Isa. xliv. 28. "There is a remarkable beauty and propriety in this verse. 1. Cyrus is called God's Shepherd.-Shepherd was an epithet which Cyrus took to himself, and which he gave to all good kings. 2. This Cyrus should say to the temple-Thy foundation shall be laid; not, Thou shalt be built. The fact is, only the foundation was laid in the days of Cyrus, the Ammonites having prevented the building; nor was it resumed

Compare Matt. xi. 5. xv. 30. xxi. Î4. John v. 8, 9. Acts iii. 2. viii. 7. till the second year of Darius, one of his successors. There is often a pre

from their severe captivity in Babylon, and their restoration to their own country (verses 1-3.), introduces a chorus of them, expressing their surprise and astonishment at the sudden downfall of Babylon, and the great reverse of fortune that had befallen the tyrant, who, like his predecessors, had oppressed his own, and harassed the neighbouring kingdoms. These oppressed kingdoms, or their rulers, are represented under the image of the fir trees and the cedars of Libanus, which is frequently used to express any thing in the political or religious world that is supereminently great and majestic : the whole earth shouts for joy; the cedars of Libanus utter a severe taunt over the fallen tyrant, and boast their security now he is no more. (verses 4—8.)

has in view the destruction of their city and polity by the Chaldæans, and perhaps, by the Romans. (lvi. 9-12. lvii. lix. 1-15.) The fifty-ninth chapter, he observes, is remarkable for the beauty, strength, and variety of the images with which it abounds, as well as for the elegance of the composition and the exact construction of the sentences. DISCOURSE 12. chiefly predicts the general conversion of the Jews to the Gospel, the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles, the restoration of the Jews, and the happy state of the Christian church. (lix. 16-21. Ix.-lxvi.) In ch. lx. and Ixi. the great increase and flourishing state of the church of God, by the conversion and accession of the heathen nations to it, are "set forth in such ample and exalted terms, as plainly show, that the full completion of the prophecy is reserved for This is followed (9.) by one of the boldest and most future times. This subject is displayed in the most splendid animated personifications of Hades, or the regions of the colours, under a great variety of highly poetical images, de- dead, that was ever executed in poetry. Hades excites his signed to give a general idea of the glories of that perfect of monarchs. These illustrious shades arise at once from inhabitants, the shades of princes, and the departed spirits state of the church, which we are taught to expect in the lat- their couches as from their thrones; and advancing to the ter times; when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and entrance of the cavern to meet the king of Babylon, they the Jews shall be converted and gathered from their disper-insult and deride him on being reduced to the same low state sions; and the kingdoms of this world shall become the king of impotence and dissolution with themselves. (10, 11.) doms of our Lord and of his Christ." (Bp. Lowth.) The The Jews now resume the speech (12.): they address the remarkable prophecy in Ixiii. 1-6., which some expositors king of Babylon as the morning-star fallen from heaven, as refer to Judas Maccabæus, the learned prelate applies primarily the first in splendour and dignity in the political world fallen to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity; which from his high state: they introduce him as uttering the most in the Gospel is called the "coming of Christ," and the "days extravagant vaunts of his power and ambitious designs in his of vengeance" (Matt. xvi. 28. Luke xxi. 22.); but he thinks former glory; these are strongly contrasted, in the close, with it may ultimately refer to the yet unfulfilled predictions, which his present low and abject condition. (13-15.) intimate a great slaughter of the enemies of God and his people. The two last chapters of this prophecy manifestly relate to the calling of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian dispensation, and the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction executed by the Romans.

V. Isaiah has, with singular propriety, been denominated the "evangelical prophet," on account of the number and variety of his prophecies concerning the advent and character, the ministry and preaching, the sufferings and death, and the extensive permanent kingdom of the Messiah. So explicit and determinate are his predictions, as well as so numerous, that he seems to speak rather of things past than of events yet future; and he may rather be called an evangelist, than a prophet. No one, indeed, can be at a loss in applying them to the mission and character of Jesus Christ, and to the events which are cited in his history by the writers of the New Testament. This prophet, says Bishop Lowth, abounds in such transcendent excellencies, that he may be properly said to afford the most perfect model of prophetic poetry. He is at once elegant and sublime, forcible and ornamented; he unites energy with copiousness, and dignity with variety. In his sentiments there is uncommon elevation and majesty; in his imagery, the utmost propriety, elegance, dignity, and diversity; in his language, uncommon beauty and energy; and, notwithstanding the obscurity of his subjects, a surprising degree of clearness and simplicity. To these we may add, that there is such sweetness in the poetical composition of his sentences, whether it proceed from art or genius, that, if the Hebrew poetry at present is possessed of any remains of its native grace and harmony, we shall chiefly find them in the writings of Isaiah; so that the saying of Ezekiel may most justly be applied to this prophet,

"Thou art the confirmed exemplar of measures,

Full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty."-Ezek. xxviii. 12.

Isaiah also greatly excels in all the graces of method, order, connection, and arrangement: though in asserting this we must not forget the nature of the prophetic impulse, which bears away the mind with irresistible violence, and frequently in rapid transitions from near to remote objects, from human to divine; we must likewise be careful in remarking the limits of particular predictions, since, as they are now extant, they are often improperly connected, without any marks of discrimination; which injudicious arrangement, on some occasions, creates almost insuperable difficulties.

Immediately follows a different scene, and a most happy image, to diversify the same subject, and give it a new turn and additional force. Certain persons are introduced, who light upon the corpse of the king of Babylon, cast out and lying naked upon the bare ground, among the common slain, just after the taking of the city, covered with wounds, and so disfigured, that it is some time before they know him. They accost him with the severest taunts, and bitterly reproach him with his destructive ambition, and his cruel usage of the conquered: which have deservedly brought upon him this ignominious treatment, so different from that which those of his rank usually meet with, and which shall cover his posterity with disgrace. (16-20.)

To complete the whole, God is introduced, declaring the fate of Babylon, the utter extirpation of the royal family, and the total desolation of the city; the deliverance of his people, and the destruction of their enemies; confirming the irreversible decree by the awful sanction of his oath. (21-27.)

"How forcible," says Bishop Lowth, "is this imagery, how diversified, how sublime! how elevated the diction, the figures, the sentiments! The Jewish nation, the cedars of Lebanon, the ghosts of departed kings, the Babylonish monarch, the travellers who find his corpse, and last of all JEHOVAH himself, are the characters which support this beautiful lyric drama. One continued action is kept up, or rather a series of interesting actions are connected together in an incomparable whole; this, indeed, is the principal and distinguished excellence of the sublimer ode, and is displayed in its utmost perfection in this poem of Isaiah, which may be considered as one of the most ancient, and certainly one of the most finished, specimens of that species of composition which has been transmitted to us. The personifications here are frequent, yet not confused; bold, yet not improbable: a free, elevated, and truly divine spirit pervades the whole; nor is there any thing wanting in this ode to defeat its claim to the character of perfect beauty and sublimity. If, indeed, I may be indulged in the free declaration of my own sentiments on this occasion, I do not know a single instance, in the whole compass of Greek and Roman poetry, which, in every excellence of composition, can be said to equal, or even to approach it."2

Of

"The image of the dead," so admirably described by the prophet, Bishop Lowth observes, "is taken from their custom of burying, those at least of the higher rank, in large sepulchral vaults hewn in the rock. this kind of sepulchres there are remains at Jerusalem now extant; and some that are said to be the sepulchres of the kings of Judah. See Maundrell, p. 76. You are to form to yourself an idea of an immense subterrane

to receive the dead bodies: here the deceased monarchs lie in a distin

Bishop Lowth has selected the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth chapters of this prophet, as a specimen of the poetic style inous vault, a vast gloomy cavern, all round the sides of which there are cells, which he delivers his predictions, and has illustrated at some length the various beauties which eminently distinguish the simple, regular, and perfect poem contained in those chapters. But the grandest specimen of his poetry is presented in the fourteenth chapter, which is one of the most sublime odes occurring in the Bible, and contains the noblest personifications to be found in the records of poetry.

The prophet, after predicting the liberation of the Jews

guished sort of state suitable to their former rank, each on his own couch, with his arms beside him, his sword at his head, and the bodies of his chiefs and companions round about him. See Ezek. xxxii. 27. On which place Sir John Chardin's manuscript note is as follows:-'En Mingrelie ils dorment tous leurs epées sous leurs tètes, et leurs autres armes à leur côté; et on les enterre de mesme, leurs armes posées de cette façon." Bp. Lowth's Translation of Isaiah, vol. ii. p. 121.

Bishop Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, vol. ii. pp. 84-86. vol. i. PP. 294-301, and his Translation of Isaiah, vol. ii. pp. 230-232. Jahn, Introd.

ad Vet. Fœd. p. 367.

5. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JOEL.

I. Author and date.-II. Occasion and scope.—III. Analysis of the book.-IV. Observations on its style.

BEFORE CHRIST, 810-660, or later.

I. CONCERNING the family, condition, and pursuits of this prophet, there is great diversity of opinion among learned

men.

the Gospel; interspersing promises of safety to the faithful
and penitent, which were afterwards signally fulfilled to the
Christians in that great national calamity. (27-32. Compare
Acts ii. 17-21.)

PART III. predicts the general Conversion and Return of the
Jews, and the destruction of their Opponents, together with
the glorious State of the Church that is to follow. (iii.)
IV. The style of Joel, though different from that of Hosea,
is highly poetical: it is elegant, perspicuous, and copious;
and at the same time nervous, animated, and sublime.
the two first chapters he displays the full force of the pro-
phetic poetry; and his description of the plague of locusts,
of the deep national repentance, and of the happy state of
the Christian church, in the last times of the Gospel, are
wrought up with admirable force and beauty.

In

§ 6. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET MICAH. I. Author and date.-II. Occasion and scope.—III. Synopsis of its contents.-IV. Prophecies concerning the Messiah.V. Observations on its style.

BEFORE CHRIST, 758-699.

Although several persons of the name of Joel are mentioned in the Old Testament, we have no information concerning the prophet himself, except what is contained in the title of his predictions (i. 1.), that he was the son of Pethuel. According to some idle reports collected and preserved by the pseudo-Epiphanius,' he was of the tribe of Reuben, and was born at Bethhoron, a town situated in the confines of the territories of Judah and Benjamin. It is equally uncertain under what sovereign he flourished, or where he died. The celebrated Rabbi Kimchi and others place him in the reign of Joram, and are of opinion that he foretold the seven years' famine which prevailed in that king's reign. (2 Kings viii. 1-3.) The authors of the two celebrated Jewish Chronicles entitled Seder Olam (both great and little), Jarchi, and several other Jewish writers, who are also followed by Drusius, Archbishop Newcome, and other Christian commentators, maintain that he prophesied under Manasseh. Tarnovius, Eckermann, Calmet, and others, place him in the reign of Josiah but Vitringa,4 Moldenhawer,' Rosenmüller, and the majority of modern commentators, are of opinion (after Abarbanel), that he delivered his predictions during the reign of Uzziah: consequently he was contemporary with Amos and Hosea, if indeed he did not prophesy before Amos. This opinion, which we think more probable than any, is supported by the following arguments:-1. Only Egypt and Edom (iii. 19.) are enumerated among the enemies of Judah, no mention whatever being made of the Assyrians or Babylonians:-2. Joel (iii. 4-7.) denounces the same judgments, as Amos (i. 9-11.), against the Tyrians, Sidonians, and II. The people of Judah and Israel being very profane and Idumæans (who had invaded the kingdom of Judah, carried impenitent in the days of Isaiah (in consequence of which off its inhabitants, and sold them as slaves to the Gentiles): the Assyrian captivity was then hastening upon Israel, and -3. It appears from Joel ii. 15-17. that at the time he the Babylonian not long after fell upon Judah), the prophet flourished the Jews were in the full enjoyment of their reli- Micah was raised up to second Isaiah, and to confirm his gious worship:-4. More prosperous times are promised to predictions against the Jews and Israelites, whom he inJudæa, together with uncommon plenty (ii. 18, 19.):-vited to repentance both by threatened judgments and by 5. Although Joel foretells the calamity of famine and barren- promised mercies.10 ness of the land, it is evident from Amos (iv. 6, 7.) that the Israelites had not only suffered from the same calamity, but were even then labouring under it.

II. From the palmer-worm, locust, canker-worm, caterpillar, &c. being sent upon the land of Judah, and devouring its fruits (the certain forerunners of a grievous famine), the prophet takes occasion to exhort the Jews to repentance, fasting, and prayer, promising them various temporal and spiritual blessings.

III. This book consists of three chapters, which may be divided into three discourses or parts; viz.

PART I. is an Exhortation, both to the Priests and to the Peo-
ple, to repent, by reason of the Famine brought upon them by
the Palmer-worm, &c. in consequence of their ́Sins (i. 1—
20.); and is followed by a Denunciation of still greater Ca-
lamities, if they continued impenitent. (ii. 1-11.)
This discourse contains a double prophecy, applicable, in its pri-
mary sense, to a plague of locusts, which was to devour the
land, and was to be accompanied with so severe a drought and
famine as should cause the public service of the temple to be
interrupted; and, in its secondary sense, it denotes the Baby-
lonian invasion,-and perhaps also the invasions of the Per-
sians, Greeks, and Romans, by whom the Jews were succes-
sively subjugated.

PART II. An Exhortation to keep a public and solemn Fast
(ii. 12-17.), with a promise of removing the Calamities of
the Jews on their Repentance. (18-26.)

From the fertility and prosperity of the land described in these
verses, the prophet makes an easy transition to the copious
blessings of the Gospel, particularly the effusion of the gifts
of the Holy Spirit: with these he connects the destruction of
the Jewish nation and polity in consequence of their rejecting

1 See Simonis Onomasticon Vet. Test. p. 517.
De Vitis Prophetarum in Epiphanii op. tom. ii. p. 245.

3 Relandi Palestina, p. 633.

Typus Doctrinæ Prophet. cap. iv. p. 35. et seq.

Introductio in Libros Canonicos Vet. et Nov. Test. pp. 120, 121.
Scholia in Vet. Test. Partis septimæ, vol. i. pp. 433, 434.

The famine predicted by Joel, Jahn refers to that which took place in the time of the Maccabees. See 1 Macc. ix. 23-27.

I. MICAH, the third of the minor prophets, according to the arrangement in the Hebrew and all modern copies, as well as in the Septuagint, was a native of Morasthi, a small town in the southern part of the territory of Judah; and, as we learn from the commencement of his predictions, he prophesied in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of that country; consequently he was contemporary with Isaiah, Joel, Hosea, and Amos. The time, place, and manner of his death are unknown. The genuineness of his prophecies relating to the complete destruction of Jerusalem, and of the temple, is supported by the testimony of Jeremiah. (xxvi. 18, 19.)

III. This book contains seven chapters, forming three parts; viz.

INTRODUCTION or title, i. 1.

PART I. comprises the Prophecies delivered in the Reigns of Jotham King of Judah (with whom Pekah King of Israet was contemporary), in which the Divine Judgments are denounced against both Israel and Judah for their Sins. (i. 2-16.)

PART II. contains the Predictions delivered in the Reigns of Ahaz King of Judah (with whom his Son Hezekiah was associated in the Government during the latter Part of his Life), and of Pekah King of Israel, who was also contemporary with him. (ii.—iv. 8.)

In this prophetic discourse, Micah foretells the captivity of both nations (ii. 1-5.), and particularly threatens Israel for their enmity to the house of David (6—13.), and Judah for their cruelty to the pious. (iii. 1-7.) He then vindicates his prophetic mission, and denounces to the princes of Israel, that, though they should "build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity," for their sake Zion should be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem should become heaps. (8-12.) This prophecy had its utmost completion in the final destruction of the city and temple by the Romans. We learn from Jer. xxvi. 18, 19. 24., that this particular prediction was uttered in the time of Hezekiah; and that in the reign of Jehoiakim it was a means of preserving Jeremiah from being delivered into the hands of the people who were desirous of putting him to death. In ch. iv. 1-8. the glorious and peaceful kingdom of Messiah is foretold, together with the establishment of the church.

PART III. includes the Prophecies delivered by Micah during the Reign of Hezekiah King of Judah, the first six years of whose Government were contemporary with the greater Part

Early in the last century, Mr. Hermann Von der Hardt, whom, from his love of philosophical paradoxes, Bp. Lowth has termed the "Hardouin of Germany," attempted to reduce Joel's elegies to iambic verse He accordingly published the three first elegies at Helmstadt, in 1708; and again, with additions, at the same place, in 1720, in 8vo.

Compare 2 Kings xv.-xix. 2 Chron. xxvi.-xxxi. Isa. xxxvi.—xxxviii. 10 Roberts's Clavis Bibliorum, p. 671.

vivid colours and with images that are truly pathetic and discharge the duties of his function with unremitting dilisublime.

$ 8. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH.

I. Author and date.-II. Scope and analysis of this book.
BEFORE CHRIST, 640-609.

gence and fidelity during a course of at least forty-two years, reckoned from the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign. In the course of his ministry he met with great difficulties and opposition from his countrymen of all degrees, whose persecution and ill usage sometimes wrought so far upon his mind, as to draw from him expressions, in the bitterness of his soul, which many have thought difficult to reconcile with his reliI. THIS prophet, who was "the son of Cushi, the son of gious principles; but which, when duly weighed, may be Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah" (i. 1.), found to demand our pity rather than censure. He was, in is supposed to have been of the tribe of Simeon; but, though truth, a man of unblemished piety and conscientious integrity: he has mentioned his ancestors for no less than four genera-a warm lover of his country, whose miseries he pathetically tions, nothing certain can be inferred from thence, as to the deplores; and so affectionately attached to his countrymen, family to which he belonged. We learn, however, from his notwithstanding their injurious treatment of him, that he prophecy, that he delivered his predictions in the reign of chose rather to abide with them, and undergo all hardships Josiah; consequently he prophesied about the time that Jere- in their company, than separately to enjoy a state of ease and miah entered on his prophetic office, and in method and sub- plenty, which the favour of the king of Babylon would have ject he greatly resembles him. secured to him. At length, after the destruction of JerusaOn this account Zephaniah has been considered as the ab- lem, having followed the remnant of the Jews into Egypt, breviator of Jeremiah'; but it is evident that he prophesied whither they had resolved to retire, though contrary to his before Jeremiah, because the latter (Jer. ii. 5. 20. 22.) seems advice, upon the murder of Gedaliah, whom the Chaldæans to speak of those abuses as partially removed, which the had left governor in Judæa, he there continued warmly to former (Zeph. i. 4, 5. 9.) describes as existing in the most remonstrate against their idolatrous practices, foretelling the flagitious extent. From his account of the disorders prevail- consequences that would inevitably follow. But his freedom ing in Judah, it is probable that he discharged the prophetic and zeal are said to have cost him his life; for there is a office before the eighteenth year of Josiah; that is, before tradition, that the Jews at Tahpanhes were so offended at his this prince had reformed the abuses and corruptions of his faithful remonstrances, that they stoned him to death, which domínions. The style of Zephaniah is poetical, though it is account of the manner of his decease, though not absolutely not characterized by any striking or uncommon beauties. certain, is at least very likely to be true, considering the temper II. In consequence of the idolatry and other iniquities pre- and disposition of the parties concerned. Their wickedness, vailing in the kingdom of Judah, whose inhabitants had dis- however, did not long pass without its reward; for, in a few regarded the denunciations and admonitions of former pro- years after, they were miserably destroyed by the Babylophets, Zephaniah was commissioned to proclaim the enormity nian armies which invaded Egypt, according to the prophet's of their wickedness, and to denounce the imminent desola- prediction. (xliv. 27, 28.)3 Some Jewish writers, however, tion that awaited them; to excite them to repentance, to fore-affirm that he returned to Judæa, while others say that he went tell the destruction of their enemies, and to comfort the pious to Babylon, and died there; and a third class are of opinion Jews with promises of future blessings. that he died in Egypt, far advanced in years, and broken by the calamities which had happened both to himself and his country. This prophet's writings are all in Hebrew, except the eleventh verse of the tenth chapter, which is Chaldee. His predictions concerning the seventy years of the captivity were known to and read by the prophet Daniel. (ix. 1.)

His prophecy, which consists of three chapters, may be divided into four sections; viz.

SECT. 1. A denunciation against Judah for their idolatry. (i.) SECT. 2. Repentance the only means to avert the divine vengeance. (ii. 1-3.)

SECT. 3. Prophecies against the Philistines (ii. 4-7.), Moabites, and Ammonites (8-11.), Ethiopia (12.), and Nineveh. (13-15.)

SECT. 4. The captivity of the Jews by the Babylonians foretold (iii. 1-7.), together with their future restoration and the ultimate prosperous state of the church. (8-20.)

SECTION III.

II. The idolatrous apostasy and other criminal enormities of the people of Judah, and the severe judgments which God was preparing to inflict upon them, though not without a distant prospect of future restoration and deliverance, form the principal subjects of the prophecies of Jeremiah; except the forty-fifth chapter, which relates personally to Baruch, and the six following chapters, which respect the fortunes of some particular heathen nations.1

It is evident, from various passages of this book, that there were four distinct collections of Jeremiah's prophecies. The first was that mentioned in chap. xxxvi. 2. and made by divine command in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim.

'N THE PROPHETS WHO FLOURISHED NEAR TO AND DURING THE In this collection were contained all the predictions which he

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.

had delivered and published, to that time, as well against other nations as against the Jews: the prophecies against end of the book, as being in some measure unconnected with the Gentiles are, in our Bibles, placed by themselves at the those denounced against the Jews; but in the present copies of the Septuagint, they follow immediately after the thirteenth verse of the twenty-fifth chapter. This first collec tion comprised chapters i.—xx. xxv. xxvi. xxxv. xxxvi. xlv.

1. THE prophet Jeremiah was of the sacerdotal race, being-li. inclusive. (as he himself records) one of the priests that dwelt at Ana- The second collection is that mentioned in chap. xxx. 2., thoth (i. 1.) in the land of Benjamin, a city appropriated out and contained chapters xxvii.-xxxi. inclusive: it was made of that tribe to the use of the priests, the sons of Aaron (Josh.in the reign of Zedekiah, and, as may be inferred from xxviii xxi. 18.), and situate, as we learn from Jerome, about three 1., after the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. Roman miles north of Jerusalem.2 Some critics have conjectured that his father was the same Hilkiah, the highpriest, who found the book of the law in the temple, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah (2 Kings xxii. 8.): but for this opinion there is no better ground than that he bore the same name, which was of frequent occurrence among the Jews; for, if Hilkiah had really been the high-priest, he would doubtless have been distinguished by that title, and would not have been placed on a level with priests of an ordinary and inferior class. Jeremiah appears to have been very young when he was called to the exercise of the prophetical office, from which he modestly endeavoured to excuse himself, by pleading his youth and incapacity; but

The third collection was made soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, as is plainly indicated by the prophet himself in the general preface to his book, where he says that the word of Jehovah came to him "in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign; and came in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, until the completion of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem into captivity in the fifth month." (i. 1-3.) Consequently, this third collection included chapters xxi.-xxiv. xxxii.—xxxiv. and xxxvii.—xxxix.

Dr. Blayney's Translation of Jeremiah, pp. 221, 222. 2d edit. • Ibid. p. 222.

⚫ Carpzov has written an elaborate disquisition on the variations between

being overruled by the divine authority, he set himself to the Hebrew and the Septuagint, in the order of Jeremiah's prophecies;

1 Lowth's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 99.

2 Hieronymi Comm. in Jer. cc. i. xi. and xxxi. Eusebii Onomast. voce.

and has given a table illustrating those variations. See his Introd. ad Libros Biblicos Vet. Test. pars iii. c. iii. § 4. pp. 144–152.