indelicate, which, in the original, are altogether the reverse; employment as beneath the dignity of the highest characters. while others (as the learned Dr. Gill for instance) have so confounded the literal and allegorical senses as to give neither, distinctly or completely; at the same time, they have applied the figures to such a variety of objects, as to leave the reader still to seek the right, and, by their minute dissection of the allegory, they have not only destroyed its consistency and beauty, but have also exposed the poem to the unmerited ridicule of profane minds. Much, unquestionably, has been done, by later writers, towards elucidating the language and allusions of the Song of Songs by the aid of Oriental literature and manners: but, after all the labours of learned men, there will perhaps be found many expressions which are very difficult to us, both as to the literal meaning, and the spiritual instruction intended to be convey-gardens, pleasant streams, and perennial fountains. The other ed by them; and some descriptions must not be judged by modern notions of delicacy. But the grand outlines, soberly interpreted, in the obvious meaning of the allegory, so accord with the affections and experience of the sincere Christian, "that he will hardly ever read and meditate upon them, in a spirit of humble devotion, without feeling a conviction that no other poem of the same kind, extant in the world, could, without most manifest violence, be so explained as to describe the state of his heart at different times, and to excite admiring, adoring, grateful love to God our Saviour, as this does."2" With regard to the style, says Bishop Lowth, this poem is of the pastoral kind, since the two principal personages are represented in the character of shepherds. The circumstance is by no means incongruous to the manners of the Hebrews, whose principal occupation consisted in the care of cattle (Gen. xlvi. 32—34.);` nor did they consider this Least of all, could it be supposed to be inconsistent with the character of Solomon, whose father was raised from the sheepfold to the throne of Israel. The pastoral life is not only most delightful in itself, but from the particular circumstances and manners of the Hebrews, is possessed of a kind of dignity. In this poem it is adorned with all the choicest colouring of language, with all the elegance and variety of the most select imagery. "Every part of the Canticles," says the learned and eloquent Bossuet, "abounds in poetical beauties; the objects, which present themselves on every side, are the choicest plants, the most beautiful flowers, the most delicious fruits, the bloom and vigour of spring, the sweet verdure of the fields, flourishing and well-watered senses are represented as regaled with the most precious odours natural and artificial: with the sweet singing of birds, and the soft voice of the turtle; with milk and honey, and the choicest of wine. To these enchantments are added all that is beautiful and graceful in the human form, the endearments, the caresses, the delicacy of love; if any object be introduced which seems not to harmonize with this delightful scene, such as the awful prospect of tremendous precipices, the wildness of the mountains, or the haunts of lions, its effect is only to heighten by the contrast the beauty of the other objects, and to add the charms of variety to those of grace and elegance."3 The Chaldee paraphrase of this book is a long and tiresome application of it throughout to the circumstances of the history of the Jews. The Greek version of it is tolerably exact; and Bos, in the Frankfort edition of the Septuagint (1709), ascribes it to Symmachus. 1. The prophetical Books, why so called.-II. Different kinds of Prophets mentioned in the Scriptures.-III. Situation of the Prophets, and their Manner of Living.-IV. Mosaic Statutes concerning Prophets.-Evidences of a Divine Mission.V. Qualifications of the Prophets.-VI. Nature of the prophetic Inspiration.-VII Antiquity and Succession of the Prophets. -VIII. Collection of their Writings, and Mode of announcing their Predictions.—IX. Number and Order of the Prophetic Books. I. We now enter on the fourth or prophetical part of the Old Testament, according to the division which is generally adopted, but which forms the second division, according to the Jewish classification of the sacred volume. This portion of the Scriptures is termed PROPHETICAL, because it chiefly consists of predictions of future events; though many historical passages are interspersed through the writings of the prophets, as there are also many predictions of future events scattered through those books which are more strictly historical. But these books also contain very many passages which relate to other subjects, such as the nature and attributes of God; the religious and moral duties of man; reproofs of idolatry and other sins; exhortations to the practice of true religion and virtue; together with advices and warnings respecting the political state of the country, and the administration of affairs, which in the theocratical form of government were sent to the kings and princes of the Hebrews by the prophets as ambassadors of their supreme monarch, Jehovah. The authors of these books are, by way of eminence, termed Prophets, that is, divinely inspired persons, The chief error of all the translators of this book, Dr. Good observes with great truth, "results from their having given verbal renderings of the Hebrew terms and idioms, which ought merely to have been translated equivalently; a method, by which any language in the world, when interpreted into another, may not only occasionally convey a meaning altogether different from what the author intended, but convert a term or phrase of perfect purity and delicacy, in its original import, into one altogether indeliremark by some well-chosen examples, which want of room compels us cate and unchaste." Song of Songs, p. xxvi. Dr. Good illustrates this to omit; but the result of its application, we may be permitted to observe, was his very elegant and delicate version, in which, though he adheres solely to the literal sense, yet he decidedly expresses himself (p. xviii.) in favour of the mystical meaning of the poem. 2 Scott, Pref. to Sol. Songs. who were raised up among the Israelites to be the ministers of God's dispensations. Jehovah, at sundry times and in divers manners, spake unto the fathers by the prophets for prophecy came not of old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (Heb. i. 1. 2 Pet. i. 21.) II. To these messengers of heaven frequent reference is made in various parts of the Sacred Writings. The term PROPHET, indeed, is of general signification. It was applied by the heathens to all persons who were supposed to be conversant with divine things; and, in conformity to this notion, St. Paul, in his Epistle to Titus (i. 12.), when citing a passage from a profane poet, calls him a prophet, because the heathens supposed their poets to be inspired. In the historical books of the Old Testament we meet with frequent notice of the school of the prophets, that is, of seminaries, where religious truths, or the divine laws, were particularly taught:4 for the pupils in these schools were not, strictly speaking, all of them prophets; though God bestowed upon some of them the spirit of prophecy, or of predicting future events. (2 Kings ii. 3.) Further, in the Old Testament, the prophets are spoken of, as "holy men of God," as "seers," and as "prophets," in the most exalted sense of the term. The first denomination seems to have been sometimes applied to men of exemplary piety, who assiduously studied the divine law, as communicated by their legislator Moses; who firmly be the Israelites according to the tenor of their conduct; who lieved in the predictions of good and evil that should attend * Bossuet, Præf. in Canticum Canticorum, Oeuvres, tom. i. p. 467. 4to. edit. See an account of these schools in Part IV. Chap. VII. Sect. III. § 1. of this volume. But, however they might be respected by pious monarchs, the prophets were frequently exposed to cruel treatment from wicked princes, whose impiety they reprehended, and to insults and jeers from the people, whose immoral practices they censured and condemned; and many of them were even put to violent deaths. (Heb. xi. 35-38.) Yet, amid all these persecutions and this injurious treatment, they despised dangers, torments, and death, and with wonderful intrepidity attacked whatever was contrary to the law and worship of Jehovah, contemning secular honours, riches, and favours with astonishing disinterestedness.3 were observant of the character of the times in which they lived; and who might be able to discern the natural and inevitable consequences of particular actions, without the necessity of immediate inspiration. These men of God, however, received peculiar communications upon certain emergencies. They were divinely appointed to execute some important commissions, and to predict events which were not in the ordinary course of things, but far beyond the reach of human penetration. It was this which sometimes gave them the title of seers. The higher class of prophets were those who foretold important events that were to take place at distant periods; which no human sagacity could foresee, IV. "Prophecy being necessary in the early ages for the and which were most opposite to the natural conceptions or preservation of the knowledge of God, in the Hebrew comgeneral expectations of mankind: as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Eze-monwealth prophets were not merely tolerated, as some have Kiel, and the minor prophets.' supposed, but they were also promised, lest the Hebrews should have recourse to soothsayers who were idolaters, and would seduce them into idolatry. (Deut. xviii. 9-22.) But, that advantage might not be taken of this institution by false prophets, Moses decreed, that impostors should suffer capital punishment; and furnished the judges with two distinguishing marks, by which a false prophet might be known." III. The prophets, according to Augustine,2 were the philosophers, divines, instructors, and guides of the Hebrews in piety and virtue. These holy men were the bulwarks of religion against the impiety of princes, the wickedness of individuals, and every kind of immorality. Their lives, persons, and discourses were alike instructive and prophetical. Raised up by God to be witnesses of his presence, and living monuments of his will, the events that frequently happened to them were predictions of what was about to befall the Hebrew nation. Although the prophets possessed great authority in Israel, and were highly esteemed by pious sovereigns, who undertook no important affairs without consulting them, yet their way of life was exceedingly laborious, and they were very poor, and greatly exposed to persecution and ill treatment. They generally lived retired in some country place, and in colleges or communities, where they and their disciples were employed in prayer, in manual labour, and in study. Their labour, however, was not such as required intense application, or was inconsistent with that freedom from secular cares which their office required. Thus, Elisha quitted his plough, when Elijah called him to the prophetic office (1 Kings xix. 19, 20.); and Amos (vii. 14.) tells us that he was no prophet, neither a prophet's son, but a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. The pupils or sons of the prophets, who lived under the direction of Elijah and Elisha, erected their own dwellings, for which they cut down the timber that was requisite. (2 Kings vi. 1—4.) "1. The prophet, who should endeavour to introduce the worship of other gods beside Jehovah, was to be considered as an impostor; and, as a rebel against their king, to be capitally punished. (Deut. xiii. 2—6.) 2. Whoever should predict any thing which was not accomplished by the event, although he should do it in the name of Jehovah, was to be condemned to death, as an impostor who had presumed to counterfeit the seal of their king. (Deut. xviii. 20-22.) Hence it is plain that the prophets were not sagacious men, whose perspicacity enabled them to foresee future events; for an error committed by such, and unaccompanied by guilt, would never have received from Moses so severe a punishment." In consequence of these laws, "a prophet ran a great risk in undertaking a divine mission, unless he knew, by infallible proofs, that he had really received the commands of the Deity, and was not deluded by his own imagination. Of the nature of these proofs we are not informed, although some circumstances are recorded, which show that the prophets were certainly possessed of them. For instance, it is mentioned (1 Sam. iiì. 7.), that, at first, Samuel did not The apparel of the prophets was in unison with the sim- know the voice of God; and Jeremiah (xxxii. 6—9.) conplicity of their private life. Elijah was clothed with skins, fesses, that it was the correspondence of the event, which and wore a leather girdle round his loins. (2 Kings i. 8.) assured him that the direction to buy the field of his relative Isaiah wore sackcloth (xx. 2.), which was the ordinary habit had come to him from God. (Compare also Jer. xxviii. 9.) of the prophets. Zechariah, speaking of the false prophets The proofs, by which Moses was satisfied respecting his who imitated externally the true prophets of the Lord, says divine commission, are recorded at length in Exod. iii. 1.— that they should not wear a rough garment (Heb. a garment iv. 17. That the prophets had other means of distinguishing of hair) to deceive. (Zech. xiii. 4.) Their poverty was con- divine revelations from their own thoughts, appears from spicuous in their whole life. The presents they received 1 Sam. xvi. 6, 7. 2 Sam. vii. 1-17. 1 Chron. xvii. 1—16. were only bread, fruits, and honey; and the first-fruits of the Isa. xxxviii. 1-8. 2 Kings xx. 1—11. Occasionally, the earth were given them, as being persons who possessed impression made by the revelation was so strong, that it was nothing themselves. (2 Kings iv. 42.) The woman of Shu- impossible to doubt of its origin; so that they confess themnem, who entertained Elisha, put into the prophet's chamber selves unable to refrain from speaking, as in Jer. xx. 7-10. only what was plain and absolutely necessary. (2 Kings iv. The means, indeed, by which they distinguished their own 10.) The same prophet refused the costly presents of Naaman thoughts from divine revelations, they could not express (2 Kings v. 16.), and pronounced a severe sentence upon his in words; just as it is impossible to explain to one unacservant Gehazi, who had clandestinely obtained a part of them, quainted with the subject, how we know the painter of a (20-27.) Their frugality appears throughout their history; picture, or the author of a composition, solely by his style. -for instance, the wild gourds, which one of the prophets To the hearers and first readers of the prophets their divine ordered to be prepared for his disciples. (2 Kings iv. 38-41.) mission was proved either by miracles predicted, and accordThe angel gave Elijah only bread and water for a long jour-ingly performed; or, if such were not granted, by the event ney (1 Kings xix. 6—8.); and Obadiah, the pious governor corresponding with the prophecies: for the prophecies were of Ahab's household, gave the same food to the prophets of a twofold description, some relating to proximate, others whose lives he saved in a cave. (1 Kings xviii. 4. 13.) to remote events. Those of the former kind, which were Their recluse, abstemious mode of living, and mean apparel, clear, and contained various circumstances of the predicted sometimes exposed them to contempt among the gay and events, which must necessarily be beyond the reach of courtly: it was probably, the singular dress and appearance human foresight, afforded by their completion a proof to the of Elisha which occasioned the impious scoffs of the young contemporaries of the prophet that he was a messenger of men of Bethel. (2 Kings ii. 23.) But, in general, the pro- God, and that his predictions concerning remote events, phets were regarded with high esteem and veneration by the coming from the same source with those which they had wise and good, and even by persons of the first rank in the seen fulfilled, were worthy of equal credit. The accomstate. (1 Kings xviii. 7.) It does not appear that the prophets plishment of these would afford to posterity the proof of his were bound by any vow of celibacy; for Samuel had chil- divine mission. This consequence was so evident, that not dren, and the Scriptures mention the wives of Isaiah (viii. 3.) a few even of the heathens, among whom Cyrus may be and Hosea. (i. 2.) But the prophets maintained a very mentioned as a most remarkable instance, were convinced guarded intercourse with the female sex, as is evident in the by it, and acknowledged that the author of these prophecies Conduct of Elisha towards his benevolent hostess. (2 Kings iv. 27.) 3 Calmet, Preface Générale sur les Prophètes, Art. 3. sur la Manière de Vie des Prophètes, &c. Dissert. tom. ii. pp. 308-311. Compare 1 Sam. iii. 19-21., where the general knowledge of the fact, that Samuel was a divinely commissioned prophet, is stated as a conse. quence of God's letting none of his words fall to the ground; that is, of the regular fulfilment of his predictions. must be the one true God. It was necessary, therefore, that the prophets should secure the credence of their contemporaries in that portion of their prophecies which related to remote events by some predictions respecting events of speedy occurrence. This accounts for the fact, that the prophets sometimes predicted proximate events of little moment with as much care as others of far more importance.2 Compare 2 Sam. xii. 14. xxiv. 11-14. 1 Kings xí. 31–39. xiii. 1-5. xiv. 6. 12. Isa. vii. 4-16.3 xxxviii. 4-8. Jer. xxviii. 16, 17. xxxvii. 1. xxxviii. 28."4 V. In considering the circumstances relative to the Hebrew prophets, the QUALIFICATIONS which were requisite for the prophetic office claim distinctly to be considered: they were two in number, viz. 1. The first and leading qualification was, A HOLY CHARAC TER. "As this is the uniform sentiment of Jewish writers, so it is confirmed by the history and lives of the ancient prophets, and by the express testimony of St. Peter, that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Pet. i. 21.) Though we meet with some instances of wicked men, to whom God, on special occasions, imparted his secret counsels, such as the covetous Balaam, and the idolatrous kings, Pharaoh, Abimelech, and Nebuchadnezzar; yet we may presume, that none but good men were statedly honoured with these divine communications; and especially that none but such were employed as penmen of the Sacred Writings. The declaration, therefore, of Peter, will, doubtless, apply to all the prophetic writers of the Old Testament. They were all men of real and exemplary holiness. The importance of personal piety and virtue in the extraordinary ministers of Jehovah will account for his withdrawing the spirit of prophecy from the Hebrew nation in the fatter stages of their polity, that is, from Malachi to Christ; because during this period their religious and moral state was universally corrupt.' of Elisha; who being requested by the three kings of Judah, Israel, and Edom, to inquire of God for them in their dis tress for water during a military expedition, was transported with pious indignation against the wicked king of Israel: but being willing to oblige the good king of Judah, called for a minstrel or musician, for the apparent purpose of calming his passion, and thus preparing him for the spirit of inspiration. Accordingly, while the minstrel played, we are told, the hand of the Lord came upon him. This intimates one important reason why the prophets and their pupils cul tivated sacred music; and also why those who composed and sung divine hymns are sometimes styled prophets; viz. because in many cases this heavenly art was not only assisted by, but wonderfully fitted persons for, celestial communications."6 3. Though prophecy was a perfectly gratuitous gift of God, and independent on human industry, yet it did not exclude APPLICATION AND STUDY, for the purpose of ascertaining the meaning of a particular prophecy. Thus, Daniel prayed and fasted in order that he might know the mystery of the seventy weeks which had been predicted by Jeremiah. (Dan. ix. 2.) Zechariah applied himself seriously to the study of prophecy (2 Chron. xxvi. 5.); and St. Peter states, that this was the employment of the ancient prophets. (1 Pet. i. 10, 11.) VI. Great diversity of opinion has prevailed respecting the nature, extent, permanency, and different degrees of inspiration which the prophets possessed. Not to enter into a useless discussion of conflicting sentiments, we may remark, that the communication between God and man is by prayer, by the word of God, and by his works: in old times it was also by the prophets, and before them by the angel of the Lord, and the proper symbols of the divine presence. Mankind, at first, consulted God by prayers and sacrifices at his altars. After the promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai, and the establishment of the priesthood, we find three modes of communicating the divine will mentioned in the Old Testament-1. The Shechinah:-2. The Urim and Thummim; and,-3. Revelation by Dreams, Visions, by Inspiration, or by immediate Conversation with the Deity. When these kinds of prophecy ceased under the second temple, according to the Talmudists, they were succeeded, 4. By the Bath Kol, or voice from heaven. 2. The mind of the prophet must be in a SERENE AND COMPOSED FRAME, in order to receive the spirit of inspiration. "The Jewish doctors tell us, that a mind loaded with fresh guilt, oppressed with sorrow, or disturbed with passion, could not duly receive and exercise this heavenly gift. Accordingly, when David, in his penitential psalm, after the affair of Uriah, prays that the holy spirit might be restored to him, that God would give him joy and gladness and a free 1. The SHECHINAH was the sitting or dwelling of God spirit; the Hebrew commentators understand by these ex-between the cherubim on the mercy-seat, or cover of the ark pressions, that prophetic spirit, which his guilt and distress (Psal. lxxx. 1. and xcix. 1.); whence he delivered his anof mind had banished, and that peaceful and cheerful frame, swers in an articulate voice. (Exod. xxv. 22. xxix. 42. which would invite its return. To prove that passion unfit- Num. vii. 89.) ted the mind for the prophetic impulse, they plead the story The prophets themselves occasionally refer to this evidence of their divine mission, and draw plainly the distinction between the proximate cies, and those more remote which it was their principal object to foretell events, by predicting which they obtain credence for their other propheCompare Isa. xli. 22. xlii. 9. xliv. 7, 8. Jer. xxviii. 9.-For an enumeration of prophecies of proximate events, and their accomplishment, see Allix's Reflections upon the Books of the Old Testament, ch. 3. in Bishop Wat Bon's Tracts, vol. i. pp. 358-361. The subject of the evidence of the divine mission of the prophets is copiously discussed by Witsius in his Miscellanea Sacra, lib. i. c. 15. de notis veræ prophetiæ et veri prophetiæ, pp. 132-159. • See an illustration of this prediction of a proximate event and its fulfil. ment, supra, Vol. I. p. 121. Professor Turner's and Mr. Whittingham's translation of Jahn's Introduction, pp. 313. 315. The transient vouchsafement of this spirit to bad men, while it an swered some special purpose of divine wisdom, admirably displayed the Sovereignty of God in using the most unlikely and wicked instruments to serve his own design, in constraining even his enemies to utter those truths and predictions, which promoted his honour and interest, and sealed their own condemnation and ruin. It magnified his unsearchable wisdom, holiness, and power in compelling the most unhallowed lips to pronounce his pure messages without the least adulteration, yea, with astonishing energy and sublinity. It enforced in the most striking manner the essen. ing grace; between the occasional effusions of a prophetic spirit, and tial distinction between splendid and even miraculous gifts, and sanctify the genuine workings of human depravity. These lessons are forcibly taught by the history of Balaam. This noted magician had been allured by Balak, king of Moab, to come to him, with a view to curse Israel, who then lay encamped on his borders. The heathen nations believed that their enemies their tutelar deities, engage the celestial powers against prophets or diviners could, by religious charms or ceremonies, decoy from capture of Troy as depending on the removal from that city of the sacred image of Minerva. The pagans, previously to a military engagement, usu ally employed a priest to pronounce, at the head of the ariny, a solemn imprecation against the adverse power. But though Balaam was invited and fully inclined to perform this office against Israel, infinite goodness, power, and wisdom turned the curse into a blessing, by forcing this malig nant enemy of his people to announce, in the most lofty strains, their present and future glory, the triumphs of their divine Leader and future Mes siah, and the signal destruction of his and their adversaries. We see, in this and similar instances, the singular beauty of the divine conduct; which, by thus inspiring and controlling the minds of sinful men, turned their counsels into foolishness, and made their wrath and wickedness sub. servient to his praise. them, and thus ensure their destruction. Thus Homer represents the 2. The URIM AND THUMMIM, which was on the highpriest's breastplate (Exod. xxviii. 30.), was another standing oracle, to be consulted on all great occasions (Num. and the answers were returned by a visible signification of xxvii. 21. 1 Sam. xxviii. 6. xxiii. 9. xxx. 7. Ezra ii. 63.); the divine will. This oracle was not only venerable among the Jews, but was also celebrated among the Greeks, as Josephus informs us,7 for its infallible answers. 3. Another mode of revealing the divine will was by Dreams and Visions, by Inspiration, or a Conversation with THE DEITY. (1.) DREAMS, or (to adopt the elegant expressions of the Temanite) Thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on man (Job iv. 16.), are frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as channels by which the divine will was communicated to mankind. Abimelech was reproved and admonished in a dream concerning Sarah (Gen. xx. 3.); and, to Abraham, by a prophetic dream, were announced the bondage of his posterity in Egypt, and their deliverance, he should be gathered to his fathers. (Gen. xv. 12-16.) accompanied with the promise of long life to himself before The dreams of Joseph, and of Pharaoh and his servants, were divine (Gen. xxxvii. 5. xl. 5. xli. 1.); as also was that of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the fate of many kingdoms sition, and carried the evidence of their divine original by (Dan. ii. 1.) All these were worthy of the divine interpothe revelations they made, and the strong impressions they left upon the mind.8 (2.) VISIONS were revelations made in a trance or ecstacy, during which ideas and symbolic representations were presented to the imagination of the prophet, when awake, or Tappan's Lectures on Jewish Antiquities, pp. 191-193. Sharpe's Second Argument in Defence of Christianity from Prophecy, the future was exhibited as it were in distant prospect. | troubled and fainted; but Moses was not so. To him the Thus, Isaiah beheld the LORD sitting upon a lofty throne, his LORD spake, face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend train filling the temple, above which stood seraphim, who (Exod. xxxiii. 11.), that is, freely and familiarly, without alternately proclaimed his praises. (Isa. vi. 2, 3.) While fear and trembling.-4. Not one of the other prophets could Ezekiel was among the captives by the river Chebar, the utter predictions at their pleasure; but Moses, on whom the heavens were opened, and he beheld the visions of God, spirit of prophecy rested at all times, was free to prophesy, which he has described. (ch. i.) To this class of divine and might have recourse at any time to the sacred oracle in manifestations is supposed to belong the revelation made to the tabernacle, which spake from between the cherubim. Jeremiah, concerning the girdle which he was commanded "In all the cases here described, the prophets could not, to conceal near the river Euphrates, and to resume it after it without doubting the clearest and most palpable evidence, had become decayed. (Jer. xiii. 1-9.) Indeed, it is not distrust the truth of the revelations which they received; credible, that the prophet should have been sent twice upon and, with respect to us, we have ample reason, from a cola journey of such considerable length and difficulty (for the lective consideration of their writings, to be convinced that Euphrates is computed to have been eighteen or twenty days their inspiration was accompanied with sufficient characters distant from Jerusalem), to a very great loss of his time, to distinguish it from the dreams of enthusiasm, or the viwhen every purpose would have been answered altogether sions of fancy." Though their bodily strength was someas well, if the transaction had been represented in vision. times overpowered by the magnitude of their revelations, and The same supposition of a vision must be admitted in other their eyes were dazzled with the splendour of the visionary cases also, particularly in Jer. xxv. 15-29.; for it would be light, as in the instances of Daniel (x. 5—9.) and the apostle absurd to believe that Jeremiah actually went round with a John (Rev. i. 17.), yet they retained full possession of their cup in his hand to all the kings and nations enumerated in understanding, and the free exercise of their reason. The that chapter, and made them drink of its contents. Micaiah, prophetical spirit, seating itself in the rational powers, as in vision, beheld the LORD sitting upon his throne, surround- well as in the imagination, never alienated the mind, but in ed by the celestial host, and all Israel scattered upon the formed and enlightened it; and those who were actuated by hills. (1 Kings xxii. 17-19.) Other instances of revela- it always maintained a clearness and consistency of reason, tions by visions may be seen in Num. xxiv. 15. Ezek. iii. with strength and solidity of judgment. For God did not 1. iv. 5. 12. 15. viii. 1. et seq. Dan. vii. Acts x. 9, 10. 2 employ idiots or fools for the purpose of revealing his will, Cor. xii. 1-3. Many of the scenes represented in the Apo- but those whose intellects were entire and perfect, and he calypse were in vision. In Job iv. 13-16. there is a de- imprinted so clear a copy of his truth upon them, that it bescription of a vision by Eliphaz the Temanite, which, for came their own sense, being digested fully into their undersublimity, is unrivalled by any production of ancient or of standings, so that they were able to represent it to others as modern poetry. "Midnight, solitude, the deep sleep. of all truly as any person can express his own thoughts. And around, the dreadful chill and erection of the hair over the if at any time they did not clearly understand the prophetic whole body, the shivering not of the muscles only, but of revelation communicated to them, they asked for an expla the bones themselves, the gliding approach of the spec- nation: such was the conduct of Daniel (Dan. ix. 18-23. tre, the abruptness of his pause, his undefined and inde- x. 1. et seq.), and of Zechariah. (i. 9. iv. 4. vi. 4, 5.) scribable form, are all powerful and original characters, When the various kinds of prophecy above enumerated which have never been given with equal effect by any other ceased under the second temple, they were succeeded, acwriter."2 cording to the Talmudist, by (3.) INSPIRATION was a third mode by which the divine designs were manifested to the prophets; by which term we are to understand "a suggestion of ideas to the understanding, without such representations to the fancy as the former methods imply. Maimonides, one of the most rational and learned of the Jewish doctors, explains this inspiration to be a divine impulse, enabling and urging the subject of it to utter psalms and hymns, or useful moral precepts, or matters civil, sacred, and divine; and that, while he is awake, and has the ordinary use and vigour of his senses. Such was the inspiration of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who on a very interesting occasion are said to have been filled with the Holy Ghost,' and to have uttered the most sublime acknowledgments or predictions. (Luke i. 41, 42. 67-79.) Such, too, was the inspiration of the ancient prophets in general, who 'spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' This sacred impulse was of a calm and gentle nature, and thus was clearly distinguished from the fanatical inspiration of heathen diviners. But the prophets of the true God were only moved,' that is, calmly influenced by his inspiring spirit. This influence, far from suspending, added vigour and elevation to their own reason and prudence."4 (4.) But the most eminent of all the modes of communicating the divine will to man was, a direct CONVERSATION WITH GOD. It is especially recorded of Moses, that there arose no prophet subsequently, like unto him, whom the Lord knew face to face. (Deut. xxxiv. 10.) This has been termed the Mosaical Inspiration it was the highest degree, and was characterized by the following circumstances, which distinguished it from the revelations made to the rest of the prophets-1. Moses was made partaker of these divine revelations, while he was awake (Num. xii. 6-8.), whereas God manifested himself to all the other prophets in a dream or vision.-2. Moses prophesied without the mediation of any angelic power, by an influence derived immediately from God, while in all other prophecies some angel appeared to the prophet.-3. All the other prophets were afraid, and 1 Witsii Miscellanea Sacra, lib. i. c. 3. § ix. pp. 19, 20. Dr. Blayney, on Jer. xiii. 4. 2 Dr. Good's Translation of Job, p. 51. a Virgil in his sixth Eneid represents the sibyl, when the prophetic spirit seized her, as perfectly frantic, as struggling in vain to shake off the deity that inspired her, and as irresistibly forced to utter his dictates. (En. vi. 47. et seq. 77. et seq.) Lucan describes the Pythian prophetess in the same manner (Lib. v. v. 142-218.) Tappan's Lectures on Jewish Antiquities, p. 199. 4. The BATH KOL, voice from heaven, or the aerial regions, daughter-voice, or daughter of a voice; because, on the cessation of the divine oracle, this came in its place as its daugh ter or successor. Some expositors have imagined, that this voice is alluded to in John xii. 28., but there appears to be no foundation for such a conjecture. Dr. Prideaux, however, has shown, that the Bath Kol was no such celestial voice as the Talmudists pretend, but only a fantastical way of divination of their own invention, like the Sortes Virgiliana among the heathens: for as, with them, the words of the poet, upon which they first dipped, were the oracle whereby they prognosticated those future events, concerning which they were desirous of information; so, among the Jews, when they appealed to Bath Kol, the next words which they heard from any one were regarded as the desired divine oracle.8 Some of the adversaries of the Bible have represented the Hebrew prophets as public incendiaries, who perpetually denounced, and frequently brought, calamities upon their country, merely on account of religious opinions. For such charge there is no other ground but this, víz. that the prophets constantly testified against idolatry, equally among rulers and people. It will be recollected, that idolatry in the Hebrew nation was high-treason against their own constitution, and Jehovah their king. Idolatry directly forfeited their territory and privileges: it was an inlet to every abomination; it defeated the great end for which that people was selected; and in their fundamental laws the most destructive calamities were denounced against it. Consequently, the prophets, in boldly arresting this evil, even at the hazard of their own lives, showed themselves to be, not the malignant disturbers, but the truest and most disinterested friends of their country: especially as by this conduct they executed the benevolent commission with which Jehovah had intrusted them;—a commission intended not to destroy, but, if possible, to save Smith's Select Discourses on Prophecy, ch. xi. Witsii Miscell. Sacr. lib. i. c. 7. Bp. Gray's Key, p. 325. Sinith's Select Discourses, pp. 190. et seq. 8 Prideaux's Connection, part ii. book 5. sub anno 107. vol. ii. pp. 328, 329. The Christians, after Christianity began to be corrupted, learnt from the heathen the same mode of divination, and used the Bible in the satne manner as the heathen had employed the poems of Virgil. In pp. 329, 330. Dr. Prideaux has given some remarkable instances of this absurd mode of penetrating into futurity. See also Smith's Select Discourses: on Prophecy, ch. 10. that people, by checking those crimes which were pregnant with ruin. VII. ANTIQUITY AND SUCCESSION OF THE PROphets. Prophecy is one of the most striking proofs of the true religion; and as religion has existed in every age, prophecy equally subsisted from the commencement of the world. The Jews' reckon forty-eight prophets, and seven prophetesses; Clement of Alexandria enumerates thirty-five prophets who flourished subsequently to Moses; and Epiphanius, sixty-three prophets and twelve prophetesses. Witsius, and some other modern critics, divide the series of prophets into three periods, during which God at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers of the Jewish nation (Heb. i. 1.); viz. 1. Prophets who flourished before the giving of the Law of Moses;-2. Prophets who flourished under the Law;-and, 3. Prophets who flourished under the period comprised in the New Testament. I. Prophets who flourished before the giving of the Law of II. Prophets who flourished under the Law, of whom there are nature, are inserted in the historical books, together with their fulfilment. Such appears to have been the case with Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, and others; but those who were gifted with the spirit of prophecy in its most exalted sense, and were commissioned to utter predictions, the accomplishment of which was as yet far distant, were directed to write them, or cause them to be written, in a book. (Compare Isa. viii. 1. xxx. 8. Jer. xxx. 2. xxxvi. 2. 28. Ezek. xliii. 11. Hab. ii. 2, &c.) The predictions, thus committed to writing, were carefully preserved, under a conviction that they contained important truths, thereafter to be more fully revealed, which were to receive their accomplishment at the appointed periods. It was also the office of the prophets to commit to writing the history of the Jews; and it is on this account that, in the Jewish classification of the books of the Old Testament, we find several historical writings arranged among the prophets. Throughout their prophetic and historical books, the utmost plainness and sincerity prevail. They record the idolatries of the nation, and foretell the judgments of God which were to befall the Jews in consequence of their forsaking his worship and service; and they have transmitted a relation of the crimes and misconduct of their best princes. David, Solomon, and others,-who were types of the Messiah, and who expected that he would descend from their race, regarding the glories of their several reigns as presages of His,-are described not only without flattery, but also without any reserve or extenuation. They write like men who had no regard to any thing but truth and the glory of God. 1. Prophets in the Desert :-Moses, Aaron, the prophetess Miriam, the seventy elders. (Num. xi. 16, 17. 24— 30.) 2. Prophets in the land of Canaan :-Joshua; an anonymous prophet (Judg. vi. 8—10.), another anonymous prophet who denounced the divine judgments to Eli (1 The manner in which the prophets announced their preSam. ii. 27-36.); the prophetesses Deborah and Han- dictions varied according to circumstances. Sometimes they nah; Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, uttered them aloud in a public place; and it is in allusion to David, Solomon, Ahijah the Shilonite (1 Kings xi. 29. this practice that Isaiah is commanded to "cry aloud, spare xiv.), Shemaiah (2 Chron. xi. 2. xii. 5. 16.), Iddo (2 not, lift up his voice like a trumpet, and show the people of Chron. xii. 15. xiii. 22.), the man of God who went God their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins." from Judah and prophesied against the altar erected by (Isa. lviii. 1.) Sometimes their predictions were affixed to Jeroboam at Bethel, and the old prophet who dwelt at the gates of the temple, where they might be generally read Bethel (2 Kings xiii. 19.), Azariah the son of Oded (2| (Jer. vii. 2.); but, upon important occasions, when it was Chron. xv. 1.), Oded (2 Chron. xv. 8.), who, perhaps, necessary to rouse the fears of a disobedient people, and to is the same with Iddo above mentioned, Hananiah the recall them to repentance, the prophets, as objects of universeer (2 Chron. xvi. 7.), Jehu the son of Hananiah (2 sal attention, appear to have walked about publicly in sackKings xvi. 1. 2 Chron. xix. 1.), Elijah, Micaiah the son cloth, and with every external mark of humiliation and of Imlah (2 Kings xxii. 25.), an anonymous prophet sorrow. They then adopted extraordinary modes of expresswho rebuked Ahab for suffering Benhadad king of Sy-ing their convictions of impending wrath, and endeavoured ria to escape (1 Kings xx. 35—13.), Jahaziel the son of to awaken the apprehensions of their countrymen, by the Zachariah (2 Chron. xx. 14.), Eliezer the son of Doda- most striking illustrations of threatened punishment. Thus vah (2 Chron. xx. 37.), Elisha, Zachariah the son of Je- Jeremiah made bonds and yokes, and put them on his neck hoiada (2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21.), an anonymous prophet (Jer. xxvii.), strongly to intimate the subjection that God who dissuaded Amaziah the son of Joash from under- would bring on the nations whom Nebuchadnezzar should taking an expedition against the Edomites, with an auxi- subdue. Isaiah likewise walked naked, that is, without the liary army of Israelites (2 Chron. xxv. 7.), Obed (2 rough garment of the prophet, and barefoot (Isa. xx.), as a Chron. xxviii. 9.), Urijah the son of Shemaiah, of Kir- sign of the distress that awaited the Egyptians. So, Jerejath-Jearim (Jer. xxvi. 20.), Jonah, Hosea, Amos, Joel, miah broke the potter's vessel (xix.); and Ezekiel publicly Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Zepha- removed his household goods from the city, more forcibly to niah, Jeremiah, and the prophetess Huldah. (2 Kings represent, by these actions, some correspondent calamities xxii. 14.) ready to fall on nations obnoxious to God's wrath; this mode of expressing important circumstances by action being customary and familiar among all eastern nations." 3. Prophets during the Babylonish Captivity:-Ezekiel and Daniel. 4. Prophets after the return of the Jews from the Captivity: -Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who was the last of the prophets as it respects the prophetic office, but not as respects the gift of prophecy, if we may credit what Josephus relates of the high-priest Jaddus or Jaddua, and the relation of the author of the second book of Maccabees concerning Judas Maccabæus. (2 Macc. xv. 12.) III. Prophets who flourished under the Period comprised in the New Testament:-Zacharias, Simeon, and John the Baptist, until Christ; and after his ascension, Agabus (Acts xi. 28. xxi. 11.), the apostles Paul, and John the author of the Apocalypse, besides other prophets who are mentioned in 1 Cor. xii. 28. xiv. 29–32. Eph. ii. 20. iii. 5. and iv. 11., of whom it is not necessary to treat in this part of the present volume, which is appropriated to the consideration of the writings of those prophets who flourished under the Old Testament dispensation, which have been transmitted to us.4 : VIII. The early prophets committed nothing to writing their predictions being only, or chiefly, of a temporary Sometimes the prophets were commanded to seal and shut up their prophecies, that the originals might be preserved until they were accomplished, and then compared with the event. (Isa. viii. 16. Jer. xxxii. 14. Dan. viii. 26. and xii. 4.) For, when the prophecies were not to be fulfilled till after many years, and in some cases not till after several ages, it was requisite that the original writings should be kept with the utmost care; but when the time was so near at hand, that the prophecies must be fresh in every person's recollection, or that the originals could not be suspected or supposed to be lost, the same care was not required. (Rev. xxii. 10.) It seems to have been customary for the prophets to deposit their writings in the tabernacle, or lay them up before the Lord. (1 Sam. x. 25.) And there is a tradition, that all the canonical books, as well as the law, were put into the side of the ark. 1 Chron. xxix. 29. 2 Chron. xii. 15. xiii. 22. xx. 34. xxvi. 22. xxxii. 32. In addition to the information thus communicated in the sacred volume, we are informed by Josephus, that, from the death of Moses until the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, the prophets who were after Moses committed to writing the transactions of their own times. Josephus cont. Apion. lib. i. c. 8. Ezek. xii. 7. compared with 2 Kings xxv. 4. 5., where the accomplishment of this typical prophecy is related. Vide also Ezek. xxxvii. 16—20. 1 Bp. Gray's Key, pp. 333-335. Josephus confirms the statement of the sacred historian. Ant. Jud. lib. iv. c. 4. § 6. Epiphanius, de Ponderibus et Mensuris, c. 4. Damascenus de Fide Orthodoxa, lib. iv. c. 17. |