the law 7i41 xix4 #g;ff41 cxix47 no doubt follow the reformation of ,ezra in the fifth century4 ,it is not probable that there are many1 if any1 psalms later than #agj-afe ,b4,c4 in the ,maccabean period2 some deny even this possibility1 basing their denial on the history of the canon4 ,but if the book of ,daniel1 which belongs to this same period1 was admitted to the canon1 there is no reason why the same honour should not have been conferred upon some of the psalms4 ,the ,maccabean period was fitted1 almost more than any other in ,israel's history1 to rouse the religious passion of the people to song2 and1 as the possibility must be conceded1 the question becomes one of exegesis4 ,exegetically considered1 the claims of at least ,psalms xliv41 lxxiv41 lxxix41 lxxxiii4 are indubitable4 ,they speak of a desolation of the temple in spite of a punctilious fulfilment of the law1 a religious persecution1 a slaughter of the saints1 a blasphemy of the holy name4 ,no situation fits these circumstances so completely as the persecution of the ,jews by ,antiochus ,epiphanes in #afh ,b4,c41 and these psalms betray many remarkable affinities with passages in the first book of the ,maccabees4 ,as long ago as the fifth century ,a4,d4 the sharp-sighted ,theodore of ,mopsuestia believed that there were seventeen ,maccabean psalms2 ,calvin admitted at least three4 ,it may be safely concluded1 then1 that the ,psalter brings us within about a century and a half of the ,christian era4 ,the criteria for determining the date of a psalm are few and meagre4 ,the ,psalter expresses the piety of more than half a millennium1 and even the century cannot always be fixed4 ,the language is often general1 and the thoughts uttered would be as possible and appropriate to one century as another4 ,nearly forty years ago ,nldeke maintained that there were psalms of which we could not say with any definiteness to what period they belonged between #ijj and #afj ,b4,c4 ,he himself referred ,psalm ii4 to ,solomon1 which had been referred by ,hitzig to ,alexander ,jannaeus 7#aje-gh ,b4,c474 ,even where the historical implications may seem fairly certain1 there may be more than one legitimate interpretation4 ,psalm xlvi41 e4g41 which is usually regarded as a song of triumph sung after the departure of ,sennacherib1 is by some interpreted eschatologically2 ,zion is the ideal ,zion of the latter days1 and the stream that makes her glad is the stream of ,paradise4 ,some psalms1 of course1 have their origin stamped very legibly upon them4 ,psalm cxxxvii4 e4g41 clearly implies that the exile is not long over4 ,the presence of ,aramaisms in a psalm is a fairly sure indication of a relatively late date4 ,within certain limits1 also1 its theological ideas may be a guide1 though we know too little of the history of these ideas to use this criterion with much confidence4 ,still1 so elaborate an emphasis on the omnipresence of ,god as we find in ,psalm cxxxix4 is only possible to a later age1 and this inference is more than confirmed by its highly ,aramaic flavour4 ,both these considerations render its ascription to ,david utterly untenable4 ,the question was raised long ago and has been much discussed in recent times1 whether the subject of the ,psalter is the individual or the church2 and till very recently the opinion has been gaining ground that the experience and aspiration of the ,psalter are not personal and individual1 but that in it is heard the collective voice of the church4 ,many difficulties undoubtedly disappear or are lessened on this interpretation1 e4g41 the bitterness of the imprecatory psalms1 or the far-reaching consequences attached in other psalms 7cf4 xxii41 xl47 to the deliverance of the singer4 ,till the exile1 the religious unit was the nation1 and the collective use of the singular pronoun is one of the commonest phenomena in ,hebrew literature4 ,the ,decalogue is addressed to ,israel in the #bnd pers4 sing41 in ,deuteronomy the #bnd pers4 sing1 alternates with the pl41 in the priestly blessing 7,num4 vi4 #bd;ff47 ,israel is blessed in the singular4 ,in ,deutero-,isaiah1 the servant of ,jehovah is undoubtedly to be interpreted collectively1 and in many of the psalms the collective interpretation is put beyond all doubt by the very explicit language of the context3 ,much have they afflicted me from my youth up1 ,let ,israel now say1 cxxix4 #aa ,all this is true1 and there are probably more collective psalms in the ,psalter than we have been accustomed to believe4 ,but it would be ridiculous to suppose that every psalm has to be so interpreted4 ,some of the psalms were originally written without any view to the temple service1 and they must have expressed the individual emotion of the singer4#a ,besides1 ,jeremiah had shown or at least suggested that the real unit was the individual2 the teaching of ,ezekiel and the book of ,job are proof that the lesson had been well learned2 and1 although the post-exilic church may have felt its solidarity and realized its corporate consciousness as acutely as the pre-exilic nation1 the individual1 as a religious unit1 could never again be forgotten4 ,he had come to stay2 and if1 in many psalms1 the general voice of the church is heard1 it is equally certain that many others utter the emotions and experiences of individual singers4 ,footnote #a3 ,that ,psalms1 now collective1 were originally individual1 and subsequently altered and adapted to the use of the community is seen1 e4g41 in the occasional disturbance of the order in alphabetical psalms 7ix41 x474 ,the ,psalter1 or part of it1 was used in the temple service#a-witness the numerous musical and liturgical superscriptions 7cf4 superscr4 of ,ps4 xcii47--though the people probably did no more than sing or utter the responses 7cvi4 #dh74 ,it would be difficult to estimate the importance of the ,psalter to the ,old ,testament ,church4 ,it was the support of piety as well as the expression of it2 and1 to a worship which laid so much stress upon punctilious ritual and animal sacrifice1 the ,psalter1 with its austere spiritual tone1 its simple passion for ,god1 and its bracing sense of fellowship with the ,eternal1 would come as a wholesome corrective4 ,almost in the spirit of the older prophets 7,hos4 vi4 #f7 animal sacrifice is relegated to an altogether subordinate place 7xl41 l41 li471 if it is not indeed rebuked3 the sacrifice dear to ,god is a broken spirit4 ,thus the ,psalter was a mighty contribution in one direction1 as the synagogue in another1 to the development of spiritual religion4 ,it kept alive the prophetic element in ,israel's religion1 and did much to counteract the more blighting influences of ,judaism4 ,the place of the law is occasionally recognized 7i41 xix4 #g;ff471 once very emphatically 7cxix471 but it is honoured chiefly for its moral stimulus4 ,it is not1 as in later times1 an incubus2 it is still an inspiration4 ,footnote #a3 ,the addition of the last verse to the alphabetic psalms1 xxv4 and xxxiv41 adapts these psalms1 whether originally individual or collective1 to the temple service4 ,there are tempers in the ,psalter which are anything but lovely-hatred of enemies1 protestation of self-righteousness1 and other utterances which prevent it from being1 in its entirety1 the hymn-book of the ,christian ,church4 ,historically these things are explicable and perhaps inevitable1 but the glory of the ,psalter is its overwhelming sense of the reality of ,god4 ,the men who wrote it counted ,god their ,friend2 and although they never forgot that ,he was the infinite ,one1 whose home is the universe and who fills the vast spaces of history with ,his faithfulness and ,his justice1 ,he was also to them the patient and loving ,one1 who preserves both man and beast1 under the shadow of whose wings the children of men may rest with quietness and confidence1 and before whom they could pour out the deepest thoughts and petitions of their hearts1 in the assurance that ,he was the hearer of prayer1 and that ,his tender mercies were over all ,his works4 ,he was to them the source of all strength and consolation and vision4 ,in ,his light they saw light2 and in their noblest moments--whatever they might lose or suffer--with ,him they were content4 ,in ,luther's fine paraphrase of ,psalm lxxiii4 #be1 ,if ,i have but ,thee1 ,i ask for nothing in heaven or earth4 ,,proverbs ,many specimens of the so-called ,wisdom ,literature are preserved for us in the book of ,proverbs1 for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs4 ,the first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse1 almost in the manner of a sermon2 and of the last two chapters1 ch4 xxx4 is largely made up of enigmas1 and xxxi4 is in part a description of the good housewife4 ,all1 however1 are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom1 which to the ,hebrew had always moral relations4 ,the ,hebrew wise man seldom or never gave himself to abstract speculation2 he dealt with issues raised by practical life4 ,wise men are spoken of almost as an organized guild1 and coordinated with priests and prophets as early as the time of ,jeremiah 7xviii4 #ah71 but the general impression made by the pre-exilic references to the wise men is that they exercised certain quasi-political functions and hardly correspond to the wise men of later times who discussed issues of the moral life and devoted themselves to the instruction of young men 7,prov4 i4 #d1 #h74 ,most of the important types of thought of the wise men are represented in the book of ,proverbs4 ,there are proverbs proper1 a few of the popular kind1 but most of them bearing the stamp of deliberate art1 and dealing with the prudent conduct of life 7x4-xxix472 there are speculations of a more general kind on the nature that wisdom which is the guide of life 7i4-ix472 and there is scepticism 7cf4 ,eccles47 represented by the words of ,agur 7xxx4 #a-d74 ,the book1 as a whole1 might be described as a guide to the happy life1 or1 we might almost say1 to the successful life--for a certain not ignoble utilitarianism clings to many of its precepts4 ,the world is recognized as a moral and orderly world1 and wisdom is profitable unto all things4 ,the wisdom which the wise man manifests in contact with life and its exigencies is but a counterpart of the divine wisdom which1 in one noble passage1 is the fellow of ,god and more ancient than creation 7viii474 ,there is not a little literary power in the book4 ,very beautiful is ,wisdom's appeal to the sons of men1 and her invitation to the banquet 7viii41 ix474 ,the isolated proverbs in x4-xxix4 are usually more terse and powerful than they appear in the ,english translation4 ,there are flashes of humour too3 ,as a ring of gold in a swine's snout1 ,so is a fair woman without discretion1 xi4 #bb4 ,withhold not correction from thy son1 ,though thou smite him with the rod1 he will not die1 xxiii4 #ac4 ,they deal with life upon its average levels3 there is nothing of the prophetic enthusiasm1 but they are robust and kindly withal4 ,not without reason has the book been called a forest of proverbs1 for at any rate in the body of it it is practically impossible to detect any principle of order4 ,usually the sayings in x4-xxix4 are disconnected1 but occasionally kindred sayings are gathered into groups of two or more verses2 and sometimes it would seem as if the principle of arrangement was alphabetic1 several consecutive verses occasionally beginning with the same letter1 e4g41 xx4 #g-i1 xxii4 #b-d4 ,there are eight divisions-- 7a7 i4-ix4 7of which i4 #a-f is no doubt designed as an introduction to the whole book1 and vi4 #a-ai is probably an interpolation73 an impressive appeal to secure wisdom and avoid folly1 especially when she appears in the guise of the strange woman4 ,wisdom's own appeal and invitation4 7b7 x4-xxii4 #af4 ,a series of very loosely connected proverbs in couplets1 x4-xv4 being chiefly antithetic 7cf4 x4 #a1 xv4 #a7 and xvi4 #a-xxii4 #af chiefly synthetic 7cf4 xvi4 #af74 7c7 xxii4 #ag-xxiv4 #bb1 designated as the words of the wise1 containing a few continuous pieces 7cf4 xxiii4 #bi-ce on drunkenness7 and addressed1 like i4-ix41 to my son1 cf4 xxiii4 #ae1 #bf4 7d7 xxiv4 #bc-cd1 probably little more than an appendix to 7c71 and also containing a continuous piece 7cf4 vv4 #cj-cd on sloth74 7e7 xxv4-xxix4 ,a series1 in many respects resembling 7#f71 of loosely connected sayings4 ,this section1 especially xxv4-xxvii41 contains more proverbs in the strict sense1 i4e4 sayings without any specific moral bearing1 e4g4 xxv4 #be4 7f7 xxx4 ,the words of ,agur1 of a sceptical and enigmatical kind1 worked over by an orthodox reader 7cf4 vv4 #e1 #f1 which reprove vv4 #b-d74 7g7 xxxi4 #a-i4 ,words addressed to king ,lemuel 7whom we cannot identify7 by his mother4 7h7 xxxi4 #aj-ca4 ,an alphabetic poem in praise of the good housewife4 ,clearly the book makes no pretence to be1 as a whole1 from ,solomon4 ,if we except i4 #a-f1 which is introductory to the whole book1 only 7b7 and 7e7 are assigned to ,solomon3 the other sections--except the last1 are deliberately assigned to others1 7c7 and 7d7 expressly to the wise4 ,the ascription of the whole book to ,solomon1 which seems to be implied by its opening verse1 and which1 if genuine1 would render the fresh ascription in x4 #a unnecessary1 is no doubt to be explained as the similar ascription of the ,psalms to ,david or the legislation to ,moses4 ,he was the wise man of ,hebrew antiquity1 and he is expressly said in #a ,kings iv4 #cb to have spoken #c1jjj proverbs4 ,the implication of that passage 7cf4 v4 #cc7 is that those proverbs consisted of comparisons between men and trees or animals3 that supposition is met by some 7cf4 vi4 #f7 but not by many in the book4 ,there are not likely then to be many of his proverbs in our book2 but not impossibly there may be some4 ,ch4 xxv4 #a is indeed very explicit1 but that notice is1 on the face of it1 late4 ,the fact that ,hezekiah is called not simply king1 but king of ,judah1 seems to point to a time--at the earliest the exile--when the kingdom of ,judah was no more2 so that this notice would be about a century and a half after ,hezekiah's time1 and ,hezekiah is more than two centuries after ,solomon4 ,obviously many of the proverbs in x4-xxix4 could not have been ,solomon's4 ,the advice as to the proper demeanour in the presence of a king 7xxv4 #f1 #g7 would not come very naturally from one who was himself a king 7cf4 xxiii4#a;ff472 nor1 to say nothing of the praises of monogamy1 would he be likely so to satirize his own government as he would do in xxix4 #d3 ,he whose exactions are excessive ruins the land4 ,the question may1 however1 be fairly raised whether the proverbs1 though as a whole not ,solomonic1 may yet be pre-exilic2 and here two questions must be kept apart--the date of the individual proverbs and the date of the collections or of the book as a whole4 ,now it is very probable that some of the proverbs are pre-exilic4 ,the references to the king1 e4g4--kindly in x-xxii41 and more severe in xxv-xxix4--might indeed apply to the ,greek period 7fourth and third centuries ,b4,c471 but are equally applicable to the pre-exilic period2 and many of the shrewd observations on life might come equally well from any period4 ,but there can be little doubt that the groups in their present form are post-exilic4 ,the sages do their work on the basis of the achievements of law and prophecy4#a ,the great prophetic ideas about ,god are not discussed1 they are presupposed2 while the law of xxviii4 #d1 #g1 #i1 as in ,psalm cxix41 appears to be practically equivalent to ,scripture1 and would point to the fifth century at the earliest4 ,true1 there are sayings quite in the old prophetic spirit1 to the effect that character is more acceptable to ,god than ritual and sacrifice1 xxi4 #c1 #bg1 xv4 #h1 xvi4 #f2 but this would be an equally appropriate and almost more necessary warning in post-exilic times1 especially upon the lips of men whose profession was in part that of moral education4 ,footnote #a3 ,the text of xxix4 #ah;a is too insecure 7cf4 ,septuagint7 to justify us in saying that prophecy still exists4 ,there is no challenge of idolatry1 such as we should expect if the book were pre-exilic1 and monogamy is everywhere presupposed4 ,indeed it is very remarkable that no mention is made of ,israel1 or of any institutions distinctly ,israelitic4 ,its subject is not the nation1 but the individual1 and its wisdom is cosmopolitan4 ,now though this appeal to man rather than ,israel1 this emphasis on the universal conscience1 can be traced as far back as the eighth century#a 7,amos iii4 #i71 the thoroughgoing application of it in ,proverbs suggests a larger experience of international relationships1 which could hardly be placed before the exile1 and was not truly developed till long after it1 say1 in the ,persian or ,greek period4 ,this is peculiarly true of chs4 i-ix41 which was probably an independent piece1 prefixed to x4-xxix41 to gather up their sporadic elements of wisdom in a comprehensive whole1 and to secure an adequate religious basis for their maxims which were1 in the main1 ethical4 ,it is not necessary to suppose that the personification of wisdom in ch4 viii4 is directly influenced by ,greek philosophy1 but the whole speculative manner of the passage points to a late1 even if independent1 development of ,jewish thought4 ,the last two chapters are probably the latest in the book1 which1 while it must be earlier than ,ben ,sirach 7#ahj ,b4,c471 who distinctly adapts it1 is probably not earlier than #cjj ,b4,c4 ,footnote #a3 ,micah vi4 #h1 ,he that showed thee1 ,o man1 what is good1 is also a saying of far-reaching significance in this connection4 ,the value of this much-neglected book is very great4 ,it is easy of course to point to its limitations--to show that it hardly1 if ever 7ix4 #ah87 looks out upon another world1 but confines its compensations and its penalties to this1 xi4 #ca1 or to discover utilitarian elements in its morality1 in4 #aj1 or mechanical features in its conception of life1 xvi4 #ca4 ,but it would be easy to exaggerate4 ,the sages know very well that a good name is better than wealth1 xxii4 #a1 and that the deepest success of life is its conformity to the divine wisdom 7i4-ix474 ,while most of the maxims are purely ethical1 it has to be remembered that to the ,hebrew morality rests upon religion3 the introductory section 7i4-ix47 throws its influence across the whole book1 the motto of which is that the fear of ,jehovah is the basis of knowledge and its chief constituent1 i4 #g4 ,besides1 many of the maxims themselves are specifically religious1 e4g41 ,he that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his ,maker1 xiv4 #ca1 ,he that hath pity on the poor lendeth to ,jehovah1 xix4 #ag4 ,on the more purely moral side1 besides giving a welcome glimpse into ancient ,hebrew society1 it is rich in applications to modern life4 ,slander and revenge are severely denounced2 and earnest and repeated warnings are lifted up in different parts of the book against wine and women 7v41 xxiii41 xxxi474 ,care for animals is inculcated1 xii4 #aj1 and love to enemies1 xxv4 #ba41 in words borrowed by the ,new ,testament--a notable advance on ,leviticus xix4 #ah4 ,in one or two respects the book is of peculiar interest and value to the modern world4 ,it is more interested1 e4g41 in practice than in creed4 ,its creed is very simple1 little more than a general fear of ,jehovah2 but this receives endless application to practical life4 ,again1 the appeal of the book is1 on the whole1 not to revelation1 but to experience1 and it meets the average man and woman upon their ordinary level4 ,its appeal is therefore one which cannot be evaded1 as it commends itself1 without the support of revelation1 to the universal moral instincts of mankind4 ,again1 its emphasis upon the moral1 as opposed to the speculative1 is striking4 ,immediately after a passage which approaches as near to metaphysical speculation as any ,old ,testament writer ever approaches1 viii4 #bb-ca1 comes a direct1 tender and personal appeal4 ,lastly1 there is an almost modern sense of the inexorableness of law in the solemn reminder that those who refuse and despise the call of wisdom will be left alone and helpless when their day of trouble comes1 i4 #bb;ff4 ,but the sternness is mitigated by a gentler thought4 ,like a gracious lady1 wisdom1 which is only one aspect of the divine ,providence1 pleads with men1 yearning to win them from their folly to the peace and happiness which are alone with her2 and even suffering is but one of the ways of ,god1 a confirmation of sonship1 and even a manifestation of ,his love4 ,whom ,jehovah loveth1 ,he reproveth1 ,even as a father the son in whom he delighteth1 iii4 #ab4 ,this is perhaps the profoundest note in the book of ,proverbs4 ,a book so rich in moral precept and religious thought may well claim to have fulfilled its programme3 to give prudence to the simple1 to the young man knowledge and discretion1 i4 #d4 ,,job ,the book of ,job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature1 if not indeed the greatest4 ,the author was a man of superb literary genius1 and of rich1 daring1 and original mind4 ,the problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest1 and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight1 an intellectual courage1 and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing4 ,opinion has been divided as to how the book should be classified1 whether as epic1 dramatic or didactic poetry4 ,it is didactic at any rate in the sense that the poet1 who wrote it with his heart's blood1 intended to read his generation a much-needed lesson on the mysterious discipline of life2 and it is dramatic1 though not in the ordinary sense--for in the poetry proper there is no development of action--yet in the sense that it vividly pourtrays the conflict of minds1 and the clash of conventional with independent opinion4 ,the story of the book is easily told4 ,the prologue 7i41 ii47 introduces ,job as a pattern of scrupulous piety1 and therefore1 in accordance with the ancient view1 a prosperous man4 ,in the heavenly council1 the ,satan insinuates that1 if the prosperity be withdrawn1 the piety will also disappear4 ,jehovah1 sure of ,his servant ,job1 grants the ,satan permission to deprive ,job of all that he has1 in order that he may discover what he is4 ,job sustains the four fierce blows1 which stripped him of all1 with beautiful resignation4 ,the ,satan is foiled4 ,he now insinuates that the trial has not been severe enough3 only his property has been touched--not his person4 ,with ,jehovah's permission a second assault is made1 and ,job is smitten with the incurable and loathsome disease of leprosy1 so that he is without hope in the world4 ,he has nothing but ,god--will ,god be enough8 ,again ,job sustains his trial in noble and ever-memorable words2 and the ,satan is foiled again4 ,then three of ,job's friends--great sheikhs--come to express their sorrow4 ,then follow three cycles of speeches between ,job and his friends 7iii4-xiv42 xv4-xxi42 xxii4-xxxi74 ,first cycle4 ,job begins by lamenting his birthday and longing for death 7iii474 ,eliphaz1 a man of age and wisdom1 with much courtesy and by an appeal to a revelation which had been given him in the night1 seeks to reconcile ,job to his lot1 reminding him that no mortal man can be pure in the sight of ,god1 and assuring him of restoration1 if he accepts his suffering as discipline 7iv41 v474 ,job rejects this easy optimism and expresses his longing for a speedy death1 as life on the earth is nothing but a miserable warfare 7vi41 vii474 ,bildad1 annoyed at ,job's challenge of ,god's justice1 asserts the sure destruction of evildoers1 but implicitly concedes1 at the end1 that ,job is not an evil-doer1 by promising him a bright future 7viii474 ,job then grows ironical4 ,of course1 he says1 ,god is always in the right4 ,might is right1 and ,he is almighty1 destroying innocent and guilty alike4 ,he longs to meet ,god1 and to know why ,he so marvellously treats the creature ,he so marvellously made 7ix41 x474 ,zophar bluntly condemns ,job's bold words and urges repentance1 but1 like his friends1 foretells the dawn of a better day for ,job1 though his very last words are ominous and suggestive of another possibility 7xi474 ,job1 with a sarcastic compliment to the wisdom of his friends1 claims the right to an independent judgment and challenges the whole moral order of the world4 ,better be honest--,god needs no man to distort the facts for ,him4 ,job longs for a meeting1 in which ,god will either speak to him or listen to him4 ,but1 as no answer comes1 he laments again the pathos of life1 which ends so utterly in death 7xii4-xiv474 ,second cycle4 ,eliphaz1 concluding that ,job despises religion1 describes in vigorous terms the fate of the godless 7xv474 ,job complains of his fierce persecution by ,god1 and appeals1 in almost the same breath1 against this unintelligible ,god to the righteous ,god in heaven1 who is his witness and sponsor2 but again he falls back into gloom and despondency 7xvi41 xvii474 ,bildad answers by describing the doom of the wicked1 with more than one unmistakable allusion to ,job's case 7xviii474 ,job is vexed4 ,he breaks out into a lament of his utter desolation1 the darkness of which1 however1 is shot through with a sudden and momentary gleam of assurance that ,god will one day vindicate him 7xix474 ,not so1 answers ,zophar3 the triumph of the wicked is short 7xx474 ,job1 in a bold and terrible speech1 assails the doctrine of the friends1 challenges the moral order1 and asserts that the world is turned upside down 7xxi474 ,third cycle4 ,to the friends ,job now seems to be condemned out of his own mouth1 and ,eliphaz coolly proceeds to accuse him of specific sins 7xxii474 ,this drives ,job to despair1 and he longs to appear before the ,god whom he cannot find1 to plead his cause before ,him4 ,why does ,he not interpose8 and again follows a fierce challenge of the moral order 7xxiii41 xxiv474 ,the arguments of the friends are being gradually exhausted1 and ,bildad can only reply by asserting the uncleanness of man in presence of the infinite majesty of ,god 7xxv41 xxvi474 ,in spite of this ,job asserts his integrity1 xxvii4 #a-f4 ,zophar repeats the old doctrine of the doom of the wicked1 xxvii4 #g-bc4 ,then ,job rises up1 like a giant1 to make his last great defence4 ,he pictures his former prosperity and his present misery1 and ends1 in a chapter which touches the noblest heights of ,old ,testament morality1 with a detailed assertion of the principles that governed his conduct and character4 ,with one great cry that the ,almighty would listen to him1 he concludes 7xxix4-xxxi474 ,the ,almighty does listen2 and ,he answers--not by referring to ,job's particular case1 still less to his sin1 but by questions that suggest to ,job ,his own power1 wisdom1 and love1 and the ignorance and impotence of man1 xxxviii41 xxxix41 xl4 #b1 #h-ad4 ,job humbly recognizes the inadequacy of his criticism in the light of this vision of ,god1 xl4 #c-e1 xlii4 #b-f1 and with this the poem comes to an end4 ,the epilogue1 xlii4 #g-ag1 in prose1 describes how ,jehovah severely condemned the friends for the words they had spoken1 commended ,his servant ,job for speaking rightly of ,him1 and restored him to double his former prosperity4 ,it is obvious that we have here a religious and not a philosophical discussion4 ,indeed it is hardly a discussion at all2 for1 though the psychological interest of the situation is heightened by every speech1 there is practically no development in the argument4 ,the friends grow more excited and unfair1 ,job grows more calm and dignified2 but so far as argument is concerned1 neither he nor they affect each other--the author meaning to suggest by this perhaps the futility of human discussion4 ,the problem of the book of ,job has been variously defined4 ,in one form it is raised by the question of ,satan1 i4 #i1 ,doth ,job fear ,god for naught8 which is the ,hebrew way of saying1 ,is there such a thing as disinterested religion8 ,but the body of the book discusses the problem under a wider aspect3 how can the facts of human life1 and especially the sufferings of the righteous1 be reconciled with the justice of ,god8 ,with delicate skill the author has suggested that this problem is a universal one2 not ,israel alone is perplexed by it1 but humanity4 ,to indicate this1 he puts his hero and his stage outside the land of ,israel4 ,job is a foreign saint1 and ,uz is on the borders of the ,arabian desert4 ,the ancient theory of retribution was very simple3 every man received what he deserved--the good prosperity1 the bad misfortune4 ,in its national application1 this principle was obviously more or less true1 but every age must have seen numerous exceptions in the life of the individual4 ,the exceptions1 however1 were not felt to be particularly perplexing1 because1 till the exile1 the individual was hardly seriously felt to be a religious unit3 his personality was merged in the wider life of the tribe or nation4 ,but the exile1 which saw many of the best men suffer1 forced the question to the front2 and the explanation then commonly offered was that they were suffering for the sins of the fathers4 ,ezekiel denied this and maintained that the individual received exactly what he deserved 7xviii473 it is well with the righteous and ill with the wicked4 ,the friends of ,job in the main represent this doctrine1 ,eliphaz appealing to revelation1 ,bildad to tradition1 and ,zophar to common sense4 ,the author of the book of ,job desires1 among other things1 to expose the inadequacy of this doctrine4 ,job1 a good man--not only on his own confession 7xxxi471 but on the express and repeated admission of ,god ,himself1 i4 #h1 ii4 #c--;is overwhelmed with calamities which cannot be explained by the imperfections which are inherent in all men1 and which ,job himself readily admits vii4 #ba4 ,how are such sufferings to be reconciled with the justice of ,god8 ,the problem had to be solved without reference to the future world4 ,to a steady faith in immortality1 which can find its compensations otherwhere1 there is no real problem2 but it is certain that1 though there are scattered hints1 xiv4 #ac1 xix4 #be;ff4--which1 however1 many interpret differently--of a life after death1 this belief is not held by ,job 7or by the author7 tenaciously1 nor offered as a solution1 for the lamentations continue to the end4 ,the solution1 if there is any1 the author must find in this world4 ,it would seem that no definite solution is offered1 though there are not a few profound and valuable suggestions4 7#a7 ,the prologue1 e4g41 suggests that the sufferings of earth find their ultimate explanation in the councils of heaven4 ,what is done or suffered here is determined there4 7#b7 ,again the prologue suggests that suffering is a test of fidelity4 ,job has proved his essential and disinterested goodness1 besides glorifying the name of the ,god1 who trusted him1 by standing fast4 7#c7 ,the friends make their shallow and conventional contribution to the solution3 from the doctrine--whose strict and universal truth ,job denied--that sin was always followed by suffering1 they inferred the still more questionable doctrine that suffering was punishment for sin4 ,in estimating the views of the friends1 it should never be forgotten that ,jehovah1 in the epilogue1 condemns them as not having spoken the thing that is right1 xlii4 #g1 #h4 ,of course1 though inadequate1 they are not always absolutely wrong2 and ,eliphaz expresses a truth not wholly inapplicable to ,job's case--at least to the ,job of the speeches--when he insists on the disciplinary value of suffering1 v4 #ag ff4 7#d7 ,if a real solution is offered anywhere1 one would most naturally look for it in the speeches of ,jehovah 7xxxviii4 ff472 and at first sight they are not very promising4 ,their effect would most naturally be rather to silence and overwhelm ,job than to convince him2 and to some they have suggested no more than that the contemplation of nature may be a remedy for scepticism4 ,but their object is profounder than that4 ,by heightening the sense of the mystery of the universe1 they show ,job the folly1 and almost the impertinence1 of expecting an adequate answer to all his whys and wherefores4 ,a man who cannot account for the most familiar facts of the physical world is not likely to explore the subtler mysteries of the moral world4 ,but there is more4 ,the divine speeches suggest that ,god is not only strong--,job knew that very well 7ix47--but wise1 xxxviii4 #b1 and kind1 feeding even the ravenous beasts1 xxxviii4 #ci1 and tenderly caring for the waste and desolate place where no man is1 xxxviii4 #bf4 ,the universe compels trust in the wisdom and love of ,god4 7#e7 ,the epilogue1 too1 shows how the suffering hero was rewarded and vindicated4 ,the reward we shall discuss afterwards2 but it is with fine instinct that the epilogue represents ,job as a man so powerful with ,god that his prayer is effectual to save his erring friends1 and four times within two verses1 xlii4 #g f1 ,jehovah calls him ,my servant ,job4 ,therein lies his real vindication1 rather than in the reward of the sheep and the oxen4 ,the book clearly intends to suggest that in this world it is vain to look for exact retribution4 ,from calamity it is unjust to infer special or secret sin3 the worst may happen to the best4 ,again1 there is such a thing as disinterested goodness1 a goodness which believes in and clings to ,god1 when it has nothing to hope for but ,himself4 ,but the book may also be fairly regarded as a protest against contemporary theology2 and1 in its present form1 at any rate1 it suggests that ,god loves the independent thinker4 ,the friends are orthodox1 but shallow2 ,who ever perished1 being innocent8 iv4 #g4 ,they are so wedded to their theories that even the oldest and wisest among them cruelly invents falsehoods to support them 7xxii474 ,job replies to theories by facts4 ,he is a man of independent observation and judgment1 his mouth must taste for itself1 xii4 #aa4 ,he is bold sometimes almost to blasphemy1 he accuses ,god of destroying innocent and guilty alike1 ix4 #bb1 and does not scruple to parody a psalm1 vii4 #ag f4 ,yet he does this because he must be true to facts1 whatever comes of theories3 he must cling to the ,god of conscience against the ,god of convention4 ,in discussing the scheme of the book and the solution it offers of the problem of suffering1 we have not yet taken into account the speeches of ,elihu 7xxxii4-xxxvii474 ,the value and importance of these have been variously estimated1 the extremes being represented by ,duhm1 who characterizes them as the childish effusions of some bombastic rabbi1 and ,cornill1 who calls them the crown of the book of ,job4 ,it is not without good reason that the authenticity of this section has been doubted4 ,after the dramatic appeal at the close of ,job's splendid defence1 it is natural to suppose that ,jehovah appears2 and when ,he does appear 7xxxviii471 ,his speech is expressly said to be an answer to ,job4 ,elihu is completely ignored1 as he is not only in the prologue but also in the epilogue1 xlii4 #g4 ,the latter omission would be especially strange1 if he is integral to the book4 ,as his speech is not condemned1 it is natural to infer from the silence that it is implicitly commended4 ,in that case1 however1 we have two solutions--the ,elihu speeches and the ,jehovah speeches4 ,but there is practically nothing new in the ,elihu speeches3 in emphasizing the greatness of ,god1 they but anticipate the ,jehovah speeches1 and in emphasizing the disciplinary value of chastisement1 they but amplify the point already made by ,eliphaz in v4 #ag;ff41 and most summarily expressed in xxxvi4 #ae4 ,almost the only other assertion made is that1 as against ,job's contention1 ,god does speak to men--through dreams1 sickness1 angels1 etc4 ,the lengthy description in which ,elihu is introduced1 and the mention of his genealogy1 are very unlike the other introductions4 ,the literary art of the section is1 speaking generally1 inferior to that of the rest of the book4 ,it is imitative rather than creative4 ,elihu takes about twenty verses to announce the simple fact that he is going to speak1 though there might be a dramatic propriety in this1 as he is represented as a young man4 ,further1 the language is more ,aramaic than the rest of the book4 ,cornill1 however1 defends the section as offering the real solution of the problem4 ,if a man recognizes the educative character of suffering and takes it to heart1 the suffering becomes for him a source of infinite blessing1 the highest manifestation of divine love4 ,but it seems rather improbable that the true solution should be put into the lips of a young man1 who said he was ready to burst if he did not deliver himself of his speech1 xxxii4 #ai4 ,apart from the fact that it is more natural to look for the solution in the speeches of ,jehovah1 and that the ,elihu speeches1 in condemning ,job1 disagree with the epilogue1 which commends him1 the arguments against their authenticity seem much more than to counterbalance the little that can be said in their favour2 and in all probability they are an orthodox addition to the book from the pen of some later scholar who was offended by ,job's accusations of ,god and protestations of his own innocence4 ,the authenticity of the prologue and epilogue has also been questioned1 some scholars asserting that they really form the beginning and end of an older 7pre-exilic7 book of ,job1 the body of which was replaced by the speeches in our present book4 ,the question is far from unimportant1 as on it depends1 in part1 our conception of the purpose of the author of the speeches4 ,against the idea that the prologue and epilogue are from his hand are these considerations4 ,they are in prose1 while the body of the book is in verse4 ,again1 the name of ,god in the prologue and epilogue is ,jehovah2 elsewhere1 with one exception1 which is probably an interpolation1 xii4 #i1 it is ,el1 ,eloah1 ,shaddai1 as if ,jehovah were purposely avoided4#a ,in xix4 #ag;b1 where the true translation is ,mine evil savour is strange to the sons of my body1 the children are regarded as living3#b while in the prologue they are dead4 ,but more serious is the fact that the ,job of the prologue seems to differ fundamentally from the ,job of the speeches4 ,the former is patient1 submissive1 resigned2 the latter is impatient1 bitter1 and even defiant4 ,further1 the epilogue represents ,jehovah as commending ,job and condemning the friends without qualification1 whereas it may be urged that1 in the course of the speeches1 the friends were not always wrong1 nor was ,job always right1 and that it is impossible that his merciless criticisms of the moral order could have passed without divine rebuke3 much that ,job said would have delighted the ,satan of the prologue4 ,these considerations have led to the supposition that1 in the original book1 ,job maintained throughout the spirit of devout resignation which he showed in the prologue1 while it was the friends who accused ,god of cruelty and injustice4 ,a bolder and profounder thinker of a later age attacked the problem independently on the basis of the old story1 and inserted his contribution1 iii4-xlii4 #f1 between the prologue and the epilogue1 thus giving a totally different turn to the story4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 xxxviii4 i1 being introductory to the speeches of ,jehovah1 should hardly be counted4 ,footnote #b3 ,see1 however1 viii4 #d1 xxix4 #e1 so that xix4 #ag;b may be due to forgetfulness4 ,this view is ingenious1 but does not seem necessary4 ,psychologically1 there is no necessary incompatibility between the ,job of the prologue and the ,job of the speeches4 ,it must not be forgotten that months have elapsed between the original blow and the lamentations1 vii4 #c--months in which the brooding mind of the sufferer has had time to pass from resignation to perplexity1 and almost to despair4 ,again1 the words of ,job are not to be taken too seriously2 they are1 as he says himself1 the words of a desperate man1 vi4 #bf1 and the commendation in the epilogue may be taken to apply rather to his general attitude than to his particular utterances4 ,some kind of introduction there must undoubtedly have been2 otherwise the speeches1 and especially ,job's repeated asseverations of his innocence1 are unintelligible4 ,the literary power and skill of the prologue is as great as that of the speeches3 dramatically1 the swift contrast between the happy family upon the earth and the council of gods in heaven1 or the rapid succession of blows that rained upon ,job the moment that ,satan went forth from the presence of ,jehovah1 is as effective as the psychological surprises in which the book abounds4 ,the language is slightly in favour of a post-exilic date1 and the conception of ,satan appears to be somewhat in advance of ,zechariah iii4 #a 7#ebj ,b4,c474 ,on the whole it seems fair to conclude that the great poet who composed the speeches also wrote the prologue1 though of course his material lay to hand in a popular1 and not improbably written story4 ,with the prologue must go at least part of the epilogue1 xlii4 #g-i2 for the author's purpose is to characterize the two types of thought represented by the discussion and to vindicate ,job4 ,more doubt may attach to the concluding section1 vv4 #aj-ag1 which represents that vindication as taking the form of a material reward4 ,a ,western reader is surprised and disappointed3 to him it seems that the author has fallen from his high estate1 and has failed to be convinced by his own magnificent argument4 ,but1 as we have already said1 the real vindication of ,job is the efficacy of his prayer1 and the material reward is1 in any case1 not much more than a sort of poetic justice4 ,it is indeed an outward and visible sign of the relation subsisting between ,job and his ,god2 but it is hard to believe that the genius who fought his way to such a solution as appears in xxxviii41 xxxix41 would himself have laid much stress upon it4 ,yet it is not inappropriate or irrelevant4 ,job's sufferings had their origin in ,satan's denial of his integrity2 and now that ,satan has been convinced--for ,job clings in the deepest darkness to the ,god of his conscience--it is only just that he should be restored to his former state4 ,it is not certain that ch4 xxviii4 with its fine description of wisdom1 which is neither to be found in mine nor mart1 is original to the book4 ,it does not connect well either with the preceding or the following chapter4 ,the serenity that breathes through ch4 xxviii4 would not naturally be followed by the renewed lamentations of xxix41 and it would further be dramatically inappropriate for a man in agony to speak thus didactically4 ,it is a sort of companion piece to ,proverbs viii42 it is too abstract for its context1 and lacks its almost fierce emotion4 ,doubt also attaches to the sections descriptive of the hippopotamus and the crocodile1 xl4 l#e-xli4 ,the defence is that1 as the earlier speeches of ,god1 xxxviii4 xxxix41 were to convince ,job of his ignorance1 so these are to convince him of his impotence4 ,but the descriptions1 though fine in their way 7cf4 xli4 #bb71 do not stand on the same literary level as those of xxxviii41 xxxix4 ,these are brief and drawn to the life--how vivid are the pictures of the war-horse and the wild ass6--those of xl41 xli4 are diffuse and somewhat exaggerated4 ,of course ,oriental standards of taste are not ours2 still the difference can hardly be ignored4 ,it is worthy of note1 too1 that the word leviathan in xli4 #a is used in a totally different sense from iii #h1 where it is the mythological 7sea87 dragon4 ,the author appears to have travelled widely and the book betrays a knowledge of ,egypt 7cf4 pyramids1 iii4 #ad2 papyrus1 viii4 #aa2 reed ships1 ix4 #bf2 phoenix1 xxix4 #ah71 but it is not without significance that all his other animal pictures are drawn from the desert--the lion 7iv471 the wild ass1 the war-horse4 ,on the whole1 it is hardly probable that these long descriptions1 rather unnecessarily retarding1 as they do1 the crisis between ,jehovah and ,job for which the sympathetic reader is impatiently waiting1 are original to the book4 ,certain redistributions of the speeches seem to be necessary4 ,ch4 xxvi4 is conceived in a temper thoroughly unlike that of ,job at this stage1 while it closely resembles that of xxv4 ,as ch4 xxv4 would be an unusually short speech1 it is probable that xxv4 and xxvi4 should both be given to ,bildad4 ,that there is something wrong is plain from the fresh introduction to xxvii4 #a 7cf4 xxix4 #a71 a phenomenon which does not elsewhere occur and which1 if xxvi4 is ,job's1 should be unnecessary4 ,again in xxvii4 #g-bc ,job turns completely round upon his own position and adopts that of the friends4 ,it has been said that he forgets himself sufficiently in ch4 xxvii4 to deliver a discourse which would have been suitable in the mouth of one of the friends4 ,surely such an explanation is as impossible as it is psychologically unnatural3 in all probability vv4 #g-bc ought to be given to ,zophar--the more probably as xxvii4 #ac is very like xx4 #ai1 which is ,zophar's4 ,this would have the further advantage of accounting for the fresh introduction to xxix4 7especially if we allow xxviii4 to be a later addition74 ,probably xxxi4 #ch-dj1 which constitute1 at least to an ,occidental taste1 an anticlimax in their present position1 should be placed after v4 #cb1 and xl4 #c-e 7followed by xlii4 #b-f7 after xl4 #f-ad4 ,the date of the book of ,job is not easy to determine4 ,ch4 xii4 #ag shows a knowledge of the dethronement of kings and the exile of priests and nobles which compels a date at any rate later than the fall of the northern kingdom 7#gba ,b4,c47 more probably also of the southern4 ,the reference in ,ezekiel1 xiv4 #ad1 #bj1 to ,job should not be pressed1 as it involves only a knowledge of the man1 not necessarily of any book1 still less of our book4 ,nor can much be made of the parody of ,psalm viii4 #d in ,job vii4 #ag1 as we have no means of fixing precisely the date of the psalm4 ,job's lament and curse in ch4 iii4 are strikingly similar to ,jeremiah xx4 #ad-ah1 and there can be little doubt that the priority lies on the side of the prophet4 ,jeremiah was in no mood for quotation1 his words are brief and abrupt4 ,the book of ,job is a highly artistic poem1 and it is much more probable that ,job iii4 is an elaboration of the passionate words of ,jeremiah than that ,jeremiah adapted in his sorrow the longer lament of ,job4 ,this circumstance would bring us down to a time1 at the earliest1 very near the exile4 ,at this point it has to be noted that the discussion of the moral problem in the book of ,job is in advance of ,jeremiah or ,ezekiel4 ,against the explanation that the children's teeth are set on edge because their fathers have eaten sour grapes1 ,ezekiel has nothing to offer but a rather mechanical doctrine of strict retribution 7ch4 xviii474 ,the book of ,job represents a further stage1 when that doctrine was seen to be untenable2 and the whole question is again boldly raised and still more boldly discussed4 ,this would carry the date below ,ezekiel4 ,as the problem in ,job is individual1 and only indirectly1 if at all1 a national one--there was a man in the land of ,uz--the book cannot be earlier than the exile4 ,but further1 there is an unmistakable similarity between the temper of this book and that of the pious in the time of ,malachi4 ,every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of ,jehovah1 and ,he delighteth in them4 ,where is the ,god of justice8 ,malachi ii4 #ag4 ,we might fancy we heard the voice of ,job2 and almost more plainly in ,malachi iii4 #ad1 ,it is vain to serve ,god1 and what profit is it that we have kept ,his ordinance8 ,equally striking is the similarity between the dialectic temper in ,job and ,malachi4 ,everywhere in ,malachi occur the phrases1 ,ye have said1 yet ye say1 etc4 ,good men have not only raised the problem of the moral order1 as ,habakkuk and ,jeremiah had done3 they are formally discussing it--exactly the phenomenon which we have in ,job and do not have in pre-exilic times4 ,if it be asked why1 in that case1 there is no trace of influence of ,deutero-,isaiah's solution1 the answer is that1 in any case1 that solution stands without serious influence on the subsequent development of religious thought in the ,old ,testament4 ,again1 the peculiar boldness of the discussion suggests a post-exilic date4 ,jeremiah is also very bold1 xii4 #a1 but it is a different type of audacity that expresses itself in the book of ,job4 ,unlike ,ecclesiastes in practically everything else1 ,job is like it in being a sustained and fearless challenge of the phenomena of the moral world4 ,a post-exilic date1 and perhaps not a very early one1 would seem to be suggested by these phenomena4 ,it is the product not only of an unhappy man1 but of an unhappy time1 when life is a warfare1 vii4 #a1 and good men are bitter in heart4 ,this date is borne out by the angelology of the book1 v4 #a1 and by its easy use of mythology1 iii4 #h1 xxvi4 #e--;a mythology which is felt to be completely innocuous1 because monotheism is secure beyond the possibility of challenge4 ,it is practically certain that the book falls before ,chronicles 7circa #cjj ,b4,c47 as in #a ,chronicles xxi4 #a1 ,satan is a proper name1 whereas in ,job the word is still an appellative--he is the ,satan44 ,where the evidence is so slender certainty is impossible2 but there is a probability that the book may be safely placed somewhere between #dej and #cej ,b4,c4 ,one could conceive it to be1 in one sense1 a protest against the legalistic conception of religion encouraged by the work of ,ezra1 and this would admirably fit the date assigned4 ,,song ,,of ,,songs ,the contents of this book justify the description of it in the title1 i4 #a1 as the loveliest song--for that is the meaning of the ,hebrew idiom song of songs4 ,it abounds in poetical gems of the purest ray4 ,it breathes the bracing air of the hill country1 and the passionate love of man for woman and woman for man4 ,it is a revelation of the keen ,hebrew delight in nature1 in her vineyards and pastures1 flowers and fruit trees1 in her doves and deer and sheep and goats4 ,it is a song tremulous from beginning to end with the passion of love2 and this love it depicts in terms never coarse1 but often frankly sensuous--so frankly sensuous that in the first century its place in the canon was earnestly contested by ,jewish scholars4 ,that place was practically settled in #ij ,a4,d4 by the ,synod of ,jamnia1 which settled other similar questions2 and about #abj ,a4,d4 we find a distinguished rabbi maintaining that the whole world does not outweigh the day when the ,song of ,songs was given to ,israel2 while all the ,writings are holy1 the song is holiest of all4 ,this extravagant language suggests that the canonicity of the song had been strenuously contested2 and it may have been a latent sense of the secular origin of the song that led to the prescription that a ,jew must not read it till he was thirty years of age4 ,its place in the canon was no doubt secured for it by two considerations1 7i7 its reputed ,solomonic authorship1 7ii7 its allegorical interpretation4 ,the reception of the book in the ,canon led1 as ,siegfried has said1 to the most monstrous creations in the history of interpretation4 ,if it be by ,solomon1 and therefore a holy book1 it must be a celebration of divine love1 not of human4 ,so it was argued2 and the theme of the book was regarded as the love of ,jehovah for ,israel4 ,christian interpreters1 following this hint of their ,jewish predecessors1 applied it to the love of ,christ for ,his church or for the individual soul4 ,the allegorical view of the poem has many parallels in the mystic poetry of the ,east1 and it even finds a slender support in ,hosea's comparison of the relation of ,jehovah to ,israel as a marriage relationship2 but taking into account the general nature of the poem1 and the tendencies of the ,hebrew mind1 it may be fairly said that the allegorical interpretation is altogether impossible4 ,any love poem would be equally capable of such an interpretation4 ,another view1 first hinted at in a phrase of ,origen1 is that the book is a drama1 a view which has held the field--not without challenge--for over a century4 ,there is much in the language of the song to suggest this3 it is obvious1 e4g41 that there is occasional dialogue1 i4 #ae1 #af1 ii4 #b1 #c1 but the actual story of the drama was very far from clear4 ,the older view was that it was a story of ,solomon's love for a peasant girl1 and of his redemption from his impure loves by his affection for her4 ,but as in viii4 #aa f4 and elsewhere1 ,solomon is spoken of by way of contrast1 room must be made for a third person1 the shepherd lover of the peasant maid2 and1 with much variety of detail1 the supporters of the dramatic theory now adhere in general to the view that the poem celebrates the fidelity of a peasant maid who had been captured and brought to ,solomon's harem1 but who steadily resisted his blandishments and was finally restored to her shepherd lover4 ,the book becomes thus not a triumph of love over lust1 but of love over temptation4 ,the story is very pretty2 but the objections to it and to the dramatic view of the book are all but insuperable4 ,it must be confessed that1 to arrive at such a story at all1 a good deal has to be read between the lines1 and interpreters usually find what they bring2 but the most fatal objection to it is that the text in vi4 #ab1 on which the whole story turns--the maiden's surprise in the orchard by the retinue of the king--is so disjointed and obscure that the attempt to translate it has been abandoned by many competent scholars4 ,apart from that1 the story can hardly be said to be probable4 ,she1 my dove1 is but one1 vi4 #i1 would sound almost comical upon the lips of one who possessed the harem of vi4 #h4 ,but in any case1 it is almost inconceivable that ,solomon would have taken a refusal from a peasant girl3 ,oriental kings were not so scrupulous4 ,again1 it is very hard to detect any progress on the dramatic view of the book4 ,ch4 viii4 with its innocent expression of an early love1 follows ch4 vii41 which is sensuous to the last degree4 ,further1 in the absence of stage directions1 every commentator divides the verses among the characters in a way of his own3 the opening words of the song1 i4 #b;a1 may be interpreted in three or four different ways1 and equal possibilities of interpretation abound throughout the song4 ,of course the difficulties are not quite so great in the ,hebrew as in the ,english 7e4g4 i4 #ae must be spoken by the bridegroom and i4 #af by the bride71 but they are great enough4 ,again1 how are we to conceive of so short a play--ll#f lines--being divided into acts and scenes8 for the scenes are continually changing1 and the longest would not last more than two minutes4 ,it would not be fair to lay too much stress upon the fact that there is no other illustration of a purely ,semitic drama2 that would be to argue that1 if a thing did not happen twice1 it did not happen once4 ,nevertheless1 coupled with the untold difficulties and confusions that arise from regarding the song as a drama1 the absence of a ,semitic parallel is significant4 ,the true view of this perplexing book appears to be that it is1 as ,herder called it1 a string of pearls--an anthology of love or wedding songs sung during the festivities of the king's week1 as the first week after the wedding is called in ,syria4 ,very great probability has been added to this view by the observations of ,syrian customs made by ,wetzstein in his famous essay on ,the ,syrian ,threshing-board1 and first thoroughly applied by ,budde to the interpretation of the ,song4 ,syrian weddings1 we are told1 usually took place in ,march1 ii4 #aa;ff4 ,the threshing-floor is set on a sort of platform on the threshing-board covered with carpets and pillows2 and upon this throne1 the king and queen1 i4e4 the bride and bridegroom1 are seated1 while the guests honour them with song1 game and dance4 ,this lasts for seven days 7cf4 ,gen4 xxix4 #bg2 ,jud4 xiv4 #ab72 and the theory is that in the ,song of ,songs we have specimens of the songs sung on such an occasion4 ,in particular1 it is practically certain that vi4 #ac-vii4 #i is the song which accompanied the sword-dance 7as the last words of vi4 #ac should probably be translated7 performed by the bride on the eve of her wedding day4 ,this would explain the looseness of the arrangement1 no special attempt being made to unify the songs1 though it may be conceded that the noble eulogy of love in viii4 #f1 #g1 as it is the finest utterance in the book1 was probably intended as a sort of climax4 ,the king1 then1 is not ,solomon1 but the peasant bridegroom1 who enjoys the regal dignity1 and even the name of ,israel's most splendid monarch1 iii4 #g1 #i1 for the space of a week4 ,ch4 iii4 #aa1 with its reference to the bridegroom's crown 7cf4 ,isa4 lxi4 #aj71 is all but conclusive proof that the hero is not king ,solomon1 but another sort of bridegroom4 ,his bride1 perhaps a plain country girl1 counts for the week as the maid of ,shulem1 vi4 #ac1 i4e4 ,abishag1 once the fairest maid in ,israel 7vi4 #a1 ,i ,kings i4 #c74 ,so throughout the king's week everything is transfigured and takes on the colours of royal magnificence3 the threshing-board becomes a palanquin1 and the rustic bodyguard appear as a band of valiant warriors1 iii4 #g1 #h4 ,there is a charming naivete1 and indeed something much profounder1 in this temporary transformation of those humble rustic lives4 ,we are involuntarily reminded of scenes in ,a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream4 ,this view of the book has commended itself to scholars like ,nldeke1 who formerly championed the dramatic theory1 though two of the latest writers#a have argued skilfully against it4 ,footnote #a3 ,harper1 in the ,cambridge ,bible ,song of ,songs1 and ,rothstein1 in ,hastings' ,dictionary of the ,bible4 ,the following may be taken as an approximate division of the songs1 though some of the longer sections might easily be regarded as a combination of two or three songs4 ,the bride praises the bridegroom1 modestly depreciates her own beauty1 and asks where her bridegroom is to be found1 i4 #b-h4 ,each sings the other's praises3 the happiness of the bride1 i4 #i-;ii4 #g4 ,a spring wooing1 ii4 #h-ag4 ,the bride's dream1 iii4 #a-e4 ,the bridegroom's procession1 iii4 #f-aa4 ,the charms of the bride1 iv4 #a-v4 #a4 ,the beauty of the bridegroom1 v4 #b-vi4 #c4 ,praise of the bride1 vi4 #d-ab4 ,praise of the bride as she dances the sword-dance1 vii4 #a-aj4 ,the bride's longing1 vii4 #aa-viii4 #d4 ,the incomparable power of love1 viii4 #e-g4 ,the bride's proud reply to her brothers1 viii4 #h-aj4 ,the two vineyards1 viii4 #aa1 #ab4 ,conclusion1 viii4 #ac1 #ad4 ,the immortal verses in praise of love1 viii4 #f1 #g1 show that1 in spite of its often sensuous expression1 the love here celebrated is not only pure but exclusive2 and the book1 which once was regarded as a satire on the court of ,solomon1 would in any case make in favour of monogamic sentiment1 and tend to ennoble ideals in a country where marriage was simply regarded as a contract4 ,the mention of ,israel's ancient capital ,tirzah in vi4 #d 7if the text be correct7 as a parallel to ,jerusalem1 would alone be enough to bring the date below ,solomon's time 7cf4 #a ,kings xiv4 #ag1 xvi4 #bc74 ,but it is no doubt much later4 ,the ,persian word pardes in iv4 #ac appears to imply the ,persian period1 and is used elsewhere only in post-exilic books 7,neh4 ii4 #h2 ,eccles4 ii4 #e74 ,indeed the word appirion in iii4 #i appears to be the ,hebraized form of a ,greek word phoreion1 and if so would almost necessarily imply the ,greek period1 though the ,hebrews may have been acquainted with ,greek words1 through the ,greek settlements in ,egypt1 as early as the sixth century ,b4,c4 ,many of the words and constructions1 however1 are demonstrably late and ,aramaic2 and the linguistic evidence alone 7unless we assume an earlier book to have been worked over in later times7 would put the ,song hardly earlier than the fourth century ,b4,c4 ,yet the fact that though a secular writing1 it is in ,hebrew and not ,aramaic1 which was rapidly gaining ground1 shows that it can hardly be brought down much later4 ,on the whole1 probably it is to be placed somewhere between #djj and #cjj2 and its sunny vivacity thus becomes a welcome foil to the austerity of the post-exilic age4 ,if this argument is sound1 it follows that the book cannot have been by ,solomon4 ,the superscription1 i4 #a1 was no doubt added by a later hand on the basis of the many references to ,solomon in the book1 iii4 #g-aa1 viii4 #aa f1 and of the statement in #a ,kings iv4 #cb that he was the author of #a1jje songs4 ,where the songs were composed we cannot tell4 ,the scenes they reflect so vividly are rather those of ,israel than of ,judah1 but the repeated allusions to the daughters of ,jerusalem would be most naturally explained if the songs came from ,jerusalem or its neighbourhood4 ,with this agree the references to ,engedi1 ,heshbon1 ,kedar1 while the northern places mentioned1 ,lebanon1 ,hermon1 ,gilead1 ,damascus1 are such as would be familiar1 at any rate1 by reputation1 to a ,judean4 ,,ruth ,goethe has characterized the book of ,ruth as the loveliest little idyll that tradition has transmitted to us4 ,whatever be its didactic purpose--and some would prefer to think that it had little or none-it is1 at any rate1 a wonderful prose poem1 sweet1 artless1 and persuasive1 touched with the quaintness of an older world and fresh with the scent of the harvest fields4 ,the love--stronger than country--of ,ruth for ,naomi1 the gracious figure of ,boaz as he moves about the fields with a word of blessing for the reapers1 the innocent scheming of ,naomi to secure him as a husband for ,ruth--these and a score of similar touches establish the book for ever in the heart of all who love nobility and romance4 ,the inimitable grace and tenderness of the story are dissipated in a summary1 but the main facts are these4 ,a man of ,bethlehem1 with his wife ,naomi and two sons1 is driven by stress of famine to ,moab1 where the sons marry women of the land4 ,in course of time1 father and sons die1 and ,naomi resolves to return home4 ,ruth1 one of her daughters-in-law1 accompanies her1 in spite of ,naomi's earnest entreaty that she should remain in her own land4 ,in ,bethlehem1 ,ruth receives peculiar kindness from ,boaz1 a wealthy landowner1 who happens to be a kinsman of ,naomi2 and ,naomi1 with a woman's happy instinct1 devises a plan for bringing ,boaz to declare himself a champion and lover of ,ruth4 ,the plan is successful4 ,a kinsman nearer than ,boaz refuses to claim his rights by marrying her1 and the way is left open for ,boaz4 ,he accordingly marries ,ruth1 who thus becomes the ancestress of the great ,king ,david4 ,why was this story told8 ,the question of its object is to some extent bound up with the question of date2 and for several reasons1 this appears to be late4 7#a7 ,in the ,greek1 ,latin and modern ,bibles1 ,ruth is placed after ,judges2 in the ,hebrew ,bible it is placed towards the end1 among the ,writings1 i4e4 the last division1 in which1 speaking generally1 only late books appear4 ,had the book been pre-exilic1 it is natural to suppose that it would have been placed after ,judges in the second division4 ,some indeed maintain that this is its original position2 but it is easier to account for its transference from the third division to the second1 as a foil to the war-like episodes of the judges1 than for its transference from the second to the third4 7#b7 ,the argument from language is perhaps not absolutely decisive1 but1 on the whole1 it is scarcely compatible with an early date4 ,some words are pure ,aramaic1 and some of the ,hebrew usages do not appear in early literature1 e4g41 fall1 in the sense of fall out1 issue1 happen1 iii4 #ah4 7#c7 ,the opening words--,in the days when the judges judged1 i4 #a--suggest not only that those days are past1 but that they are regarded as a definite period falling within an historical scheme4 ,the book must be1 at any rate1 as late as ,david--for it describes ,ruth as his ancestress1 iv4 l#g--;and probably much later1 as the implication is that it is a great thing to be the ancestress of ,david4 ,the reverence of a later age for the great king shines through the simple genealogical notice with which the story concludes4#a 7#d7 ,further1 the old custom of throwing away the shoe as a symbol of the abandonment of one's claim to property1 a custom familiar in the seventh century ,b4,c4 7,deut4 xxv4 #i;f47 is in iv4 #g regarded as obsolete1 belonging to the former time4 ,the cumulative effect of these indications is strongly to suggest a post-exilic date4 ,not perhaps1 however1 a very late one3 a book as late as the ,maccabean period would hardly have reflected so kindly a feeling towards the foreigner 7cf4 ,esther74 ,footnote #a3 ,probably iv4 #ah-bb is a later addition1 but that does not affect the general argument 7cf4 v4#ag74 ,the story probably rests upon a basis of fact4 ,david's conduct in putting his parents under the protection of the king of ,moab 7,i ,sam4 xxii4 #c1 #d7 would find its simplest explanation1 if he had been connected in some way with ,moab1 as the book of ,ruth represents him to have been2 whereas a later age would hardly have dared to invent a ,moabite ancestress for him1 had there been no tradition to that effect4 ,the object of the book has been supposed by some to be to commend the so-called levirate marriage4 ,this is improbable3 not so much because the marriage was not strictly levirate1 since neither ,boaz nor the kinsman was the brother-in-law of ,ruth--it would be fair enough to regard this as a legitimate extension of the principle of levirate marriage1 whose object was to perpetuate the dead man's name--but rather because this is a comparatively subordinate element in the story4 ,the true explanation is no doubt to be sought in the fact that ,ruth the ,moabitess is counted worthy to be an ancestress of ,david2 and1 if the book be post-exilic1 its religious significance is at once apparent4 ,it was in all probability the dignified answer of a man of prophetic instincts to the rigorous measures of ,ezra1 which demanded the divorce of all foreign women 7,ezra ix4 x1 cf4 ,neh4 xiii4 #bc;ff472 for it can hardly be doubted that there is a delicate polemic in the repeated designation of ,ruth as the ,moabitess1 i4 #bb1 ii4 #b1 #f1 #ba1 iv4 #e1 #aj--she even calls herself the stranger1 ii4 #aj4 ,it would be pleasant to think that the writer had himself married one of these foreign women4 ,in any case1 he champions their cause not only with generosity but with insight2 for he knows that some of them have faith enough to adopt ,israel's ,god as their ,god1 i4 #af1 and that even a ,moabitess may be an ,israelite indeed4 ,ezra's severe legislation was inspired by the worthy desire to preserve ,israel's religion from the peril of contagion3 the author of ,ruth gently teaches that the foreign woman is not an inevitable peril1 she may be loyal to ,israel and faithful to ,israel's ,god4 ,the writer dares to represent the ,moabitess as eating with the ,jews1 ii4 l#d--winning by her ability1 resource and affection1 the regard of all1 and counted by ,god worthy to be the mother of ,israel's greatest king4 ,the generous type of religion represented by the book of ,ruth is a much needed and very attractive complement to the stern legalism of ,ezra4 ,,lamentations ,the book familiarly known as the ,lamentations consists of four elegies#a 7i41 ii41 iii41 iv47 and a prayer 7v474 ,the general theme of the elegies is the sorrow and desolation created by the destruction of ,jerusalem#b in #ehf ,b4,c43 the last poem 7v47 is a prayer for deliverance from the long continued distress4 ,the elegies are all alphabetic1 and like most alphabetic poems 7cf4 ,ps4 cxix47 are marked by little continuity of thought4 ,the first poem is a lament over ,jerusalem1 bereft1 by the siege1 of her glory and her sanctuary1 i4 #a-aa1 though the bitter and comfortless doom which she bewails in i4 #ab-bb1 is regarded as the divine penalty for her sin1 i4 #e1 #h4 ,similarly in ii4 #a-aj her sorrow and suffering are admitted to be a divine judgment4 ,her shame and distress are inconsolable1 ii4 #aa-ag1 and she appeals to her ,god to look upon her in her agony1 ii4 #ah-bb4 ,the third poem1 probably the latest in the book1 represents the city1 after a bitter lament1 iii4 #a-ba1 as being inspired1 by the thought of the love of ,god1 to submission and hope1 iii4 #bb-cf4 ,a prayer of penitence and confession1 iii4 #cg-ed1 is followed by a petition for vengeance upon the adversaries1 iii4 #ee-ff4 ,the fourth poem1 like the second1 offers a very vivid picture of the sorrows and horrors of the siege3 it laments1 in detail1 the fate of the people1 iv4 #a-f1 the princes1 iv4 #g-aa1 the priests and the prophets1 iv4 #ab-af1 and the king1 iv4 #ag-bj1 and ends with a prophecy of doom upon the ,edomites1 iv4 #ba1 #bb1 who behaved so cruelly after the siege 7,ps1 cxxxvii4 #g74 ,in the last poem the city1 after piteously lamenting her manifold sorrows1 v4 #a-ah1 beseeches the everlasting ,god for deliverance therefrom1 v4 #ai-bb4 ,footnote #a3 ,in the ,hebrew elegiac metre1 as in the ,greek and ,latin1 the second line is shorter than the first--usually three beats followed by two4 ,footnote #b3 ,an unconvincing attempt has been made to refer the last two chapters to the ,maccabean age--about #agj ,b4,c4 ,a very old and by no means unreasonable tradition assigns the authorship of the book to ,jeremiah4 ,in the ,greek version it is introduced by the words--which appear to go back to a ,hebrew original--,and it came to pass1 after ,israel had been led captive and ,jerusalem made desolate1 that ,jeremiah sat down weeping1 and lifted up this lament over ,jerusalem and said4 ,this view of the authorship is as old as the ,chronicler1 who in #b ,chronicles xxxv4 #be seems to refer the book to ,jeremiah1 probably regarding iv4 #bj1 which refers to ,zedekiah1 as an allusion to ,josiah4 ,chs4 ii4 and iv4 especially are so graphic that they must have been written by an eye-witness who had seen the temple desecrated and who had himself tasted the horrors of a siege1 in which the mothers had eaten their own children for very hunger4 ,the passionate love1 too1 for the people1 which breathes through the elegies might well be ,jeremiah's2 and the ascription of the calamity to the sin of the people1 i4 #e1 #h1 is in the spirit of the prophet4 ,nevertheless1 it is not certain1 or even very probable1 that ,jeremiah is the author4 ,unlike the ,greek and the ,english ,bible1 the ,hebrew ,bible does not place the ,lamentations immediately after ,jeremiah but in the third division1 among the ,writings1 so that there is really no initial presumption in favour of the ,jeremianic authorship4 ,again1 ,jeremiah could hardly have said that the prophets find no vision from ,jehovah1 ii4 #h1 nor described the vacillating ,zedekiah as the breath of our nostrils1 iv4 #bj1 nor attributed the national calamities to the sins of the fathers1 v4 #g ,other features in the situation presupposed by ch4 v4 appear to imply a time later than ,jeremiah's1 v4 #ah1bj1 and it is very unlikely that one who was so sorely smitten as ,jeremiah by the inconsolable sorrow of ,jerusalem would have expressed his grief in alphabetic elegies3 men do not write acrostics when their hearts are breaking4 ,when we add to this that chs4 ii4 and iv4 which stand nearest to the calamity appear to betray dependence on ,ezekiel 7ii4 #ad1 iv4 #bj1 ,ezek4 xxii4 #bh1 xix1 #bd1 etc47 there is little probability that the poems are by ,jeremiah4 ,it is not even certain that they are all from the same hand1 as1 unless we transpose two verses1 the alphabetic order of the first poem differs from that of the other three1 and the number of elegiacs--three--in each verse of the first two poems1 differs from the number--one--in the third1 and two in the fourth4 ,in the third poem each letter has three verses to itself2 in the other three poems1 only one4 ,ch4 iii4 with its highly artificial structure and its tendency to sink into the gnomic style1 iii4 #bf;ff41 is probably remotest of all from the calamity4#a ,considering the general hopelessness of the outlook1 chs4 ii4 and iv4 at any rate1 which are apparently the earliest1 were probably composed before the pardon of ,jehoiachin in #efa ,b4,c4 7#b ,kings xxv4 #bg7 when new possibilities began to dawn for the exiles4 #ehj-egj may be accepted as a probable date4 ,the calamity is near enough to be powerfully felt1 yet remote enough to be an object of poetic contemplation4 ,the other poems are no doubt later3 ch4 v4 may as well express the sorrow of the returned exiles as the sorrow of the exile itself4 ,more than this we cannot say4 ,footnote #a3 ,the intensely personal words at the beginning of ch4 iii4 are1 no doubt1 to be interpreted collectively4 ,the man who has seen affliction is not ,jeremiah1 but the community1 ,cf4 v4 #ad1 ,i am become the laughing stock of all nations 7emended text74 ,cf4 also v4 #de4 ,the older parts of the book1 whether written in ,egypt1 ,babylon1 or more probably in ,judah1 are of great historic value1 as offering minute and practically contemporary evidence for the siege of ,jerusalem 7cf4 ii4 #i-ab7 and as reflecting the hopelessness which followed it4 ,yet the hopelessness is by no means unrelieved4 ,besides the prayer to ,god who abideth for ever1 v4 #ai1 is the general teaching that good may be won from calamity1 in4 #bd-bg1 and1 above all1 the beautiful utterance that the love of ,jehovah never ceases#a and ,his pity never fails1 iii4 #bb4 ,footnote #a3 ,grammar and parallelism alike suggest the emendation on which the above translation rests4 ,,ecclesiastes ,it is not surprising that the book of ,ecclesiastes had a struggle to maintain its place in the canon1 and it was probably only its reputed ,solomonic authorship and the last two verses of the book that permanently secured its position at the synod of ,jamnia in #ij ,a4,d4 ,the ,jewish scholars of the first century ,a4,d4 were struck by the manner in which it contradicted itself3 e4g41 ,i praised the dead more than the living1 iv4 #b1 ,a living dog is better than a dead lion1 ix4 #d2 but they were still more distressed by the spirit of scepticism and heresy which pervaded the book 7cf4 xi4 #i with ,num4 xv4 #ci74 ,in spite of the opening verse1 it is very plain that ,solomon could not have been the author of the book4 ,not only in i4 #ab is his reign represented as over--,i was king--though ,solomon was on the throne till his death1 but in i4 #af1 ii4 #g1 #i1 he is contrasted with all--apparently all the kings--that were before him in ,jerusalem1 though his own father was the founder of the dynasty4 ,there is no probability that ,solomon would have so scathingly assailed the administration of justice for which he himself was responsible1 as is done in iii4 #af1 iv4 i1 v4 #h4 ,the sigh in xii4 #ab over the multiplicity of books is thoroughly inappropriate to the age of ,solomon4 ,indeed the whole manner in which the problem is attacked is inappropriate to so early a stage of literary and religious development4 ,but it was by a singularly happy stroke that ,solomon was chosen by a later thinker as the mouthpiece of his reflections on life2 for ,solomon1 with his wealth1 buildings1 harem1 magnificence1 had had opportunity to test life at every point1 and his exceptional wisdom would give unique value to his judgment4 ,ecclesiastes is undoubtedly one of the latest books in the ,old ,testament4 ,the criteria for determining the date are chiefly three4 7#a7 ,linguistic4 ,alike in its single words 7e4g41 preference for abstract nouns ending in th7 its syntax 7e4g41 the almost entire absence of waw conversive7 and its general linguistic character1 the book illustrates the latest development of the ,hebrew language4 ,there are not a few words which occur elsewhere only in ,chronicles1 ,ezra1 ,nehemiah1 ,esther3 there are some pure ,aramaic words1 some words even which belong to the ,hebrew of the ,mishna4 ,even if we allow an early international use of ,aramaic1 the corrupt ,hebrew of the book would alone compel us to place it very late4 ,some have sought to strengthen the argument for a late date from the presence of ,greek influence on the language of the book1 e4g41 in such phrases as under the sun1 to behold the sun1 the good which is also beautiful1 v4 #ah2 but1 probable as it may be1 it is not certain that there are ,graecisms in the language of ,ecclesiastes4#a ,footnote #a3 ,cf4 ,a4 ,h4 ,mc,neile1 ,introduction to ,ecclesiastes1 p4 #dc4 7#b7 ,historical4 ,there is much interesting detail which is clearly a transcript of the author's experience3 the slaves he had seen on horseback1 x4 #g1 the poor youth who became king1 iv4 #ac-af 7cf4 ix4 #ad;ff474 ,these incidents1 however1 are too lightly touched1 and we know too little of the history of the period1 to be able to locate them definitely4 ,the woe upon the land whose king is a child1 x4 #af1 has been repeatedly connected with the time of ,ptolemy ,v4 ,epiphanes 7#bje-aha ,b4,c471 the last of his house who ruled over ,palestine and who at his father's death was little over four years old4 ,however that may be1 the general historical background is unmistakably that of the late post-exilic age4 ,the book bears the stamp of an evil time1 when injustice and oppression were the order of the day1 iii4 #af1 iv4 #a1 v4 #h1 government was corrupt and disorderly and speech dangerous1 x4 #bj4 ,the allusions would suit the last years of the ,persian empire 7#ccc72 but if1 as the linguistic evidence suggests1 the book is later1 it can hardly be placed before #bej ,b4,c41 as during the earlier years of the ,greek period1 ,palestine was not unhappy4 7#c7 ,philosophical4 ,the speculative mood of the book marks it as late4 ,though not an abstract discussion--the ,old ,testament is never abstract--it is more abstract than the kindred discussion in the book of ,job4 ,it is hard to believe that ,ecclesiastes was not affected by the ,greek philosophical influences of the time4 ,if it be not necessary to trace its contempt of the world to ,stoicism1 or its inculcation of the wise enjoyment of the passing moment directly to ,epicureanism1 at least an indirect influence can hardly be denied4 ,greek thought was spreading as the ,greek language was2 and the scepticism of ,ecclesiastes1 though not without parallels in earlier stages of ,hebrew literature1 yet here assumes a deliberate1 sustained and all but philosophic form1 which finds its most natural explanation in the profound and pervasive influence of ,greek philosophy--an influence which could hardly be escaped by an age in which books had multiplied and study been prosecuted till it was a burden1 xii4 #ab4 ,this charming book1 as ,renan calls it1 has in many ways more affinity with the modern mind than any other in the ,old ,testament4 ,it is weary with the weight of an insoluble problem4 ,with a cold-blooded frankness1 which is not cynical1 only because it is so earnest1 it faces the stern facts of human life1 without being able to bring to their interpretation the sublime inspirations of religion4 ,more than once is the counsel given to fear ,god1 but it is not offered as a solution of the riddle4 ,the world is crooked1 i4 #ae1 vii4 #ac1 and no change is possible1 iii4 #a-h4 ,it is a weary round of contradictions1 birth and death1 peace and war1 the former state annihilated by the latter2 and by reason of the fixity of these contradictions and the certainty of that annihilation1 all human effort is vain1 iii4 #i4 ,it is all alike vanity--not only the meaner struggles for food and drink and pleasure 7ii47 but even the nobler ambitions of the soul1 such as its yearning for wisdom and knowledge4 ,whether we turn to the physical or the moral world it is all the same4 ,there is no goal in nature 7i473 history runs on and runs nowhere4 ,all effort is swallowed up by death4 ,man is no better than a beast1 iii4 #ai2 beyond the grave there is nothing4 ,everywhere is disillusionment1 and woman is the bitterest of all1 vii4 #bf4 ,the moral order is turned upside down4 ,wrong is for ever on the throne4 ,providence1 if there be such a thing1 seems to be on the side of cruelty4 ,tears stand on many a face1 but the mourners must remain uncomforted1 iv4 #a4 ,the just perish and the wicked live long1 vii4 #ae4 ,the good fare as the bad ought to fare1 and the bad as the good1 viii4 #ad4 ,better be dead than live in such a world1 iv4 #b2 nay1 better never have been born at all1 vi4 #c4 ,for all is vanity3 that is the beginning of the matter1 i4 #b1 it is no less the end1 xii4 #h4 ,over every effort and aspiration is wrung this fearful knell4 ,sad conclusion anywhere1 but especially sad for a ,jew to reach6 ,indeed he contradicts some of the dearest and most fundamental tenets of the ,jewish faith4 ,many a devout contemporary must have been horrified at the dictum that man had no pre-eminence above a beast1 or that the world1 which he had been taught to believe was very good 7,gen4 i1 #ca7 was one great vanity4 ,the preacher could not share the high hopes of a ,messianic kingdom to come1 of resurrection and immortality1 which consoled and inspired many men of his day4 ,to him life was nothing but dissatisfaction ending in annihilation4 ,if this is not pessimism1 what is8 ,but is this all8 ,not exactly4 ,for the light is sweet1 and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun1 xi4 #g4 ,over and over again the counsel is given to eat and drink and enjoy good1 ii4 #bd2 and despite the bitter criticism of woman already alluded to1 a wife can make life more than tolerable1 ix4 #i4 ,nor does the book display the thorough-going rejection of religion which the previous sketch of it would have led us to expect4 ,it is pessimistic1 but not atheistic2 nay1 it believes not only in ,god but in a judgment1 iii4 #ag1 xi4 #i;b1 though not necessarily in the hereafter4 ,there is considerable extravagance in ,cornill's remark that never did ,old ,testament piety celebrate a greater triumph than in the book of ,ecclesiastes2 but there is enough to show that the book is1 after its own peculiar melancholy fashion1 a religious book4 ,it is significant1 however1 that the context of the word ,god1 which only occurs some twenty times1 is often very sombre4 ,he it is who has given travail to the sons of men to be exercised therewith1 i4 #ac1 iii4 #aj1 cf4 esp4 iii4 #ah4 ,again1 if the writer has any real belief in a day of judgment1 why should he so persistently emphasize the resultlessness of life and deny the divine government of the world8 ,the fate of all is the same-just and unjust1 pure and impure4 ,as fares the good1 so fares the sinner1 ix4 #b4 ,this is a direct and deliberate challenge of the law of retribution in which the writer had been brought up4 ,it may be urged1 of course1 that his belief in a divine judgment is a postulate of his faith which he retains1 though he does not find it verified by experience4 ,but such words--and there are many such--seem to carry us much farther4 ,here1 then1 is the essential problem of the book4 ,can it be regarded as a unity8 ,almost every commentator laments the impossibility of presenting a continuous and systematic exposition of the argument in ,ecclesiastes1 or ,qoheleth1 as the book is called in the ,hebrew ,bible4 ,the truth is that1 though the first three chapters are in the main coherent and continuous1 little order or arrangement can be detected in the rest of the book4 ,various explanations have been offered4 ,bickell1 e4g41 supposed that the leaves had by some accident become disarranged--a supposition not wholly impossible1 but highly improbable1 especially when we consider that the ,greek translation reads the book in the same order as the ,hebrew text4 ,others suppose with equal improbability that the book is a sort of dialogue1 in which each speaker maintains his own thesis1 while the epilogue1 xii4 #ac;f1 pronounces the final word on the discussion4 ,one thing is certain1 that various moods are represented in the book3 the question is whether they are the moods of one man or of several4 ,baudissin thinks it not impossible that1 apart from smaller interpolations1 the book as a whole is the reflection of the struggle of one and the same author towards a view of the world which he has not yet found4 ,note the phrase apart from interpolations4 ,even the most cautious and conservative scholars usually admit that the facts constrain them to believe in the presence of interpolations3 e4g41 xi4 #i;b and xii4 la are almost universally regarded in this light4 ,the difficulties occasioned by the book are chiefly three4 7#a7 ,its fragmentary character4 ,ch4 x42 e4g41 looks more like a collection of proverbs than anything else4 7#b7 ,its abrupt transitions3 e4g41 vii4 #ai1 #bj4 ,wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten men that are in a city3 for there is not a righteous man on the earth4 ,this may be another aspect of 7#a74 ,but 7#c7 more serious and important are the undoubted contradictions of the book1 some of which had been noted by early ,jewish scholars4 ,e4g41 there is nothing better than to eat and drink1 ii4 #bd2 it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting1 vii4 #b4 ,in iii4 #a-h times are so fixed and determined that human labour is profitless1 iii4 #i1 while in iii4 #aa this inflexible order is not an oppressive but a beautiful thing4 ,in viii4 #ad1 ix4 #b 7cf4 vii4 #ae7 the fate of the righteous and the wicked is the same1 in viii4 #ab1 #ac1 it is different3 it is well with the one and ill with the other4 ,in iii4 #af1 which is radically pessimistic 7cf4 vv4 #ah-ba71 there is no justice3 in iii4 #ag a judgment is coming4 ,better death than life1 iv4 #b1 better life than death1 ix4 #d 7cf4 xi4 #g74 ,in i4 #ag the search for wisdom is a pursuit of the wind3 in ii4 #ac wisdom excels folly as light darkness4 ,ch4 ii4 #bb emphasizes the utter fruitlessness of labour1 iii4 #bb its joy4 ,these contradictions are too explicit to be ignored4 ,indeed sometimes their juxtaposition forces them upon the most inattentive reader2 as when viii4 #ab1 #ac assert that it is well with the righteous and ill with the wicked1 whereas viii4 #ad asserts that the wicked often fare as the just should fare and vice versa2 and that this is the author's real opinion is made certain by the occurrence of the melancholy refrain at the end of the verse4 ,different minds will interpret these contradictions differently4 ,some will say they are nothing but the reflex of the contradictions the preacher found to run through life1 others will say that they represent him in different moods4 ,but they are too numerous1 radical1 and vital to be disposed of so easily4 ,there can be no doubt that the book is essentially pessimistic3 it ends as well as begins with ,vanity of ,vanities1 xii4 #h2 and this must therefore have been the ground-texture of the author's mind4 ,now it is not likely to be an accident that the references to the moral order and the certainty of divine judgment are not merely assertions3 they can usually1 in their context1 only be regarded as protests--as protests1 that is1 against the context4 ,that is very plain in ch4 iii41 where the order of the world1 vv4 #a-h1 which the preacher lamented as profitless1 vv4 #i1 #aj1 is maintained to be beautiful1 v4 #aa4 ,it is equally plain in iii4 #ag1 which asserts the divine judgment1 whereas the context1 iii4 #af1 denies the justice of earthly tribunals1 and effectually shuts out the hope of a brighter future by maintaining that man dies#a like the beast1 vv4 #ah-ba4 ,footnote #a3 ,ch4 iii4 #ba should read3 ,who knoweth the spirit of man1 whether it goeth upward8 ,this translation involves no change in the consonantal text and is supported by the ,septuagint4 ,of a similar kind1 but on a somewhat lower religious level are the frequent protests against the preacher's pessimistic assertions of the emptiness of life and the vanity of effort4 ,for the injunction to eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of one's labour may1 in their contexts1 also be fairly considered not simply as statements1 but as protests 7cf4 v4 #ah-bj with v4 #ac-ag72 for this glad love of life was thoroughly representative of the ancient tradition of ,hebrew life 7cf4 ,jeremiah's criticism of ,josiah1 xxii4 #ae47 ,doubtless these protests could come from the preacher's own soul2 but1 considering all the phenomena1 it is more natural to suppose that they were the protests of others who were offended by the scepticism and the pessimism of the book1 which may well have had a wide circulation4 ,it now only remains to ask whether books regarded as ,scripture ever received such treatment as is here assumed4 ,every one acquainted with the textual phenomena of the ,old ,testament knows that this was a common occurrence4 ,the ,greek-speaking ,jews1 translating about or before the time at which ,ecclesiastes was written1 altered the simple phrase in ,exodus xxiv4 #aj1 ,they saw the ,god of ,israel1 to ,they saw the place where the ,god of ,israel stood4 ,in ,psalm lxxxiv4 #aa they altered ,god is a sun 7or pinnacle87 and shield to ,god loves mercy and truth4 ,they altered ,god to an angel in ,job xx4 #ae1 ,god will cast them 7i4e41 the riches7 out of his belly2 or even to an angel will cast them out of his house4 ,these alterations have no other authority than the caprice of the translators1 acting in the interests of a purer1 austerer1 but more timid theology4 ,at the end of the ,greek version of the book of ,job1 which adds1 ,it is written that ,job will rise again with those whom the ,lord doth raise1 we see how deliberately an insertion could be made in theological interests4 ,the liberties which the ,greek-speaking ,jews thus demonstrably took with the text of ,scripture1 we further know that the ,hebrew-speaking ,jews did not hesitate to take4 ,a careful comparison of the text of such books as ,samuel and ,kings with ,chronicles#a shows that similar changes were deliberately made1 and made by pious men in theological interests4 ,we are thus perfectly free to suppose that the original text of ,ecclesiastes1 which must have given great offence to the stricter ,jews of the second century ,b4,c41 was worked over in the same way4 ,footnote #a3 ,cf41 e4g41 the substitution of ,satan in #a ,chron4 xxi4 #a for ,jehovah in #b ,sam4 xxiv4 #a4 ,it would be impossible to apportion the various sections or verses of the book with absolute definiteness among various writers2 in the nature of the case1 such analyses will always be more or less tentative4 ,but on the whole there can be little doubt that the original book1 which can be best estimated by the more or less continuous section1 i4-iii41 was pervaded by a spirit of almost1 if not altogether1 unqualified pessimism4 ,this received correction or rather protest from two quarters3 from one writer of happier soul1 who believed that the earth was ,jehovah's 7,ps4 xxiv4 #a7 and1 as such1 was not a vanity1 but was full of ,his goodness2 and from a pious spirit1 who was offended and alarmed by the preacher's dangerous challenge of the moral order1 and took occasion to assure his readers of the certainty of a judgment and of the consequent wisdom of fearing ,god4 ,on any view of the book it is difficult to see the relevance of the collection of proverbs in ch4 x4 ,if this view be correct1 the epilogue1 xii4 #i-ad1 can hardly have formed part of the original pessimistic book4 ,the last two verses1 in particular1 are conceived in the spirit of the pious protest which finds frequent expression in the book2 and it is easy to believe that the words saved the canonicity of ,ecclesiastes1 if indeed they were not added for that very purpose4 ,the reference to the commandments in v4 #ac is abrupt1 and almost without parallel1 viii4 #e4 ,again1 the preacher1 who speaks throughout the book in the first person1 is spoken of here in the third1 v4 #i2 and1 as in no other part of the book1 the reader is addressed as my son v4 #ab 7cf4 ,prov4 i4 #h41 ii4 #a1 iii4 #a74 ,the value of ,ecclesiastes is negative rather than positive4 ,it is the nearest approach to despair possible upon the soil of ,old ,testament piety4 ,it is the voice of a faith1 if faith it can be called1 which is not only perplexed with the search1 but weary of it2 but it shows how deep and sore was the need of a ,redeemer4 ,,esther ,the spirit of the book of ,esther is anything but attractive4 ,it is never quoted or referred to by ,jesus or ,his apostles1 and it is a satisfaction to think that in very early times1 and even among ,jewish scholars1 its right to a place in the canon was hotly contested4 ,its aggressive fanaticism and fierce hatred of all that lay outside of ,judaism were felt by the finer spirits to be false to the more generous instincts that lay at the heart of the ,hebrew religion2 but by virtue of its very intensity and exclusiveness it as all the more welcome to average representatives of later ,judaism1 among whom it enjoyed an altogether unique popularity1 attested by its three ,targums and two distinct ,greek recensions#a--;indeed1 one rabbi places it on an equality with the law1 and therefore above the prophets and the writings4 ,footnote #a3 ,it is probable also that the two decrees1 one commanding the celebration for two days1 ix4 #bj-bh1 the other enjoining fasting and lamentations1 ix4 #bi-cb1 are later additions1 designed to incorporate the practice of a later time4 ,the story is well told4 ,the queen of ,xerxes1 king of ,persia1 is deposed for contumacy1 and her crown is set upon the head of ,esther1 a lovely ,jewish maiden4 ,presently the whole ,jewish race is imperilled by an act of ,mordecai1 the foster-father of ,esther1 who refuses to do obeisance to ,haman1 a powerful and favourite courtier4 ,haman's plans for the destruction of the ,jews are frustrated by ,esther1 acting on a suggestion of ,mordecai4 ,the courtier himself falls from power1 and is finally hanged on the gallows he had prepared for ,mordecai1 while ,mordecai the ,jew is exalted to the place next the king1 and the ,jews1 whom the initial decree had doomed to extermination1 turn the tables by slaying over #ge1jjj of their enemies throughout the empire1 including the ten sons of ,haman4 ,in memory of the deliverance1 the ,purim festival is celebrated on the #adth and #aeth of the month ,adar4 ,the popularity of the book was due1 no doubt1 most of all to the power with which it expresses some of the most characteristic1 if almost most odious1 traits of ,judaism2 but also in a measure to its attractive literary qualities4 ,the setting is brilliant1 and the development of the incident is often skilful and dramatic1 ,the elevation of ,mordecai1 due to the simple accident of the king's having passed a sleepless night1 the unexpected accusation of ,haman by ,esther1 the swift and complete reversal of the situation by which ,haman is hanged upon his own gallows and ,mordecai receives the royal ring--the general sequence of incidents is conceived and elaborated with considerable dramatic power4 ,the large number of proper names1 the occasional reference to chronicles1 ii4 #bc1 vi4 #a1 and the precise mention of dates1 combine to raise the presumption that the book is real history2 but a glance at the facts is sufficient to dispel this presumption4 ,the story falls within the reign of ,xerxes--about #dhc ,b4,c41 but the hero ,mordecai is represented as being one of the exiles deported with ,jehoiachin in #eig ,b4,c4 ,this is a manifest impossibility4 ,equally impossible is it that a ,jewish maiden can have become the queen of ,persia1 in the face of the express statement of ,herodotus 7iii4 #hd7 that the king was bound to choose his consort from one of seven noble ,persian families4 ,these impossibilities are matched by numerous improbabilities4 ,it is improbable1 e4g41 that ,mordecai could have had such free intercourse with the harem1 ii4 #aa1 unless he had been a eunuch1 or in the palace1 ii4 #ai1 unless he had been a royal official4 ,it is improbable that ,xerxes would have announced the date of the massacre months beforehand1 improbable that he would later have sanctioned so indiscriminate a slaughter of his non-,jewish subjects1 and most improbable of all that the ,jews1 who were in the minority1 should have slain #ge1jjj of their enemies1 who cannot be supposed to have been defenceless4 ,it is much more likely that this wholesale butchery took place chiefly in the author's imagination1 though doubtless the wish was father to the thought4 ,clearly he wrote long after the events he claims to be describing1 and the sense of historical perspective is obscured where it is not lost4 ,the ,persian empire is a thing of the relatively distant past1 i4 #a1 #ac1 and though the author is acquainted with ,persian customs and official titles1 it is significant that the customs have sometimes to be explained4 ,the book is1 in fact1 not a history1 but a historical novel in miniature4 ,its date is hard to fix1 but it must be very late1 probably the latest in the ,old ,testament4 ,in spite of its obvious attempt to reproduce the classic ,hebrew style1 the book contains ,aramaisms1 late ,hebrew words and constructions1 and the language alone stamps it as late4 ,still more decisive1 however1 is its sentiment4 ,its intensely national pride1 its cruel and fanatical exclusiveness1 can be best explained as the result of a fierce persecution followed by a brilliant triumph2 and this condition is exactly met by the period which succeeded the ,maccabean wars 7#ace ,b4,c4 or later74 ,the book1 with its ,persian setting1 may indeed have been written earlier in ,persia2 but it more probably represents a phase of the fierce ,palestinian ,judaism of the last half of the second century ,b4,c4 ,it has been suggested with much probability that ,haman is modelled on ,antiochus ,epiphanes2 between their murderous designs against the ,jews there is certainly a strong resemblance1 iii4 #i1 #a ,macc4 i4 #da1 iii4 #cd-cf4 ,the object of the book appears to have been twofold3 to explain the origin of the ,purim festival1 and to glorify the ,jewish people4 ,the real explanation of the festival is shrouded in mystery4 ,the book traces it to the triumph of the ,jews over their enemies and connects it with ,pur1 ix4 #bf1 supposed to mean lot2 but no such ,persian word has yet been discovered4 ,doubtless1 however1 the book is correct in assigning the origin of the festival to ,persia4 ,a festival with a somewhat dissimilar name--,farwardign--was held in ,persia in spring to commemorate the dead1 and there may be just a hint of this in the fasting with which the festival was preceded1 ix4 #ca1 cf4 #a ,sam4 xxxi4 #ac1 #b ,sam4 i4 #ab4 ,the ,babylonians had also held a new year festival in spring1 at which the gods1 under the presidency of ,marduk1 were supposed to draw the lots for the coming year3 this may have been the ultimate origin of the lot1 which is repeatedly emphasized in the book of ,esther1 iii4 #g1 ix4 #bd1 #bf4 ,in other words1 the ,jews adopted a ,persian festival1 which had already incorporated older ,babylonian elements2 for there can be little doubt that the ultimate ground-work of the book is ,babylonian mythology4 ,esther is so similar to ,istar1 and ,mordecai to ,marduk1 that their identity is hardly questionable2 and in the overthrow of ,haman by ,mordecai it is hard not to see the reproduction of the overthrow of ,hamman1 the ancient god of the ,elamites1 the enemies of the ,babylonians1 by ,marduk1 god of the ,babylonians4 ,this supposition leaves certain elements unexplained--,vashti1 e4g41 is without ,babylonian analogy1 but it is too probable an explanation to be ignored2 and it goes to illustrate the profound and lasting influence of ,babylonia upon ,israel4 ,the similarity of the name ,esther to ,amestris1 who was ,xerxes' queen 7,hdt4 vii4 #aad1 ix4 #aab7 may account for the story being set in the reign of ,xerxes4 ,a collateral purpose of the book is the glorification of the ,jews4 ,in the dramatic contest between ,haman the ,agagite and ,mordecai the ,jew1 the latter is victor4 ,he refuses to bow before ,haman1 and ,providence justifies his refusal2 for the ,jews are born to dominion1 and all who oppose or oppress them must fall4 ,everywhere their superiority is apparent3 ,esther the ,jewess is fairer than ,vashti1 and ,mordecai1 like ,joseph in the old days1 takes his place beside the king4 ,what we regretfully miss in the book is a truly religious note4 ,it is national to the core2 but1 for once in the ,old ,testament1 nationality is not wedded to a worthy conception of ,god4 ,too much stress need not be laid on the absence of ,his name--this may have been due to the somewhat secular character of the festival with its giving and receiving of presents--and the presence of ,god1 as the guardian of the fortunes of ,israel1 is presupposed throughout the whole story1 notably in ,mordecai's confident hope that enlargement and deliverance would arise to the ,jews from one place1 if not from another1 iv4 #ad4 ,but the religion of the book--for religion it is entitled to be called--is absolutely destitute of ethical elements4 ,it is with a shudder that we read of ,esther's request for a second butchery1 ix4 #ac2 and all the romantic glamour of the story cannot blind us to its religious emptiness and moral depravity4 ,in a generation which had smarted under the persecution of ,antiochus and shed its blood in defence of its liberty and ancestral traditions1 such bitter fanaticism is not unintelligible4 ,but the popularity of the book shows how little the prophetic elements in ,israel's religion had touched the people's heart1 and how stubborn a resistance was sure to be offered to the generous and emancipating word of ,jesus4 ,,daniel ,daniel is called a prophet in the ,new ,testament 7,matt4 xxiv4 #ae74 ,in the ,hebrew ,bible1 however1 the book called by his name appears not among the prophets1 but among the writings1 between ,esther and ,ezra4 ,the ,greek version placed it between the major and the minor prophets1 and this has determined its position in modern versions4 ,the book is both like and unlike the prophetic books4 ,it is like them in its passionate belief in the overruling ,providence of ,god and in the sure consummation of ,his kingdom2 but in its peculiar symbolism1 imagery1 and pervading sense of mystery it stands without a parallel in the ,old ,testament4 ,the impulse to the type of prophecy represented by ,daniel was given by ,ezekiel and ,zechariah4 ,the book is indeed rather apocalyptic than prophetic4 ,the difference has been well characterized by ,behrmann4 ,the essential distinction1 he remarks1 between prophecy and apocalyptic lies in this3 the prophets teach that the present is to be interpreted by the past and future1 while the apocalyptic writers derive the future from the past and present1 and make it an object of consolatory hope4 ,with the prophets the future is the servant and even the continuation of the present2 with the apocalyptic writers the future is the brilliant counterpart of the sorrowful present1 over which it is to lift them4 ,this will be made most plain by a summary of the book itself4 ,chs4 i4-vi4 are narrative in form2 chs4 vii4-xii4 are prophetic or apocalyptic--they deal with visions4 ,curiously enough ii4 #d-vii4 #bh1 for no apparent reason1 are written in ,aramaic4 ,in ch4 i4 ,daniel and his three friends1 ,jewish captives at the court of ,babylon1 prove their fidelity to their religion by refusing to defile themselves with the king's food4 ,at the end of three years they show themselves superior to the wise men of the empire4 ,then 7ii47 follows a dream of ,nebuchadrezzar1 in which a great image was shivered to pieces by a little stone1 which grew till it filled the whole world4 ,daniel alone could retell and interpret the dream3 it denoted a succession of kingdoms1 which would all be ultimately overthrown and succeeded by the everlasting kingdom of ,god4 ,ch4 iii4 deals not with ,daniel but with his friends4 ,it tells the story of their refusal to bow before ,nebuchadrezzar's colossal image of gold1 and how their fidelity was rewarded by a miraculous deliverance1 when they were thrown into the furnace of fire4 ,the supernatural wisdom of ,daniel is again illustrated in ch4 iv41 where he interprets a curious dream of ,nebuchadrezzar as a token that he would be humbled for a time and bereft of his reason4 ,ch4 v4 affords another illustration of the wisdom of ,daniel1 and of the humiliation of impiety and pride1 this time in the person of ,belshazzar1 who is regarded as ,nebuchadrezzar's son4 ,daniel interprets the enigmatic words written by the mysterious hand on the wall as a prediction of the overthrow of ,belshazzar's kingdom1 which dramatically happens that very night4 ,ch4 vi4 is intended to teach how precious to ,god are those who trust ,him and scrupulously conform to the practices of true religion without regard to consequences4 ,daniel is preserved in the den of lions into which he had been thrown by the cruel jealousy of the officials of ,darius' empire4 ,with ch4 vii4 ,daniel's visions begin4 ,four great beasts are seen coming up out of the sea1 which1 according to ,babylonian mythology1 is the element opposed to the divine4 ,the last of the beasts1 especially cruel and terrible1 had ten horns1 and among them a little horn with human eyes and presumptuous lips4 ,then is seen the divine ,judge upon ,his throne1 and the presumptuous beast is judged and slain4 ,before this same ,judge is brought one like a son of man1 who comes with the clouds of heaven--this human and heavenly figure being in striking contrast to the beasts that rise out of the sea4 ,daniel is informed that the beasts represent four kingdoms1 whose dominion is to be superseded by the dominion of the saints of the most ,high1 i4e4 by the kingdom of ,god1 which will be everlasting4 ,in a second vision 7viii47 a powerful ram is furiously attacked and overthrown by a goat4 ,the angel ,gabriel explains that the ram is the ,medo-,persian empire1 and the goat is the king of ,greece1 clearly ,alexander the ,great4 ,from one of the four divisions of ,alexander's empire1 a cunning1 impudent and impious king would arise who would abolish the daily sacrifice and lay the temple in ruins1 but by a miraculous visitation he would be destroyed4 ,in ch4 ix4 ,daniel1 after a fervent penitential prayer offered in behalf of his sinful people1 is enlightened by ,gabriel as to the true meaning of ,jeremiah's prophecy 7xxv4 #aa;f41 xxix4 #aj;f47 touching the desolation of ,jerusalem4 ,the seventy years are not literal years1 but weeks of years1 i4e4 #dij years4 ,during the last week 7i4e4 seven years7 there would be much sorrow and persecution1 especially during the last half of that period1 but it would end in the utter destruction of the oppressor4 ,in another vision 7x4-xii47 ,daniel is informed by a shining one of a struggle he had had1 supported by ,michael1 with the tutelary angel of ,persia2 and he makes a revelation of the future4 ,the ,persian empire will be followed by a ,greek empire1 which will be divided into four4 ,in particular1 alliances will be formed and wars made between the kings of the north 7no doubt ,syria7 and the south 7,egypt74 ,with great elaboration and detail the fortunes of the king of the north1 who is called contemptible1 xi4 #ba1 are described3 how he desecrates the sanctuary1 abolishes the sacrifice1 cruelly persecutes the holy people1 and prescribes idolatrous worship4 ,at last1 however1 he too perishes1 and his death is the signal that the ,messianic days are very soon to dawn4 ,israel's dead--especially perhaps her martyred dead--are to rise to everlasting life1 and her enemies are also to be raised to everlasting shame4 ,well is it for him who can possess his soul in patience1 for the end is sure4 ,two facts are obvious even to a cursory inspection of the contents of ,daniel 7#a71 that certain statements about the exilic period1 during which1 according to the book1 ,daniel lived1 are inaccurate2 and 7#b7 towards the close of the book and especially in ch4 xi41 which represents a period long subsequent to ,daniel1 the visions are crowded with minute detail which corresponds1 point for point1 with the history of the third and second centuries ,b4,c41 and in particular with the career of ,antiochus ,epiphanes 7xi4 #ba-de74 7#a7 ,among the unhistorical statements the following may be noted4 ,there was no siege and capture of ,jerusalem by ,nebuchadrezzar in #fje ,b4,c41 as is implied by i4 #a 7cf4 ,jer4 xxv4 #a1 #i-aa71 nor indeed could there have been any till after the decisive battle of ,carchemish1 which brought ,western ,asia under the power of ,babylon4 ,again1 ,belshazzar is regarded as the son of ,nebuchadrezzar 7v471 though he was in reality the son of ,nabunaid1 between whom and ,nebuchadrezzar three monarchs lay4 ,nor is there any room in this period of the history 7#ech ,b4,c47 for ,darius the ,mede1 v4 #ca2 the conquest of ,babylon threw the ,babylonian empire immediately into the hands of ,cyrus1 and the impossible figure of ,darius the ,mede appears to arise through a confusion with the ,darius who recaptured ,babylon after a revolt in #eba1 and perhaps to have been suggested by prophecies 7cf4 ,isa4 xiii4 #ag7 that the ,medes would conquer ,babylon4 ,again1 though in certain passages the ,chaldeans represent the people of that name1 v4 #cj1 ix4 #a1 in others 7cf4 ii4 #b1 v4 #g7 the word is used to denote the wise men of ,babylon--a use demonstrably much later than the ,babylonian empire and impossible to any contemporary of ,daniel4 ,such a seven years' insanity of ,nebuchadrezzar as is described in ,daniel iv4 is extremely improbable2 equally improbable is the attitude that ,nebuchadrezzar in his decree 7iii47 and confession 7iv47 and ,darius in his decree 7vi47 are represented as having adopted towards the ,god of the ,jews4 7#b7 ,concerning the immediately succeeding period--from ,cyrus to ,alexander--the author is apparently not well informed4 ,he knows of only four ,persian kings1 xi4 #b 7cf4 vii4 #f74 ,ch4 xi4 #e-bj gives a brief rsum of the relations between the kings of the north and the kings of the south--which1 in this context1 after a plain allusion in vv4 #c1 #d to ,alexander the ,great and the divisions of his empire1 can only be interpreted of ,syria and ,egypt4 ,from v4 #ba1 however1 to the end of ch4 xi4 interest is concentrated upon one particular person1 who must1 in the context1 be a king of the north1 i4e4 ,syria4 ,the direct reference in v4 #ca to the pollution of the sanctuary1 the temporary abolition of sacrifice1 and the erection of a heathen altar1 put it beyond all doubt that the impious and contemptible monarch is none other than ,antiochus ,epiphanes4 ,this conclusion is confirmed by the details of the section1 with their unmistakable references to his ,egyptian campaigns1 vv4 #be-bh1 and to the check imposed upon him by the ,romans1 v4 #cj1 in #afh ,b4,c4 ,the phenomenon then with which we have to deal is this4 ,a book supposed to come from the exile1 and to announce beforehand the persecutions and ultimate triumph of the ,jewish people in the second century ,b4,c4 is occasionally inaccurate in dealing with the exilic and early post-exilic period1 but minute and reliable as soon as it touches the later period4 ,only one conclusion is possible--that the book was written in the later period1 not in the earlier4 ,it is a product of the period which it so minutely reflects1 #afh-afe ,b4,c4 ,the precise date of the book depends upon whether we regard viii4 #ad as implying that the dedication of the temple by ,judas ,maccabaeus in #afe ,b4,c4 is a thing of the past or still an object of contemplation4 ,in any case it must have been written before the death of ,antiochus in #afd 7xi4 #de74 ,like all the prophets1 the author of ,daniel addresses his own age4 ,the brilliant ,messianic days are always the issue of the existing or impending catastrophe2 and so it is in ,daniel4 ,the redemption which is to involve the resurrection is to follow on the death of ,antiochus and the cessation of the horrors of persecution--horrors of which the author knew only too well4#a ,footnote #a3 ,daniel is fittingly chosen as the hero of the book and the recipient of the visions1 as he appears to have enjoyed a reputation for piety and wisdom 7,ezek4 xiv4 #ad1 #bj1 xxviii4 #c74 ,ezekiel's references to him1 however1 would lead us to suppose that he is a figure belonging to the gray patriarchial times1 rather than a younger contemporary of his own4 ,thus the belief in the late date of the book is reached by a study of the book itself1 and is not due to any prejudice against the possibility of miracle or predictive prophecy4 ,but the late date is confirmed by evidence of other kinds1 especially 7#a7 linguistic1 and 7#b7 theological4 7#a7 ,there are over a dozen ,persian words in the book1 some even in the ,babylonian part of the story4 ,these words would place the book1 at the earliest1 within the period of the ,persian empire 7#ech-cca ,b4,c474 ,further1 within two verses1 iii4 #d1 #e1 occur no less than five ,greek words 7herald1 harp1 trigon1 psaltery and bagpipe71 one of which1 psantern1 by its change of l 7psalterion7 into n1 betrays the influence of the ,macedonian dialect and must therefore be later than the conquests of ,alexander1 and another1 symphonia1 is first found in ,plato4 ,though it is not impossible that the names of the other musical instruments may have been taken over by the ,semites from the ,greeks at an early time1 these words at any rate practically compel us to put the book1 at the earliest1 within the ,greek period 7i4e4 after #cca ,b4,c474 ,further1 the ,hebrew of the book has a strongly ,aramaic flavour4 ,it is not classical ,hebrew at all1 but has marked affinities1 both in vocabulary and syntax1 with some of the latest books in the ,old ,testament1 such as ,chronicles and ,esther4 7#b7 ,the theology of ,daniel undoubtedly represents one of the latest developments within the ,old ,testament4 ,the transcendence of ,god is emphasized4 ,he is frequently called the ,god of ,heaven1 ii4 #ah1 #ai1 and once heaven is used1 as in the later manner 7cf4 ,luke xv4 #ah7 almost as a synonym for ,god1 iv4 #bf4 ,as ,god becomes more transcendent1 angels become more prominent3 they constitute a very striking feature in the book of ,daniel--two of them are even named1 ,gabriel and ,michael4 ,very singular1 too1 and undoubtedly late is the conception that the fortunes of each nation are represented and guarded in heaven by a tutelary angel1 x4 #ac;ff4 #bj4 ,the view of the future life in xii4 #b1 #c is the most advanced in the ,old ,testament3 not only the nation but the individuals shall be raised1 and of the individuals not only the good 7cf4 ,isa4 xxvi4 #ad1 #ai7 but the bad1 to receive the destiny which is their due4 ,these facts so conclusively suggest a late date for the book that it is unnecessary to emphasize ,daniel's prayer three times a day with his face towards ,jerusalem1 vi4 #aj1 though this is not without its significance4#a ,footnote #a3 ,it is worthy of notice that the reference to the books from which the prophecy of ,jeremiah is quoted in ix4 #b seems to imply that the prophetic canon of ,scripture was already closed2 and this was hardly the case before #bjj ,b4,c4 ,the interpretation of this difficult book loses much of its difficulty as soon as we recognize it to be a product of the time of ,antiochus ,epiphanes4 ,it is best to begin with ch4 xi1 for there the allusions are1 in the main1 unmistakable and undeniable4 ,antiochus is the last of the kings of the north1 i4e4 ,syria1 regarded as one of the divisions of the ,greek empire of ,alexander the ,great4 ,without enigma or symbolism of any kind1 the ,persian empire is mentioned in xi4 #b as preceding the ,greek1 and in v4 #a as being preceded by the ,median1 which in its turn had been preceded by the ,babylonian4 ,here1 then1 in the plainest possible terms1 is a succession of four empires--,babylonian1 ,median1 ,persian1 ,greek--the last to be succeeded by the kingdom of ,god 7ch4 xii472 and with this key in our hand we can unlock the secret of chs4 vii4 and ii4 ,in ch4 vii4 the four kingdoms1 represented by the four beasts and contrasted with the humane kingdom which is to follow them1 are no doubt these very same kingdoms1 as are also the four kingdoms of ch4 ii41 symbolized by the different parts of the colossal image of ,nebuchadrezzar's dream3 the little stone which destroys the image is again the kingdom of ,god4 ,in ch4 viii4 the ram with the two unequal horns is the ,medo-,persian empire1 and the goat which overthrows the ram is symbolic of the ,greek empire1 founded by ,alexander4 ,these great features of the book are practically certain4 ,it is further extremely probable that1 in spite of a noticeable difference in the context1 the little horn of viii4 #i is the same as the little horn of vii4 #h1 #bj3 the detail of both descriptions--the war with the saints1 the destruction of the temple1 the abolition of the sacrifice--is an undisguised allusion to ,antiochus ,epiphanes in his persecution of the faithful ,jews and his efforts to extirpate their religion4 ,the one like a son of man in vii4 #ac is almost certainly not the ,messiah3 coming as he does with the clouds of heaven1 he is the symbol of the kingdom of ,god1 in contrast to the beasts1 which emerge from the ungodly sea and symbolize the empires of this world4 ,again1 his being like a man--for this is probably all that the phrase means--is meant to suggest that the kingdom of ,god is essentially human and humane1 in contrast to the four preceding kingdoms1 which are essentially brutal and cruel4 ,this interpretation1 which the contrasts practically necessitate1 is made as certain as may be by vv4 #ah1 #bb1 #bg1 where the kingdom and dominion1 which in v4 #ac are assigned to one like a son of man1 are assigned in similar terms to the people of the saints of the most ,high1 i4e4 the faithful ,jews4 ,the passages whose interpretation is least certain occur in ch4 ix4 ,in each of two consecutive verses1 vv #be;f41 is a reference to an anointed one--a different person being intended in each case4 ,the question of their identity involves the further question of the precise interpretation of the prophecy of the seventy weeks4 ,in ix4 #b ,daniel is reminded by a study of ,jeremiah 7xxv4 #aa;f41 xxix4 #aj7 of the prophecy that the desolation of ,jerusalem would last for seventy years4 ,but it is not over yet4#a ,gabriel then explains1 v4 #bd1 that the years are in reality weeks of years1 i4e4 by the seventy years prophesied by ,jeremiah are really meant #dij years4 ,the period of seventy weeks1 thus interpreted1 is further subdivided in vv4 #be1 #bf 7a passage almost unintelligible in the ,authorized ,version7 into three periods1 viz4 seven weeks 7forty-nine years71 sixty-two weeks1 and one week 7seven years74 ,footnote #a3 ,another incidental proof that the book is late4 ,in the time presupposed by it for the activity of ,daniel1 the seventy years had not yet expired1 and so there could have been no problem4 ,with the first and last periods there is no difficulty4 ,starting from #ehf ,b4,c41 the date of the exile1 forty-nine years would bring us to #ecg1 just about the time assigned to the edict of ,cyrus1 which permitted the ,jews to return and rebuild their city4 ,cyrus would thus be the anointed1 the prince1 and it is an interesting corroboration of this view that ,cyrus is actually called the anointed in ,isaiah xlv4 #a4 ,now1 as the book ends with the anticipated death of ,antiochus in #afd ,b4,c41 the last week would represent the years #aga to #afd2 and in #aga the high priest1 who1 as such1 would naturally be an anointed one1 was assassinated4 ,attention is specially called to the sorrows of the last half of the last week1 when the sacrifice would be taken away4 ,this corresponds almost exactly with the suspension of the temple services from #afh to #afe2 and this period1 again1 is that which is elsewhere characterized as a time1 and times1 and half a time1 i4e4 three and a half years 7vii4 #be1 xii4 #g71 or #b1cjj evenings-mornings1 i4e4 #a1aej days 7viii4 #ad7 or #a1bij or #a1cce days 7xii4 #aa1 #ab74 ,these varying estimates of the period1 not differing widely1 probably suggest that the book was written at intervals1 and not all at once4 ,the beginning and the close of the seventy weeks or #dij years are thus satisfactorily explained2 but the period between #ecg and #aga represents #cff instead of #dcd years1 as the sixty-two weeks demand4 ,probably the simplest explanation of the difficulty is that during much of this long period the ,jews had no fixed method of computing time4 ,also it ought not to be forgotten that the numbers are1 in any case1 partly symbolical1 and ought not to be too strictly pressed4 ,for the purposes of the author1 the first and last periods are more important than the middle4 ,the precise interpretation of the enigmatic writing on the wall 7mene1 tekel1 peres1 v4 #bh7 is uncertain4 ,it has been cleverly explained as equivalent to a mina 7#fj shekels71 a shekel and a part 7i4e4 about sixty-two7 and regarded as a cryptogram for ,darius1 who1 according to v4 #ca1 was on the eve of destroying ,belshazzar's kingdom4 ,more probably it simply means number1 weigh1 divide--the ambiguity being caused by the different possibilities of pointing and therefore of precisely interpreting these words1 which were of course unpointed in the original4 ,further1 in the word peres 7divide71 there is a veiled allusion to the ,persians4 ,it is difficult to account for the fact that part of the book1 ii4 #d-vii41 is written in ,aramaic4 ,it has been supposed that the author began to use that language in ii4 #d1 either because he regarded that as the language spoken by the wise men1 or because they1 being aliens1 must not be represented as speaking in the sacred tongue2 and that1 having once begun to use it1 and being equally familiar with both languages1 he kept it up till he came to the more purely prophetic part of the book1 in which he would naturally recur to the more appropriate ,hebrew4 ,ch4 vii41 on this view1 is difficult to account for1 as it1 no less than viii4-xii41 is prophetic2 and we should then have to assume1 rather unnaturally1 that the vision in ch4 vii4 was written in ,aramaic because it so strongly resembled the dream of ch4 ii4 ,besides it is not certain that the word in ,aramaic in ii4 #d is meant to suggest that the wise men spoke in that language3 it may have originally been only a marginal note to indicate that the ,aramaic section begins here1 just as vii4 #bh;a may indicate the end of the section4 ,some have supposed that part of a book originally ,hebrew was translated into the more popular ,aramaic1 or that part of a book originally ,aramaic was translated into the sacred ,hebrew tongue4 ,the difficulty in either case is to account reasonably for the presence of ,aramaic in that particular section which does not coincide with either of the main divisions of the book 7narrative or apocalyptic71 but appears in both 7i4-vi41 vii4-xii474 ,probably1 as ,peters has suggested1 the ,aramaic portion represents old and popular folk-stories about ,daniel and his friends1 that language being retained because in it the stories were familiarly told1 while for the more prophetic or apocalyptic message the sacred language was naturally used4 ,ch4 vii41 however1 presents a stumbling-block on any view of the ,aramaic section4 ,the ,aramaic of the book is that spoken when the book was written3 it was certainly not the language spoken by the ,babylonian wise men4 ,it is most improbable that they would have used ,aramaic at all2 and if they had1 it would not have been the dialect of the book of ,daniel1 which is a branch of western ,aramaic1 spoken in and around ,palestine4 ,in spite of its somewhat legendary and apocalyptic form1 the religious value of ,daniel is very high4 ,it is written at white heat amid the fires of persecution1 and it is inspired by a passionate faith in ,god and in the triumph of ,his kingdom over the cruel and powerful kingdoms of the world4 ,its object was to sustain the tried and tempted faith of the loyal ,jews under the fierce assaults made upon it by ,antiochus ,epiphanes4 ,never before had there been so awful a crisis in ,jewish history4 ,in #ehf the temple had been destroyed1 but that was practically only an incident in or the consequence of the destruction of the city2 but ,antiochus had made a deliberate attempt to exterminate the ,jewish religion4 ,it was to console and strengthen the faithful in this crisis that the book was written4 ,the author reminds his readers that there is a ,god in heaven1 and that ,he reigns1 iv4 #bf4 ,he bids them lift their eyes to the past and shows them how the fidelity of men like ,daniel and his friends was rewarded by deliverance from the lions and the flames4 ,he bids them lift their eyes to the future1 the very near future3 let them only be patient a little longer1 xii4 #ab1 and their enemies will be crushed1 and the kingdom of ,god will come--that kingdom which shall know no end4 ,it is of especial interest that ,antiochus died at the time when our author predicted he would1 in #afd ,b4,c41 though not1 as he had anticipated1 in ,palestine1 xi4 #de4 ,in the kingdom that was so swiftly coming1 the lives that had been lost on its behalf would be found again3 the martyrs would rise to everlasting life4 ,the narrative parts have an application to the times not much less immediate than the apocalyptic4 ,the proud and mighty1 like ,nebuchadrezzar1 are humbled3 the impious1 like ,belshazzar1 who drank wine out of the temple vessels1 are slain4 ,any contemporary1 reading these tales1 would be bound to think of ,antiochus1 who had demolished the temple and suspended the sacrifices4 ,so ,daniel's refusal to partake of the king's food was well calculated to encourage men who had been put to the torture for declining to eat swine's flesh4 ,man's extremity is ,god's opportunity4 ,however cruel the sufferings or desperate the outlook1 yet the ,lord is mindful of ,his own1 and ,he will ,himself deliver them4 ,for one of the most impressive features of the book is its utter confidence in ,god and its refusal to appeal to the sword 7,ps4 cxlix4 #f74 ,it counsels to patience1 xii4 #ab4 ,without human hands1 ,god's kingdom comes1 ii4 #cd1 and ,his enemies are destroyed1 viii4 #be4 ,in the most skilful way1 the book reaches its splendid climax4 ,it moves steadily on1 from a distant past in which ,god's servants had been rewarded and ,his enemies crushed1 down through the centuries in which successive empires were all unconsciously working out ,his predetermined plan1 and on to the darkest days in history--so dark1 because the glorious and everlasting kingdom of ,god was so soon to dawn4 ,,ezra-,,nehemiah ,some of the most complicated problems in ,hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the ,old ,testament gather about the books of ,ezra and ,nehemiah4 ,apart from these books1 all that we know of the origin and early history of ,judaism is inferential4 ,they are our only historical sources for that period2 and if in them we have1 as we seem to have1 authentic memoirs1 fragmentary though they be1 written by the two men who1 more than any other1 gave permanent shape and direction to ,judaism1 then the importance and interest of these books is without parallel in the ,old ,testament1 for nowhere else have we history written by a contemporary who shaped it4 ,it is just and practically necessary to treat the books of ,ezra and ,nehemiah together4 ,their contents overlap1 much that was done by ,ezra being recorded in the book of ,nehemiah 7viii4-x474 ,the books are regarded as one in the ,jewish canon2 the customary notes appended to each book1 stating the number of verses1 etc41 are appended only to ,nehemiah and cover both books2 the ,septuagint also regards them as one4 ,there are serious gaps in the narrative1 but the period they cover is at least a century 7#ech-dcb ,b4,c474 ,a brief sketch of the books as they stand will suggest their great historical interest and also the historical problems they involve4 ,in accordance with a decree of ,cyrus in #ech ,b4,c4 the exiled ,jews return to ,jerusalem to build the temple 7,ezra i474 ,then follows a list of those who returned1 numbering #db1cfj 7ii474 ,an altar was erected1 the feast of booths was celebrated1 and the regular sacrificial system was resumed4 ,next year1 amid joy and tears1 the foundation of the temple was laid 7iii474 ,the request of the ,samaritans for permission to assist in the building of the temple was refused1 with the result that they hampered the activity of the ,jews continuously till #ebj ,b4,c4 7iv1 #a-e1 #bd74 ,similar opposition was also offered during the reigns of ,xerxes and ,artaxerxes1 when the governor of ,samaria formally accused the ,jews before the ,persian government of aiming at independence in their efforts to rebuild the city walls1 and in consequence the king ordered the suspension of the building until further notice1 iv4 #f-bc4 ,under the stimulus of the preaching of ,haggai and ,zechariah1 the real work of building the temple was begun in #ebj ,b4,c4 ,the enterprise roused the suspicion of the ,persian governor1 who promptly communicated with ,darius4 ,the ,jews had appealed to the decree of ,cyrus granting them permission to build1 and this decree was found1 after a search1 at ,ecbatana4 ,whereupon ,darius gave the ,jews substantial support1 the buildings were finished and dedicated in #eaf ,b4,c41 and a great passover feast was held 7v41 vi474 ,the scene now shifts to a period at any rate fifty-eight years later 7#deh ,b4,c47 ,armed with a commission from ,artaxerxes1 ,ezra the scribe1 of priestly lineage1 arrived1 with a company of laity and clergy1 at ,jerusalem from ,babylon1 with the object of investigating the religious condition of ,judah and of teaching the law 7vii474 ,before leaving ,babylon he had proclaimed a fast with public humiliation and prayer1 and taken scrupulous precautions to have the offerings for the temple safely delivered at ,jerusalem4 ,when they reached the city1 they offered a sumptuous burnt-offering and sin-offering 7viii474 ,soon complaints are lodged with ,ezra that leading men have been guilty of intermarriage with heathen women1 and he pours out his soul in a passionate prayer of confession 7ix474 ,a penitent mood seizes the people2 ,ezra summons a general assembly1 and establishes a commission of investigation1 which1 in about three months1 convicted #aac men of intermarriage with foreign women 7x474 ,the history now moves forward about fourteen years 7#ddd ,b4,c474 ,nehemiah1 a royal cup-bearer in the ,persian palace1 hears with sorrow of the distress of his countrymen in ,judea1 and of the destruction of the walls of ,jerusalem 7,neh4 i474 ,with the king's permission1 and armed with his support1 he visited ,jerusalem1 and kindled in the whole community there the desire to rebuild the walls 7ii474 ,the work was prosecuted with vigour1 and1 with one exception1 participated in by all 7iii474 ,the foreign neighbours of ,jerusalem1 provoked by their success1 meditated an attack--a plan which was1 however1 frustrated by the preparations of ,nehemiah 7iv474 ,nehemiah1 being interested in the social as well as the political condition of the community1 unflinchingly rebuked the unbrotherly treatment of the poor by the rich1 appealing to his own very different conduct1 and finally induced the nobles to restore to the poor their mortgaged property 7v474 ,by cunning plots1 the enemy repeatedly but unsuccessfully sought to secure the person of ,nehemiah2 and in fifty-two days the walls were finished 7vi474 ,he then placed the city in charge of two officials1 taking precautions to have it strongly guarded and more thickly peopled 7vii474 ,at a national assembly1 ,ezra read to the people from the book of the law1 and they were moved to tears4 ,they celebrated the feast of booths1 and throughout the festival week the law was read daily 7viii474 ,the people1 led by the ,levites 7under ,ezra1 ix4 #f1 lxx471 made a humble confession of sin 7ix471 and the prayer issued in a covenant to abstain from intermarriage with the heathen and trade on the ,sabbath day1 and to support the temple service 7x474 ,the population of the city was increased by a special draft1 selected by lot from those resident outside1 and also by a body of volunteers 7xi474 ,after a series of lists of priestly and ,levitical houses1 one of which#a is carried down to the time of ,alexander the ,great1 xii4 #a-bf1 the walls were formally dedicated1 and steps were taken to secure the maintenance of the temple service and officers1 xii4 #bg-dg4 ,on his return to ,jerusalem in #dcb ,b4,c4 ,nehemiah enforced the sanctity of the temple1 and instituted various reforms1 affecting especially the ,levitical dues1 the sanctity of the ,sabbath1 and intermarriage with foreigners1 xiii4 ,footnote #a3 ,according to ,josephus1 ,jaddua 7,neh4 xii4 #bb7 was high priest in the time of ,alexander 7about #ccj ,b4,c4874 ,the difficulties involved in this presentation of the history are of two kinds--inconsistencies with assured historical facts1 and improbabilities4 ,perhaps the most important illustration of the former is to be found in ,ezra iii4 ,there not only is an altar immediately built by the returned exiles--a statement not in itself improbable--but the foundation of the temple is laid soon after1 iii4 #aj1 and the ceremony is elaborately described 7#ecf ,b4,c474 ,the foundation is also presupposed for this period elsewhere in the book 7cf4 v4 #af1 in an ,aramaic document74 ,now this statement is at least formally contradicted by v4 #b1 where it is expressly said that1 under the stimulus of the preaching of ,haggai and ,zechariah1 who did not prophesy till #ebj ,b4,c41 ,zerubbabel and ,joshua began to build the house of ,god4 ,this is confirmed by the very explicit statements of these two prophets themselves1 whose evidence1 being contemporary1 is unchallengeable4 ,haggai gives the very day of the foundation1 ii4 #ah1 and ,zechariah iv4 #i says1 ,the hands of ,zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house4 ,it is not impossible to surmount the difficulty by assuming that the laying of the foundation in #ecf ,b4,c4 was a purely formal ceremony while the real work was not begun till #ebj2 still1 it is awkward for this view that the language of two contemporary prophets is so explicit4 ,and in any case1 the statement in ,ezra v4 #af that since that time 7i4e4 #ecf7 even until now 7#ebj7 hath the temple been in building is not easy to reconcile with what we know from contemporary sources2 the whole brunt of ,haggai's indictment is that the people have been attending to their own houses and neglecting ,jehovah's house1 which is in consequence desolate 7,hag4 i4 #d1 #i74 ,the most signal illustration of the improbabilities that arise from the traditional order of the book lies in the priority of ,ezra to ,nehemiah4 ,on the common view1 ,ezra arrives in ,jerusalem in #deh ,b4,c4 7,ezra vii4 #g1 #h71 ,nehemiah in #ddd 7,neh4 ii4 #a74 ,but the situation which ,ezra finds on his arrival appears to presuppose a settled and orderly life1 which was hardly possible until the city was fortified and the walls built by ,nehemiah2 indeed1 ,ezra1 in his prayer1 mentions the erection of the walls as a special exhibition of the divine love 7,ezra ix4 #i74 ,further1 ,nehemiah's memoirs make no allusion to the alleged measures of ,ezra2 and1 if ,ezra really preceded ,nehemiah1 it is difficult to see why none of the reformers who came with him from ,babylon should be mentioned as supporting ,nehemiah4 ,again1 the measures of ,nehemiah are mild in comparison with the radical measures of ,ezra4 ,ezra1 e4g4 demands the divorce of the wives 7,ezra x4 #aa;ff471 whereas ,nehemiah only forbids intermarriage between the children 7,neh4 xiii4 #be74 ,in short1 the work of ,nehemiah has all the appearance of being tentative and preliminary to the drastic reforms of ,ezra4 ,the history certainly gains in intelligibility if we assume the priority of ,nehemiah1 and the text does not absolutely bind us4 ,ezra's departure took place in the seventh year of ,artaxerxes the king 7,ezra vii4 #g74 ,even if we allow that the number is correct1 it is just possible that the king referred to is not ,artaxerxes ,i 7#dfe-dbd71 but ,artaxerxes ,,ii 7#djd-cei74 ,in that case1 the date of ,ezra's arrival would be #cig ,b4,c42 in any case1 the number of the year may be incorrect4 ,any doubt which might arise as to the possibility of so serious a transformation is at once met by an indubitable case of misplacement in ,ezra iv4 #f-bc4 ,the writer is dealing with the alleged attempts of the ,samaritans to frustrate the building of the temple between #ecf and #ebj ,b4,c4 7,ezra iv4 #a-e71 and he diverges without warning into an account of a similar opposition during the reigns of ,xerxes 7#dhe-dfe7 and ,artaxerxes 7#dfe-dbd7 7,ezra iv4 #f-bc71 resuming his interrupted story of the building of the temple in ch4 v4 ,the account in iv4 #f-bc is altogether irrelevant1 as it has to do1 not with the temple1 but with the building of the city walls1 iv4 #ab4 ,such peculiarities and dislocations are strange in a historical writing1 and they are to be explained by the fact that the book of ,ezra-,nehemiah is not so much a connected history as a compilation4 ,the sources and spirit of this compilation we shall now consider4 ,first and of surpassing importance are 7a1 b7 what are known as the ,i-sections--verbal extracts in the first person1 from the memoirs of ,ezra and ,nehemiah3-- 7a7 ,ezra vii4 #bg-;ix41 except viii4 #ce1 #cf4 7b7 ,neh4 i4-vii4 #e1 xii4 #bg-dc1 xiii4 #d-ca4 7c7 ,other sections1 though they are not actually extracts from the memoirs1 appear to rest directly on them3 cf4 ,ezra vii4 #a-aj1 x41 ,neh4 viii4-x4 ,in these sections ,ezra is spoken of in the third person4 7d7 ,of great interest and importance are the ,aramaic sections1 ,ezra iv4 #g;b-vi4 #ah and vii4 #ab-bf1 involving correspondence with the ,persian court or royal rescripts4 7e7 ,finally1 there are occasional lists1 such as ,neh4 xii4 #a-bf;a1 or ,neh4 vii4 #f-fi1 a list of the returning exiles1 incorporated in the memoirs of ,nehemiah from some earlier list and borrowed in ,ezra ii4 ,these are the chief sources1 but there can be no doubt that they were compiled--that is put together and in certain cases worked over--by the ,chronicler4 ,that suspicion is at once raised by the fact that ,ezra-,nehemiah is a strict continuation of the book of ,chronicles1#a though in the ,hebrew ,bible ,chronicles appears last1 because1 having to compete with ,samuel and ,kings1 it won its canonical position later than ,ezra-,nehemiah4 ,but apart from this1 the phraseology1 style and point of view of the ,chronicler are very conspicuous4 ,there is the same love of the law1 the same interest in ,leviticalism1 the same joy in worship1 the same fondness for lists and numbers4 ,he must have lived a century or more after ,ezra and ,nehemiah2 he looks back in ,neh4 xii4 #dg to the days of ,nehemiah1 and he must himself have belonged to the ,greek period4 ,one of his lists mentions a ,jaddua1 a high priest in the time of ,alexander the ,great4 ,he speaks of the king of ,persia 7,ezra i4 #a71 and of ,darius the ,persian#b 7,neh4 xii4 #bb71 as one to whom the ,persian empire was a thing of the past2 contemporaries simply spoke of the king1 ,ezra iv4 #h4 ,footnote #a3 ,note that the opening verses of ,ezra are repeated at the end of ,chronicles to secure a favourable ending to the book--the more so as that was the last book of the ,hebrew ,bible4 ,footnote #b3 ,in ,ezra vi4 #bb ,darius is even called the king of ,assyria4 ,many of the peculiarities of the book are explained the moment it is seen to be a late compilation4 ,the compiler selected from his available material whatever suited his purpose2 he makes no attempt to give a continuous account of the period4 ,he leaves without scruple a gap of sixty years or more#a between ,ezra vi4 and vii4 ,he interpolates a comment of his own in the middle of the original memoirs of ,nehemiah4#b ,he transcribes the same list twice 7,ezra ii41 ,neh4 vii471 which looks as if he had found it in two different documents4 ,he gives passages irrelevant settings 7cf4 ,ezra iv4 #f-bc74 ,he passes without warning from the first person in ,ezra ix4 to the third person in ,ezra x41 showing that he does not regard himself as the slave1 but as the master1 of his material4 ,whatever may be thought of the view that he has reversed the chronological order of ,ezra and ,nehemiah1 the book undoubtedly contains misplaced passages4 ,ezra x4 is a very unsatisfactory conclusion to the account of ,ezra1 whereas ,neh4 viii4-x41 which deal with the work of ,ezra and its issue in a covenant1 form an admirable sequel to ,ezra x41 and have almost certainly been misplaced4 ,footnote #a3 ,unless we take into account the brief misplaced section in iv4 #f-bc4 ,footnote #b3 ,cf4 especially xii4 #dg with its reference to the days of ,nehemiah1 whereas in xii4 #dj1 xiii4 #f1 etc41 ,nehemiah speaks in the first person4 ,ch4 xii4 #dd-dg at least belongs to the ,chronicler4 ,we cannot be too grateful to him for giving intact the vivid and extremely important account of the activity of ,nehemiah the layman in ,nehemiah's own words 7i4-vii4 #e72 at the same time1 his own interests are almost entirely ecclesiastical4 ,unlike ,ezra 7viii4 #ae;ff471 he says little of the homeward journey of the exiles in #ecg1 but much of the temple vessels 7,ezra i47 and of the arrangements for the sacrificial system1 iii4 #d-f4 ,he dwells at length on the laying of the foundation stone of the temple1 iii4 #h-ac1 on the ,samaritan opposition to the building1 iv4 #a-e1 on the passover festival at the dedication of the temple when it was finished1 vi4 #ai-bb4 ,he amplifies the ,nehemiah narratives at the point where the services and officers of the temple are concerned4 ,the influence of the ,chronicler is unmistakable even in the ,aramaic documents1 whose authenticity one would on first thoughts expect to be guaranteed by their language4 ,aramaic would be the natural language of correspondence between the ,persian court and the western provinces of the empire1 and these official documents in ,aramaic one might assume to be originals2 but an examination reveals some of the editorial terms that characterize the ,hebrew4 ,a decree of ,darius is represented as ending with the prayer that the ,god that hath caused ,his name to dwell there 7i4e4 at ,jerusalem7 may overthrow all kings and peoples that shall put forth their hand to destroy this house of ,god which is at ,jerusalem 7,ezra vi4 #ac74 ,to say nothing of the first clause1 which has a suspicious resemblance to the language of ,deuteronomy1 such a wish addressed to the ,god of the ,jews is anything but natural on the lips of a ,persian4 ,again1 there are several distinctively ,jewish terms of expression in the rescript given by ,artaxerxes to ,ezra1 e4g4 the detailed allusion to sacrifices in ,ezra vii4 #ag4 ,this1 however1 might easily be explained by assuming that ,ezra himself had had a hand in drafting the rescript1 which is not impossible4 ,the question1 however1 is for the historian a very serious one3 how great were the liberties which the ,chronicler allowed himself in the manipulation of his material8 ,it is interesting in this connexion to compare his account of the decree of ,cyrus on behalf of the ,jewish exiles in ,ezra i4 #b-d with the ,aramaic version in vi4 #c-e1 which has all the appearance of being original4 ,the difference is striking4 ,cyrus speaks in ch4 i4 as an ardent ,jehovah worshipper2 but the substance of the edict is approximately correct1 though its form is altogether unhistorical and indeed impossible4 ,the ,chronicler's idealizing tendency is here very apparent2 and it is not impossible that this has elsewhere affected his presentation of the facts as well as the form of his narrative4 ,in the light of the very plain statements of the contemporary prophets ,haggai and ,zechariah1 we are justified in doubting whether1 in ,ezra iii41 the ,chronicler has not antedated the foundation of the temple4 ,to him it may well have seemed inconceivable that the returned exiles should--whatever their excuse--have waited for sixteen years before beginning the work which to him was of transcendent importance4 ,it is possible1 too1 that prophecy may have influenced his presentation of the history4 ,he throws into the very forefront a prophecy of ,jeremiah 7xxv4 #ab71 and regards the decree of ,cyrus as its fulfilment 7,ezra i4 #a74 ,he may also have had in mind the words of the great exilic prophet who had represented ,cyrus as issuing the command to lay the foundation of the temple 7,isa4 xliv4 #bh72 and he may in this way have thrown into the period immediately after the return activities which properly belong to the period sixteen years later4 ,but it is perfectly gratuitous1 on the strength of this1 to doubt1 as has recently been done1 the whole story of the return in #ecg ,b4,c4 ,those who do so point out that the audience addressed by ,haggai1 i4 #ab1 #ad1 ii4 #b1 and ,zechariah viii4 #f1 is described as the remnant of the people of the land--that is1 it is alleged1 of those who had been left behind at the time of the captivity4 ,no doubt the better-minded among these would lend their support to the efforts of ,haggai and ,zechariah to re-establish the worship1 but this community as a whole must have been too dispirited and indifferent to have taken such a step without the impulse supplied by the returned exiles4 ,the devotion of the native population to ,jehovah1 not great to begin with--for it was the worst of the people who were left behind--must have deteriorated through intermarriage with heathen neighbours 7,neh4 xiii41 ,ezra ix4 x472 and without a return in #ecg on the strength of the edict of ,cyrus1 the whole situation and sequel are unintelligible4 ,the ,chronicler's version of the decree of ,cyrus throws a flood of light upon his method4 ,it cannot be fairly said that he invents facts2 he may modify1 amplify and transpose1 but always on the basis of fact4 ,his fidelity in transcribing the memoirs of ,nehemiah is proof that he was not unscrupulous in the treatment of his sources4 ,it remains to consider briefly the value of these sources4 ,the authenticity of the memoirs of ,nehemiah is universally admitted4 ,similar phrases are continually recurring1 e4g4 the good hand of my ,god upon me1 ii4 #h1 #ah1 and the whole narrative is stamped with the impress of a brave1 devout1 patriotic and resourceful personality4 ,the authenticity of the memoirs of ,ezra has been disputed with perhaps a shadow of plausibility4 ,the language of the memoirs distinctly approximates to the language of the ,chronicler himself1 though this can be fairly accounted for1 either by supposing that the spirit and interests of ,ezra the priest were largely identical with those of the ,chronicler1 or that the ,chronicler1 recognizing his general affinity with ,ezra1 hesitated less than in the case of ,nehemiah to conform the language of the memoirs to his own4 ,but more serious charges have been made4 ,it has been alleged that the account of the career of ,ezra has been largely modelled on that of ,nehemiah1 as that of ,elisha on ,elijah1 and that legendary elements are traceable1 e4g4 in the immense wealth brought by ,ezra's company from ,babylon 7,ezra viii4 #bd-bg74 ,these reasons do not seem altogether convincing4 ,the ,chronicler stood relatively near to ,ezra4 ,records and lists were kept in that period1 and he was no doubt in possession of more first-hand documentary information than appears in his book4 ,there is no obvious motive for the writer who so faithfully transcribed the memoirs of ,nehemiah1 inventing so vivid1 coherent and circumstantial a narrative for ,ezra in the first person singular 7,ezra vii4 #bg-;ix474 ,the question of the ,ezra memoirs raises the further question of the ,aramaic documents4 ,the memoirs are immediately preceded by the ,aramaic rescript of ,artaxerxes permitting ,ezra to visit ,jerusalem for the purpose of reorganizing the ,jewish community 7,ezra vii4 #ab-bf74 ,doubt has been cast upon the authenticity of this document on the strength of its undeniably ,jewish colouring2 but this1 as we have seen1 is probably to be explained by the not unnatural assumption that ,ezra himself had a hand in its preparation4 ,its substantial authenticity seems fully guaranteed by the spontaneous and warm-hearted outburst of gratitude to ,god with which ,ezra immediately follows it 7,ezra vii4 #bg;ff73 ,blessed be ,jehovah1 the ,god of our fathers1 who hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart1 etc4 ,a similar criticism may be made in general on the ,aramaic document1 ,ezra iv4 #g;b-vi4 #ah4 ,it is certain1 as we have seen1 that the document has been retouched by the ,chronicler2 but the whole passage and especially the royal decrees are substantially authentic4 ,attention has been called to the ,persian words which they contain1 though this alone is not decisive1 as they might conceivably be due to a later author2 but the authenticity of the decree of ,cyrus is practically guaranteed by the story that it was discovered at ,ecbatana 7,ezra vi4 #b74 ,had it been a fiction1 the scene of the discovery would no doubt have been ,babylon or ,susa4 ,after making allowance1 then1 for the ,chronicler's occasionally cavalier treatment of his sources1 we have to admit that the sources themselves are of the highest historical value1 though in order to secure a coherent view of the period1 they have1 in all probability1 to be rearranged4 ,no rearrangement can be considered as absolutely certain1 but the following1 which is adopted by several scholars1 has internal probability3-- ,ezra i4-iv4 #e1 iv4 #bd-vi41 followed by about seventy years of silence 7#eaf-ddd ,b4,c474 ,neh4 i4-vi41 ,ezra iv4 #f-bc1 ,neh4 vii4 #a-fi 7 ,ezra ii471 ,neh4 xi41 xii41 xiii4 #d-ca1 ,ezra vii41 viii41 ,neh4 vii4 #gj-viii41 ,ezra ix4-x4 #i1 ,neh4 xiii4 #a-c1 ,ezra x4 #aj-dd1 ,neh4 ix41 x4 ,despite their enormous difficulties1 ,ezra-,nehemiah are a source of the highest importance for the political and religious history of early ,judaism4 ,the human interest of the story is also great--the problems for religion created by intermarriage 7,neh4 xiii4 #bc;ff41 ,ezra ix41 x471 and the growth of the commercial spirit 7,neh4 xiii4 #ae-bb74 ,the figure of ,ezra1 though not without a certain devout energy1 is somewhat stiff and formal2 but the personality revealed by the memoirs of ,nehemiah is gracious almost to the point of romance4 ,seldom did the ,hebrew people produce so attractive and versatile a figure--at once a man of prayer and of action1 of clear swift purpose1 daring initiative1 and resistless energy1 and endowed with a singular power of inspiring others with his own enthusiasm4 ,he forms an admirable foil to ,ezra the ecclesiastic2 and it is a matter of supreme satisfaction that we have the epoch-making events in his career told in his own direct and vigorous words4 ,,chronicles ,the comparative indifference with which ,chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient ,jewish church4 ,though written by the same hand as wrote ,ezra-,nehemiah1 and forming1 together with these books1 a continuous history of ,judah1 it is placed after them in the ,hebrew ,bible1 of which it forms the concluding book2 and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they4 ,nor is this unnatural4 ,the book of ,kings had brought the history down to the exile of ,judah2 and the natural desire to see the history carried from its new starting point in the return and restoration through post-exilic times is met by the book of ,ezra-,nehemiah1 to which there was no rival1 whereas ,chronicles had a rival in the existing and popular books of ,samuel and ,kings4 ,the book1 whose name ,chronicles is borrowed by ,luther from ,jerome1 is very late4 ,ezra-,nehemiah with which ,chronicles goes must be1 as we have seen1#a as late as ,alexander the ,great2 but the lateness of ,chronicles can be proved without going beyond the book itself4 ,the ,hebrew text of #a ,chron4 iii4 #ai;ff4 carries the date six generations beyond ,zerubbabel 7#ebj ,b4,c471 that is1 at the earliest1 to #cej ,b4,c41 while the ,greek text postulates eleven generations1 which would compel us to come as late as #bej ,b4,c4 ,we shall not go far astray if we consider the date as roughly #cjj ,b4,c4 ,it is thus seven centuries later than the reign of ,david1 with whose ecclesiastical enterprises it deals so elaborately1 and about two and a-half centuries from the exile1 with which it closes4 ,the distance of the record from the events has to be borne in mind when estimating its religious spirit and historical value4 ,footnote3 ,see p4 #cee4 ,the book of ,chronicles is an ecclesiastical history in a sense very much more severe than the book of ,kings2 on every page it reflects the ritual interests which were predominant when the book was written4 ,to it the only history worth recording is the history of ,judah4 ,the first ten chapters are occupied with the preparation for that history1 and the rest of the book 7i ,chron4 xi4-#b ,chron4 xxxvi47 with the history itself from the coronation of ,david to the exile4 ,israel is the apostate kingdom2 she had revolted alike from ,judah and ,jehovah1 and had been swept for her sins into exile1 from which she never emerged again4 ,the ,chronicler makes a man of ,god say to ,amaziah1 ,jehovah is not with ,israel1 #b ,chron4 xxv4 #g1 and this exactly represents his own attitude4 ,he therefore all but absolutely ignores the history of the northern kingdom1 touching upon it only where it is in some special way implicated in the history of ,judah4 ,this practically exclusive attention of the ,chronicles to ,judah is based upon her unique religious or rather ecclesiastical importance4 ,in ,judah ,god made ,himself known as nowhere else 7cf4 ,ps4 lxxvi4 #a1 #b72 she was the religious metropolis of the world 7,ps4 lxxxvii472 ,jerusalem was the capital of ,judah1 and the temple was the centre of ,jerusalem4 ,therefore the temple and its affairs completely dwarf all other interests4 ,not only is the story in ,kings of its building and dedication by ,solomon repeated and expanded 7#b ,chron4 i4-ix471 but the story of ,david's reign 7#a ,chron4 xi4-xxix47 is almost entirely monopolized by an account of the arrangements which he made for the temple ordinances and the material which he collected for the building4 ,he is said to have given ,solomon a plan of the temple with all its furniture and sundry other details1 the pattern of which he is said to have himself received from the hand of ,god 7xxviii74 ,every opportunity is taken in the course of the history to dwell with an affectionate elaboration of detail on the temple services or festivals2 and the resultant contrast between the corresponding accounts of the same reign in ,kings and ,chronicles is often very singular--nowhere more so than in the story of ,hezekiah1 most of which is devoted to an account of the great passover held in connexion with the reformation 7#b ,chron4 xxix41 xxx474 ,the ,chronicler betrays1 if possible1 even more interest in the ,levites than in the priests4 ,it is a ,levite who is moved by the ,spirit to encourage ,jehoshaphat before the battle 7#b ,chron4 xx4 #ad71 and special attention is called to their enthusiasm at the reformation of ,hezekiah 7#b ,chron4 xxix4 #cd74 ,the ,chronicler also displays exceptional interest in the musical service--in his account1 e4g41 of the inauguration of the temple and of the passovers of ,hezekiah and ,josiah2 so that it has been not unreasonably conjectured that the author was himself a ,levite and member of one of the guilds of temple singers or musicians4 ,since1 then1 the interests of the ,chronicler are so undeniably ecclesiastical1 the question may be fairly raised how far his narrative is strictly historical4 ,it must be confessed1 e4g41 that the impression made by his account of ,david is distinctly unnatural and improbable1 in the light of the graphic biography in #a and #b ,samuel4 ,it is not a supplementary picture1 but an altogether different one4 ,the versatile minstrel-warrior of the earlier books is transformed into a saint1 whose supreme aim in life is the service of religion2 and this transformation is thoroughly characteristic of the ,chronicler4 ,he deals with his literary sources in the most sovereign fashion1 and adapts them to his theories of ,providence4 ,his omissions1 e4g41 are very significant4 ,he has nothing to say of ,david's adultery1 nor of ,solomon's idolatry1 nor of the intrigues by which he succeeded to the throne1 nor of the tribute of silver and gold which ,hezekiah paid ,sennaccherib 7#b ,kings xviii4 #ad-af74 ,it may be urged in extenuation of his silence that his public were already familiar with these stories in the books of ,samuel and ,kings2 but he repeats so many sections from these books word for word that his failure to repeat the sections which militate against his heroes can only be regarded as part of a deliberate policy4 ,especially must this be maintained in the light of his numerous modifications or contradictions of his sources4 ,david's sons1 he tells us1 were chief about the king 7#a ,chron1 xviii4 #ag72 he cannot allow that they were priests1 as #b ,sam4 viii4 #ah says they were4 ,nor can he allow that ,solomon offered his dedicatory prayer before the altar 7#a ,kings viii4 #bb7--that was the place for the priest--so he erects for him a special platform in the midst of the court1 from which he addresses the people 7#b ,chron4 vi4 #ac74 ,the motive of these changes is obviously respect for the priestly law4 ,sometimes the motive is to glorify his heroes or to magnify their enthusiasm or devotion4 ,where1 e4g4 in #b ,sam4 xxiv4 #bd ,david pays ,araunah fifty shekels of silver for the ground on which the temple was afterwards built1 in #a ,chron4 xxi4 #be he pays #fjj shekels of gold4 ,similarly1 in #a ,kings ix4 #aa ,solomon gives ,hiram certain cities in return for a loan2 in #b ,chron4 viii4 #b it is ,hiram who gives ,solomon the cities4 ,david accumulates #ajj1jjj talents of gold and #a1jjj1jjj of silver for the building of the temple 7#a ,chron4 xxii47--a fabulous and impossible sum when we remember that ,solomon himself had only #fff talents of gold yearly 7#a ,kings x4 #ad74 ,in #b ,sam4 xxi4 #ai ,elhanan is the hero who slays ,goliath2 the ,chronicler sees that this conflicts with the romantic story of ,david 7#a ,sam4 xvii47 and therefore makes ,elhanan slay the brother of ,goliath 7#a ,chron4 xx4 #e74 ,in #b ,kings xxii41 xxiii41 the reformation of ,josiah follows very naturally upon the finding of the law in the eighteenth year of the king1 but the ,chronicler represents the reformation as taking place in his twelfth year1 i4e4 as soon as he came of age 7#b ,chrori4 xxxiv4 #c74 ,he still1 however1 dates the finding of the law in his eighteenth year 7cf4 #h71 i4e4 six years after the reformation1 and thus throws the history into an impossible sequence1 apparently for no other object than to illustrate the youthful devotion of his hero-king4 ,he is not even always consistent with himself2 following ,kings 7#a ,kings xv4 #ad1 xxii4 #dc7 he says that ,asa and ,jehoshaphat did not remove the high places 7#b ,chron4 xv4 #ag1 xx4 #cc71 and yet he had just before told us that they did 7#b ,chron1 xiv4 #e1 xvii4 #f7 as1 on his theory1--being good kings1 they should4 ,the motive for the change is usually obvious4 ,in #b ,sam4 xxiv4 #a ,jehovah had tempted ,david to number the people4 ,this is intolerable to the more advanced theology of the ,chronicler1 so he ascribes the impulse to ,satan 7#a ,chron4 xxi4 #a74 ,a similar transformation may be seen in his notice of the doom of ,saul4 ,in #a ,sam4 xxviii4 #f it is implicitly said that ,saul earnestly sought to discover the divine will2 in #a ,chron4 x4 #ad this is roundly denied-he did not inquire of ,jehovah4 ,these and similar transformations1 amounting sometimes to contradictions of the original sources1 are due to a religious motive1 and they appear to be made in perfectly good faith4 ,the ,chronicler is a religious man who1 unlike ,job1 finds no perplexities in the moral world1 but everywhere a precise and mechanical correspondence between character and destiny4 ,not only is piety rewarded by prosperity1 but prosperity presupposes piety4 ,the most pious kings have the most soldiers4 ,david has over a million and a half1 ,jehoshaphat over a million1 while ,rehoboam has only #ahj1jjj4 ,manasseh's long reign of fifty-five years--a stumbling-block1 on the ,chronicler's theory--has to be explained by his repentance 7#b ,chron4 xxxiii4 #aa;ff474 ,religious explanations are everywhere assigned for facts4 ,josiah's defeat and death are the penalty of his disobedience to the word of ,god which came to him through the ,egyptian king 7#b ,chron4 xxxv4 #ba;ff74 ,so ,uzziah's leprosy is the divine punishment of his pride in presuming to offer incense despite the protests of the priests 7#b ,chron4 xxvi4 #af;ff471 ,the ,chronicler sees the hand of ,god in everything2 ,he is the immediate arbiter of all human destiny4 ,that is why rewards and punishments are so swift and just and sure4 ,the divine control of human affairs is most conspicuously seen in the ,chronicler's account of battles1 where the human warriors count for nothing4 ,god fights or causes a panic among the enemy2 the warriors do little more than shout and pursue 7#b ,chron4 xiii4 #ae1 xx474 ,the battle-scenes show how little imagination the ,chronicler possessed2 clearly he had never seen a battle1 and he has no conception of one 7cf4 ,num4 xxxi474 ,he thinks nothing of describing a conflict between #djj1jjj ,judeans and #hjj1jjj ,israelites1 in which half a million of the latter were slain 7#b ,chron4 xiii474 ,it is all so different from the stirring and life-like tales of the ,judges or the ,maccabees4 ,in the face of these historical improbabilities1 what are we to make of the ,chronicler's continual appeal to his sources8 ,these are ostensibly of two kinds3 7a7 historical1 7b7 prophetical4 7a7 ,he frequently refers to the book of the kings of ,israel and ,judah1 the book of the kings of ,judah and ,israel1 the book of the kings of ,israel1 and the history of the kings of ,israel4 ,no doubt one book is cited under these different titles4 ,the history of ,manasseh1 e4g41 is said to be recorded in the history of the kings of ,israel 7#b ,chron4 xxxiii4 #ah72 clearly this cannot be northern ,israel1 as ,manasseh was a king of ,judah4 ,what1 then1 was this book of the kings of ,israel and ,judah8 ,at first we are strongly tempted to regard it as our canonical book of ,kings4 ,that book was already over two centuries in existence and must have been familiar2 not only are whole sections copied from it by the ,chronicler verbatim1 but occasionally passages which he adopts presuppose other passages which he has omitted2 e4g4 he follows #b ,sam4 v4 #ac in asserting that ,david took more wives 7#a ,chron4 xiv4 #c71 though the word more has no meaning in his context2 in his source it points naturally enough back to #b ,sam4 iii4 #b-e4 ,there can be no doubt1 then1 that the canonical books of ,samuel and ,kings constituted one of his sources4 ,yet it is almost equally certain that that is not the book to which he continually refers his readers4 ,the book of ,jehu1 which recorded the history of ,jehoshaphat1 is said to be incorporated in the book of the ,kings of ,israel 7#b ,chron4 xx4 #cd72 it is not1 however1 in our canonical ,kings4 ,neither is the prayer of ,manasseh 7#b ,chron4 xxxiii4 #ah71 nor are the genealogies referred to in #a ,chron4 ix4 #a4 ,again1 for further information about ,jotham the reader is referred to the book of the kings of ,israel and ,judah 7#b ,chron4 xxvii4 #g71 when1 as a matter of fact1 the ,chronicler has more to tell about him than our book of ,kings 7#b ,kings xv4 #cb-ch74 ,clearly1 then1 the book so frequently cited is not the canonical book of ,kings4 ,what sort of production it was may be inferred from the reference in #b ,chron4 xxiv4 #bg to the midrash of the book of the ,kings4 ,doubtless the book in question was a midrash1 i4e4 an edifying commentary on the history1 of the sort preserved in the very late story of #a ,kings xiii4 ,the tendency towards midrash1 which so powerfully affected the later ,jewish mind1 appears as early as the stories of ,elisha4 7b7 ,prophetic sources are also frequently cited or alluded to1 e4g4 the books of ,samuel1 ,nathan1 ,gad 7#a ,chron4 xxix4 #bi71 the prophecy of ,ahijah1 the book of ,shemaiah1 the book of ,iddo 7#b ,chron1 xii4 #ae71 the vision of ,isaiah 7#b ,chron4 xxxii4 #cb71 etc4 ,probably1 however1 these were not independent prophetic works4 ,the reference to the midrash of the prophet ,iddo 7#b ,chron4 xiii4 #bb7 suggests that these works1 like the history of the kings1 were midrashic2 in all probability they were simply extracts from the midrashic book of ,kings already alluded to4 ,practically all the prophets to whom books are ascribed in ,chronicles are mentioned in the canonical books1 and probably they were regarded as the authors of the sections in which their names occur1 so that the books of ,samuel1 ,nathan and ,gad would be none other than the relevant portions of ,samuel and ,kings1 or of the midrash of these books4 ,thus the ,chronicler's imposing array of citations may be without injustice reduced to two books--the canonical book of ,kings 7or ,genesis to ,kings7 and the midrash to those books4 ,these facts have led many to deny all value whatever to the ,chronicler's unsupported statements4 ,but such a condemnation is too sweeping4 ,the genealogies in #a ,chron4 i4-ix41 though they no doubt received many later additions1 probably rest on good sources1 and there are other notices bearing1 e4g41 on the fortifications of ,rehoboam 7#b ,chron4 xi471 ,jotham 7#b ,chron4 xxvii471 etc41 on ,uzziah's enterprise in peace and war 7#b ,chron4 xxvi4 #e-ae71 on ,judah's border warfare 7#b ,chron4 xvii4 #aa1 xxi4 #af1 xxvi4 #g1 xxviii4 #ag;f71 etc41 which do not display the ,chronicler's characteristic tendencies and appear to be authentic4 ,on the whole1 however1 the historical value of ,chronicles must be rated low4 ,nor is its religious value high4 ,its attitude to the problems raised by the moral order is exceedingly mechanical1 and with one noble exception 7#b ,chron4 xxx4 #ah1 #ai71 its general conception of religion is ritualistic4 ,but it is a valuable monument of the ,judaism of the third century ,b4,c41 and we learn from it to appreciate the daring independence of such books as ,job and ,ecclesiastes4