THE PROPHETS AND THE
PROMISE
BY
WILLIS JUDSON BEECHER
Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt at Gordon College 2005
1905 by Thomas Y. Crowell, New York.
PREFACE
IN part the Stone lectures as delivered were a selec-
tion from the materials of this volume, and in part the
volume is an expansion of the lectures. It is a product
of studies, accumulating during many years, rather than
a predirected discussion of a subject, but I hope that it
will not be found deficient in logical coherence.
The presentation it makes is essentially a restatement
of the Christian tradition that was supreme fifty years
ago, but a restatement with differences so numerous
and important that it will probably be regarded, by men
who do not think things through, as an attack on that
tradition. If what I have said makes that impression
on any one, and if he regards the matter as of sufficient
importance, I ask him to consider it more carefully. I
have tried to make my search a search for the truth,
without undue solicitude as to whether its results are
orthodox; but it seems to me that my conclusions are
simply the old orthodoxy, to some extent transposed into
the forms of modern thought, and with some new ele-
ments introduced by widening the field of the induction.
It follows, of course, that my position is antagonistic
to that of the men who attack the older tradition. But
I have tried not to be polemic. I have tried to give
due consideration to the views of the men with whom
I differ. Where practicable, I have preferred the
broader statements, in which we are in agreement, to
the narrower ones that would emphasize our differences.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
PAGE
Scope of the work 3
I. Sources. The scriptures as a source. Direct study versus
general reading. Is the testimony credible? Direct examination
versus cross-examination. Dependence on critical questions. The
provisionally historical point of view. Evidence tested by use 4
II. Interpreting the sources. Avoid eisegesis. Eisegesis of
Christian doctrine. Of negative assumptions. Of theories of reli-
gion. Of particular schemes of Comparative Religion. A true
method 9
III. Points concerning the treatment. Outline. Certain matters
of detail 15
PART I
THE PROPHETS
CHAPTER II
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS
Prophet. Nabhi and its cognates. Hhozeh and its cognates.
Roeh and its cognates. The uses of raah and hhazah. Man of
God. Word of Yahaweh. Saith Yahaweh. Man of the Spirit.
Massa. Hittiph. Metaphorical terms 21
Terms used at all dates. Interchangeable as to the person de-
noted. Three degrees of extension. Raving 32
CHAPTER III
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS
Introductory. The subject attractive. Division into periods 36
I. Prophecy in the times before Samuel. Before Abraham.
The patriarchs as prophets. Prophecy in the times of Moses and
vii
viii CONTENTS
PAGE
Joshua. In the times of the Judges. The dearth of prophecy in the
time of Eli 38
II. Prophecy in the times of Samuel and later. First period,
that of Samuel, David, and Nathan : the great names, the organ-
izations, the terms that are used. Second period, from the disrup-
tion to Elisha: distinguished prophets, "the sons of the prophets,"
false prophets, the use of terms. Third period, that of Amos and
Isaiah: the great prophets, the numbers of the prophets true and
false, the use of terms. Fourth period, that of Jeremiah and others:
the great names, the many prophets true and false. Fifth period,
the exilian prophets : the great names and the many prophets true
and false. Sixth period, the postexilian prophets: the great names
and the many other prophets. The cessation of prophecy 47
CHAPTER IV
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE
The question. How affected by one's critical position 66
I. External appearance of the prophet. Baseless current ideas.
Unearthly phenomena absent. Was there a prophetic costume?
The facts significant even if negative. Did the prophets rave?
The prophets long-lived 67
II. The organizations of the prophets. Samuel's "companies."
The Naioth institution. "The sons of the prophets" 76
III. The so-called prophetic order. Holy orders. The prophets
a succession. They had no priestly character. Was the prophet a
graduate? Ordination. How one became a prophet 80
The prophet especially a manly man. The absence of insignia
noteworthy 85
CHAPTER V
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET—NATURALISTIC
AND SUPERNATURALISTIC
Introductory. Guarding against mistaken assumptions. The
name indicates the function. Passages that outline the prophetic
function 88
I. Naturalistic functions. They were public men. Jeremiah as
a statesman. Isaiah and Hosea as statesmen. Prophetic ideal of
a reunited Israel. Elijah and Elisha as statesmen. The prophets
were reformers. Some of their reforms. They were preachers of
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
good tidings. They were literary men. Certain points need to be
guarded. Different grades and kinds of prophets. The prophet
both local and cosmopolitan. The sense in which devout persons
or great leaders are prophets 93
II. Supernaturalistic functions. The prophets claim them.
Working of miracles, disclosing of secrets, prediction, the giving
of torah, the messianic forecast. Revealers of the monotheism of
Yahaweh 105
CHAPTER VI
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE
I. How given to him. The source of his inspiration is the Spirit
of Yahaweh. Utterances inspired by the Spirit. Deeds inspired
by the Spirit. Micaiah's lying Spirit. The nature of the Spirit of
Yahaweh. The modes in which the prophet received his message.
Classification of them. Dreams. The interpreting of dreams.
Picture-vision. Visions of insight. Hhazah versus raah. Vision
other than by sense-images. Theophany. Its forms. The Angel.
Theophany versus picture-vision. The notable absence of artificial
excitation 110
II. How uttered by him. Prophetic object lessons. Types.
No double meanings. Manifold fulfilment. Generic prophecy.
The art of persuasive speech 125
CHAPTER VII
THE PROPHET AS A GIVER OF TORAH AND
WRITER OF SCRIPTURE
General statements 133
I. The term "law" in later writings. Current use. Use in
Jewish literature, later and earlier. In the New Testament. Ira
the Apocrypha 134
II. The term "law" in the Old Testament. Derivation of torah
and horah. Torah is from Deity. Is authoritative. Revealed
through prophets. Guarded and administered by. priests. Inter-
preted by both. No separate priestly torah. Its forms. Oral or
written. A particular revelation. An aggregate. The noun used
abstractly. The known and definite aggregate. Some section of
the aggregate 139
x CONTENTS
PAGE
The nature of the torah-aggregate. Limitations of the term.
Examination of instances. From earlier records of the Mosaic
times. From Deuteronomy and the writings that presuppose it.
From the earlier prophetic books. The torah not primarily the
pentateuch. Law and Prophets and Writings from the first. A
separate pentateuch? The torah and the Old Testament. Some
sources were torah and others not. Five torah-producing periods.
Not three canons. Later emergence of the threefold division 155
III. The prophets as writers of scripture. As bringers of torah.
Their authority the highest. All scripture equally of prophetic
authority 168
PART II
THE PROMISE
CHAPTER VIII
THE PROMISE–DOCTRINE AS TAUGHT IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT
Introductory. The Christian messianic idea distinctive. Mes-
sianic prediction, prophecy, doctrine. The proposition 175
I. The New Testament claim. That there is one promise. The
promise to Abraham. Consisting of many promises. The theme of
the whole Old Testament. Pervading all New Testament thought 179
II. The use made of the claim. The promise eternally operative
and irrevocable. Jesus Christ its culminating fulfilment. The gen-
tiles share in the benefit of it. It underlies the great doctrines of
the gospel: the kingdom, immortality, the Holy Ghost, redemption
from sin 185
Concluding statements. Recapitulation. A Christocentric theology 192
CHAPTER IX
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS
Outline of treatment. Pre-Abrahamic passages 195
I. The promise as made. Earliest statement. Its subordinate
items. The principal item emphasized. Climacteric order. Five
times repeated. The name Abraham. Seed. Covenants. Pecul-
iar people. The promise eternally operative. This emphasized.
Therefore of progressive fulfilment. The seed a continuing unit 197
CONTENTS xi
PAGE
II. Problems concerning the promise. How affected by critical
theories. What is true according to all theories. The contem-
porary understanding of the promise. In what sense they under-
stood it to be predictive. Its value as practical doctrine 207
CHAPTER X
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL AND TO
DAVID
I. For the times of the exodus. Israel Yahaweh's people
Yahaweh's son. Separative institutions. For eternity. Irrevocable
even for sin. Rest. Has mankind a share in this? That all
may know Yahaweh. "My own, out of all the peoples." A king-
dom of priests. Continuity with the patriarchal revelation. Con-
sistent with the treatment of Amalek and the Canaanite. Critical
point of view. Contemporary interpretation 217
II. For the times of David. 2 Samuel vii. David's house. His
seed. The temple builder. Line of kings. An eternal kingdom.
Irrevocable even for sin. In continuation with the promise to
Abraham and Israel, and therefore for mankind. The rest promise.
"To thee for a people." "One nation in the earth." Yahaweh's
son. The torah of mankind. Critical views. Contemporary in-
terpretation 228
CHAPTER XI
THE PROMISE–DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS AND
PSALMISTS
Introductory. Recapitulation. A new phase. The messianic
dogma. Its homiletical presentation 241
I. Modes of expressing it. The predictive passages. A sermon
text or a proof text. Repeating the old phrases. Amplifying them.
Psalm lxxxix. Celebration songs. Technical terms and collateral
lines. Presupposition oftener than open statement 243
II. The matters which they emphasize. The three promises the
same. The promise cosmopolitan. The temple for the nations.
Israel for the nations. The promise for eternity and irrevocable.
Modes of thinking that it created. Israel as the people of the
promise. Mediatorial suffering 252
Critical questions 261
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XII
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT
PAGE
Introductory. Recapitulation. Rise of technical terms. "Ser-
vant" the most conspicuous term. Isaiah xl—lxvi 263
I. Two auxiliary matters. First, national personality in the
Hebrew. Second, presuppositions of the promise history 265
II. The Servant. Outline. Instances in which the Servant is
said to be Israel. Interpreting the instances. The promise point
of view. The Israel of the promise. Instances that are less explicit.
Servants. The Servant speaking in the first person. Israel's mis-
sion to himself. Isaiah xlii. 1—4. Isaiah lii. i3-liii. Mediatorial
sufferings 270
III. Servant a representative term. Two one-sided interpre-
tations. The true interpretation. Universalness. A glimpse at the
fulfilments 285
CHAPTER XIII
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE KINGDOM AND ITS
ANOINTED KING
I. The kingdom. In the earliest times. The time of Eli. From
David onward. In the psalms and prophecies. Yahaweh's king-
dom. Universal peace. Independent of disputed dates. A king-
dom of influence 289
II. The anointed king. The words "anoint," "anointed."
Correct form of the question. The Messiah as a coming person.
Transition to the New Testament idea 298
III. The eschatological trend. The latter days. The day of
Yahaweh. That day. History of the phrase. Exodus. Joel. Oba-
diah, Amos, and others. Always impending. The New Testament
presentation 304
CHAPTER XIV
MESSIANIC TERMS. YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH. OTHER
TERMS
I. Hhasidh. Its derivation and meaning. Outline of instances.
Yahaweh as hhasidh. The hhasidhim are Israelites as people of
the promise. Not a sect. Israel a hhasidh nation. Hhasidh as
equivalent to Anointed one. The instances where the readings
vary. Summary. The Asideans. In the New Testament 313
CONTENTS xiii
PAGE
II. The Chosen one. Meshullam. The Called one. Jeshurun.
Yahaweh's Son. Sons of promise. The virgin mother. The
Branch. Netser. Nagidh, that is, Regent. "My Lord" in
Psalm cx 329
The common characteristics of the messianic terms 342
CHAPTER XV
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE
Introductory. Recapitulation. The Person of the promise. That
in him which is extraordinary. Genesis xlix. to. Psalm cx. To
what extent a reality. A nucleus for doctrine. Both typical and
antitypal 344
I. The prophets themselves types of the Person of the promise.
Deuteronomy xviii 350
II. The theophanic Angel in his relations to the promise. In
the earliest times. At the exodus. In later times. In Malachi 352
III. Israel's institutions as typical of the promise. The ark and
the mercy seat. The sacred year. Some worshippers had insight.
Israel's priesthood. Victim and priest 357
IV. Other matters. Persons or objects as types. Particular
passages. In fine, almost all Old Testament details 361
CHAPTER XVI
MESSIANIC EXPECTATION AND FULFILMENT
I. The expectation in the time, of Jesus. Sources. A temporal
deliverer? More adequate statement. The promise-doctrine
known. Not a Pauline view merely. The kingdom expected.
And its Anointed king. Heir of David. But many unsettled
points. There were spiritual expectations. Especially of redemp-
tion from sin. False messiahs 365
II. How the promise has been fulfilled. As a promise, and not
mere prediction. An eternal fulfilment necessarily cumulative.
National and cosmopolitan and through a Person. In what sense
may Jesus be the fulfilment? A summary of the fulfilling facts.
Exclusive Jewish interpretation. Exclusive Christian interpretation.
The true Jewish-Christian interpretation. Fulfilment in the ethnical
Israel, in the religions of Yahaweh, in Christ 375
xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER XVII
THE APOLOGETIC VALUE OF PROPHECY
PAGE
Introductory. The old argument. Need of restatement. Our
conclusions thus far provisional; are they true ? Theistic pre-
suppositions 387
I. Recapitulation. The prophet as we have found him. Pre-
diction as we have found it. Messianic doctrine as we have found
it. The gospel in the Old Testament as we have found it 391
II. The argument. From the presentment of the prophet. The
biblical ideal a true ideal. Apologetic bearings. Its concept of
divine revelation. From the presentment of the national ideal.
The bearing of critical theories. The significance of the ideal.
How is it to be accounted for? A contrasting ideal. The pro-
phetic mode of presentation. From historical verisimilitude. Self-
consistency. The promise-doctrine as a solution of difficulties.
Credibility. Unmiraculous events. Miraculous events. Intelligible
continuity. Bearings in the argument. From fulfilled prediction.
Has the promise been kept? The thing promised exceptional.
Fulfilled in the secular history of Israel. Eternal fulfilment? Media-
torial suffering. The argument not trivial. Fulfilled in the three
religions of Yahaweh. Their civilizational results. Their spiritual
results. Fulfilled in the person of Jesus. A futile objection. No
need that Apologetics surrender historical fact 394
THE PROPHETS AND THE
PROMISE
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
THE prophets of Israel: what manner of men they
were, their functions, naturalistic or supernaturalistic,
how their messages were given to them and how uttered
by them, their part in the writing of the scriptures, the
doctrine they taught concerning Israel's peculiar rela-
tions to Deity and to mankind, the messianic kingdom
they heralded and its king, and the value of their mis-
sion for the current illustration and defence of the Chris-
tian religion, —this theme and these topics under it are
certainly not new. They are familiar, trite, common-
place. Yet it seems to me that in this field a pains-
taking student may still hope to gather something. The
older treatments seem to me inadequate, by reason of a
certain lack of insight into the literary character of the
sources and into the nature of historical movements, and
by reason of too great reliance on traditional interpre-
tations. The newer treatments seem to me yet more
inadequate, by reason of the too easy rejection of por-
tions of the testimony, and the too ready substitution
of conjecture for evidence. Both leave something to
be desired in this field of study, and something that is
not beyond the reach of diligence and industry.
3
4 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
Without taking time to discuss thoroughly the prin-
ciples that should govern such an investigation as this,
I shall try to present, in this preliminary chapter, a few
considerations touching the sources to be used and the
interpretation of them, followed by a brief outline of the
treatment that will be attempted.
I. The Old Testament is our one direct source of in-
formation concerning the prophets and their teachings.
Indirect sources are, first, the New Testa-
Sources ment and other later writings, including the
evidence of the 'monuments; second, analogies drawn
from other religions, or from later times, or from our
theories or opinions.
Of these sources the Old Testament, supplemented
at some points by the New, is principal, and all others
The scrip- are subsidiary. Simple as this fact is, it is
tures as a imperative that we pay it due attention. Our
source generation is much in the habit of substitut-
ing superficial reading for careful study. If a person
has read a hundred volumes, in six or seven languages,
concerning the prophets, he is in danger of fancying
that he has done more work on the subject than if he
had carefully examined all that the Old and New !Testa-
ments say about them. To avoid being misled, he
should have it in mind that the hundred volumes con-
tain very little real information save that which has
been drawn from these principal sources. Nireteen-
twentieths of all that we really know on this subject
comes from the bible. Only the other twentieth comes
from extrabiblical tradition, or from monuments, or from
the analogy of other religions, or by inference from
the theories we hold, or from our general knowledge
of things and men.
My purpose is, mainly, to reexamine the evidence
PRELIMINARY 5
found in the Old and New Testaments. To some this
programme will seem exceedingly simple and rudimen-
tary. They would think it a greater thing to The need
read many books, and discuss the bearing of of original
their contents on the subject in hand. But study
no amount of reading can supersede the necessity of
examining for ourselves the direct evidence in the case.
Just this has been more neglected than anything else
in dealing with the subject of the prophets of Israel.
Men of learning as well as others have neglected it.
We must do this first of all, and do it with care, or
all other study of the subject will be of little value
to us.
Men have assumed that they were already famil-
iar with what the Old Testament says concerning the
prophets, when they were not really so ; and have
hastened on prematurely to the examination of the col-
lateral branches of the evidence. Many of the current
statements as to what the Old Testament says are based
on analogies, or on later traditions, to a much greater
extent than on the actual testimony of the Old Testa-
ment. Such statements are instances of mistaken
method. The direct evidence in the case is not only
the most important, but it is essential to the correct
understanding of the indirect evidence. The indirect
evidence can genuinely assist in interpreting the direct
only on condition of its being itself interpreted by
the direct. In Old Testament studies, the thing now
more needed than anything else is a more correct
knowledge of what the Old Testament says. Always
the, beginner should begin by attaining to this correct
knwledge; and at present, in Old Testament work,
this is the need of advanced scholars as well as of
beginners.
6 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
At once we see the importance of the question of the;
degree of credence to be accorded to the testimony of
In what degree our principal sources, If we hold to a divine
is the testimony inspiration that guarantees the remarkable
credible? truthfulness of all parts of the bible, it
does not therefore follow that we must take this doc
trine as a presupposition in our historical study of
the prophets. And if one holds that the bible is full
of mistaken statements, that does not justify him in an,
undiscriminating rejection of the statements concerning
the prophets. Both as a matter of correct method;
and for the sake of convincing those with whom we
differ, we should waive, at the outset, all questions of
inspiration, and treat our sources merely as literature
that has come down to us from a remote past. In
respect to trustworthiness we will make no stronger
claim than this : that statements of fact found in the
Old and New Testaments are to be provisionally
regarded as true except as reasons appear to the
contrary.
This is not an extravagant claim to make for the
truthfulness of the scriptures. Our courts would accor l
as much credence as this, not to a reputable witness
only, but even to a witness who is a jailbird or a harlot
or a noted liar. If statements of fact are self-contradic-
tory, or contrary to known truth, we will not accept
them. Even if they are seemingly credible we will at
the outset accept them only provisionally, till we can
test them by their results when we bring them into corr.-
bination with other truths. We will fully admit the prin-
ciple that human historians often make mistakes. Blot
this we must insist upon: that statements of fact are
to be provisionally accepted unless there are substantial
reasons for not accepting them.
PRELIMINARY 7
It follows that in using the testimony of the Old and
New Testaments on this and other questions, we ought
to begin with a direct examination, and not Direct examination
with a cross-examination. We ought to take versus cross-
the trouble to understand what their statements examination
mean, in the form in which they have come down to us,
as preliminary to testing the truth of them, and either
accepting or rejecting them.
As our investigation depends largely on the question
of the historical correctness of the affirmations of the
bible, so it depends indirectly on questions Dependence
concerning the structure, the date, and the on critical
authorship of the books. For these have questions
their bearing on the question of historicity, and also on
the question of the interpretation of the statements we
find. Yet we need not wait till all these other questions
are settled before we begin our studies concerning the
prophets. Indeed, many of the questions concerning
the prophets are more simple and primary than the
others, and therefore ought to be studied first, that the
results reached may assist us in our inquiries into mat-
ters that are less obvious.
Our first inquiry is : What are the representations of
the Old Testament in regard to the prophets? In other
words : What manner of men were the proph- The provi-
ets, supposing the statements of the Old sional point
Testament concerning them to be historical, of view
so far as they purport to be so, and supposing them also
to be correct? From the point of view of all parties this
is a fair question. It is supposable that, in seeking the
answer, we may find the statements of the Old Testa-
ment unsatisfactory, but at the outset the question is a
fair one. On the supposition that the Old Testament
gives a truthful account of the prophets of Israel, what
8 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
is that account? We do not affirm that it give a
truthful account; we do not deny it; we simply up-
pose it.
It is wisest to start from this point of departure, not
trying to settle beforehand all questions in regard to the
character or the trustworthiness of our data, but using
them at first as provisional, and as leading only to pro-
visional results. We shall surely test the data as we ad-
vance. If they are not trustworthy, we shall find it but.
If they are trustworthy, we shall see them to be so, and
shall thus transform our provisional results into final
results.
These last considerations are important. How shall
we determine whether statements of fact found in any
Use as a test source are to be depended upon? There is
of evidence no better test than that of actual use. By
carefully examining what the Old Testament says on
such a subject as the prophets, we may form a judgment
concerning the Old Testament as a source of evidence.
Certain schools of criticism deny that these books are
historically valid, asserting that they are full of anach-
ronisms and inconsistencies and absurdities. In base
this is so, we shall be pretty sure to find traces of the
unhistorical character of the books, if we carefully ex-
amine some section of them, running through different
chronological periods. Such a section for testing them
is afforded in what they say concerning the prophets.
This is found scattered through all the books, including
a vast number of details and allusions, belonging to
periods of time separated by centuries. It is conceivable
beforehand that we may find these details so confused
and inconsistent as to be incredible in many points, and
that we may be compelled to estimate the books accord-
ingly. On the other hand, if we find their account of
PRELIMINARY 9
the prophets to be throughout consistent and probable,
that will be an argument of no little weight in favor of
the historical trustworthiness of the books themselves.
Thus our attitude toward these writings and their
testimony is at the outset neutral. It will not remain
so. As the investigation proceeds we shall inevitably
either gain or lose confidence in the witnesses.
II. In the interpretation of our sources, and especially
of the Old Testament, there is one point in particular in
which we need to be sedulously on our guard. That is
the point where we are in danger of substituting an
eisegetical treatment for an exegetical.
None of us come to this study as to a new and unfa-
miliar subject. We already have pretty distinct ideas
concerning the prophets and their activities, Eisegesis is
and in particular concerning messianic predic- to be avoided
tion, and the meaning and use of the term Messiah. It
is supposable that our preconceived ideas may be crude
and misleading. We can decide this only by holding
them in suspense until we can test them by the facts
we find by study. We cannot be too jealously careful
against the process of merely first putting our ideas into
the Old Testament passages, and then dipping them out
again. There is especial danger of eisegesis from two
sources, Christian theology and theories of Compara-
tive Religion.
We must avoid alike the carrying back of Christian
ideas into the Old Testament and the neglecting of
those ideas that belong to the Old Testament in com-
mon with Christianity.
When we are studying the Old Testament we ought
not to import into it ideas drawn from the New Testa-
ment, or from some scheme of Christian messianic the-
ology. This rule is nowadays often laid down; if we
10 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
violate it, we shall not do so for lack of being warned; but
it is a correct rule. And we shall not properly observe
Eisegesis of it unless we take pains. We are familiar, for
Christian example, with a certain interpretation of w5at
doctrine the New Testament says concerning Jesus
as the Messiah, and we go to the Old Testament look-
ing for the same teaching expressed in similar terms.
In this way we are likely to find what we are looking
for, whether it is there or not. We sometimes find
thing's where they are not. We put the idea into he
passage, instead of looking to see what is already in he
passage ; and then, by way of interpretation, we take out
just what we have put in, possibly a little miscolored by
the process.
This way of studying the Old Testament is all he
more dangerous because it is not altogether valueless.
The method of interpreting the Old Testament by he
light of the New is within its proper limits correct.
Even when the method is incorrectly used, such study
is study. Though faulty, it may, especially in the case
of persons who have spiritual insight, result in he
reaching of truth. Critically bad as this way of learn-
ing is, we cannot afford to forego it save as we an
replace it by something better.
Nevertheless it is logically bad. It is contrary to
accepted laws of investigation. There are grave objec-
tions to it. First, it is needless. All the truth it yields
is equally attainable by methods that will stand the test
of correct criticism. Second, it is perilous. The truth
we thus reach, though genuinely true, has yet been
inferred from premises that can be shown to be false.
There is danger that when we come to see that he
premises are false, our confidence in the truth will be
shaken. Third, it is wasteful. By this particular way
PRELIMINARY 11
of learning the Old Testament through the New we
obtain from it nothing but a pale reflection of the New.
This is a great loss. In a wide range of truths the
Old Testament is more rudimentary, and therefore
simpler and fuller than the New. It is capable of
illuminating the New, and not merely of being illuminated
by it. When so much light is ready to glow, we cannot
afford to take a point of view which brings the object
perpetually into the shadow.
Equally true, however, and at present far more to
the purpose, is the converse rule that, in studying the
Old Testament, we should not drop out the Eisegesis of
ideas which we actually find there, merely be- negative
cause the same ideas are also found in the assumptons
New Testament. We are just now in far greater danger
of making this mistake than the other. There are men
who are so afraid of reading into the Old Testament
some more recent truth that does not belong there that
they actually expel from it, in their interpretations, some
of its simplest and most evident teachings. They say,
for example, that the fatherhood of God is a New Testa-
ment teaching; ands they affirm that the Old Testament
passages which speak of God as father must be under-
stood as meaning something less than they say. We are
not infrequently told that the heart of the religious teach-
ing of Jesus is his doctrine concerning love — to love God
with the whole heart, to love our neighbors as ourselves,
to love our enemies and in this the religion of Jesus is
contrasted with that of the Old Testament; and pas-
sages in the Old Testament which verbally teach just
these doctrines are subjected to a squeezing process to
expel from them this alleged impossible doctrine of love.
Those who practise this style of interpretation ignore
the fact that the doctrines of supreme love to God,
12 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
equal love to men, and love to enemies are chiefly
taught in the New Testament by direct citation from
the Old, with distinct affirmation that these are the doc-
trines which are to be regarded as central in the Old
Testament. The same style of interpretation is prac-
tised in many other instances, and in particular n the
interpretation of the Old Testament statements concern-
ing the prophets.
Against this I protest as being critically worst than
even the current habit of reading New Testament ean-
ings into the Psalms and the Prophets. We are to go to
the Old Testament to find what is there, and not to find
what we suppose ought to be there. Anything we find
there is not removed from there by the fact, if such be
the fact, that it is also found in the New Testament, or
in the Vedas or the Sagas or the Chinese or the reek
literature. Not to speak at all of possibilities rising
from the inspiration of the writers of the Old and New
Testaments, nothing is more in accord with probability
than that great truths should be repeated by the great
minds of different ages.
Quite as baneful in its effect as any other form of
eisegesis is the practice of unduly interpreting the
Eisegesis of biblical statements by the theories th t one
theories of may hold as to the evolution of religion. To
religion the evidence from the analogy of other reli-
gions we should allow just its proper value, and no
more. There are scholars who reason on the asump-
tion that certain propositions, inferred from the com-
parison of the various human religions, are to be
regarded as ascertained scientific facts; so that biblical
statements, if they conflict with these alleged facts, are
thereby proved to be untrue. This is unscientific. The
religion described in the bible is the one early religion
PRELIMINARY 13
in regard to which we have, on the whole, fuller and
more trustworthy information than in regard to any
other. Any generalizations on the rise and develop-
ment of religions, made without using the data given in
the bible, are, by that very circumstance, so far forth
defective and unscientific. Again, no other known re-
ligion is so decidedly marked by its own peculiarities
as the religion described in the bible. If generalizations
were made by the comparison of all other known reli-
gions, still no one would be justified in arguing that these
give us facts concerning the religion of Israel, in oppo-
sition to the specific evidence we have concerning that
religion.
Here is the danger in one direction. On the other
hand, the analogies of other religions may indirectly
throw great light on the history of the religion of the
bible. It is foolish to neglect this or any other source
of possible evidence. In fine, these analogies are, in
biblical questions, of the nature of remote evidence, and
should be treated as remote evidence is properly treated
in any investigation. They should neither be discred-
ited, nor pushed into the chief place to the discrediting
of the direct evidence.
This is the general rule. How much credit should
be given to any particular scheme of Comparative
Religion is another question. For instance, how shall
we account a theory which assumes that the religion of
Israel was primitive in the times of the judges, and
advanced thereafter by certain specified steps from
lower to higher? Do we know that the religion of the
time of the judges was primitive? If the chronological
opinions now current are correct, the times of the
judges are modern compared with the earliest times
in which splendid religious cults are known to have
14 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
existed in Babylonia or Egypt. Who knows that the
order of evolution in a religion is uniformly in an as end-
ing series, according to some particular theory of ascent
and descent?l It is obvious that conclusions derived
from such processes need to be very cautiously used
when they are set forth in contradiction to specific
evidence.
In opposition to such methods as have just bee dis-
cussed, the true method is to come to an Old Testament
A true passage with the question : What did this
method mean to an intelligent, devout, uninspired
Israelite of the time to which it belongs? The Old
Testament passage, whatever its date may be, is it elf a
monument of the Israelite mind of that time. As a dis-
closure of Israelite religious thought in the time when
it was written or in earlier times, it is more authoritative
than any inferences we may draw from what we happen
to know of the religious thought of the Iroquois o the
Hottentots or the Chinese or the Thibetans. In order
to understand the passage, we must bear in mind t at it
was uttered for thoughtful people, and was suite to
their capacities. The great majority was then as now
unintelligent and superficial in matters of religious
thinking, and we are not to gauge the utterance by the
likelihood that such would take an interest in it
1 "Scholars of this class are in the habit of arranging all know
and cults in linear series, placing those which they consider the lo
the bottom, and those which they consider the highest at the to
others graduating between these two extremes. From this artificial
proceeding on the assumption that the lowest must of necessity
most ancient, they write the history of civilization and thought.
method is a radically pernicious one. The series of facts might
easily read in the descending scale; . . . The history of religions
be based, not upon gratuitous assumptions . . . but upon such real
cal facts as are obtainable." — Merwin-Marie Snell in Biblical
September, 1896, p. 209.
PRELIMINARY 15
there were miraculously inspired men in those days,
they may supposably have understood the thought
given in the passage in the light of all the future history
of mankind ; but it was not for such men that the utter-
ance was chiefly given. The givers of the message
claim to be inspired, but it was to uninspired though
thoughtful men that the message was immediately
directed. So far forth as we can assume their attitude,
we are in shape to understand the utterances that were
primarily designed for them.
III. The order of treatment adopted in this volume
is based in part on a conception of the relative present-
day importance of the several topics treated. Order of
The greatest interest we feel in the prophets treatment
arises from the doctrine they taught concerning the
Messiah. On the basis of this fact, the subject separates
into two principal parts, dealing respectively with the
prophets as the men who promulgated the messianic
promise and with the promise which they promulgated.
In treating the first of these two parts we must necessarily
begin by some discussion of the terms used. Then we
pass naturally to a biographical and historical account
of the succession of persons known as the prophets.
Nowhere in history can we find a line of men more
picturesque and interesting in themselves, or whose
achievements have been more, significant. They figure
more prominently than any other men in the history of
Israel. A series of the biographies of the prophets
would be a complete history of Israel. This particularly
attractive part of our subject, however, we must dismiss
with a single chapter, instead of allowing it to expand
into a volume. With the questions of the personal pre-
sentment and the functions of the prophet we must deal
somewhat more fully. Further, the authorship of the
16 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
Old Testament is attributed to the prophets, alike in
the Old Testament itself, in the New Testament, and in
Jewish and Christian tradition. There is no studying
the Old Testament or Old Testament criticism, apart
from the prophets. We must discuss this claim, though
briefly. These topics will occupy the first part of the
volume, leading up to the consideration, in the second
part, of the messianic promise. The second part
naturally closes with the question of the bearing of the
whole upon Christian Apologetics.
It may not be superfluous to mention a fe matters
of detail. Most of the scriptural passages used have
Certain mat- been freshly translated. The translating has
ters of detail been done with the fact in mind that readers
are likely to have the current English version s within
reach. The translations I have given are ordinarily
more literal than those in the versions. In same cases
I have deliberately made them so at the cost of liter-
ary smoothness. Occasionally, however, the variation
from the common translation is made for the purpose
of bringing out the point under discussion.
The use of Hebrew type has been avoided. In
transliterating Hebrew words the attempt as been
to make them look as little un-English as possible, and
to avoid employing unusual type. Proper names and
other words familiar to the eye of English readers have
been retained in their traditional form. In words less
familiar a more accurate transliteration has been used,
though even in these the vocal sh'was are sometimes
represented by a short vowel instead of an apostrophe.
The continental vowel system has been used in trans-
literating, on account of the clumsiness of ou English
way of writing the vowels. Waw is represented by
w, and Yodh by y. The quiescing Waw is omitted,
PRELIMINARY 17
save in special instances. The quiescing Yodh is
omitted after Hhiriq, but retained after Tsere and
Seghol, to distinguish these words from those that are
spelled with Aleph. I have not thought it necessary
to distinguish between Sin and Samekh, or between
Taw and Teth. Readers who know even a little
Hebrew can make these distinctions for themselves,
and for others the matter is unimportant. Aleph and
Ayin are commonly omitted in transliteration, though
for distinction Aleph is sometimes represented by the
spiritus lenis, and Ayin by the spiritus asper. Tsadhe
is represented by ts, and Hheth by hh.
For the name of the national God of Israel I have
used the form Yahaweh. No one should judge this
name until he has first acquired the habit of The name
pronouncing it correctly, according to the Yahaweh
analogies commonly accepted in pronouncing Hebrew.
Accent the last syllable, make the middle h distinctly
a consonant, and pronounce the middle a so short as to
make it a mere breathing. I do not care to discuss
the question whether "Yahweh" is theoretically a more
correct transliteration. Whoever tries to pronounce the
word with this spelling will inevitably either accent the
first syllable, or fail to sound the middle h, or introduce
a slight vowel sound after it. The third is the correct
alternative. If the word were rare, the best translit-
eration might be Yahweh, but for a frequent word,
Yahaweh pleases the eye better. For the rest, the
purposes of this volume require that this word shall
be distinguished as a proper name, and it seems to me
that the correct form of the word is better for this pur-
pose than the artificial combination "Jehovah.”
As for other designations of the supreme Being.
The name Yah should not be confounded with Yaha-
18 THE PROPHETS AND THE PROMISE
weh, as is done in the English versions. Even if
holds that Yah is an abbreviated form of Yahawe
must also acknowledge that the two are used
tinctively. The Hebrew word El is most exactly!
English word God, while Elohim is a more abs
term, like our English word Deity. Sometimes in
volume Elohim is translated Deity, for distinction;
more commonly it is translated God, following
established practice.
PART I
THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
CHAPTER II
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS
OUR English word " prophet " is, of course, the Greek
word profh<thj, from pro<, and fhmi<. The word needs
no discussion here, as it is fully considered in “Prophet"
dictionaries and other accessible works.1 It in Greek and
denotes, not one who speaks beforehand, English
though the prophet was believed to be a foreteller of
events ; nor one who speaks in behalf of another, though
the prophet ordinarily speaks in behalf of Deity; but a
person who speaks forth, speaks publicly, speaks out
the word that he has to speak. When he predicts, he
speaks forth the future verity that would otherwise
remain in concealment. When he speaks for another,
he speaks forth the message which the other has com-
mitted to him, and which would otherwise have remained
unknown. The thing uttered is often a divinely given
prediction, but the word "prophesy" does not signify to
predict.
In the Hebrew, the prophet and his functions are
described in various terms. The standard term, the one
that is most distinctive, is the noun nabhi and Nabhi and
its cognates of the stem nabha. The words its cognates
of this stem are used in every part of the Old Testa-
ment. In our English versions they are uniformly
translated "prophet," "prophesy," "prophecy," and so
1 See the Greek lexicons of Cremer, Thayer, Liddell and Scott, etc.
Or see the Century Dictionary, or Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, or simi-
lar books of reference.
21
22 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
forth. Except in five verses, no other word is so trans-
lated.1 The instances number some hundreds in all, and
they can readily be found for study by the aid of a con-
cordance, either English or Hebrew. We shall have
occasion to examine many of them, one by one, in our
present study of the prophets. The lexicons attribute to
the stem an original physical meaning, "to boil up," and
from this derive the idea of fervid utterance as charac-
terizing the prophets ; but this is an etymologist's con-
jecture, and is disputed by other etymologists. It is too
uncertain to build upon. What we know as to the
meaning of the word is inferred solely from the use of
it. Fortunately, the usage is abundant and unequivo-
cal. The whole of our study of prophecy will be really
a study of the meaning of the word. We need not antici-
pate further than to say that the meaning of the Hebrew
term is well expressed in its Greek-English equivalent.
In our English versions two different Hebrew words
are translated " seer," and each of them has a group of
cognates widely used for expressing matters concerning
the prophets.
Of the two, the one most properly so used is hhozeh.
It is the active participle of a verb that is common to the
Hhozeh and Hebrew and the Aramaic. In the Aramaic
its cognates it is the ordinary word for physical seeing,
but in Hebrew it is little used except to express thought-
ful insight, or in connection with prophetic matters.
David's friend Gad is described as a seer (2 Sam. xxiv.
11; 1 Chron. xxi. 9, xxix. 29; 2 Chron. xxix. 25). Asaph
and Heman and Jeduthun are severally called seers
(2 Chron. xxix. 30, xxxv. I 5 ; I Chron. xxv. 5). The
term is applied to Jedo and Iddo and Jehu and Amos
1 The five verses are Prov. xxx. i, xxxi. I; Isa. xxx. 10; Mic. ii. 6, ii.
The five verses contain in all ten instances.
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS 23
(2 Chron. ix. 29, xii. 15, xix. 2; Am. vii. 12), and is also
used in cases where no individual is mentioned (2 Ki.
xvii. 13; Isa. xxix. 10, xxx. 10; Mic. iii. 7; 2 Chron.
xxxiii. 18, 19).
The verb of this stem is commonly translated "see."
It is often used in cases where an object is thought of
as presented to the eye, but it does not necessarily imply
that. It may denote any form of mental perception,
whether through the senses or not. The following are
examples. " The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz,
which he saw " (Isa. i. 1, cf. ii. 1, xiii. 1; Am. i. 1; Mic.
i. 1; Hab. i. 1). "The diviners have seen falsely "
(Zech. x. 2, cf. Lam. ii. 14 ; Ezek. xiii. 6, 7, 8; and the
Aramaic of Dan. vii. 1, 2, 7, 13, etc.). In one passage
the English versions render this noun and verb by
"prophet" and " prophesy," in order to distinguish
them from the other words for "seer" and "see"
(Isa. xxx. 10).
Several different nouns of this stem are also in use,
and each of them is sometimes rendered " vision " in
the English versions.1
1 The following are the nouns that occur most frequently: —
Hhazon, used thirty-five times. It commonly denotes a revelation
given to a prophet, whether through an appearance presented to the eye
or by some other method (t Sam. iii. i; i Chron. xvii. 15; Isa. xxix. 7;
Jer. xiv. 14, xxiii. i6, etc.). Often the word is used as part of the literary
title of a prophecy (Isa. i. i; Nah. i. t; 2 Chron. xxxii. 32).
Hhazoth (2 Chron. ix. 29). Part of a title of a writing.
Hhizzayon (2 Sam. vii. 17; Job iv. 13, vii. 14; Zech. xiii. 4, etc.).
Like Hhazon, except that it is not used in literary titles.
Mahhazeh appears four times: "The word of Yahaweh was unto Abra-
ham in the vision" (Gen. xv. 1 JE). Balaam habitually " saw the vision
of Shaddai, falling, and being uncovered of eyes" (Num. xxiv. 4, 16 JE).
"Have ye not seen a vain vision " (Ezek. xiii. 7).
Hhazuth, translated "vision" (Isa. xxi. 2, xxix. 11), "agreement "
(Isa. xxviii. 18), "notable horn" (Dan. viii. 5, 8).
Add to these the Aramaic noun Hhezev, occurring only in Daniel,
24 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
The other noun translated "seer" is roeh. It is the
active participle of the verb which is in most common
Roth and its use for physical seeing. The persons who
cognates in the use of this word are called seers are
Samuel, Zadok, and Hanani (1 Sam. ix. 9 et al.; 2 Sam.
xv. 27; 2 Chron. xvi. 7, lo). The word is also used in
this sense without particularly mentioning the person
(Isa. xxx. io). As a participle the word is used dozens
of times. The stem is used hundreds of times.
The English versions make no difference in transla-
tion between this word with its cognates and hhozeh with
its cognates. For the sake of distinction, even at the
cost of somewhat ungainly English, I shall translate the
words of this stem by the English words "behold," "be-
holder," "a beholding," "appear," "appearance," "sem-
blance," reserving the words "see," "seer," "vision," for
rendering the Hebrew words of the stem hhazah.
The verb in the simple active voice is used of a per-
son beholding something, and thus receiving a revelation
from Deity. Ezekiel says : " The heavens opened them-
selves, and I beheld divine beholdings " (i. 1). Zecha-
riah says: " I lifted my eyes and beheld, and lo, four
horns " (i. 18). Jeremiah is asked: "What art thou be-
holding? "He replies: "I am beholding a pot that
boils, its face being from the direction of the north"
(i. 13).1 In the reflexive or passive stem the verb is
used of Deity appearing to men for purposes of revela-
tion. "Yahaweh appeared unto Abram;" "and Deity
appeared unto Jacob again;" "Yahaweh appeared to
Solomon the second time;" "the Angel of Yahaweh
eleven times in the sense of prophetic vision, and once (vii. 20) in the
sense of outward appearance.
1 See also Isa. xxx. 10; Dan. viii. 2, x. 8, etc., and the construct infini-
tive in 2 Chron. xxvi. 5.
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS 25
appeared" unto Moses at the burning bush (Gen. xii.
7, xvii. 1, xviii. 1, xxxv. I, 9; I Ki. ix. 2; Ex. iii. 2).
In the causative-active stem the verb is used of Deity,
causing one to behold something that constitutes a divine
revelation. Amos says: "Thus the Lord Yahaweh
caused me to behold, and lo, he formed locusts." Again
he says: "Thus the Lord Yahaweh caused me to be-
hold, and lo, he called to contend by fire." And again :
"Thus he caused me to behold, and lo, the Lord stood
beside a plumb wall, with a plumbline in his hand "
(vii. I, 4, 7). Jeremiah says: "Yahaweh caused me to
behold, and lo, two baskets of figs" (xxiv. I). Finally,
there are two nouns from this causative stem, a mascu-
line, mareh, and a feminine, marah (mar-eh and mar-ah),
which denote either the divine process of causing one to
behold, or the human act of beholding so caused, or the
object which one is thus made to behold.1
1 These nouns start in usage as the hiphil participle, "causing to be-
hold," either in the sense of giving one power to behold or in that of an
object presenting itself to be beheld, and thus causing one to behold it.
Once the feminine noun denotes mirrors (Ex. xxxviii. 8). A mirror
causes one to behold, in the sense of enabling one to see what would other-
wise be invisible. Elsewhere the noun is used only of revelations from
Deity. It can always be translated, though in some instances awkwardly,
by the English noun "beholding," denoting either the divine enabling or
the human act or the object beheld. The object is thought of as either
really or ideally presented to the eye. The following are the instances: —
"And Deity said to Israel in beholdings by night" (Gen. xlvi. 2 E).
"In the beholding I will make myself known unto him ; in the dream I
will speak with him "(Num. xii. 6 E).
"Samuel being afraid to declare the beholding unto Eli" (I Sam. iii.
15)
"The heavens were opened, and I beheld beholdings from Deity"
(Ezek. i. I).
"A spirit . . . brought me in to Jerusalem, with beholdings from De-
ity" (Ezek. viii. 3).
"With beholdings from Deity he brought me in unto the land of
Israel " (Ezek. xl. 2).
26 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
The nature of the functions denoted in these two
groups of words is reserved for a future chapter. For the
The uses of present we note that the words of the two stems
raah and are not properly interchangeable. At first
hhazah sight, especially in the book of Daniel, the words
of one stem seem to be confused with those of the other,
but closer examination shows that this is not the case.
"Beholdings like the appearance which I had beheld" (Ezek. xliii. 3).
See below under mareh.
Mareh, the masculine noun, is more widely used than its feminine. It
appears participially, for example, " all that I am causing thee to behold "
(Ex. xxv. 9; Ezek. xl. 4). Most commonly, however, it is a substantive,
denoting the external aspect of persons or things, their looks, semblance,
appearance. Like marah it implies either a real or an ideal presentation
to the eye, or to the other senses. It is oftener translated by " appearance"
than by any other word. In cases of revelation from Deity it has four
different meanings. First, it has its usual signification, denoting the looks
of anything. Second, it denotes an apparition, a visible semblance, of
some particular person or thing. Third, it denotes more generally a mani-
festation or disclosure coming from Deity to a man. Fourth, it is some-
times used in the sense of marah.
The first and third of these meanings are illustrated in the following
instance: —
"And the appearance of the appearance which I beheld was as the ap-
pearance which I had beheld at my coming in to destroy the city; and
[there were] beholdings like the appearance which Thad beheld at the
river of Chebar; and I fell upon my face" (Ezek. xliii. 3). The meaning
of this becomes clear if we translate: "And the aspect of the manifesta-
tions which I beheld was like that of the manifestations which I had beheld
at my coming in to destroy the city; and [there were] beholdings like the
manifestations which I had beheld," etc.
The following are additional instances of the third meaning. In each
case notice that the word " appearance" denotes a manifestation, a dis-
closure, from Deity.
"That I may behold this great appearance" (Ex. iii. 3 E). Burning
bush.
"And the appearance of the glory of Yahaweh as devouring fire at the
head of the mountain" (Ex. xxiv. iq P).
"There used to be over the mishkan as it were an appearance of fire,
. . and an appearance of fire by night" (Num. ix. 15–16 P).
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS 27
For example, the verb hhazah never has mareh or marah
as its object. When this verb is used of the seeing of
a vision, the word for vision is always of its own stem.
"Mouth unto mouth I speak with him, and an appearance, and not in
riddles" (Num. xii. 8 E). In contrast with nzarah of ver. 6.
"The glory of the God of Israel, according to the appearance which I
beheld " (Ezek. viii. 4).
"And a spirit lifted me up and brought me in at Chaldea unto the ex-
iles, in the appearance, by the Spirit of Deity; and the appearance which
I beheld went up from upon me" (Ezek. xi. 24).
The second of the four meanings is frequent, and may be illustrated by
the following instances. In some cases there may be room for doubt as
between the second, third, and fourth meanings. Using the English word
"appearance " for each, there is room for difference of judgment as to the
meaning of the word.
"According to the appearance which Yahaweh made Moses behold',
(Num. viii. 4 P). Is the "pattern" here a semblance, or a divine mani-
festation?
"And his face according to the semblance of lightning" (Dan. x. 6).
"And lo, there stood before me as it were the semblance of a person"
(Dan. viii. 15). See also Ezek. i. 26, 27, viii. 2, 4.
In the book of Daniel the distinction between mareh and nzarah is not
so consistently maintained as elsewhere. In the following instances I trans-
late the masculine noun by "appearance," and the feminine by " behold-
ing"; but the two alike denote a manifestation or disclosure by Deity.
"Gabriel, make this man to understand the appearance " (viii. 16).
"He understood the word, and had understanding as to the appear-
ance " (x. i).
"And the appearance concerning the evenings and the mornings, as
bath been said, is truth ; and as for thee, close thou up the vision, because
it is for many days " (viii. 26). The reference here is to what has been
said concerning the "vision" and the 2300 "evening-mornings" (vv.
13-14).
"And I was astonished concerning the appearance" (27).
"And to understand the matter, and to give understanding in regard
to the appearance " (ix. 23).
"And I Daniel myself alone beheld the beholding, while the men who
were with me beheld not the beholding" (x. 7).
"And I beheld this great beholding" (x. 8).
" My lord, at the beholding my pangs are turned upon me, and I retain
no strength" (x. 16).
28 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
The verb raah, however, a few times takes as its object
a word of the stem hhazah. "Your young men shall
behold visions " (Joel ii. 28 [iii. 1]). " As I Daniel was
beholding the vision " (Dan. viii. 15). In this context
in Daniel the reflexive voice of raah is also used with
derivatives of hhazah. "A vision appeared unto me
. . . after the one that had appeared unto me at the be-
ginning " (viii. I). But these expressions are explained
by the parallel expression, " I beheld in vision " (viii. 2)
2, ix. 21), and also by the use of the nouns in these chap-
ters of Daniel. Hhazon here denotes the whole transac-
tion (viii. I, 2, 2, 13, 15, 17, iX. 2I, X. 14, xi 14). It is
something that can be put into written form, and sealed
or closed up (ix. 24, viii. 26). Mareh and marah, on the
other hand, designate certain parts of the transaction,
parts that may be thought of as presented to the eye
(viii. 15, 16, 26, 27, X. 1, 6, 18, 7, 7, 8, 16). The use of
the verbs is quite congruous with this. It is everywhere
true that the words of the raah stem imply the possi-
bility of presentation to the eye or to the senses, while
those of the hhazah stem are capable of being used inde-
pendently of that implication, in the sense of insight or
reflection or other mental processes, as distinguished
from physical seeing.1 It further illustrates the differ-
ence to observe that the derivatives of hhazah are fre-
quently employed, as we have seen, in the literary titles
of the prophetic writings, but the words from raah
never.
The phrase "man of God," ish elohim, ish haelohim,
occurs often in the Old Testament as the equivalent of
nabhi, and is probably never employed except in this
1 The cases in which a preposition is used with a noun of either stem,
forming the phrase " in vision," afford no additional instance that is signifi-
cant.
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS 29
use. Moses is many times called a man of God (e.g.
Deut. xxxiii. i; Josh. xiv. 6; i Chron. xxiii. 14).1 So are
Samuel and Shemaiah and David and Elijah and Elisha
and many others (1 Sam. ix. 6, 7, etc.; i Ki. Man of God
xii. 22, etc.; 2 Chron. viii. 14, etc.; 2 Ki. i. 9,
io, etc.; 2 Ki. iv. 7, etc., and concordance). The Angel
that appeared to Manoah and his wife is by them
described as a man of God (Jud. xiii. 6, 8, JE). The
person who spoke against Jeroboam's altar (called Jadon
by Josephus, probably "Jedo the seer" of 2 Chron. ix.
29) is several times called "man of God," and once
"prophet" (1 Ki. xiii. 1, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, etc., and 18, 23),
while the term "prophet" is uniformly used of the
resident prophet who brought him back (11, 18, 20,
etc.).
Corresponding in form to the phrase "man of God "
is the phrase "word of Yahaweh," d'bhar yahaweh,
the usual designation for a message given Word of
by Deity to or through a man endowed with Yahaweh
the prophetic gift. " The word of Yahaweh came unto
Abraham in a vision " (Gen. xv. 1, 4 E). Moses is rep-
resented as saying: "I stood between Yahaweh and
you at that time, to tell to you the word of Yahaweh"
(Deut. v. 5). Isaiah says: "Out of Zion law shall go
forth, and the word of, Yahaweh from Jerusalem " (ii. 3).
The phrase appears in the titles of prophetic books:
"The word of Yahaweh that came to Micah" (Mic.
i. I). It is habitually used for opening the prophetic
narratives: "The word of Yahaweh came unto Jonah";
"the word of Yahaweh came unto Jonah the second
time" (Jon. i. I, iii. I). The phrase is probably never
employed in any other meaning, and at least this is its
1 The new tradition assigns Deut. xxxiii to a date earlier than J or E,
and Josh. xiv. 6 sq. to JE.
30 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
ordinary use.1 The parallel term "word of God,"
d'bhar elohim, or d'bhar haelohim, sometimes occurs,
though but seldom.
Cognate with this are the phrases of asseveration,
amar yahaweh and n'um yahaweh, each occurring hun-
Saith dreds of times, and in our versions both trans-
Yahaweh lated " saith Jehovah." Both are commonly,
perhaps exclusively, applied to prophetic utterances (e.g.
Jer. ii. 2, 5, iv. 3 and i. 8, 15, 19), though it is in many
cases doubtful whether amar yahaweh is used as an as-
severation or as giving a mere statement of fact. In
asseverations of this kind the word elohim, "God,"
"Deity," is not often used, except in combination with
other words. The different expression yomar yahaweh,
“Yahaweh is saying,” sometimes appears (e.g. Isa. i.
11, 18, xxxiii. 10, xl. I), though it is not distinctively
translated in the English versions. In numberless in-
stances we find the merely descriptive statement that
Yahaweh, or Deity, spake, or said.
As the prophetic gift is constantly represented as
bestowed by the Spirit of Yahaweh (I Ki. xviii. 12;
Man of the Isa. lxiii. 10, 11; Joel ii. 28–29; 2 Chron.
Spirit xv. I; Num. xi. 25-29, etc.), the prophet is
very naturally designated by the descriptive phrase
"the man of the Spirit" (Hos. ix. 7).
The word massa, "burden," is used to denote a
prophecy of a certain kind, from the days of Elisha,
and later. A massa is poetic in form, and
Massa in most cases minatory in character, and
always relatively brief. Jehu is represented as saying
to Bidkar his captain that Yahaweh had "lifted up this
burden" upon Ahab: —
1 For additional instances see Isa. i. 10; i Ki. xvii. 2, 8, 16, 24; i Sam.
iii. I, 21, xv. 23, 26; Ex. ix. 20, 21, and concordance.
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS 31
"Surely the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons
I beheld yesterday, so saith Yahaweh!
And I will make requital to thee
in this plat, so saith Yahaweh!"
Jehu mentions this as a reason for casting the corpse
of Ahab's son, whom he has just slain, into the plat of
Naboth (2 Ki. ix. 25-26). In Isaiah, the "Burden of
Babylon," "Burden of Moab," "Burden of Damascus "
(xiii. 1, xv. 1, xvii. 1), are poems of threatening upon
those countries. The instances of "burdens " are nu-
merous (e.g. Ezek. xii. 10; Nah. i. i; Zech. ix. 1, xii. i;
Mal. i. 1; Isa. xiv. 28; 2 Chron. xxiv. 27 and concord-
ance). In Prov. xxx. 1, xxxi. 1, where the poems are
not minatory, the King James's version translates massa
in the title by "prophecy." The revised version every-
where proposes "oracle " as the alternative translation
of the word. Massa seems to be used in 1 Chron. xv.
22, 27, to denote the singing when David brought the
ark to Jerusalem, and this may possibly indicate the
nature of its use in matters prophetic.
Certain forms of the causative-active stem of nataph
are sometimes applied to prophetic utterance. The
verb means to drip, to fall'' in drops, as in Hittiph,
the case of drippings of honey, or a gentle mattiph
shower. When used of human speech (Prov. v. 3;
Cant. iv. 11; Job xxix. 22) the idea seems to be that of
sweet or smooth or persuasive talk. When the words
of this stem are applied to prophets (Am. vii. 16; Mic.
ii. 6, 11; Ezek. xx. 46 and xxi. 2 [xxi. 2, 7], they can
be forcibly translated by the English words "preach,"
"preacher." In Micah ii these words seem to be used
by enemies, and ironically.
“Preach ye not! They will be preaching! They shall not preach
to these! One never ceaseth uttering reproaches!"
32 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
And a few verses farther on appears this statement:
" If a man going in wind and falsehood has lyingly said, I will
preach for thee of wine and of strong drink, then he will become the
preacher of this people " (Mic. ii. 6, i 1).1
A prophet is also sometimes called an angel of
Yahaweh (e.g. Hag. i. 13), or a shepherd or a servant
Metaphor- Or a watchman, or by other like names ; but
ical terms these terms are properly figures of speech
rather than appellations. Other like forms of expres-
sion might be added.
Three general observations are to be made in regard
to the use of these several terms in the Old Testament
— observations that are equally true whether we apply
them to the history or to the records that contain the
history, and in the main equally true whether we follow
the old tradition concerning the dates of the records, or
follow some form of the newer tradition.
In the first place, there is no definite succession of
dates at which the various terms describing the prophets
The several come successively into use. In a general
terms not sense it is true that all the principal terms
confined to are employed in all parts of the record.
particular One critic may infer from this that the prophetic
dates phenomena were practically all in existence
before the earliest records were written; and another
may account for it by some theory of interpolation into
the records by later writers; but in any case the fact
exists. It is true that particular words have a limited
range of use. For example, roeh in the sense of seer
1 The English words " prophet," " prophesy," " prophecy," are used in
the King James or the revised versions to translate hittiph in this passage,
to translate massa in Prov. xxx. 1, xxxi. 1, and to translate the hhazah
words in Isa. xxx. lo. Elsewhere they are restricted in these versions to
words of the stem nabha.
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS 33
appears only in the literature treating of the times from
Samuel to Isaiah ; while hhozeh first appears in the
history of David, and may possibly be said to supersede
roeh for the later times. In the time of Samuel roeh
was the appellative in common use in place of nabhi
I Sam. ix. 9, I0, II, cf. x. 5, IO, II, I2, I3). Massa
appears only from the time of Elisha and onward. But
it is doubtful how far an absence of these terms from
any part of the Old Testament is really significant.
Their not being used in the writings which we have
for any period does not necessarily prove that they were
at that time unknown. And one may see, by running
over the references given in this chapter, that the
phrase " man of God " is applied to Moses, and to other
men from his time on ; and that the phrase " word of Yaha-
weh," with words of the stems nabha, raah, and hhazah,
are used in describing divine revelations to men from
the times of Abraham. And these several terms are in
frequent use, not only in those parts of the Old Testa-
ment which the critics of the Modern View regard as of
relatively late origin, but in those which they assign to
the times of Amos and Hosea and earlier. For example,
the references include passages from those parts of the
book of Judges that are regarded by the men of the new
tradition as early, and also passages from those parts of
the hexateuch which they assign to J or E or J E or
independent early sources. Follow what critical theory
you please, there is a somewhat extensive vocabulary of
prophetic terms from a time as early as the earliest sur-
viving records of the earliest times in Israelitish history.
Further, it is in general true that the terms we have
been considering are interchangeable, so far as their
application to any given person is concerned. Each
term has of course its own differential meaning. The
34 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
terms differ in meaning when they denote the functions
of the prophet. The seers seem to be distinguished
The personal from the beholders. As we have seen above,
terms all applicable the men who are spoken of by name as seers
to the same are different men from those who are spoken
person of as beholders. Samuel the beholder is spe-
cifically distinguished from Gad the seer, and beholders
in general are distinguished from seers in general
(i Chron. xxix. 29; Isa. xxx. 10). But Samuel was both
a roeh and a nabhi. Gad was both a hhozeh and a
nabhi (i Sam. xxii. 5 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. i r, etc.). So was
Amos (Am. vii. 12-16). So probably was Jehu, the son
of Hanani (r Ki. xvi. 7, 12, etc., cf. 2 Chron. xix. 2), the
alternative being that Hanani was both roeh and hhozeh
(2 Chron. xvi. 7, 10, cf. xix. 2). With perhaps some limi-
tation in the case of roeh and hhozeh, a person who was
regarded as having certain supernatural gifts was called
indifferently man of God, prophet, seer, beholder. One
term may have been at certain times current, rather than
another, the term roeh, for example, just before the pro-
phetic revival under Samuel, but all four of the terms
were current from very early times. The permanent
differences between the terms were differences in the
form of the thought, and not in the person designated.
Finally, it should be noted that these several terms
are used in the Old Testament with different degrees of
What is com- comprehension. First, they are applied to
prehended in persons who are better known as prophets
the terms than in any other capacity, for example, Sam-
uel or Elisha or Jeremiah or Isaiah. Such prophets were
also eminent as judges, priests, statesmen, and the like;
but the mention of any one of these names suggests to
us the services of the man as a prophet, rather than in
any other capacity. Second, the terms are applied to
TERMS USED IN DESCRIBING THE PROPHETS 35
persons who are better known in some other capacity
than as prophets, but who exercised prophetic gifts.
Some of these, as Moses the lawgiver or David the
king, stand very high in the prophetic ranks. By
parity the character of prophet belongs to other men of
like position, for example, such men as Joshua and Solo-
mon and Ezra and Nehemiah. It will sometimes be
convenient, for distinction's sake, to call such men pro-
phetic men, rather than prophets. That is partly a
question of convenience in the use of language. But
when we are discussing the prophets as a subject, we
must take into the account all persons who have the
prophetic character. Third, the terms are applied to
persons who were prophets only in a secondary sense,
to the pupils or disciples or assistants of the men who
were strictly prophets. As we advance in our study we
shall find much said concerning certain prophetic "com-
panies," and certain so-called "sons of the prophets,"
men who were banded together into organizations under
such great prophets as Samuel or Elijah, men who were
recognized as disciples of such a prophet as Isaiah. A
person of this type may naturally be spoken of as a
prophet or a man of God, especially when he is sent by
his superior on some prophetic errand. The secondary
prophets were at times much more numerous than the
primary prophets, and it sometimes becomes important
to distinguish between the two.
In addition to these uses, many assert that the words
that denote the prophet and his functions are also used
to denote mere frenzied utterance, and that primarily
the prophetic gift is conceived of as a kind of insanity.
We shall find that there is no ground for this, and that
herein there is a difference between the prophets of
Israel and the prophets of the nations.
CHAPTER III
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS
THIS subject, though we must dismiss it with a single
chapter, is a fascinating one. Some of the older treat-
The attrac- ments of it are dull through the lack of
tiveness of imagination, or through the wrong use of
the subject imagination. They regard the prophets as
unearthly revealers of the divine will, with no human
blood in them. Some of the more recent treatments are
yet more faulty, rejecting half the biblical data, filling
in the gaps thus made from conjecture or by inference
from theory, and thus giving portraits utterly different
from those in the bible, and immeasurably inferior. In
contrast with both these modes of treatment would be
that of one who should simply take the trouble to find
out just what the biblical statements mean, using his
imagination only to render the facts distinct and vivid.
What we need is a treatment at once correct and im-
aginative. Why does not some one write a history of
Israel in the form of a series of biographies of the
prophets, working it up, not from Bible Dictionaries,
not from volumes, not from Josephus, not from com-
mentaries, not from theories of the evolution of religion,
but purely from the data given in the bible ? There are
no heroes in history more picturesque or interesting or
full of vitality than these same prophets, provided we
picture them rightly.
Many of the books of reference affirm that the succes-
36
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 37
sion of the prophets began with Samuel. In proof they
cite passages from the Acts and from I Samuel. But
the context in Samuel, as we shall see below, The division
implies that prophecy was previously in exist- into periods
ence, and that in the Acts affirms that prophecy had
been in existence from the days of Moses, and, indeed,
from the beginning of the world.1 Other parts of
the record give details in abundance. Certainly the
biblical view is that what occurred in Samuel's time
was not an origination but a revival. There was
then a new beginning in the progress of an ancient
institution.
The biblical presentation of the history of the prophets
is in very clearly marked chronological periods. The
first great period, that before Samuel, includes as sub-
ordinate periods the pre-Abrahamic times, the patriar-
chal times, the times of the exodus, and the times of the
Judges before Samuel. The prophets of the second
great period, from Samuel to the close of the Old Testa-
ment, fall into six groups, namely, the group in which
Samuel and Nathan and David were eminent, the
Elijah and Elisha group, the Isaiah group, the Jeremiah
group, the exilian prophets, and the postexilian prophets.
Then any survey of these two great periods is incom-
plete unless supplemented by obtaining, in part from
1"Yea and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after
.. . told of these days" (Acts iii. 24). It is easy to understand this as
affirming that Samuel was the earliest prophet, but the immediate con-
text shows that the writer intended no such meaning. Only a few sen-
tences previously he has used this language: "The times of restoration of
all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which
have been since the world began." Moses indeed said: "A prophet shall
the Lord God raise up unto you . . . like unto me " (Acts iii. 21-22, cf. vii.
37; Lc. i. 70). With this agrees the New Testament mention of the pro-
phetic gift in the times of Balaam and of Enoch (2 Pet. ii. 16; Jude 14).
38 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
extrabiblical sources, some account of the closing of the
succession of the prophets.l
I. We take up the first great period. The Old Tes-
tament agrees with the New in representing that the
patriarchs exercised prophetic gifts; that such gifts were
abundant in the time of Moses, and that they continued
during the time between Moses and Samuel.
Books on the subject have been very free in ascribing
prophetic phenomena to the times before Abraham.
Prophecy Jude says that Enoch prophesied (14), and in
before Luke and the Acts it is affirmed that there
Abraham have been holy prophets from the beginning
of the world (Lc. i. 70; Acts iii. 21). Parts of the
first eleven chapters of Genesis have figured largely in
discussions concerning prophecy ; for example, the pro-
tevangelium, the sacrifice of Abel, some of the experi-
ences of Noah (Gen. iii. 15, iv, vi—ix, and New Testament
parallels). Something very like prophetic character
has been attributed to Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abel, Noah,
and others. Any detailed consideration of these mat-
ters belongs to a later stage in our investigation. For
the present it is sufficient to note that the various terms
denoting prophetic function are not used in the accounts
of the times before Abraham; but that there is nothing
to forbid the opinion that the writers of these accounts
1 The biblical account seems to be that with Samuel there began cer-
tain arrangements for cultivating the prophetic gift, which, thenceforward
to the close of the Old Testament times, secured a more abundant succes-
sion of prophets than had previously existed. If we distinguish between
prophets and prophetic men, applying the latter term to men who had
prophetic gifts, but are better known in some other capacity, the great
names before Samuel are of prophetic men only. It further happens to
be true that the Old Testament books called the Prophets, in distinction
from the Law and the Hagiographa, are ascribed in the traditions to the
prophets of Samuel's time and later, while the Law and the Hagiographa
are ascribed, in the main, to prophetic men.
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 39
thought of pre-Abrahamic men as possessing prophetic
gifts.1
Old Testament history, however, properly begins with
Abraham. From Abraham onward the Israelite litera-
ture is familiar with the distinctive titles and duties and
powers that belong to a prophet.
It is represented that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
had prophetic gifts, though this representation is not
very greatly emphasized. Abraham is once The patri-
expressly called a prophet. In the time when archs were
he led a migratory life, going from one coun- prophets
try to another, we are told that Abimelech took posses-
sion of Abraham's wife. To him a revelation was
made: —
"And now, restore thou the wife of the man, for he is a prophet,
that he may make his prayer in thy behalf," etc. (Gen. xx. 7 E).
One of the psalmists, centuries later, cites this incident
in the following lines : —
"And they went about from nation unto nation,
from one kingdom unto another people.
He suffered no man to wrong them,
and he rebuked kings for their sakes:
Touch ye not mine anointed ones,
and to my prophets do ye no harm."
(Ps. cv. 14-15, repeated in t Chron. xvi. 20-22.)
In addition to this one instance in which the word
"prophet " is used, it is represented that Abraham had
visions, and that the word of Yahaweh came to him in
1 One who accepts the Graf-Wellhausen analysis should observe that the
passages which have commonly been cited as prophetic occur alike in the
earlier and the later J and in P, though with characteristic differences.
On any critical theory it is probable that all the authors of Genesis, earlier
or later, thought of the prophetic gift as current among these predecessors
of Abraham.
40 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
vision (Gen. xv. I, 4 E). A very prominent part of his
experiences consists in those when Yahaweh " appeared "
to him.1
"And Yahaweh appeared unto him at the oaks of Mamre," fol-
lowed by extended details (xviii..i J).
It is further represented that Isaac and Jacob had simi-
lar experiences. Yahaweh appeared unto Isaac, for-
bidding him to go down into Egypt as Abraham had
done ; and again appeared to him, promising to bless
and multiply him (Gen. xxvi. 2, 24 D. Jacob had a
prophetic dream, wherein the Angel of God commanded
him to return to Palestine (Gen. xxxi. 11, E). God ap-
peared to him at Bethel, after his return from Paddan-
aram (Gen. xxxv. 9 P). When he was about to go
down into Egypt,
"God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night" (Gen. xlvi.
2E).
Look up these instances in detail, and it will be evident
that the patriarchs are here represented as having per-
sonal interviews with the supreme Being, essentially the
same as were enjoyed by the prophets of later times.
This is not a matter which depends wholly on the
critical theories one may hold. If the hexateuch was
written by Moses and Joshua and their associates, then
we have the testimony of that generation to the facts in
the case. But how is it on the theory of those who
analyze Genesis into the three documents, J and E and
P, dated respectively 800, 750, and 400 B.C.? On the
basis of their partition some of the passages that have
1 For example, at his first coming to Palestine,
"Yahaweh appeared unto Abram, and said, To thy seed will I give this
land. And he built there an altar to Yahaweh that appeared unto him"
(Gen. xii. 7 J).
"And Yahaweh appeared unto Abram, and said unto him, I am El-
shaddai" (Gen. xvii. 1 P [RP?]).
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 41
been cited are taken from J, some from E, and some
from P. That is, all three alike testify to the prophetic
gifts of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It is not unim-
portant which theory of the hexateuch we hold; but on
any theory the oldest Hebrew literature testifies to the
view we are advocating.
In the records of the times of Moses and Joshua
the mention of prophecy is very abundant. In the
account of the exodus, for example, the stem Prophecy in the
nabha occurs seventeen times, and the other time of Moses and
terms that denote prophetic phenomena are Joshua
much used. Instances will presently be given. Per-
haps we habitually think of Moses as a statesman, a
warrior, a lawgiver but, none the less, the record says
that he was remarkably endowed with the prophetic
gift. He is described as the greatest of prophets.1
He is frequently spoken of, both in the hexateuch and
elsewhere, as "the man of God " (e.g. Deut. xxxiii. i;
Josh. xiv. 6; Ezra iii. 2; I Chron. xxiii. 14; 2 Chron. xxx.
16). He has the various experiences that characterize
a prophet. Habitually he has supernatural communica-
tion with God. Yahaweh appeared unto him (Ex. iii. 2,
16, and many places). Yahaweh caused him to see in
the prophetic sense (Ex. xxvii. 8; Num. viii. 4 et al.).
Using words of the stem raah, the beholding of visions
is attributed to Moses (Num. xii. 8; Ex. iii. 3). In cer-
tain instances presently to be cited, he is the typical
prophet with whom others are compared. The prophet
who is to be raised up he describes as "like unto me."
Yahaweh enables other men to prophesy by taking of
1 "There arose not a prophet since in Israel, like unto Moses" (Deut.
xxxiv. so).
" And by a prophet Yahaweh brought up Israel out of Egypt, and by a
prophet he was guarded" (Hos. xii. 13 [14]).
42 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
the Spirit that was upon Moses and placing it upon
them. He is so superior to other prophets as to be
fairly in contrast with them.
The records represent that Moses was not the only
prophet of this period. We read that " Miriam the
prophetess took a timbrel in her hand," and celebrated
the overthrow of Pharaoh at the Red Sea (Ex. xv. 20 E).
Miriam appears again in the narrative in which she and
Aaron find fault with Moses on account of the Ethiopian
woman. Yahaweh rebukes them, in language that im-
plies that Miriam is a prophet with whom Yahaweh
communicates in beholdings or in dreams, and that per-
sons of this sort were not unfamiliar to that generation
of Israelites.1 This same fact of the multiplication of
prophecy appears in the story of the prophesying of
Eldad and Medad and the seventy, and in the wish then
expressed by Moses that all Yahaweh's people were
prophets.2
1 "If there be a prophet of you,
I Yahaweh make myself known unto him in beholdings,
in dreams I speak with him.
Not so is my servant Moses,
in all my house he is trustworthy.
Mouth unto mouth I speak with him,
even causing him to behold, and not enigmatically,
and the likeness of Yahaweh he gazeth upon " (Num. xii. 6—8 E).
It is not implied here that Moses has a different gift from the prophetic
gift of Miriam and Aaron, but that he has prophetic seeing power in a
much higher degree than they.
2 "And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and made
them stand around the Tent. And Yahaweh came down in the cloud, and
spake unto him, and took of the Spirit which was upon hire and gave it
upon seventy men, the elders. And it came to pass, as the Spirit rested
upon them, that they prophesied, and did no more. And there remained
two men in the camp, the name of the one being Eldad, and the name
of the second Medad; and the Spirit rested upon them, they being among
those who were written, and they not having gone forth to the Tent; and
they prophesied in the camp. And the young man ran and told Moses,
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 43
Besides these passages, in which certain persons are
spoken of as prophets, there are others which make
such mention of prophetic functions as to imply that
prophets were something well known in that generation.
Words of the stem hhazah are less used in the records
for this period than in those of later periods. But it is
said of the elders of Israel: —
"They had vision of Deity, and did eat and drink " (Ex. xxiv.
11 J).
And it is represented that Balaam twice describes
himself as —
"He that heareth the sayings of El,
That seeth the vision of the Almighty,
Having fallen, and his eyes having become uncovered" (Num.
xxiv. 4, i6 JE).
Whatever the date of the book of Job, its action is
located in the time of the exodus or earlier. It affords
such instances as the following : —
“In thoughts from the visions of the night" (iv. 13).
"Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions "
(vii. 14).
"He shall be chased away as a vision of the night" (xx. 8).
Passing to the use of other terms, the relations of
Aaron to Moses are defined in the words: —
"Behold I have given thee for a Deity unto Pharaoh, Aaron
thy brother being thy prophet" (Ex. vii. i P).
Such language presupposes familiarity with the notion
of a prophet, and of the relations he sustains to Deity.
In Deuteronomy laws are given formally defining the
and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And answered
Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, of his choice young men,
and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said to him, Art thou
jealous for me? Would that all Yahaweh's people were prophets! that
Yahaweh would give his Spirit upon them!" (Num. xi. 24—29 JE).
44 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
character of a prophet, prescribing how true prophets
are to be distinguished from false, forecasting a line
of prophets to come (xiii. 1, 3, 5 [2, 4, 6], xviii. 15, 18,
20, 22). There is no need here to consider these pas-
sages at length. They will be discussed when we reach
the subjects of the functions of a prophet and of mes-
sianic prophecy.
In these several passages a prophet is defined, as we
have seen, as a spokesman of Deity, divinely inspired
through visions, dreams, trances, divine appearings.
These affirmations are found not merely in the narrative
portions of the books, but in the statements which the
books say were made by the persons whose history they
narrate. Their validity depends not at all, directly, on
the question who wrote the pentateuchal books. If the
books are historically true, then the statements are true,
no matter when they were written in their present form.
And even from the point of view of those who regard
them as unhistorical, they testify to what their authors
believed to be true of the times of Moses. Further,
our citations have been made indifferently from sections
which the critical hypotheses ascribe to J, E, JE, P, and
D. If there were authors of all these classes, then all
alike agree in affirming that prophecy was abundant in
the days of Moses.
For the times from the settlement of Israel in Canaan
to the birth of Samuel the mention of prophecy in the
Prophecy in narratives is relatively unusual; but the
the times of stream of prophecy through this region of
the Judges the history is perceptible though slender.
Deborah is called a prophetess (Jud. iv. 4). Perhaps
we may be at a loss whether to classify her as a states-
man sometimes acting the part of a prophet, or as a
prophet sometimes doing the duty of a statesman.
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 45
Gideon and others are occasionally represented as hold-
ing communication with God, such as a prophet might
hold. We are told of a prophet whom Yahaweh sent
to Israel in the days of Gideon (Jud. vi. 8), and we
have a record in three verses of his prophecy. We
are told of the appearing of the Angel of Yahaweh
to Gideon (Jud. vi. 12) and to Manoah and his wife
(Jud. xiii. 3, 10, 21). Few instances of theophany in
the bible are presented with as much fulness of detail
as these two. "The Angel," in the book of Judges,
is always a supernatural being, and not a prophet.
This is particularly the case with the Angel who ap-
peared to the wife of Manoah, and afterward to her and
Manoah, announcing the birth of Samson. But, four
times in the narrative, they speak of him as a " man of
God " ( Jud. xiii. 6, 8, 10, 11 ). Evidently a man of God,
a prophet, was a well-known fact within the range of
their experience.
In the time of Eli, just at the close of this period,
the dearth of prophecy was deepest.
"The word of Yahaweh being precious in those days, there being
no widespread vision" (i Sam. iii. I).
These words affirm that prophecy had then nearly dis-
appeared from Israel. The same fact is implied in the
statement concerning the recognition of Samuel.
"And all Israel knew, from Dan and even unto Beer-Sheba, that
Samuel was made sure for a prophet to Yahaweh. And again
Yahaweh appeared in Shiloh ; for Yahaweh disclosed himself unto
Samuel in Shiloh in the word of Yahaweh " (I Sam. iii. 20-21).
From these statements it has been inferred that there
was no prophecy in Israel before Samuel. This infer-
ence differs from the representations of the In the time
bible. If the passage last cited implies that of Eli
the wealth of prophecy which came in with Samuel was
46 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
in contrast with the poverty which directly preceded, it
equally implies that there had been an earlier time
when Yahaweh appeared in Shiloh by his prophetic
word. The other passage says that prophecy was at
that time a rare thing, not that it was nonexistent.
From the context we learn that it was not nonexistent.
We are told of a "man of God " who came to Eli with
just such a message as prophets are accustomed to
bring.1 Further, we are told that Eli was sufficiently
familiar with the idea of prophetic function to recog-
nize the nature of Samuel's call when it came to him.2
In fine, the history of the times of the Judges justifies
the assertion of Jeremiah: —
"Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of
Egypt unto this day, I have sent unto you all my servants the
prophets, daily rising up early and sending them" (vii. 25 RV).
So much for the first great period of the history of proph-
ecy. Besides other statements in other terms, the words
"prophet" and "prophesy" are applied not less than
twenty-four times, in the Old Testament, to the period
before the death of Eli.3 And let us once more remind
ourselves that this is the testimony of the records irre-
spective of the question when or by whom the records
were written. Assuredly, if a person is in the habit
1 "And there came a man of God unto Eli and said unto him, I surely
revealed myself unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt,"
etc. (I Sam. ii. 27-36).
2 Of Samuel it is said that he, being an inexperienced boy, "did not yet
know," that "the word of Yahaweh was not yet disclosed unto him."But
Eli was older and more experienced. "And Yahaweh again called Sam-
uel the third time, and he arose and went unto Eli, and said, Here am I
for thou calledst me; and Eli understood that Yahaweh was calling the
boy. And Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down, and it shall be, if he call unto
thee thou shalt say, Speak, Yahaweh, for thy servant is hearkening"
(i Sam. iii. 7-9).
3 As we shall presently see, there is in this nothing contradictory of
I Sam. ix. 9.
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 47
of designating certain parts of the hexateuch and of
Judges and Samuel as J and E, and of saying that J and
E are "prophetic" narratives, that person is precluded
from denying that these narratives recognize a prophetic
element in the history. And if he admits that these
writings which he regards as the earliest testify to the
existence of prophets in this part of the history, he must
all the more admit that what he regards as the later
parts of the record testify to the same fact. Any one
who reads the writings without thus dividing them into
earlier and later sections, will find the same testimony
there. In other words, there is a consensus of testi-
mony among the writers of the Old Testament, no mat-
ter how you regard them critically, to the effect that
prophecy in Israel came down from the earliest times.
II. In the second great period of the history of the
prophets, the first subordinate period is that in which
Samuel and Nathan and David are proms- Prophecy in
nent. Its natural limits are from the death of the times of Samuel,
Eli to the disruption of the kingdom after David, and
Solomon. The chronology is in dispute, but Nathan
the biblical numbers make it about one hundred and
sixty years.
The distinguished prophets named in the record for
this period are Samuel and Gad and Nathan, David and
Solomon, Zadok, Asaph and Heman and
Ethan or Jeduthun, Ahijah and Shemaiah and The prophets
Jedo. The easiest and most effective way of obtaining
information concerning these men would be to look
them up, with the aid of a concordance, in the Old
Testament. In this chapter we must dismiss them with
just a few sentences.
Samuel is the earliest and, with the exception of
David, the most distinguished great prophet of this
48 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
time. His career is too well known to need recapitula-
tion here. Gad was associated with David from the time
when David first became an outlaw to near the close of
the reign. It was by his advice that David chose his
hiding places within the borders of Judah, and he was
the prophet consulted when Oman's threshing floor
was purchased, and the temple site fixed (i Sam.
xxii. 5; 2 Sam. xxiv. 11ff.; I Chron. xxi. 9 ff.).
Nathan first appears in the middle years of David's
reign, rebuking him for his sin in the matter of Uriah;
and, later,1 as the prophet through whom the great
promise was given to David, in response to David's dis-
position to build a temple (2 Sam. xii ; Ps. li, title; 2
Sam. vii; I Chron. xvii). Still later Nathan figures as
the strong supporter of the claims of Solomon to the
throne (I Ki. i). The Chronicler groups David and Gad
and Nathan, and refers to "the words" of Samuel and
of Gad and of Nathan as written sources for the history
of David and of the times before him (r Chron. xxix. 29;
2 Chron. xxix. 25).
David is spoken of as a "man of God," upon whom
the Spirit came mightily, to whom Yahaweh appeared
(e.g. 2 Chron. viii. 14; Neh. xii. 24, 36 ; I Sam. xvi. 13,
etc.; 2 Chron. iii. I. Also Acts ii. 30). In these and
other terms he is presented to us as richly endowed
with prophetic gifts. To Solomon also prophetic reve-
lations are attributed.2
1 The affair of Uriah occurred while the Ammonite war was in progress,
before David's conquests had brought him rest. The bringing up of the
ark to Jerusalem and the giving of the great promise occurred after Yaha-
weh had given David rest from all his enemies, and when his dominions
extended from Hamath to Shihor of Egypt (2 Sam. vii. I; I Chron. xiii.
5). That is, the Uriah affair preceded the others, though it is narrated
after them.
2 "In that night Deity appeared to Solomon." "In Gibeon Yahaweh
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 49
Zadok, afterward highpriest, is in one passage called
a seer (2 Sam. xv. 27). In his detailed description of
the large temple choirs organized by David, the Chron-
icler speaks of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun as
prophesying, and calls Heman the hhozeh of the king.1
In his account of the last reigns in Judah he makes
similar statements, speaking of Asaph as "the hhozeh,"
and of "Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun the hhozeh
of the king " (2 Chron. xxix. 30, xxxv. 15).
Ahijah the Shilonite, we are told, in the later years
of Solomon, promised the kingdom to Jeroboam, tear-
ing his robe into twelve pieces, and giving Jeroboam
ten. Later he gave a most uncomforting reply to
Jeroboam's queen, who sought him in behalf of her sick
son (1 Ki. xi. 29-39, xiv. 1-18). We are told of an-
other prophet who came from Judah, when Jeroboam
was king, and prophesied against the altar of Bethel,
and of an old prophet who entertained him (I Ki. xiii ;
2 Ki. xxiii. 17-18). Josephus says that the prophet
from Judah was named Jadon. In Chronicles, Jedo or
Jedai is mentioned (2 Chron. ix. 29), along with Ahijah
and Nathan, as a source for the history of Solomon.
The name appears as Iddo in our English versions, but
it is different from the name Iddo as elsewhere occur-
ring, and Jedo is probably the Jadon of Josephus. Be-
appeared unto Solomon in a dream by night." "And the word of Yaha-
weh was to Solomon, saying " (2 Chron. i. 7-12; I Ki. iii. 5-15, vi. 11-13,
cf. ix. 2).
1"And David and the captains of the host separated to the service the
sons of Asaph and hIeman and Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with
harps, and with cymbals . . . the sons of Asaph upon the hand of Asaph
who prophesied upon the hands of the king. To Jeduthun; the sons of
Jeduthun . . . upon the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied
with the lyre, to give thanks and to praise Yahaweh. To Heman; . . .
all these were sons to Heman the hhozeh of the king in the words of God,
to lift up horn" (i Chron. xxv. 1-5).
50 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
longing to the same group of prophets is Shemaiah, who
forbade the attempt of Rehoboam to subdue the ten
tribes, and who encouraged Rehoboam against the inva-
sion of Shishak (I Ki. xii. 22; 2 Chron. xi. 2, xii. 7).
The Chronicler refers to him along with Iddo (probably
a much later writer) for the history of Rehoboam
(xii. 15).1
These distinguished prophets, with other great men,
constituted a brilliant circle around the thrones of David
Organiza- and Solomon. But besides these there were
tions a large number of other prophets. With
Samuel, prophecy had entered upon a brighter era.
There was a great revival of prophetism. When the
writer of 1 Sam. iii. I says that during Samuel's child-
hood there was no widespread vision, he implies that
vision was widespread when he wrote. That prophets
were numerous is suggested by Saul's complaint that
Yahaweh answered him not, either "by dreams or by
Urim, or by prophets" (I Sam. xxviii. 6, 15). Promi-
nent among the evidences of the growing influence of
prophecy, at this time, are the organized bands of
prophets that present themselves to view. We find a
procession of prophets meeting Saul when Samuel had
anointed him, and a body of them engaged in concerted
services at Naioth in Ramah when David fled thither
(I Sam. x. 5 ff., xix. 18-24). The nature of these organi-
zations we are to consider later. For the present we
simply note that they are characteristic of the period.
Through the influence of Samuel, prophecy so impressed
itself upon his generation, that the impression remained
to future generations. There is no room for our being
1 In the long addition after 1 Ki. xii. 24 in the Greek copies, Shemaiah
is said to be the prophet who tore his robe into twelve pieces and gave
Jeroboam ten.
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 51
surprised that he is commonly regarded as the father of
prophecy.
In the literature concerning this period we find nearly
all the different terms that are used in the bible to
designate prophetic function, — "man of The terms
God," "word of Yahaweh," "Spirit of Yaha- that are used
weh," and the words of the stems nabha and hhazah
and raah.l On the strength of i Sam. ix. 9 many
affirm that the word "prophet " was new in Israel when
this narrative in Samuel was written, and that neither
the word nor the fact had ever before been known.
The true inference from the biblical phenomena is that
both the institution and the word had formerly been
well known, but had temporarily faded from use, and
now reappeared.2 The statement in Samuel is: —
“He that is to-day called a prophet was formerly called a seer."
But the writer of this statement says that the word
"prophet " was in familiar use, and that prophets were
well-known personages, not merely at the time when he
1 Samuel and Zadok are called roeh (1 Sam. ix. 9, II, 18, 19; I
Chron. ix. 22, xxvi. 28, xxix. 29; 2 Sam. xv. 27). Samuel has vision,
mar’ah (I Sam. iii. 15). Theophany is frequent (e.g. 1 Ki. iii. 5, ix. 2,
xi. 9).
The term hhozeh is applied to Gad, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, Jedo,
Iddo (2 Sam. xxiv. II; I Chron. xxi. 9, xxix. 29, xxv. 5; 2 Chron. xxxv.
15, xxix. 25, 30, ix. 29, xii. 15). Other nouns of the stem appear in I Sam.
iii. 1; 2 Sam. vii. 17; I Chron. xvii. 15; Ps. lxxxix. 19 [20]; 2 Chron.
ix. 29. The word hhazon first appears in I Sam. iii. 1, this being the
word that is afterward mostly used in the literary titles of the prophetic
writings.
2 The disappearance of words from use, and their subsequent reappear-
ance, is one of the familiar phenomena of language. For example, Mr.
Leon Mead is quoted as saying in his book Word Coinage that such words
as transcend, bland, sphere, blithe, franchise, carve, anthem, in good use
in Chaucer, were regarded in the seventeenth century as obsolete, but have
since been reinstated.
52 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
wrote, but at the time concerning which he makes the
statement.1 On the very next day, this writer says,
prophets were seen, mentioned, discussed, not by
Samuel alone, but popularly. The point which he
makes is this : that though prophets and the name
prophet were now familiar in Israel, Saul was one of a
class who took no particular interest in them. He still
habitually used the term "seer," which had till recently
displaced the term "prophet." The writer contemplates
prophecy, both the word and the fact, as a gift to Israel
which had been interrupted but was now restored, and
not at all as a new gift which had never till now been
bestowed. In this he agrees with the writers of the
earlier history, who speak of prophets as existing at least
from the times of Abraham.
1 "And the young man . . said, Behold there is found in my hand a
quarter shekel of silver, and I will give [it] to the man of God, and he
will tell us our way. (Formerly in Israel thus said the man when he went
to inquire of God, Come ye and let us go unto the seer. For he that is to-
day called the prophet was formerly called the seer.) . . . And they went
unto the city where was the man of God. . . . And when they found young
women coming forth to draw water, they said to them, Is the seer within ?
. . . And Saul approached Samuel, . . . and said, Tell me, pray, where is
the house of the seer. And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the
seer."
The next day, when the two parted, Samuel gave Saul directions.
"Thou wilt come unto the hill of God, . . . and wilt fall in with a
string of prophets coming down from the highplace, and before them
psaltery and timbrel and pipe and harp, and they prophesying. And the
Spirit of Yahaweh will come mightily upon thee, and thou wilt prophesy
with them, and wilt be turned to another man."
It happens as Samuel has said. "And they came there to the hill, and
behold a string of prophets meeting him, and the Spirit of God came
mightily upon him and he prophesied in the midst of them. And it
happened in the case of any one who knew him formerly, that they looked,
and behold he prophesied with prophets. And the people said, each to his
neighbor, What is it that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also
among the prophets ?" (1 Sam. ix. 8-11, 18-19, x. 5-6, 10-12).
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 53
The second subperiod may be designated by the
names of its two great prophets, Elijah and Elisha. It
extends from the disruption of the kingdom Prophecy
to the death of Elisha, about one hundred and from the disruption
thirty-five years by the biblical data. Its last to Elisha
fifty years correspond nearly to the earlier Assyrian
period, when Shalmanezer II and Rimman-nirari III
made most of Palestine tributary. Its distinguished
prophets are Ahijah and Shemaiah and Jedo, who
survive from the former period, Oded and Azariah and
Hanani and Jehu, Elijah and Elisha, Micaiah and Jahaziel
and Eliezer, Jehoiada and Zechariah.
Oded and Azariah his son urged Asa to reforma-
tion work, after his victory over Zerah the Ethiopian
(2 Chron. xv. I, 8). Hanani the reek rebuked Asa for
his intrigues with Ben-hadad, and was imprisoned
(2 Chron. xvi. 7-10). "Jehu the son of Hanani the
hhozeh," elsewhere described as "Jehu the prophet,"
prophesied against Baasha of Israel (I Ki. xvi. I, 7, 12).
He met Jehoshaphat with rebuke and counsel, on his
return from the Ramoth-gilead expedition, and his his-
tory of Jehoshaphat is said to have been "brought up
upon the book of the kings of Israel" (2 Chron. xix. 2,
xx. 34). His career was largely contemporary with
that of Elijah the Tishbite. Elijah and Elisha are so
well known that they may here be passed by. The
picture of Micaiah the son of Imlah prophesying before
Ahab and Jehoshaphat (i Ki. xxii; 2 Chron. xviii) is a
familiar one. A little later, when Jehoshaphat was
preparing to meet the Moabite invasion, the Spirit of
Yahaweh came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, in
the midst of the congregation (2 Chron. xx. 14). Just
after the death of Ahab, when Jehoshaphat had joined
with Ahab's son Ahaziah to build Tarshish-going ships,
54 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Eliezer the son of Dodavah prophesied against the
alliance (2 Chron. xx. 37). The long life of the pro-
phetically gifted highpriest Jehoiada (2 Ki.;
2 Chron. xxiii–xxiv, especially xxiv. 15) was nearly con-
temporary with this whole period of prophetic history.
His death and that of his spirit-gifted son Zechariah
(2 Chron. xxiv. 19-22) occurred not very long before
that of Elisha.
In several instances prophets are individually men-
tioned, though their names are not given. Such, for
example, is the prophet who announced to Ahab his
victory over Syria (1 Ki. xx. 13). Later in the same
chapter a prophet promises him another victory, and
yet later a prophet, also spoken of as " of the sons of
the prophets," rebukes Ahab for not securing the fruits
of his victory. We have also an account of a person
who is described as "a prophet," and as " one of the
sons of the prophets" (2 Ki. ix), who anointed Jehu as
king.
In the northern kingdom the organizations described
as "the sons of the prophets " are, next to the person-
The sons of ality of Elijah and Elisha, the characteristic
the prophets feature of this period. Their character will
be considered later. For the present we only note that
they were under the supervision of Elijah and Elisha,
and that they probably account for the very large num-
ber of the prophets at that time.
That the number was large the record clearly affirms.
Of those in the northern kingdom, Elijah at Horeb says:
"They have slain thy prophets with the sword" (Ki.
xix. to, 14). "When Jezebel slew the prophets of Yaha-
weh," Obadiah the steward of Ahab hid a hundred of
them by fifties in a cave (I Ki. xviii. 4, 13), and the ac-
count seems to suggest that this was but a fraction of
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 55
the whole number. The prophets of Baal and of the
asherahs numbered eight hundred and fifty (i Ki. xviii.
19), and it is possible that Yahaweh's prophets were
as numerous. Perhaps, however, there were not many
prophets who were supernaturally gifted. Most of those
who are called prophets may have been "sons of the
prophets" (see i Ki. xx. 35, 38, and 2 Ki. ix. 1, 4), that
is, either pupils of some particular prophet, or members
of the organizations. Note that the community at Jeri-
cho was able to send out detachments of fifty (2 Ki. ii.
7, 16, 17). For the southern kingdom the accounts are
less explicit, but prophets were also numerous there.
Jehoshaphat gives the exhortation: "Believe his proph-
ets, so shall ye prosper" (2 Chron. xx. 20). In the
account of the defection of Joash of Judah we read:
"He sent prophets to them to bring them again unto
Yahaweh, and they testified with them, but they did not
hear" (2 Chron. xxiv. 19).
A class of men make their appearance within this
period whom the biblical writers regard as false
prophets of Yahaweh, and from this time False
on they abound throughout the history. Of prophets
this class is the old prophet of Bethel (1 Ki. xiii).
Apparently he has had genuine prophetic gifts, and
has perverted them. There were four hundred proph-
ets, Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah being one of
them who prophesied falsely in the name of Yahaweh
to persuade Ahab and Jehoshaphat to go up to Ramoth-
gilead (1 Ki. xxii. 6, 11; 2 Chron. xviii. 5). The proph-
ets had become so influential that there was a field of
operations for counterfeit prophets.
Words of the stems nabha, raah, hhazah, and also the
usual phrases descriptive of the prophet and of prophetic
function, are current in the accounts of all parts of this
56 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
period. In the latter part of the period, Jehu the king
is represented as using the word massa, "burden," in the
technical sense in which, from this time on, it denotes a
prophecy of a certain type (2 Ki. ix. 25-26).
The third subperiod is that of Isaiah and his near
predecessors and successors. It extends from the death
Prophecy from of Elisha to the captivity of Manasseh, per-
the death haps about two hundred years, but fifty years
of Elisha to less by the usual interpretation of the A.ssyr-
Manasseh ian chronology. It covers the middle As-
syrian period, that in which Tiglath-pilezer is prominent,
and the later Assyrian period, that of Sargon and his
dynasty. To it belong the earlier group of the so-called
literary prophets. The distinguished names for the
period are Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, the Zechariah of Uz-
ziah's time, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, the author or authors
of Zech. ix-xiv, Micah, the Oded of the time of Ahaz.
This is the most conspicuous time in the history of the
prophets, and the fullest in the materials it offers, but
we must deal with it only in the barest outline.
We have no information concerning the prophet Joel,
save as the author of the book of that name. It is gen-
erally agreed that the book is either the earliest or the
latest of the fifteen known as the major and minor proph-
ets. I have no doubt that it is the earliest. It pre-
sents a very distinct historical situation, which seems to
me to be that of the invasion when Hazael swept the
region and besieged Jerusalem (2 Ki. xii. 17-xiii. 9 and
2 Chron. xxiv. 23-25), the prophet being contemporary
with the event. Perhaps the death of Elisha occurred
after this event, in the same year, so that Joel was in
early life a contemporary of the illustrious northern
prophet. Joel teaches a doctrine of the Day of Yaha-
weh, on which the succeeding prophets build. He prom-
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 57
ises an outpouring of the Spirit, which may be plausibly
regarded as having its first fulfilment in the days of
Isaiah and his contemporaries.
Obadiah takes up the great theme, the Day of Ya-
haweh, illustrating it by a single instance, Yahaweh's
dealings with Edom. The brief prophecy pictures two
historical situations, — that of Edom's offence, and that
of Edom's punishment. The offence-situation, it seems
to me, is the situation that had been outlined in Joel, the
punishment being that inflicted in Amaziah's expedition
(2 Ki. xiv. 7 and 2 Chron. xxv). There is an account
of a man of God who persuaded Amaziah not to take
Israelitish allies with him on this expedition, and an
account of a prophet who rebuked him after his return
for worshipping Edomite gods (2 Chron. xxv. 7-10, 15-
16). Supposably this prophet and this man of God may
be identical, and supposably one or both may be identi-
cal with Obadiah.
The prophet Jonah lived just before the conquests by
Jeroboam II.1 This historical prophet Jonah is the hero
of the story in the book of Jonah, whatever one may
think of the authorship or the character of the book.
The Chronicler tells us of one Zechariah, " who had
discernment in beholding of the Deity " during those
years of Uzziah in which that king was faithful and
prosperous (2 Chron. xxvi. 5).
Concerning Amos we have no information except in
the book of that name. He is represented as a Judean
prophet, not affiliated with the " sons of the prophets "
of the northern kingdom (i. 1, vii. 14, etc.), though his
1 "It was he who restored the coast of Israel, from the entering in of
Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahaweh
the god of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah the son
of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher" (2 Ki. xiv. 25).
58 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
extant prophecies concern mainly the northern kingdom.
The book has a title, dating it "two years before the
earthquake," at a point of time when Jeroboam was
king in Israel and Uzziah in Judah, perhaps making
Amos a boy when Joel was a man. The several proph-
ecies in the book seem to be of one date. The book
opens with a motto cited from Joel (Am. i. 2; Joel
16), and, apparently, it rebukes certain persons who are
taking unwarranted encouragement from what Joel has
prophesied concerning the Day of Yahaweh (v. 8 ff.).
What we know concerning Hosea comes from the
title and contents of his book. He began prophesying
almost contemporaneously with Amos, but his career
extended through the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, and
into that of Hezekiah, a period of several decades„ He
is a prophet of the northern kingdom, but his sympa-
thies are wholly with the house of David.
Isaiah is perhaps the greatest of all the prophets.
The title to his book mentions the same kings of Judah
with the title to Hosea. Isaiah's career began later in
the reign of Uzziah than those of Amos and Hosea, and
may have extended into the reign of Manasseh. In
more passages than one he perpetuates the preaching
of the Day of Yahaweh, which his predecessors had
inaugurated. We cannot here consider the questions
that have been raised concerning the relations of Isaiah
the son of Amoz to our existing book of Isaiah.
The second part of our book of Zechariah consists of
two "burdens " (ix–xi, xii–xiv). The first presents a
situation in which the separate kingdoms of Judah and
Ephraim are in existence, and in which Assyria is the
great world-power (ix. 1o, 13, x. 6, 7, 10, 11). The
second is addressed to persons who can remember the
earthquake in the time of Uzziah (xiv. 5). Other marks
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 59
of like significance abound in both. These marks seem
to date these two Burdens during the time when Isaiah
was contemporary with Hosea.
Micah, according to the title of the book, was the
contemporary of Isaiah from some date in the reign of
Jotham. In later times Jeremiah's friends cite him as
a precedent in favor of prophetic freedom of speech
(Jer. xxvi. 17-19). So far as appears, he was exclusively
a prophet of Judah.
Early in the reign of Ahaz, in the midst of the careers
of Hosea and Isaiah and Micah, we have a brief note
concerning a prophet named Oded, a different man from
the Oded of the time of Asa. He secured the return
of two hundred thousand women and children whom
the Israelites under Pekah had carried captive from
Judah (2 Chron. xxviii. 9).
Many allusions in the literature dealing with these
times indicate that the prophet was a familiar figure,1
and that prophets were numerous.2 This indication is
reenforced by the very frequent mention of false proph-
ets.3 The true prophets were numerous enough to have
numerous counterfeits. Perhaps the statement of Amos
that he is not a son of a prophet implies that the pro-
phetic organizations were still maintained in northern
Israel (vii. 14), but this allusion stands alone.
1 "The mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet"
(Isa. iii. 2). "I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young
men for Nazirites " (Am. ii. 11).
2 "Yahaweh testified unto Israel and unto Judah by the hand of every
prophet, and of every seer." "As he spake by the hand of all his servants
the prophets" (2 Ki. xvii. 13, 23). "I have also spoken unto the prophets,
and I have multiplied visions, and by the hand of the prophets have I used
similitudes" (Hos. xii. 10 [11]). See also, among other instances, 2 Ki.
xxi. 10 and 2 Chron. xxxiii. 10; Isa. xxx. 10; Hos. vi. 5, iv. 5, ix. 7, 8;
Am. ii. 12, iii. 7, 8, vii. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; Mic. iii. 6, 7.
3 Isaiah is emphatic concerning these. "The prophet that giveth lies
60 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Roeh, in the sense of seer, is employed for the last
time in the Old Testament in Isa. xxx. 10. The other
derivatives of raah, with those of nabha and hhazah,
continue to be used in this and the subsequent periods.
So do the phrases " man of God," " word of Yahaweh,"
"Spirit of Yahaweh." In Isa. xxx. to the English
versions render hhazah and its noun by " prophesy "
and " prophets," to distinguish them from raah and its
noun which they render "see" and "seer." Massa,
"burden," is much used in this period (e.g. Isa. xix. t„
xxi. t, xxii. I). Twice (Prov. xxx. t, xxxi. t) the old
version renders it " prophecy " and the revised versions
"oracle." Hittiph and its noun are used of prophesying
only in this period (Am. vii. 16; Mic. ii. 6, 11) and in
two places in Ezekiel.
The fourth subperiod is that of the Palestinian
prophets of the time of Jeremiah, he himself being the
Prophecy from central figure. Counted from the captivity of
Manasseh to Manasseh to the burning of the temple, the
the exile time is perhaps about sixty years; counted
to the death of Jeremiah it is longer, perhaps by some
decades. The distinguished names are Nahum, Habak-
kuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, with three others that are
incidentally mentioned in the records. In the great
crisis of the reformation under Josiah, the prophet con-
sulted was not Jeremiah or Zephaniah, but the prophet-
ess Huldah, then living in Jerusalem (2 Ki. xxii. 14 and
2 Chron. xxxiv. 22). The narrative makes the impression
that she was a person of distinction and influence, and
highly gifted with prophetic power. In the book of
for torah, he is the tail" (ix. 15 [14]). "Priest and prophet have erred
through strong drink " (xxviii. 7). "Yahaweh . . . hath closed your eyes,
ye prophets, and hath covered your heads, ye seers; and to you vision
hath become wholly like the words of the book that is sealed" (xxix. 10).
And Isaiah is not alone in this (e.g. Mic. iii. 5, 11).
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 61
Jeremiah, Baruch the scribe appears with prominence
(xxxii. 12-16, xxxvi, xliii, xlv), though it is not expressly
said that he is a prophet. We have also an account of
one Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim, who
prophesied in the time of Jehoiakim, and who was
brought by some form of extradition from Egypt and
put to death (Jer. xxvi. 20-23).
Other prophets were numerous. The biblical writings
concerning the time speak of them in more than thirty
places. They speak thus of true prophets (e.g. 2 Ki.
xxiii. 2 and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16 ; Lam. ii. 9 ; Jer. vii. 25,
xxvi. 5), and of false prophets as well (e.g. Zeph.
iii. 4 ; Lam. iv. 13; Jer. ii. 8, 26, xiv. 18, xxiii. 9, 11).
The false prophets are more to the front than the true.
Not less than four are mentioned by name. In the
fourth year of Zedekiah, the prophet Hananiah the son
of Azzur broke the yoke from off the neck of Jeremiah,
in token of the breaking of the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah predicted his death in punishment for thus
making the people trust in a lie ; and the prediction
was fulfilled (Jer. xxviii). Ahab the son of Kolaiah and
Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah prophesied a lie in the
name of Yahaweh, and were roasted in the fire by
the king of Babylon (Jer. xxix. 21-23). Shemaiah the
Nehelamite prophesied, causing the people to trust in a
lie, and sent letters to Jerusalem reviling Jeremiah as a
madman, and was divinely punished ( Jer. xxix. 24, 28, 31,
32). The last named and possibly some of the others
prophesied in Babylonia among the exiles.
The fifth subperiod is that of the prophets in Babylonia
during the seventy years of the exile. It begins with
the earlier deportations by Nebuchadnezzar from Jeru-
salem, nearly twenty years before the burning of the
temple, and thus overlaps the preceding subperiod, the
62 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
distinction between the two being in part geographical.
The two great names are Daniel and Ezekiel. On the
Prophecy in basis of views concerning the book of Isaiah
Babylonia that were held twenty years ago, many scholars
among the exiles exiles would add a yet greater name, that of the sup-
posed second Isaiah. These prophets flourished in the
country of the Euphrates, and are thus placed in a dif-
ferent class from their contemporaries in Palestine,
whom we have assigned to the preceding period.
In the earlier part of this period, at least, we find
mention of numerous false prophets, male and female,
prophesying in the name of Yahaweh ; men who daub
with untempered mortar, and women who sew pillows
upon all elbows (e.g. Ezek. xiii. 2, 3, 4, 9, 15–16, 17-18,
xiv. 4, 7, 9, 10). True prophets are not so much in
evidence, though there may have been numbers of them
also. Certain critical theories now current seem to
require the hypothesis that prophets now began to
multiply in the lands of the exile.
The last subperiod is that of the prophets after the
return from exile in the first year of Cyrus. The great
Prophecy in names are those of Haggai, the Zechariah of
the post- Zech. i–viii, Ezra, Nehemiah,- the author of
exilian times Malachi. Daniel was still alive at the open-
ing of the period. Haggai and Zechariah flourished
in the early years of it (Ezra v. 1, 2, vi. 14; Hag. i. 1;
Zech. i. 1, etc.). It is supposable that in early life they
may have known Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Ezra is chiefly
known as the scribe, and Nehemiah by his political
achievements ; but there is no room to doubt that the
biblical narrators regard them as exercising prophetic
gifts. No one is qualified to say whether the book of
Malachi was written by a prophet of that name, or by
Ezra, or by some one else.
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 63
The period was not without its other prophets, true
and false (Zech. vii. 3, viii. 9; Neh. vi. 7). Nehemiah
speaks of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, who had been
hired to pronounce a false prophecy, and of "the
prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets" who
sought to frighten him (vi. 10-14). These notices, with
the analogy of the preceding periods, confirm the tradi-
tions concerning the Great Synagogue, which affirm
that prophets were numerous at this time.
Nevertheless the time is priestly rather than prophetic.
So far as the record shows, the prophetic organizations
have vanished. In their stead we find the place Casiphia,
for training men for the various duties of the temple
service (Ezra viii. 17). A marked feature of the period
is the habit of appeal to the prophets of earlier times
(Zech. i. 4, 5, 6, vii. 7, 12; Mal. iv. 5; Ezra ix. 11;
Neh. ix. 26, 30, 32). Evidently these earlier prophets''
are regarded as authoritative scriptures.
The question of the cessation of prophecy we must
here dismiss with a few sentences. The period of the
so-called men of the Great Synagogue covers The cessa-
the last two prophetic periods and the time tion of
following. With the exception of Ezekiel, prophecy
who is probably included by implication, all the distin-
guished exilian and postexilian prophets are expressly
named in the lists of the men of the Great Synagogue.
Others besides prophets are also named, the number
being one hundred and twenty in all, and the latest
great name being that of the highpriest Simon the
Just. The Talmuds say that Simon was highpriest in
the time of Alexander the Great, and Josephus is clearly
mistaken in assigning him to a later time.
Most statements that are made concerning the men
of the Great Synagogue as an organization are insuffi-
64 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
ciently based—alike those that affirm and those that
deny. But there is no room for doubt that this succes-
sion of men existed historically, or that the traditions
apply this name to them, or that they did many of the
things which the traditions attribute to them. Among
the acts attributed to them are the writing of the latest
Old Testament books and the completion of the Old
Testament.
While the traditions say that many of the men of
the Great Synagogue were prophets up to the time of
Nehemiah and the writing of Malachi, they also say
that the men of the Great Synagogue as a whole are
later than the succession of the prophets taken as i'a
whole, that is, that the succession of prophets ceased at
some time before Simon the Just, and therefore before
the beginning of the Greek period. This finds confirma-
tion in the phenomena of the latest narrative books of
the Old Testament. The latest events mentioned in
these occurred (many assertions to the contrary notwith-
standing) some time before the death of Nehemiah.
Both in and out of the Old Testament, prophets are
abundantly mentioned as contemporaneous with Nehe-
miah, but none as living later. Josephus testifies (Cont.
Ap. I, 8) that the succession of the prophets ceased
with the reign of the Artaxerxes who reigned after
Xerxes. Of course he means that it ceased with the lives
of the prophets who were contemporary with Artaxer-
xes. Some of these, Nehemiah for example, may have
survived Artaxerxes by several decades.
There has been some dispute over the interpretation
of the Jewish traditions in this matter, and there is some
confusion in the traditions themselves, this last being in
part due to the inexplicable confusion of the rabbinical
chronology for the Persian period. But there are cer-
THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE PROPHETS 65
tain very solid facts which ought to interpret the facts
that are less evident. Judas Maccabus and his asso-
ciates regarded themselves as under the influence of the
divine Spirit, and claimed a certain power of making
predictions and working miracles. It has been inferred
that they counted themselves as prophets, but there is
clear proof to the contrary. We are told that they were
at a loss what to do with the altar of burnt offering
which the heathen had profaned. So they pulled it
down and laid away the stones "until there should
come a prophet to give answer concerning them"
(I Mac. iv. 46). A few years later they decided "that
Simon should be their prince and highpriest forever,
until there arise a faithful prophet" (xiv. 41). We are
told that under Bacchides "there arose a great affliction
in Israel, such as had not occurred since the time that
a prophet appeared not amongst them " (ix. 27). Such
instances show that the Maccabees were consciously not
prophets, however conscious they may have been of the
possession of supernatural powers. In their time proph-
ets in the proper sense were thought of as belonging
to the past. Similar reasoning would apply to Simon
the Just, or to Jesus the son of Sirach, or to others.
In fine, the Jewish tradition holds that the succession
of the prophets ceased with the dying out of Nehemiah
and his associates, about 400 B.C. There was an expec-
tation that it would sometime be renewed, but it be-
came at that time non-existent. From the Christian
point of view it is plausible to affirm that the succession
reappeared in the person of John the Baptist, followed
by Jesus himself, and by the apostles and prophets of
primitive Christianity.
CHAPTER IV
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE
WHAT manner of man was the prophet outwardly?
What do we know concerning his personal appearance
and the external insignia of his office and the visible life
he lived among his fellow-citizens? In answer to these
questions we will discuss mainly three topics : first, the
outward presentment of the prophets; second, their
communal organizations; third, the so-called prophetic
order.
There is no reason why one's conclusions on these
topics should be greatly affected by the critical position
One's view as he occupies. In regard to the external his-
affected by his tory of the prophets, as we ran it over in the
his critical position position last chapter, the men of the Modern View
differ widely with the older scholars ; though even here
the difference is less over the question what the scrip-
tures say than over the question how far what they say
is to be believed. But in the matter of the outward
phenomena presented by the prophets there is less
room for difference. The prominent characteristics are
the same at all dates in the history, however the proph-
ets of the different periods may differ in matters of
detail. This fact the scholars of the Modern View
might account for by regarding all the scriptural pic-
tures of the prophet as late ; but however one accounts
for it, it is a fact. Owing to it, our conclusions on these
points depend much less than in some other cases on
66
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 67
our opinions as to the dates of the writings. Some of
the views presented in this chapter are unlike those that
have been commonly held; but the differences are not
along the lines of the controversy between the Modern
View and the older views.
I. This preliminary being disposed of, we proceed to
inquire as to the external appearance of the prophet of
Israel.
In centuries past Christian people have been accus-
tomed to think of him as though he were a Christian
priest or monk. Painters have painted his Baseless cur-
picture with this idea in mind. In Christian rent ideas
art a prophet is hardly more or less than an ecclesiastic,
barefoot, with a robe and a tonsure and a general air
of unearthliness. This is a miracle equal to that by
which art has transformed the angels of the bible, who
are always either young men or old men, into stocking-
less winged women. Far be it from me to make criti-
cism upon this as art; I only remark that art isn't
history.
With this idea of an ecclesiastical personage has been
combined that of a revealer of hidden things. Certain
lines of the picture have been modelled upon the medi-
eval astrologer, or the priest of a Greek oracle, as if
the prophet were a weird, mysterious being who sits on
a tripod in a cave, and gives other-world advice to such
frightened souls as come to him.
Or one starts with the assumption that religion is
developing from lower forms to higher, and that the
earlier Hebrew prophets must have started at a pretty
low degree. So he comes to the study of them with a
mind preoccupied with African fetich-men, or voudou
practitioners, or American Indian medicine-men. Look-
ing through glasses of this color, he may see in Samuel's
68 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
companies of prophets little else than medicine dances
and powwow circles.
Or, taking his cue from the notion that the Orient
never changes, that what now exists there is what always
existed there, one may imagine the prophetic companies
as bands of whirling dervishes.
Evidently we are in danger of being misled both by
our preconceived notions and by our love of the pictu-
resque, and we therefore especially need to be on our
guard, attending with care to the evidence in the case.
Let us do this. Let us examine what information we
have, and base our pictures of the prophets upon that,
instead of first forming our ideas concerning the proph-
ets, and then manipulating the information to make it
conform to the ideas.
A particularly significant thing in the biblical ac-
counts is the absence of phenomena of this unearthly
Significant sort among the prophets as a class. On cer-
absence of tain occasions particular prophets practised
unearthly austerities for purposes of symbolical teach-
phenomena ing. But ordinarily Moses or Samuel or Isaiah or
David or Nathan or Daniel appear as men arnong men,
citizens among citizens, and not at all like the frenzied
seers or oracle priests of the heathen religions. To
this even Ezekiel is not wholly an exception, though he
comes near enough to it to be quite in contrast with the
other prophets. An average Old Testament prophet is
not weird or mysterious. He is not a recluse, but an
active citizen. He is not picturesque through eccentric
personal appearance or habits. Elijah, indeed, was a
man of unusual personal appearance (2 Ki. i. 7-8), and
for a time led the life of a recluse, but he is presented
to us as being peculiar in these respects. He is as dif-
ferent from other prophets as he is from citizens of any
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 69
other class. We make a serious mistake if we count
him as typical, instead of counting him the exceptional
instance he purports to be.
The books of reference tell us that the prophets wore
a distinctive costume. In proof they cite what is said
in Zechariah (xiii. 2–6) concerning certain Was there a
prophets associated with idols, who "wear a prophetic
hairy mantle to deceive." It is inferred that costume?
Jehovah's prophets were accustomed to wear a hairy
mantle, and that these frauds adopted the usual pro-,
phetic garb, to give color to their pretences. It would
be exactly as logical to infer that they adopted an un-
usual garb in order to attract attention. Further, the
hairy mantle is here one of two devices by which these
idol prophets made themselves conspicuous. The other
was by cuts on their bodies.
"And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds between
thy hands? And he shall say, Those with which I was wounded
in the house of my friends " (Zech. xiii. 6).
The cuts on the body are here on the same footing with
the hairy mantle. Clearly, the writer had no intention
of saying that either was a part of the regulation uni-
form of the prophets of Yahaweh.
Further, they cite the hairy mantle worn by Elijah
and inherited by Elisha, and in connection with this
they mention the hairy garment worn by John the
Baptist. But you will remember that when King
Ahaziah's messengers reported to him that the man
who had met them wore a hairy garment, he at once
knew that the man was Elijah (2 Ki. i. 8). Elijah's
mantle distinguished him from all other prophets, as
well as from citizens who were not prophets. This
clearly shows that the prophets in general did not;
wear the hairy mantle as a uniform.
70 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
They cite also the statement that Isaiah once upon a
time wore sackcloth, and put it off, going " naked and
barefoot" (xx. 2). But Isaiah's wearing sackcloth
exceptionally is no proof that all the prophets wore a
uniform regularly. No more can the same inference
be drawn from Samuel's being " covered with a robe"
when the witch of Endor called him up. The word
me'il is employed alike in describing the dress of kings
and priests and private citizens and boys and girls.
This is all the testimony that is cited for the exist-
ence of a distinctive prophetic costume. Evidently it
has very little weight. And there are strong considera-
tions on the other side. In the story that tells us how
Saul and his servant sought the asses and found a king-
dom (I Sam. ix), we are informed that they met Samuel
in the gate of the city, and asked him to tell them where
the seer's house was (ver. 18). It is evident that there
was nothing in his garb to indicate that he was himself
the seer. But he was at that moment on his way to a
public solemnity, and in those circumstances, if ever,
he would have been officially attired. We have an
account of a prophet who rebuked Ahab for suffering
Benhadad to escape (i Ki. xx. 38, 41). He disguised
himself by pulling his headband over his face. The
king knew him when he removed the headband. The
king knew him by his face, and not by his costume.
Similar statements would apply to the prophet who
anointed Jehu for king (2 Ki. ix. II). There is no
sacred uniform to tell Jehu and his friends who the
"mad fellow" is.
These are representative instances, and they seem to
be decisive. The cases cited to prove the existence of
a regulation prophetic costume are clearly exceptional,
and, therefore, prove the contrary, so far as they prove
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 71
anything. No article of prophetic apparel is ever spoken
of as distinctive of the class. There is no trace of a
special costume by which prophets were distinguished
from men who were not prophets. Religious art has
given to the prophet a monkish robe and tonsure; so
far as the Old Testament accounts go, sober truth
should give him the usual dress of a citizen of his time
and nation. If we should picture him as wearing a sack
coat and a Derby hat in the forenoon and a dress suit
in the evening, our picture would be no more anachro-
nistic than that of current art, and would be far truer
in spirit.
Some one may rejoin that the Old Testament evidence
in the case is negative rather than positive, and that we
must still infer, from the analogy of other The fact sig-
religions, that the Israelitish prophets had a nificant, even
peculiar dress of their own. Medicine-men if negative
and fetich-men, the prophets of savage religions, trick
themselves out in grotesque dress. In higher civiliza-
tions the prophet makes himself impressive by the garb
that indicates his profession. Is it possible that the
prophets of Israel were an exception?
In reply to this, I should deny that the Old Testament
evidence is a mere argument from silence. It seems to
me positive and distinct. But if any one thinks other-
wise, I should not take the trouble to argue the case
with him. At all events, the biblical writers leave the
question of a prophetic dress in the background. They
describe in detail the costume of their priests, but not
that of their prophets. The writers of other peoples
make much of the garb of the men through whom they
consult the unseen world; not so the writers of Israel.
With them the man is everything, and his dress nothing.
The record is, therefore, unique at this point, whether
72 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
the fact recorded be unique or not. Why should we
not hold that both are unique? Israel as existing to-day
is unique. Jesus Christ, of the stock of Israel, is unique.
These are unique, whether we look at them from the
evangelical point of view or from the agnostic point of
view. Unique results probably had unique antecedents.
We should not be surprised if we find the uniqueness
extending to many matters of detail. The fact that
the biblical account of the prophets makes them in any
particular different from the prophets of other religions
is no argument against the truth of the account; for
we ought to expect to find that they were different.
Some of the books of reference affirm that the
prophets were addicted to habits of religious frenzy. Ian
Did the proof is given an alleged derivation of the
prophets word nabha, from nabha’, "to boil up." But
rave? the derivation is at the strongest merely a
conjecture; and it would not prove the point even if it
were known to be correct.
Worldly men are twice spoken of as calling the
prophets mad—that is, crazy. Shemaiah the Nehela-
mite wrote to the officials at Jerusalem, asking them
why they had not rebuked Jeremiah, under the provision
for putting "in the stocks and in shackles " "any man
that is crazed, and maketh himself a prophet" (Jer.
xxix. 26-27). This epithet, we learn from the context,
was not called forth by crazy conduct on the part of
Jeremiah, but by his writing a particularly sane letter to
the exiles in Babylonia. The prophet who came to
anoint Jehu, a quiet, secret errand, is called by Jehu"s
brother officers a "crazed fellow" (2 Ki. ix. 11). There
is no trace of raving in either case. Worldly men called
the prophets crazy, just as worldly men to-day call ear-
nest preachers crazy.
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 73
In one place a prophet speaks of the prophets as
crazy. Hosea says: —
"The prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is crazed, for
the multitude of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great "
(ix. 7).
Here, clearly, he represents himself and other prophets
as distracted under the strain of current evil; but he
does not attribute frenzied utterance to himself or to
them.
In one instance it is said that the evil spirit came upon
King Saul, "and he prophesied" (I Sam. xviii. 10).
David played before him as usual, and he attempted to
kill David. Doubtless this was an attack of mania, but
it does not follow that Saul's raving is called prophesy-
ing. It is quite as easy to think that Saul talked on
religious subjects, and that this was a characteristic
symptom of his fits of insanity ; in other words, that
Saul's utterances are here called prophesying not
because they were crazy, but because they were re-
ligious.
In the account of Saul's pursuing David to Naioth in
Ramah (I Sam. xix. 18-24) we have a similar connec-
tion between religious utterance on the part of Saul and
the insane attacks to which he was subject. Excited
by his rage against David and the disobedience of his
messengers, and afterward by the prophesying as he
heard it, he himself prophesied, —
"And he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in
Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophe-
sied before Samuel, and fell down naked all that day and all that
night."
Apparently Saul, in his prophesying, conducted himself
in an insane and indecorous manner. But it does not
appear that any one else did so; nor that Saul's conduct
is called prophesying because of the craziness of it.
We have an account (i Sam. x..5–13) of the company of
prophets that Saul met when he was first anointed king.
"A band of prophets coming down from the highplace, with
psaltery and timbrel and pipe and harp before them; and they shall
be prophesying ; and the spirit of Yahaweh will come mightily upon
thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into
another man."
We need not necessarily figure this as a company of
dancing dervishes. It may equally well be a band of
serious men, holding an outdoor religious meeting, with
a procession and music and public speeches.
In all the instances of this kind the alleged prophetic
frenzy is a matter of interpretation, and not of direct
statement. If one comes to the passages with the idea
that frenzied utterance lies at the root of the original
notion of prophesying, he may find in the passages the
outcropping of this underlying notion in the word; but
he will hardly find it without such assistance. This
being the case, the passages should certainly be inter-
preted in the light of the habitual sanity that marks the
conduct and the utterances of the prophets. The idea
that Saul's attacks of mania made him very religious in
his utterances is in accord with facts with which we are
familiar. The idea that the prophets preached in the open
air, attracting attention by means of a procession and a
band, has in it no element of absurdity. If one starts
by assuming that the prophet developed from a medi-
cine-man or a voudou-man or a fetich-man, or that the
prophet is of a piece with a Greek oracle priest, drunk
with vapor, one may be able to stretch these texts so
as to make them fit his assumption; but that is not
their natural meaning.
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 75
In short, the inference that the prophets were character-
ized by frenzy is baseless. The statement that Jeremiah
was crazy is recorded as a slander, and not as a fact.
Religious talking was a symptom in Saul's periods of
insanity. The prophets held religious meetings under
the excitement of which Saul conducted himself strangely.
But there is no proof that the prophets acted like crazy
men.
In one personal peculiarity the prophets are repre-
sented to have been remarkable, — their longevity. As
a class, judging from the biographical notices The prophets
we have, they were unusually long-lived men. long-lived
To say nothing of the patriarchs, Moses died at the age
of one hundred and twenty years, being till then vigor-
ous (Deut. xxxi. 2, xxxiv. 7). This is not to be explained
by saying that the term of human life has diminished
since then. According to the priestly laws in Leviticus
(xxvii. 3, 7, etc.) the age of manly vigor was then from
twenty to sixty years. Caleb regarded it as exceptional
that he was still a warrior at eighty-five (Josh. xiv. Io–I 1 ;
cf. Ps. xc. 1o). Moses had his successors in longevity.
Joshua reached the age of one hundred and ten years.
(Josh. xxiv. 29 ; Jud. ii. 8). Jehoiada, the prophetically
gifted highpriest, lived to be one hundred and thirty
years old (2 Chron. xxiv. 15). The public career of Elisha
extended through not less than' sixty years, and that of
Isaiah was yet longer, and that of Daniel about seventy
years. The list might be extended. In a general way
art has good ground for its habit of picturing a prophet
as old and venerable ; though it happens that in many
particular instances art has given gray hairs to a
prophet who should have been pictured as a young
man.
So much for the prophets as they presented themselves
76 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
to the eyes of their contemporaries. Save in special
instances we are to think of their personal appearance
as simply that of respectable citizens.
II. Similar results await us as we turn to a second
topic, the arrangements for the communal organizations
of the prophets.
Of these we know but little, save what lies on the
surface of the biblical texts. It will help to a clear
understanding of what is said concerning these organi-
zations if we begin by fixing firmly in our minds the
fact that they are mentioned in connection with two
periods, — the time of Samuel and the time of Elijah
and Elisha. Nothing is said concerning them in the
history of the other periods, the mention of "a son of a
prophet" in Amos (vii. I4) being properly no exception
to this statement.
In the King James version the phrase "company of
prophets" occurs in two connections, suggesting that
Prophetic the prophets were organized and operated
organizations in companies. The verbal statement of this
under fact vanishes when we examine the Hebrew;
Samuel but the fact itself remains, based on inference. The
account of it is given mainly in two passages.
The first of the two passages is the one cited above,
in which we are told of Saul's meeting the prophets
after Samuel had anointed him (z Sam. x. 5-13). Saul
met what the old version calls a " company," and the
new version a "band" of prophets. "A string of
prophets " would be an exact rendering in vernacular
English, that is, a procession. They had a band of
music "before them," stringed instruments and drum
and fife. They were prophesying. After meeting them
Saul joined them in prophesying, the spirit of God com-
ing "mightily" upon him. The change in him was so
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 77
remarkable that people noticed it, and asked: " Is Saul
also among the prophets?"
I have already indicated the opinion that we have
here an account of outdoor religious services, differing,
of course, from anything that could occur in our time,
as that time differed from ours in everything, and yet
properly analogous to such services as might now be
held by a corps of the Salvation Army, or by the Young
Men's Christian Association. The remarks that are
represented to have been made by the people imply
that they were familiar with such services by the
prophets. They recognized the fact that Saul belonged
to a worldly-minded family, not given to participating
in evangelistic meetings. And whether you admit the
correctness of these analogies or not, at least such
movements as are here described must have had behind
them some form of organization, looser or more com-
pact.
The other passage in question has also been cited
above, the one that describes Saul's pursuit of David
to Naioth in Ramah (t Sam. xix. 18-24). It is said of
Saul's messengers that
"They saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and
Samuel standing as head over them."
The word here translated "company " occurs nowhere
else. Evidently, however, the prophets were together
in some sort of assembly, engaged in con- The Naioth
certed action of some sort, Samuel being gathering of
either the president or the conductor. The prophets
atmosphere was charged with religious excitement.
Saul's successive relays of messengers, as they came
under the influence of the scene, joined in the prophe-
sying, and so did even the king himself when he
78 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
at last followed his messengers. Saul and possibly
others divested themselves of part of their clothing.
Saul seems to have had a fit that lasted several
hours.
This incident, as well as the previous one, presupposes
organization of some sort. Concerning the forms and
the purposes of the organizing, we have little inEorma-
tion. We cannot escape the conclusion, however, that
an educational element was included. The instruments
of music in the one incident, and the concerted proph-
esying under the conduct of Samuel in the other,
suggest that training in orchestral and choral music
was made prominent. We shall not be far out if we
suppose that instruction was given in patriotic history,
in theology, in literary practice, in whatever would fit
the disciples of Samuel to be preachers of the religion
of Yahaweh to their contemporaries. The remarkable
blossoming out of Israel in the times of David and
Solomon, in matters of literature and culture, was
doubtless largely due to these prophetic organizations
introduced by Samuel. It is probable, however, that
these organizations were not merely schools, but were,
like those of a later time, also centres of political and
religious movements.
The mention of music as a part of the 'prophetic
training under Samuel is in accord with those passages
in the books of Chronicles which speak of Asaph,
Heman and Jeduthun and their associates as prophesy-
ing in song or with instruments of music (e.g. I Chron.
xxv), and with all the statements in the Old and New
Testaments which represent the second half of the
reign of David as resplendent with culture and music
and psalmody. Before one rejects these traditions as
unhistorical he should take into account, among other
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 79
things, their marked continuity with the recorded events
of the time of Samuel. Supposing them to be histori-
cal, it was not by mere accident that the temple choirs
appeared in the generation following the death of
Samuel, or that Heman the grandson of Samuel was
one of their leaders.
So much for the organizations of Samuel's time.
The other type of prophetic organization is that de-
scribed in the term "sons of the prophets." “The sons of
So far as the records show, it belongs exclu- the prophets”
sively to the northern kingdom, and, save for general
mention in Amos (vii. 14), exclusively to the times of
Elijah and Elisha. Groups of the sons of the prophets
existed at Bethel, Jericho, Gilgal (2 Ki. ii. 3, 5, iv. 38),
and presumably at other places. We are accustomed
to call them the "schools of the prophets," but this
term is not biblical. A good many details are given
concerning them. In his lifetime Elijah was at the
head of them, and he left this office to Elisha (2 Ki. ii.
3, 15, etc.). In studying them one should study the
entire biography of these two prophets. We have a
story that one group of them found their home too nar-
row and went to cut timber for enlarging it, on which`
occasion Elisha performed the miracle' of causing an
iron axe to swim (2 Ki. vi. 1-7). From this we learn that'
in some cases the sons of the prophets were a commu-
nity, living in a common house. We also learn that they
were not afraid of manual labor. They were numerous,
for the community at Jericho could send its fifty men to
search for Elijah (2 Ki. ii. 16, 17), and Obadiah hid a
hundred of Jehovah's prophets "by fifty in a cave "
(1 Ki. xviii. 4). They were not mere lads, some of
them being married men, as we learn from Elisha's
miracle of the oil, wrought in behalf of the widow of
80 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
one of them. Kindly disposed people sometimes con-
tributed to their support. Witness Elish's feeding a
hundred men with the twenty loaves of the man from
Baal-shalishah (iv. 42-44). Sometimes they eked out
their subsistence by gathering wild vegetation, as we
see in the incident when there was "death in the pot"
(iv. 38-41).
This system of communities was evidently widespread
anti influential. Doubtless they had somewhat of the
character of schools for personal education; but they
were rather houses of reform, centres of religious and
patriotic movement. Their members were especially
obnoxious to the Baalite party in Israelitish politics.
They promoted the overthrow of Joram and the acces-
sion of Jehu (2 Ki. ix. 1-12). Their political attitude is
one of the most significant things about them. We
shall return to this in another chapter. Meanwhile we
may fix in mind the fact that the work of the sons of the
prophets is represented to have been analogous to that
of our Young Men's Christian Associations, or of some
of our organizations for reform or for good citizenship,
rather than to that of our schools or colleges or semi-
naries.
The "college" in Jerusalem, where, according to the
King James translation, the prophetess Huldah dwelt
(2 Ki. xxii. 14; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 22), is simply an instance
of the uncertain meaning of a word.
III. We turn to a third topic, the so-called prophetic
order.
Much stress is laid on this by some writers. Most
denominations of Christians hold that the Christian
“Holy ministry is an order of men who have "taken
orders” orders " in the sense of being set apart by
ordination. The Anglican and Roman churches hold
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 81
that the ministry exists in three different orders ; namely,
bishops and priests and deacons. In a sense something
like this many speak of the two orders of the ministry
under the Old Covenant ; namely, the priestly order and
the prophetic order.
Is this a proper use of language? Are we to think
of the prophet as belonging to an order? Was he an
ordained man, like a Jewish priest or a Christian min-
ister? In other words, are we to think of the priests
and the prophets as two orders of Israelitish clergymen?
These questions must be answered by examining the
facts.
I. First, it is probably true that there was an un-
broken succession of prophets from Samuel to Malachi
— perhaps from Abraham to Malachi—in The prophets
the sense that Israel was never during that a succession
time wholly without true living prophets or prophetic
men. This is probable, though it cannot at every point
be proved.
2. But, secondly, the prophets were not a sacerdotal
order, holding definite relations to the priestly order.
They were not a priesthood, or a section of The prophets
the priesthood, or a body analogous to the not a sacer-
priesthood. In this the usage of Israel dif- dotal order
fered from that of other peoples. In Egypt, for ex-
ample, the prophets were a class in the priesthood. Mr.
George Rawlinson tells us that they ranked next to the
highpriests, and that they —
“were generally presidents of the temples, had the management of
the sacred revenues, were bound to commit to memory the contents
of the ten sacerdotal books " (History of Egypt, I, 447).
Similar representations are made in such a novel as
the Uarda of Ebers; and more minute and accurate
statements may be found in later Egyptological works.
82 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
And what was true of the prophets of Egypt has been
true of those of other countries. In Israel, however, the
case was different. We have no account of any priestly
functions regularly exercised by the prophets as proph-
ets ; and none of any official relations between the
priestly body and the prophetic body.
It is true that some prophets were also priests, Zadok
and Jeremiah and Ezra, for example. That is to say,
a priest might become a prophet, as might any one
else. Further, in certain instances, a prophet, without
being a priest, may have been commissioned to perform
priestly acts. We are told that Moses was so commis-
sioned, officiating as priest in the original setting apart
of Aaron to the priesthood (Lev. viii. 15-30). It is
commonly alleged that Samuel performed priestly acts,
but the records do not sustain the allegation.1 There is
no trace of any defined sacerdotal rights or duties regu-
larly devolving upon the prophets. The prophet, as such,
was not a priest. The two offices were entirely different.2
3. It is probable, thirdly, that the prophetic ranks
1 Certainly, it is said that Samuel offered sacrifices (I Sam. vii. 9, xvi.
2, and other places). But this would be said of any person who brought
a sacrifice for offering, even if he employed a priest to-sprinkle the blood
and to perform all the other priestly functions in the case. In particular,
a public man is said to offer sacrifices when he causes them to be offered
by the proper officiating priests. The record is capable of this interpreta-
tion in every case where it speaks of an offering by Samuel. In one in-
stance only we have a specific statement of the part personally taken by
Samuel in a sacrifice (I Sam. ix. 13); and in this instance he was to pro-
nounce a blessing at the sacrificial meal, long after all the priestly rites had
been completed.
2 The priest must be from the tribe of Levi; the prophet might be from
any tribe. The priest was selected according to descent and ceremonial
condition; the prophet was directly and individually commissioned by
Deity. The priest was accredited by solemn religious services and care-
fully kept genealogical registers, the prophet by the possession of the
extraordinary powers that God gave him. The priests served in a yearly
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 83
were somewhat generally recruited from among men
who were disciples of the acknowledged Was the
prophets, and had thus received special tui- prophet a
tion for the service. In the times of the graduate?
" sons of the prophets," for example, it is likely that
most men who became prophets were those who had
previously been connected with these so-called prophetic
schools (2 Ki. ix. I, 4; Am. vii. 14-15). But there is
no trace of this having been done as a matter of regular
course. There is no evidence that most of these pupils
ever became prophets in the strict sense, much less that
they became so in a routine way, by graduating. Ap-
parently, however, they were regarded as prophets in a
secondary sense, and were called by the name. In the
periods when prophets were very numerous, it is likely
that most of them were prophets only in this secondary
sense—sons of the prophets, followers of the great
prophets, rather than men who were believed to be
themselves highly endowed with prophetic gifts.
4. There is no indication, fourthly, that the prophets
were ordinarily set apart to their office by any ordaining
act. They were sometimes set apart to some Ordination
special work, but there is no instance in which
any one is admitted to be a prophet by any such act.
The anointing of Elisha is the principal case in point
(1 Ki. xix. 16, 19). But the facts of Elisha's life show
that he was a distinguished prophet long before this
anointing. He, was to be anointed, not to the prophetic
round, according to a minutely prescribed ritual; the prophets came and
went as God sent them. The priests administered and taught the divine
laws which the prophets brought and proclaimed. The priests ministered
at the altar; the prophets preached the word. The priests were the offi-
cial clergy of the Israelitish church; the prophets, especially in the matter
of scripture-writing, "spice from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost,"
not to Israel only, but to all the ages.
84 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
office, but to be the successor of Elijah, in Elijah's
special work. It is a question whether there was any
ceremony of anointing save Elijah's casting his cloak
upon him. And in any case the transaction is set forth
as exceptional and peculiar. In the same breath in
which Elijah is directed to anoint Elisha he is also
directed to anoint Hazael and Jehu. But the anointing
of Hazael king over Syria, by an Israelite prophet
(1 Ki. xix. 15), is evidently something exceptional.
Equally so is the anointing of Jehu over Israel, in a
private room at Ramoth-gilead (1 Ki. xix. 16; 2 Ki. ix.
1-13). And not less exceptional is the setting apart of
Elisha that is mentioned along with these. And with
this vanishes the last sign that any one ever entered
upon the prophetic office by taking orders.
5. In fine, every man or woman whom God endowed
with prophetic gifts thereby became a prophet. No
How one other door to the office is mentioned in the
became a scriptures. The law in Deut. xviii says : " A
prophet prophet . . . will Yahaweh thy God raise
up to thee." The prophet becomes a prophet simply
j by being raised up for that purpose. He becomes a
prophet, so far as the records show, solely by becoming
endowed with prophetic gifts. He becomes recognized
as a prophet through the exercise of his gifts among his
fellow-citizens. As people discovered that a person had
the gifts, they accepted him as a prophet, and that
irrespective of outward insignia or previous training
or ceremonies of ordination. If one claimed to be a
prophet of Yahaweh, his claims were to be tested not by
the clothes he wore, or by his ascetic mode of life, or
by appealing to a register of genealogy or of ordinations,
but by ascertaining whether he had the gifts of a prophet
—by observing, first, whether he spoke in Yahaweh's
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 85
name only, and, secondly, whether the signs which he
gave in Yahaweh's name came to pass.
This applies, of course, only to prophets who were
properly such. In the secondary sense of being a dis-
ciple, one of the sons of the prophets, one might become
a prophet merely by becoming connected with prophets
whose gifts were recognized.1
I have not the hardihood to expect that every one will
accept the opinion I am advocating as to the costume,
the freedom from excited conduct, the ordina- The prophet
tion, of the prophets; but every one will cer- especially a
tainly recognize the significant fact that these manly man
things are only slightly touched in the records; and this
fact constitutes nine-tenths of the value of the view I
offer. At least no stress is laid on matters of regulation
costume or of marvellous personal bearing or of ordina-
tion. In Deuteronomy the phrase, "of your brethren,
like unto me," stands in contrast to the characteristics
alike of the priests and of the heathen practitioners of
magic arts. Unlike these, the prophet is a man of the
same sort with other men. A distinguishing thing in
the religion of Israel is its proclamation that a manly
man is the truest channel of communication between man
and God. We cannot too strongly recognize the manli-
ness and the manfulness of the prophets, as set forth in
the Old Testament, or of Jesus and the apostles as set
forth in the New.2
l Either in these organizations or in other forms and at other dates,
there is reason to hold that the prominent prophets had their disciples,
some of whom were permanently attached to them, looking to them for
instruction, and assisting them in their work. See such passages as Isa.
viii. 16, 1. 4; Jer. li. 59-63. It may be assumed that literary and theologi-
cal studies generally formed a part of the training of the disciples of the
prophets.
2 I suppose that no careful student will hold that the positions which I
86 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
To repeat this once more. According to the records
a prophet might be judge or king or priest or general or
The absence statesman or private person, in fine, might
of insignia occupy any position in the commonwealth;
noteworthy as a prophet, he was simply a citizen with a
special work to do. The prophets as such had no settled
position in church or state. They were sent by God on
individual missions, natural or supernatural, to supple-
ment the routine administration of secular and religious
affairs. The bible refuses to present any other picture
of a prophet than that of a citizen, like other citizens,
holding a commission from God, and endowed with the
gifts requisite for accrediting his commission. This
agrees with everything that we shall hereafter learn
concerning the prophets. The human individuality of
the prophet is emphasized, to the neglect of outward
appearance, or official character, or other like things.
In the scriptures as they stand, leaving out the excep-
tional instances that serve to emphasize the rule, our
attention is withdrawn from external marks, and fixed
upon the personal man or woman whom God has ap-
pointed to be prophet.
In this there is a significant contrast .between the re-
ligion of Israel and other religions. The conception of
religion which thus exalts manhood, when considering
our relations to Deity, is a fine conception. Men some-
times speak of this conception as if it were the new prod-
uct of the thinking of the last decades of the nineteenth
century. When men exploit twentieth-century religious
ideas, they give prominence to this: the recognition of
maintain as to the absence of outward insignia can be positively disproved;
and that no one will dispute that it is better to form our conceptions of the
prophets more by the facts that are positively stated, and less by accessories
that some suppose are alluded to, than many are in the habit of doing.
THE PROPHET. A CITIZEN WITH A MESSAGE 87
the truth that the most human man or woman is the per-
son most suitable to be the prophet of the Lord. It is
not a small thing among the glories of the religion of
Yahaweh that it has recognized this truth from the be-
ginning. This conception characterizes the monotheism
of the worshippers of Yahaweh, as differing from all other
religions. It characterizes this monotheism as expressed
in the earliest records we have concerning the prophets,
as well as in the latest. It is one of the phenomena
which mark that religion as, among the religions, the
one fittest to survive.
CHAPTER V
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET—NATURALISTIC AND
SUPERNATURALISTIC
IN the preceding chapter we have tried to answer the
question: How did the prophet look when you met him?
and other affiliated questions. In the present chapter
the question becomes : How, in his character as prophet,
did the prophet occupy himself? What did he do?
We need from the outset to guard against two mis-
taken assumptions, — the assumption that the prophets
were merely or mainly predicters of events, and the re-
actionary assumption that they exercised no supernatu-
ral gifts.
No scholars hold that the prophets were mere givers
of oracles or predicters of the future; and yet this phase
The assump- of their work has been so emphasized that
tion that wrong impressions are common. One needs
prophecy is to reiterate the statement that a prophet is
prediction not characteristically a person who foretells, but
one who speaks forth a message from Deity. To regard
him as mainly a foreteller involves a narrowing of the
idea of his mission that is all the more mischievous
because of its being popularly very common. The
argument from fulfilled prediction has been made so
prominent among the proofs of the divine origin of the
scriptures, and again in advocating the claim of Jesus
to be the Christ, that many have come to think of pre-
diction as being substantially the whole of prophecy, and
even to interpret the prophetic writings as if they must
88
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 89
needs be regarded as predictive throughout.) This state
of things renders it necessary to repeat the statement
that prophecy and prediction are different terms. It
greatly obscures the prophecies to count them as pre-
dictive only. In bulk, predictions constitute but a small
part of them, and what predictions there are consist
almost entirely of promises and threats.
This is one bad assumption. But we should not for-
get that the opposite assumption is as bad or worse.
Prophecy is not prediction, but it does not The worse
follow that prophecy does not include predic- contrary
tion. The absence of supernatural endow- assumption
ment for the prophets is a thing to be proved, not a thing
to be assumed. Prediction should neither be interpreted
into the prophetic utterances, nor interpreted out of
them. The predictive element in prophecy may be gen-
uine and important, even if it is only a part and not the
whole.
Taking the matter up positively, let us repeat once
more that the functions of the prophet are correctly
indicated by the etymology of the English The name
word. A prophet is a person who speaks out indicates the
the special message that God has given him. function
The priesthood, and, in a modified sense, the judge or
king or other secular authorities, were, in their routine
duties, the exponents of the will of Yahaweh in Israel.
The prophets were his spokesmen for the purposes not
covered by the routine administration of affairs.
1 This is not confined to advocates of old-fashioned opinions. Several
scholars have published, for example, arguments for the Maccabaean date
of the book of Daniel, based on the assumption that prophecy and predic-
tion are equivalent. They say that inasmuch as the book of Daniel is
peculiarly predictive, the editors of the Hebrew bible would certainly have
placed it among the prophets if it had been in existence when the writings
of the prophets were collected.
90 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
In a general study of this topic very little depends
on dates. In matters of detail, indeed, there is much
Principal difference between the earlier and the later
functions the prophets. The civilization of Israel was not
same at all stationary, and the training and the tasks of
dates the prophets changed with their environment. But
in its principal outlines their work was essentially the same
at all periods?
We will begin with passages which describe a prophet's
duties in outline, and will afterward consider particulars.
In the narrative concerning Moses a prophet is thus
defined: —
"And Yahaweh said unto Moses, See, I have given thee as a
Deity to Pharaoh, Aaron thy brother being thy prophet " (Ex.
vii. 1).
Aaron was to utter before Pharaoh the messages which
A prophets Moses should commit to him for the purpose.
functions In doing this, he sustained to Moses the re-
outlined lation which a prophet sustains to his God.
Nothing could be more explicit. A prophet is a person
who speaks forth the message that God has committed
to him.
Altogether the same is the definition of the func-
tion of a prophet as given in the twelfth chapter of
Numbers : — iv t
"If there be a prophet of you, I Yahaweh make myself known
unto him in the vision, in a dream I speak with him. Not so is my
servant Moses. In all my house he is faithful. Mouth unto mouth
I speak with him" (vv. 6-8).
Here the prophet is described as one who receives mes-
1 That the Old Testament writings declare this to have been the case is
beyond dispute, though some critics may account for it by saying that the
earlier writings have been reworked.
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 91
sages from God. That he utters the messages he receives
is not affirmed, that being left to implication.
This idea that the prophets were revealing spokesmen
for Deity is more fully defined in the eighteenth and the
thirteenth chapters of Deuteronomy. First, the prophet
is differentiated from the Levitical priest (Deut. xviii.
1-8), the ordinary spokesman of Yahaweh. The differ-
entiation is none the less real for its being indirect and
by suggestion only. The prophet's functions are unlike
those of the priesthood in that they are special, rather
than matters of routine. He is next distinguished from
all practisers of occult arts (9-14). He is unlike these
men to whom people are apt to go when they fancy
themselves in need of supernatural information. The
distinction in this case is made directly, and consists in
the fact that the prophet has genuine revelations from
Deity. Then (15-19) the prophet is positively described.
He is a man, like other men, "of thy brethren, like unto
me," raised up by Yahaweh for purposes of especial
communication from him, so that men may not need to
seek intercourse with the supernatural world through the
magic arts just forbidden, or through any other channel.
In the rest of the chapter and in the first verses of xiii,
the test of a true prophet is declared.
The messianic bearings of this passage are reserved
for future notice. It is enough for the present that they
do not conflict with the interpretation just given. The
word "prophet" in the passage, though not a collective
noun, is distributively used. Yahaweh would raise up
to Israel a prophet "from among their brethren," at his
own pleasure, whenever he had a special revelation to
make by one; and that would be as often as they really
needed communication with the unseen world. He
promised that a prophet should appear on the arising
92 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
of any such need. The New Testament writers cor-
rectly apply this to Jesus Christ, both because they
regard him as for his own time a prophet in this succes-
sion, and because they regard him as the great antitypal
prophet in whom the succession culminated.1
In our English version the last clause of the four-
teenth verse reads: —
"The Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do."
This translation is so inadequate as to be misleading.
Literally the clause is: —
"nd as for thee, not Thus bath Yahaweh thy God given to thee."
That is, he has not given to thee the spurious and fool-
ish modes of consulting with the unseen which are prac-
1 "For these nations which thou art dispossessing hearken unto sorcer-
ers and unto diviners; while as for thee, not thus hath Yahaweh thy Deity
given to thee. A prophet, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like
me, will Yahaweh thy Deity raise up to thee; unto him shall ye hearken.
According to all which thou didst ask from with Yahaweh thy Deity in
Horeb, in the day of the Assembly, saying, Let me not again hear the
voice of Yahaweh my Deity, and this great fire I shall no longer see, lest I
die. And Yahaweh said unto me, They have spoken well that which they
have spoken. A prophet I will raise up for them from the midst of their
brethren, like thee, and will give my words in his mouth, and he shall
speak unto them all which I shall command him; and it shall be that the
man who will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name,
I myself will make inquiry from with him.
"Only, the prophet who shall presume to speak a word in my name
which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the
name of other Deities, that prophet shall die. And inasmuch as thou wilt
say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Yahaweh bath not
spoken? The prophet who shall speak in the name of Yahaweh, and the
word shall not be, and shall not come to pass, that is the word which
Yahaweh bath not spoken" (Deut. xviii. 14-22).
"When there shall arise in the midst of thee a prophet or a dreamer
of dreams, and shall give unto thee a sign or a miracle; and the sign or
the miracle come to pass, which he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go
after other Deities, . . . thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet
. . ." (Deut. xiii. i-6).
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 93
tised by the augurs and diviners and sorcerers of other
nations, but has given thee something immeasurably
better, namely, his prophets; and he therefore forbids
thy resorting to these other methods. The words "not
thus hath Yahaweh thy God given to thee," in mention-
ing what God has not given, call attention to the dif-
ferent thing which he has given. He disallows the
consulting of the invisible world through necromancers,
because he has provided a glorious opening of com-
munication with himself through the prophets. The
words of the verse distinctly contrast the forbidden
looking into the unknown world, that by the practice of
occult arts, with the revealing of the unknown which is
promised in the following verse, in the office work of
Yahaweh's prophet. In fine, according to this chapter,
the prophet is like the priest in that he is the authorized
representative of Yahaweh, and unlike him in that his
work is special. He is like and unlike the magicians,
in that he is genuinely the channel of especial communi-
cation with Deity, which they falsely pretend to be.
To repeat this in other words, he is differentiated from
the priest by the fact that his message is direct and
special and from those who practise magic arts by the
fact that his communication with Deity is real.
Having taken this general view, we are prepared to
descend to particulars. The functions which the records
ascribe to the prophets may be arranged in two classes,
—those which do not require the exercise of distinctly
supernatural gifts, and those which require such gifts.
For convenience let us designate these as their natural-
istic and their supernaturalistic functions.
I. We begin with certain classes of their activities
which presuppose no powers on their part but such as
may be common to all gifted men.
94 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
I. They were prominent as the public men of their
times; they were statesmen, often political leaders.
When we find such men as Moses or Samuel or David
or Daniel engaged in public affairs, we might perhaps
explain it by saying that they occupy themselves thus,
not in the character of prophet, but rather in that of law-
giver or judge or king or prime minister. But even so,
it seems to have been true that in times of crisis, when
there were great deeds to do, the office of lawgiver or
judge or prime minister was peculiarly apt to fall into
the hands of a prophet.
But this way of accounting for the matter will not
apply in all the instances in which we find the prophets
taking part in public affairs. So far as we are informed,
Elijah or Elisha or Amos or Hosea or Isaiah or Jere-
miah or Ezekiel were never officeholders, but they habit-
ually deal with questions of state. Reflect on what you
know concerning them, and you will see that a book
which should contain their biographies in detail would
also be a detailed history of national affairs. In the
peculiar constitution of Israel, political and religious
questions were so closely identified that the prophet
could hardly be a religious teacher without being also a
political leader.
Take Jeremiah as an illustration of this. In his time
Judah has become a tributary kingdom, subject to
Jeremiah as Babylonia. The nobles are restive under the
a statesman yoke. They are constantly plotting to throw
it off, are seeking to influence the king and the nation
in that direction, are advocating alliances with Egypt.
Jeremiah steadfastly opposes their policy. He con-
trives to exert an influence over both Jehoiakim and
Zedekiah, holding them back from revolt. He writes
letters to the exiles in Babylonia, advising them to be
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 95
docile and. make the best of their situation. Half of
his prophecies, as we have them, are attempts to con-
vince the Jews that successful revolt is impossible, and
that attempted revolt can only bring additional miseries
upon them. He preaches a doctrine of restoration
after seventy years as a reason why they should cease
from their hopeless efforts for present independence.
Nebuchadnezzar recognizes the services of Jeremiah,
and shows him distinguished favors when Jerusalem is
at last destroyed.
But writers are unjust to Jeremiah when they simply
describe his political position as anti-Egyptian and pro<
Babylonian. - He was not in any proper sense pro-Baby-
lonian. So far as appears he refused the Babylonian
king's invitation to go to Babylonia and be there treated
with honor. No prophet denounced Babylonia more se-
verely than he. His position is that of all the prophets,
opposed to all entangling alliances with foreign powers.
He wanted nothing to do with Babylonia any more
than with Egypt. But when his king had sworn alle-
giance to Babylonia, Jeremiah held that the oath should
be kept, that good policy as well as good faith forbade
the breaking of it. He would accept Babylonish
supremacy for the time being as an accomplished
fact, in opposition to those who advocated continued
resistance.
Similarly the career of Isaiah is throughout marked
by participation in national issues. In particular, he
works against the Assyrian alliance made by Isaiah and
Ahaz, and the opposing Babylonian or Egyp- Hosea as
tian alliances considered by Hezekiah. Hosea statesmen
is equally positive in denouncing intrigues with Assyria
or Egypt, and in advocating a policy of solidarity between
the northern and the southern kingdoms.
96 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
It was characteristic of the politics of the prophets
that they were a bond of unity between the northern
Prophetic and the southern kingdoms. Judaean proph-
ideal of a ets such as Amos and Isaiah prophesied for
united Israel Ephraim as well as for Judah, Isaiah dis-
tinctly recognizing " both the houses of Israel" (viii. 14);
and such northern prophets as Hosea and Elijah and
Elisha prophesied for Judah as well as for Israel (Am. i.
I, iii. I, 12, etc. ; Isa. ix. 9, 2I, xxviii. I, 3, etc.; 2 Chron.
xxi. 12 ; 2 Ki. iii. 14 ; Hos. i. I I, iii. 4-5, xi. 12, etc.).
The northern prophets recognize some sort of alle-
giance as due to Jerusalem and the house of David,
as well as to their own kings. Those of both kingdoms
earnestly seek to keep alive the consciousness of Israel-
itish unity. They take pains to cultivate the fraternal
spirit. Hosea, and Amos less obviously, had a definite
programme for the reunion of the two kingdoms under
a king of the line of David. The marriage of Jehoram
and Athaliah probably indicates an earlier attempt in
the same direction.1
According to the record, Elijah and Elisha were party
leaders, though their public policy is less obvious to a
Elijah and superficial reader than that of some of the
Elisha as other prophets. For two generations before
statesmen the sudden coming of Elijah upon the scene,
the false worship of Yahaweh through the calves of
1 It is obvious that this marriage might supposably have resulted in the
acceptance of a prince of the house of David as heir to both the thrones.
Supposably this was the intention in the negotiations for the marriage.
Presumably the prophets favored it at the time, and built great hopes upon
it. There is much plausibility in the hypothesis that the forty-fifth Psalm
is a marriage song sung by a prophet of Judah on this occasion. On this
hypothesis, the result was a grievous disappointment; but this would not
be the only time in history when statesmen and prophets have been out-
witted by a brilliant, wicked woman.
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 97
Bethel and Dan has been the state religion of northern
Israel. But there have been nonconformists all the
while. Lately, under Jezebel, the worship of Baal has
been introduced, and the state church has largely gone
over to the new cult. This has increased the numbers
of the nonconformists, and their activity. Their ideal
would be a participation in the sacrifices at the one
place of national sacrifice in Jerusalem. But this is
impracticable. As a protest against the false worship
of the state church, they make offerings of certain kinds
at many inconspicuous private altars. Unlike the ad-
herents of the state religion, they are inflexible in their
opposition to Baal, and thus draw upon themselves the
horrible persecutions of Jezebel. This drove them to
yet more desperate resistance. They formed the or-
ganizations known to us as the "sons of the prophets."
Possibly the Tishbites, "the settlement men of Gilead "
(I Ki. xvii. I), of whom Elijah was one, were another
organization of the same sort. Elijah and Elisha were at
the head of these organizations. We get glimpses of them
going hither and thither, engaged in strenuous activities.
These people constituted in effect an ecclesiastical
and political party, in opposition to the existing govern-
ment. It is the familiar story of men professing to be
loyal to a king, but in revolt and even in arms against
his policy and his counsellors. John Knox and Mary
queen of Scots have not a better parallel in history
than that presented by Elijah in his relations with
Ahab — Ahab, brilliant, impulsive, well-meaning, but
weak when it came to resisting evil influences.1
1 Sometimes Elijah and Elisha, the leaders of the opposition, are in a
certain degree of favor at court. Their advice in public matters is sought,
and in some instances followed. When Elisha offers to speak in behalf of
the Shunamite to the king or the general of the army (2 Ki. iv. 13), it
98 The PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
In these several political affairs such prophets as
Elijah and Elisha, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, are simply
doing what other prophets of all dates were accustomed
to do. The Israelitish prophet was a statesman. Most
of the distinguished statesmen of Israel were prophets.
2. Apart from their political activities, the prophets
were the reformers of their times.
Every age has need of men who shall lead in warfare
against organized evils, or against evils that are other-
wise rampant. Witness the efforts of John Howard in
the cause of prison reform, of William Wilberforce in
resistance to the slave trade and slavery, of John B.
Gough against intemperance in drink, of Henry Bergh
for the prevention of cruelty to animals, of Clara Barton
for the more humane care of wounded soldiers and
sailors. In matters analogous to these, the prophets
were the leaders of reforms in Israel.
It is possible to mention here only a few of the
many questions of public struggle against evils which,
at different periods, engaged their activities, giving only
a reference or two, out of many that might be given,
seems to be with confidence that his word will be influential. At other
times the situation becomes strained, even to the extent of bloody hostility.
When Elijah first appears in the narrative, he is in the act of presenting an
ultimatum to Ahab. Then he withdraws from relations with him, and. the
rupture lasts three years, in spite of Ahab's strong efforts for resumption
Ki. xviii. i, 1o). When he at last meets the king, the slaughter of
Baal's prophets at Mount Carmel follows. I suppose that this and, later„
the destruction of Ahaziah's soldiers by fire from heaven may properly be
counted as battles between the contending parties. The effect of them
was salutary. The Baalites learned that Yahaweh's followers were not to
be murdered with impunity, and the persecutions were relaxed. And so
affairs moved on from year to year, until the prophets became convinced.
of the futility of their war against Jezebel so long as the existing dynasty
remained in power, and consequently instigated Jehu to the revolution in
which the house of Omri went down in blood.
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 99
under each question. In addition to matters of reli-
gious reform, such matters as idolatry, the high places,
the support of the temple worship and the Some of the
like, they advocated reforms in the matter reforms which
of divorce, of licentiousness, of usury, of the prophets led
land monopoly, of drunkenness and dissipation, of sla-
very (Mal. ii. 10-16; Jer. v. 7-9, etc.; Neh. v; Ezek.
xviii. 8, etc.; Isa. v. 7-10, 11-22, etc.; Jer. xxxiv. 8-22).
More prominently than anything else they rebuke un-
equal and unkind practices in the administration of
justice, and inexorably demand reformation. It is
largely for purposes of reform that they engage in
public affairs. In the interests of reform we constantly
find them rebuking kings and priests and people, teach-
ing the populace, making public addresses, reading and
expounding the scriptures, organizing the prophetic
bands and other enginery for forming public opinion.
3. Again, the prophets were evangelistic preachers
and organizers.
Their writings which we have show this. The histori-
cal books of the bible are narrative sermons. They so
present history as to make it preach to us on the sub-
ject of our duties to God and men. Most of the other
prophetic books are volumes either of sermons or of
homiletical poems or tracts. In a good many instances
a passage in the prophets becomes intelligible only when
we recognize it as a syllabus or brief sketch of an ad-
dress that was much longer when delivered orally.
In other ways than by their discourses they exerted
an evangelistic influence. We have already had our
attention called to the organizations of the times of
Samuel and of Elijah and of Elisha. These were not
mere literary institutions for giving instruction to young
lads, but systematic arrangements for exerting an in-
100 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
fluence; as we should now say, arrangements for Chris-
tian work.
I have called this function evangelistic. It was some-
thing quite apart from the priestly function of main-
taining ordinary services of public worship. It was
aggressive and missionary in its character. But it
would not be altogether amiss to say that it was also
evangelistic in the sense of the proclamation of good
news. Some of the distinctive doctrines taught by the
prophets, particularly the doctrine of a Messiah., will be
considered later. They came very much nearer than we
sometimes imagine to possessing and preaching what: we
now call the gospel. At all events they urged the cardinal
duties of repentance, faith, love, change of heart, the fear
of God, public and private obedience to his requirements.
The work of the prophets as ethical and religious
preachers is on the whole that which is most kept in
the foreground in the descriptions given of them. in
the bible. What they did as public men or reformers
or writers of literature might be said to be branches
of their work as preachers.
4. Yet again, the prophets were the literary men. of
Israel.
It is fashionable in some quarters to assert that they
did not become writers till the time of Arnos and
Isaiah ; but by using a concordance of proper names
any one can easily convince himself that the scriptures
attribute literary authorship to prophets earlier than
these. Express mention is made of it in the case of
Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, David, Asaph,
Heman, Ethan, Jeduthun, Solomon, Ahijah, Jedo, Iddo,
Shemaiah, Jehu, Elijah, and this constitutes an implica-
tion that others also engaged in literary work. Such
work is yet more prominently characteristic of the
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 101
prophets of later times, whose names are attached to
the books we now possess.
Whether Israel before Malachi had literary writers
who were not prophets does not appear from the evi-
dence ; though it is natural to think that the men who
are mentioned in connection with public affairs under
the title of scribe or recorder were not in all cases
prophets. That there was an extensive literature in
addition to that now preserved in the bible appears
from the references which the biblical writers make to
books by their titles. We shall have occasion to speak
more in full of the literary work of the prophets when we
come to speak of them as the writers of the scriptures.
5. In connection with these naturalistic functions of
the prophet there are two or three points which we
ought not to neglect.
(a) The distinction between primary and secondary
prophets here becomes important. In our study of the
external history, our attention was called to Different
the fact of the great numbers of the prophets kinds of
at all periods between Samuel and Nehemiah. prophets
This may seem to be a strange fact, when one's atten-
tion is first called to it. Is it not inconsistent with the
idea that the prophets are rare and special messengers
from heaven?
In reply to this question it should be said that the
prophets who were regarded as having supernatural
gifts were probably more numerous than many suppose,
though not so numerous but that they were always rela-
tively rare. But the majority of those who are called
prophets were doubtless secondary prophets, the "sons
of the prophets," members of the prophetic organiza-
tions, or in some other capacity disciples of the prophets
who were highly gifted. These secondary prophets
102 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
were associated with the others in public or evangelistic
or literary work. Most of the prophetic functions thus
far enumerated were shared by them, and the term
"prophet" was naturally extended to them.
Very likely a large proportion of the very numerous
false prophets were secondary prophets who had be-
come misled, though some of them were doubtless mere
counterfeits. It is not necessary to think that the false
prophets generally were men who were acknowledged
as having supernatural gifts from Yahaweh.
(b) We should note, further, that a prophet, in virtue
of his being a statesman or a reformer or a preacher or
The prophet, an author, is likely to have been at once a
both local cosmopolitan man and a man who had local
and cosmo- and temporary interests. While he was emi-
politan nently one concerned with the whole world and
with all future time, he was at the same time eminently
practical, dealing with the concerns of his own locality and
his own generation.
It hinders a correct understanding of the writings of
the prophets to ignore the local and temporary element
in them. In the main they are composed of the same
sorts of material with sermons and reform addresses.
They contain the truths with which the prophets tried
to move the consciences of the men of their times and
of all future time. Predictions, for example, were to
them matters of supernatural revelation. They used
them just as they and we use scripture texts, to en-
force the practical message in hand. Isa. ii-iv, for
example, is a sermon preached from the prediction, ii.
2-4, as a text, the sermon being of the nature of rebuke
and counsel to the men of that generation.
Equally fatal, however, to correct interpretation, and
now more widely prevalent, is the mistake of too much
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 103
restricting the prophecies to local and temporary mean-
ings. Doubtless most of the prophetic discourses had
some specific local purpose to accomplish; but the dis-
course would seek its ends through those general appli-
cations of truth in which all men alike are capable of
being influenced, and not through those only which were
peculiar to their own times. The universalness that
differentiates literature is especially marked in these
writings.
In reading the prophecies we are to recognize a local
allusion or statement when we find one, just as we are
to recognize a prediction when we find one; but we are
not violently to give to any passage either a local char-
acter or a predictive character, as if the meaning of the
passage depended upon this. The Israelites of Isaiah's
time, for example, needed divine teaching because of
the peculiarities of the age and land in which they
lived. But they needed it yet more because they were
human sinners, like the men of all countries in all ages.
(c) Yet again, so far as the functions we have been
considering go, the Hebrew prophets have their coun-
terparts both in the Christian church and elsewhere.
These counterparts are of' two different kinds.
First, any adherent of the true religion may be said
to prophesy when the Spirit of God gives him a special
message for the edification of others. No A sense in which
miracle is needed for this, but only that illu- all devout persons
mination which devout persons sometimes are prophets
enjoy, and which God offers to all. In Paul's epistle
we have details concerning the gift of prophecy as
possessed by members of the Corinthian church (I Cor.
xiv). The gift as described here and elsewhere in the
New Testament does not necessarily differ from that
set forth in the Old Testament. And, within limits,
104 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
prophesying still abounds among earnestly religious
people. One who speaks for God in some special and
marked message, in a Christian meeting, exercises so
far forth the gift of prophecy.
But again, in a quite different sense, any gifted person,
raised up by God for some marked and especial pur-
A sense in pose of reform or training for the age in
which great which he lives, has some of the marks of a
leaders are prophet. This is true if the man is earnestly
prophets religious, and it remains true even if he is irreligious
or falsely religious. The New Testament goes so far as
to say that Caiaphas prophesied (Jn. xi. 51), and its
writers call Balaam a prophet, and the heathen poet of
Crete a prophet.1 Most believers in a personal God
believe that God raises up the great men of history, the
bad as well as the good, for the accomplishing of special
purposes. To attribute to such men, within properly
defined limits, the character of prophets is to say what
is distinctly true.
There are reasons, perhaps decisive reasons, against
ordinarily using the term "prophet" and the term "inspi-
ration" in such ways as these. Unless carefully, defined,
the terms when so used are likely to be misunderstood
and to be misleading; and if you delay every time for
definition, the terms are liable to lose all their energy.
But it is correct to illustrate the naturalistic functions of
the prophets of Israel by applying the term "prophet "
and the term "inspiration," so far forth, to men of all
times and races; to say, for example, that Shakespeare
1 "Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the hire of wrongdoing; . . . a
dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet"
(2 Pet. ii. 15-16).
"One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always
liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons " (Tit. i. 12).
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 105
was a prophet of God, divinely inspired for the pur-
pose of producing certain effects upon the literature and
culture and human character of England and of the
world.
There are disputants who say such things as these by
way of denying that the prophets had any divine mes-
sage different from those of other leaders in human
thought. One who opposes this denial will have a great
advantage if he fully acknowledges the reality and the
prominence of the naturalistic functions of the prophets,
such functions as we have thus far been considering.
Over a wide range their activities were like those of
other religious men at any time in history. Again, over
a wide range their activities were like those of other
leaders of thought, at any date or of any blood.
II. But an account of the prophets which should stop
at this point would be so incomplete as to be thoroughly
erroneous. The scriptures affirm that the prophets, in
addition to these naturalistic activities, exercised dis-
tinctly supernatural powers.
The facts we have been looking at are genuine, and
are essential to an adequate view of the subject. But
they are entirely subordinate as compared with certain
other facts. The bible prophets also claim functions
that imply superhuman gifts—functions that differ in
kind, and not merely in degree, from those thus far
mentioned. They claim an inspiration different from
that which they possess in common with other men.
And this higher inspiration they claim, not merely for
purposes of prediction, but for other activities as well.
Elisha working miracles, Daniel revealing the king's
dream, or any prophet uttering a rebuke that came by
revelation, lays claim to superhuman gifts as really as a
prophet who foretells the future.
106 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
These superhuman activities may be spoken of in
Pave classes: the working of miracles, the disclosing
of secrets, the foretelling of events, the revealing of
Yahaweh's law, the teaching of the doctrine of the
Messiah. The last two of these will be considered at
length in subsequent chapters. The first three we will
now discuss very briefly.
First, the prophets claim to have wrought miracles.
We need not, in order to prove this, claim that every
The prophet wonderful event narrated in the Old Testa-
a worker of ment is a miracle. Men of the past have
miracles mistakenly interpreted marvels into the bible.
Perhaps it is true that even some of the most stupendous
interpositions in which Yahaweh manifested himself to
Israel were events which can be accounted for by known
natural laws. There are those who think that the cross-
ing of the Red Sea can be accounted for by an unusual
combination of wind and tide, occurring at a certain
juncture in the affairs of Israel; and that the rain of
fire that destroyed Sodom can be accounted for by the
sinking of a broken tract of ground into a deposit of
bituminous products; and that Israel's crossing the
Jordan dryshod can be accounted for by the- hypothesis
of a landslide above into the river; and that it was
Arabs rather than ravens that brought bread and flesh
to Elijah. We need not go into the discussion of such
instances. The question in each case is a question as
to the meaning of the testimony ; and the divine inter-
position is equally signal whether we can or cannot ac-
count for the events by the known laws of nature. But
when we have gone as far as possible in accounting natu-
ralistically for the deeds done by the prophets, it will
still remain true that they claimed the ability sometimes
to effect supernatural results. Familiar instances are the
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 107
wonders done by Moses in Egypt, Elijah's raising from
death the boy at Sarepta, and his calling down fire from
heaven, Elisha's multiplying the oil, causing the iron to
swim, raising to life the Shunamite's child.
Secondly, the prophets claimed to be able to disclose
secrets by supernatural help. Instances of this, familiar
to all, are those of Joseph before Pharaoh, of The prophet
Daniel before Nebuchadnezzar, of Elisha in a discloser of
the matter of the raids planned by the king secrets
of Syria (2 Ki. vi. 12).
Thirdly, the prophets claimed to predict the future.
In proof that they made this claim, and appealed to
fulfilled prediction as accrediting their com- The prophet
mission from Yahaweh, one need only read a predicter
such a passage as Isa. xli–xlv (especially xli. of events
22-23, 26, xlii. 9, xliii. 9, 12, 18-19, etc.). This claim
stands in the less need of being discussed, on account
of our being so familiar with it. The predictions of the
prophets form the staple of one of the familiar arguments
for the divine origin of the religion of the bible.
Of course the validity of this argument depends in
each instance on the question whether the prediction is
specific enough to distinguish the case to which it re-
fers from all other cases. The threats of the prophets
against Tyre are different from those against Damascus.
Those against each of these are different from those
against Jerusalem ; and similarly with Babylon and
Nineveh and other cities and countries. The strength
of the argument lies in the degree in which the differ-
ences in the fulfilments correspond with those in the
predictions.
Probably no one denies that the prophets made many
predictions that were remarkably fulfilled. Certain
scholars affirm, however, that many of their predictions
108 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
are also shown by the events to have been false. Whether
one accepts this charge as true will depend on his in-
terpretations of the facts. Many predictions have been
understood in senses in which they failed to conform to
the events; but against the charge that untruthful pre-
dictions abound in the utterances of the prophets of
Israel, it is safe to enter a general denial.
I am not now concerned to prove that the prophets
actually exercised these supernatural abilities — that
At least they they wrought miracles, foretold the future,
claimed disclosed hidden things ; I am only concerned
superhuman to call attention to the fact that they claimed
powers to exercise them. Some proofs that their claim
was well founded will come later. The fact now before us
is that they make the claim, constantly appealing to
these abilities as proving their divine commission. If
one has convinced himself that miracles never occur, he
will of course refuse even to consider this claim ; but
if one's mind is open to conviction on this point, he
must take these claims into the account. Indeed, they
constitute a part of the phenomena of the case, even
from the point of view of one who holds them to be
false.
Without particularizing further, let us note that all
the prophetic functions of every sort are capable of
The mono- being generalized into a single statement.
theism of the The religion of Israel is monotheism of a cer-
religion of tain type, the monotheism of the worship of
Yahaweh Yahaweh. Christianity and Mohammedanism,
the two more bulky successors of the religion of Israel, preserve
this same type of monotheism. We are all worshippers
of Israel's God. This monotheism is the greatest factor
in all Israelitish or Christian or Moslem civilizations.
The great work of the prophets, the one essential work,
THE FUNCTIONS OF A PROPHET 109
was the giving of this type of monotheism to Israel and
to mankind.
According to the claim of its adherents, Yahaweh re-
vealed this monotheism to men by the process of first
causing history to be transacted, and then causing a
record of the transactions to be made. The prophets
were the public men who had the greatest part in trans-
acting the history. They were the literary men who
made the record of the history. They were the preachers
who interpreted to men the ethical and spiritual lessons
of the history. They claim to have been the inspired
seers who perceived and made known Yahaweh's pur-
pose in the history. All their functions, natural and
supernatural, may be summed up in this brief descriptive
clause, the revealing of the monotheism of Yahaweh to
Israel and to mankind.
CHAPTER VI
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE — HOW GIVEN TO HIM, AND HOW
UTTERED BY HIM
WE have found that the Israelitish sacred literature
presents the prophet to us as a citizen like others, dis-
tinguished only by the fact that he has an especial mes-
sage from Deity to his fellow-citizens. In the delivery
of this message we have found him acting in the char-
acter of statesman, reformer, preacher, author, and
claiming powers and authority from the realm of the
supernatural. The question arises: Were there any
distinctive peculiarities in the mode in which he re-
ceived his message, and in the mode in which he uttered
it? Our sources give us some detailed information on
these points. We take up the two parts of the question
in their order.
I. First, how the prophet's message was revealed to
him. What was the source of his inspiration ? What
were the modes in which it made itself apparent?
I. The source of his inspiration is represented to be
the Spirit of Yahaweh, variantly called also the Spirit
of Elohim.
Save in exceptional instances the Hebrew word for
spirit is feminine; but like the word for soul, also femi-
nine, it may denote a masculine person. When per-
sonally used, its suggestions are masculine rather than
feminine.l The prophetic gift is said to be by the Spirit
1 The word denotes either spirit or wind. In both meanings it is regu-
larly feminine. The lexicons give certain instances in which it is mascu-
line when denoting wind (Ex. x. 13; I Ki. xix. 11; Jer. iv. 11; Job viii.
110
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 111
coming upon the prophet, coming mightily upon him,
being put upon him or within him, being given, being
poured out. This could best be studied by looking up
all the numerous passages, with the aid of a concordance.
We will recall a few of them, mostly those that are very
familiar.
Every one remembers the instance when Moses, at
Yahaweh's command, took the seventy elders to the tent
of meeting outside the camp, and Yahaweh Prophets in-
took of the Spirit which was upon Moses, spired by the
and put it upon them, and they prophesied. spirit to
Eldad and Medad, two of the men whose names were speak
in the list, did not go with the others, and the Spirit
came upon them where they were, and they prophesied
in the camp. That the Spirit here spoken of is the
Spirit of Yahaweh is throughout distinctly implied, and
in one verse is explicitly stated (Num. xi. 16—17, 25—29).
In the passage from Joel, cited by Peter at the pente-
cost, we read: —
"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy . . . And also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit"
(RV of Joel ii. 28-29; cf. Acts ii. 16-18).
Samuel said to Saul: "The Spirit of Yahaweh will
come mightily upon thee, and thou wilt prophesy."
2), but there is room for doubt. When used personally the word very
naturally passes into a masculine.
"A spirit passed before my face " (Job iv. 15).
"Renew thou within me a spirit that is made ready " (Ps. li. 10).
"The Spirit of Yahaweh spake by me" (2 Sam. xxiii. 2).
"My Spirit shall not strive with man forever" (Gen. vi. 3).
"The Spirit of Yahaweh will take thee up" (I Ki. xxiii. 12).
"Lest the Spirit of Yahaweh hath taken him up" (2 Ki. ii. i6).
"And the Spirit came forth and stood before Yahaweh."
"Which way went the Spirit of Yahaweh from with me to speak with
thee?" (i Ki. xxii. 21, 24).
112 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Accordingly, the narrator says, "the Spirit of Deity
came mightily upon him, and he prophesied " (I Sam.
x. 6, 10). In a little prophetic song attributed to David
the singer says: —
"The Spirit of Yahaweh spake by me" (2 Sam. xxiii. 2).
In the prayer in Nehemiah the worshippers say to
Yahaweh: —
"And thou testifiedst against them by thy Spirit by the hand of
the prophets " (Neh. ix. 30).
Micah says: —
"I truly am full of power by the Spirit of Yahaweh" (iii. 8, cf. ii.
7, II).
Hosea uses the parallelism : —
"The prophet is a fool,
The man of the Spirit is made mad" (ix. 7).
Similar instances might be multiplied. In particular
the book of Isaiah is full of them. It became customary
to connect adjectives with the Spirit, describing him as
Yahaweh's " good Spirit " (Neh. ix. 20; Ps. cxliii. 10), or
his "holy Spirit" (Isa. lxiii. 10-11; cf. Ps. li. 11 [13] ).
If one should undertake to make a count of the instances,
he ought not to omit those in which the divine name is
represented by a pronoun (e.g. Gen. vi. 3; Pss. cvi. 33,
cxxxix. 7; Isa. xxx. I).
Our survey of the subject of the Spirit that inspired
the prophets is not complete till we have looked at a
Deeds of very different class of manifestations of the
men inspired Spirit of Yahaweh. In the narrative concern-
by the Spirit ing Elijah we are told of the Spirit's carrying
him away, rendering him invisible (I Ki. xviii. 12; 2 Ki.
ii. 16). Marvellous acts of this nature are not often at-
tributed to the Spirit; but marvellous acts in the form
of great achievements of men are as prominently so
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 113
attributed as even the inspiring of the messages of the
prophets. Samson's exhibitions of wonderful strength,
for example, were by "the Spirit of Yahaweh "coming
"mightily" upon him (Jud. xiii. 25, xiv. 6, 19, xv. 14).
It was when "the Spirit of Yahaweh " came upon
Othniel and Gideon and Jephthah (Jud. iii. lo, vi. 34,
xi. 29) and others, that they wrought the exploits by
which they delivered Israel. When "the Spirit of
Yahaweh came mightily unto David," its presence was
probably manifested by David's achievements quite as
much as by his words; and the removal of the Spirit
from Saul was probably indicated by his failure in
achievement (I Sam. xvi. 13, 14). The Isaian singer says
of Israel in the wilderness (Isa. lxiii. 10-11): —
"They rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit." "Where is he that
put his holy Spirit in the midst of them? that caused his glorious
arm to go at the right hand of Moses? that divided the water before
them?"
In saying this he attributes to Moses the great deeds of
the exodus, and not the great words only.
At first thought, the qualifying a man for war or states-
manship, and especially the qualifying a man for such
athletic feats as those of Samson, by an inrush of
spiritual influence, seems to be very different from the
qualifying a prophet to utter a divine message; but
certainly there is no incongruity between the two. Es-
pecially should this idea find a hospitable reception
among us of the present generation, now that we have
introduced athletics so prominently among our appli-
ances for Christian service.
More difficult is the case where the four hundred
prophets are prophesying in the name of Yahaweh
before Ahab and Jehoshaphat, and Micaiah has his
vision of "the Spirit" proposing to be a lying spirit
114 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
in the mouths of the prophets, and finding his offer
acceptable to Yahaweh (I Ki. xxii. 21, 24); but we are
Micaiah's not at liberty to evade the difficulty by omit-
lying spirit ting this passage from our induction. This
seems to me to be a truly oriental instance of extremism
in the use of figure of speech. These prophets, profess-
ing to be moved by the Spirit of Yahaweh, were prophe-
sying falsehood. Micaiah says that it is as if the Spirit
of Yahaweh had become a lying spirit in them in order
to deceive Ahab to his destruction. That is all that they
understood him to mean. They did not understand
that in fact the Spirit became a lying spirit.l
What is the Spirit of Yahaweh as delineated in the
passages we have studied? To this question I give here
no philosophical or theological answer. The answer
The nature that lies verbally in the accounts is clear.
of the Spirit The Spirit is effluent energy from Yahaweh
of Yahaweh the infinite Spirit. But if we stop with this,
the answer is incomplete. This effluent energy is
spoken of in terms of personality. But the language
used concerning the Spirit of Yahaweh is different from
that used concerning the many personal spirits whom
these writers conceive of as doing the errands of the
supreme Spirit.2 The inspiring Spirit is one, and is
spoken of in terms that are definite. If we were con-
fined to the instances in which other divine names
than Yahaweh are used, there might be room for disput-
1 The English versions try to solve the difficulty by translating, "a
spirit," a translation that is within the limits of possibility. Other solutions
have been proposed. In Deity's causing or permitting Ahab to be de-
ceived, we have simply one more unsolved detail in the unsolved problem
of the origin of evil.
2 Of these Saul's evil spirit is a familiar instance (1 Sam. xvi. 14b, xix.
9). Job says: "A spirit passed before my face" (iv. 15). "He maketh
his angels spirits " (Ps. civ. 4).
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 115
ing this, but concerning "the Spirit of Yahaweh" there
is no room for doubt. And it is reasonably certain that
"the Spirit of Deity" in such cases as those of Bezalel,
Balaam, Azariah, Zechariah (Ex. xxxi. 3, xxxv. 31;
Num. xxiv. 2; 2 Chron. xv. 1, xxiv. 20), is the same
with "the Spirit of Yahaweh." In fine, this Spirit that
inspires the prophets is presented to us as a unique
being, having personal characteristics, effluent from Ya-
haweh the supreme Spirit of the universe, at once iden-
tical with and different from Yahaweh.
2. We turn to the question of the modes in which
it is represented that the Spirit gave the prophet his
message.
In books of reference these are usually classified, I
believe, as three; namely, by dreams, by visions, by direct
communication. This classification seems to Modes of revelation
me inadequate. It is based in part on the as commonly
assumption that the words from the stem classified
zaah, to see, are interchangeable with those from the
stem hhazah, to see. This assumption, as we have seen
in Chapter II, is not confirmed by a close examination
of the instances.
Partly on the ground of the difference between these
two sets of terms, and partly on other grounds, it seems
to me that a better classification of the modes Abetter
of revelation to the prophets is the following: classification
first, dreams; second, picture-visions ; third, visions of
insight; fourth, theophanies. The understanding of
this classification will be the vindication of it, provided
it is capable of being vindicated. When we understand
it, we shall see that it is really the classification that is
implied in the statements of the bible.
(a) The first of these four modes of revelation is that
by dreams. The number of passages in which this
116 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
mode is recognized is considerable, and the recognition
is distinct; and yet the impression is made that this
mode is regarded as of a lower type than the others.
General statements concerning revelation by dreams
abound. In the thirteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, in
General the directions given for testing a prophet's
mention of claims, the phrase "a prophet or a dreamer
prophetic of dreams " is three times repeated, as if one
dreams might be a prophet in virtue of his being a dreamer
of dreams (Deut. xiii. 1, 3, 5 [2, 4, 6] ). In the account
of the incident when Miriam and Aaron "spake against
Moses," Yahaweh says : —
"If there be a prophet among you; I . . . will make myself
known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream"
(Num. xii. 6).
We are told that King Saul resorted to the witch of
Endor because Yahaweh did not answer him
"by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets" (i Sam. xxviii. 6, 15).
Very familiar is the promise in Joel: —
"Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men
shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (ii. 28).
Job recognizes God's speaking "in a dream, in a vision
of the night," and complains of God's scaring him with
dreams, and terrifying him through visions (xxxiii. 15,
vii. 14). Jeremiah lays down the following rule as ap-
plicable even when sham prophetic dreams abound: —
"The prophet that bath a dream, let him tell a dream, and he
that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the
straw to the wheat? saith Yahaweh" (xxiii. 28).
Observe, however, that it is possible, in each of these
instances, so to interpret as to make the dream an
inferior mode of revelation. I do not say that this is
the true interpretation, but it is a possible one. And
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 117
in other passages, considerable stress is laid on the
deceiving dreams of some of the prophets. Speaking
of " teraphim " and "diviners," the second False
Zechariah says, "They have told false dreams" prophetic
(x. 2). Jeremiah has a good deal to say of dreams
the false dreaming of the prophets (xxiii. 25, 27, 32,
xxvii. 9, xxix. 8).
"The prophets . . . that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I
have dreamed, I have dreamed."
"Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their
dreams which they tell."
"That prophesy by lying dreams."
"Hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to
your dreams."
"Neither hearken ye to your dreams which ye cause to be
dreamed."
There are about a dozen instances of significant
dreams in the Old Testament ; Joseph's dreams con-
cerning the sheaves, and concerning the Instances of
sun and moon and stars; Jacob's dreams significant
at Bethel and in Paddan-aram; Solomon's dreams
dream; Daniel's dream, with the vision of the four
beasts; the dreams of the chief butler and the chief
baker and Pharaoh; those of Nebuchadnezzar; of
Abimelech king of Gerar; of Laban; of a Midianite
soldier in Gideon's time (Gen. xxxvii. 5-20, xxviii. 12,
xxxi. 10-11; I Ki. iii. 5, 15; Dan. vii. I; Gen. xl-xli;
Dan. ii, iv; Gen. xx. 3, 6, xxxi. 24; Jud. vii. 12-15). In
a majority of the instances the dreamers are heathen;
and in most of the instances where the dream is pro-
phetic, it does not loom up very large.
Really the interpretation of dreams seems to be more
honorably presented as a prophetic function than the
dreaming of dreams. It is spoken of as especially dis-
tinguishing Daniel that he had "understanding in all
118 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
visions and dreams " (i. 17). His " excellent spirit "
manifested itself in the "interpreting of dreams" (v.
Prophets as 12), as well as in other ways. The inter-
interpreters pretations of the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar
of dreams and of Pharaoh by Daniel and Joseph are
certainly in the records on the ground of their being
notable achievements of men who had prophetic gifts.
(b) The second mode of revelation to the prophets
is that by visions that are conceived of as presented
to the physical eye. Not necessarily visions that are
actually perceived, notice, by the physical sight, but
visions that are thought of as so perceived.l
Instances of this mode of communication with Deity
are numerous in the Old Testament, and are familiar
Instances of to all readers. A few, taken at random, are
picture- Jeremiah's beholding the rod of almond, the
vision seething pot, the baskets of figs (Jer. 11, 13,
xxiv); Zechariah's beholding the lampbowl and olive
trees, the flying roll, the woman in the ephah, the
four chariots (Zech. iv, v. 1-4, 5-11, vi. 1—8); Ezekiel's
beholding the four living creatures, and the hand with
the book-roll (Ezek. i, ii. 9, etc.); Yahaweh's causing
Amos to behold the locusts devouring the latter
growth, the fire devouring the great deep, the plumb-
line, the basket of summer fruit (vii. 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, viii.
1-3); his causing Elisha to behold the approaching
death of Benhadad and the accession of Hazael (2 Ki.
viii. 10-13); the appearing to Ezekiel of the semblance
1 These are the instances in which prophetic vision is described in terms
of the qal, the hiphil, the hophal, or the nouns of the stem raah, as distin-
guished from the stem hhazah. See Chapter II. In the remainder of this
chapter we will translate the words of this stem by such English terms as
"behold," "appearance," "picture-vision," reserving the words "see" and
"vision" to be used in translating from hhazah. The niphal of raah will
be considered later, when we reach the subject of theophany.
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 119
of a throne over his cherubim, and of a hand under their
wings (x. 1, 8) ; and very many others.
(c) The third mode of revelation to the prophets may,
in the lack of a better term, be said to be by visions of
insight. It is expressed in the Hebrew by the words of
the stem hhazah, when these are specifically used. It
would include all methods of appeal to the mind except
that by picture-vision.
We have already seen (Chapter II) that the verb
hhazah, though it is in Aramaic the ordinary word for
physical seeing, is in the Hebrew mainly con- Hhazah
fined to the instances in which the seeing is versus
prophetic, and in other instances the restric- raah
tion of it to the idea of mental perception or thoughtful
seeing is persistent. The hhazah words are used as liter-
ary terms in the titles of the prophecies and elsewhere,
while the raah words are never so used. Even in the
Aramaizing Hebrew of the book of Daniel the difference
between the words of these two stems never quite fades
out, and elsewhere it is very distinct.
The hhazah words sometimes denote a genus, under
which the raah words designate a species. Every raah
vision is a hhazah vision, but there may be hhazah visions
which are not raah visions.l Again, the hhazah words
are sometimes applied to the whole of some transaction,
while the raah words are used to denote a picture-vision
1 Speaking of his vision of the ram and the he-goat, Daniel says, "I
Daniel had beheld the vision" (viii. 15). What he had beheld was an
appearance presented to the eye, but it was also vision in the wider sense
of prophetic revelation, and the speaker here prefers the generic word to
the specific. In verse 16 the other term is used: "Make this man to un-
derstand the appearance." The phrase "whom I had beheld in the vision"
is used in ix. 21. Similarly it is said in Joel (ii. 28) that the young men
shall "behold visions." Amos is called a "seer" (vii. 12) in the midst of
the account of the series of objects which Yahaweh "caused him to behold."
120 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
which constituted a part of the transaction.1 These uses
of the words of the two stems explain the phenomena
which have sometimes been mistakenly regarded as cases
of interchange. Samuel and Zadok and Hanani are
doubtless called roim because they somehow came to be
thought of as receiving revelations in forms that appealed
to the senses. Gad and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun
and Iddo and Jehu the son of Hanani are called hhozini
because they were believed to have insight into the will
of Deity, without emphasizing the form of the revelations
made through them.
As the hhazah words may denote a genus under which
the raah words denote a species, so they may also denote'
Vision other another species of the same genus; namely,
than that by mental vision in distinction from the actual or
sense-images apparent presentation of objects to the senses.
This is apparently the meaning in a large proportion of
the instances in which a prophetic writing is spoken of
as a vision (e.g. Isa. i. 1 ; Na. i. 1 ; Hab. ii. 2), and in
those in which the word of Yahaweh is said to come to
some one in a vision, or in which some other like expres-
sion is used (e.g. Gen. xv. 1-6; 2 Sam. vii. 17; Nu. xxiv.
4, 16; Isa. ii. I).
Obviously it is supposable that the prophet might
receive his message through other avenues than his
picture-making faculty. Even if it were indispensable
that he be in a tranced or ecstatic condition, such a con-
dition might supposably act upon his memory, his pow-
ers of perception or reasoning, his association of ideas,
1 In Dan. viii-x hhazon (viii. I, 2, 2, 13, 15a, 17, :z6b, ix. 21, 24, x. 14)
denotes either the whole of a transaction, or some part of it thought of
generically as divine revelation; while mar'eh and mar'ah denote specifi-
cally objects that are thought of as presented to the eye (viii. 15b, 16, 26a,
27, ix. 23, x. I, 6, 7, 7, 8, 16, 18).
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 121
and not exclusively upon his imagination. Through
these other mental powers, without any intervention of
sense-perceived images, he might be made to know things
which he would not know in an ordinary state of mind.
But the records do not say that the prophet was always
in an ecstatic state when he received his message. In
by far the larger number of the instances there is no
mention of either dreams or apparitions or trances. It
is possible to think of most of the communications to the
prophets as reaching them through their aroused spiritual
insight, unaccompanied by the consciousness of mani-
festations appealing to the senses. The revelation may
have been the product of a sharpened intuition or a quick-
ened intelligence, brought to bear upon the problem of
the hour.
These things are supposable. That they are also
matters of fact appear from the contents of the writ-
ings which have come down to us from the prophets
under the title of visions. In these writings the proph-
ets exhibit themselves as actively and consciously using
all the faculties which a human mind possesses. Evi-
dently they regarded themselves as guided by the Spirit
in making investigations, in remembering, in judging of
facts, in estimating persons, in making inductions and
deductions, in mental processes of all sorts. The records
specify dreams and appearance visions and other like
modes, but they do not represent the prophet as restricted
to these. The terms used have meanings wide enough
to include any supposable influence exerted by the divine
Spirit over the mind of the prophet. In many cases the
language of the scriptures will justify no narrower inter-
pretation than that Deity in some way made the prophet
understand his will.
(d) The fourth mode of revelation to the prophets is
122 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
by theophany. It is superfluous to say that the word
"theophany" is of Greek origin, and denotes an ap-
pearing of Deity in visible form.
The Hebrew expression for this fact is the Niphal of
the verb raah, to see. It denotes the state of being
The Niphal seen, or the act of becoming visible. It is
of raah commonly translated by the English verb
"appear." Not all the instances in which it is used are:
cases of theophany. For example, Yahaweh is said to
have appeared to Solomon (I Ki. iii. 5) in a dream. But
the theophanic instances are easily distinguishable.
The cases of theophany may be described as those in
1which we find Yahaweh appearing in human form and
conversing with the prophet, with or without additional
miraculous manifestations ; or Yahaweh uttering audible
words from the midst of miraculous manifestations.
Instances of theophany are given in passages that are
those most familiar to us. Abraham is sitting at his tent
Yahaweh in door, and suddenly becomes aware of three
human sem- men standing near him. He talks with them,
blance they eat with him; one of them promises to
Sarah a son; he accompanies them on their way; they
part, two of them going toward Sodom. The one who
remains with Abraham turns out to be Yahaweh, and he
and Abraham have a memorable interview. The other
two are the angels who rescue Lot when Sodom is de-
stroyed (Gen. xviii. 1-2, 9-10, 13, 17, 20-2I, 22, xix. I).
This is, perhaps, the instance that is more explicit in
its details than any other on record. In some of the
Varying instances there is a miraculous manifestation
forms of in addition to the appearing in human form of
theophany the person who utters the message. A good
example is that of Manoah and the Angel who talked
with him, and the miraculous burning of the food which
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 123
he placed before the Angel (Jud. xiii. 3, 6, 16, 19, 20-
21, 22). In other cases, there is the miraculous mani-
festation and the uttering of audible words, without any
human form being visible; for example, the giving of
the ten words from Sinai, or the revelations from the
pillar of cloud or of fire over the tent of meeting (Ex.
xix–xx; Deut. v; Num. ix. 15-23). In some cases
there may be a doubt as to whether the narrative repre-
sents that a human form appeared ; for example, at the
burning bush, or at the sacrifice of Isaac (Ex. iii. 2–3;
Gen. xxii. 11-12, 14, 15-16).
The personage who is described as " the Angel"
is prominent in most of the detailed instances of the-
ophany. His presence is explicitly mentioned, The Angel
I believe, in all the cases that have just been
cited. Scholars have given much attention to this per-
sonage, and he deserves much. He appears in the Old
Testament narrative, in nearly all its stages, not as some
angel or other, but as the Angel, a distinct, separate
being. In any particular case we are likely to find him
presenting himself as a man, afterward spoken of as
the Angel, and later in the narrative identified with
Yahaweh himself. We must not delay to discuss the
subject, but the Angel seems to be in some sense a
temporary incarnation of Yahaweh.
From one point of view, theophany might be classed
as a species of picture-vision. It is like picture-vision
in that it presents Deity as assuming the Theophany
form of a visible person, or as speaking from versus
the midst of visible manifestations. It is picture-vision
unlike picture-vision in that it is of the nature of a per-
sonal interview of a man with God, and not mainly of
the nature of an object lesson taught by emblems. Gen-
uine theophanies are regarded as something rare and
124 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
precious, the highest form of divine communication with
men. The difference between Moses and the less gifted
prophets was that Yahaweh spoke with him in theophanic
"picture-vision," mouth to mouth, and not merely in
dreams or ordinary picture-vision (Num. xii. 6-8).1
(e) Very noteworthy in the biblical accounts of the
prophets is the absence of the use of artificial parapher-
The absence nalia or processes for exciting the prophetic
of artificial mood. In one instance we are told that Elisha
excitation required the presence of a minstrel as the con-
dition of his giving a message (2 Ki. iii. 15). This case
is the only one of its kind. If we regard it as an in-
stance in which external means were used to induce a
suitable frame of mind in a prophet desiring a revelation,
it is altogether exceptional.
In this the scriptures are in contrast with what we
find elsewhere in all ages, in persons who profess to give
supernatural revelations. The shaman has his snakeskin
rattle, the conjurer has his strange-looking tools, the as-
trologer has his elaborate, scholarly-seeming apparatus;
and they use these in compelling the other world to dis-
close its secrets or to bring help. The prophets of
ancient Egypt had their magic formulas, the persons
in the Arabian Nights pronounce the ineffable Name;,
Prospero compels the spirits by spells and charms. The
Pythia at Delphi inhaled intoxicating vapor, the augurs
consulted the flight of birds or the entrails of sacrificial.
victims, Ezra in the legend drinks a potion to enable:
him to reproduce the inspired scriptures, the witches
1 It is surprising that the identifying of theophany with what is above
described as mental vision has gained a good deal of currency, and along
with it a theory that mental vision is presented in the Old Testament as
the highest form of revelation. Linguistically, the descriptions of the-
ophany are affiliated with the derivatives of raah, and not of hhazah.
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 125
in Macbeth dance around the caldron, the modern spir-
itualists have their seances. In Odd Craft, the latest
volume of stories, the fortune-teller burns something in
a bowl, and he and the inquirers sit among the fumes.
Other characters in recent novels consult the unseen by
burning a hair, or by drawing blood, or by stirring the
grounds in a teacup. From the biblical narratives we
learn that processes of these various sorts were in exist-
ence throughout the times covered by Israelitish his-
tory.l In view of all this, it is a thing very remarkable
that the prophets of Yahaweh are not represented as
resorting to means of artificial excitation in order to stir
up the spirit of revelation in them or for them. In this,
as in their being simply citizens with a message (Chapter
IV), they are unique among the prophets of the nations.
II. As our second principal topic we take up certain
peculiarities which characterized the prophets in giv-
ing their messages to men. As we should expect, these
bear a certain correspondence to the modes in which
revelation came from God to them.
I. They are noted, for example, for their very
abundant use of symbols. They delight in simple but
striking object lessons, in which physical Prophetic
objects or personal acts are employed to object
represent truths. Ahijah rends the garment lessons
into twelve pieces and gives Jeroboam ten, in token that
Jeroboam shall reign over ten tribes (1 Ki. xi. 30-31).
Ezekiel inscribes one stick with the name Judah and
another with the name Joseph, and puts the two to-
gether, in token of the union of the exiles from the
1 Instance the witch of Endor, the prophets of Baal cutting themselves
in their frantic efforts to obtain a revelation, and the derivations of the
many different words that are used in speaking of practitioners of magic
arts.
126 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
northern and the southern kingdoms (xxxvii. 15-25).
Isaiah went naked and barefoot, to indicate the way
in which the Assyrian would lead Egypt and Ethiopia
into exile (xx). Jeremiah wore a bar of wood as an.
emblem of the subjugation of the nations to Nebuchad-
nezzar and when the false prophet Hananiah broke off
the bar, Jeremiah declared that Yahaweh would replace
it with a yoke of iron (Jer. xxvii, xxviii). Jeremiah
publicly broke the potter's vessel in the valley of the
son of Hinnom, to indicate Yahaweh's breaking of
Judah and Jerusalem (xix). ,
2. The teaching of the prophets by types should be
distinguished from their ordinary teaching by symbols.
The type is a higher form of symbolism, in which actual
persons or facts or events are used in setting forth
greater events or spiritual truths.
The older treatments of prophecy make much of the
doctrine of types. Extensive works have been written
A type on Typology, and many of them. In some
defined the doctrine has been mistakenly treated, but
it is nevertheless important. In actual use the word
"type" is applied to emblems or figures of speech of
all kinds, but it is better so to define it as to make it
distinctive. Perhaps the best definition for the purpose
is that which prevails in the sciences. A type is —
"one of a class or group of objects that embodies the characteristics
of the group or class"; or "the ideal representation combining es-
sential characteristics, as of a species, genus, or family; an organism
exhibiting the essential characteristics of its group " (Standard
Dictionary).
Using this definition in connection with the phenomena
of prophecy, the most important form of type is that
in which a historical fact or person or event is used as
an example foreshadowing some other fact or event or
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 127
person. It is best to distinguish a type from all objects
that are not thought of as historical, and from historical
events that are used merely for purposes of illustration.
A type is an emblem of a peculiar kind, a fact or a
person embodying a truth, and used as a foreshadowing
example of a greater manifestation of that truth.
The prophetic typology is mainly concerned with the
messianic doctrine taught by the prophets, and will
come before us again when we reach that subject. For
the present it is sufficient to add that it is the characters
and experiences and works of the prophets that are
typical, rather than their utterances. They themselves
claim to be a succession of types. The institutions of
Israel as moulded by the prophets are typical of some-
thing higher to be unfolded in the future. Under their
guidance much of the history has a typical value.
3. In considering the modes of utterance by the
prophets, we cannot wholly ignore the questions that
have been so often raised concerning a double sense
and a manifold fulfilment.
(a) It is not to be admitted that any of the utter-
ances of the true prophets of Yahaweh have Deceitfully
a double sense, meaning thereby a deceitfully equivocal
equivocal sense. The Greek oracle to Pyrrhus meanings
on his way to invade Italy is said to have been: —
"I say that Rome
Pyrrhus shall overcome."
When Pyrrhus failed to overcome Rome, and com-
plained that the oracle had deceived him, he was told
that the oracle was not to blame for his mistaken pars-
ing. In I Ki. xxii. 12 the false prophets say: —
"Go thou up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, and Yahaweh will
give it into the hand of the king."
128 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
They give the same equivocal message variantly in
verse 6, and Micaiah repeats it ironically in verse 15.
But among the recognized prophets of Yahaweh serious
instances of this kind are conspicuous by their absence.
Instances of alleged double sense of a different kind
may be exemplified by the citation of Jeremiah (xxxi. 15)
in Matthew (ii. 18) concerning Rachel weeping for her
children. We read in Genesis that Rachel was buried
in Ramah on the way from Bethel to Ephrath, known
later as Bethlehem (Gen. xxxv. 19-20, xlviii. 7; cf:
I Sam. x. 2). Jeremiah in a fine burst of figurative
language represents Rachel in her grave as weeping
over her children, who have vanished by slaughter and
captivity from the depopulated region. Matthew quotes
the language, with the formula: "Then was fulfilled
that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet," and
applies it to the slaughter of the infants by Herod.
There are those who insist that Matthew says that the
words of Jeremiah were a prediction of the slaughter
by Herod, and were in that sense fulfilled. It would
seem to follow that Jeremiah had two meanings in mind
when he spoke the words, one meaning for his own
time and another for the time of Jesus. Several of the
places where the New Testament speaks of the words
of a prophet as having been fulfilled are regarded as in-
stances of this kind of alleged double sense. But it is
not necessary to think that Matthew regarded the words
of Jeremiah as a prediction of the cruelty of Herocl.
Probably he meant no more than that the words of the
prophet are capable of being used as a vivid descrip-
tion of the affair under Herod. Nothing is more com-
mon than to apply familiar old diction to new situations.
With this interpretation of instances of this sort every
sign of a double sense vanishes.
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 129
(b) The question of manifold fulfilment is entirely
different from that of an equivocal sense, and should be
treated accordingly.
On this point the one most important consideration is
that the idea of manifold fulfilment is not an afterthought,
devised for the explaining of difficulties, but Manifold ful-
is a recognition of an essential part of the filment not
structure of biblical prophecy. The predic- an afterthought
tions found in the extant works of the prophets are
almost exclusively either promises or threats. And
they are not sporadic, but parts of a connected doctrine
concerning the workings of a Deity whose plans are rep-
resented as extending through the ages. That his plans
extend through the ages is a point much insisted upon.
In the very nature of things the execution of a threat
may be accomplished in parts, and at different times.
In the nature of things a promise, operative without
limit of time, may begin to be fulfilled at once, and may
also continue being fulfilled through future period after
period. In the time of our civil war a soldier's life was
saved by a comrade. He promised that he would
always show himself grateful. After the war he came
to possess wealth and influence. He kept his promise
when his comrade was sick, by seeing that he was taken
to a hospital and cared for. He kept it later by paying
the expenses of his comrade's son through college.
Year by year he insists upon a visit from his comrade
and his comrade's family, and the two give themselves
up to the good fellowship of the occasion. He has just
presented his comrade's granddaughter with a handsome
marriage portion. The prediction that he made when
he promised to be grateful has naturally this manifold
fulfilment. So a prediction that is in the form of a
promise of never ending benefit from Deity has neces-
130 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
sarily a manifold fulfilment. Most of the prophetic
predictions are of this type. It is very clear that such
a prophecy may have manifold application, manifold
fulfilment, without having a double sense.
This matter is principally important in connection
with the messianic forecast found in the prophets, and
it will be abundantly illustrated when we reach that part
of our subject. For the present we will only illustrate
the principle in hand by barely mentioning a few of the
different ways in which scholars have stated it.
Writers have applied the term "generic prophecy" in
more ways than one. According to one idea a generic
Generic prediction is one which regards an event as
prophecy occurring in a series of parts, separated by
intervals, and expresses itself in language that may
apply indifferently to the nearest part, or to the remoter
parts, or to the whole—in other words, a prediction
which, in applying to the whole of a complex event,
also applies to some of the parts. A certain law of
perspective has played a prominent pail: in this way of
presenting the matter. It is as when a person looks
out over a wide view made up of several parallel ranges
of hills. The more distant ranges are much the grander;
though to his eye the nearer look the larger, and the
farther are blended with the nearer. Study, for example,
the words of Jesus concerning the destruction of Jerusa-
lem and his coming and the end of the age (Mat. xxiv-
xxv).
Others speak of the successive or the progressive
fulfilment of a prediction. An event is foretold which
Successive or is to be brought about through previous
progressive events that in some particulars resemble it.
fulfilment The prediction is to be thought of as fulfilled,
though inadequately, in the first event of the series, and
THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE 131
as more or less adequately fulfilled in each succeeding
event, but as completely fulfilled only in the final event
in the series. Another form of statement is that only
the final event is foretold, but that this incidentally
includes the foretelling of some of the means by which
it is accomplished, that is, of some of the intervening
events that lead up to it.
With some a favorite way of presenting the case is to
say that types and antitypes may exist in a series, one
event being typical of a second, the second Series of
being typical of a third, the third of a types and
fourth, and so on. In such a case it is evi- antitypes
dent that a prediction or other prophecy, applying to the
first event in the series, may through it apply to the sec-
ond, and so to each succeeding event till the antitype
is reached. In foretelling parts of such a series the
remaining parts are foretold.
When the point of a prophecy consists in its enunciat-
ing the principles on which God acts in dealing with
individuals or communities, then the prophecy The
may of course be so far forth applied to every principles
instance that comes wholly or partly under God's administration
these principles. Especially is it true that if the
prophets believed that Deity had some central plan in
view in his management of the world, their teachings
concerning that plan and its details would be thereby
affected. Many of their statements would apply equally
to the whole plan or to certain of its details. Some of
their statements would apply equally to details which
were in themselves very unlike. I have stated this
hypothetically; but nothing is more certain than that
the prophets had a theory of this kind, and that their
utterances were greatly affected thereby.
4. In treating of the modes of utterance of the
132 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
prophets, we have considered mainly the points which
seem most to call for remark. But there is some danger
Masters of that in doing this we may mistake exceptional
the art of things for the things that are essential. Realty
persuasive the greatest quality in the modes of utterance
speech of the prophets is that they were masters of the
art of persuasive speech. They were enabled to utter moral
and religious truth so directly and incisively that the
truth they uttered has lived ever since.
CHAPTER VII
THE PROPHET AS A GIVER OF TORAH AND WRITER OF
SCRIPTURE
AT the close of the fifth chapter our attention was
called to the fact that the one great function of the
prophets was the transmitting of monotheism in its
Israelitish type to Israel, to mankind, and to future
ages. The monotheism they transmitted may be looked
at with respect to its contents or with respect to its form.
As to its contents, the chief thing in it is its messianic
doctrine. In its form it is an alleged revelation or series
of revelations from God, commonly described by the
prophets themselves as "law," torah. Torah, when
written, becomes sacred scripture.
The discussion of the distinctive contents of the
monotheism of this type, namely, its doctrine of the
Messiah, will occupy the second part of this volume;
the discussion of its form will occupy the present chap-
ter. Nothing can be more important in this investiga-
tion than to get a clear idea of the relations of the
prophets to torah, that is, directly or indirectly, to the
written scripture.
Most students of the Bible, even if they do not
understand Hebrew, are familiar with this word torah,
commonly translated "law." From the careless use
of it arise many errors. When one gets so far along
as to know that the Old Testament consists of the Law
and the Prophets and the Hagiographa, he is liable
133
134 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
to assume that "law" and "pentateuch" are converti-
ble terms. Even scholarly men have made this assump-
tion, and with disastrous results. For this reason we
need carefully to consider the term torah and its equiva-
lents. We will study it, first, as used in writings later
than the Old Testament; second, as used in the Old
Testament; third, as indicating the character of the
Old Testament.
I. First, the term is not restricted, in the literature
that has been written since the Old Testament, to the
denoting of the pentateuch. In particular, it is also
employed to denote the entire bible, or to denote the
Old Testament.
I. Certainly, we ourselves use the term "law" in
this extended sense. If you heard some one speak of
the written law of God, you might understand him to
mean the pentateuch, but you would be more likely
to understand him to mean the bible.
2. The same usage prevails among the Jewish scholars
of past centuries. For example, one finds such a passage
as the following: —
"This whole work is called Mikra, that is, Scripture or Bible.
It is also often called Law, as R. Bechai teaches in Chadh Hake-
mach: . . . 'The Law is divided into three parts„
Rabbinical into the Law, the Prophets and the Hagiographa'''
usage (Ugolino, Vol. I, Col. 226).
As another instance, Lightfoot (Pitman's ed., 1823,
Vol. XII, p. 546) quotes from Bab. Sanhedr., fol. 91, 2,
a discussion in which three Old Testament passages are
cited on the question: "Whence is the resurrection of
the dead proved out of the law?" The passages are
Josh. viii. 30; Ps. lxxxiv. 4; Isa. lii. 8. It is evident
that the word "law" in this passage denotes the Old
Testament, and not the pentateuch only.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 135
These instances are relatively late. It is alleged that
no such usage prevailed in the early Christian centuries,
but this is a mistake. In the celebrated four- Usage in
teenth chapter of 2 Esdras, for example, the 2 Esdras and
things "which were written in thy law" in- Josephus
elude, apparently, "the works that shall begin," and
"all that hath taken place in the world since the begin-
ning" (vv. 20-22), that is, the contents of the predictive
and the historical parts of the Old Testament. Ezra is
represented as saying: "The world therefore lieth in
darkness . . . since thy law is burnt," and as asking
for the gift of the Holy Spirit that he may write the
things that had formerly been written in the law. Re-
ceiving the inspiration he sought, he writes, according
to the most probable text, ninety-four books, the first
twenty-four of which he is to publish openly (vv. 44-
46). It is clear that these twenty-four books were, in
the mind of the author of the story, the "law" of which
he had been speaking, and it is equally clear that by
them he intended the Old Testament.1
Josephus, like the author of 2 Esdras, wrote not far
from the close of the first century A.D., a little later
than the writers of the New Testament. In the third
section of the Preface to his Antiquities he says, speak-
ing of King Ptolemy and the Septuagint translation of
the Old Testament: —
"For he did not obtain all the record, for those who were sent
to Alexandria as interpreters gave him; only the books of the law.
But there is a vast number of other matters in the sacred literature."2
1 If the expression "a law of life" in verse 30 refers especially to the
pentateuch, that simply shows that this author, like others, used the term
"law" in both senses. It should be noticed that the point here made de-
pends solely on the author's use of language, and not at all on the truthful-
ness of his statements of fact.
2 This translation is based on those of Whiston and Shilletto, but is
136 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Josephus here distinguishes between "the books of the
law "on the one hand and " the record," "the sacred.
literature," on the other. It is commonly assumed that:
by the first of these terms he means the pentateuch,
and by the other two the rest of the Old Testament.
But it is at least as plausible to say that by the first he
means the Old Testament, and that in the other two he
includes the body of secondary sacred literature which
he uses so freely in the work that follows. The con-
text proves that this latter statement is certainly the
correct one. By "the books of the law" Josephus here
means the aggregate of the Hebrew Old Testament
writings. These had been for several generations''
accessible to Greeks, in the Septuagint translation.
Josephus now proposes to render accessible a portion
of the contents of the secondary sacred writings.
3. Not to consider other uses of the term "law" in
the New Testament, its writers sometimes designate the
New Testa- pentateuch as the law, and sometimes include
ment usage under this designation the whole body of the
"scriptures" to which they are in the habit of referring.
It is impossible to be sure which of these two meanings
of the term was the more familiar to their minds.
A marked instance of the second of these two mean-
ings is that in which Jesus asks the question: "Is it
not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods?"1 Here
the reference is not to a passage in the books of Moses,
changed to avoid their confusing of the literary terms used by Josephus.
The plural ypaµµara, letters, is rendered "literature," to distinguish it alike
from ypa i7, scripture, and OtfX1a, books.
1 " Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are
gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the
scripture cannot be broken), say ye of him whom the Father sanctified
and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son
of God?" (Jn. x. 34).
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 137
but to one of the psalms (lxxxii. 6). Jesus speaks of
this phrase from the psalm as "written in your law,"
and immediately afterward calls it "scripture." You
can only explain his use of words by saying that he and
those who heard him were alike in the habit of some-
times speaking of the whole body of the scriptures as
"the law." Similarly Jesus speaks of the sentence,
"They hated me without a cause" (Ps. xxxv. 19 or
lxix. 4), as "written in their law" (Jn. xv. 25). A
more general instance is the following (Jn. xii. 34): —
"The multitude therefore answered him, We have heard out
of the law that the Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest
thou, The Son of man must be lifted up?"
Here the reference may be to any one of several specific
passages, or it may be to the general spirit of the mes-
sianic passages; but in either case it is to the Old
Testament outside the Mosaic books.
John is not the only New Testament writer who em-
ploys language in this way. Paul says to the Corin-
thians (I Cor. xiv. 21):
"In the law it is written, By men of strange tongues and by
the lips of strangers will I speak unto this people; and not even
thus will they hear me, saith the Lord."
This citation is from Isaiah (xxviii. 11, 12). Add to these
instances the series of citations in Rom. iii. 10–19 :
"As it is written,
There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none that understandeth,
There is none that seeketh after God;
They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofit-
able;
There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one :
Their throat is an open sepulchre;
With their tongues they have used deceit:
The poison of asps is under their lips :
138 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace have they not known:
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh
to them that are under the law."
Here the marginal references are to the Psalms, Jere-
miah, the Proverbs, and Isaiah. None of the sentences
are from the pentateuch. Yet they are quoted as parts
of what the law says to them that are under the law;
and they are introduced by the formula, "It is written."
No one can make the term "law" in this passage other
than synonymous with the term "scripture."
These instances are conclusive to the effect that in
the time of Jesus there was a distinct usage under which
the whole body of the Old Testament scriptures was
familiarly called "the law." And inasmuch as what-
ever is in the pentateuch is also in the Old Testament,
these authors may sometimes have had the whole Old
Testament in mind even when they cite the pentateuch.
It follows that we cannot be certain which of the two
meanings was the more prevalent.
4. Correct interpretation finds the same usage in
the earlier extrabiblical literature. For example, the
Usages of twenty-fourth chapter of the book of Ec-
Ecclesiasti- clesiasticus, written either about 200 B.C. or
cus, Baruch, about 300 B.C., is a part of a continuous
etc. series of citations, mostly from Job, Proverbs, and the
scriptural books of that class, with enlargements taken
in part from the pentateuch. This is followed by the
affirmation: —
1 There is a less distinct instance in Mt. xxii. 36, 40, where the question
is asked concerning the law, but answered concerning "the whole law, and
the prophets."
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 139
"All these are the book of the covenant of the most high God,
The law which Moses commanded us
As an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob" (ver. 23).
Apparently this author thinks of Moses as only the be-
ginner of "the law which Moses commanded us," and
thinks of that law as including the wisdom books of the
Old Testament, as well as the pentateuch.
Precisely similar is the passage in the book of Baruch
(iv. 1), where, alter many lines made up from the books
of Moses and from Proverbs and Job, the writer says : —
"This is the book of the commandments of God,
And the law that endureth forever."
II. This glance at the later usage has prepared us for
studying the term as it appears in the Hebrew of the
Old Testament.
1. First, we look at its derivation.
The noun torah and its cognate verb horah are causa-
tives from yarah, which denotes the act of shooting an
arrow or hurling a javelin. The two have the Derived from
same use, and should be studied together, the yarah, "to
mechanical translation of the verb being " to shoot
give torah." The causative stem of yarah sometimes
denotes shooting, like the simple stem. Its derivative
yoreh (Deut. xi. 14 Jer. v. 24) is translated "former
rain." The "arrows of the rain" afford a not unfamil-
iar figure of speech. But the causative verb of the stem
nearly always, and the noun torah always, are used in
the secondary sense in which the noun is translated
"law" and the verb is translated "teach."1
1 The lexicons say that this secondary meaning comes through the no-
tion of shooting out the hand by way of monitory gesture. Possibly a
better conjecture is that the term is of military origin. An officer causes
his men to shoot, when he gives the order for shooting. From such a be-
ginning the noun might naturally come to denote an order given by com-
140 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
The usage of the word is abundant for the purpose of
ascertaining its meaning. The noun occurs more than
two hundred times, and the verb more than sixty times,
in the different parts of the Old Testament.
2. Very important to the ascertaining of the significa-
tion of these words is the fact that the law or teaching
they denote is divine. To this there are only a very
few exceptions in the case of the verb, and probably
none in the case of the noun.
In a few instances, as we have seen, horah retains the
meaning "to shoot." Once it is used of Judah going
Horan in advance of his father to Goshen, "to give
commonly torah," that is, to give orders (Gen. xlvi. 28).
describes In Proverbs (vi. 13) it is said concerning the
divine law "man of iniquity":--
or teaching
"He winketh with his eyes, he talketh with his feet,
He giveth torah with his fingers."
But in most of the instances, the directions or teachings
denoted by this verb are either given directly by Deity,
or are given by one who speaks in the name of Deity.1
petent authority. This explanation, as we shall find, agrees with the usage
of the word. In military usage, the " orders" given in a camp are some-
times of the nature of information rather than command, though the infor-
mation so given is official and authoritative. If we could keep this in mind,
we might translate horah by the English phrase "give orders," and torah
by "an order" or "orders."
1 In a few instances the subject of the verb is a false god, or simply some
god or other. In Habakkuk the men are scathed who appeal to a molten
image to give lying torah, or who look to a dumb stone to give torah
(I-lab. ii. 18, 19). In Isaiah (xxviii. 26) the husbandman's God is said to
give him torah.
In perhaps one-third of the existing instances Elohim or Yahaweh is
directly the subject. For example, Yahaweh gave Moses and Aaron torah
as to what they should say and do before Pharaoh (Ex. iv. 12, 15). He
gave Moses torah concerning a tree for healing the bitter fountain (Ex.
xv. 25). He promised the tables of stone and the torah and the com-
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 141
So much for the verb. So generally does it denote
requirement or teaching that is thought of as coming
from Deity, that this is presumptively its Torah means
meaning in all cases except where the context divine law or
clearly shows the contrary. And if this is teaching
true of the verb, it is more decidedly true of the noun.
There are probably no exceptions to the rule that the
Old Testament men think of torah as of divine origin.
If there are any exceptions, they are seven or eight of
the thirteen instances in which the word is used in the
book of Proverbs.1 There are other Hebrew words
mandments, "to give them torah," or, "to give them as torah" (Ex. xxiv.
12). He is asked to give Israel torah concerning "the good way" (i Ki.
viii. 36). He is asked to give the Psalmist torah concerning "his way,"
"the way of his statutes" (Pss. xxvii. lxxxvi. 11, cxix. 33). He gives
different persons torah "in the way," "in that way thou shalt go," "in a
way that he shall choose" (Pss. xxv. 8, 12, xxxii. 8). He gives the nations
torah "out of his ways" (Mic. iv. 2; Isa. ii. 3). He gives Israel torah
"unto the good way" (2 Chron. vi. 27). He gives torah (Ps. cxix. 102).
Deity gives torah (Job xxxiv. 32, xxxvi. 22).
The most prominent use is that in which a prophet or a priest gives
torah as the representative of Deity. Instances are needless, though many
are given in the course of this chapter. In other instances the subject of
the verb is indefinite, or is some person or thing, but the teaching given
concerns divine matters, and has been received from Deity. Bezalel is to
give torah concerning the tabernacle work (Ex. xxxv. 34). One of the
toroth in Leviticus (xiv. 57) is for the purpose of giving torah concern-
ing the clean and the unclean. In the forty-fifth Psalm (4) the king's
right hand gives him torah in " terrible things." In various places in the
Wisdom books, the fathers or the beasts or the earth or " my father" or
Job's friends are said to give torah. In some of these places it is' clear that
the speaker has a divine revelation in mind, and in none of them is it clear
that he has not.
1 And these, although the revised versions annotate them with the alter-
native "or teaching," are not real exceptions. There is nothing to prevent
the phrase "the law of thy mother" (Prov. i. 8, vi. 20) from meaning Ya-
haweh's law as taught thee by thy mother. Similar statements might be
made concerning the phrases " my law" (iii. I, iv. 2, vii. 2), " their law "
(vi. 23, if one accepts the emendation), "a wise man's law" (xiii. 14), "a
142 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
which apply equally to human or divine laws or state-
ments ; but torah, unless in these passages, is always
divine. Elsewhere, at least, the usage is uniform.
3. Another point follows from this ; or it might be
independently made out by reexamining the instances :
torah always denotes authoritative command or informa-
tion. The idea of authority is inseparable alike from
the noun and from the verb.
In the English versions the verb is commonly trans-
lated "teach." In the revised versions the noun is
Always au- sometimes annotated with; the phrase "or
thoritative teaching." Some authors tell us that the
teaching noun denotes instruction, and they draw im-
portant inferences from this weakened meaning of it.
This is commendable so far forth as it is an attempt to
disentangle the Old Testament term from misleading
associations with the English word " law," or its equiva-
lents in other languages. But we must limit the attempt
carefully, or, in rescuing the word from uncongenial
company, we shall lead it into company that is still less
congenial. Torah and horah are never used of teach-
ing or instruction merely in the sense of giving informa-
tion. Always they denote authoritative teaching. With
the few exceptions already noted, they denote teaching
that is regarded as divinely authoritative. Not that
they always express commands; the thing expressed by
them may be information, and not command; but it is
information that is thought of as authoritative, and,
law of loving kindness " (xxxi. 26). It is easy to understand these to mean
simply thy mother's teachings, my teachings, the teachings of thy parents,
teachings of a wise man, teachings concerning loving kindness; but it is
quite as easy to understand them to mean God's revealed will as made known
to thee by thy mother, by me, by thy parents, by a wise man, by the virtu-
ous woman." Either we must thus interpret these phrases, following the
use of the word elsewhere, or we must regard them as a group of exceptions.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 143
ordinarily, as of divine authority.1 In fine, the idea
they express is not far different from our current idea
of divine revelation, including God's commands, but
including also his promises and threats, and such
information or such inspiring truths as he may have
communicated to men.
4. Another point in the usage concerns the relation
of torah respectively to the prophets and the priests.
Since these were thought of as in a special sense the
representatives of Deity, we should expect that they
would be particularly concerned with torah. This ex-
pectation is met in the record. It represents the proph-
ets as the medium through whom torah is given from
Deity; the priests as the official custodians and admin-
istrators of torah; and both as the expounders and
interpreters of torah.
(a) The prophet is the person through whom Yahaweh
reveals his torah.
There are general statements to this effect; for
example, the following from Daniel:— General
statements
“His toroth which he gave before us by the hand of
his servants the prophets " (ix. io).
1 The English word "law" has connotations different from those of
torah, but it is relatively easy to set these aside so that they will not mis-
lead us; much easier than in the case of the other English words that have
been suggested. But "law" in English has no cognate by which to
translate the verb horah. Such phrases as "give law," "lay down the
law," have some good points, but are impracticable.
When a government puts an officer in charge of an expedition, it gives
him " instructions," often written instructions, sometimes secret instructions
either oral or written, the instructions including information as well as
commands. If we could confine our English words "instruct" and "in-
struction" to this meaning, they would fairly translate horah and torah.
But this we cannot do. Similar statements might be made concerning the
English terms "orders," "give orders," and "direct," "directions," "give
directions." For the purposes of this chapter we may transfer the words
144 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Or this, from the record of the downfall of Samaria: —
"And Yahaweh testified with Israel and with Judah by the hand
of every prophet of his, every seer, saying, Turn from your evil ways
and keep my commandments, my statutes, according to all the torah
which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent unto you by the
hand of my servants the prophets" (2 Ki. xvii. 13).
Or this from Jeremiah: —
"Thus saith Yahaweh, If ye will not hearken unto me, to walk in
'my torah which I have given before you, to hearken unto the words
of my servants the prophets whom I send unto you" (xxvi. 4-5).
General statements like these are frequent. They
are supported by particular instances in abundance.
Particular It was through Nathan the prophet that " the
instances torah of mankind "was announced to David
(2 Sam. vii. 19). Sealed written torah was given
through Isaiah the prophet (viii. 16, 20). The various
toroth of the pentateuch are represented to have been
given by Moses the man of God, the greatest of the
prophets.
Other passages teach the same by suggestion. In
Nehemiah's time confession was made that Israel had
"cast thy torah behind their back, and murdered thy
prophets" (Neb. ix. 26), suggesting that the prophets
were the givers of the torah. The writer of Lamenta-
tions says: —
"Her king and her captains are among the nations; there is no
torah; also her prophets have not found vision from Yahaweh"
(ii. 9).
And in Isaiah we read of —
"lying sons, sons that are not willing to hear the torah of Yaha-
weh; who say to the seers, Ye shall not see ; and to them that have
visions, Ye shall not for us have visions of things that are correct"
(xxx.9—II).
rather than translate them; but perhaps there 's no translation that will be
correct without careful definition.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 145
It would be easy to multiply instances in which it is
thus said or implied that the prophet is the man through
whom Deity reveals his torah to men, but The act
we will only add a few in which the verb is denoted by
used, not the noun. Manoah desired that horah is prophetic
the Angel, whom he supposed to be a "man of God,"
might be sent again to give torah in regard to the son
that was to be born (Jud. xiii. 8). That is to say, he
regarded the giving of torah as the function of a man
of God. Isaiah says that the prophet who gives false
torah is the tail in Judah (ix. 15). Samuel the prophet
promised not to cease giving Israel torah, notwithstand-
ing they had made a king (I Sam. xii. 23). The "teach-
ers" — givers of torah mentioned twice in Isa. xxx. 20
are probably prophets).
(b) The priests are the guardians of the torah, but
are not its revealing agents.
They are as prominently mentioned in connection
with torah as are the prophets, but their functions are
different. In conjunction with the elders The priests'
and with the judges or kings, they are the functions
custodians and administrators of the torah, with torah
but they are not law-bringers, like the prophets. The
conception is that as the successive parts of the torah
were brought from Deity by men who had prophetic
gifts, these toroth were placed in the hands of the
priests for use.
What the priests had to do with torah in general is
fairly represented by what they had to do with the so-
called book of the torah. The record is that this was
written by the prophet Moses, and put into the keeping
1 When Job (xxvii. 11) proposes to give his friends torah "at the hand
of God," we probably ought to understand him as claiming prophetic gifts.
Those whom the outcast (Prov. v. 13 RV) calls "my teachers" may have
been prophets. There is nothing to indicate that they were not.
146 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
of the priests and elders. They were to guard it safe,
and once in seven years were to teach it by public read-
ing (Deut. xxxi. 9-13). They were t have charge of
the torah in the place which Yahawe should choose,
and were to administer it in cases of a peal. The king
was to have a copy of the torah made from the one that
was before "the priests the Levites" Deut. xvii. 8-12,
18). We. are told that Jehoshaphat had priests who
went through the land on a mission o instruction and
reform, carrying with them "the boor of the torah of
Yahaweh" (2 Chron. xvii. 9). The prophet Haggai
sends men to the priests to ask questions as to a point
in the ceremonial law (ii. 11, 12, 13).
In these passages the noun is used, some of them
using the verb also ; the following ay indicate the
usage of the verb when priests are in question. The
priests are to "teach" the people, give the people
torah, concerning leprosy (Deut. xxiv. 8). That is, they
are to make known and enforce the la on this subject,
as it has been committed to them. Aaron and his
sons are to teach the sons of Israel, to give the sons of
Israel torah, all the statutes which Go. gave by Moses
(Lev. x. i I). Here their torah is the statutes which
have already been given through the prophet noses.
Ezekiel says of the priests (xliv. 23):
"And they shall give torah to my people between holy and profane,
And between clean and unclean they shall give knowledge to them."
We are told that the king of Assyria sent the Israelite
priest to the foreign populations which he had placed
in Samaria, —
"that he might give them torah, the usages of the god of the land,
. . . how they might fear Yahaweh" (2 Ki. xvi . 27-28).1
1 Study also the following additional passages. In Asa's time Israel is
said to have long been "without a torah-giving priest, and without torah"
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 147
(c) The prophets and the priests were alike the ex-
pounders and the interpreters of the torah, but with
a difference.
Some scholars are accustomed to speak of a priestly
torah and a prophetic torah, as if the two differed in
their contents. There is no ground for this. No separate
There may be passages that are capable of priestly torah
being understood in this way, but there are none that
necessarily give this meaning, and none that with any
strong probability imply it. The representation is rather
that the prophets and the priests had a common body of
torah, to which they stood in differing relations. They
were both teachers of torah, but the prophet was, in ad-
dition, the revealing agent through whom the torah was
given.
We have examined a good many passages in which
this is explicitly said, and others in which it is implied.
(2 Chron. xv. 3). Jeremiah calls the priests "the handlers of the torah"
(ii. 8), and censures his opponents for saying that "torah shall not perish
from priest" (xviii. i8). Zephaniah complains that "her priests have
profaned sanctuary, have done violence to torah" (iii. 4). In the "Bless-
ing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed Israel," the function of Levi
is thus stated: —
"They shall give as torah thy judgments to Jacob,
and thy torah to Israel" (Deut. xxxiii. 1o).
Micah makes it a matter of rebuke that "her priests give torah for hire"
(iii. 11). The relations of the priests to the law are magnified in the sec-
ond chapter of Malachi: —
"A true torah was in his mouth" (6).
For a priest's lips keep knowledge,
and torah they seek at his mouth,
because he is the angel of Yahaweh of hosts.
While ye, ye have removed from the way,
ye have caused many to stumble in the torah,
ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi,
saith Yahaweh of hosts" (7-8).
"And ye are lifting up faces in the torah" (9).
148 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
The priest does not, like the prophet, receive torah by
direct revelation from Deity ; but he as charge of torah
which has already been revealed, to administer and in-
terpret it. The only way in which he gives additional
torah is by interpreting that already given, answering
questions concerning it, making decisions upon it, estab-
lishing precedents and usages from it. Functions of this
sort belonged to both prophets and priests, and rendered
them both, in a sense, sources of torah. But in the
prophet's gift of revelation the priest, as such, had no
share. Of course both functions might be combined in
one person, as in Jehoiada the prophet-priest, the torah-
teacher of King Joash (2 Ki. xii. 2).1
5. Having in mind this ''conception of torah as a body
of divine revelation given through the prophets, and
administered and expounded by there and the priests,
we are ready to take up another point,— the different
forms which torah assumed, as indicated by the variant
uses of the word.
(a) Torah was sometimes oral and sometimes written.
To prove that the prophets gave torah orally, or that
they and the priests gave oral interpretations, and oral
decisions on points that arose, would be a work of super-
erogation. It is equally needless to prove the existence
of written torah. But we have to note that at this point
1 Some one may raise the objection that the respective relations of the
priests and the prophets to the law probably differed in different periods
of the history. The reply is that the passages that have been cited cover
all the periods. If they tell the truth, that settles the question, no matter
when or by whom they were written. And even critics who dispute their
truth will nevertheless concede that they present correctly the situation
that existed in the later times when these critics allege that they were
written, and that their writers believed that the same situation existed in
the earlier times. It would not be easy to find sufficient reason for denying
that these writers were correct in their opinion. Reasons for affirming that
they were correct will appear as we proceed with our investigation.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 149
the element of time becomes more important than it has
been in the matters thus far discussed.
Written torah began at an early date. In Isaiah we
have an account of torah written and sealed Early written
(viii. 16, 20). Hosea, in a passage that has torah
been much discussed, says of Ephraim:
"I write for him the ten thousand, my torah
As a stranger they are accounted" (viii. 12).
That there was written torah from the time of Moses is
the testimony of all the numerous passages that speak
of Moses writing the law, or of the book of Moses, or of
the book of the law. These affirm that Moses wrote torah
(e.g. Deut. xxxi. 9, 11, 24, 26, xxviii. 58, 61, xxix. 21, 29,
xxx. to), and that Joshua wrote torah (Josh. xxiv. 26).
Of course there are scholars who assign a late date to
these passages,l and count their testimony as either false-
hood or fiction. But these scholars themselves hold that
the writing of torah was a part of the earliest literary
writing in Israel, though they date this earliest writing
many centuries after Moses. The passages cited in this
chapter abundantly indicate that the Old Testament writ-
ers lay especial emphasis on the idea of written torah.
(b) Again, the noun torah is subject to the various
modes of use which we should expect in the case of a
term that was so frequently employed. These throw
light on its meaning.
It is used in the singular number, in the plural, col-
lectively, abstractly. In other words, we find mention
of a law, laws, law as an aggregate, law as an abstract
conception. It is used definitely or indefinitely, with a
subject genitive, with an object genitive. Certain par-
ticulars in its use are especially significant.
1 The Hexateuch regards Josh. xxiv. 26 as a late addition to E.
150 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
First, the term torah is applied to any particular divine
requirement or other message. It is thus used indefi
Torah denot- nitely in the singular, both indefinitely and
ing a particu- definitely in the plural, definitely in the sin-
lar revelation gular with an object genitive, and perhaps
also with a subject genitive.1 This usage is found in
the records concerning the exodus and concerning
Abraham, in the writings which the older tradition attrib-
utes to Moses, and in the sections which the analytical
critics assign to E and to J. That is, you find it, no
matter to what critical school you belong, in the earliest
extant Hebrew literature, and in every subsequent period.
1 As torah comes from Deity, the subject genitive is invariably a noun
or pronoun denoting Deity; for example, "the torah of Yahaweh," or
"my torah," in the passages cited above. The object genitive denotes the
matter with which the torah concerns itself, e.g. "a torah of loving kind-
ness" (Prov. xxxi. 26). Whenever the word is used, the subject genitive
is implied, and there may be in addition a second subject genitive. For
example, in the instance just given one might speak of the worthy woman's
Yahaweh's law of loving kindness, that is, Yahaweh's torah concerning
loving kindness as presented by the worthy woman.
A reader is not likely to master these distinctions sharply except by the
process of actually examining instances. The following will serve for
this purpose.
Torah is used indefinitely in the singular: "Bind thou up a testimony,
seal a torah, among my disciples" (Isa. viii. 16). The context shows that
by torah the prophet here means a particular message in writing. In the
balancing statement (ver. 20) the term torah is perhaps used abstractly.
The term is also used indefinitely in the plural: "They have trans-
gressed laws" (Isa. xxiv. 5).
Oftener the plural is used definitely. In connection with the visit of
Jethro, Moses is spoken of as making the people to know the toroth of
Deity (Ex. xviii. 16, 20 E), apparently in judicial matters. Abraham is com-
mended for keeping Yahaweh's toroth (Gen. xxvi. 5 J or JS). At the giving
of the manna, Yahaweh rebukes Israel for not keeping his toroth (Ex. xv:i.
28 J or Ps). Later instances of the word in the plural are Neh. ix. 13; Ps.
cv. 45; Lev. xxvi. 46; Ezek. xliv. 24 and perhaps xliii. 11. xliv. 5.
For this purpose of denoting a particular message the word is also used
definitely in the singular with an object genitive. This is frequent in lit-
erary titles or subscriptions. "Moses began to declare this torah" (Deut.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 151
Second, the word torah in the singular is employed to
denote an aggregate of divine messages or requirements.
A more specific use with the article or with a Torah as an
defining subject genitive will be considered aggregate of
later. For the present, we note that this use toroth
occurs when the word has no article, or when the article
only indicates that the torah spoken of has been defined
by the context. An instance without the article occurs
in the prayer of Nehemiah: —
"And commandedst them commandments and statutes and a
torah, by the hand of Moses thy servant" (Neh. ix. 14).
Here, clearly, torah denotes the aggregate of the Mosaic
requirements or revelation. There are enough similar
instances, some of them referring to Moses and some
not, to make out a clear case.l Instances with the arti-
cle will be found below, especially in connection with
i. 5), the torah referred to being the address that occupies the four follow-
ing chapters. "This is the torah of the burnt-offering" (Lev. vii. 37–38).
"This is the torah of the plague of leprosy in a garment" (Lev. xiii. 59).
Cf. Lev. vii. r, 11, xi. 46–47; Num. v. 29–30, etc.
Possibly the term denotes a particular message in some cases where it
is definite with only a subject genitive.
"Hear ye the word of Yahaweh, ye officials of Sodom!
Give ear to the torah of our God, ye people of Gomorrah!" (Isa. i. io).
Here it is possible to hold that the torah to which the prophet refers is
merely the message which he is in the act of uttering; though the context
shows that the term may equally well have a wider meaning.
1"A true torah was in his mouth" (Mal. ii. 6).
"A law Moses gave in charge to us,
A possession for the assembly of Jacob" (Deut. xxxiii. 4).
"And he established a testimony in Jacob,
And a law he placed in Israel" (Ps. lxxviii. 5).
"A wise man's torah is a fountain of life" (Prov. xiii. 14).
" A torah of loving kindness is on her tongue " (Prov. xxxi. 26).
" A commandment is a lamp, and a torah is a light " (Prov. vi. 23).
The requiring " one law " for the stranger and the homeborn, or for the
sin-offering and the guilt-offering (Ex. xii. 49; Num. xv. i6, 29; Lev. vii.
7), may perhaps be regarded as a variant of this usage.
152 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
what is said concerning the book of the law. Some of
the instances with the article are of early date.
Third, this indefinite general use easily passes over
into an abstract use. This is mainly concealed in the
Torah used English versions, which translate in such
as an abstract cases with the article, but the usage is very
noun abundant. It occurs sometimes in plain prose.
In Asa,'s time Judah was "without law-expounding
priest, and without law"; and Jehoshaphat's judges
were to be faithful "between law and commandment"
(2 Chron. xv. 3, xix. 10). But the usage is more fre-
quent in poetry, and is to some extent a matter of
poetic diction. In the only place where the word torah
occurs in the book of Job, Job's friends are exhorting
him to submit to the divine will: —
"Receive, pray, law from his mouth " (xxii. 22).
In the glowing description common to Isaiah and Micah
we read: —
"For out of Zion law shall go forth,
and the word of Yahaweh out of Jerusalem" (Isa. ii. 3; Mic. iv. 2).
It is not "the law," but "law," which Yahaweh-- or
his Servant —magnifies and makes honorable (Isa. xlii.
21). And so in other instances). Such use as this of
such a term presupposes that the term has long been
1 Additional instances are: —
"Forsakers of law praise a wicked person,
While keepers of law contend with them."
"He that guardeth law is a discerning son."
"He turneth away his ear from hearing law,
Also his prayer is an abomination" (Prov. xxviii. 4, 7, 9).
"Where there is no vision a people is to be shunned,
But one that keepeth law, happy is it" (Prov. xxix. i8).
"Law will go forth . . . for a light of peoples" (Isa. li. 4).
"Law is slackened" (Hab. i. 4).
"Her' priests . . . have done violence to law" (Zeph. iii. 4).
"Law is not" (Lam. ii. 9).
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 153
familiar, and we are therefore not surprised at finding
this use absent from the earlier writings.
Fourth, among the uses of the word torah one in par-
ticular is significant — that in which the definite phrase
"the torah" designates a certain definite and The definite
recognized aggregate. The phrase may of aggregate known
course appear in variant forms: "the torah as the torah
of Yahaweh," "the torah of our God," "my torah," "thy
torah," "his torah," "the torah," "this torah." We must
presently consider this somewhat in detail, but it is more
convenient to complete first our classification of the uses
of the term.
Fifth, there remains one more use to be noted. It is a
matter of natural variation that any part of the torah-ag-
gregate may sometimes be called by the name "The torah"
that properly belongs to the whole. A con- as some part
spicuous instance is that of "the law," which of the aggregate
Joshua is said to have inscribed on the altar at Mount
Ebal. As this was written not on fine-grained stone but
on plaster, it must have been in coarse script, and there-
fore cannot have been a very long piece of literature.
Yet it is described as " all the words of this law " (Deut.
xxvii. 3, 8).1
"Law shall perish from priest " (Ezek. vii. 26).
"Pray, ask the priests for law" (Hag. ii. u).
"And law they seek from his mouth" (Mal. ii. 7).
1 This appears more specifically in the statements in Joshua: —
"And he wrote there upon the stones the duplicate of the law of Moses
which he had written before the sons of Israel." "And afterward he read
all the words of the law, the blessing and the cursing" (Josh. viii. 32, 34).
This altar inscription must have been a good deal briefer than the whole
book of Deuteronomy, and much more must it have been briefer than "the
book of the law" taken in any wider meaning. Perhaps it was that part
of Deuteronomy that contains the blessings and the curses, say xxvii—xxviii
or xxvii-xxx (Josh. viii. 33-34; Deut. xi. 26-29, xxvii. 2 sqq.). Perhaps it
had the same limits with "the covenant" of "the land of Moab" (Deut.
xxix. I [xxviii. 69]). It may perhaps be identical with "the book of the
154 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Such are the five uses of the term. It is used of a
single divine requirement or other message; it is used
of an undefined aggregate ; it is used abstractly; it is
used of the recognized definite aggregate; it is used by
synecdoche of the parts of this aggregate.1
covenant" (2 Ki. xxiii. 2) which, in Josiah's time, was read entire at one
public meeting, and which is clearly identical with either the whole or a
part of the book of the law that was found at that time.
We should he careful not to confuse the phraseology in Josh. viii. 30-
35. Verses 30-34 describe the solemnities of the altar, with the accom-
panying blessing and cursing. Verse 35 seems to describe a different solem-
nity as occurring at the same time — that of the public septennial reading
of the law, as required in Deut. xxxi. 10-13. This appears from the men-
tion of "all the assembly of Israel, and the women and the little ones, and
the sojourner that walketh in the midst of them."
In the account of the altar solemnity we are told that they acted "ac-
cording to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses" (31),
and that one read the blessings and cursings "according to all that is
written in the book of the law" (34). In these two places " the book of
the law " is the book which Deuteronomy says that Moses wrote. From
this book they took "the duplicate of the law of Moses" which was in-
scribed on the altar, and "all the words of the law, the blessing and the
cursing" which were read. The passage that was inscribed is probably
also the one that is here said to have been read. It was both read and
copied from the book of the law, but the question whether it was the whole
of that hook is left open.
1 There can be no dispute, I think, that these five categories are distinct,
or that they include all the instances that occur, though there may occa-
sionally be room for difference of opinion as to the category to which a
particular instance should be assigned. Above we have cited, for example,
the Levitical "torah of the burnt-offering" as one of the particular toroth
which have been combined into the torah-aggregate; it would be equally
possible to regard it as merely a section of that aggregate. Or how is it
with the torah introduced in Deut. iv. 44? Did the writer conceive of what
follows as a single prophetic message? or as a relatively brief aggregate of
such messages? or as a section of the well-known torah-aggregate?
When David speaks of the message which Nathan has just brought him as
"the torah of mankind" (2 Sam. vii. 19; I Chron. xvii. 17), he seems to
be thinking of it not as a separate message, but as the significant repetition
of something in the torah-aggregate. Such differences in detail do not
affect the validity of the classification itself.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 155
6. What we have learned concerning the five uses of
the term will help us as we now inquire into the nature
of the torah-aggregate.
(a) The word torah might supposably denote `he for-
mally recognized aggregate of the toroth received from
Deity whenever the word has the definite Limitations
article, or is made definite by some designa- of the term
tion of Yahaweh or Elohim used as a subject genitive.
In fact, however, there are important limitations to this,
both those drawn from the several contexts and those
drawn from other sources. It seems best to examine
some of the limitations before we look at instances.
First, as we have already seen, the term "the torah"
may denote some particular torah made definite by the
context, instead of denoting the one recognized torah-
aggregate.1 Or second, the definite phrase may be used
of some lesser aggregate, and, in particular, of some
section of the great aggregate.2 Third, there may be
instances in which the definite phrase is used in a
vague and general way. One cannot with perfect
sharpness draw the line between the use in which
torah is an undefined aggregate and that in which the
aggregate is perfectly defined. Fourth, it will not do
to assume that the phrase is always the equivalent
of written scripture. "The torah" is wide enough to
1 For example, "the law of our God" (Isa. i. 10) is capable of being
understood as denoting the message which the prophet is uttering at the
time.
2 For example, the entity that in Deuteronomy is called "the book of
the law" seems to be also called "the law" (Deut. xvii. 18, iv. 8).
The long discourse in Deuteronomy (iv. 44–xxvi) is in its title called "the
torah." It is possible to regard an instance of this kind as a particular
torah, or as a lesser aggregate of torah, or as a section of the one torah-
aggregate; it is not imperative, and in some cases is impossible, to regard
it as the one torah-aggregate.
156 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
include oral as well as written torah.1 And, fifth, if
the torah-aggregate existed at all, it was as a growing
A growing aggregate. It was a body of literature when
aggregate the term first began to be applied to writings,
and it enlarged its boundaries afterward.2
Remembering these points, as we examine the in-
stances, we shall find them yielding the conception that
all torah, oral or written, is a unit. There are plenty of
1 Nevertheless it is in fact applied mainly to written torah, which offered
especial facilities for being aggregated. The phrase is not tied up to any
particular theory of the collecting of the writings; they might supposably
be thought of as an aggregate without any collection being physically made,
or prior to the making of a collection. But certain passages inform us
that there was a custom of laying up writings "before Yahaweh," and the
existence of this custom is affirmed even by scholars who reject as unhis-
torical the particular accounts we have of it. It seems certain that written
torah was aggregated physically, as well as in thought.
It was in the temple that the men of Josiah's time found "the book of
the law" (2 Ki. xxii. 8). The accounts say that the priests of Jehosha-
phat's time had in their charge " the law of Yahaweh " in writing (z Chron.
xvii. 9). The book of Deuteronomy is very explicit in its account of the
written law placed by Moses in the charge of the priests and the civil au-
thorities (Deut. xxxi. 25-26), and touching their use of the written law for
the guidance of the king, when there should be a king (xvii. i8). In view
of these instances we cannot resist the conclusion that the author of t Sam-
uel regarded "the book " (x. 25, not " a book") in which Samuel wrote
"the manner of the kingdom" and "laid it up before Yahaweh" as a rec-
ognized aggregate of torah. On the same footing is "the book" (Ex.
xvii. 14) in which Moses wrote "for a memorial" concerning Amalek.
"The torah" in writing is said to have been accessible to Joshua "at the
sanctuary of Yahaweh " ( Josh. xxiv. 26).
2 This conception is not necessarily excluded by the views of any school
of criticism, though the different schools would picture the details differ-
ently. The view properly to he inferred from the phenomena is not that
there came to be in Israel a heterogeneous accumulation of writings, from
which ecclesiastical authority at length made a selection, the selection
thereby acquiring the character of torah. On the contrary, all torah,
whether oral or written, was regarded as sacred from the moment when it
came from the tongue or the pen of the prophet. The writings testify to
this, and it is also independently proved by the phenomena they present.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 157
instances that are not vague, but clear and distinct.
There are plenty of instances that are not limited to
some particular torah, or to some lesser aggregate. We
shall find that this conception implies a general aggre-
gate of written torah. Not all the toroth given through
the prophets were preserved, but some of them were.
They were regarded as an accumulating sacred litera-
ture, God-given and authoritative ; and this growing
aggregate was, while it was yet growing, called "the
torah."
(b) We proceed to examine some of the instances.
Look first at a group of instances from the records of
the early part of the public career of Moses, in writings
which the older tradition ascribes to Moses, Instances
and which the analysis now current ascribes from the earlier
to J and E. Above, we have found these records Mosaic records
writings mentioning toroth in the plural. They also use
the definite singular phrases, "the torah of Yahaweh,"
"my torah," "the torah." The instances prove at least
that in that generation men thought of Yahaweh's re-
quirements not merely as so many toroth, but as a unit,
torah. Of course the unit is here not the pentateuch,
for the passages represent that most of the pentateuchal
events were then still in the future. But the habit of
thinking of Yahaweh's communications as aggregated
in a unit was already a mental habit in Israel. And we
1 The Israelites are to teach their children concerning the passover
"that the torah of Yahaweh may be in thy mouth" (Ex. xiii. 9 D. When
he gives the manna he chides Israel for not keeping his toroth, but he also
tests them "whether they will walk in my torah" (Ex. xvi. 28, 4 J). And
at Sinai he says: "And I will give thee the tables of stone and the torah
and the commandment which I have written" (Ex. xxiv. 12 E or E8).
In the first two of these instances, and probably in the third also, "the
torah" is an aggregate. In the third, and possibly in the other two, " the
torah" is in writing.
158 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
may be sure that people who had this habit did not:
exempt from its operation any written torah which they
might possess. The testimony of the passages is that
this habit dates as far back as the beginning of the forty
years of the exodus; and even one who disbelieves the
testimony of these writers must see that the writers them-
selves have the habit. Whatever be one's critical point
of view, one is compelled to hold that this way of think-
ing was prevalent in Israel from the times of the earliest
records.
Second, the conception of " the torah" as an aggre-
gate is frequent in Deuteronomy, and in the scriptures
which presuppose Deuteronomy.
Conspicuous here are the passages that speak of the
"book of the torah." The account specifies portions of
"The book its contents (Deut. xxxii. 44-46, xxvii, xxviii
of the torah especially 58, 61, xxix especially 21, 29, xxx
especially 1o). It says that Moses wrote this book and
laid it up by the side of the ark, in the custody of the
priests and of the civil authorities (Deut. xxxi. 9-13,
24-26). It says that the book was to be publicly read
every seventh year; was to be kept by the priests at the
capital, and the king furnished with a copy (xvii. 18–19);
and, by inference, that the priests shall use it in decid-
ing appealed cases (xvii. 11). The biblical narratives
further say that this book of the law was handed to
Joshua, and used by him (Josh. i. 7, 8, viii. 31, xxiii.
6), and was an important factor in all the subsequent
history.l
1 It is represented to have been so when David charged Solomon, in
language strongly Deuteronomic, to act "according to that which is written
in the law of Moses" (i Ki. ii. 3); and when it is recorded of Amaziah
that "the children of the murderers he put not to death, according to that
which is written in the book of the law of Moses" (2 Ki. xiv. 6; cf. Deut.
xxiv. 16); and in the days of Josiah, when the highpriest "found the book
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 159
What was this "book of the law"? Supposably it
might be a general name for the aggregate of all recog-
nized written toroth, or supposably it might denote some
section of this aggregate, or some lesser aggregate, or
supposably it may be used sometimes in one of these
senses and sometimes in another.1 In its wider use it
expresses the conception of a growing body of sacred
literature, which was regarded as having begun with
Moses, and as having been carried forward by his suc-
cessors. As the wider aggregate included such nar-
rower aggregates as might exist, any speaker may
have had the wider in mind even when he refers to
the contents of the narrower.
But whatever else the book of the law may be, it is a
unique, explicitly recognized aggregate of written toroth.
It is conclusive proof that this concept existed in the
Deuteronomic and post-Deuteronomic times. This con-
cept is presupposed even in the instances in which the
book of the law itself is something less than the great
aggregate.
The same concept appears in many instances that
mention the law without mentioning the book. Wit-
ness the following:
of the law in the house of Yahaweh " (2 Ki. xxii. 8); and in the days of
Nehemiah, when they read in " the book of the law of Moses," "the book
of the law of Deity," "the book of the law of Yahaweh" (Neh. viii. 1, 18,
ix. 3).
1 In some instances the most natural inference from the context is that
the book is the whole or a part of our Deuteronomy, and that the record
says that it was completed by Moses; but other instances give a different
view, making " the book of the law" a wider body of literature, one in
which Joshua wrote after the death of Moses (Josh. xxiv. 26). In Josiah's
time the most influential statements that were read were certainly from
Deuteronomy, but that does not decide the question whether "the book of
the law" from which they were read was Deuteronomy or merely included
Deuteronomy.
160 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
Other Deu- "And what great nation is there that hath statutes
teronomic and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set
instances before you this day?” (Deut. iv. 8).
The term "this law" here clearly denotes an aggregate
of " statutes and judgments," a recognizable, well-known
aggregate. The same definite use abounds in the later
history and in the psalms and the prophets).
The basal conception in these Deuteronomic and post:
Deuteronomic utterances is that of "the torah" as the
aggregate of the toroth that have been revealed from
Deity. In many of the instances the term has literary
implications, and the aggregate it denotes either is or
includes an aggregate in writing. It would be less easy
to prove that this aggregate was a canon, or even physi-
cally a collection; but it is recognized, in thought at least,
as a known unit. If one accepts these writings as credi-
ble testimony, he is convinced of the existence of the
torah-aggregate in Israel from the time of Moses. And
even if one thinks that the testimony is false, and that
Deuteronomy was written about 620 B.C., or a century
earlier, or some centuries later, he must still find that
Israel had an aggregate of written torah from the time
when Deuteronomy was written, and no one knows how
much earlier. And from the historico-critical viewpoint
of such an one, even this makes the conception preva-
lent at a relatively early period in the history.
1 Witness "the law . . . which Yahaweh commanded the sons of Jacob"
(2 Ki. xvii. 34); "the law . . . which he wrote for you" (37); "the law
of Yahaweh" in which Jehu failed to walk (x. 31), in which the sons of
Israel were to walk (2 Chron. vi. 16), which Rehoboam forsook (xii. 1),
in which the perfect man meditates day and night (Ps. i), which is perfect
(xix. 7), which is better than thousands of gold and silver (cxix. 72), which
Yahaweh will write within his servants (Jer. xxxi. 33), which Judah has
despised, but for which the coastlands wait (Isa. xlii. 24, 4), which is in
the heart of those who know righteousness (li. 7); "the law of Moses my
servant" (Mal. iv. 4 [iii. 22]).
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 161
And thus a third and much smaller group of instances
becomes of especial importance for determining the
date when this conception of torah as a single Instances
aggregate became current. Torah is men from the earlier
tioned many times in Amos and Hosea and prophetic books
the first half of Isaiah, and the definite phrase occurs
not less than seven times in these writings.1 In one or
two of these seven instances "the torah" may possibly
be something less than the recognized torah-aggregate;
but in most of them it is clearly that aggregate, more
or less definitely conceived. In one of them the aggre-
gate is described as an existing body of literature, and
this one must needs have weight in interpreting the
others.
In these instances, when compared with those of the
other two groups, we have proof — proof from phe-
nomena as well as from testimony — of the early
prevalence of this concept of the divine torah as a
known aggregate. Whatever your critical position,
instances of this emerge in the earliest Israelite litera-
ture. At the beginnings of the authentic history, no
matter when one dates these, we have glimpses of " the
torah" as an aggregate of some sort, and glimpses of
literary torah. The concept of "the torah" as a liter-
ary aggregate cannot have been long delayed.
1 "I write for him the ten thousands of my law."
"And thou hast forgotten the law of thy God."
"They have transgressed my covenant and trespassed against my law"
(Hos. viii. 12, iv. 6, viii. I).
"Because they have rejected the law of Yahaweh,
and have not kept his statutes,
And their lies have led them astray,
after which their fathers walked " (Am. ii. 4).
"The law of our God," "the law of Yahaweh of hosts," "the law of
Yahaweh" (Isa. i. to, v. 24, xxx. 9).
162 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
In order to reach these conclusions we have not
had to press doubtful instances. In most of the actual
The instances instances there is no ambiguity; in them the
clear conception of a single recognized aggregate
is clear, and these instances have value for interpreting
the others. We have pursued the safe course of leaving
each instance to its own natural implications. If we
accept the testimony of the Old Testament, what we
have found is the aggregate of written torah beginning
with Moses, and growing, after his time, by additions
made to it at different periods, the later as well as the
earlier parts being sometimes called by his name. And
if we reject the'' testimony, and accept the currently
assigned late dates for the writings, we still find that this
conception of Yahaweh's torah as a unit is one of the
earliest of the phenomena, and that at a relatively early
time it had become a conception of the torah as a known
body of literature.
(c) It remains for us to discuss the relations between
"the torah" and our present pentateuch, or our present:
Old Testament.
First, the aggregate we have been considering is not
primarily the pentateuch, although, necessarily, the pen-
tateuch has from its first existence been included in the
torah.
"The torah" is rather, at any date, a general name for
the aggregate of the toroth as then recognized. When.
The law, ever men began to think of the written torah
the prophets, as an aggregate, they would naturally apply
and the to it the three names that now describe the
hagiographa three divisions of the Old Testament. They would
think of the aggregate as " the law," the body of torah
which Deity had given. They would think of it as " the
prophets," because they regarded it as given through
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 163
the prophets. They would think of it as "the writings,"
distinguishing it from the toroth that were given orally.
They would think thus of the aggregate, even if no
collection of it were made; much more would they
think thus of it if they possessed it in collected form.
It was doubtless the law and the prophets and the writ-
ings during the time when additions were being made
to it. And when at length it ceased to grow, and
thereby became the fixed body of writings which we
now call the Old Testament, it was still the law, and
was still also the law and the prophets and the writings.
We have found the definite phrases in the penta-
teuch itself, applied to situations of a date long before
the pentateuch as a whole existed. In these The torah
instances' the aggregate intended is of course not the pen-
something different from the pentateuch. tateuch
Many of the passages we have examined speak of torah
as commensurate with the authoritative teaching of the
prophets, and these indicate that the torah is something
wider than the pentateuch. The same view appears in
such a statement as that Joshua wrote "in the book of
the law" after the death of Moses (Josh. xxiv. 26).
When one reads with care he sees that " the law " so
much emphasized in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah
and Daniel is a body of writings differing from the
pentateuch, though implying the pentateuch. The
institutions presented in these books are quite as much
those that are attributed to David as to Moses. And
even such phrases as "the law of Moses " or "the
book of Moses " are not restricted to the designating of
the pentateuch.l
1 The enemies of Daniel sought occasion against him in his obedience
to "the law of his God" (vi. 5). That the Aramaic word is here used as
the equivalent of torah is evident by comparison with Ezra (vii. 12, 14, 25,
164 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
If one holds that the pentateuch was completed in Mo-
saic times, and also holds that the pentateuch and not the
hexateuch is the literary unit, he will find room in his
theory for a time when the pentateuch constituted the
aggregate of existing written toroth; but otherwise this
is logically impossible.
It is even doubtful whether the Old Testament any-
where recognizes any separation between the penta-
Is the pen- teuch and the other writings to which it
tateuch rec- attributes prophetic authorship. There are
ognized as several passages that use the terms " law
separate? and "prophets " in such proximity that we might
interpret them as distinguishing between the two, after the
fashion of the later times. There are other passages
which emphasize the Mosaic character of the law in a
26). But the law-keeping for which Daniel was accused consisted in his
praying toward Jerusalem three times a day. Praying toward Jerusalem is
not mentioned in the pentateuch, but appears elsewhere (i Ki. viii. 29, 30,
44, 48; Ps. V. 7; Jon. ii. 4). Praying three times a day is not found in
the pentateuch, and is found elsewhere (Ps. lv. 17). It is evident that the
writer and the first readers of the book of Daniel thought of the law as
including matters now found in the prophets and the hagiographa.
We are told that in Zerubbabel's time —
"they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses,
for the service of God which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book
of Moses" (Ezra vi. 18).
The matters touching the divisions and courses of the priests and Levites,
here said to be written in the book of Moses, are to be found in 1 Chroni-
cles (xxiii, xxiv), and not in the pentateuch. In the prayer in Nehemiah,
based on " the law " that has been read, the historical recapitulation passes
without a break from the contents of the pentateuch to those of the other
Old Testament books (ix, especially 3, 13, 14, 26, 29, 34, etc.). Similar
statements would be true of the several psalms that recapitulate the early
history. "The torah" which Ezra and Nehemiah put in force included
matters concerning the singers and gatekeepers and Nethinim, and con-
cerning choral and orchestral worship, and fasting and public prayer, all
of which belong to the other parts of the Old Testament, and not to the
pentateuch.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 165
way which has been understood as implying the same
distinction. But in none of them is this a necessary
interpretation.1 The passages intermingle the penta-
teuchal requirements with those of other writings. They
1 The more important of these passages are the following: —
"And their heart they set as adamant not to hear the law and the words
which Yahaweh of hosts sent by his Spirit by the hand of the first prophets"
(Zech. vii. 12).
"And we hearkened not to the voice of Yahaweh our God, to walk in
his laws which he gave before us by the hand of his servants the prophets.
And all Israel having transgressed thy law, . . . thou hast poured out upon
us the curse and the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant
of God." Then follow allusions to Deuteronomy, and then: " According
as it is written in the law of Moses there came in all this great evil upon
us" (Dan. ix. 10-13).
"If ye will not hearken unto me to walk in my law which I have given
before you, to hearken upon the words of my servants the prophets whom
I send unto you, even rising early and sending and ye have not hearkened,
I will give this house as Shiloh" (Jer. xxvi. 4-6).
"And Yahaweh testified with Israel and with Judah by the hand of
every prophet of his, every seer, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep
my commandments, my statutes, according to all the law which I com-
manded your fathers and which I sent unto you by the hand of my servants
the prophets" (2 Ki. xvii. 13).
In the case of Manasseh, king of Judah, the narratives emphasize the
statement that God's promises to Israel were conditional. '" If they will
observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and to all the
law that my servant Moses commanded them " (2 Ki. xxi. 8). " If they
will observe to do all that I have commanded them, to all the law and the
statutes and the judgments by the hand of Moses" (2 Chron. xxxiii. 8).
At the first glance one might say that "the law" here spoken of is clearly
the pentateuch. But the charge against Manasseh is that he failed to
comply with the condition; and the point in his failure that is emphasized
is that " he set the carved image . . . in the house of God, concerning
which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and
in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, will I put
my name forever" (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7; 2 Ki. xxi. 7). This is an abridg-
ment of such statements as those in t Ki. ix. 3—7, ii. 3—4; 2 Sam. vii;
i Chron. xxii. 6-13. The writer was thinking of the times of David and
Solomon as well as of the times of Moses, and he apparently thinks of the
record of both periods alike as included in what he calls the law of Moses.
166 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
evidently use the name of Moses when they mean
Moses and those who followed him in the giving of
torah. And a good deal of weight is to be allowed to
the fact that the Old Testament recapitulations of the
history regularly pass without a break from the penta-
teuchal events to those recorded in the other books (e.g.
Neh. ix; Pss. lxxviii, cv, cvi).
Did this recognized aggregate consist, at every stage,
of those parts of our present Old Testament which had
The torah then been written ? The two are certainly in
and our pres- a general way identifiable, but beyond this
ent Old Tes- the question is not to be answered without
tament definitions. That "the torah" contained matters
not now in the Old Testament is a proposition which it
would be difficult either to prove or disprove. In the
sense in which the Old Testament is of the nature of
torah, its authors were by the very fact of their writing
it writers of torah. It is clear that they used as sources
earlier writings that were of the nature of torah; and
equally clear that they drew from sources that were
not torah. What they drew from profane sources only
became torah through the process of incorporation.
One cannot always be sure as to which parts they drew
from sources that were already authoritative, and which
parts from other sources. And we have no adequate
means of deciding how far the earlier torah was abridged
or amplified or otherwise changed in, their hands. This,
however, can be safely said : the existing Old Testament
is " the torah" in the sense of its being the aggregate in
the form which it finally assumed.
In this treatment " the torah" has several times been
spoken of as a growing aggregate. This is proved
both by the phenomena we have been examining and
by the oldest traditions. But the growth indicated by
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 167
the evidence is not strictly uniform, little by little, each
generation having its torah-writing prophets; rather
there were five periods that were especially Five torah-
fruitful in the production of written torah. producing
The first period is that of Moses and his con- periods
temporaries who survived him, the latter best repre-
sented by Phinehas the grandson of Aaron. The second
is that of Samuel, Gad, David, and Nathan. The third
is that of Isaiah and "the men of Hezekiah " (Prov.
xxv. I). The fourth is that of Jeremiah and his disci-
ples who survived him. The fifth is that of Ezra and
Nehemiah.
These results do not favor the commonly accepted
notion that the torah is primarily the pentateuch, and is
made to include the prophets and the hagi- Not three
ographa only by a process of extension. On canons
the contrary, they indicate that the three terms were
originally applied alike to the whole aggregate, both
while it was growing and after it became complete.
The restrictions of meaning by which each of the three
terms became the name of one division belongs to a
later and secondary use. The idea of three successively
formed canons—the idea that the pentateuch was first
selected from other literature and segregated as sacred,
the prophets being segregated later, and the hagiog-
rapha still later—is not necessarily inconsistent with
the conception of the torah as a growing aggregate;
but there is a hypothesis which is at once simpler and
more adequate; namely, the hypothesis that the Old
Testament as a whole was differentiated first, and the
three divisions adopted later as matters of classification.
The order of succession was clearly this: first, concrete
toroth, regarded as messages from Deity; at a very early
date some of these toroth in writing; also, from an early
168 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
date, the habit of thinking of Yahaweh's torah as an
aggregated unit; this habit fixing itself especially upon
the written toroth, and leading to the use of means for
collecting and authenticating these; the written aggre-
gate coming to be known as par excellence the torah,
and also coming to be known as the torah and the
prophets and the writings; and these terms acquiring
later the secondary sense in which they denote respec-
tively the three divisions of the aggregate. Whenever
the Old Testament came into existence, it was the
aggregate of the written toroth as then extant, and was
therefore the torah; and this remains true even if the
pentateuch had then already come to be known as
" the torah," in the sense of being the part of it which
was most emphasized.)
III. From our study of the term torah certain corol-
laries follow touching the character of the prophets
as writers of scripture. Only a summary statement of
these is here possible.
First, the Old Testament scriptures are the extant
1 The postbiblical facts fit in continuously with these phenomena. The
author of Ecclesiasticus possessed a body of writings that were nearly or
exactly the same with our Old Testament. We know this from his list of
worthies, from Adam to Nehemiah, which is virtually a table of contents.
It presents the books in an order which is mainly that of the events of
which they treat, and which gives no hint of a division into the pentateuch
and the prophets and the hagiographa. He has something to say con-
cerning the law of Moses, but his law of Moses apparently included more
than the pentateuch, and in particular it included the wisdom books. Two
generations later his grandson emphasizes some sort of a division between
the law and the prophets and the other books, but leaves the matter indefi-
nite. Some generations after him Philo at last sharply marks off the pen-
tateuch as the law, and perhaps hints at a line between the prophets and
the other writings. A century after Philo we first find a mention of our
present masoretic threefold division; and this was contemporaneous with
the entirely different threefold division mentioned by Josephus. It is not till
some time after this that our present division can be counted as a settled fact.
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 169
aggregate of the prophetic toroth. No one disputes
that the prophets were, in general, in some sense the
authors of these scriptures. Our investigation shows
that they wrote them in their capacity of bringers of
torah from Yahaweh. The revelation they brought, so
far as it is now discernible, has become aggregated
in this familiar body of writings.
Second, they make the claim, and it is supported
by the New Testament and by the secondary Israelitish
literature, that the word of a supernaturally endowed
prophet is, next to God himself, the ultimate source
of authority in Israel.
Torah is binding, they say, because it comes through
a prophet. Whenever Deity sends a great prophet
properly accredited, then kings and priests Other author-
and governors are alike subordinate to him. ity subordinate to
Moses the prophet outranks Aaron the priest. the prophetic
Whatever difference they make between the Mosaic
part of the torah and the other parts, they insist that
the authority of Moses was simply that of a great
prophet. This has been discussed in our earlier chap-
ters, but it is in place to add here a citation or two.
Hosea says:--
"Meanwhile I am Yahaweh thy God from the land of Egypt;
I yet cause thee to dwell in tents as in tabernacle days; and I speak
upon the prophets, it being I that have multiplied vision, and I give
similitudes by the hand of the prophets." "And by a prophet Yaha-
weh brought up Israel from Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept "
(Hos. xii. 9, 10, 13 [Ia, III, 14]).
This represents a claim which the prophets steadily
made. It was under prophetic guidance, they say, that
God brought up Israel from Egypt, sending before them
"Moses, Aaron, and Miriam " (Mic. vi. 4). God gave
Moses his Holy Spirit, they affirm, as he gave it to the
170 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
prophets who succeeded Moses (Isa. lxiii. 11, 12, 14).
Next to Deity, they say, supreme authority is ultimately
lodged, not in the priesthood, nor in civil rulers, nor in
written or oral legislation, but in the supernaturally
endowed prophets and prophetic men.
The same view prevailed, as we have seen, in the
times of the Maccabees, and, later, in the times of Jose-
phus and of the New Testament. The books of Moses
and the Psalms are quoted as authoritative on the
ground that Moses and David were prophets (e.g. Acts
iii. 22, vii. 37, ii. 30). Up to the time of the destruction
of Jerusalem this was certainly the accepted view.
Third, what was the authority of the living prophet
as compared with that of torah that had already become
The living accepted in writing ? Of course he might
prophet interpret or supplement the written precept;
versus the but might he repeal or suspend or supersede
written torah it? Inasmuch as torah originally depends on the
word of the living prophet, there is no absurdity in supposing
that it may always have been given subject to modifica-
tion at the word of some later prophet. If it were true
that Samuel and Elijah and Elisha are represented. as
sanctioning acts inconsistent with the pentateuch, this
might be explained as the superseding or suspending
of an earlier prophetic word by a later. But if such
instances occur, they are exceptional. The respect of
the prophet for the prophets who had preceded him was
a marked characteristic.
Fourth, the facts we have been examining forbid
Are the certain assumptions which, unfortunately,
scriptures are- often made, as to the unequal authority
unequal in of the different parts of the Old Testament.
their Professor W. Robertson Smith makes an as-
authority? sertion that is not peculiar to his school when he says: —
THE PROPHET AND THE LAW 171
"What place, then, was left for the prophets, the psalms, and the
other books? They were inspired and authoritative interpretations
and applications of the law of Moses, and nothing more" (Old
Testament, Lect. VI).
In the context he intimates that the Jews were accus-
tomed to regard all the books except the pentateuch
as on the same footing with the oral tradition.
This representation differs radically from those which
we have been considering. The latter regard all the
books of the Old Testament as alike the prophetic word
of God, and as having, in that sense, equal divine author-
ity. Some were better known and more prominently
cited than others. The books of Moses, as treating of
the oldest events, and as containing the received direc-
tory for worship, had the place of honor and were men
tioned first. But the most obscure scriptural book was
regarded as the prophetic word of God; while the pen-
tateuch itself could not possibly be anything more than
the prophetic word of God.
It would be out of place to discuss here the nature of
the divine authority thus attributed to the scriptures, or
the inspiration that was the basis of it. Certainly the
different parts of the scriptures are very unlike in the
matter of the mental processes through which they,
came into existence, and in their applicability as a rule
of conduct. And there is a sense in which the entire
Old Testament is the unfolding of certain original
germs of revealed truth. In this sense one might re=
gard all the other books as an enlargement of the first
five. Jesus and his disciples and the scribes alike held
that both the pentateuch and the entire scripture is
summed up in the precepts of love to God and to man
(Rom. xiii. 9 and parallel passages). In a parallel sense
they may have regarded the pentateuch as comprehend-
172 THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL
ing all the scriptures. But this is different from count-
ing the other scriptures as of a secondary and inferior
grade.
Certain relatively late Jewish rabbis are cited as hold-
ing opinions concerning the superiority of the penta-
teuch which may be transposed into affirmations of the
inferiority of the other scriptures. But can any one
produce a particle of proof of the prevalence of such
opinions prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus ?
What evidence we have examined is clearly to the
opposite effect. The New Testament is for this pur-
pose typical. It contains about two hundred formal
controversial appeals to the Old Testament. These are
almost evenly distributed between the pentateuch, the
prophets, and the hagiographa, though a majority of 1:he
hagiographic citations are from the psalms, and a ma-
jority of the prophetic are from Isaiah. With this wide
field before us it is incredible that we should find no
hint of the fact, if either Jesus or his opponents re-
garded the other scriptures as less binding than the
pentateuch. But is there a single New Testament
instance in which a disputant, on either side, replies, or
could naturally be thought of as replying: "Oh, your
citation is from one of the other books, and is therefore
not as authoritative as if it were from one of the five
books of Moses? "Jesus rebuked the scribes, not for
making the other books and the oral tradition alike in-
ferior to the five books of Moses ; but for exalting the
oral tradition at the expense of the books of Moses and
of the other books. In his view the word of God was
equally incapable of being broken, whether found in the
Mosaic books or the psalms or Isaiah or Daniel.
PART II
THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC
PROPHECY
CHAPTER VIII
THE PROMISE-DOCTRINE AS TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTA-
MENT
IN the preceding chapters it has been asserted that
the thing which differentiates the monotheism of Yaha-
weh from other religions is its doctrine of the Messiah.
Other religions, it may be, have their Messiahs, but ours
is different from the others, and this difference is the
really distinctive element. Of this assertion I offer no
proof except our examination of this same doctrine of
the Messiah, but we shall find, I think, that this is
sufficient.
For clearness of thought we need to begin by sharply
perceiving the differences of meaning among the three
terms, "messianic prediction," "messianic Messianic
prophecy," "messianic doctrine" taught by prediction, prophecy,
the prophets. The first of these terms is doctrine
narrower than the other two. The second and third
really describe different aspects of the same fact.
Provided we remember this, messianic prediction is a
good term. We have been taught that the prophets
uttered predictions of a coming Deliverer ; that these
were fulfilled in the events of the life and mission of
Jesus; and that this proves, first, that the prophets
were divinely inspired, and second, that the mission of
Jesus was divine. All this is true if rightly understood,
but full of difficulty if we stop here. It is correct pro-
cedure, when correctly carried out, to select passages
175
176 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
from the Old Testament in which specific facts are fore-
told concerning the Messiah, and then show, from the
history, that these marks characterized Jesus, that he is
therefore the Christ, and that prediction, thus made and
fulfilled, is a mark of supernatural knowledge, authen-
ticating revealed religion. But if we go at it in this way
we are liable to misconceive the terms we use in our
reasoning. And we mislead ourselves if we imagine
this to be an exhaustive study of messianic prophecy,
or even of the much narrower subject, messianic pre-
diction.
Some persons, pursuing these studies, have been
struck with the great variety and the apparently dis-
connected character of what are commonly regarded as
messianic predictions, coupled with the remarkable fact
that, diverse as they are, they all meet in the history of
Jesus, so that what would otherwise be heterogeneous
and unintelligible is thus seen to have a common end,
and becomes intelligible. Thus, it is said, the gospels
become the key to the prophecies, opening the meaning
of things that were otherwise obscure. Considerations
of this kind are regarded as giving especial strength to
the argument from messianic predictions.
This reasoning is valid within its own proper limits.
But it suggests another point. If we really have here
a wide and varied body of instances, capable of being
shown by induction to have a common value, then the sug-
gestion is that as they thus converge toward a single fact,
so they may originally have diverged from a single fact.
If further study shall thus discover in them a unity at
the beginning, as well as at the end, their value as evi-
dence will thereby be increased. And this is what
further study actually discovers. The more adequate
idea is not that of many predictions meeting in one ful-
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 177
filment, but that of one prediction, repeated and unfolded
through successive centuries, with many specifications,
and in many forms; always the same in essential
character, no matter how it may vary in its outward
presentation or in the illustrations through which it is
presented.
Messianic prophecy is doctrine rather than prediction.
The prophets were preachers. If there was some one
messianic prediction which they repeated and unfolded
from age to age, we should expect that they would
present it in the form of a religious doctrine, for the
practical benefit of the men of their times. We Chris-
tians preach the facts concerning Jesus Christ. On the
basis of these facts we ask men to repent of sin, to obey
God, to seek their own highest good, to receive help
against temptation, and comfort in distress. Had the
prophets any doctrine that they could preach for the
accomplishment of these and other like ends ? There
can be no doubt that they had. Their foretelling of the
Christ stands on a different footing from all their other
predictions, just as the biography of Jesus, in the New
' Testament, is on a different footing from all other matters
of fact there recorded. As the biography of Jesus is
really doctrine rather than biography, and is the heart of
the apostolic Christian doctrine, so the prophetic forecast
of the Messiah is doctrine rather than prediction, and is
the heart of the religious teachings of the prophets.
Certainly we should treat their utterances as predic-
tive; but this by itself is inadequate. They teach a
doctrine concerning God's purposes with Israel, intelli-
gible in each stage of Israel's history, so as to be the
basis of religious and moral appeal for that age, but
growing in fulness from age to age until it becomes the
completed doctrine of the Messiah.
178 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
In other words, we are accustomed to a generalization
of what the prophets say concerning the Messiah which
A scriptural was devised to meet the needs of our the:o-
generaliza- logical systems. One need find no fault with
tion
this. But if we could substitute for it a strictly
scriptural formula of generalization, there would at least
be a gain in the way of freshness of statement. Is there
a scriptural way of stating this matter ? and if so, what
is it?
The proposition that the Old Testament contains a
large number of predictions concerning the Messiah to
come, and that these are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, may
be scriptural in substance, but it is hardly so in form.
The bible offers very few predictions save in the form of
promises or threatenings. It differs from the systemized
theologies in its not disconnecting prediction from promise
or threatening. We shall find that it also differs from
some of them in emphasizing one promise rather than
many predictions. This is the prevailing note in both
Testaments — a multitude of specifications unfolding a
single promise, the promise serving as a central religious
doctrine.
This biblical generalization of the matter may be thus
formulated: God gave a promise to Abraham, and
through him to mankind; a promise eternally fulfilled
and fulfilling in the history of Israel; and chiefly ful-
filled in Jesus Christ, he being that which is principal in
the history of Israel. In the present chapter we are to
consider this doctrine as taught in the New Testament.
The most prominent thing in the New Testament is
its proclamation of the kingdom and its anointed king.
But it is on the basis of the divine promise that its
preachers proclaim the kingdom, and when they appeal
to the Old Testament in proof of Christian doctrine,
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 179
they make the promise more prominent than the king-
dom itself.
I. First, the men of the New Testament hold that a
doctrine of the Messiah, the Anointed one, in the form
of a record of a promise made by Deity, appears in all
parts of the Old Testament scriptures.
They say that this doctrine is taught not in selected
passages only, but throughout the scriptures. Jesus in
the Emmaus incident reminded his disciples that all
things must needs be fulfilled which were written con-
cerning him "in the law of Moses and the prophets and
the psalms." In the same passage it is said of him: —
"And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he inter-
preted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself"
(Lc. xxiv. 44, 27).
That this statement is typical no one will dispute.
Under the general fact which it affirms, we note a few
specifications.
I. In the first place, the New Testament men regard
the messianic teaching of the Old Testament as mainly
the unfolding of a single promise (e]paggeli<a). How-
ever scholars may have neglected' this aspect of the
view they present, it is the one which they themselves
bring to the front.
Paul, on trial for preaching Jesus as the Messiah, risen
from the dead, said to Agrippa: —
"And now I stand to be judged for the hope of the promise made
of God unto our fathers; whereunto our twelvetribe nation, strenu-
ously serving night and day, hopeth to attain; and concerning this
hope I am accused by the Jews, 0 King " (Acts xxvi. 6-7).
It was on such an occasion as this, if ever, that Paul
would formulate most carefully the central article of his
creed. Evidently he has weighed his words and made
them exact. The messianic hope, he says, is based on
180 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
the promise; not some promise or other, but the promise.
He founds his appeal to Agrippa not on a good many
Paul before scattered predictions, but on the one prom-
Agrippa ise; and he expects Agrippa to understand
him. Speaking of his hope as a Christian, he describes
it as "the hope of the promise made of God unto our
fathers," and he speaks of the twelvetribe Jewish nation
as hoping to attain to this promise. The thing he is
speaking of he calls, not prediction, but promise ; not
promises, but promise; not a promise, but the promise.
The word he uses is singular and definite. ,The whole
essential messianic truth, as he knows it, he sums up in
this one formula, "the promise made of God unto our
fathers."
The context here sufficiently indicates what promise
is meant; and Paul's words are to be interpreted by the
fact that the offence for which he stood accused was his
teaching that the promise was for the gentiles as well
as the Jews. But, waiving these points, we just now
only note that Paul here speaks of "the promise." Sim-
ilar phraseology abounds in the New Testament appeal
to the Old Testament. Nearly forty passages that con-
tain this word "promise" might be cited, besides many
that touch the matter in other ways. And these pas-
sages in which the doctrine of the one promise is found
are the central, conspicuous passages of the New Testa-
ment. They affirm that all revelation concerning the
Messiah is the unfolding of the one promise. Into this
mould all the New Testament teaching on the subject
may readily be cast. This is the way in which the men
of the New Testament themselves generalize the messi-
anic statements they make, this in distinction from all
the other ways that have been devised.
2. In the second place, the New Testament writers
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 181
do not leave us in doubt as to the identity of the one
promise which they regard as summing up the hope
of those who believe in Christ. They iden- The one
tify it for us as the promise that was made promise
to Abraham when God called him, the prom- identified
ise that in him all the nations of the earth should be
blessed. With this transaction in mind the writer of
the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of God's having
"made promise to Abraham," says of Abraham that
"having patiently endured, he obtained the promise,"
and that God's oath was given to show "unto the heirs
of the promise the immutability of his counsel" (vi.
13-15, 17). He speaks of Isaac and Jacob as "heirs
with him of the same promise." And of "these all" he
says that they —
"received not the promise, God having provided some better thing
concerning us" (Heb. xi. 9, 39-40).1
In a similar strain Paul says to the Romans that "the
promise to Abraham or to his seed" was "not through
the law," "but through the righteousness of faith," and
that unless this is so " the promise is made of none
effect." He adds concerning Abraham, that "looking
unto the promise of God, he wavered not through
unbelief " (iv. 13-14, 20).2
1" For when God made promise to Abraham, . . . he sware, . .
Surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. . . . God,
being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the
immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath" (Heb. vi. 13-15, 17).
" By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land
not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of
the same promise" (Heb. xi. 9).
2 "For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed,
that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith.
For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the prom-
ise is made of none effect" (Rom. iv. 13-14).
182 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
3. In the third place, the New Testament writers
speak of promises, using the word in the plural, but
not in such a way as to weaken what has just been
said concerning their doctrine of the one promise.
Very rarely they use the word without the article.
For example, certain worthies are spoken of " who
"promises, through faith . . . obtained promises," that
and "the is, promises of some sort or other (Heb.
promises" xi. 33). But most of the instances are in
contrast with this, the definite article being used—for
example, the following from Romans: —
"Who are, Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and
the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service, and the
promises " (Rom. ix. 4).
"Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the
truth of God, that he might confirm the promises [given] unto the
fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it
is written" (Rom. xv. 8-9, followed by four quotations in succes-
sion, in reference to the Gentiles).
Here the thing spoken of is not promises in general,
but "the promises." The definite article is used. A
recognized specific group of promises is indicated, and
it is identified as the Abrahamic group. That is, "the
promises " here intended are precisely the same thing
that we have heretofore found spoken of in the singular
as "the promise." The one promise is capable of being
thought of as divided into specifications, and when so
thought of, the plural number is used.
Similar instances are frequent in the book of Hebrews.
We are exhorted to "be not sluggish, but imitators of
them who through faith and patience inherit the prom-
"For this cause it is of faith, that it may he according to grace; to the
end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which
is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham (16)."
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 183
ises " (vi. 12). It is said that Melchizedek blessed
"Abraham . . . him that hath the promises " (vii. 6).
We read: —
"Yea, he that had gladly received the promises was offering up
his only begotten [son] " (xi. 17).
It it said of Abraham and Sarah and their predeces-
sors: —
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises"
(xi. 13).
The new covenant is called, in contrast with the old, —
"a better covenant . . . enacted upon better promises " (viii. 6).
In these and like instances the use of the plural is
simply a recognition of the fact that the one promise
includes many specifications.
4. In the fourth place, this one promise, with its
specifications, the New Testament men regard as the
theme of the whole Old Testament.
They trace the unfolding of it throughout the his-
tory of Abraham's descendants, identify it with the
promise made later to Israel, and still later to David,
and regard, it as having been continually fulfilled, but
likewise as always moving forward to larger fulfilment.
Stephen is represented as beginning his oration before
his accusers with the statement: —
"The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he
was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and Stephen's
said unto him, Get thee out of thy land, and from thy view of the
kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew matter
thee" (Acts vii. 2).
From this beginning Stephen traces down through the
events recorded in the Old Testament a doctrine which
he evidently intends to identify with the doctrine of the
184 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Messiah as held by Christians. When he reaches the
period of the exodus, he says : —
"But as the time of the promise drew nigh, which God vouch-
safed unto Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt" (17).
That is to say, he represents the promise made to
Abraham as being fulfilled, in its proper time, in the
events of the exodus ; though he regards it as still hold-
ing on, after the exodus, for further fulfilment
Paul, in his speech in Antioch of Pisidia, adopts the
same method, beginning, however, with the exodus.
Following the history down, he comes to
Paul's view the time of Saul the king of Israel, and
adds:--
"And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their
king; . . . Of this man's seed hath God according to promise
brought unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus" (Acts xiii. 22-23).
Evidently Paul, like Stephen, regards the messianic
revelation as a process extending through the history
of Israel, so that it is proper to cite the facts of that
history in explaining how it came about that Jesus is the
Messiah.
The hymns cited in the first two chapters of the
Gospel according to Luke are saturated with the same
The Lucan idea. They speak of the events connected
hymns with the births of John the Baptist and Jesus
as proving that the Lord remembers —
"his holy covenant;
The oath which he sware unto Abraham our father" (i. 72-73).
But they also speak of the same events as the Lord's
having —
"raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of his servant David" (69).
In doing this they identify the promise made to and
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 185
through Abraham with the promise made later to and
through David.
If additional instances were needful, we might add all
the numerous New Testament passages in which the
Christ is directly or indirectly spoken of as the son of
David.
5. In the fifth place, they not only trace the promise
through the Old Testament, but make the Old Testa-
ment phraseology a part of their own diction.
In their teachings concerning the promise they
employ peculiar terms brought over from the Old
Testament, in some cases modifying the Special terms
terms by the use they make of them; for and forms of rep-
example, kingdom, Messiah, servant, son, mine resentation
elect, holy one, and the like. They also bring over a
good many peculiar forms of representation: the last
days, the day of the Lord, my messenger, the Spirit,
ceremonial types, biographical types, the prophet as a
type, Jehovah's day of judgment, and the like. Most
of these will be discussed in subsequent chapters. At
present we only note that such phraseology exists.
II. If now we have firmly grasped the idea that the
men of the New Testament base everything on the one
great promise which they found in the beginning of the
old scriptures, and which they regarded as radiating
thence all through those scriptures, we are prepared to
proceed to a study of the use they make of this promise.
I. First of all, they regard the promise as eternally
operative, and as irrevocable, and they emphasize this.
The author of the book of Hebrews says : —
"For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear
by none greater he sware by himself."
"Wherein God, being minded to shew more abundantly unto the
heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with
186 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for
God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement" (Heb. vi. 13,
17-18).
Note how strongly the eternal, operativeness of the
ancient promise is here affirmed. In the eleventh
chapter of Romans, the chapter in which Paul affirms
that though a hardening in part hath befallen Israel "
(25), yet God has not cast off his people, the irrevoca-
bility of the old promise is presupposed throughout,) and
is explicitly stated in the words :
"For the gifts and the calling of Gocc are not repented of" (Rom.
xi. 29, marg. of RV).
And yet more forcible, if such a thing can be, is Paul's
language to the Galatians : — '
"Though it be but a man's covenant, 'yet when it bath been con-
firmed no one maketh it void, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham
were the promises spoken, and to his seed. . . . A covenant con-
firmed beforehand by God the law, which came four hundred and
thirty years after, doth not disannul, so as to make the promise of
none effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of
promise; but God hath granted it to Abraham by promise'" (Gala
iii. 15-18).
And in a score of passages which I have cited or shall
cite to prove other points, this same thought of the eter-
nity and immutability of the promise is magnified.
2. As a second point, the men of the New Testament
claim that Jesus Christ is the culminating fulfilment of
1 In particular, one does not completely understand the allusion to
Isaiah (Rom. xi. 26—27), unless he has in mind the clauses which in Isaiah
follow the ones cited: —
"This is my covenant with them, saith Yahaweh : My Spirit that is
upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth
of thy seed's seed, saith Yahaweh, from henceforth and forever" (Isa. lix.
21).
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 187
the ancient promise, so that, in preaching him, they are
preaching the promise.
We have noticed above that Paul, in his address at
Antioch, follows down the history of the promise from the
times of the exodus ; and we have found him reaching
the point where David appears in the history, and then
speaking of "a saviour, Jesus," as coming from Israel,
from the seed of David:
"Of this man's seed hath God according to promise brought unto
Israel a saviour, Jesus " (Acts xiii. 23).
He makes this lead up to another statement: —
"And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the
fathers, how that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in
that he, raised up Jesus" (32-33).
That is, Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise made to
the patriarchs and to David.
We have just considered the statement made to the
Galatians concerning the promise-covenant that cannot
be disannulled. Paul insists upon that, not on account
of its abstract importance, but because, as he says, he
and his fellow-believers have a direct interest in it.
And here again he leads up to a specific statement :
"The scripture hath shut up all things under sin, that the promise
by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe " (Gal.
iii. 22).
Here Paul speaks of the Abrahamic promise as "the
promise by faith in Jesus Christ."
With the apostles this is a common way of speaking.
The whole eleventh chapter of Hebrews might be cited
in proof of this assertion. We cited from the sixth of
Hebrews, a moment ago, certain words concerning God's
oath to Abraham, and the two immutable things in which
it is impossible for God to lie. The author is insistent
188 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
upon the promise thus authenticated, in order that he
and his fellow-Christians may claim a share in it. He
makes the statement for the purpose of enforcing the
exhortation —
"that each of you may show the same diligence unto the fulness of
hope even to the end ; that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of
them who through faith and patience inherit the promises " (Heb.
vi. 11-12).
He carries his thought forward to the conclusion that —
"we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge
to lay hold of the hope set before us; . . . that which is within the
veil; whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us " (Heb. vi. 18-20) .
We might quote in addition a long list of passages
(e.g. Gal. iii. 6-9, 26-29). The more one studies such
utterances in their contexts, the more he sees the reason
for the intense interest which the men of the New Tes-
tament take in the eternity and the immutability of the
promise. They regard it as the charter of all the rights
which they and their successors may possess as Christians.
3. Further, they claim especially that the salvation of
the gentiles through Christ comes under the promise.
They make it emphatic that God's promise to Abraham
was for the nations, and therefore conveys title to the
gentiles, under which they may receive the gospel. Paul
says to the Galatians: —
"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles
by faith, gave the gospel beforehand' unto Abraham, [saying], In
thee shall all the nations be blessed" (iii. 8).
In this sentence Paul affirms three things: that the giv-
ing of the gospel to Abraham was a giving of it before-
1 The versions translate "preached beforehand." The word is proeuag-
geli<zomai, not prokhru<ssw. The statement that the scripture evangelized
Abraham beforehand means, I suppose, that it preserves the record of the
gospel as announced to him. But in any case the contents of the Old
Testament are here described as a giving of the gospel.
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 189
hand; that the substance of the gospel thus given was
in the words, " In thee shall all the nations be blessed";
that this promise, given to Abraham, is the same gospel
by which the nations are saved in Jesus Christ.
Paul says further to these gentile Christians:
"And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs accord-
ing to promise " (iii. 29).
And again: —
"That upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in
Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith" (iii. 14).
He makes the same claim, in different language, in the
fourth chapter of Galatians :
"The [son] by the handmaid is born after the flesh; but the [son]
by the freewoman through promise." "Now we, brethren, as Isaac
was, are children of promise " (iv. 23, 28).
And to the Ephesians Paul says that " the gentiles are
. . . fellow-partakers of the promise"; that the Ephe-
sian gentile converts have ceased to be " strangers from
the covenants of the promise"; that they " were sealed
with the holy Spirit of promise."1
4. Yet further, the men of the New Testament trace
a connection between the promise and the several great
doctrines of the gospel.
(a) They connect it with their proclamation of the
kingdom of God, on earth and in heaven, and so with
the universal and eternal reign of Christ as prince of
1 "In whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the holy Spirit
of promise" (i. 13).
"Ye, the Gentiles . . . were . . . alienated from the commonwealth of
Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise" (ii. 11-I2).
"That the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body,
and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel"
(iii. 6).
190 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
peace. This statement scarcely needs proof. Any one
can verify it by means of a concordance.
(b) In view of the eternal and irrevocable character
of the promise, their doctrine of the kingdom easily
carries the promise idea with it as it passes into the
eschatological teachings of the New Testament.
In many passages, both those which mention the com-
ing of the Lord and others, they closely connect the
promise with the doctrine of the resurrection and of
future reward. The second Epistle to Timothy opens
with these words: —
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according
to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus."
In 2 Peter we are told that
"the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, . . . the day of the
Lord will come as a thief" (iii.
And we are warned against those who say —
"Where is the promise of his coming ? " (iii. 4).
Paul before Agrippa, arguing the promise given to the
fathers, asks the question:--
"Why is it judged incredible with you), if God doth raise the
dead?" (Acts xxvi. 8).
In 1 John we read : —
"Ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father. And this
is the promise which he promised us [evert] the life eternal" (ii.
24-25).
And in Hebrews : —
"He is the mediator of a new covenant, that . . . they that
have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inherit-
ance" (ix. i5).
And again :
" For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God,
ye may receive the promise " (x. 36).
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 191
(c) They connect the promise with the gift of the
Holy Ghost that marks the new dispensation.
Paul writes to the Galatians: —
"That upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham
in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith" (iii. i4).
Peter is reported to have said on the day of Pentecost : —
"Repent ye, and be baptized . . .; and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost. For to you is the promise, and to your
children, and to all that are afar off" (Acts ii. 38-39).
Peter is here speaking of the ancient promise, though
he does not explicitly connect it with Abraham.
These two instances will serve to interpret others. It
is not necessary to think that the speaker is always
thinking of Abraham when he uses the word "promise."
This mode of conception and of diction, once established,
would maintain itself. But the reference to the ancient
record is real, whether direct or indirect. When Jesus
was about to part from his disciples at his ascension, he
said: —
"And behold I send forth the promise of my Father upon you ;
but tarry ye in the city until ye be clothed with power from on
high" (Lc. xxiv. 49).
"He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for
the promise of the Father," adding, " But ye shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts i. 4-5).
Peter refers to this in the words: —
"Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath
poured forth this which ye see and hear" (Acts ii.33).
(d) Finally, they connect Abraham, the recipient of
the promise, with what they have to say concerning re-
demption from sin; and in particular with their doc-
trine of justification by free grace, through faith.
192 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
In Genesis we are told that Abraham was wont to
believe God, and he counted it righteousness to him."
This utterance is made central by the apostles, not
merely in their theology, but in their messianic theology.
Paul and James alike cite the words, and insist upon
them (Jas. ii. 21—23; Rom. iv. 2-5, 9, Io). Paul de-
clares that —
"it was not written for his sake alone, . . but for our sake also,
. . . who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was delivered up for our trespasses, and wb.s raised for our justi-
fication " (Rom. iv. 23-25).
He draws the inference : —
"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him
for righteousness. Know therefore that they which be of faith, the
same are sons of Abraham." "So then they which be of faith are
blessed with the faithful Abraham." "If ye are Christ's, then are
ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise" (Gal. iii. 6-7i 9, 29,
and the whole chapter).
We have thus seen that the men of the New Testa-
ment find a messianic doctrine pervading every part of
Recapitula- the Old Testament. In their minds it takes
tion the form of the one promise. They identify
it as the promise made to Abraham fof the nations.
They recognize the particulars included in it as "the
promises." They trace it throughout the Old Testa-
ment. They appropriate the phraseology in which the
Old Testament speaks of it. Further; they preach this
promise as the one great thing they have to preach ;
emphasizing its irrevocability, claiming that Jesus Christ
is the culminating fulfilment of it, basing upon it the
hope of salvation for the gentiles, connecting it with the
whole body of the doctrines of the gospel.
The passages which describe the promise to Abraham,
his faith as related thereto, the experiences that arose
THE PROMISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 193
from it, are those which the men of the New Testament
cite more prominently than any others as sources con-
cerning the Messiah. In these recent centuries Chris-
tian scholars have busied themselves with the important
doctrines of justification and election as taught in the
New Testament comment on these passages, and have
largely overlooked the messianic part of it. What the
New Testament here principally teaches is that Christ
is the perfect realization of this promise as made to the
patriarchs, and as renewed to Israel later, particularly
in the times of Moses and of David. The Christ is the
goal of the mission of Israel. In him the line of David
is eternal. His kingdom is David's everlasting king-
dom.
We cannot dismiss this survey of the facts without
calling attention to one very important bearing of it. It
offers the basis for a genuine Christocentric A Christo-
theology. As men employ this term, it is centric
sometimes a mere euphemism for a theology theology
from which everything has been omitted save a few glit-
tering generalities concerning Christ. I for one have
no use for such a theology as that. But the apostolic
world-view that has been traversed in this chapter is
certainly Christocentric. It is Christ to whom the
promise points forward. It is on account of its con-
taining Christ that the promise is cited with so much
reiteration, and not for anything it contains apart from
Christ. The promise passages connect themselves with
everything that is essential in Christian doctrine. They
outline the nature and the person of Christ. The the-
ology of the Holy Spirit is in them, he being the divine
Agent in carrying out the promise. They are a study
in the doctrine of the divine decree, that decree having
Christ as its determinative point. The whole of this
194 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
line of teaching is true to the summary of it given in
the Epistle to the Ephesians : —
"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation
of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things
in the heavens, and the things upon the earth " (i. 9-1o).
The Calvinistic theology is Christocentric in fact,
even if not in form. Perhaps some theologian will arise
who shall succeed in discovering a dogmatical rearrange-
ment into a system that shall be Christocentric in form
as well as in fact. At all events, the theology of the
promise, as it appears in the New Testament, is Christo-
centric.
CHAPTER IX
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS
IN the last chapter we examined the doctrine of
Yahaweh's promise to mankind through Israel, as that
doctrine is formulated in the New Testament. The
men of the New Testament say that Yahaweh, when
he called Abraham, announced a promise given through
him to the human race ; that the history of Israel is the
unfolding of this promise; that the promise was re-
newed with David, and preached by all the prophets;
that it began to be fulfilled directly after it was made,
and has been fulfilling ever since; that its greatest ful-
filment is in the person and work of Jesus Christ; that
it will never cease being in process of fulfilment; and
that this promise-doctrine is the sum of what the
prophets teach in the scriptures.
We are now to inquire whether the New Testament
writers are correct in their exegesis" of the Old Testa-
ment. An adequate answer would require an examina-
tion of all the teachings of the prophets, and would fill
a series of volumes rather than a couple of chapters.
All that can be here attempted is an informal study of
the situation at four periods in the history; namely, the
times of the patriarchs, of the exodus, of David, of the
post-Davidic prophets. The present chapter deals with
the patriarchal times.
The main line of the Old Testament record, for any
purpose, is that which presents the history of Israel.
Properly this begins with the account of the calling of
195
196 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, as found in the
twelfth chapter of Genesis, the contents of the pre-
ceding eleven chapters being preliminary.
But these preliminary sections are of prophetic author-
ship, and were written from prophetic points of view.
Pre-Abra- It is therefore not surprising that interpreters
hamic messi- have found in them abundant traces of the
anic passages prophetic doctrine of the Messiah. Much
stress has been laid on Yahaweh's relations with Adam,
including the protevangelium (Gen. iii. 15); on the sac-
rifice made by Abel (Gen. iv; Matt. xxiii. 35; Lc. Xi.
51; Heb. xi. 4, xii. 24; I Jn. iii. 12; Jude 11); on the
experiences of Noah, especially the covenant (Gen. vi.
18, ix. 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17). The messianic subject-
matter includes whatever indications there may be of
God's plan of redeeming blessing for mankind, as found
in the accounts of the creation, the fall, or the flood.
The instances are very fully treated in current works,
but I do not purpose to discuss them here; not even to
argue the question in case any one shall think that they
belong to the main line of Old Testament messianic
teaching, that line beginning with Adam rather than
with Abraham. In any case, the record of these pre-
Abrahamic events supplements the messianic teaching
found elsewhere, especially in such important matters
as sin and redemption, and God's purpose for mankind.
Dismissing these preliminary chapters, we turn to the
calling of Abraham, and there begin our search for the
main line of messianic doctrine. Both at the beginning
and afterward, we shall find it to be the principal thing
in the Old Testament. Luthardt well says (Bremen
Lectures, p. 195) that the whole history of Israel is
prophetic of Christ. We will first examine the pres-
entation of the case as made in Genesis, and will after-
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 197
ward look at certain problems which arise from this
presentation.
I. We have seen in the preceding chapter that the
Old Testament passage more emphasized in the New
than any other is the promise made to Abraham. Let
us study this promise.
1. The earliest account of it is as follows : —
"And Yahaweh said unto Abraham, Get thee out from thy land,
and from thy native place, and from the house of thy father, unto
the land that I shall cause thee to see; that I may make thee a great
nation, and may bless thee, and may make thy name great; and be
thou a blessing; and I will bless those who bless thee, and curse
those who make light of thee, and in thee shall all the families of the
ground be blessed" (Gen. xii. 1-3 J).
The promise is in two parts: first, a promise to Abra-
ham that he shall have the land of Canaan, shall become
a great nation, shall have a distinguished name, and
shall have the divine favor for his friends and disfavor
for his enemies; second, a promise to him and all man-
kind that he shall be the channel of Yahaweh's blessing
to the human race. The second part comes last, the
order being apparently climacteric. Abraham is repre-
sented as chosen to be the recipient of peculiar favors,
not for his own sake, but that through him all the fami-
lies of the ground may receive blessing. This is the
supreme thing in the promise as given, all the other
specifications being subordinate to it.
The subordinate items reappear in many places in
Genesis. A glance at them will help us in Subordinate
our understanding of the principal promise. items in the
First, a "seed," that is a posterity, is prom- promise
ised to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob (xiii. 14 if., xv,
xvii. 6-7, 15-16, etc., xxvi. 3, 4, xxviii. 3, 4, xxxv. I I, 12,
xxviii. 3, 4).
198 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Second, this seed shall be or shall include persons
countless as the stars, as the dust of the earth, as the
sand on the seashore (lb.).
Third, it shall be or shall include a great nation
(xviii. I 8, xxxv. I I, xlvi. 3).
Fourth, it shall be or shall include what is called "an
assembly of nations," "an assembly of peoples " (xxviii.
3, xxxv. II, xlviii. 4). In xvii. 6, i6, the meaning is the
same, though the phrase is simply "nations." The
nation intended is Israel, and the federated parts of
Israel are the assembly of nations or of peoples, though
confused translation has sometimes led to other conclu-
sions.1
Fifth, in these same passages it is promised that kings
1 It is a pity that the versions, in rendering these passages, have made
them unlike, as they should not be, and have also confused them with
other passages that are very unlike them. For example, the versions make
it that Ephraim's seed (xlviii. 19) shall become "a multitude of nations";
its distinctive meaning is that his seed "shall fill the nations." The mean-
ing of Gen. xvii. 4-5 will be considered below. It is entirely different
from that of the passages just cited. It is often assumed that the "nations"
of Gen. xvii. 6 include the Ishmaelites and Edomites and other A.bra-
hamic descendants; and it is true that Ishmael and Esau are elsewhere
spoken of as nations, and as having promises through Abraham (xvii. 20,
xxi. 13, i8, xxv. 23, etc.); but xvii. 6 is to be grouped with xvii. 16, as re-
ferring to Sarah's descendants only, and these two passages belong with
the other three in which the "assembly of peoples" or of " nations" are
derived from Jacob.
The Hebrew word in these three places is qahal, sometimes translated
in the Septuagint by 1KKXpvfa. Stephen (Acts vii. 38), alluding to this
word as found in Deuteronomy (xviii. i6), says: "the church in the wil-
derness." The word properly denotes the officially convened assembly of
the twelve tribes, called to order for important business (e.g. Jud. xx. 2,
)xi. 5-8). It appears scores of times in this use, and seldom, if ever, save
in this use or some natural modification of it.
The meaning, therefore, is definite and clear, though much ignored.
Abraham was to be the ancestor of a nation, Israel, which would exist in
the form of an assembly of nations; namely, the federated tribes and
families of Israel.
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 199
shall spring from Abraham, from Sarah, from Jacob
(xvii. 6, 16, xxxv. 11). The kings that spring from Jacob
can be no other than the line of the monarchs of Israel.
Whether the promise to Abraham should be interpreted
as also including the kings of the Ishmaelites, Edomites,
Midianites, etc., may be a question.
Sixth, in many of the passages cited and in other
passages it is promised that Abraham's posterity, in
the line of Isaac and Jacob, shall inherit the land of
Canaan, sometimes called " this land," or "these
countries."
Seventh, there are other items. Abraham's name
shall be made great; his friends are to be blessed, and
those who contemn him are to be cursed (xii. 2-3). His
seed shall take possession of the gates of their enemies
(xxii. I 7).
2. Among these various aspects of the promise, where
does the emphasis lie? The answer is clear. The
principal thing is that all mankind shall be blessed in
Abraham and his seed. In the narratives concerning
the patriarchs this is emphasized beyond all else.
With slight variations in phraseology this statement
is five times repeated in Genesis. Besides its first
occurrence, already noticed, it is uttered by Five times
Yahaweh to Abraham at the time of his inter- repeated
cession for Sodom,1 and at the time when he has been
commanded to sacrifice Isaac.2 After the death of
1 "Seeing Abraham shall surely become a great and strong nation, and
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (Gen. xviii. 18 JE8).
Note how formally the two separate parts of the promise are here distin-
guished.
2 "I will greatly bless thee, and will greatly multiply thy seed, as the
stars of the heaven, and as the sand that is upon the edge of the sea; and
thy seed shall take possession of the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves" (Gen. xxii. 17-18 JE8).
200 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Abraham it is repeated to Isaac.l Finally, we are told
that when Jacob started for Paddan-aram, Yahaweh re-
peated it to him at Bethel, where he saw the angels
ascending and descending.2 In these passages the dif-
ference between "nations of the earth" and "families
of the ground" seems to be unimportant. The presence
of the "seed" in some of the passages, and its absence
from the others, makes no real difference in the mean-
ing. The difference between the variant phrases "be
blessed" and "bless themselves" is not significant.
What is significant is the fact that the promise is thus
five times repeated, the clause concerning the nations
being each time in the climacteric position. Irrespec-
tive of position, its more noble meaning would give it
superiority to the other specifications, but it has the
dignity of position also. As the whole promise to
Abraham and his seed is the central fact in our record
of the patriarchs, so the clause of blessing to mankind
is set forth as central in the promise itself. That is the
heart of the heart of the book of Genesis.
In a form quite different the promise to mankind is
Father of a emphasized in the transaction in which
multitude of Abram's name is changed to Abraham, at
nations the time when the covenant of circumcision
was made: —
"Behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt become father
of a multitude of nations. . . . And thy name shall be Abraham,
1 "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee ... ; because to thee and
to thy seed I will give all these countries; and I will establish my oath
which I sware to Abraham thy father; and will multiply thy seed as the
stars of heaven, and will give to thy seed all these countries; and in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves" (Gen. xxvi. 3-4
JE8).
2 "The earth upon which thou art lying, I will give it to thee and to thy
seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, . . . and in thee
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 201
because I have given thee to be father of a multitude of nations"
(Gen. xvii. 4, 5 P).
The phrase, "multitude of nations," here used, is entirely
different from "assembly of nations," "assembly of peo-
ples," used elsewhere to denote the federated tribes of
Israel, springing from Abraham ; and is analogous to
"all the nations of the earth " in the form of the promise
which we have been considering. Paul is correct when
he cites this passage in proof that the Gentile Christians
are children of Abraham (Rom. iv. 16-18, I I-12).1
shall all the families of the ground be blessed, and in thy seed" (Gen.
xxviii. 13-14. J).
1 The old version does not distinguish the phrase here used from
Ephraim's filling the nations (Gen. xlviii. 19), or from the phrases concern-
ing the federated Israel (xxviii. 3, xxxv. 11, xlviii. 4), but the word used is
entirely different. "Assembly" is a limited word. Some populations
have a right to be represented in any given assembly, and others have
not. "Multitude" is an unlimited word.
It is through their failure to discriminate that some have here charged
Paul with an accommodating interpretation. Paul is arguing to prove that
Abraham is —
"the father of all of them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision"
(Rom. iv. II).
His argument is: —
"To the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that
only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all (as it is written, A father of many nations have
I made thee) before him whom he believed, even God, . . . Who in hope
believed against hope to the end that he might become a father of many
nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be"
(Rom. iv. 16-18).
At first blush one might say that Abraham's being made father of a mul-
titude of nations must have the same meaning with the clause, "I will make
nations of thee," which occurs in the next verse in Genesis. But it is more
reasonable to regard the latter as a specification under the former. As in
the five passages in which the promise is verbally repeated, the statement
of Abraham's relation to the nations is accompanied by specifications sub-
ordinate to it. One of these is that nations will descend from him. But
his being father of a multitude of nations is parallel with all the nations
202 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
The promise for the nations is further emphasized by
what the narrative says concerning the seed of Abraham.
The prom- Among the subordinate items, those touching
ised "seed" the seed are especially connected with the
principal item, and are especially emphasized. The
"seed" appears in a twofold character: it is associated
with Abraham as the recipient of the promise, and is
itself a crowning part of the promised blessing;1 and
in both these characters it is the indispensable link for
the transmission of the promise. Abraham's anxieties
and trials are mostly concerning his seed. It is through
his seed that the nations are to be blessed (xxii. 18,
xxvi. 4, xxviii. 14).2
being blessed in him, and not with his being the progenitor of numerous
descendants.
1 Paul in the New Testament keeps up this distinction. Sometimes he
uses the term "the seed" to denote the Christ, the great benefit promised,
and sometimes to denote the beneficiaries, those whom he calls "the heirs
of the promise," whether Jews or believing gentiles.
2 It may be assumed that Abraham at first thought of Lot as his heir,
and thus as the seed that had been promised. From the time when Lot
left him he is anxious concerning the seed. Directly after that, his seed is
associated with him in the promise: —
"All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed
forever" (xiii. i5).
When Lot remained separate from Abraham, after he had been rescued
from the four kings, we find the following record (Gen. xv. 2-6): --
"And Abraham said, 0 Lord Yahaweh, what dost thou give me, as long
as I am going childless, while the son of possession of my house is Damas-
cus Eliezer? And Abraham said, Behold to me thou hast not given seed,
and behold the son of my house is my heir. And behold the word of Ya-
haweh was unto him, saying, This one will not be thine heir, but one who
will come forth from thy bowels will be thine heir. And he made him go
forth out of doors, and said, Look, pray, toward the heaven, and count the
stars, if thou art able to count them. And he said to him, So shall thy
seed be. And he was wont to believe in Yahaweh, and he counted it
righteousness to him."
So the promise to Abraham becomes one that is to be fulfilled through his
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 203
The promise of the nations is emphasized in what is
said concerning the covenants between Deity and Abra-
ham. Two formal covenant transactions are The cove-
described, — that in which Yahaweh's symbol nants and
of fire passed between the parts of the sacrifice the promise
(xv), and that when circumcision was instituted (xvii).
In each the covenant is in confirmation of the promise,
and with especial reference to the "seed." The con-
nection with the promise is implied in the narrative of
the covenant of the parts; the covenant of circumcision
is explicitly connected with Abraham's change of name,
and so with his relations to the multitude of the nations.
Clearly the covenants are concerned with the larger
purpose of Deity to bless mankind through Abraham,
and not exclusively with his narrower and subordinate
purposes.
The one especially condensed and comprehensive
statement of the substance of the covenant, as the
matter appears in the records of the later The peculiar
history, is that Israel is to be to Yahaweh for people and
a people, and Yahaweh to Israel for God; in the promise
other words, that Israel is Yahaweh's peculiar people.
Perhaps it is not, though it ought to be, superfluous to
say that the word "peculiar" in this familiar phrase
denotes, not a people different from other peoples, but
God's own people. In the patriarchal times, when Israel
had not yet become a people, this formula appears sel-
dom, and only in part; but a part of it appears in con-
posterity, and here the faith of Abraham centres. In the subsequent record
the birth of Ishmael, the promise of Isaac, his birth, the plan to offer him
as a burnt-offering, all emphasize this idea of the seed of Abraham as con-
nected with the promise. It is the seed that shall constitute the promised
nation of federated nations. In a meaning considerably different, though
not inconsistent, Paul argues that the believers from the "multitude of
nations" are also Abraham's seed, since they have him for father.
204 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
nection with the covenant of circumcision, and at the
renewal of the covenant with Jacob.1
The covenant is simply the promise in a different form.
Yahaweh constitutes himself the God of Abraham and
Israel, their God in a peculiar sense, not for their sakes
alone, but for the sake of mankind. It is thus that the
seed of Abraham is to be the channel of the divine
blessing to all the nations.
3. We do not properly understand the bearings of the
promise as thus emphasized, unless we note with care
The promise the fact that it is declared to be eternally
eternally operative. We have seen that the New Tes-
operative tament lays great stress on this. In so doing,
it merely echoes the representations found in Genesis.
According to both alike, the promise and the covenant
and the seed are eternal.2
1 “That I may give my covenant between me and thee, and may
multiply thee very exceedingly, . . . Behold my covenant is with thee,
and thou shalt be father of a multitude of nations, . . . And I will establish
my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee, to their gen-
erations, for an eternal covenant, to be to thee for God, and to thy seed
after thee. . . . And I will be to them for God " (Gen. xvii. 2, 4, 7, 8).
After this follows, with much reiteration of similar language, the establish-
ing of circumcision, with the promise that Isaac shall be born, and
that —
"I will establish my covenant with him, for an eternal covenant to his
seed after him" (xvii. 19).
See also Jacob's vow at Bethel: —
"If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, . . .
and Yahaweh will be to me for God, then this stone which I have set up
for a pillar shall be God's house " (xxviii. 20-22).
2 "For all this land which thou art beholding, to thee I give it, and to
thy seed, unto eternity" (Gen. xiii. IS).
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed
after thee, to their generations, for a covenant of eternity, to be to thee
for God, and to thy seed after thee" (xvii. 7),
"And I will give to thee and to thy seed . . . all the land of Canaan,
for a possession of eternity, and I will be to them for God" (xvii. 8).
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 205
Observe that the promise does not mean precisely the
same that it would if this idea of eternity were not con-
nected with it. If Abraham's retainers and Therefore of
friends thought that this promise had been progressive
made to him, they thought that it was fulfilled fulfilment
when Isaac was born. But inasmuch as they were
informed that the fulfilment was to be eternal and
cosmopolitan, they must have regarded the birth of Isaac
as only the beginning of it. They looked forward, far
forward, to additional fulfilment. The promise would
be operative in the future in a never ending line of
descendants; it would be operative in ever widening
limits till the blessing had reached all nations. The
idea of a progressive fulfilment is inherent in the
promise itself; it is not the afterthought of a later time,
contrived for the obviating of difficulties. Whoever at
the outset understood the promise at all must necessarily
have understood it in this way.
It might occur to any one as significant that these
passages employ the word "seed," a collective noun in
the singular, to denote Abraham's descendants for the
never ending time to come—never any plural noun,
such as "sons," for example.l Presumably this is not
"The one born in thy house or bought with thy money shall surely be
circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for a covenant of
eternity" (xvii. 13).
"And thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant
with him, for a covenant of eternity to his seed after him" (xvii. 19).
"And I will give this land to thy seed after thee, a holding of eternity"
(xlviii. 4) .
"And he called there on the name of Yahaweh, God Eternal" (xxi. 33).
1 In the Hebrew the word is never used in the plural in the sense of
posterity. The Aramaic sometimes pluralizes it when used in this sense
(e.g. Targ. of Gen. iv. 10), but in the promise passages follows the Hebrew
usage, and uses the singular only. Sometimes, however, in the Aramaean
dialects, the word "son" is used instead of seed in translating these passages.
206 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
accidental. The word thus chosen designates the whole
line of Abraham's descendants as a unit, and marks
The seed a their whole future history, without limit of
continuing time, as a single movement. The expression
unit is elastic, and not rigid. It is flexible for
denoting either one person or many persons, and it
represents Abraham's posterity as a unit, whether the
thought be concerning one or concerning many. If the
record had used the phrase, "the sons" of Abraham,
that phrase would not have been thus flexible.
As this view might naturally suggest itself to any one,
so it actually suggested itself to the apostle Paul. His
argument in Galatians is to the effect that the word used
in Genesis contemplates the descendants of Abraham as
a unit, the Christ being the dominant part of the unit.
His reasoning is scholarly and correct, though it is not
what a good many understand it to be.1
1 "To Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith
not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed—which
is Christ." "What then is the law? It was added because of trans-
gressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been
made" (Gal. iii. i6, 19).
These words are often cited as an instance of rabbinical misinterpreta-
tion by Paul. They would be so if his argument were that the word is in
the singular number, and therefore refers to the one person Christ, tc the
exclusion of the descendants of Abraham in general. But, as we have
seen, this is not the nature of Paul's argument. He argues from the fact
that the scriptural author uses a collective noun in the singular, instead of
some plural noun which he might have used, to designate the descendants of
Abraham, and thus indicates that the "seed," from Isaac to the end, is to
be thought of as a unit. Then Paul counts Jesus Christ as preeminently
this unit, but not to the exclusion of the other members of it. And of
course Paul is correct, provided his estimate of the greatness of Jesus is
correct.
Note that Paul here presents the dual relation of the seed to the
promise, as we have above alluded to it. In this passage, Christ the
seed is the benefit promised; while the descendants of Abraham, both
lineal and spiritual, are the seed to whom the benefit is promised. And
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 207
II. Two particularly important problems connect
themselves with this presentation as made in Genesis.
The first of these concerns the critical character of the
presentation itself. The second concerns the contempo-
rary understanding of it.
I. In the first place, whatever may be one's personal
point of view in a matter like this, one needs to look at
it from the different points of view held by others.
And on any critical theory now held, the views just
stated as to the presentation made of the promise in
Genesis have in them at least an important residuum of
truth.
The older view is, of course, that the accounts in
Genesis are at least virtually of Mosaic authorship, and
that whatever they affirm as historical fact is The old view
something that actually occurred. On this versus the
theory the statements in Genesis concerning Modern View
the promise-doctrine have the simplicity and strength of
pure fact. Certain critical theories now prevalent teach
that Moses wrote nothing that has come down to us;
that our book of Genesis is a conglomeration, produced
in different centuries long after Moses; that the earliest
parts of it were based on oral legends, and confuse fact
with fiction; that the writers of the later parts deliberately
imported into the narrative the ideas of their own times.
The difference between these two views is not un-
important. It is especially to be considered because of
the attitude of the men of the New Testament. No one
doubts that they held essentially to what has just been
described as the older view. I know of no sufficient rea-
son for thinking that they were mistaken. Nevertheless
if any one finds in this a confusion of thought, at least the thought is
intelligible when we recall Paul's habit of mystically identifying Christ
with believers.
208 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
it is worth while to inquire what the promise-doctrine
in Genesis becomes on the basis of the other view. The
question is not, notice, what the scholars of the so-called
Modern View teach concerning the promise, or whether
they have taken enough interest in it to formulate a
doctrine. We ask, rather: What is the logical bearing
of the recent critical theories on the promise-doctrine as
presented in Genesis?
Our conclusions as above reached do not depend
entirely on any one view as to the inspiration or the
These con- critical or historical character of the penta-
clusions in teuch. If one holds that this literature is
the light of ancient and is genuinely historical, these are
recent criticism propositions to be affirmed on their own
criticism merits; but we are not compelled to argue them as
preliminary to our study of the messianic doctrine in
Genesis. Our interpretation is not tied by any logical
necessity to this view of the case. The most important
elements in it stand unimpeached even if one goes far
in accepting the opinion that the book of Genesis is of
late origin and of doubtful historicity. On this basis
the Genesis presentation of the promise becomes greatly
emaciated, but that in it which is most essential survives.
It is obvious that the view we have taken of the
promise depends not at all on the question of author-
ship, provided the recorded facts are correct. Suppos-
ing the record to be true, it is so whether made by
Moses or by others. If any one holds that it was written
after the exile, but that it is authentic history, we have
no need, for our present purpose, to argue the matter
with him. If the history of the promise given to Abra-
ham and repeated to Isaac and Jacob be authentic, that
is all we need. So far as our present use of it is con-
cerned, it makes no difference when the history was
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 209
written, provided only it is true history. The argument
depends on the facts, and not on the person who re-
corded them.
This point, however, is not very important, because
most persons who deny the early origin of Genesis deny
also its historical truthfulness. A more The doctrine
important thing is that we may in thought versus the
separate this theological doctrine concerning details of it
the promise from the external details which the narra-
tive connects with it. I do not care to make the obvious
point that one might find the doctrine to be theologi-
cally true, even though he regarded its literary setting
as fiction. A different point is that the fact of this doc-
trine being known and taught in Israel in the earliest
times does not necessarily depend on the historicity of
the details. It follows that the most important parts of
our position might remain intact, even if one held that
there are such uncertainties concerning the authorship
of Genesis as to cast doubt upon the facts there re-
corded. Suppose one should even go to the extreme in
this, counting the narratives in Genesis as not history at
all, but as fiction written for the purpose of theological
teaching; at least, the theological doctrine is there —
the doctrine that Yahaweh, anciently chose Israel to
himself for his own people, that Israel might be his
channel of blessing to all the populations of the earth.
Even those who question the historicity of the records
cannot question the fact that this teaching concerning
the promise is one of the ancient doctrines of the reli-
gion of Yahaweh, dating as far back as that religion
can be traced.
The scholars who analyze the hexateuch into docu-
ments hold that a good deal of the matter in Genesis
concerning the promise, including one or more of the
210 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
five repetitions of it, are from the writings which they
designate J or E, that is, from the very earliest of the
It was known written sources of the Old Testament.1 From
in the earliest their point of view it may not be a fact that
times the ancestor of the Israelitish nation actually
received a divine call with this promise to mankind
in it, but it is a fact that the earliest prophets whose
teachings are now extant taught that he received such a
call. That is, this idea of the matter was in existence
in Israel from the earliest times concerning which we
have information.
Other parts of the matter connected with the promise,
these scholars attribute to the sections of Genesis which
they regard as of later authorship. The logical infer-
ence from this is that when the alleged later writers in
Genesis came to deal with the writings of their prede-
cessors, they were so impressed with this promise-doc-
trine, as they found it there, that they enlarged upon it,
and emphasized it by much repetition.
Whatever critical view we take, therefore, we are
confronted with this immensely important fact, -- that
at the very beginning of the recorded history of the
religion of Israel the prophets were teaching this
promise-doctrine, the doctrine that Yahaweh was in
communication with mankind through Abraham and
his seed, and that through them he had promised dis-
tinguished blessing to all nations. They were teaching
that this had been the supreme fact in Israel from the
1 These scholars differ much as to matters of detail. The Hexateuch
attributes Gen. xii. 3 and xxviii. 14 to J; and xxii. 18, xxvi. 4 to a sup-
plementer of JE; and xviii. 18 to a J supplementer later than JE. Driver
everywhere assigns more to J and E without qualification than do the
critics who analyze more minutely than he. Ball, in the Polychrome
Bible, shows a tendency to assign the promise passages to late supple-
menters.
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 211
time when Israel had his beginning in Abraham. They
were teaching that this was what the seed of Abraham
was for, that it was for this that Yahaweh had made
them his own people.
2. In the second place, we ask the question: What
was the contemporary understanding of this doctrine?
We have gone over the record of the patriarchal
times. It is the record of an eternal covenant, made by
an eternal God with Abraham and his seed to eternity,
signalized by the change of name from Abram to Abra-
ham, having the nature of a promise, and having its
principal force in the statement that in the seed of
Abraham all mankind is to be blessed. The passages
that give this record are not one or a few, but many.
The book of Genesis so persists in repeating declara-
tions of this sort as to make it evident that they are
regarded as the utterance of a political and religious
doctrine of the highest importance. This doctrine is
reiterated at every turn of the narrative. It is brought
into connection with each stage of the lives of the
patriarchs. It is treated as the key to all the historical
and biographical statements that are made.
This is the record of that which, in the New Tes-
tament and in Christian tradition, is referred to as
messianic prediction, or, to speak more correctly, as
messianic doctrine. How was this doctrine understood
by the men to whom it first came? As the knowledge
of it existed in their minds, what did it mean?
Assuming that the history is authentic, what did the
contemporaries of Abraham understand to be the mean-
ing of the promise? Or, assuming the standpoint of
the so-called Modern View, what did the Israelites of
the century before Hosea understand to be the meaning
of the promise?
212 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
We do not ask, observe, how Abraham or Jacob or
others who may have had prophetic gifts understood
The proper the matter; whether they saw all that we
form of the think we see in the revelation that was made
question through them. As men commonly estimate
the prophets, we have no means of knowing to what
extent their knowledge may have been modified by
special inspiration. It has been generally believed
that Deity may have given them a far-reaching fore-
sight of the future. It was not beyond the power of
the divine Spirit to enable Abraham to look forward and
see every incident in the personal life of Jesus. But
we have no information as to how far such inspiration
was granted to the patriarchs and prophets, and it is
better not to let such an uncertain element enter into
our study. And on the other hand it would be of no
account to ask how the promise seemed to unsympa-
thetic persons, who took no interest in it. The proper
question to ask is how it seemed (or, if you hold the
other view, how the prophets who first taught it thought
it seemed) to uninspired but devout and intelligent
persons of the patriarchal times. How did it seem,
for example, to Eliezer of Damascus, or to some other
circumcised servant of Abraham, who had received
just such information as we now find in Genesis and
no more?
Necessarily, he found in it an element of prediction.
In the uttering of it something was foretold. Every
Contempora- promise is a prediction. This promise was
ries under- the foretelling of something that should hap-
stood the pen to the posterity of Abraham and to man-
promise as a kind for ages to come, to time unlimited.
prediction From the time when it was first given it was
doubtless thought of as something by which future ages would
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 213
be able to test God's ability to reveal coming events.
Those who first heard it might reflect that in no long
time men would begin to verify this miracle of fulfilled
prediction, and that the verifications would thereafter
continue to be made, eternally. This would make the
promise the greater in their estimation. In this aspect
of it, it would stir their imaginations, and set them to
looking forward.
The fulfilment of the promise hitherto, if it has had
one, has been accomplished in the history of Israel;
and, according to the claim of the men of the New
Testament, that which is greatest in the history is that
which has entered in and through Jesus Christ. Apart
from miraculous inspiration, however, there is no rea-
son to think that a contemporary of Abraham would
form in his mind a distinct picture of the details that
have entered into the history. He would have no
detailed expectation, for example, of a person living
and dying in Palestine, many centuries in the future,
and doing there the things that Jesus did. His thought
would contain no materials for constructing beforehand
personal biographies of Moses or David or Jesus, or for
constructing accounts of Israel's ancient conquests, or
of the dispersion among the nations, or of Israel's modern
glories won in finance and art and learning and states-
manship. If this is what you mean by prediction, or by
messianic prediction, then there is none of it in Genesis.
Nevertheless the promise is essentially and necessarily
predictive. Its devout though uninspired contemporary
could not help seeing it to be so. As it was for eternity,
he would expect that the events included under it would
still be in progress, whatever their nature, hundreds of
years in the future. If he happened to fix his mind on
the date that we now designate as 28 A.D., he would be
214 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
certain that the descendants of Abraham would then be
living, would be in relations with the land of promise,
would be in some form carrying forward God's plan of
blessing for men. There would be nothing to exclude
from his conception such facts as those concerning
Jesus. We need not take the trouble to say how far
the first promulgators of the promise understood the
contents of the messianic doctrine that was revealed
through them; how far they had foresight of the future,
or knew the ways in which Yahaweh's plan for the na-
tions was to be carried out. At least they regarded
themselves as cognizant of the fact in general; they
understood enough to make them see that Yahaweh's
choice of Israel brought responsibilities upon themselves
and their generation.
It is worth while to note, at this point, that the men
of the New Testament, in all that they say concerning
the promise to Abraham, do not claim that it was pre-
dictive in any other sense than that just indicated.
Probably, however, the predictive aspect of the prom-
ise-doctrine was not greatly emphasized by the earliest
But rather as teachers and recipients of it. In the main,
a practical the promise was to them of the nature of
religious religious doctrine. The book of Genesis pre-
doctrine sents it as a matter of practical preaching, rather
than as prediction. The ostensible purpose is to give infor-
mation bearing on conduct, rather than to make known
things to come. As the teachings of the New Testa-
ment give the promise a central position, so it is in
Genesis the central and commanding article of theologi-
cal dogma. Its earliest student found in it a great
religious fact, holding the same place in his theology
that the fact of Christ holds in ours, something to be
believed and taught and practised for purposes of cur-
THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS 215
rent living; a doctrine that could be preached, and
made pivotal in all attempts at religious persuasion.
The thought of sin and of redemption is basal in all
religions. In both the New Testament and the Old it
underlies messianic doctrine at every point. It char-
acterizes the narratives in Genesis, and it connects itself
with the promise; though perhaps by implication rather
than by direct statement. The men to whom it first
came were conscious of being sinners. However crude
their ideas of sin may or may not have been, they had
this consciousness. To them the promise was some-
thing that looked forward into the future, and was for
eternity; but it was also for the present. They them-
selves were of the tribe of Abraham, and they were
entitled to their present share in that which had been
promised. In short, the promise constituted for them
just such a basis for faith and for moral and spiritual
character as the Christian of to-day claims that he pos-
sesses in Christ.
As thus explained, the promise was to these earliest
recipients and teachers of it something immeasurably
more than mere prediction, though its predictive value
is not thereby diminished. It was spiritual bread for
them to feed upon. Accepting the promise for just
what lies in its terms, irrespective of the contents with
which future history might fill it, it would serve the pur-
poses of practical faith and spiritual nourishment. A
person who had some idea of the infinite personality of
God; who held that God had purposes of blessing to the
whole human race, and had laid upon himself and
the family to which he belonged both the honor and
the responsibility of guarding and transmitting this
grace, had a theology that would serve the purposes of
an evangelical faith. Independently of the question
216 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
how minutely he understood the details of God's plan,
he had a good intellectual basis for moral and spiritual
character.
How could one better influence Abraham's tribe and
their descendants than by indoctrinating them with this
truth? by making them feel that they were God's
chosen people, chosen for the benefit of all the nations?
by awakening within them the religious experiences
which this truth ought to awaken? They might thus
be led to faith and repentance and hope and love and
obedience; might be so brought under the power of
these gracious truths that they should thereby be com-
forted in sorrow, restrained from yielding to temptation,
nerved to fidelity in times of testing.
What is said in the book of Genesis concerning the
blessing of Abraham certainly includes prediction; but
it is essentially not prediction but instruction. The
very core of the book is the affirmation that Abraham
and his posterity are eternally God's peculiar people,
not for their own sake, but for the sake of the nations.
This teaching is ethically lofty, but it is not recondite
nor obscure. It is level to the comprehension of even a
barbarous intellect. Any man who wanted to do right
could understand what it meant, and could feel the per-
suasive power of it. It was the heart of the theology
of Israel from the time of the earliest recorded doings
of the prophets. The New Testament writers are cor-
rect in finding it in the old record, and correct in identi-
fying it with the gospel which they themselves preached.
Paul made no mistake when he spoke of the gospel
"given beforehand to Abraham."
CHAPTER X
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL AND TO DAVID
IN tracing the history of the promise-doctrine in the
Old Testament, we have already recognized the neces-
sity of confining ourselves to relatively a few instances,
belonging to the great representative periods. In the
preceding chapter we have covered briefly the times of
the patriarchs. The present chapter must be made to
cover, however inadequately, the times of the exodus
and of David.
I. We begin with the time of the exodus. Do we
find that the promise through Abraham and Israel to
the nations is made conspicuous in the record of this
period?
I. The promise to Israel, constituting Israel Yaha-
weh's peculiar people, is much emphasized for the times
of the exodus.
The covenant formula, "Ye shall be to me for a peo-
ple, and I will be to you for God," of which we found
barely a hint in Genesis, is very abundant in “To me for a
the writings that treat of the exodus. Take People”
an example or two:--
"And I will take you to me for a people, and will be to you for
God, and ye shall know that I am Yahaweh your God, the one bring-
ing you out from beneath the burdens of Egypt" (Ex. vi. 7).
"For thy passing into the covenant of Yahaweh thy God and into
his oath which Yahaweh thy God is making with thee to-day; in
order to establish thee to-day to him for a people, while he shall be
217
218 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
to thee for God, according as he bath spoken to thee, and according
as he sware to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob"
(Deut. xxix. 12-13).1
In the accounts of the exodus a new form of state-
ment appears for indicating this relation between Yawha-
Yahaweh's weh and Israel. They are said to be father
son and son. The phrase is used sparingly.
Israel's peculiar relation of sonship is not made very
prominent. The matter is significant chiefly for its
foreshadowing the diction of the history of the later
times. Nevertheless it is distinct, and should not es-
cape notice.2
To the same effect might be cited all those hexateu-
chal institutions which have it for their purpose to keep
Hexateuchal Israel separate from the other nations. I ab-
separative stain from specifying. No fact is more famil-
institutions iar than that a large part of the hexateuch
is made up of legislation of this sort. A full treatment
of this point would require us to go through the six
books.
1 Other instances maybe found in Deut. xxvi. 17-19; Lev. xxvi. 12, etc.
Instances which offer the first half of the formula, without the second, are
Deut. iv. 20, etc. Instances which offer the second half of the formula
only are Ex. xxix. 45; Lev. xi. 45, xxii. 33, xxv. 38, xxvi. 45; Num. xv. 41,
etc. The instances here cited are all from sections which are assigned to
either P or D.
2 The following are the instances: —
"And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Yahaweh, Israel is my
son, my firstborn; and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may
serve me; and thou bast refused to let him go; behold I will slay thy
son, thy firstborn" (Ex. iv. 22-23 J).
"Thou hast seen how that Yahaweh thy God carried thee, as a man
carrieth his son, in all the way that ye went" (Deut. i. 31).
"Do ye thus requite Yahaweh,
O people foolish and not wise?
Is not he thy father that bought thee?
Himself made thee and prepared thee" (Deut. xxxii. 6).
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL 219
For the times of the exodus, as for the patriarchal
times, much stress is laid on the assertion that Yaha-
weh's promise and covenant are in force to The promise
eternity.1 In the records of these times this for eternity and
assertion takes on a new form; namely, that irrevocable
the benefits of the promise are irrevocable even for sin.
This is a fresh way of affirming that it will be forever
operative.
Ordinarily Yahaweh's promises to men are conditioned
on obedience. Even the promises of eternal blessing to
Israel are thus conditioned (e.g. Deut. iv. 40, xii. 28).
In some passages it is perhaps fairly implied that the
1 "To the end that it may be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee,
unto eternity" (Deut. xii. 28).
"That it may be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, and that thou
mayest prolong thy days upon the ground which Yahaweh thy God giveth
thee, all the days" (Deut. iv. 40).
At the burning bush: "I AM THAT I AM. . . . Yahaweh the God
of your fathers . . . hath sent me unto you: this is my name to eternity,
and this is my memorial to generation and generation" (Ex. iii. 14-15).
The requirement upon Israel concerning the sabbath is: —
"To observe the sabbath throughout their generations for a covenant
of eternity; it is a sign between me and the sons of Israel to eternity "
(Ex. xxxi. 16-17). Here observe the threefold repetition of expressions
for eternity.
It is to the same effect that a large proportion of the Levitical ordi-
nances are said to be eternal. "It shall be a statute of eternity to you:
in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your
souls." "It is a statute of eternity." "This shall be a statute of eternity
to you" (Lev. xvi. 29, 31, 34). These words are spoken of the great
annual sin offering: Similar statements are made in regard to the ordi-
nary sin offering, the wave breast and the heave thigh, the single place of
sacrifice, the ceremonies connected with the firstfruits (Lev. vi. 18, vii.
34, 36, xvii. 7, xxiii. 14, 21).
These are but instances. Like instances are very numerous. Make
whatever allowance may be due for any supposed modifying of the idea
of eternity, and it still remains true that the record insists on future time
without limit as characterizing the covenant and the promise and the laws
based thereupon.
220 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
promise to Abraham and Israel for the nations is con-
ditioned on Israel's obedience. However this may be,
there are a few remarkable passages in which the prom-
ise is expressly declared to be unconditional — not to be
forfeited even by disobedience. In Leviticus, for ex-
ample, we find a series of terrible denunciations of pun-
ishment upon Israel in retribution for sin, and this is
followed by these words: —
"And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies,
I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them
completely, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahaweh
their God. And I will remember for them a covenant of first things,
how I brought them out from the land of Egypt in the eyes of the
nations, that I might be to them for God" (Lev. xxvi. 44-45).1
It is not difficult to solve the verbal paradox involved
in thus declaring this promise to be both conditional and
unconditional. So far forth as its benefits accrue to any
particular person or generation in Israel, it is conditioned
on their obedience. But in its character as expressing
God's purpose of blessing for the human race, we should
not expect it to depend on the obedience or disobedience
of a few. So we are not surprised to find passages in
which the other aspect of the case appears. Israel may
sin, and may suffer grievous punishment; but Israel shall
not become extinct, like other sinning peoples. The
promise is for eternity, and Israel shall be maintained in
existence, that the promise may not fail.
1 Perhaps certain passages in the parallel series of threatenings in Deu-
teronomy (xxix-xxx) should be also so construed as to make them uncondi-
tional. The following passage certainly should be so construed, though the
old version and the margin of the revised version make it conditional: —
"When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee,
in the latter days thou shalt return to Yahaweh thy God, . . . he will not
fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which
he sware unto them" (Deut. iv. 30-31 RV).
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL 221
Incidentally but importantly connected with the great
promise, as it appears in the records of the exodus, is
the subsidiary promise that Yahaweh will give The rest-
Israel rest, and will choose a place for his name promise
to dwell in.l This promise is reiterated in the records,
making it conspicuous. It constitutes a significant mat-
ter of detail under the great promise. But it becomes
especially significant later as a link of connection be-
tween the time of the exodus and the time of David.
2. In all this we find a record of a great promise to
Israel; but is it also taught that Israel's vocation is for
the benefit of mankind? The answer to this question
must be that this is taught in these records, though less
persistently than in the history of the patriarchs.
In Deuteronomy occurs the following representative
statement: —
"Yahaweh will establish thee to him for a holy people, according
as he hath sworn to thee; for thou shalt keep the com- That man-
mandments of Yahaweh thy God, and walk in his ways, kind may
and all the peoples of the earth will see that the name know of
of Yahaweh hath been called upon thee, and will be Yahaweh
afraid from thee" (Deut. xxviii. 9-10).
In explicitness such a statement as this falls far behind
the patriarchal statement that in the seed of Abraham all
the nations shall be blessed; and yet it implies relations
between Deity and Israel and the nations. At least, the
1 "And he said, My presence shall go, and I will give thee rest" (Ex.
xxxiii. 14). Driver is in doubt whether to assign this to J, with Dillmann,
or, with Wellhausen, to the compiler of JE.
"For ye have not as yet come in unto the rest and unto the inheritance
which Yahaweh thy God is giving thee; and ye shall cross the Jordan,
. . . and he will give you rest from all your enemies from round about,
. . . and there shall be the place which Yahaweh your God shall choose
to cause his name to dwell there" (Deut. xii. 9-11). Add Deut. xii. 14,
21, xxv. 19, etc., and Deut. iii. 20; Josh. i. 13, 15, xxi. 44, xxii. 4, I.
Cf. Ps. xcv. I I; Heb. iii-iv. The passages in Joshua the critics assign to D.
222 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
nations shall recognize Yahaweh's name as "called
upon" Israel. They shall do this so distinctly that they
will be filled with wholesome fear. To this extent, at
least, Israel is to transmit to the nations the monotheism
of the religion of Yahaweh.
Another group of passages is represented by the
following:--
"For thou art a holy people to Yahaweh thy God.
His own, out Yahaweh thy God hath chosen thee to him to be his
of all the own people more than all the peoples that are upon the
peoples face of the ground" (Deut. vii. 6, repeated without
essential variation in xiv. 2).
In a moment we will pay some attention to the meaning
of the phrase "his own" as here used. We no only
attend to the fact that Yahaweh is here represented as
having relations with all mankind, and as having man-
kind in view when he separates Israel to himself to be his
in a peculiar sense. This is equally the meaning of the
words, whether you translate "more than all the peo-
ples," or "out of all the peoples."
The same is taught yet more distinctly in an earlier
passage. In the accounts of the transactions which
A kingdom preceded the giving of the "ten words" on
of priests Mount Sinai is a brief message which stands
by itself, being in the form of thirteen short balanced
lines of verse. The consideration of this belongs in our
chapter on the Kingdom, but we may now attend to one
phrase in the message. Yahaweh is represented as
saying: —
"Ye shall be mine, my own, out of all the peoples.
For mine is all the earth,
While ye yourselves shall be mine —
A kingdom of priests and an holy nation " (Ex. xix. 5-6).1
1 Driver regards this as from E "in the main." Others make it to be
late matter, supplementary to JE.
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL 223
In thus proposing to adopt Israel as his own, Yahaweh
has all the nations in mind, so he says. This does not
utterly differ from saying that he chooses Israel for the
benefit of all the nations. Further, he has his covenant
in mind, the covenant with Abraham, of course, in virtue
of which all the families of the ground are to be blessed
eternally. Yet further, Israel, in being a separate nation,
is to be a "kingdom of priests." The function of a priest
is to mediate between a people and the God they wor-
ship; that is, Israel is to be a mediatorial nation.
Of course this interpretation will be disputed. It fol-
lows, however, the natural meanings of the words; and
it is the interpretation which we accept in the four
places in the New Testament in which our Exodus text
is cited (Rev. i. 6, v. 9, 10; I Pet. ii. 5, 9). These pas-
sages regard Christian believers as inheriting this prom-
ise. They teach that we are "unto our God a kingdom
and priests," that we "are an elect race, a royal priest-
hood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession,"
to the end that we may transmit the divine blessing to
others. And there is no reason for saying that in
The word here translated "my own," s' gullah, is an unusual word, oc-
curring eight times only in the Old Testament. David is represented as
using it when he says that he has given of his own, that is, of his private
property, for the building of the temple (I Chron. xxix. 3). It is used in
Ecclesiastes to denote that which is so fine that only kings have it for their
own (ii. 8). The other five instances are repeated from this place in Exo-
dus. Four times Yahaweh is spoken of as having chosen Israel "to be to
him for a people, his own" (Deut. vii. 6, xiv. 2, xxvi. 18 [19]; Ps. cxxxv,
4). In Malachi is a promise to faithful Israelites:
"And they shall be mine, saith Yahaweh of hosts, for the day which I
am making, my own, and I will have compassion upon them as a man hath
compassion upon his son that serveth him" (iii. 17).
In this last passage the King James version renders "my jewels." Else-
where the English versions render "peculiar people," "special people,"
"peculiar treasure," "mine own possession."
224 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
this they are guilty of either misquotation or misinter-
pretation.
This view of the case is strongly confirmed by the
fact that the promise made at the exodus is regarded
as a continuation of that made to the patriarchs. This
warrants the inference that it was not thought of as
radically changed in character.
Whatever is done for Israel in the time of Moses and
Joshua is represented as in continuity with what was
Continuity done in the earlier time. Moses comes with
with patriar- the words: "The God of your fathers hath
chal times sent me unto you " (Ex. iii. 13). This idea
and this phraseology are repeated at every turn of the
narrative.1 Already we find in the recorded history of
Israel this peculiarity, that it is simply the unfolding of
the promise made to Abraham.
The continuity becomes the more marked when we
observe the stress that is laid in this history on the
A continuous statement that the covenant made with the
covenant patriarchs is still in existence. At the outset
it is said of the oppressed Israelites in Egypt: —
"And God heard their groaning; and God remembered his cove-
nant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (Ex. ii. 24 ).2
It is true that Yahaweh represents himself as publicly
entering into a fresh covenant, at the bringing of Israel
1 "Yahaweh the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you: this is my name for-
ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations."
"Yahaweh the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and
of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you"
(Ex. iii. 15, 16).
Driver assigns these sections to E, but verse 16 to J.
2 As additional instances note Deut. xxix. 12-15, 25, and the following: —
"I am Yahaweh. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and
unto Jacob, as El-Shaddai, and by my name Yahaweh I was not known to
them. And I also established my covenant with them, to give them the
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL 225
out of Egypt; indeed, as making more than one such
covenant; but it is possible to understand these transac-
tions as the renewal and perpetuation of the covenant
with Abraham and this is clearly the intended under-
standing.
That the supreme end of Israel's mission is his being
the channel of Yahaweh's blessing to all peoples is per-
sistently repeated in Genesis, both in the covenant
passages and elsewhere. That this idea is present in
the transactions of the exodus is an inference demanded
by the continuity, of the transactions, unless there be
something in the records to exclude it. As we have
seen, there is nothing to exclude it, and there is much to
confirm it. Israel's separation to Yahaweh is for the
benefit of the nations. If this is not here so insisted on
as in Genesis, it is at least entirely clear. The God of
all mankind takes thought for the interests of mankind,
in what he does for Israel. If this is not here so much
reiterated as in Genesis, it is at all events not left entirely
in the background.
To this it might be objected that it supposes in Israel
a benevolent feeling toward the nations quite inconsist-
ent with the harshness he was required to The harsh-
show to the Canaanites and Amalekites, and ness toward
in some cases to other peoples. We cannot the Canaanite
now stop to discuss this problem on its merits. and Amalekite,
For the purposes of the present argument it etc.
is sufficient to say that the alleged instances of harsh-
ness are exceptional. It was to be exercised toward a
land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, wherein they sojourned.
And also, I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, . . . and have
remembered my covenant " (Ex. vi. 3-5 P).
"For Yahaweh thy God is El, a compassionate one; he will not fail
thee, and will not destroy thee, and will not forget the covenant of thy
fathers, which he sware to them" (Deut. iv. 31).
226 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
few only of the many peoples known to Israe As
a rule the international policy of Israel was to be liberal
and generous, even while it involved religious separation.
The laws for the stranger and the sojourner, and the
provisions for incorporating foreigners into Israel by
the rite of circumcision, are familiar instances. Even
in the cutting off of the condemned nations, Israel
might supposably be rendering a service to the human
race.
It might be further objected that Israel never during
his history appears to have been actuated by the high
Only the few ideal of having a mission to mankind. The
have the reply is obvious. Only a few, relatively, of
highest ideals the hundreds of millions of Christians now
living give evidence of being greatly under the control
of the ideals set forth by Jesus. There is no difficulty
in supposing that the cosmopolitan promise-idea may
have been known and accepted by the devout few in
Israel, even in the times when its absence from the
thinking of the majority was most conspicuous.
3. As in the case of the preceding period, we meet
here the two questions: How must these statements of
fact be modified if one would make them fit current
critical theories? What was the contemporary under-
standing of the statements?
The scholars of the Modern View hold that all state-
ments of fact in the bible in regard to the times of the
The case exodus are untrustworthy. The history we
according to have represents, they say, not the actual facts,
the Modern but the ideas concerning the exodus which
view were held by certain Jewish writers, some of them
as early as Hezekiah, others of Josiah's time, others still
later. It gives us, however, the earliest ideas concern-
ing these times that have been anywhere preserved, the
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO ISRAEL 227
oldest known conception of this part of the history
of the religion of Israel. On the basis of this critical
view, therefore, we are not entitled to say that the
promise-doctrine was actually dominant in the minds of
Israel's leaders when they came from Fgypt, but only
that this is the idea of the matter that appears earliest
in Israelitish literature.
This view of the case is starved and meagre, but even
this ought to count for something. These earliest writ-
ers on the subject, whoever they were, thought that
Moses and his contemporaries thought that the covenant
with Abraham and his seed was then still in existence;
that in virtue of that covenant Israel was Yahaweh's
peculiar people; that he was so in the line of Ya-
haweh's purposes for mankind; that he was thus
Yahaweh's son; that this covenant and promise are
eternal, irrevocable even if Israel is to the last degree
disobedient. It is the same religious idea which we
found dominating the history of the patriarchs; some-
what unfolded, indeed, with the progress of the cen-
turies; less insistently cosmopolitan by reason of the
existing situation; but still the same idea.
How did men then living understand this idea? How
did they interpret the body of sacrifices and other insti-
tutions to which the idea gave shape? The The contem-
question is not how it was understood by porary inter-
Moses, for example, or by some other in- pretation
spired man, who might supposably have all the details
of the future history of redemption miraculously re-
vealed to him. And the question is not how it was
understood by one whose religious instincts had become
atrophied, or by depraved or stupid or excessively
ignorant persons. But how was it understood by an
uninspired, though intelligent and devout, Israelite of
228 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
the period? There is no reason to think that such
an one saw in the covenant revelations of his time any
premonition of a man who would some time live and be
crucified in Palestine, to be the Saviour of men; what
he saw in them was a religious doctrine, in the form
of a promise from God, already for some hundreds of
years in process of fulfilment, and to remain in process
of fulfilment forever.
On any tenable theory of the rise and progress of
civilization, such a doctrine was easily intelligible to
persons of that period, and capable of influencing such
of them as were open to ethical influences. And it
appealed to the imagination. Yahaweh's covenant was
for eternity. It was not to fail, no matter how per-
versely Israel might disobey, or how grievously he
might be punished. Other races might be annihilated,
but this race would not be. It should be perpetuated,
that through it God's purpose of blessing for mankind
might be unfolded. All this is prediction. It is an
exhibition of divine foreknowledge in the making known
of future events. It was so understood by those who
first understood it. But it was more than prediction.
It was doctrine, doctrine effectively preachable, for the
guiding of the conduct of those to whom it came, for the
awakening of their patriotism and their moral virtues,
for the building up of their spiritual character.
II. Similar things are to be said concerning the
promise as entering into the history of the time of
David.
Next to the promise made to Abraham the New
Testament magnifies as messianic doctrine the promise
made to David. This needs no proof. Nothing is
more familiar to readers of the New Testament than
the idea that the Christ is the son of David.
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO DAVID 229
The classical Old Testament passage concerning this
is the seventh chapter of 2 Samuel, with its duplicate,
the seventeenth chapter of I Chronicles. It The classical
is the account of David's proposing to build passage
a temple to Yahaweh, and the message he received
concerning it through Nathan the prophet. Few Old
Testament incidents are more familiar. Nathan at first
acceded to the king's suggestion, but afterward brought
a message from Yahaweh forbidding David to build the
temple. No reason for the prohibition is given in this
passage, though elsewhere (I Chron. xxii. 8) David's
being a man of battles is mentioned as a reason. Along
with the prohibition Nathan brought to David a prom-
ise, which is spread out in several verses, and which so
affected David that he "went in and remained before
Yahaweh," with adoration and with supplications in view
of the wonderful honor conferred upon him.
What was this honor? An average reader of the
bible would probably say that it consisted in David's
being told that his son should build the David's house
temple which he himself was forbidden to which Yahaweh
build. But to say this is to substitute a sub- will build
ordinate matter of detail for the principal fact. him
The central thing is this: that in response to David's
thought to build Yahaweh a house (5b), Yahaweh will
make David a house. This is emphasized by reiteration,
the house that Yahaweh will make for David being eight
times mentioned in this short passage.1 Its nature is
indicated in the context.
1 "And Yahaweh telleth thee that Yahaweh will make to thee a house"
(11b).
"For thou, Yahaweh of hosts, the God of Israel hast uncovered the ear
of thy servant, saying, A house will I build for thee" (27).
"Thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before
thee" (16).
230 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
1. It is explained that David's "house" is the line
of descendants which Yahaweh will give to him (12, 16,
David's 19, 26, 29). The promise to David, like the
"seed" promise to Abraham, is a promise of a
"seed," though this word is used but once in the chapter
(12). That the seed is not one person only, but a line of
descendants, appears from the eternal duration assigned
to him and his activities. This line of descendants is
the essential feature of the promise.
(a) Incidentally it is said that the "seed" shall build
the proposed temple (13), that is, that it shall be built
The temple by some member of the house of David, by
builder some one of his eternal line of descendants.
We naturally and correctly infer that the temple builder
is to be the first successor in the line. But this becomes
merely incidental; the main thing is the eternally
enduring house and throne promised to David. The
temple building is mentioned only once in Nathan's mes-
sage, and not at all in David's utterances before Yahaweh.
Although the project for building the house furnishes
the occasion for the giving of this promise, David has
not a word to say about temple building, when he goes
in before Yahaweh. Evidently the other parts of the
promise seemed to him so important as to thro this
into the background. Temple building, important as it
was, was eclipsed by the larger thought that had sud-
denly come to fill David's mind.
"Thou hast spoken also concerning thy servant's house for a far
time" (19).
"The word which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and con-
cerning his house, cause thou it to stand forever" (25).
"The house of thy servant David being made ready before thee” (26).
"And bless thou the house of thy servant . . . may the house of thy
servant be blessed forever" (29).
Besides these eight instances, the idea is repeated in other language.
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO DAVID 231
(b) The thing emphasized in regard to the line of
David's descendants is that they shall be kings, having
a kingdom, sitting on a throne (12, 13, 16, 16). A line of
One item of the promise for the times of the kings
patriarchs and of the exodus was, as we have seen, that
Israel should be a kingdom, and should have kings (Gen.
xvii. 6, 16, xxxv. 11, cf. xxxvi. 31; Ex. xix. 6; Num. xxiv.
7, 7), and it is clear that the kingdom here assigned to
David's family is the kingdom of Israel (23, 24, 26, 27).
The Chronicler calls it Yahaweh's kingdom (1 Chron.
xvii. 14).
(c) Equal stress is laid — and here again the prom-
ise to David parallels that to the patriarchs and to
Israel of the exodus — on the affirmation that David's line
the Davidic line of kings and their kingdom and kingdom
are eternal, this being an irrevocable divine eternal
purpose. Besides other ways of expressing this, the
word "forever" is used three times in the message
of Nathan, and five times in the utterances of David
before Yahaweh, being applied six times directly to
David or to his seed.l
In the record of the times of the exodus we have
found certain passages in which Yahaweh's great
promise is declared to be irrevocable even for sin.
The same phenomenon appears in the accounts of the
1 "I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (13).
"Thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee;
thy throne shall be established forever" (16).
"Thou hast established to thee thy people Israel, to thee for a people
forever" (24).
"And now, Yahaweh God, the word which thou hast spoken concern-
ing thy servant and concerning his house, establish thou forever, . . . that
thy name maybe great forever" (25, 26).
"Bless the house of thy servant that it be forever before thee, . . . and
out of thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever" (29).
232 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
promise to David. Although it is sometimes presented
as conditioned on obedience (e.g. 1 Chron. xxviii. 7 ; Ps.
The promise cxxxii), it is also, in other places, declared to
irrevocable be beyond recall even in case of d sobedi-
even for sin ence. In the original narrative, for ekample,
Yahaweh is represented as saying: —
“And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will
be to him for a father, and he shall be to me for a son; in whose
being perverse I will correct him with a rod of men, and with stripes
of sons of man, while my loving kindness shall not remove from
him, as I removed it from with Saul, whom I removed from before
thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever
before thee" (13b-16a).
The explanation of the paradox is doubtless the same as
in the earlier instance: any member of the line of David
may by sin forfeit his own share in the promise, but he
may not forfeit that which belongs to his successors to
eternity.
2. But is there anything to indicate that the promise
to David is for mankind, like the promise to Abraham
and to Israel?
In answering this question much depends on the
closeness of the identification we make between this
transaction and the earlier promise-transactions. If
the promise to David be a renewal, with further un-
folding, of the promise made to Abraham and renewed
at the exodus, then we naturally infer that it has
the same scope as they in its relations to mankind.
There is nothing in its terms to exclude the nations.
Their right to a share in it is therefore proved, provided
it is the continuation of the older promise.
At the outset we must notice the fact that this chap-
ter does not explicitly mention Abraham, as do the
records of the time of the exodus. There is no sharp
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO DAVID 233
statement to the effect that Deity called Abraham to
the end that all families of mankind might be blessed
in him, and that he now extends the same call to
David. Nevertheless the promise to David abun-
dantly identifies itself with that to Israel, and therefore
with that to Abraham, since these last two are identical.
We have already noted certain points of identifica-
tion. The seed of David is the seed of Abraham and
of Jacob. It is a royal seed as Yahaweh had promised
that theirs should be. We have again the great char-
acteristic of the promise, that it is for eternity and
irrevocable. But there are yet other points of identi-
fication more specific than these, and on that account
perhaps even more convincing.
The account in the seventh chapter of 2 Samuel
begins with the implication that David was familiar
with the line of hexateuchal passages which The Deuter-
say that Yahaweh would give Israel rest from onomic rest-
his enemies round about (Deut. xii. 10, 9, xxv. promise
19, etc.). This is repeated a few verses further on, in the
same Deuteronomic phrase,l with the additional Deuter-
onomic statement that the rest has come through
Yahaweh's cutting off of Israel's enemies (Deut. xii.
29, etc.), this being elaborately connected with the situ-
ation existing when the promise was given.2 In the
1 "The king dwelt in his house, Yahaweh having given him rest from
round about from all his enemies."
"I am giving thee rest from all thine enemies" (1, 11).
2 "And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast gone, and have
cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and am making for thee a great
name, as the name of the great ones who are in the earth, and am setting
a place for my people Israel, and am planting them, and making them to
dwell in their place, and they no longer tremble, nor do sons of mischief
continue to afflict them as formerly, even to from the day when I put judges
in charge over my people Israel" (9-11, cf. 1 Chron. xxii. 9, 18, xxiii. 25,
xxviii. 2; I Ki. v. 4 [18]; 2 Chron. vi. 41; Ps. cxxxii. 8, 14, etc.).
234 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Deuteronomic passages it has been promised that when
Yahaweh has thus cut off Israel's enemies and given
him rest, then Yahaweh will choose a place were his
name shall dwell (Deut. xii. 11, 14, 21, etc.). Evidently
the record gives us to understand that David believed
that Yahaweh had now at length chosen Jerusalem as
the place where his name should dwell, this being the
circumstance that led David to think that the time was
come for the building of a permanent temple (2 Sam.
vii. 13; i Ki. viii. 16; 2 Chron. vi. 4-7, etc.).
Further, as the phrases "to be to thee for God, and
to thy seed after thee," "and I will be to them for
The peculiar God," first appearing in the promise to Abra-
people idea ham (Gen. xvii. 7, 8), are expanded for the
time of the exodus into a more complete formula (e.g.
Deut. xxvi. 17-18), and are much used, so we find this
formula prominent in the account of the Davidic promise.
The formula appears here in direct terms,l and the idea
appears several times in phraseology that is less techni-
cal. It is Israel's God that David finds himself dealing
with in this matter. We are told that it is "Yahaweh
of hosts, the God of Israel," that has uncovered David's
ear (27). Other like phrases are used.2 And indeed,
even without these specific phrases, any one can see
that the promise to David concerns his kingdom, and
that his kingdom is Israel.
Among the clauses that mention Israel as Yahaweh's
1 "And thou wilt confirm to thee thy people Israel, to thee for a people
forever, thou Yahaweh being to them for God" (24).
"Like thy people, like Israel, . . . to ransom to himself for a people,
. . . thy people which thou didst ransom to thee from Egypt" (23).
2 "I am setting a place for my people Israel " (10).
"And may thy name be great forever, to say, Yahaweh of hosts, God
over Israel; the house of thy servant David being meanwhile established
before thee " (26).
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO DAVID 235
peculiar people, those in the twenty-second and twenty-
third verses are especially marked in their “One nation
hexateuchal phraseology. The statements in the earth”
are not entirely clear, but the verses are evidently
made up of phrases taken from the accounts of the
exodus.1 At the opening of the twenty-third verse
the English versions translate, "What one nation in the
earth is like thy people Israel?" This fails to convey
the true meaning. The question, "Who are like thy
people, like Israel, one nation in the earth?" is odd in
form, whether in Hebrew or in English, and its oddity
identifies it as a quotation. The plural verb in the
clause "whom Elohim have gone "presents a construc-
tion that is unusual. Clearly the sentence is based on
a passage in Deuteronomy that offers the same two
peculiarities: —
"For who are a great nation which hath Elohim that draw near
unto it like Yahaweh our Elohim in all our calling unto him? And
who are a great nation that hath righteous statutes and judgments
like all this torah which I am giving before you to-day?" (Deut.
iv. 7-8).
The writer here represents David as echoing the pecul-
iar diction of Deuteronomy. The clauses that follow
can best be made intelligible by regarding them as
similar echoes, and filling out the meaning by the aid
of the contexts from which they were taken.
In these various ways David is evidently represented
as thinking of the time of the exodus, and of Israel's
being constituted Yahaweh's people in a peculiar sense,
1 "For there is none like thee, and there is no Elohim besides thee, alto-
gether as we have heard with our ears. And who are like thy people, like
Israel, one nation in the earth whom Elohim have gone to ransom to him
for a people, and to set for him a name, and to do for you that which is
great, and terrible things for thy land, from before thy people which thou
didst ransom to thee from Egypt?"
236 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
and is identifying the promise to himself with that
transaction.
In the records of the promise at the exodus, as
we have seen, Israel is sparingly called the son of
David's seed Yahaweh. This form of expression comes
Yahaweh's into prominence in the record of the time
son of David:--
"I will be to him for a father, and he shall be to me for a
son" (14).
This statement is made emphatic by the clauses which
follow, telling how Yahaweh will treat David's son, in
view of their paternal and filial relation.
In the respects thus far mentioned the promise to
David is clearly in continuation of that to Abraham
Other mat- and Israel, both in its contents and its dic-
ters of diction tion. An additional instance of parallel dic-
tion occurs in the twelfth verse:
"Thy seed after thee, which shall come forth from thy bowels."
The first half of this expression is not very common in
the bible, but it occurs five times in one of the promise
chapters in Genesis (xvii. 7, 8, 9, 10, 19). The second
half occurs only here and in the Abrahamic promise
(Gen. xv. 4), and twice elsewhere (2 Sam. xvi. 11;
2 Chron. xxxii. 21). It would not be safe to build
upon such an item as this, if it were unsupported; but,
taken in connection with the rest of the case, we may
infer that these two phrases in Samuel were borrowed
from Genesis. Not to delay for other instances, the
passage in Samuel is throughout by its diction brought
into continuity with the record of the times of Abra-
ham and of the exodus. Its echoes of the penta-
teuchal phraseology are not much less numerous than
its verses.
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO DAVID 237
We look at one more phrase. By position it is the
climacteric clause of David's statement of the case when
he went in before Yahaweh. Its meaning is The torah of
concealed in the English versions by impos- mankind
sible translation. Rendered with strict literalness this
clause and its duplicate in Chronicles read as follows: —
"This being the torah of mankind, 0 Lord Yahaweh!" (2 Sam.
19).
"And thou art regarding me according to the upbringing torah
of mankind, 0 Yahaweh God!" (1 Chron. xvii. 17).1
In these texts "this" ought logically to mean the reve-
lation recorded in the context concerning the "seed" of
David, who is to exist and reign forever, Yahaweh's
son, Yahaweh's king. "The torah of mankind" natu-
rally denotes a well-known revelation which Yahaweh
has made concerning mankind. "The upbringing torah
of mankind" can only mean Yahaweh's torah for the
uplifting or exalting of mankind. It is presupposed
that David has a knowledge of something which he
describes in this phrase — something so great as to be
the crowning fact in the honor Yahaweh is bestowing
upon him.
1 The following are the current renderings: —
"And is this the manner of man, 0 Lord GOD?" (Old Vet.).
"And this too after the manner of men, 0 Lord GOD!" (Rev. Ver.).
"And is this the law of man, 0 Lord GOD?" (Rev. Ver., Marg.).
"And hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree,
O LORD God."
None of these renderings are of the nature of simple translation. Each
includes an explanation, and one that is conjectural instead of being drawn
from the context. All are false in syntax. Three of them give to the word
torah the absolutely anomalous rendering "manner," "estate." All neg-
lect the fact that the law denoted by torah is regularly divine law. The
verb in Chronicles is not a present-perfect, but is either a future or a con-
tinuative present.
See Journal of Biblical Literature, VIII, 137.
238 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
What is this "torah of mankind," this "elevating
torah of mankind "? Was David thinking of some
matter of petty personal exaltation? The context
shows that his mind was fixed, with deep emotion, on
the thought of Yahaweh's having chosen Israel to be
his peculiar people; and that it was more or less occu-
pied at the moment with the phraseology in which the
ancient promises had been given. In the circumstances,
the expression "the torah of mankind" must have a
broad and high meaning. The most natural under-
standing is that David recognizes in the promise just
made to him a renewal of the ancient promise of bless-
ing for mankind. His eternally reigning line of de-
scendants, Yahaweh's king, Yahaweh's son, is to be
also Yahaweh's channel of benefit to all the nations.
For this fact we are not left to mere inference; it is
explicitly affirmed in this clause concerning the torah
of mankind. The mere process of putting together the
logical elements of the clause gives us a meaning so
simple and so rich that its very simplicity and rich-
ness cause some natural hesitation about accepting it.
There is no sufficient reason, however, for not accept-
ing it. There is no escaping the conclusion that the
narrative represents that David recognized in the prom-
ise made to him a renewal of the promise made of old
that all the nations should be blessed in Abraham and
his seed.
As in the treatment of the earlier periods, we pause
for an instant to inquire what this record becomes on
What this the basis of certain theories of criticism now
becomes on prevalent. Stenning (Dic. of the Bib.) assigns
the basis of 2 Sam. vii to a writer of the E school, liv-
certain criti- ing about 700 B.C., but also assigns it to a
cal views much later Deuteronomistic editor. Kuenen and Well-
THE PROMISE AS RENEWED TO DAVID 239
hausen both regard it as preexilian. Stade (Encyc. Bib.)
is sure that the Deuteronomist who wrote it was postex-
ilian. The men of this school would agree that the state-
ments of fact made in this chapter are untrue, whether
they date from about 700 or 600 or 400 B.C. But
there still remains this remarkable phenomenon: that
the prophets or scribes, whatever their date, who wrote
the history of David, had this idea of David's relations
to the promise. The idea either is or is not true to fact.
If not true to fact, then it is a product of imagination so
wonderful as to demand careful study.
Such, then, is the promise for the time of David, as
the records describe it. Had this promise any clear
meaning to an Israelite of the time when Contempo-
it was given, supposing that Israelite to be rary interpre-
uninspired but intelligent, and a devout be- tation
liever in the idea that Yahaweh makes promises and
afterward fulfils them? If it had a meaning, what did
it mean? The meaning can be nothing else than that
David would have as his posterity an unending succes-
sion of kings, one of whom, presumptively the first,
would build the temple, while through the whole line
would be fulfilled eternally the promise made of old to
Abraham and Israel. This meaning is simple, is as
comprehensible to men of one age as to men of another,
and is required by the words as recorded.
In other words, this man of the time of David, or, if
you will, of the later time when some unknown scribe
invented the account, understood that the promise made
to Abraham was still in existence, and that Israel was
still entitled to its benefits, but that henceforth its cen-
tral fulfilment was to be along the line of the royal
descendants of David.
He would understand that it was of the nature of pre-
240 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
diction, prediction that had already been gloriously veri-
fled, especially in the then recent conquests made by
David, but looking forward to still more glorious ful-
filments in the future. He would understand that the
future glorious events which were to occur under it
would be events in which all mankind would have an
interest. He would doubtless infer a divine foreknowl-
edge, made manifest through the prophets. If we may
suppose him to be asked concerning affairs in Palestine
at the then future date which we now designate 28 A.D.,
we should hardly expect him to be able to narrate de-
tails concerning Jesus; but we should expect him to
reply that the great promise would at that date still be
working itself out, in Palestine, and especially through
the line of David.
Nevertheless it must have been true that the con-
temporaries of the first publication of the promise to
David, while they regarded the promise as a genuine
prediction, yet mainly looked upon it as religious teach-
ing rather than as a foretelling of the future. Here
was a great fact concerning God's relations to men--
a truth for the prophets to teach and for the people to
feed upon; a truth suitable for purifying and stimulat-
ing their loyalty, for controlling their conduct, for the
building of character.
CHAPTER XI
THE PROMISE-DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS AND
PSALMISTS
WE have found that the narratives of Genesis include
an account of the revealing of a divine promise to
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. The narra- Recapitula-
tives of the exodus describe a renewal and tion
continuation of that revelation. They declare Israel to
be Yahaweh's son, his own people, a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation. In this Yahaweh claims the whole
earth, and makes Israel a priestly nation, thus declaring
afresh that the election of Israel is for the benefit of
mankind. To David the promise is again renewed, and
especially vested in his seed, the interest of mankind in
it being again affirmed.
We are now to inquire, how these traditions concern-
ing the promise were regarded by the prophets of
David's time and later-- the prophets who A new phase
wrote the Psalms and the historical books and of the subject
the wisdom books, as well as those who wrote the so-
called prophetic books. In their writings the covenant
promise to Abraham, to Israel, to David, is perpetually
insisted upon. The prophets who were David's con-
temporaries or successors constantly appeal to the
promise as made to him, interchangeably with the
promise as made to Abraham and to Israel. To such
an extent does this teaching affect the Psalms,
the prophetic addresses, and even the historical state-
ments, that there is no way of considering it more
briefly than by studying the Old Testament through.
241
242 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
The messianic material in these writings is so abundant
that it could be exhausted only by a treatment that
should cover the entire writings. Directly or in directly,
nearly all that they say is somehow connected with the
promise.
As with the contemporaries of Abraham and Moses
and David, so with the successive generations of proph-
Both a pre- ets that followed them, in the matter of the
diction and a use they made of the promise: it had at any
dogma given time a twofold character; it was a
standing prediction of the time to come, and it was an
available religious doctrine for the time being. In their
hands the messianic teaching was always anticipative,
always looking forward, always not yet fulfilled, though
it had been fulfilling for ages. Yahaweh's purpose in
it was for eternity, with unfoldings that reached end-
lessly into the future. But the promise, to the Israel of
David's time and later, as to their predecessors, was
after all religious doctrine rather than prediction. It
was a dogma which they had inherited from the past.
If we have thus far rightly understood the matter, we
should expect to find these prophets using this dogma,
very prominently, in religious instruction and appeal,
for the temporal and spiritual benefit of their contem-
poraries. Precisely this is what we actually find. Their
theology centres in the promise. This is the spiritual
bread with which they feed the souls of the men of their
day.
They had this as the great doctrine of their religion:
that Yahaweh had made Israel to be peculiarly his
people; had vested this relation centrally in the royal
line of David; had done this for purposes of blessing to
mankind—purposes that had already been unfolding
for centuries, and were on the way to an ever larger
THE PROMISE—DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 243
unfolding. Henceforth this messianic doctrine, preached
by the prophets, sung in the Psalms, built into the
temple, rising with the smoke of every sacrifice, the
great quickener of Israel's conscience, the bulwark
against idolatry, the protection of patriotism from de-
spair, the comfort under affliction, the warning against
temptation, the recall to the wandering; in short, a
doctrine of salvation offered to Israel and every Isra-
elite; more than this, Israel's missionary call to the
nations, inviting all without exception to turn to the
service of Yahaweh — is this doctrine of the promise
of blessing, made to Abraham and Israel, renewed in
David and his seed, to be eternally without recall, and
including the human race in its scope.
The messianic passages in the writings of the prophets
are mostly the repetition, the unfolding, the supplement-
ing, or the homiletic use of the promise, as The messi-
given either to Abraham, to Israel, or to anic passages
David. This is their gospel, as the same homiletic
promise in a more advanced stage of fulfilment is the
gospel that we preach in the twentieth century. It
varies in the different stages through which revelation
passes, and yet is uniform in its essential character
throughout the Old Testament.
Descending to particulars, we will consider some of
the modes in which the prophets present this doctrine,
and some of the points in it which they principally
emphasize.
I. First, their modes of presentation are such as we
should expect in a homiletical literature that preserves,
in prose or poetry, the substance of sermons actually
preached.
In this literature there are a large number of passages
which are capable of being understood as disconnected
244 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
predictions of the experiences of a Person who was
to appear at a certain time in the future, or the
Predictive redemption of Israel and mankind. In-
passages stances of these, in very large number, are
given and argued in the older works that treat of the
argument from prophecy (e.g. Pss. ii, xvi, xxii, cx). It
may be that sore of these are genuine instances of dis-
connected prediction, though most of them, when stud-
ied in their contexts, appear to the mind in new aspects.
Most of them should not be regarded as disconnected
predictions, but as shoots from a common stem—the
common stem being the body of connected messianic
promise-history which we have been examining. Very
many of them have a certain quality of universalness,
in virtue of which they are capable of being under-
stood as direct forecasts of a coming personal Messiah.
That is to say, they are so constructed that their original
setting may be left out of the account without the effect
of perverting their meaning. In a large proportion of its
conclusions the older apologetic is virtually correct, in
spite of its neglect of the local elements of the problem.
But even the instances of this kind yield more satis-
factory meanings when examined in connection with
their relations to the central promise.
In some cases the so-called prediction occur in a
continuous discourse, but loosely connected with it.
The promise The messianic statement may be used as
as a sermon- a text on which the contiguous discourse
text or a is based. Isa. ii–iv, for example, is a
proof-text sermon, based on the messianic prevision of
ii.2-4 as a text. Or the promise-passage is used as we use a
proof-text, for illustrating or confirming something in
the discourse. For example, an Israelite bard sings
(Ps. xvi. 10):--
THE PROMISE—DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 245
"For thou wilt not abandon my soul to sheol,
Thou wilt not permit thy hhasidh to see corruption."
For the meaning of the term hhasidh, see Chapter XIV.
In this passage the singer assumes that it is a well-
known truth that Yahaweh's hhasidh will not see corrup-
tion, will never cease to be; and so, identifying himself
with the hhasidh, he expects immortality. He cites
this well-known truth for confirming his own faith in
Yahaweh.l To mention but one more instance, the
promise to David is called to mind to emphasize Ma-
nasseh's wickedness in using the temple for idolatrous
purposes (2 Chron. xxxiii. 7).
To a limited extent the preachers and singers of
Israel repeat the formulated phrases that accompanied
the original giving of the promise. Jeremiah Repetitions
promises that if Israel will return and be of the old
faithful, "then nations shall bless them- phrases
selves in him" (iv. 1-2). The forecast of the future
of David's dynasty, as found in the seventy-second
psalm, culminates in the words:
"Yea, all nations shall bless themselves in him,
Shall call him happy" (17).2
1 This view is entirely consistent with the use made of the psalm in Acts
25, 27, 31, and xiii. 34-37.
2 Whatever differences of opinion there may be concerning this psalm,
no one doubts that it is a song concerning the seed of David. The ver-
sions translate the cited couplet thus: —
"And [men] shall be blessed in him,
All nations shall call him happy."
But "nations " is placed where the subject of the first of the two verbs
ought to be placed; and the structure of the psalm, as found throughout,
requires that the two verbs have the same subject, and that it be expressed
with one, and implied with the other.
The fact that these passages echo the phraseology of Genesis is not
changed even if one regards the phrase "bless themselves" as here indi-
cating merely a recognition of Israel or of the Davidic king, rather than
an expectation of receiving a blessing.
246 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
With these two passages compare a third, in which the
same diction is echoed, though with a different idea.
"So that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself
in the God of truth" (Isa. lxv. 16).
And in changed form we find the Abrahamic phrase in
the twenty-first psalm: —
"Thou settest him to be blessings forever" (ver. 6, arg. of
RV).1
These instances of the use of the promise phraseology
will serve for illustration. Others will be found abun-
dantly in what is said in this chapter concerning the
interest of the nations in the promise, and in what is
said in future chapters concerning the messianic ter-
minology.
A more conspicuous mode of use appears in passages
or complete poems which take the promise made to
Amplifica- David as a theme, amplifying parts of it,
tions and making variations upon it. In these
cases the treatment is sometimes very formal.
Take, for example, the accounts of the preparation
for the building of the temple. A single passage must
suffice, though similar marks characterize the records
throughout.
"Behold a son born to thee. He it is that will be a man of rest,
and 'I will give rest to him from all his enemies round about.' For
Solomon shall be his name, and I will give peace and quiet upon
1 The prophets often refer to the call of Abraham without expressly
mentioning the blessing for the nations. Note an instance or two
"Look unto Abraham your father . . . for when he was but one I
called him, that I might bless him, and make him many" (Isa. li. 2).
"And their seed shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring in the midst of the peoples,
All that see them shall recognize them,
that they are a seed that Yahaweh hath blessed" (Isa. lxi. 9).
THE PROMISE-DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 247
Israel in his days. 'It is he who shall build a house to my name.'
'And he shall be to me for a son, and I to him for a father.' 'And
I will establish the throne of his kingdom' over Israel 'forever'"
(I Chron. xxii. 9-10).
The clauses here included in single commas are quoted,
with slight variations and transpositions, from the lan-
guage of the promise to David as recorded in 2 Sam. vii.
The same method appears in the account of the dedi-
cation services of the temple, in Solomon's address and
prayer on that occasion (I Ki. viii. 15-21, 24-26, and
2 Chron. vi. 4–11, 15-17). In the prayer, Solomon
pleads God's faithfulness in the temple-building item
of the promise as an earnest that God will equally
accomplish the wider promise of the perpetuity of the
royal line of David.
The eighty-ninth psalm is perhaps the most notable
instance of this habit of amplification. This poem men-
tions the promise to David through Nathan, Ps. lxxxix as
with extensive verbal citations, insists espe- an instance
cially upon its being a promise which is to of amplification
endure forever, and makes it the basis of expostulation
with Yahaweh concerning the misfortunes that had
befallen the king then on the throne of David. In its
middle section the psalm takes four or five clauses
from the narrative in 2 Sam. vii, and expands them into
stanzas aggregating thirty or forty lines.1 Ps. cxxxii
might also be cited as affording a notable instance of
similar amplification.
The promise-doctrine appears in poems and addresses
1 In this psalm the singer first states and expounds his theme (1–4).
The theme is stated in the first verse, The Faithful Lovingkindness of
Yahaweh. In the third verse it is narrowed to the specific topic, Yahaweh's
Oath to David to make his Throne Eternal.
Having thus stated his theme, the singer abandons himself to a burst
of praiseful song in view of it (5-18), coming back in the eighteenth verse
248 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
that celebrate events. The second psalm, for example,
The promise- celebrates a futile attempt of kings and nations
doctrine in to break away from the dominion of a king
pieces that reigning in Zion. The singer designates this
celebrate king in terms of the promise. He is Yaha-
events weh's Anointed, Yahaweh's Son, to whom the uttermost
to the thought of "our shield," that is, "our king," and his relations to
Yahaweh.
Then, in verses 19-37, the singer takes up in detail the account of the
giving of the promise to David.
19. "AT THAT TIME thou spakest in vision to thy kindly loved ones,
and saidst: —
I have laid help upon a mighty one,
I have exalted one chosen out of the people,
20. I have found David my Servant,
With my holy oil have I anointed him.
21. With whom my hand shall be kept ready,
Yea, mine arm shall make him strong.
22. No enemy shall harass him,
Nor son of mischief afflict him.
23. And I will beat down his adversaries from before him,
And them that hate him will I defeat.
24. And my faithfulness and my lovingkindness being with him,
And his horn being exalted in my name,
25. I will place his hand at the sea,
And his right hand at the rivers.
26. He for his part shall call me, Thou art my father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.
27. Yea I for my part will give him to be firstborn,
A most high one to the kings of earth.
28. To eternity will I keep for him my lovingkindness,
My covenant being made faithful to him.
29. And I will place his seed for everlastingness,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
30. If his sons forsake my law,
And go not in my judgments,
31. If they profane my statutes,
And keep not my commandments,
THE PROMISE-DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 249
parts of the earth have been given. Apparently it was
originally written of a situation in the reign of David
himself. But it has that character of universalness of
32. Then will I visit their transgression with a rod,
And their iniquity with stripes,
33 And my lovingkindness I. will not break off from with him,
And I will not be false in my faithfulness.
34. I will not profane my covenant,
And the outgo of my lips I will not change,
35. Once have I sworn by my holiness:
If I will be deceitful to David!
36. His seed shall be to eternity,
And his throne as the sun in my presence;
37. As the moon that is made ready forever,
And a witness that is faithful in the sky.
The remainder of the psalm is an expostulatory prayer to Yahaweh in
behalf of the then reigning king of the line of David. The singer says
that Yahaweh, so far as appearances go, is not keeping this great promise
made to David and his seed. The living representative of David's blood,
whom the promise entitles to be regarded as Yahaweh's Anointed, Yahaweh's
Servant, has been cast off by Yahaweh. His fortresses are broken down.
He is a failure in war. He is helpless. His only recourse is to plead
Yahaweh's "first lovingkindnesses" as expressed in his oath to David.
The thing to be here observed is, first, that every part of this psalm is
based on the promise to David, and second, that the details of the quoted
section of it are those of the passage recording the promise.
"At that time," az, verse 19, points to a definite occasion which the
singer has in mind. "Thou spakest in vision" is an echo of 2 Sam.
vii. 17. "Nor son of mischief afflict him," is copied from a clause in
2 Sam. vii. to, while verses 20-25 of the psalm give the same situation
with verses 9-11 in Samuel, and verse 19bc is simply a variant of verse 8
in Samuel. In the following verses the phenomena are still more marked.
In the fourteenth verse in Samuel we find: "I will he to him for a
father, and he shall be to me for a son." This is expanded in the psalm
into the four lines of verses 26-27. In Samuel it is promised that if
David's sons are perverse, Yahaweh will chastise them, but will not remove
his lovingkindness from them. The psalm enlarges this into eight lines
(30-33). And in verses 28-37 the eternalness of the transaction, so
insisted upon in Samuel, is repeated in line after line, with the heavens
and sun and moon and sky cited for illustration.
250 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
diction that marks so many of these messianic passages.
The language might plausibly be applied to the reigning
king of the line of David in any one of several different
generations, with no need to change the phraseology to
fit the situation. The apostles make no change in the
words when they apply them directly to him whom
they regard as preeminently Yahaweh's Anointed Son
(Acts iv. 25–26, etc.).
The forty-fifth psalm is primarily a marriage song.
In it the singer addresses the bride (10-12), and
addresses three different kings (2-7, 8-9, 13-17). The
king to whom the principal address is made (2–7) is
presumably the reigning king of Judah. Th singer
thinks of him as the living representative of the promise;
the contemporary occupant of the throne of David, which
has been declared to be Yahaweh's throne (1 Chron. xvii.
14, xxix. 23 ; 2 Chron. ix. 8, xiii. 8). So the singe makes
his climax in the form of a direct address to Deity: —
"Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever" (6a).
The singer does not here address the Davidic king as
God, but he speaks of him as of unique character in
that the throne he occupies is God's throne on earth.1
Whoever this king was, the singer's soul is filled with
the thought of the eternal promise to David, and from
this comes the great undertone of his song.
Two celebrated brief prophecies in which the
takes the promise to David as a theme, and works it out
into glowing terms of encouragement for Israel, are
those in Isa. ix. 1-7 and xi. 1-10.
Other modes of the teaching of the promise-
by the prophets were through the originating of
1 This interpretation offers as perfect a logical basis for the reasoning of
Heb. i. 8-9 as if the singer addressed the king as God.
THE PROMISE-DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 251
what extended vocabulary of special terms, used in
setting forth the doctrine, and collaterally through the
institutions of Israel, including the prophets A technical
themselves as an institution. To the special vocabulary. Collateral
terminology we shall devote several chapters, presentations
and a chapter to the collateral lines of teaching.
In regard to their modes of presenting the doctrine
it remains to be said that they everywhere teach it more
by presupposition than by express statement. By presuppo-
They take the promise for granted, as some- sition more than
thing with which their hearers are acquainted, by open statement
on which they may build at any time. They regard
it as public property. The singer of the eighty-ninth
psalm counts the vision as given not to Nathan or David
alone, but to Yahaweh's hhasidhim in general.
"Thou spakest in vision to thy saints " (Ps. lxxxix. 19 RV).
The promise idea is evidently thought of as to some
extent familiar and well known. This doubtless implies
that the doctrine was more widely taught and under-
stood than many suppose. The prophets certainly used
it just as we use religious dogma, for enforcing public
and private duties. The messianic passages commonly
occur in the midst of connected discourse on current
subjects. Oftenest the messianic utterance is within
some continuous treatment concerning Israel or Israel's
king, and is itself an interwoven part of the treatment.
Instead of mentioning the great promise, the prophets
take it for granted as well known and needing no expla-
nation. Just as Christian ministers assume that their
hearers are acquainted with the facts stated in the
1 The King James version, following the Hebrew bibles that have been
most in use, makes the noun singular, but there seems to be no room for
doubt that the true reading is that in which it is plural.
252 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
gospels, so the preachers of the older Israel assumed
that their hearers had some degree of familiarity with
the promise that had been made to Israel, and they
based their appeals on the knowledge which they thus
presupposed in the minds of their countrymen. In all
the variety of forms known to literature, the prophets
presuppose and use the theme offered them in the
doctrine of the promise made to Abraham, to Israel, to
David.
II. To complete our view of their presentation of the
doctrine, we need to, glance at some of the points which
they most emphasize. In doing this we shall have to
take for granted some things that are reserved for fuller
treatment in the next four chapters.
I. They identify the promise made to David with
that made to Israel and that made to Abraham, some-
The three times blending the characteristics of the three
promises in a single presentation, passing without
identical apparent consciousness of change from the
promise in one form to the promise in another form.
We have already passed under review several instances
of this, and we shall find other instances. So, though
we need just here to state the point by itself, we may
dismiss it with the cursory mention of an illustration
or two. We have found the seventy-second psalm, for
example, bringing its panegyric on the line of David
to a close by quoting the words of Genesis: "All na-
tions shall bless themselves in him," in other words,
by representing that the promise in and to the seed of
Abraham is fulfilled in and to the seed of David. In
the eighty-ninth psalm we have found the term "ser-
vant" applied to David. Elsewhere it is a few times
applied to Abraham, but most commonly to Israel.
This psalm contemplates David and his seed as a single
THE PROMISE—DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 253
object of thought, and identifies this, in interest at least,
with Israel. The writer in 2 Samuel says of Israel that
sons of mischief no longer afflict him (vii. 10), and the
psalm quotes this, applying it to the line of David (22).
The psalm, in citing the passage in Samuel concerning
sonship, mingles with it the Deuteronomic phraseology
concerning the exaltation of Israel (Ps. lxxxix. 27; cf.
2 Sam. vii. 14; Deut. xxviii, i, xxvi. 18, 19): —
“Yea I for my part will give him to be firstborn,
A most high one to the kings of earth."
2. The prophets and psalmists sufficiently recognize
the cosmopolitan character of the promise.
That they habitually thought of the promise inter-
ests of Israel as centring in the line of David needs no
further proof. That they habitually regarded They teach
the promise interest as something in which the that the
nations were concerned is equally true, though promise is
less attention has been paid to it. The dogma cosmopolitan
which they inherited included the specification that
Yahaweh's purpose was not for Israel alone, but for
mankind.
This appears significantly enough in the passages
cited above (Ps. lxxii. 17; Jer. iv. 1-2; Ps. xxi. 6a, marg.
of RV; Isa. lxv. 16), in which the Abrahamic promise of
blessing to the nations is connected with the destinies
of Israel and of the house of David.
The cosmopolitan idea is elaborately wrought into
the services that followed the completion of Solomon's
temple. The fifth of the seven supplications The share of
in the dedicatory prayer on that occasion is the nations
as follows: -- in the temple
"And also concerning the foreigner, who is not of thy people
Israel, and shall come from a far land for the sake of thy name; for
they will hear of thy great name and thy strong hand and thy
254 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
stretched out arm, and will come in and pray toward this house; do
thou thyself hear in the heaven, thy prepared dwelling-place, and
do according to all which the foreigner shall call unto thee for, to
the end that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, for
fearing thee as thy people Israel, and for knowing that thy name is
called upon this house which I have builded" (I Ki. viii. 41-43; cf.
2 Chron. vi. 32-33).
In verse 60 the plea is made: —
"To the end that all the peoples of the earth may know that
Yahaweh is the God, there is none else."
This language is rendered the more significant by the
fact that the plea is in the following verse transformed
into a reason why Israel's heart should be perfect with
Yahaweh, to walk in his statutes. This is what Israel
is for, this extending of the knowledge and the fear of
Yahaweh to the nations. These dedicatory utterances
emphasize throughout the idea that Israel is Yahaweh's
peculiar people. A dozen excerpts to this effect might
be made, for example: —
"For they are thy people and thine inheritance, whom thou didst
bring out of Egypt " (51).
The doctrine here taught is distinctly that which we
have found at all points in our investigation; namely,
that Israel, and centrally, Israel in the line of David, is
Yahaweh's chosen eternal channel of blessing to man-
kind. It is here taught that this is the divine plan, the
plea of the Israelite when he approaches Yahaweh in
prayer, his motive for fidelity to his God, his inspiration
for achievements, his hope in the midst of calamities.
The interest of the nations in the temple is very
strikingly presented in the passage from Isaiah which
the gospels (Matt. xxi. 13; Mc. xi. 17; Lc. xix. 46) rep-
resent Jesus as citing: —
THE PROMISE-DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 255
"Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." "And let
me make for you an eternal covenant, the assured lovingkindnesses
of David." "And let not the son of the foreigner who hath joined
himself unto Yahaweh say, Yahaweh hath utterly separated me from
his people." "And I will bring them in unto my holy mountain,
and will make them glad in my house of prayer, their burnt offerings
and their sacrifices will be for acceptance upon my altar; for my
house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples" (Isa. lv.
I, 3, lvi. 3, 7, and the whole context).
This is in accord with what is said about the nations
going up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast of taber-
nacles (Zech. xiv. 16-21), and with other utterances
which represent the nations as coming to worship, or as
having the privileges of Yahaweh's people extended to
them.1 In such utterances as these we have full proof
that the prophets, with those of their auditors who
were most in sympathy with them, were aware that the
1 For example: —
"All nations whom thou hast made shall come in that they may worship
before thee, 0 Lord, that they may do honor to thy name" (Ps. lxxxvi. 9).
"In that day shall Israel be a third country to Egypt and to Assyria, a
blessing in the midst of the earth; whom Yahaweh of hosts hath blessed,
saying, Blessed be my people Egypt, and Assyria the work of my hands,
and Israel my inheritance" (Isa. xix. 24-25)1.
Cyrus is called "for Jacob my Servant's sake," but also "that they may
know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none be-
side me." In the same passage it is said that "in Yahaweh shall all the
seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory"; and this is balanced by "Look
unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth." "By myself have I
sworn . . . that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."
"Even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall
be ashamed" (Isa. xlv. 4, 6, 25, 22, 23, 24). Here we have very emphati-
cally the double truth that Israel is Yahaweh's own people and that Israel's
greatness is for "all the ends of the earth."
In many other passages, in exceedingly varied phraseology, Israel is
represented as destined to judge the nation, to give torah to the nations,
to be the light of the nations, to accomplish other like offices (e.g. Isa. ii.
2-4, xlii. 1, 4, 6, xliii. 9, xlix. 6-7, lvi. 6, 8b). Specific instances in abun-
dance will come up for discussion in subsequent chapters.
256 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
nations had a share in the benefits of the promise as it
was preached in Israel.
3. Further, the preachers and poets of Israel do not
fail to recognize the eternal and irrevocable character of
The promise the benefit promised. We have found the suc-
for eternity, cessive narratives strongly characterized by
and irrevo- this, and the characteristic runs through to
cable the close of the Old Testament. In proof, one might
adduce most of the passages that have been cited in this
chapter, and very many others. The biblical writers
magnify the claim that the promise is for eternity. At
every date their language implies that the promise has
been fulfilled in the past, is in process of fulfilment in
the present, and is on the way to larger fulfilment in the
future.
Notice a few instances taken at random, most of them
from passages already cited. The seed of David is to
reign eternally (I Chron. xxii. 10). The twenty-first psalm
is an exultation in the mouth of an Israelitish king, who
is represented as living and conferring blessings forever
(RV of 4 and 6 marg.). In the various passages based
on 2 Sam. vii, scores of instances might be gathered
where the eternity of the promise to David is spoken of.
In the eighty-ninth psalm, for example, the word olam
is six times thus used, and other expressions for eternity
still oftener. The comparisons with the sun and moon
and sky, as the most durable objects known to men, are
especially notable.1
In these writings, as in the narratives of the earlier
1 "And I will place his seed for everlasting,
And his throne as the days of heaven" (29).
"His seed shall be forever,
And his throne as the sun in my presence,
As the moon that is made ready forever,
And a witness that is faithful in the sky" (36-37).
THE PROMISE-DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 257
times, stress is laid on the statement, many times re-
peated, that, although the interest of individuals in it is
conditioned on obedience, the promise itself is irrevoca-
ble, even for the sins of its beneficiaries. We have
already noted this in the eighty-ninth psalm: —
"If his sons forsake my law,
And go not in my judgments,
If they profane my statutes,
And keep not my commandments,
Then will I visit their transgression with a rod,
And their iniquity with stripes,
And my lovingkindness I will not break off from with him" (30-33).
Other instances, a few out of many, may be found in
I Ki. xi. 36, 39; 2 Chron. xxi. 7; 2 Ki. xiii. 23; Isa.
liX. 20-21.
4. Very notable in the presentation of this matter by
the prophets is the habit which they formed of looking
upon Israel as the people of the promise.
In the circumstances such a habit was inevitable.
When one devotes much of his mental activity to some
one group of ideas, his ways of thinking and Our objects
of expressing himself are affected thereby. of thought affect
In particular, religious people come to have our forms of
their peculiar forms of thought, and their thought
consequent peculiar uses of language. We ourselves
ask in song: --
"Are your windows open toward Jerusalem?"
We sing: —
"The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets."
We say of one who has a happy way of uttering his
religious experiences, that he speaks the language of
Canaan. A member of a local congregation speaks of
a revival there as "God's blessing upon our Israel."
258 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
In particular, we, whose religion comes by ancestral
descent from the Old Testament, use the proper name
Israel with wide variations of meaning. By it we mean,
sometimes the Israelitish race; sometimes their ancient
political organization; sometimes their country; some-
times their religious organization; sometimes the spir-
itually minded among them; sometimes the religious or
social forces which they embody; sometimes the Chris-
tian church; sometimes the true church within the
visible church; sometimes the spiritual forces of Chris-
tianity; sometimes a local congregation; with a long list
of other possible variations. In any of these meanings
we apply the term sometimes to the whole indicated by
it, and sometimes to any part. And all this variety
indicates, not that we employ the term unintelligently,
but rather that we treat it as a term widely used and
familiar. Our minds herein simply follow certain natu-
ral laws of human thinking.
These same natural laws of thinking were in oper-
ation in millenniums past as now. In the Old Tes-
The same tament teaching of messianic doctrine there
law in the is this same assumption that the principal
thinking terms used are so familiar that they will be
of the intelligible through a wide range of variation
prophets of meaning. For example, the human channel
through which the blessing is conveyed is sometimes spoken of
as the person Abraham; sometimes as the person Jacob
or Israel; sometimes as the person David; sometimes
as the progeny of Abraham and Israel taken collec-
tively; sometimes as the line of David's descendants;
sometimes as any one person in that line; sometimes
as Israel enlarged by the promised ingathering of the
nations; sometimes as the aggregate of the true be-
lievers within Israel; and not seldom in terms that may
THE PROMISE—DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 259
be applied to a coming Person of the stock of Israel and
of David. These writers count the promise to Abraham
as germinal. They find its unfolding in the history of
Israel and of the nations. In this unfolding it comes
perpetually into new historical relations. New portions
of its meaning are constantly opening to the light.
Some of the assertions they make concerning it apply
equally to its whole extent or to any part of it, while
others apply only to the particular part that is under
consideration at the moment. Certain statements are
true alike of Israel, of any true Israelite, of a personal
Messiah, of the church universal, of any believer; while
other statements are more restricted in their application.
There is one conception which existed in the minds
of the prophets, which we need to recognize with espe-
cial distinctness, because of its importance in Israel as the
the understanding of their utterances. They people of the
habitually thought of Israel as not merely the promise
population of their fatherland, but as Yahaweh's promise-
people; not merely from the point of view of patriotism,
but from that of religious doctrine. This fact is evident,
however it may have been overlooked. And the distinc-
tion is vital.
The mother of a certain distinguished man is said to
have been a woman of remarkable insight. The man
had an unpromising boyhood; but through all the
stupidity and wickedness of it, the mother recognized
the potentialities of greatness and goodness, and was
able to guide her son to their ultimate realization. All
the while she had in her thought two sons, — the actual,
unregenerate youth that he was, and the ideal person
who had in him the making of what she meant that
he should come to be. So to the prophet, the existing
ethnical aggregate known as Israel was, in reality, two
260 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Israels. Israel looked at in his actual faultiness was
one entity, while Israel as the embodiment of Yahaweh's
promise was a different entity.
This is nowhere more marked than in the passages
that use personal terms concerning future manifestations
of the promise. Some of these passages we shall, later,
consider more in detail. For the present we only note
that while they sometimes speak of the Coming one as
the chief product of Yahaweh's dealings with Israel,
they quite as often make him to be Israel himself.
Oftenest they use language which explicitly designates
Israel as a race or people or nation. But in such utter-
ances they always refer to Israel in his especial character
of the nation of the promise. Israel, when thought of
as representing Yahaweh's promise, is always glorious,
no matter how inglorious he may be in himself.
It is not only true that the prophets have this concep-
tion of the promise-Israel, but that in virtue of this con-
ception they make the existing Israel a witness against
himself, and a teacher to himself. As we have seen,
the great bulk of messianic prophecy is not the mere
foretelling of facts, but the preaching of religious doc-
trine for the securing of public and private conversion
and growth in grace. The prophets regard the promise
as made for the sake of the nations, and Israel as God's
peculiar people for the manifestation of the divine 1ov-
ingkindness to the world. Because Israel is thus the
divinely appointed hope of mankind; because Israel's
monarch is Yahaweh's anointed Servant, in a kingdom
that is to be universal and eternal; because this, while
already true, is to become more grandly true in the
future; Israel is exhorted to turn from idols, to purify
himself, to repent, to take comfort in the midst of
affliction; in short, to act as becomes the people whom
THE PROMISE—DOCTRINE OF THE PROPHETS 261
God has made the channel of his grace. In other
words, the existing Israel is exhorted to conform himself
to the ideal Israel as defined by the conditions of the
promise.
5. It could not escape the notice of the prophets that
the various calamities which befell Israel had their con-
nection with his mission as the people of the Mediatorial
promise. Though he is for a blessing to the suffering
nations, the nations bring suffering upon him. He can-
not escape by becoming annihilated, for his mission is
eternal. He must be preserved in existence and made
to suffer, that the nations may be benefited. In same
of the prophetic writings this idea of suffering for the
benefit of others becomes very prominent (e.g. Pss. xxii,
xl; Isa. liii). This point needs to be mentioned here
it will be more fully discussed in our study concerning
the Servant, in the next chapter.
This chapter has been prepared from the critical
point of view which assumes that the several Old
Testament books were written at the dates critical
assigned to them in the Old Testament itself questions
From this point of view the doctrine taught by the
prophets presents an orderly unfolding and progress
from David to Malachi, though the main points in
it are the same throughout. From a different point
of view, the unfolding and the progress would look
differently, and there would be modifications in many
of the details. In particular, the criticism, that puts
over more and more of the writings into the postexilian
times would transfer a large part of the messianic
utterances to those times; and that would change their
setting, and to some extent their meaning. But I think
that the results would not be greatly changed so far as
the main points are concerned, provided we allow the
262 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
utterances of the biblical writers to mean what by their
words they naturally mean. A vast number of questions
have arisen as to the date and the authorship of these
writings; but whatever their date or origin, they cer-
tainly contain these strains of thought concerning the
promise and the mission of Israel.
CHAPTER XII
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT
As we have seen, the prophetic literature says that
the calling of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees was
the beginning of Israelitish history. At that time, these
writings say, Yahaweh made a promise to Abraham, the
benefits of which extend to all mankind. This promise
was the heart of the creed of what the prophets regard
as the true religion of Yahaweh in Abraham's time.
This literature further affirms that the promise was re-
newed to Israel when Israel became a nation, still with
the necessary implication that it constituted the heart
of the creed of those who most truly worshipped Israel's
God. There was another distinguished renewal of
it, these writings say, to David the king, making his
line central in Israel in the fulfilment of the promise.
In David's time and the centuries that followed, they
say, there arose in Israel a large number of singers and
other prophets, and these generally made this promise,
already well known, the basis of their religious and
political teachings; and in doing this they unfolded and
illuminated the promise itself.
Now if this is true, we should expect to find in the
writings of these singers and other prophets a consider-
able number of technical terms, set apart to Rise of tech-
the uses of this teaching. The evolution of nical terms
such terms would in the circumstances be inevitable,
under the known laws of human speech. Similar phe-
263
264 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
nomena mark our own habits of thinking and utterance.
A dictionary which should include all our technical reli-
gious terms and phrases, with an exhaustive classifica-
tion of the uses of each term, would be a large volume.
It is incredible that the teaching of the prophets con-
cerning the promise should have been maintained gener-
ation after generation without giving rise to such terms.
As a matter of fact, the literature is marked by them.
In the course of time certain words came to have a
partly technical sense when used in the treatments of the
promise-doctrine. Especially do we find personal terms
denoting the "seed" through whom the promise and its
benefits are transmitted, — for example, Servant, Son,
Chosen one, Branch, Holy one, Messiah; and other
terms denoting his relations to human history, — for
example, the kingdom, the last days, the day of Yaha-
weh. In most instances the roots of this use are pre-
Davidic. There is a strong development of it in the
Psalms that are assigned to the times of David. The
use remains to the close of the Old Testament.
Taking up these terms in the order of their conspicu-
ousness, we should perhaps expect that "Messiah"
"Servant" is would come first; but that is not the case.
the most con- On the whole, the term "Servant" is the most
spicuous prominent and is the best fitted to stand as a
term representative of the rest in any brief statement of
the matter. In the King James version this term is occult in
the New Testament, but it appears in the revised version.1
Aside from its use elsewhere in the Old Testament, it
1 For example, Peter says: "Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of
the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham,
And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you
first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you" (Acts iii.
25-26. See also iii. 13, iv. 27, 30, etc.).
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 265
characterizes the last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah,
and in our consideration of it we will mainly confine our-
selves to these chapters. They are more cited in the
New Testament as messianic than any other scriptures
except those that contain the promises to Abraham and
to David.1 I should say that there is no room for dis-
pute over the use of the term "Servant" in these
chapters were it not for the fact that it is actually very
much in dispute. Owing to this we shall have to make
a study of the term, though necessarily an incomplete
one.
I. We shall simplify the study if we begin with two
auxiliary points.
I. First, the author of these chapters of Isaiah, being
a Hebrew-speaking person, follows the Hebrew idiom
when he applies a personal name to a nation. National per-
That is, he thinks of the nation as a person- sonality in
ality rather than as personified. In English Hebrew
we think of a business corporation as an artificial per-
son, created by law. There is a Hebrew conception of a
nation that is as personal as our idea of a corporation.
We personify a country in the feminine. We say
America expects her sons to be loyal. The Hebrew
l As the word "servant" is one of the words most frequently used in the
Hebrew literature, we cannot always easily differentiate its technical use,
that is, its use as a messianic term. It is used untechnically of the patri-
archs and of Moses, Caleb, Samson, David, and others (see concordance).
In the later prophetic books the word "servant" is used in the singular of
such men as Moses and Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, and in the plural of
the prophets. But these facts do not disturb the fact of the technical use.
Something like the technical use occurs in personal references to David
and to the patriarchs (e.g. Acts iii. 26 RV, perhaps Gen. xxvi. 24, and con-
cordance of both Testaments). It is used of Israel and of the house of
David in other prophetic writings than the last twenty-seven chapters of
Isaiah (e.g. Jer. xxx. to, xxviii. 21, 22, 26, xlvi. 27, 28; Ezek. xxviii. 25,
xxxiv. 23, 24, xxxvii. 24, 25, 25; Hag. ii. 23; Zech. iii. 8).
266 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
does the same. Our prophet might speak of Judah as
expecting the return of her sons. In mentioning na-
tional characteristics, we speak of a typical individual.
We say, The Spaniard is proud, or, The German is plod-
ding. The Hebrew uses the same form of expression,
but rather with the conception of a national personality
than of an individual typifying a nation. In Hebrew
one would say, in the masculine singular, the Canaanite,
or, the Moabite, meaning thereby the collective body
of the Canaanites or Moabites, speaking of them as if
they constituted a single person.
But the Hebrew carries this a step farther. In
Hebrew one speaks of a nation precisely as of a person,
using the name itself, and not merely its gentile adjec-
tive. When one says Asshur or Mitsrayim, you have to
look at the context to see whether he means the founder
or the country or the nation or the persons who com-
pose the nation. If the agreeing words are feminine
singular, he means the country. If they are masculine
plural, he means the persons who compose the nation.
If they are masculine singular, he may mean either the
founder or the nation. He talks of the nation as a per-
son precisely as he talks of the founder as a person.
This point in Hebrew diction is important in the study
of these twenty-seven chapters. Through inattention to
it, wrong inferences have been drawn from the strongly
personal way in which these chapters speak of "the
servant of Yahaweh."
2. Second, these chapters are saturated with the ideas
and the diction of Genesis and of the other parts of the
Old Testament where the promise-doctrine is taught.
They are familiar with the creation story, using the
word "create" twenty times, about as many as all the
rest of the Old Testament together, leaving out the nar-
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 267
ratives in Genesis. They make much of Abraham (xli.
8, li. 2, lxiii. 16). They magnify the covenant (xlii. 6,
xlix. 8, liv. l0, lv. 3, lvi. 4, 6, lix. 21, lxi. 8).
They refer repeatedly to the incidents of the exodus:
the crossing of the sea, the passage through the wilder-
ness, the water from the rock, Yahaweh's Spirit with
Moses, and the like. They lay stress upon Yahaweh's
choosing of Israel.1
While Abraham and Israel are thus to the front in
these chapters, David is not neglected. Mention is
made of "the sure mercies of David" (lv. 3). The prom-
ise to David, —
"There shall not be cut off to thee a man from upon the throne
of Israel" (1 Ki. ii. 4, viii. 25, ix. 5),
finds its echo in the passages that speak of the everlast-
ing name that shall not be cut off (xlviii. 19, lv. 13,
lvi. 5).
Just as the pentateuch and 2 Samuel emphasize the
thought of the "seed" of Abraham, of Jacob, of David,
so the second part of Isaiah emphasizes the same term.2
1 "Jacob whom I have chosen;" "I have chosen thee, and not cast
thee off;" "my Servant whom I have chosen;" "Israel whom I have
chosen;" "Jeshurun whom I have chosen;" "I chose thee in the furnace
of affliction;" "my Chosen one in whom my soul delighteth;" "to give
drink to my people, my Chosen one;" "and Israel my Chosen one" (xli.
8, 9, xliii. 10, xliv. 1, 2, xlviii. 10, xlii. 1, xliii. 20, xlv. 4). In the later
chapters, where the word "servants" is used in the plural, we also find
this other word used in the plural: "My chosen ones shall inherit it;"
"for an oath for my chosen ones;" "my chosen ones shall long enjoy"
(lxv. 9, 15, 22).
2 "Seed of Abraham my Friend" (xli. 8).
"I will bring thy seed from the east" (xliii. 5).
"I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed" (xliv. 3).
"I have not said in vain to Jacob's seed, Seek ye me" (xlv. 19).
"In Yahaweh all the seed of Israel shall be righteous, and shall glory
for themselves" (xlv. 25).
268 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
The second part of Isaiah, like the other writings that
emphasize the promise, lays especial stress on the point
that the promise is to be eternally operative. To say
nothing of other phraseology in which eternity is men-
tioned (e.g. xlv. 17, liv. 8-9, lxv. 18, 22), the word olam
occurs thirty-four times in these chapters.1
These chapters, like the other scriptures that treat of
the promise, make much of the fact that the promise is
for the nations. The word "nation" occurs thirty-six
times in these twenty-seven chapters.2
"Thy seed also had been as the sand" (xlviii. 19).
"He shall see seed " (liii. 10).
"And thy seed shall possess nations" (liv. 3).
"The seed of the adulterer." "A seed of falsehood" (lvii. 3, 4).
"Out of the mouth of thy seed, or . . . of thy seed's seed" (lix. 21).
"And their seed shall be known among the nations . . . for they are a
seed that Yahaweh hath blessed" (lxi. 9).
"And I will bring out from Jacob a seed" (lxv. 9).
"For they are a seed of those blessed of Yahaweh" (lxv. 23).
"For as the new heavens . . . stand before me . . . so shall your seed
and your name stand" (lxvi. 22).
1 For example, the following: —
"The word of our God shall stand to eternity" (xl. 8).
"Israel hath been saved in Yahaweh a salvation of eternities; ye shall
not he ashamed and shall not be confounded unto eternities of endless-
ness" (xlv. 17).
"While my salvation is to eternity; and my righteousness shall not go
to pieces" (li. 6).
"In an outpouring of wrath I hid my face an instant from thee; and in
lovingkindness of eternity I have compassion upon thee" (liv. 8).
"Yahaweh to thee a light of eternity" (lx. 19, 20).
"Inherit the land to eternity" (lx. 21).
"A covenant of eternity" (1v. 3, lxi. 8).
"Joy of eternity" (li. 11, lxi. 7).
“For a sign of eternity" (lv. 13).
"A name of eternity" (lvi. 5).
"For an excellency of eternity" (lx. i5).
2 The Servant shall "bring out judgment to the nations" (xlii. I).
He shall be "for a light of the nations" (xlii. 6, xlix. 6).
He shall "startle many nations" (lii. i5).
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 269
In Exodus xix we are told that Israel was to be "a
kingdom of priests," thus sustaining a peculiar relation
to Yahaweh, the owner of all the earth. This priestly
character of Israel as compared with the other nations
appears in the last chapters of Isaiah.1
And in many other matters of detail these chapters
are full of the promise made by Yahaweh to the nations
through Abraham and Israel and David. The one
supreme, ever recurring idea is that Israel, however
unworthy he may be, or however desperate his con-
dition, is nevertheless Yahaweh's Chosen one, chosen
for a purpose, a purpose that will surely be accom-
plished.
"In the eyes of all the nations" (lii. to).
"Thy seed shall inherit the nations" (liv. 3).
"Behold thou shalt call a nation thou knowest not; and a nation that
have not known thee shall run unto thee" (lv. 5).
"And nations shall come to thy light" (lx. 3).
"A power of nations shall come in to thee" (lx. 5).
"To bring in unto thee a power of nations" (lx. ii).
"For the nation or kingdom that serveth thee not shall perish, the
nations being utterly brought to waste" (lx. 12).
"Suck the milk of the nations" (lx. 16).
"Giveth nations before him, and maketh him subdue kings" (xli. 2).
1 "And strangers shall stand in waiting,
and shall shepherd your flock,
Sons of a foreigner being
your husbandmen and your vineyardmen;
While ye yourselves shall be called
the priests of Yahaweh.
‘The ministers of our God!'
shall be said to you" (lxi. 5-6).
"A robe of righteousness hath he made me wear,
as when the bridegroom acteth the priest, garlanded" (lxi. 10).
"And they will bring in all your brethren
out of all the nations" (lxvi. 20).
"And I will also take of them for the priests,
for the Levites, saith Yahaweh" (lxvi. 21).
270 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
II. From the point of view thus gained we approach
the main question, the question of the use of the term
"Servant" in these chapters.
With all the differences of opinion that exist, I sup-
pose that the following statements of fact would be ac-
Outline cepted by all who have studied the subject.
statement The word "servant" occurs 20 times in the
first 14 of these 27 chapters, always in the singular num-
ber, and 11 times in the last 13 of the chapters, always
in the plural. In but one of these 31 places is it used as
an ordinary common noun.l In 12 of the 20 instances
in which it is used in the singular it is defined in the con-
text as denoting Israel. In all the cases in which it is
used in the plural it denotes Israelites, though in some
of the cases those who are Israelites by adoption (e.g.
lvi. 6).
I. From this general survey we turn to details. We
look first at instances in which the Servant is expressly
said to be Israel,
(a) The twelve instances occur in the following eight
passages:--
"And thou Israel my Servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
seed of Abraham my friend!
Whom I firmly laid hold of from the ends of the earth,
and called from the distant parts of it,
And to whom I said, Thou art my Servant,
I have chosen thee, and have not cast thee off;
Fear not, for I am with thee!
be not dismayed, for I am thy God!" (xli. 8-10).
1 "Servant of rulers" (xlix. 7). But even this is hardly an exception,
for the meaning is determined by the implied contrast of "servant of
rulers" with "Servant of Yahaweh." The instances in xliv. 26 and 1. 10
are not exceptions, even if any one thinks that the Servant in these verses
is the prophet.
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 271
"And now hear thou, Jacob my Servant,
even Israel whom I have chosen:
Thus saith Yahaweh thy maker,
even thy fashioner from the womb, who helpeth thee,
Fear thou not, my Servant Jacob,
even Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water upon a thirsty [field],
and streams upon dry land;
I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed,
and my blessing upon thy offspring" (xliv. 1-3).
"Remember these things, 0 Jacob,
and Israel, for thou art my Servant.
I fashioned thee, Servant to me thou art,
thou, Israel, wilt not be forgotten of me" (xliv. 21).
"For the sake of my Servant Jacob,
and Israel my Chosen one,
I have called thee by thy name,
I surname thee though thou hast not known me" (xlv. 4).
This is spoken to Cyrus, who is in the context called
Yahaweh's "anointed," but is distinguished from the
Servant.
"Yahaweh hath redeemed his Servant Jacob" (xlviii. 20).
"And he said to me, Thou art my Servant,
0 Israel, in whom I glorify myself" (xlix. 3).
In the instances thus far cited the defining context is
separated from the word "Servant" by only a few clauses
at most; in the two following instances the defining con-
text is a little more remote, but it is unmistakable.
"Hear, ye that are deaf,
and look, ye blind, that ye may see!
Who is blind as my Servant,
and deaf as my Messenger whom I am wont to send?
Who is blind as the Perfected one,
and blind as the Servant of Yahaweh?" (xlii. 18-19).
272 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
"Let them give their witnesses, that they may be justified,
that men may hear and may say, Truth.
Yourselves are my witnesses, saith Yahaweh,
and my Servant whom I have chosen,
To the end that ye may know, and may believe me,
and may discern that I am he" (xliii. 9-10).
(b) To appreciate the full force of these instances one
needs to read carefully the whole context. Israel is in
The in- deep trouble. The purpose of the poem is
stances to bring consolation (xl. I), and thereby to
should be awaken courage and conscience and aspira-
studied in tion in Israel. To this end, the formally
their context stated subject of the poem is "The Word of Our
God Standeth Forever" (xl. 8). The poet's thought is that
Yahaweh has made utterances concerning Israel, and
that these will not fail. In his estimation this fact
overbalances all possible discouraging facts. This one
comforting fact he urges and illustrates, with wonderful
fertility of resource and variety of treatment, in every
sentence of the entire poem. The Servant passages are
those in which the poet is especially felicitous in pre-
senting his thought. Many scholars regard some of
them as lyrical excerpts, but their meaning does not
depend upon this. Read again the instances, and see
how this meaning stands out in them. Israel is pre-
sented as blind and deaf and disheartened and obstinate
and abused, but he is nevertheless Yahaweh's Chosen,
the "seed of my friend Abraham," Yahaweh's dear
little Jeshurun, his Messenger, his Meshullam the
complete, his Called one, and above all his Servant.
Yahaweh has brought him with firm grasp from the
ends of the earth, and called him, and made him
promises, and said encouraging words to him, and
redeemed him; is his maker and his helper; will not
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 273
cast him off or forget him; gives him the Spirit, glori-
fies himself in him, manages such world movements as
that of Cyrus in his interest. All this the poet brings
in for the consolation of Israel, as a part of the riches
included in his great theme, "The word of our God
standeth forever."
We fail, however, of rightly understanding this, if
we neglect to notice that the poet is here looking at
Israel from the point of view of the promise. The point of
In the last chapter our attention was called view of the
to the prophetic habit of observing things promise
from this point of view. This is an important matter,
and one that has been too much neglected. Neither
in the instances just cited nor elsewhere in these twenty-
seven chapters is the term "Servant" ever applied to
Israel considered merely as an ethnical aggregation of
persons. It implies, indeed, that Israel is an ethnical
aggregation, but also that he is something more.
When the prophet uses the term, he is invariably
thinking of Israel as Yahaweh's own people. We have
already seen that these chapters are saturated with the
idea—the same idea that appears in the pentateuch
and in 2 Samuel—that Yahaweh has made an eternally
operative covenant with Abraham, Israel, David, in
virtue of which he will bless all nations through them.
It is in this character of promise-people, covenant-peo-
ple, that the chapters speak of Israel as the Servant,
not in the character of a mere political aggregation.1
This distinction is not in all respects new. Paul long
ago wrote: —
"For they are not all Israel which are of Israel; neither, because
they are Abraham's seed, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall
1 This might be illustrated at length from the cases of peculiar phrase-
ology with which these chapters abound. Take, for example, the verb paar
274 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
thy seed be called." "It is not the children of the flesh that are
children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned for a
seed" (Rom. ix. 6-8).
As interpretations of Paul's word, we are familiar with
such phrases as "the Israel within Israel," "the ideal
Israel," "the spiritual Israel." Whatever phrase you
use for it, the distinction is genuine. I think that the
best of these phrases is "the Israel of the promise," or,
"Israel regarded as the promise-people." This corre-
sponds most closely to the facts, and to the phraseology
of the Old Testament, and to Paul's term "the children
of the promise."
Israel the Servant is therefore Israel regarded as the
promise; people, Israel regarded as Yahaweh's Chosen
one. From one point of view he is identical with the
political aggregation known as Israel, while from other
points of view he is something entirely different. It
should not surprise us if we find Israel the Servant and
Israel the political aggregation sometimes spoken of as
two, or even as having relations one with the other.
in the Piel or Hithpael. It occurs eight times in Isaiah 11, and six times
in all in Ezra, Deuteronomy, Psalm cxlix, Exodus, Judges, and Isaiah x.
"And to the Holy one of Israel, for he hath glorified thee" (1v. 5, lx. 9).
"To glorify the place of my sanctuary" (lx. 13).
"I will glorify the house of my glory " (lx. 7).
"And glorifieth himself in Israel " (xliv. 23).
"0 Israel in whom I glorify myself " (xlix. 3).
"Thy people, being all of them righteous,
shall possess earth forever,
The flower of my planting,
the deed of my hands for glorifying myself" (lx. 21).
. . . "glory instead of ashes . . .
And they shall be called, The trees of righteousness,
the planting of Yahaweh for glorifying himself " (lxi. 3).
Obviously it is not Israel as a mere mass of persons in whom the prophet
is interested; but Israel as the one whom Yahaweh glorifies because of a
certain relation of identity with himself which he has established.
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 275
2. We turn to a second class of passages, those in
which the word "servant" is used or implied without an
explicit contextual identification with Israel.
At the outset we may lay aside all anxiety as to the
bearings of these passages on the claims of the New
Testament. If the passages represent the Servant to
be a person different from Israel, then the New Testa-
ment claims that what is said concerning that person is
fulfilled in Jesus. If on the other hand we find that the
Servant, in these passages, is still Israel, we shall also
find that the New Testament claim is that Jesus Christ
is Israel the Servant in his highest manifestation. In
either case the passages are messianic, and in either
case the New Testament claims that they are fulfilled
in Jesus the Messiah.
(a) Study first a group of two passages. The first
consists of the lines that introduce the mention of Cyrus
(xliv. 25-26).
"He breaketh impostors' signs,
and maketh diviners mad.
He maketh wise men return backward.
and maketh their knowledge folly.
He raiseth up the word of his Servant,
and fully performeth the counsel of his messengers.
“That saith to Jerusalem, She shall be made to abide;
and to the cities of Judah, They shall be builded;
and, Her ruinous places I will rear up."
At a superficial glance it is natural to say that "the
word of his servant," here placed parallel with "the
counsel of his messengers," must of course be the word
uttered by the prophet, the prophet being here the ser-
vant. This will afford a passable interpretation of the
whole passage. But it is not a necessary interpretation.
It is possible to regard the genitive as objective, so that
276 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
"the word of his Servant" will be Yahaweh's word con-
cerning his Servant. This makes good parallelism with
"the counsel of his messengers," for Yahaweh's word
concerning his Servant is an important part of his coun-
sel as transmitted through his prophetic messengers.
So far, therefore, as parallelism and syntax are con-
cerned, we may translate —
"He establisheth his word concerning his Servant,
and fully performeth the counsel announced by his messengers."
This is clearly the meaning that best fits the logical and
poetic requirements of the whole context. The writer
uses the word "Servant" here in the same sense in which
we have found him using it elsewhere.1
The same peculiarities appear in the remaining in-
stance.
"Who is there among you fearing Yahaweh,
hearkening to the voice of his Servant,
That hath gone in darknesses,
there being no brightness for him?
Let him trust in the name of Yahaweh,
that he may stay himself in his God" (1. 10).
We have here again the objective genitive. "The voice
of his Servant" is the voice concerning his Servant, the
word "voice" being used as in Isa. xl. 3, 6. Cheyne is
correct in regarding the preceding verses as spoken by
the Servant, and is therefore wrong in thinking that
there is here an arbitrary break, and that the tenth verse
is perhaps spoken by the prophet in his own person.
(b) Taking the passages in the order of the obvious-
ness of their meaning, we notice next those in which the
word "servant" is used in the plural.
1 Some have held that the Servant is here the prophet, but the prophet
as the representative of the true Israel, who is properly the Servant. This
gives in part the same result as the interpretation I have proposed, but it
seems to me less feasible.
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 277
We have already touched the fact that this word
occurs only in the singular in these chapters up to the
fifty-third, and only in the plural from the The plural
fifty-fourth onward. Of course scholars who instances not
regard the later chapters as written at a dif- irrelevant
ferent period from the earlier, and from a different view-
point, will count these plural instances as irrelevant;
but at all events they will not prejudice the argument.
The instances are as follows. Observe that in each
case the servants are Israelites either by birth or by
adoption.
"Return thou for the sake of thy servants,
the tribes of thine inheritance" (lxiii. 17).
“And the sons of the foreigner that join themselves
upon Yahaweh, to minister to him,
And to love the name of Yahaweh,
to be to him for servants" (lvi. 6).
"So will I do for the sake of my servants,
in order not to destroy the whole;
And I will bring out from Jacob a seed,
and from Judah one possessing my mountains,
That my chosen ones may possess it,
while my servants have their dwelling there.
* * * * * *
And you, ye forsakers of Yahaweh,
those forgetting my holy mountain,
* * * * * *
Behold my servants shall eat,
and ye shall be hungry;
Behold my servants shall drink,
and ye shall be thirsty;
Behold my servants shall be glad,
and ye shall be ashamed;
Behold my servants shall sing aloud
from gladness of heart,
And ye for your part shall cry out
from sorrow of heart,
278 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
And from breaking of spirit ye shall wail.
And ye shall deposit your name
for an oath to my chosen ones;
And the Lord Yahaweh will slay thee,
and will call his servants by another name'' (lxv. 8-15).
The two remaining instances are like the others, though
less marked.
"This is the heritage of the servants of Yahaweh,
their righteousness being from with me,
saith Yahaweh" (liv. 17).
"And Yahaweh's hand with his servants shall be known,
and he will spurn his enemies" (lxvi. 14).
Whatever one may hold as to the unity of the twenty-
seven chapters, it is clear, at least, that the "servants"
mentioned in the later chapters are the individual
Israelites who compose Israel the Servant as mentioned
in the earlier chapters. They are Israelites, either
native or adopted, regarded as sharing in the promise,
and not merely Israelites in an ethnical sense.
This is in itself an indication that the later chapters
are a part of the same unit with the earlier. This unity
is disputed, but really there is no room for dispute.
The twenty-seven chapters, however they originated, are
a single poem. They are so, whether they became so
by processes of original composition or by combining
processes. The action of the poem is homiletic rather
than dramatic or epic. In point of sublimity of thought
and strength of conception, the climacteric passages are
in the earlier or middle sections; but in point of practi-
cal urgency, pressure upon the conscience of individuals,
the poem grows more and more intense to the end.
Having aroused the thought and the imagination of his
audience by his picturing of the lofty character and mis-
sion of Israel as the Servant, the poet treats each Israel-
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 279
ite as himself a servant, and presses home upon him his
failings and his obligations.
In this second group of instances, therefore, the ser-
vants are Israelites, regarded as the persons in whom
the promise stands firm. This is not quite the same as
to say that they are the faithful in Israel, though per-
haps the difference after all is not very great.
(c) We will take next the instances in which the Ser-
vant is presented as speaking in the first person. In
these instances it is quite generally true that the Servant
is differentiated from the actually existing Israel, and is
represented as having a mission to Israel. The most
distinct instance is that in the forty-ninth chapter (1-7).
"Hearken ye coastlands unto me,
and be attentive ye peoples from afar.
He that called me from the belly is Yahaweh;
from the bowels of my mother he made mention of my name.
And he placed my mouth as a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me,
And he placed me as a polished arrow,
in his quiver he concealed me.
And he said to me, Thou art my Servant,
thou, Israel, in whom I glorify myself.
"And I, I said, Vainly have I toiled,
for nought and vanity have I used up my strength.
Verily, my judgment is with Yahaweh,
and that which I have wrought is with my God.
And now [be ye attentive]: Yahaweh hath said
he that formed me from the womb for a Servant to him,
For bringing back Jacob unto him,
and that Israel may be gathered to him,
So that I might be honored in the eyes of Yahaweh,
my God being my strength
He hath said, It is too light a thing,
thy being Servant to me
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and to restore the preserved of Israel;
280 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
And I will give thee for a light of nations,
that my salvation may be unto the end of the earth.
"Thus saith Yahaweh,
Israel's redeemer, his holy one,
To one despised of soul, to one abhorred
of a nation, to a slave of tyrants:
Kings shall see and arise,
captains, and they shall worship,
For the sake of Yahaweh who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel who hath chosen thee."
In the beginning of this passage Israel is the Servant.
Farther on the Servant has a mission to Israel. The
Servant is to be honored for bringing back Jacob and
gathering Israel to Yahaweh. What he is Servant for
is in part the raising up of the tribes, and the restoring
of such Israelites as have been preserved.
Who is this Servant that has a mission to Israel? Is
he the same who has just been called Israel? Verbally
Israel he is presented as different from Israel, and
thought of as a person doing personal acts rather than
as having a as a personification. Does this prove that
mission to he cannot possibly be Israel? Who is he?
himself Is he a new character introduced here without
warning? or is he the Israel of the promise, differentiated in
thought from the merely ethnical Israel, and conceived
of as having relations with him?
The second of these alternatives is the true one.
Israel is here represented as having relations with him-
self. There is nothing strained in this way of stating
things. Even those who do not accept it must at least
admit that it is free from absurdity. The American
church has duties to its own membership. The French
nation has obligations to its own citizens. We can
easily imagine Mr. Booker T. Washington or Professor
DuBois or some other colored citizen of the United
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 281
States as saying to his compatriots that the African
race in America has its work not for negroes and mu-
lattoes merely, but for men of all races everywhere. In
each of these cases the church or the nation or the
race, when conceived of as a divine agency, has a mis-
sion to the persons who compose it, as well as to others.
So Israel the Servant may be conceived of as having a
mission to Israel the aggregation of persons.1
This one clear instance in which the Servant is intro-
duced as speaking in the first person, and as having a
mission to Israel, though also he himself is Other
Israel, may serve to interpret four other in- instances
stances, and may in turn be interpreted by them. In
these four other instances the word "Servant" is not
used; but a character, not Yahaweh, is introduced speak-
ing in the first person.2 In each of them the speaker
is in commission from Yahaweh. One of them is
1 Some say that the Servant who is here mentioned as having relations
with Israel is the prophet speaking in his own person, or is some typical
Israelite. This is not so different from the view I have given as one might
at first think. When the prophet thinks of Israel the chosen people as
differentiated from the political Israel, he of course identifies himself and
men of like spirit with Israel the chosen people. It would not be surpris-
ing if he should sometimes speak of himself or some other representative
Israelite as typically the Servant. But any interpretation is untenable that
does not directly or indirectly identify the Servant of the fifth and sixth
verses with the Israel-Servant of the third verse.
2 One of these instances is the sixty-first chapter, read by Jesus in the
synagogue of Nazareth, with the comment: "To-day bath this scripture
been fulfilled in your ears" (Lc. iv. 16-21), the section that begins:
"The Spirit of the Lord Yahaweh is upon me;
Because Yahaweh hath anointed me
to bring good tidings to the meek.
He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives,
and recovery of senses to the imprisoned" (cf. ver. 10).
Cheyne regards this as a soliloquy of the Servant. The section in its whole
282 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
very brief; in each of the others the speaker identifies
himself with Israel, but may be differentiated from
Israel. In each it is plausible to say that the speaker
is the personified Israel of the promise, as in the forty-
ninth chapter.
(d) One group more remains. It consists of three
instances, in two passages which are very prominently
quoted in the New Testament.
The first is found in Isa. xlii. 1-4.
"Behold my Servant whom I uphold,
my Chosen one in whom my soul delighteth.
I have given my Spirit upon him,
he will bring out judgment to the nations.
"He maketh no outcry, nor lifteth up
nor publisheth his voice in the street.
A bruised reed he breaketh not,
and a flickering wick he quencheth not.
extent is an address to Israel rather than a soliloquy, but the suggestion
that it is uttered by the Servant is natural and plausible.
The instance in Isa. 1. 4-9 is briefer, but is almost equally familiar.
"The Lord Yahaweh hath given me a tongue of learned ones . . . I
gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair," etc.
This might more properly than the other be called a soliloquy. It pictures
the abuse the speaker suffers, his trust in God, his tactful, courageous,
persistent service. Many attribute it to the Servant.
The third instance is brief. It occurs in the midst of an address by
Yahaweh, and can be understood only by supplying a clause.
"And now [I remind thee that thou art able to say],
It is the Lord Yahaweh that hath sent me,
and his Spirit" (Isa. xlviii. i6).
Scholars differ concerning this passage. But, like the two preceding
instances, it employs the rather unusual divine name "the Lord Yahaweh."
The remaining instance (Isa. lx iii. 7-lxiv) is much fuller, but less differ-
entiated. The speaker is engaged in earnest prayer to Yahaweh in behalf
of Israel, using part of the time the first person singular, and part of the
time the first person plural.
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 283
"Of a truth he will bring out judgment,
he will not flicker nor be broken,
Until he put judgment in the earth;
meanwhile coastlands wait for his law."
This is quoted somewhat in full and applied to Jesus,
in the gospel by Matthew (xii. 18-21 ). Notice that the
emphatic statement in these three stanzas is The Servant
that the Servant shall be the supreme judge supreme over
of the nations. This is spoken of in the first the nations
stanza; its inconsistency with the manifested meekness
of the Servant is suggested in the second stanza; and
the third stanza four times affirms that it is nevertheless
a fact. The point illustrated in Matthew is the meek-
ness of the person spoken of, in contrast with his vic-
toriousness and his being the hope of the nations.
The other passage is the complete section concerning
the humiliated Servant (Isa. lii. 13-liii). It occupied a
remarkably large place in the thinking of the first
preachers of Christianity.1 Its full messianic signifi-
cance cannot be appreciated except through a thorough
study of the entire passage. But we must be content
with citing briefly the two places in which it uses the
word "Servant."
"Behold my Servant dealeth wisely,
Is high and exalted and lofty exceedingly" (Isa. lii.13).
"It being Yahaweh's will to bruise him, making him sick;
even if thou regard his soul as a trespass-offering,
He shall behold a seed, shall prolong days,
the will of Yahaweh prospering in his hand.
1 It is formally cited at least nine times, in at least the six books Luke,
John, Acts, Romans, Galatians, I Peter; and is informally cited much
oftener. See the reference bibles. Probably the most familiar instance is
that it was the passage which the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when
Philip joined him (Acts viii. 32-33).
284 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Of the toil of his soul he shall behold, shall be sated ;
in knowing him shall my Servant, righteous,
Give righteousness to the many,
and their iniquities himself shall bear as a load " (liii. 10-11).
In this passage Yahaweh represents the Servant's be-
ing stricken as the result of the transgression of "my
people " (liii. 8). That is, this section, like the forty-
ninth chapter, makes a distinction between Yahaweh's
people and the Servant, that is, between Israel the
Servant and Israel the aggregation of persons. But it
goes farther in this direction than the forty-ninth chap-
ter. It distinguishes the Servant from his generation,
his unspeakable generation, and represents him as cut
off from the earth, as having a grave, as experiencing
"deaths" (vv. 8-9). So far as these representations
go, he is not an unending succession of persons, but is
one Person. Later we shall meet again this figure of
the Person of the promise, wonderful both in his sor-
rows and his exaltation.
This passage brings out into strong relief an expe-
rience of the Servant that is also much emphasized
The servants elsewhere, namely, his humiliations and suffer-
sufferings ings; but it brings out an aspect of this expe-
mediatorial rience that is presented in other places only
by allusion or implication. The sufferings of the Ser-
vant are vicarious and mediatorial in their character.
In many of the passages heretofore cited we find Israel
suffering for his own misdoings, and this is the case
in some of the passages in which he is called the Ser-
vant. But in this fifty-third chapter we find a different
view. Over and over the passage reiterates that the
Servant is blameless. It is not as the result of his
own sins that he suffers, but of those of his people
and of the many nations. The result shall be their
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 285
being made righteous from their sins, and this shall
eventuate in such victory and glory and joy for the
Servant as shall more than compensate him for all his
sorrows.
III. We must not dismiss the term "Servant" without
recurring to the point that this is the one messianic
term that is best fitted to stand as representative. What
is true of the term "Servant" in its messianic use is typi-
cally true of the other terms that have the same signifi-
cation. For this reason let us ask here, in regard to
the Servant, two or three questions which we shall have
to repeat, later, in regard to the whole body of mes-
sianic prediction. It is no reason against this proced-
ure that we thus catch a glimpse of certain still distant
goals toward which our study is moving.
Who is the Servant spoken of in these Isaiah chap-
ters? A certain interpretation replies that the Servant
clearly is the people of Israel, and therefore Two one-
is not Jesus of Nazareth. It is Israel, this sided inter-
interpretation affirms, whom Yahaweh chose, pretatians
separated from the peoples, led through a career of
mingled suffering and victory, set for a light to the
nations, and made to be, in very important senses, the
world's redeemer. It is Israel whose mission of good
to mankind has so largely resulted from his sufferings,
from his being scattered among the peoples, and sub-
jected to undeserved contempt and ill treatment. This
is not an ignoble interpretation, and it agrees with most
of the facts as we have been studying them. But it
does not, unless supplemented by something else, account
for some of the personal experiences attributed to the
Servant, nor for the degree of the exaltation ascribed to
him.
This interpretation is contradicted by another which
286 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
affirms that the Servant is Jesus Christ, and therefore
is not Israel. This view fully accounts for the personal
terms, the exaltation of the Servant, his being sometimes
separate from Israel and in relations with Israel, and
the wonderfully minute identity between the character-
istics and experiences of Jesus and those of the Ser-
vant; but it necessitates a dreadful amount of difficult
explanation when it is called upon to account for the pas-
sages which explicitly declare that the Servant is Israel.
The truth is, that both interpretations are correct in
what they affirm, and incorrect in what they deny, If
The true in- the Servant is Israel, that does not prove that
terpretation the Servant is not Christ. If he is Israel,
then he is Israel thought of as the promise-people,
Israel in all the fulness of his mission to the world,
and not in some relatively narrow and circumscribed
portion of it. The prophet was dealing with what he
regarded as the eternally operative promise of Yaha-
weh. He is speaking constantly of the future of Israel
the Servant, though of course not to the exclusion of
the past or the present. He holds that the promise
has been fulfilling in the past, is at present in process
of fulfilment, and will continue to be fulfilled in the
future, without limit of time. He holds this as an arti-
cle of religious doctrine, independent of any power
which he may possess of miraculously foretelling the
future. The statements he makes concerning Israel
the Servant do not terminate their effect with the
Israel of his own time. By their very terms they look
forward. They apply especially to any future portion
of Israel's history which shall be especially the mani-
festation of God's purpose toward mankind through
Israel. They so apply if the prophet had a definite
knowledge as to the events in which the manifestation
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE SERVANT 287
would be made; and equally they so apply if his knowl-
edge of the coming events was vague — merely a con-
viction that Yahaweh would somehow accomplish the
word he had spoken.
It follows that there is no contradiction between the
statement that the Servant is Israel and the statement
that the servant is Jesus Christ, provided Jesus Christ
is the most significant fact in the history of Israel as
the people of the promise; and this Christianity claims
that he is.
This may be variantly stated. The prophetic use
of the term "Servant" has such a character of univer-
salness that really it might be applied to any Universalness
person of any race or time, provided he is of the term
characteristically the agent of the divine "Servant"
purpose for mankind. It might be applied to the
personified aggregate of all such persons, or to any
lesser aggregate. In the Old Testament, as a matter
of fact, it denotes Israel regarded as such an aggre-
gate. It might be properly applied to any Israelite
who is in this respect typical, and it is so applied to
Moses and Caleb and David and others, though per-
haps not in all cases in its full meaning. In particular,
the Servant might be any priest or prophet or other
public man, brought into such relations with Yahaweh
that he is the representative of the Israel of his gen-
eration. If the New Testament writers are correct
in regarding Jesus as preeminently the representative
Israelite, as the antitype of all types, then they are cor-
rect in applying directly to him what the prophets say
concerning Israel the Servant.
It will help to give us a steady grasp of these facts
if we take a glance forward to our own times, and the
fulfilment now in progress of the things that are said
288 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
concerning the Servant. Israel the Servant is now
in very important senses the light of the nations, as
A glimpse of the prophet said he would be. His being so
the later consists in three things, and it is a mistake
fulfilments to omit any one of the three from our con-
sideration. First, the promise-people is in a unique
degree a blessing to mankind if we consider only
what Israel the race has accomplished and is accom-
plishing in business and commerce and governmental
administration and learning and literature and art.
If Israel's contributions of this kind to the civilization
of the twentieth century could be suddenly obliterated,
the world of mankind would come to a standstill.
Second, the work of the promise-people for Mankind
is being wrought in what the religion of Israel and
its daughter religions, Christianity and Islam, are ac-
complishing. And third, these two great things be-
come insignificant when compared with the person and
work of Jesus, provided Jesus is the Son of God
that we Christians believe him to be. The career of
Israel the Servant includes all the beneficent things
that God has wrought through him, including God's
supreme manifestation through him in the person of
Christ the Lord. Defining thus, we Christians should
accept, instead of rejecting, the statement that in all the
instances Isaiah's Servant of Yahaweh is Israel.
CHAPTER XIII:
MESSIANIC TERMS. THE KINGDOM AND ITS ANOINTED
KING
IN the last chapter we studied the term the "Ser-
vant" as being the most nearly representative among the
special terms created by the teaching of the promise-
doctrine in Israel. We now take up the pair of terms
which are on the whole the most significant. The fact
that the kingdom and the Messiah are cognate terms,
that they go together, is better understood now among
Christians than it was a generation ago. So far as
words are concerned, the Messiah is simply the anointed
king of the kingdom. Conspicuous in the New Tes-
tament is this "kingdom of God," this "kingdom of
heaven," with its sphere of operations in the present
world of men, but extending into the world to come.
In this kingdom the Christ is the royal judge both
here and hereafter.
Three topics especially claim our attention: first, the
Old Testament presentation concerning the kingdom;
second, its presentation concerning the king, the
Anointed one, the Messiah; third, the eschatological
trend of the doctrine of the kingdom and the king.
I. First, the doctrine of the kingdom is a part of the
promise-doctrine of the Old Testament.
In the record for the times of the patriarchs the king-
dom is not at all in the foreground. It only comes in
incidentally that kings shall descend from Abraham,
289
290 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
from Sarah, from Jacob (Gen. xvii. 6, 16, xxxv. 11).
Doctrine of Among the kings descended from Abraham
the kingdom might perhaps be included Ishmaelites and
in the earlier Midianites and Edomites, but the royal line
times descending from Jacob is necessarily Israelite.
In the records for the time of the exodus the king-
dom idea is not presented often or at large, but it is
somewhat conspicuous by reason of the importance of
the passages where it appears. Not wholly insignifi-
cant is the representation that Moses was looking for-
ward to a king in Israel (Deut. xvii. 14-20), or that a
writer in Genesis is impressed with the fact that there
has been a line of kings among Abraham's Edomite
descendants before there were any in Israel (Gen.
xxxvi. 31). A much more important record, however,
is found in the account of the happenings at Mount
Sinai. The heart of the whole is the message from the
mountain, arranged in symmetrically balanced short
lines.
"Thus say thou to the house of Jacob,
And tell thou to the sons of Israel:
"Yourselves saw what I did to Egypt;
And I lifted you on wings of eagles,
And brought you in unto me.
"And now if ye will thoroughly hearken
To my voice, and keep my covenant,
Ye shall be mine, my own, out of all the peoples.
"For mine is all the earth,
While ye yourselves shall be mine
A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
"These are the words
Which thou shalt speak unto the sons of Israel"
(Ex. xix. 3b-6),
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 291
This purports to be the original communication from
Yahaweh, constituting Israel differentially his own
people.1 The New Testament writers claim, as we
have had occasion to see, that under its provisions be-
lievers in Christ are God's own people. A part of this
communication is to the effect that Israel is to be "a
kingdom of priests and a holy nation." This phrase-
ology in particular the New Testament men eagerly
quote and appropriate, though their doing this is not
apparent in the King James version, and has therefore
been ignored by English-speaking students.2
The first book of Samuel testifies to the existence
before the monarchy of this idea of Israel as Yahaweh's
holy kingdom. For example, the song of Hannah
over the birth of Samuel, whether composed by Han-
nah herself or by some prophet speaking in her person,
testifies that she had in mind a lofty conception of this
sort.
"It is Yahaweh that judgeth earth's uttermost parts,
That he may give strength to his king,
and exalt the horn of his Anointed" (I Sam. ii. 10).
Samuel's, objection to the setting up of the monarchy
was that, this would tend to obscure the fact that Israel
1 See above, tenth chapter, I. 2, especially the foot-notes.
2 "But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
of [God's] own" (1 Pet. ii. 9).
In the same context it is said that Christians are "to be a holy priest-
hood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices" (5).
In the book of Revelation it is said of Jesus that he "loosed us from
our sins by his blood; and he made us [to be] a kingdom, [to be] priests
unto his God and Father" (i. 6 RV).
"Didst purchase unto God with thy blood [men] of every tribe, and
tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them [to be] unto our God a
kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth" (v. 9–10 RV).
"Over these the second death hath no authority; but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years "
(xx. 6 RV).
292 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
was Yahaweh"s kingdom (I Sam. viii. 7, x. 19, xii. 12).
From the time of the anointing of Saul the conception
appears more prominently that the kingdom of Israel is
in peculiar relations with Yahaweh, and that its king is
Yahaweh's Anointed (see concordance).
From the time of the making of the great promise to
David, the records give a central and emphatic place
The king- to the kingdom. The kingdom, they say, is
dom in and God's kingdom among men, it is Israelite,
from David's its kings are of the line of David, it is to
time be eternal, its sway is to be worldwide. Already
in Chapter X we have examined a good many passages
that affirm these points. We will look again at some of
these, and will look at some others. We cannot make
the survey exhaustive, because the passages are too
numerous; we can only look at specimens.
In the original record of the promise to David the
throne and the kingdom are conspicuous.1 Here the
kingdom is Israel. The king is of the line of David.
Both are to be eternal. The same points appear 'with
much reiteration in the eighty-ninth psalm, which we
have already quoted so much. In this psalm the king-
dom (ver. 25) is said to be widespread. In many of the
passages it is declared to be universal as well as eternal.
Take, for example, the seventy-second psalm. What-
ever its date or author, it is a glowing supplicatory
The king- description of Solomon and his reign, with
dom in a presentation that is accurately the same
Ps. lxxii with that in the books of Kings and Chroni-
cles. The leading verbs should be translated either as
present or as precative; by making them future the
1 For example: "I will establish his kingdom." "I will establish the
throne of his kingdom for ever." "And thy house and thy kingdom shall
be made sure for ever before thee" (2 Sam. vii. 12, 13, 16 RV).
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 293
English versions obscure the meaning, though they do
not utterly hide it. First, the subject is stated — not
"the king," but "a king," who is also a king's son (I).
His administrative and judicial abilities are commemo-
rated (2, 4, 7, 12-14), and the peace that characterizes
his reign (3, 7). His wide dominion is mentioned (8),
and especially his commercial victory over the desert.1
The tribute paid by many kings is spoken of — Tar-
shish and the coastlands and Sheba and Seba (10, 15).
In such details we find Solomon in the psalm from
beginning to end, but Solomon as the representative of
the promised line of David. The singer knows that
Solomon is mortal; but David's royal line is immortal,
and in this sense the king whom he sings will live
"while the sun endureth, and before the moon, through-
out all generations," "till the moon be no more," "as
long as the sun " (5, 7, 17). His kingdom is worldwide
as well as everlasting.
"Yea, all kings shall do obeisance to him,
all nations shall serve him" (i I).
"And let him be conqueror from sea as far as to sea,
and from the River as far as to earth's uttermost parts" (8).2
And this culminates, as we have seen in a preced-
ing chapter, by vesting in this king the Abrahamic
promise: —
"Yea, all nations shall bless themselves in him,
shall call him happy" (17).
1 "Before him deserts bow" (9), not "they that dwell in the wilder-
ness" (cf. 1 Ki. ix. i8; 2 Chron. viii. 4).
2 Compare Zech. ix. 10: --
"He shall speak peace to the nations, and his dominion shall be 'from
sea as far as to sea, and from the River as far as to earth's uttermost
parts.'"
294 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Study carefully this conception of a universal and
eternal kingdom, represented, however, for the time
contemplated in the song, by the Davidic king then
reigning over Yahaweh's chosen people.
An equally explicit example is the second psalm, so
extensively quoted in the New Testament. In this
The second psalm we find a character who is variously
psalm described as Yahaweh's "anointed," Yaha-
weh's "king," Yahaweh's "son." The powers of earth
are in revolt against him, and God sees the ridiculous-
ness of their setting up their puny might against his.
In this psalm the eternalness of the kingdom is left to
implication, but its cosmopolitan character is made
explicit.
"Ask thou of me,
And I will give nations as thine inheritance,
and earth's uttermost parts as thy possession" (8),
Additional instances are given below for various
specific purposes. Or one might use a concordance,
and look up all the post-Davidic passages which men-
tion a king or a kingdom. It should be noted, how-
ever, that this conception of universal dominion for
Yahaweh's promise-people, for the purposes of the
promise, is not confined to the passages that use these
specific words.1
1 Note, for example, statements like the following concerning the Ser-
vant: "He shall bring out judgment to the nations." "In truth he shall
bring out judgment." "He shall not fail . . . till he have set judgment
in the earth." "The coastlands wait for his law" (Isa. xlii. 1-4).
Or such passages as the following: —
"And it shall come to pass in future days that the mountain of Yahaweh's
house shall be made ready at the head of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills; and all the nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples
shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up unto the mountain of Yahaweh,
unto the house of the God of Jacob; that he may give us torah out of his
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 295
There is a line of passages in the books of Chronicles
which speak of Israel under the reign of a king of David's
family as "the kingdom of Yahaweh." Whether Yahaweh's
this is to be regarded as a late expression orig- kingdom
inating with the Chronicler, or as taken by him from
some earlier source, at all events it has significance as
interpreting the conception of the kingdom that was
prevalent.l The same mode of expression appears in
the forty-fifth psalm, which I believe to have been
written some centuries earlier than the Chronicler.
When the singer says (ver. 6), —
"Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever,"
he refers not to God's throne in heaven, but to God's
throne on earth — the eternal throne promised to the
seed of David, and at the time occupied by the Davidic
king whom the singer is praising. And the glory
and the everlastingness of Yahaweh's kingdom are
ways, and that we may go in his paths. For out of Zion torah shall go
forth, and the word of Yahaweh out of Jerusalem. And he shall judge
between the nations, and reprove many peoples" (Isa. ii. 2-4).
1 One of these passages is in the Chronicler's duplicate of the narrative
in 2 Sam. vii: "I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom for
ever" (i Chron. xvii. 14 RV).
Elsewhere David is represented as saying: "Yahaweh . . . hath
chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Yaha-
weh over Israel" (1 Chron. xxviii. 5).
In another place David says: —
"For all that is in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine is the
kingdom, 0 Yahaweh, and thou art exalted as head above all" (1 Chron.
xxix. 11).
The queen of Sheba is represented as saying to Solomon: —
"Blessed be Yahaweh thy God who bath taken pleasure in thee to set
thee on his throne, to be king for Yahaweh thy God; because thy God
loved Israel, to establish them for ever" (2 Chron. ix. 8).
And Abijah king of Judah accuses Jeroboam and his associates of array-
ing themselves against "the kingdom of Yahaweh in the hand of the sons
of David" (2 Chron. xiii. 8).
296 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
nowhere more enthusiastically mentioned than in another
psalm: —
"They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom,
And talk of thy power;
To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts,
And the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And thy dominion [endureth] throughout all generations"
(Ps. cxlv. 11-13 RV).
Very prominently the idea of the dominion of Israel
and the Anointed one takes on the form of glowing de-
A reign of scriptions of a good time coming — a reign
universal of universal peace and happiness. We have
peace just cited in a foot-note the passage concern-
ing the mountain of Yahaweh's house fixed at the head
of the mountains (Isa. ii. 2–4; Mic. iv. 1–5). As given
in Isaiah, that passage terminates with a picture of
swords beaten into ploughshares and spears into prun-
inghooks, and the nations learning war no more. To
this, in Micah, is added: —
"But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig
tree, and none shall make them afraid."
In the ninth chapter of Isaiah the names attributed to
the child that is to be born reach their climax in "God
all-victorious, Father of eternity, Captain of peace," with
the statement added: —
"Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish
it, and to uphold it with judgment and with righteousness from hence-
forth even for ever" (Isa. ix. 7 RV).
Few passages in the Old Testament are more familiar
than the one concerning the "shoot out of the stock of
Jesse," through whose wise and just administration of
affairs —
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 297
"wolf shall sojourn with lamb, and leopard shall lie down with kid,
. . . They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for
the earth shall be full of knowing Yahaweh, as the waters cover the
sea" (Isa. xi. 6-9).
This is directly followed by the assertion that "the
nations shall seek" unto "the root of Jesse, which
standeth for an ensign of the peoples." With this com-
pare the following: —
"Wolf and lamb shall pasture together, and the lion shall eat straw
like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's bread. They shall not
hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Yahaweh" (Isa. lxv.
25)
And with these compare Ezek. xxxiv. 24–31; Isa. iv.
2–6, etc.
In the latest Old Testament books the kingdom-doc-
trine is as explicit as in any of their predecessors. We
have already noticed the definiteness with which First
and Second Chronicles specify that the Davidic king-
dom is Yahaweh's kingdom on earth. In Daniel we
find the idea of "an Anointed one, a Regent" (ix. 24,
25, 26), and also, in passages that are very familiar to
us, the writer's expectation of the renewed manifestation
of the kingdom. Of the stone cut out of the mountain
without hands he says:--
"And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty
thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Dan. ii.
44-45 RV).
And in Daniel's vision of the four beasts it is said: —
"And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the
kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the
saints of the Most High; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey him" (Dan. vii. 27 RV).
298 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
My personal opinion is that the Old Testament gives
us approximate dates for most of these utterances, and
Independent that when we arrange them in chronological
of disputed order, that brings out their meaning more
dates explicitly and strongly. But others dispute
the dates. Without delaying to settle all questions, this
at least is true: that these utterances concerning the
kingdom are numerous, and that there is no large sec-
tion of the literature as it has come down to us which is
not in some way marked by them.
It should be noted, however, that in the latest biblical
times the utterances concerning the kingdom take on a
A kingdom new color. When Nebuchadnezzar had de-
of influence stroyed Jerusalem, and there was no longer,
politically, a descendant of David reigning there, this
did not interfere with the confidence of the prophets in
the reality and the perpetuity of the kingdom. From
the first the prophets had presented their doctrine of the
kingdom in two aspects, — that of a personal sovereign
reigning in Zion, and that of a beneficent influence go-
ing out through the nations. As long as Judah had a
personal sovereign, the prophets regarded that sovereign
as Yahaweh's Anointed, in and for the generation to
which he belonged. When for generation after genera-
tion Judah was no longer a monarchy, the prophets still
taught that the kingdom and the line of David were
eternal, but the emphasis fell more and more on the
idea of the kingdom as a cosmopolitan influence which
the God of Israel has established in the world. It is an
easy transition from this to the New Testament idea
of the kingdom as a body of spiritual forces for the
social and ethical elevation of men.
II. We turn from the kingdom to the king.
It is perhaps needless to say that our English word
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 299
"Messiah" is transferred from the Hebrew, and that our
English word "Christ" is the Greek translation of the
Hebrew word. The Hebrew word is a passive verbal
of the stem which signifies to anoint with oil. Physi-
cally, it denotes a person who has been anointed with
oil.
The verb of the stem is used in connection with the
promise quite as prominently as the noun.l But a suffi-
cient study of the meaning can be made from the noun
alone.
Most readers of the Old Testament would probably
accept offhand the statement that the prophets foretell
the coming of a person whom they most com- The usual
monly designate as the Messiah. This state- statement
ment is inaccurate rather than untrue. One might make
it, having a meaning that is true. But, first, the proph-
ets use this word less than some other words as a mes-
sianic term. And, second, in most of the instances in
which they use it, it does not directly and exclusively
denote a coming person.
The noun occurs thirty-nine times in the Old Testa-
ment. Four times, all in Leviticus (iv. 3, 5, 16, vi. 22
[15]), the anointed one is the Levitical priest. Analysis of
Twenty-three times the word is unmistak- the usage
ably the official title of the reigning king of Israel.
Among the instances are those in which Saul was in
David's power, and David would not put forth his hand
1 For example: —
"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:
Therefore God, thy God, bath anointed thee
With the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Ps. xlv. 7 RV).
"I have found David my servant,
With my holy oil have I anointed him" (Ps. Lxxxix. 20).
"Because Yahaweh hath anointed me to bring good tidings to the
meek" (Isa. lxi. I).
300 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
against Yahaweh's anointed; or when Samuel went to
Jesse's house to anoint a king in place of Saul, and saw
Eliab and said: "Surely Yahaweh's anointed is before
him;" or when Abishai said that Shimei ought to be
put to death for cursing Yahaweh's anointed (I Sam.
xxvi. 9, 11, 16, xvi. 6; 2 Sam. xix. 21 [22]). The word
is thus used ten times of Saul, ten times expressly of
David or the kings of his line and in three other in-
stances. Further, it is once applied to Cyrus (Isa. xlv.
1); and in two passages, or rather in one repeated pas-
sage, to the patriarchs, with "my prophets" in the
parallel line.l In none of these thirty passages, cer-
tainly, is the term Messiah, "anointed one," applied ex-
clusively to a great coming person, who is to be the
deliverer of the nation or of mankind.
There remain nine instances in which one might claim
that the word denotes a coming person, but in every
one of them this is disputed. One of these is the prayer
of Hannah (I Sam. ii. 10): —
"It is Yahaweh that judgeth earth's uttermost parts,
That he may give strength to his king,
and may exalt the horn of his Anointed."
Another is in the prophecy against Eli (I Sam. ii. 30:
"Hophni and Phinehas,
In one day they shall die, both of them.
And I will raise me up a priest that is made sure,
According to that which is in my heart and in my soul he shall do.
And I will build him a house that is made sure,
And he shall walk before mine Anointed all the days."
1 "Touch ye not mine anointed ones,
and do my prophets no harm" (1 Chron. xvi. 22; Ps. cv. 15).
Here the allusion is to Gen. xx. 7 and its context, where Abraham is
spoken of as a prophet.
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 301
Other instances are the following: —
"Kings of earth set themselves,
and rulers take counsel together,
against Yahaweh and against his Anointed" (Ps. ii. 2).
"Now know I that Yahaweh saveth his Anointed" (Ps. xx. 6).
"Yahaweh is strength to them,
And he is the stronghold of the salvations of his Anointed"
(Ps. xxviii. 8).
“Behold thou our Shield, 0 God,
and gaze upon the face of thine Anointed" (Ps. lxxxiv. 9).
"Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
for salvation with thine Anointed " (Hab. iii. 13).
"From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jeru-
salem up to an Anointed one, a Regent, shall be seven weeks ; and
threescore and two weeks, it shall be built again, street and moat,
even in troublous times. And after the threescore and two weeks
shall Anointed one be cut off, and shall have nothing" (Dan. ix.
25-26).
In this passage in Daniel the syntax of the word
"Anointed" is practically that of a proper name. The
words "Anointed" and "Regent;" (nagidh, regent, vice-
roy, primate, see concordance) are used as synonyms.
We need not spend time discussing these nine in-
stances. Any one who will carefully examine them
will see that in most of them the Anointed one is pri-
marily the actual or supposed reigning king of the line
of David. The margin left for the use of the word for
denoting simply a coming person is very small.
If we ask the question in this form, therefore: What
do the prophets say concerning a coming person called
the Messiah? — we shall not obtain a satis- The correct
factory answer. But the answer will be form of the
satisfactory if we ask the question in the question
different and better form: What do the prophets say
302 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
concerning the Messiah, the Anointed one? They
say that the Anointed one is Yahaweh's regent, his
primate, his king, over his eternal kingdom on the
earth. He is at any moment the man who is entitled
to sit as Yahaweh's representative on the imperishable
throne over Israel. To the prophets of David's time,
David is the Anointed one, especially when they think
of David as the depositary of the promise. To each
succeeding prophet the reigning Davidic king of his
own time is the Anointed, especially when thought of
as the representative of the promise. After the exile
a like character was attributed to Zerubbabel, and
possibly to others.
There came a time, however, when for generation
after generation there was no recognized living repre-
The Messiah sentative of the blood of David who could be
as a coming regarded as the promised king, occupying the
person promised eternal throne. The Anointed one
had ceased to be a manifested fact among men. But if
one believed the promise, he believed that the imperish-
able kingdom was still in existence, and that in coming
time it would again be manifested. He believed that
the line of David still survived, and that a time would
come when a king of that blood would be manifestly on
the throne. Those who thus believed were watching for
this manifestation; and thus they came to think of the
Anointed one as he that should come. Usage fixed
upon this term, in preference to all the others, as the
fittest to describe the expected king of the kingdom, in
its new manifestation; and the selection was a happy one.
To repeat this, in part. The prophets count the ful-
filment of the promise to David, Yahaweh's Anointed,
as beginning at once in his lifetime. They find it in
the preparations for building and in the building and
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 303
dedication of the temple. And each prophet recognizes
in the events of his own time a double embodiment
of the promise. It is embodied in the people Israel,
Yahaweh's Servant, and in the living representative of
the line of David, the reigning king of Judah, Yaha-
weh's Anointed. To each prophet the people and the
king alike have a dual character. No matter how un-
worthy either may actually be, each stands on a lofty
pedestal when thought of in the character of the rep-
resentative of the promise. By their teachings the
prophets aroused expectations that endured long after
their own succession ceased. As the generations
passed, the character of the expectation was affected
by the historical events. From a time as early as the
temporary political independence under the Maccabees,
the characteristic form of the expectation was that the
kingdom and its Anointed king would again become
visible realities.
We have glanced at the passages in which the noun
"messiah" is used in the Old Testament. We might
gather a much larger number in which the Other terms
personality denoted by the noun is mentioned, for the messi-
but in which the noun itself is not used. We anic person
might, for example, group the places in which other de-
rivatives of the stem are used, or those in which the mes-
sianic person is called king, or by some other official
name. But the result would be simply to lay additional
emphasis on the points already gained.
Obviously there is nothing violent in the transition
from the Old Testament conception of the kingdom,
with its world-wide and unending reign of Transition to
righteousness and peace and happiness, and the New Tes-
with its king who is one in an eternal succes- tament idea
sion, to the New Testament idea of the spiritual king-
304 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
dom of Christ, including in its domain all the kingdoms
of the world, with a son of David as king. The most
marked difference between the two conceptions is that
Christians regard Jesus as the eternal king, not merely
in the sense of being one person of an eternal succes-
sion, but also in the sense of being himself an eternal
person.
In the time of Jesus the messianic hope included with
much prominence the expectation of a coming person
(Matt. xi. 3, xxi. 9, xxiii. 39; Lc. vii. 19, 20, xix. 38;
Jn. vi. 14, xi. 27, xii. 13; Acts xix. 4, etc.). His com-
ing was to be the revival of God's kingdom on earth,
and so he was called the Anointed one, the king. In
their own times the prophets had used a variety of terms,
and this term among others. It was simply one of sev-
eral terms which they were accustomed to employ. In
the time of Jesus it had come to be the one preferred
term, and it would not be easy to say how long before
his time it became so.
III. There remain to be considered certain expres-
sions concerning the regnal and judicial acts of Yaha-
weh, in their relations to his kingdom and its Anointed
king.
These expressions are the ones translated "the latter
days," "the day of Yahaweh," with certain variants, and,
as interpreting these, certain representations of Yaha-
weh as coming to judgment. It is the New Testament
rather than the Old which connects these expressions
specifically with the messianic "kingdom of heaven";
but even in the Old Testament they connect themselves
not merely with the universal sovereignty of Yahaweh,
but also with his particular sovereignty in the promise-
kingdom.
The phrase ahharith hayyamin, translated "latter
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 305
days," "last days," in the English versions, does not
of necessity mean anything more definite than sub-
sequent days, future time. There is nothing The latter
in the phrase itself to indicate whether the days
later time to which it refers is proximate or remote or
eschatological.1 It is used in writings of all dates, and
in connection with events of all dates. It is sometimes
used in the passages that speak of the victorious king-
dom, and of the universal reign of Yahaweh's law and
of peace (Isa. ii. 2; Mic. iv. 1; Ezek. xxxviii. 8, 16).
There is nothing in the phrase itself to connect it with
"the day of Yahaweh," or with the idea of a judgment
scene, but this connection is sometimes made by the con-
text.2 And so the phrase comes to include the idea of
certain future times that shall be times of retribution to
Israel for his lack of fidelity to the promise-covenant,
but also times of the fulfilment of the promise, and of
overthrow to his enemies. We are not surprised to find
the term used in the New Testament to denote the times
then current and coming, with more or less distinct
eschatological implications (e.g. Acts ii. 17; Heb. i. 2;
1 Jacob says that he will make known to his sons "what will befall you
in the latter days" (Gen. xlix. 1 J). Balaam proposes to advise Balak
"what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days" (Num. xxiv.
14 J). Moses is represented as saying: —
"For I know that after my death ye will act very corruptly, and will
remove from the way which I have commanded you, and the evil will
befall you in the latter clays" (Deut. xxxi. 29).
"In the distress to thee, when all these words shall have found thee in
the latter days, and thou shalt turn unto Yahaweh thy God, . . . he will
not forget the covenant of thy fathers" (Deut. iv. 30-31).
See also Hos. iii. 5; Jer. xxiii. 20, xxx. 24; Dan. x. 14, etc.
2 For example: "And my anger will burn with him in that day, . . .
and many and distressing evils will find him, and he will say in that day,
Is it not because my God is not in the midst of me that these evils have
found me? And I for my part will surely conceal my face in that day"
(Deut. xxxi. 17-18, cf. 29).
306 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
I Pet. i. 20 ; 2 Pet. iii. 3); while a modification of it, "the
last day" is specifically eschatological (e.g. Jn. vi. 39, 40).
Much more important in the prophetic writings is
"the day of Yahaweh," variantly spoken of as "that
day," and as a day in which Yahaweh "cometh." For
some purposes it might be regarded as simply a speci-
fication under the more general term "the latter days,"
but it is a specification that has a character of its own.
We shall better understand this term if we look first
at a different Old Testament form of expression. Yaha-
Yahaweh weh in his character as chief magistrate of
holding a the nations is sometimes presented as hold-
judgment ing a solemn assembly for adjudicating the
assembly cases that may arise. Look, for example, at this pres-
entation:--
"Arise 0 Yahaweh in thine anger!
Uplift thyself at the aggressions of mine adversaries!
And be thou awake unto me, thou [who] hast commanded judgment,
A congregation of races surrounding thee!
And over it return thou on high " (Ps. vii. 6-7).
Here the adjudication is presented as a solemn pageant.
Yahaweh is to arise and come from his lofty dwelling
place to perform it. He is attended by the populations
as a retinue, and when the court is over, they escort him
in his return on high. With this compare the familiar
picture in Daniel:
"Thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit;
. . . thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand
times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and
the books were opened " (Dan. vii. 9-10 RV).
And with these compare the briefer description in
Joel: --
"That the nations may come up unto the valley of Yahaweh-
judgeth; for there will I sit to judge all the nations from round
about" (iii. 12 [iv. 12]).
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 307
Passages of this kind are not unfamiliar. The one
just cited from Daniel is expressly connected with the
promise-kingdom.1 In most of the instances the connec-
tion is less direct. But in them all we have a way of
speaking in which Yahaweh's judicial activities with
men are pictured as special occasions, occurring at defi-
nite dates. This mode of figuring the matter prepares
the way for another; any such occasion might naturally
be called a day of Yahaweh; or, with reference to the
particular matters to be adjudicated, the day of Yahaweh.
This phrase appears inchoately in the record of the
exodus. After the sin of the golden calf, History of
Moses intercedes for the people, and at last the term “the day
obtains from Yahaweh this concession: of Yahaweh"
"And now [I say to thee], Go, lead thou the people whither
I spake to thee [saying], Behold my Angel will go before thee;
and in the day of my visiting I will visit upon them their sin "
(Ex. xxxii. 34 JE).
The threat here uttered is terse, and likely to have made
an impression. The impression would be deep in pro-
portion as the Israelites were in the habit of looking
forward to "the latter days" and expecting therein
divine blessings or retributions.
It is a natural suggestion, though one hardly capable
of decisive proof, that this clause is the original text of
the sermons which the prophets preach concerning the
day of Yahaweh. The sermons are many. Joel, Oba-
diah, Zephaniah; and several prophetic discourses in
other books are monographs on this subject, and the
day is frequently mentioned in still other prophecies.
We cannot treat of them all, but we will follow the his-
1 "Until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints
of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the king-
dom" (Dan. vii. 22 RV).
308 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
tory of the term a little way, on the theory that Joel is
the earliest of the books to which the names of prophets
are attached.1
The book of Joel has "The Day of Yahaweh" as its
subject; treating it, first, as a day of dread to Yahaweh's
The day of people, demanding repentance from them
Yahaweh in (i. 2-ii. 17), and, second, as a day of blessing
Joel to them if they repent, and a day of judgment
to the nations (ii. 18 to close of book).
After picturing the locust calamity and the drouth
(i. 4-9, 10-13) the prophet challenges the calling of a
fasting assembly (14), and then pictures these calami-
ties a second time, beginning thus: —
"Alas for the day!
Because the Day of Yahaweh is near,
and like destruction from the Almighty it cometh!
Hath not food been cut off before our eyes?" (15-16).
Then, after five verses descriptive of the drouth,, the
prophet introduces his second sketch of the locusts : —
"Blow ye a trumpet in Zion,
and raise a shout in my holy mountain.
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble!
for the Day of Yahaweh cometh, for it is near!
A day of darkness and gloom,
a day of cloud and thick darkness" (ii. 1-2).
With this introduction the prophet describes the locusts
again, closing with the words: —
"For the Day of Yahaweh is great,
and terrible exceedingly, and who may abide it?" (11).
Thus far in Joel the day of Yahaweh is a day to be
dreaded by his people; in the second half of the book
it takes on a different character. We are told that
1 The hypothesis that Joel is of later date would affect the history only
in details.
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 309
Yahaweh was jealous for his land (ii. 18-20), and gave
a compassionate answer to his fasting people, promising
relief, first from the crop failure, and second from the
invading Northerner. In ii. 21-27 the promise con-
cerning the crops is amplified, and that concerning the
Northerner is amplified in ii. 28-iii. 17. This last sec-
tion opens with the great passage cited by the apostle
Peter at the pentecost, the passage concerning the out-
pouring of the Spirit upon all flesh.1 In this passage
the day of Yahaweh appears as great and terrible, but
as a time of deliverance for those who call on the name
of Yahaweh, and of retribution for others. A little
further on we read of the nations summoned to the val-
ley of Yahaweh-judgeth, where Yahaweh sits as judge,
and again we find the day of Yahaweh, a dreadful day,
attended by convulsions of earth and heaven, but a day
of reassurance to his people.2
1 "And it shall come to pass afterward
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your elders shall dream dreams,
your choice young men shall behold visions.
And even upon the bondmen and the bondwomen
I will pour out in those days my Spirit.
"And I will give wonders in the heaven and in the earth,
Blood and fire and columns of smoke.
The sun shall be turned to darkness,
and the moon to blood,
Before the Day of Yahaweh come,
the great and terrible [day].
"And it shall be that whoever shall call
on the name of Yahaweh shall escape" (Joel ii. 28-32).
This is followed by details concerning the deliverance granted by Yahaweh
to his people.
2 "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of Decision!
For the Day of Yahaweh is near
in the valley of Decision.
310 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
On the theory of the early date of the book of Joel,
these are the earliest occurrences of the term "the day
of Yahaweh." We have here also the fullest and most
elaborate of the many presentations of this theme. And
there is probably no other use of the phrase in the Old
Testament that cannot plausibly be regarded as presup-
posing this treatment in Joel. But even in Joel the
phrase is introduced as if it were not altogether un-
familiar. If we suppose that the prophet's generation
had inherited prophetic utterances concerning "the
latter days," and concerning Yahaweh's holding assizes
for judgment, and that they believed that Yahaweh had
said to their ancestors, —
"In the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them,"
our supposition recognizes likely materials from which
the prophet might construct just the treatment he has
constructed.
The book of Obadiah is another monograph on the
day of Yahaweh (8, 15), the day here being one of
The day of retribution on Edom, and of victory and re-
Yahaweh in prisal on the part of Yahaweh's people.
the other Amos addresses auditors who are familiar
prophets with just such a doctrine of the day of Yahaweh as
Joel teaches, and who are gladly expecting the day; and he
rebukes them, saying that for such as they the day is
only dreadful.l Like Joel he insists upon it that men
Sun and moon are darkened,
while stars have withdrawn their shining,
While Yahaweh from Zion roareth,
and from Jerusalem giveth his voice,
and heaven and earth are quaking.
While Yahaweh is a refuge to his people,
and a strong place to the sons of Israel" (iii. 14-16).
1 "0 ye that long for the day of Yahaweh! What is it to you, the day
of Yahaweh? It is darkness and not light. As when a man fleeth from
THE KINGDOM AND THE MESSIAH 311
will find the day of Yahaweh fortunate for themselves
only in case they are repentant and faithful. Amos
specifically appeals to the clause in Exodus: —
"For in the day of my visiting the transgressions of Israel upon
him, I will visit upon the altars of Bethel," etc. (iii. 14, cf. Ex.
xxxii. 34).
And with him "that day" is a frequent phrase.1 Oba-
diah and Amos enable us to see that the doctrine of the
day of Yahaweh had taken a deep hold upon the men of
their generation, so that it could be appealed to in popu-
lar preaching. To them we might add prophet after
prophet, in passage after passage.2
One notable phenomenon is that the day of Yahaweh
is characteristically represented as "near," as impend-
ing (Joel i. 15, ii. 1, iii. 14; Isa. xiii. 6; Ezek. The day of
xxx. 3 ; Zeph. i. 7, 14, etc.). This representa- Yahaweh always im-
tion is made by prophets who lived many pending
generations apart, and therefore by prophets who knew
that other prophets had made it generations before.
Perhaps this indicates that the prophets thought of the
day of Yahaweh as generic, not an occasion which
would occur once for all, but one which might be re-
peated as circumstances called for it. However this
before the lion, and the bear meeteth him. Or he entereth the house and
leaneth his hand upon the wall, and the serpent biteth him. Is not the
day of Yahaweh darkness and not light? and thick darkness, with no
brightness to it?" (Am. v. 18-20).
1 "And temple songs shall be howlings in that day" (viii. 3).
"In that day . . . I will cause the sun to go in at noon" (viii. 9).
"In that day the fair virgins shall faint, and the youths, for thirst"
(viii. 13).
"In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David" (ix. I I). Com-
pare the passages that speak of "the evil day," or that use the phrase,
“Behold days are coming " (vi. 3, iv. 2, viii. 11, ix. 13).
2 See articles in Homiletic Review, October and November, 1889, and
February, 1890.
312 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
may be, the peculiarity in their representation exists.
They picture the day as close at hand, not at one point
of time only, but century after century.
We are all familiar with these modes of representa-
tion in the forms which they assumed in the New Testa-
The New ment times. The pictures of Yahaweh with
Testament his retinue coming to judgment are repro-
imagery duced in what is said concerning the Son of
Man coming "in his glory, and all the angels with him,"
or concerning the Lord descending from heaven “with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God" (Matt. xxv. 31; I Thess. iv. 16), and in
other like representations. No idea of the men of the
New Testament is more marked than that of "the last
days," as a period already reached in their tirne, but ex-
tending forward into eternity (Acts ii. 17; 2 Tim. iii. 1;
Heb. i. 2, etc.). And "the day of the Lord," "the day
of judgment," "that day," are expressions that occur
scores of times (e.g. 2 Pet. iii. 10, 12; I Thess. v. 2, 4;
Matt. vii. 22, xi. 22, 24). That these New Testament
representations are those of the Old Testament in a
widened form, and that they constitute an important
part of the New Testament doctrine of the kingdom, are
facts too obvious to require arguing.
CHAPTER XIV
MESSIANIC TERMS. YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH. OTHER
TERMS
IN pursuing this subject, we will discuss somewhat in
detail the term hhasidh, a term which in the prominence
of its use in the Old Testament is surpassed only by the
terms "Servant" and "Messiah"; and will afterward
deal more briefly with the terms that remain.
I. Hhasidh is in the English' versions translated vari-
ously by "holy one," "merciful one," "godly one,"
"gracious one," and in the plural by "saints"; and in
each of these translations the Hebrew word is liable to
be confused with other words. Hence, it seems expe-
dient here to use the transferred Hebrew word rather
than any translation of it.
The word hhasidh is used only in poetry, never in
prose. It occurs in the Psalms twenty-five times; in the
psalm-duplicates twice (2 Sam. xxii. 26; 2 Chron. vi. 41);
and elsewhere five times (Deut. xxxiii. 8 ; 1 Sam. ii. 9;
Prov. ii. 8; Jer. iii. 12; Mic. vii. 2).
Hhasidh is from the same stem with hhesedh, often
translated "mercy," but properly "lovingkindness," the
word that appears in the psalm-refrains, "for his mercy
endureth forever," and in such phrases as " the assured
mercies of David." The idea properly conveyed by the
words of this stem is that of kindness or favor, or free
grace —never that of mercy in the sense of compas-
sion. We shall probably cling to the musical English
313
314 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
phrase, "for his mercy endureth forever," but the exact
rendering is, "his lovingkindness is to eternity."
When the words of this stem are translated by "holy"
or "saint," that confuses them with the words of the
very different stem, qadhash. The adjective of this lat-
ter stem denotes one who is holy in the sense of being
separate by reason of his ceremonial or moral good
character. Yahaweh himself is in this sense preemi-
nently the Holy one, Israel is the one holy nation,
angels or human persons may be holy (e.g. Lev. xx. 7, 26;
Dan. viii. 13, 13, 24; Job v. 1, xv. 15; Pss. xvi. 3, xxxiv.
9). As differing from this, the adjective from the stem
hhasadh should denote a kindly loved one, a dearly loved
one, a favored one, one who is in favor, a favorite one, who
is the object of gracious love and is treated accordingly.
The lovingkindness denoted by the words of this
stem may be that of any person to any other person,l but
oftener than in all other uses combined it is Yahaweh's
lovingkindness, under his promise, to Abraham, to
Israel, to the line of David. This is, perhaps, exclu-
sively the usage of hhasidh, as distinguished from the
other words of the stem.
Hhasidh is properly the passive adjective of the stem,
though it passes readily into a noun, and should, per-
haps, in actual use, be always regarded as a noun. It
denotes that wherein the quality denoted by the stem
resides. That is, it denotes a person in whom loving-
kindness is thought of as resident. When we find the
word used of Yahaweh, he is presented as the person in
whom his own lovingkindness dwells, whence it may
be manifested for the benefit of his creatures. When
we find it applied to men, it describes them as the de-
1 For example, the lovingkindness of Abimelech or of Rebekah's
family to Abraham (Gen. xxi. 23, xxiv. 49).
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 315
positaries of Yahaweh's lovingkindness. A hhasidh is
a person to whom or in whom the divine graciousness
and favor are especially manifested. If there is such a
personality as "the hhasidh," then the hhasidh is he
who is distinguished above all others in the matter of
such manifestation. In nearly all the instances, the
human persons who are called hhasidhim are expressly
called Yahaweh's hhasidhim, and in the few remaining
instances this is implied. It is safe to say that there
are no exceptions. When the sacred writers thought of
a man as hhasidh, they invariably thought of him as
Yahaweh's hhasidh.
Further, it is clear in most of the instances that the
lovingkindness implied in the word hhasidh is Yahaweh's
lovingkindness, and there are no instances from which
this idea is excluded. It goes without saying that persons
in whom Yahaweh makes his lovingkindness known
should themselves practise lovingkindness toward him
and toward other beings; but they are hhasidhim not in
virtue of this, but in virtue of his lovingkindness as
shown in and through them.
These general statements prepare us to examine the
instances. So far as the statements need proof, the
proof will appear as we proceed.
The word hhasidh is used in the Old Testament sev-
enteen times in the plural, eleven times in the singular,
and four times where there are variant readings, the
word being singular in some copies and plural in
others.
Of the instances in which it is used without variant in
the singular, there are probably three in which the mean-
ing is subjective, the term being applied to Yahaweh the
Yahaweh himself. In each of the three he hhasidh
is presented as himself the repository of his lovingkind-
316 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
ness to Israel. In Jeremiah he urges his characteristic
kindly feeling as the reason why Israel should turn to
him.l In the great kingdom psalm, the character of
Yahaweh as hhasidh is made parallel with his character
as righteous.2 A third instance, not so uniformly recog-
nized, is found in Deuteronomy.3 And this use of the
noun is paralleled by that of the verb in the Hithpael, in
the psalm in which David celebrates Yahaweh's having
rescued him from all his enemies.4
In the seventeen cases in which the word is used in
the plural, with no variant reading, the English versions
Hhasidhim uniformly translate it "saints." In these
as used in the passages the Septuagint translates by o!sioj
plural except that in some copies, perhaps in the
best copies, ui[oi< is used in 2 Chron. vi. 41. The Vul-
gate, I believe, uniformly has "sanctus." In fourteen
of these passages it is specified that the hhasidhim are
Yahaweh's hhasidhim, while in one place we have "her
hhasidhim," meaning Zion's (Ps. cxxxii. 16), and twice
1 "Go thou and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
0 turn back thou back-turning Israel, saith Yahaweh;
I will not cause my face to fall with you,
For I am hhasidh, saith Yahaweh,
I will not maintain [my displeasure] forever" (Jer. iii. 12).
Here the Septuagint translates e]lew?n, the Vulgate "sanctus," and the
English RV "merciful."
2 "Righteous is Yahaweh in all his ways,
and hhasidh in all his deeds " (Ps. cxlv. i7).
Septuagint o!sioj, Vulgate " sanctus," RV "gracious."
3 "And in regard to Levi he said "— addressing Israel :
"Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for the man of thy hhasidh,
[Thy hhasidh] whom thou didst prove at Massah,
and wert striving with by the waters of Meribah" (Deut. xxxiii. 8).
Here the Septuagint translates a]ndri> t&? o[si<&, and RV has "thy godly
one," as if Levi were the hhasidh, instead of being "thy hhasidh's man."
4 "With a hhasidh thou wilt show thyself hhasidh" (2 Sam. xxii. 26;
Ps. xviii. 25).
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 317
we have simply hhasidhim, without the article or other
limiting word (Ps cxlix. 1, 5). If by saints we under-
stand favorites of Deity, rather than holy persons, the
translation conveys a correct idea. The idea itself is
very intelligible, apart from all question of the road by
which it is reached.
David is prominent in the hhasidh passages, though
there is no uniformity in this. In the cases of undis-
puted plural use, the hhasidhim are primarily the Israel-
ites, but the Israelites regarded as the depositaries of
Yahaweh's lovingkindness, his own people, in covenant
with him. At the same time, these passages have the
same quality of universalness that we have found in
the Servant passages in Isaiah. It is no perversion
of most of them to apply them directly to the case of
any persons who are in gracious relations with God.
Note how these points are illustrated in the following
three instances: —
"And he hath lifted up a horn for his people,
A praise for all his hhasidhim,
For the sons of Israel, the people that is near him" (Ps. cxlviii. 14).1
"He calleth unto the heaven from above,
and unto the earth, for judging his people:
Gather ye my hhasidhim to me,
who made covenant with me by sacrifice" (Ps. 1. 4-5).2
"I would hear
what the God Yahaweh speaketh.
For he speaketh peace
unto his people and unto his hhasidhim.
And let them not turn again to foolishness" (Ps. lxxxv. 8).3
1 This psalm has no title, and David is not mentioned in the context.
2 The title of this psalm is "A psalm. Asaph's." It does not mention
David.
3 The title is "To the leader. To the sons of Korah. A psalm."
David is not mentioned.
318 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
In the use of this term it is quite common to empha-
size faithfulness, and to put wickedness in contrast with
it. The hhasidhim are often those Israelites who avoid
transgression and are true to Yahaweh. This does not,
however, change the definition of the word as above
given. It is especially the faithful Israelites who con-
stitute the Israel of the promise.
"Love ye Yahaweh, all ye his hhasidhim.
Yahaweh preserveth them that are trustworthy,
And, for the remaining part, requiteth a proud doer " (Ps. xxxi. 23).1
"For Yahaweh is he that loveth judgment,
and he will not forsake his hhasidhim.
Forever they are kept,
while a seed of wicked men is cut off" (Ps. xxxvii. 28).2
"Ye that love Yahaweh, hate ye evil.
He keepeth the souls of his hhasidhim,
From hand of wicked men he rescueth them" (Ps. xcvii. 10).3
It is sometimes alleged that the hhasidhim are a
particular sect or class or set of men, like the priests,
Were the for example. The strongest instances that
hhasidhim can be adduced for this are the following, and
a sect? they are obviously inadequate. In particu-
lar, when the hhasidhim are mentioned in parallelism
with the priests, it is in the character of worshippers,
and not in that of an order like the priestly order.
"Arise, Yahaweh, to thy rest-place,
thou and the ark of thy strength.
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let thy hhasidhim sing loudly.
1 The title is "To the leader. A psalm. David's." It is apparently
written in the person of David, but does not otherwise mention him.
2 The title is "David's," and the psalm seems to be written in the
person of David, but it does not directly mention him.
3 This psalm has no title, and does not mention David.
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 319
For the sake of David thy Servant
turn thou not away the face of thine Anointed."
“And her priests I will clothe with salvation,
while her hhasidhim shall loudly, loudly sing"
(Ps. cxxxii. 8-9, 16).1
"Let thy priests, 0 Yahaweh God, be clothed with salvation,
while thy hhasidhim rejoice in the good " (2 Chron. vi. 41).2
“0 God, nations have come into thine inheritance!
Have made unclean thy holy temple!
Have placed Jerusalem for heaps of ruins!
"Have given the corpses of thy servants
As food for the fowl of the heaven;
The flesh of thy hhasidhim to beasts of earth!" (Ps. lxxix. 1-2).3
If in these last four instances we regard the hhasidhim
as a sect, we may perhaps admit the same usage in
some other passages; but if the usage does not exist in
these four, it does not exist at all. And there is no
strong reason for admitting its existence here. If by
hhasidhim we here understand representative members
of Yahaweh's chosen nation, who are on that account
dearly loved by him, that meets all the conditions of
each of the contexts. There is no need of going fur-
ther and regarding them as a sect or outwardly differ-
entiated class.
The remaining instances of the undisputed plural use
are the following: —
1 The title is "The song of the ascents." The psalm is full of the
mention of David. The name is in verses 1, 10, 11, 17, and there are
allusions to David in almost every verse.
2 Here the Chronicler, in his account of the dedication of Solomon's
temple, makes a free citation from Ps. cxxxii, apparently implying that
the psalm was used on that occasion. Here the Swete text has "sons"
instead of "saints."
3 The title is "A psalm. Asaph's." David is not mentioned.
320 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
“Sing psalms to Yahaweh, ye his hhasidhim,
and give thanks to his holy memorial" (Ps. xxx. 4).1
“I will give thee thanks forever because thou hast done it,
And I will wait for thy name, because it is good
in the presence of thy hhasidhim" (Ps. lii. 9 [11]).2
"Precious in the eyes of Yahaweh
is the death to his hhasidhim" (Ps. cxvi. 15).3
"May all that thou hast made give thee thanks, Yahaweh,
while thy hhasidhim bless thee" (Ps. cxlv. 10).4
"Halleluia!
Sing ye to Yahaweh a new song,
his praise in an assembly of hhasidhim."
"Let hhasidhim be proud in glory,
let them sing loudly upon their beds.
The high praises of El in their throat,
and a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance among the nations."
"To execute among them a written judgment,
it is majesty for all his hhasidhim.
Halleluia!" (Ps. cxlix. 1, 5-7, 9).5
Of the instances in which the word is used without
variant in the singular, there is one in which the hhasidh
is a nation, that is, Israel.
"Judge me, 0 God, and plead
my cause from a nation not hhasidh" (Ps. xliii. 1).6
1 The title is "A psalm. The song of the dedication of the house.
David's." It is natural to understand it as written in the person of
David, though it does not mention him.
2 The title is "To the leader. Maskil. David's. When Doeg the
Edomite went in and told Saul and said to him, David went in unto the
house of Ahimelech."
3 No title. David not mentioned.
4 Attributed to David in the title.
5 No title. David not mentioned.
6 Septuagint o[si<on, RV "an ungodly nation."
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 321
This non-hhasidh nation may be some other nation in
contrast with Israel; or it may be Israel, the nation
that ought to be hhasidh but is not. In either case we
have by implication the conception of Israel as the
hhasidh, the nation that is made up of hhasidhim.
In the remaining instances of use without variant in
the singular, hhasidh denotes some human person. In
these instances it is uniformly without the A human
article, and without a limiting genitive. In hhasidh
most of the instances the English versions utterly fail
to give the essential meaning.
We may begin with the following, attributed in its
title to David: —
"Bow down thine ear, 0 LORD, and answer me;
For I am poor and needy.
Preserve my soul; for I am godly:
0 thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee"
(Ps. lxxxvi. 1-2 RV).
Changing this translation so that it may show the
form of the original, it becomes: —
"O keep thou my soul, for a hhasidh am I;
Save thy servant, 0 thou my God,
who trusteth in thee."
That is, the speaker in the psalm declares himself to
be a hhasidh. According to the earliest understanding
of the psalm of which we are cognizant, we have here
David claiming to be Yahaweh's hhasidh, and on that
claim entreating the divine favor.
In the psalm in which David commemorates his
deliverance from all his enemies, we have the couplet,
as rendered in the revised version:
"With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful;
With the perfect man thou wilt shew thyself perfect"
(Ps. xviii. 25; 2 Sam. xxii. 26).
322 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
The English makes the mistaken impression that
"the merciful" is a plural term. Further, if one un-
derstands the word as meaning compassionate, he will
be misled by it. He will see the true meaning if he
puts the clause in the following form: —
"With a hhasidh thou showest thyself hhasidh."
David is here represented as claiming, either directly
or indirectly, that he is Yahaweh's hhasidh, and that
Yahaweh treats him accordingly.
Look at a third instance: —
"And know ye that Yahaweh hath distinguished to himself a
hhasidh;
It is Yahaweh that heareth when I call unto him" (Ps. iv. 3).
Here again the title says that the speaker is David.
The Septuagint translates "hath made his hosion won-
derful." As in the preceding two instances, the speaker
claims to be Yahaweh's hhasidh. He gives that as a
reason why all attempts of men against him will be
futile. As in the preceding instances it is possible to
make this claim indirect: Yahaweh distinguishes as his
own any person who bears the hhasidh character, and
I am such a person. But it is simpler to understand
the claim as direct: Yahaweh has distinguished one
person as his hhasidh, and I am that person.
The following instance is somewhat different: —
"Help, LORD, for the godly man ceaseth;
For the faithful fail from among the children of men"
(Ps. xii. 1 RV).
The impression made on most English readers is that
the failing and ceasing are in progress, that one godly
man after another is ceasing to be, and that the faithful
are failing, one after another. This impression is incor-
rect. The verbs are in the perfect, and the fact de-
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 323
scribed is a fact thought of as complete. Further, the
subjects are without the article. The following transla-
tion gives the form: —
"O save, Yahaweh, for a hhasidh hath ceased."
It is possible to regard the noun as collective, indicating
that hhasidhim generally have gone out of existence.
But the simplest interpretation is that the psalm laments
the downfall (not necessarily the death) of some particu-
lar person who is here called a hhasidh. Possibly his
restoration is spoken of in the fifth verse: —
"I will set him in safety at whom they puff."
A similar instance is found in the book of Micah.
"The godly man is perished out of the earth,
And there is none upright among men" (Mic. vii. 2 RV).
Give this its exact form, and its implications are
different.
"A hhasidh hath perished from the earth,
while an upright one among mankind is not."
In this case the Septuagint has eu]sebh<j instead of the
usual o!sioj. The natural understanding is that we have
here a reference to the death of some distinguished
individual, whom the prophet thinks of as Yahaweh's
hhasidh, and whose departure opens the way for all
license and wrong-doing.
There is one more instance: —
"For this let every one that is godly pray unto thee"
(Ps. xxxii. 6 RV).
Changing the form this becomes: "Concerning this
every hhasidh prayeth," or "one who is wholly hhasidh
prayeth." And again, either directly or indirectly, we
have the speaker in the psalm, evidently David, count-
ing himself as Yahaweh's hhasidh.
324 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
In most or all of these seven instances, the person
who is called a hhasidh is not indefinitely some one of
the hhasidhim taken at random, though that would be a
natural use of language, but is a person who is thought
of as having a preeminent right to be called hhasidh.
In most of the instances he is the speaker, and the
speaker is of the house of David. In other words, the
hhasidh is the person who would in other diction be
called the Anointed one.
This is still more marked in certain of the remaining
instances, those in which some copies have the word in
The cases the singular, and some in the plural. As we
of variant have seen, there are four of these instances.
readings In each of them the word has a genitive pro-
noun. In two of them the evidence seems decisive in
favor of the reading in the singular. The first is from
the sixteenth psalm, attributed to David by its title and
by New Testament witnesses.
" For thou wilt not abandon my soul to sheol,
Thou wilt not give thy hhasidh to see destruction "
(Ps. xvi. 10).
Here the documentary evidence preponderates in favor
of the singular. The two lines give in different words
the same meaning. "My soul"— that is, "myself"—
in one line corresponds to "thy hhasidh" in the other.
Myself not being abandoned to sheol is the same thing
with thy hhasidh not seeing destruction. The hhasidh
therefore is here the speaker, represented to be David;
and yet not David as a mere individual, but David as
the depositary of Yahaweh's lovingkindness. The
man David may die, but the hhasidh is eternal. Just
as David is the Anointed one, and yet the Anointed
one is eternal; just as David is the Servant, and yet
the Servant is eternal; so David is the hhasidh, and
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 325
yet the hhasidh is eternal. David as an individual
went to the grave, and saw corruption there, but the
representative of Yahaweh's eternal promise did not
cease to exist. Peter's argument in the second chapter
of Acts might be fallacious if his claim was that David
in this psalm does not refer to himself; but this is not
what Peter claims. He claims that David does not
refer merely to himself in his ordinary character.
Peter and Paul are critically correct in arguing that
the meaning is not exhausted when the words have been
applied to the mortal man David, but extends on into
the future, along the line of the eternal promise. And
they are correct in claiming that the hhasidh is pre-
eminently Jesus Christ (Acts ii. 25-31, xiii. 35).
As the word is used in the prayer of Hannah, the
preponderance of proof is in favor of the singular.
"The feet of his hhasidh he keepeth,
* * * * *
Upon him in the heaven he thundereth,
it is Yahaweh that judgeth earth's uttermost parts;
That he may give strength to his king,
and may exalt the horn of his Anointed one"
(1 Sam. ii. 9-10).
If the word is here in the singular number, then the
representation is that in the ideals of Hannah Yaha-
weh's hhasidh and his king and his Anointed one are
all the same person.
In the eighty-ninth psalm is the familiar line: —
"Then thou spakest in vision to thy hhasidhim " (or hhasidh,
ver. 19).
And in Proverbs: —
"To preserve paths of judgment,
and the way of his hhasidhim (hhasidh) he keepeth " (ii. 8).
In these the word is probably plural. If so, the pas-
326 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
sages are like the other seventeen that use the word in
the plural. If, on the other hand, you decide that the
word is in the singular in these two places, then they
are somewhat notable additional instances of the men-
tion of Yahaweh's one preeminent hhasidh.
Summing up the results we have reached, hhasidh,
though sometimes translated merciful, does not prop-
Summary erly denote a compassionate person, though
of results the person in whom Yahaweh's lovingkind-
ness dwells ought to be compassionate. It is trans-
lated pious, godly, godly, one, holy one, but none of
these translations are exact, though it is to be pre-
sumed that the person in whom Yahaweh's lovingkind-
ness is displayed will be pious, godly, kind, holy. It is
translated saint, gracious one, favorite, he whom Yaha-
weh favoreth, and, in a certain direction, these terms
approach the true meaning; but the hhasidh is not
properly the person in whom Yahaweh's lovingkind-
ness in general dwells, but the one in whom dwells
Yahaweh's particular lovingkindness as manifested in
the eternal covenant with Abraham and Israel and
David.
Like all the benefits of this eternal promise, Yaha-
weh's lovingkindness is for the nations, but for the
nations through Israel. The principles on which he
deals with one part of mankind are the principles on
which he deals with all; the privileges of hhasidhim are
not restricted to one race; but it is through Israel that
they are offered to mankind. In all the representations
that are made the hhasidhim are Israelite. The word
in the plural is applied to Israelites, and in the singular
it once denotes by implication the Israelitish nation.
To this extent its use is parallel to that of the terms
"servants" and "Servant " in the second half of Isaiah.
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 327
The word hhasidh in the singular, however, is like the
word "Messiah" rather than like the word "Servant";
its use points to David rather than to Israel. Several
of the passages where the word is used in the plural
have a context that speaks of David, and about half of
these passages are attributed to David, either in the
psalm titles or otherwise. Six of the eight places
where hhasidh in the singular denotes a man or a
nation are in Davidic psalms, and the other two have
possible Davidic affiliations. Usually the hhasidh de-
noted by the word in the singular is either David or
the inheritor of the promise made to the eternal seed
of David.
The representation is that this idea existed in the
minds of some of the devout in Israel as early as the
time of Hannah the mother of Samuel; that they be-
lieved in the promise that Yahaweh had made; that
they expected that kings would descend from Jacob, and
that the law of Moses concerning the kingdom would
become operative; that they thought of this as the
manifestation of Yahaweh's lovingkindness; that they
looked forward to a future when Yahaweh's hhasidh,
his king, his Anointed, should exist and reign. After-
ward, in David's time and later, this idea became
prominent. In their relations to the eternal promise
Israelites came to think of themselves as hhasidhim, of
the nation taken collectively as Yahaweh's hhasidh, of
any particular obedient Israelite as a hhasidh, especially
of David and David's promised eternal seed as a hhasidh,
of the person who was at any time the inheritor of
David's throne as preeminently the hhasidh of that
generation. Those whose thinking was deepest thought
thus of the Davidic hhasidh, not in virtue of his stand-
ing as an individual, but in virtue of his being the
328 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
representative of the eternal promise to men through
Abraham and Israel and David.
In the Maccabaean times there were Jews who called
themselves hhasidhim, or, as the name has come to
The us through Greek sources, Asideans. They
Asideans seem to have been a religious reform party,
precursors of the Pharisees. They were commonly in
sympathy with the political patriots, though apparently
not always. They took their name of course from the
scriptures. If it had been in the scriptures from the
time of David and earlier, its ancientness fitted it all
the better for their use. There is nothing in the history
of the Asideans that necessarily calls for any modifi-
cation of our exegesis of the passages.
There are critics, however, who regard the hhasidh
passages as of late date, many of them having been
written by the Asideans or their contemporaries. I do
not accept this opinion. If I did, I should have to
modify what I have said about the hhasidh only to the
extent of saying that this was in Israel a comparatively
late way of looking at the matter.
The men of the New Testament are not careful to
keep the hhasidh line of expressions distinct. The word
Hhasidh o!sioj and its cognates they use but sparingly.
expressions Twice they quote from the sixteenth psalm
in the New the clause "Thou wilt not give thy hosion to
Testament see corruption" (Acts ii. 27, xiii. 35). Once they
quote literally from the Greek of Isa. lv. 3: "The assured
lovingkindness of David," ta> o!sia Dauei>d ta> pista<
(Acts xiii. 34). About eight times more they use o!sioj
or its derivatives in connections that make good sense
equally whether we give the words the hhasidh meaning
or not (I Tim. ii. 8; Tit. i. 8; Heb. vii. 26; Rev. xv. 4,
xvi. 5; Lc. i. 75; Eph. iv. 24; I Thess. ii. 10). But
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 329
it is possible that in the very numerous places where
they speak of being holy or of saints, using the word
a!gioj and its cognates, they frequently had in mind
the ideas that the Hebrew expresses by words of the
hhasidh stem. In particular, the New Testament
"saints" are often hhasidhim rather than q'doshim.
II. We must deal summarily with the remaining
messianic terms, though some of them are exceedingly
interesting. The list here given makes no claim to
completeness. It includes only such instances as I
have happened to note.
Christians are accustomed to speak of Christ as
Saviour and Redeemer. These terms are not in this
especial sense applied in the Old Testament to the
messianic person. Any person may supposably be a
saviour or a redeemer. In the Old Testament "the
Saviour," "the Redeemer," is commonly Yahaweh.
In Isa. ix. 6 is a list of epithets which we apply
familiarly to the Messiah, —"Wonderful one, Coun-
sellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace." Whatever else we make of this diction, the
terms are descriptive epithets rather than technical
designations like Servant and Messiah and hhasidh.
The like may be said of Haggai's phrase "the Desire
of all nations " (ii. 7 OV), and of other similarly well-
known phrases.
Taking up the technical terms that are properly such,
we find that they arrange themselves in two classes, —
those which, like the term "Servant," primarily denote
Israel the promise-people, and those which, like "Mes-
siah," primarily denote the king of the line of David.
1. Among the terms of the first of these two classes,
the one most to the front is probably "my Chosen one,"
"my Elect one." The stem bahhar has a usage
330 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
extending to perhaps three hundred occurrences in the
Old Testament. The verb is almost uniformly translated
Yahaweh's by "choose," and is used with subjects and
Chosen one objects of all kinds. It is the verb that is
commonly used of Yahaweh's choosing Israel, or choos-
ing Jerusalem to put his name there, or choosing David,
or choosing the Servant (e.g. Deut. vii. 6, xiv. 2 I Ki.
iii. 8, xi. 13, 32, 34; Isa. xli. 8, 9, xliii. 10). The pas-
sive adjective bahhir denotes an object that is char-
acterized by having been chosen. It appears in the
plural seven times, always denoting Israelites (1 Chron.
xvi. 13; Pss. cv. 6, 43, cvi. 5; Isa. lxv. 9, 15, 22). It is
used in the singular six times, once of Saul, once of
Moses, once of David, three times of the people Israel
(2 Sam. xxi. 6; Pss. cvi. 23, lxxxix. 3; Isa. xlii. 1, xliii.
20, xlv. 4). When used of David and of Israel, it is
three times in parallelism with Servant. The passive
participle is used as the equivalent of the noun in
Ps. lxxxix. 19.
This showing needs no comment. Yahaweh's Chosen
one and his chosen ones are the same with his Servant
and his servants as presented in the last twenty-seven
chapters of Isaiah. In the New Testament the term in
the singular is in a few places, some of them citations
from the Old Testament, applied to Christ (e.g. Matt.
xii. 18; Lc. xxiii. 35; I Pet. ii. 4, 6), and in both the
singular and the plural is often applied to Christians as
the inheritors of the promise.
Three additional terms of the same kind, though in-
frequently used in the records that have come down to
Jeshurun, us, are Jeshurun (Isa. xliv. 2; Deut. xxxii. 15,
Meshullam, xxxiii. 5, 26), Meshullam (Isa. xlii. 19), my
my Called Called one (Isa. xlviii. 12). Jeshurun is
one commonly explained as a diminutive of endearment,
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 331
meaning upright one. Meshullam means "perfected
one." Though it occurs only once in this use in our
scriptures, it was not perhaps an infrequent term. It
also occurs as the proper name of more than twenty
different persons. My Called one appears as a singular
use of a word of a very common stem.
In the places in which Israel or David or David's
seed are designated as Yahaweh's son, that word is to
be regarded as a messianic term. In Chap- Yahaweh's
ter X we have already considered this term Son
as marking slightly the records of the time of the exo-
dus (Ex. iv. 22, 23; Deut. i. 31, xxxii. 6), and as mark-
ing more prominently the records of the time of David
and later. In these later times the habit of represent-
ing the Israelitish people as Yahaweh's son still persists.
Note a few examples: —
"When Israel was a boy, then I loved him,
and from Egypt I called to my son" (Hos. xi. 1).1
"Ephraim . . . is a son not wise" (Hos. xiii. 12-13).
"I said, How shall I put thee among sons? . . . ye shall call
me, My father" (Jer. iii. 19).
"I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn."
"Is Ephraim a precious son to me, or a child of caresses? For
altogether as I have spoken with him, I will surely still remember
him" (Jer. xxxi. 9, 20).
In the matter of use in the singular and the plural,
this term is like the terms "Servant" and hhasidh; as
in the singular it denotes Israel, so in the plural it
1 When Matthew says (ii. 15) that this was "fulfilled" in the flight of
Jesus to Egypt and his return thence, he means, of course, that it was ful-
filled in the sense of there being an interesting coincidence between the
experience of Israel and that of Jesus—not in the sense of an intended
foretelling on the part of the prophet.
332 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
sometimes denotes Israelites who are true to their
descent. See Isa. lxiii. 8, 16, lxiv. 8.1
The term is more conspicuous in the passages in
which the seed of David is spoken of as the Son of
Yahaweh, though here the conspicuity is due rather to
the character of the passages than to their number.
We have already looked at the expression as it occurs
in the original account of the promise to David (2 Sam.
vii. 14; 1 Chron. xvii. 13). It is equally prominent in
the passages that cite that account, for example: —
"It is he that shall build a house to my name, while he himself
shall be to me for a son, and I to him for a father" (I Chron.
xxii. 10),
or, —
"He shall call me, My father thou,
My God and the rock of my salvation,
Yea, I myself will give him to be firstborn,
A most high to kings of earth " (Ps. lxxxix. 26-27).2
So we are not surprised at finding in the second psalm
a personage who is called Yahaweh's Anointed, but of
whom Yahaweh says: —
"Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee" (7).3
The most jubilant passage in Isaiah is the exultation
over the Son who is born to us, to sit on the throne of
David, but who is to be called Mighty God and Ever-
1 Other instances of this mode of representation may be found in Jer.
iii. 4; Mal. i. 6, ii. to, iii. 17.
2 It is noticeable that the phrase "give thee to he a most high" seems
to be taken from Deuteronomy (xxvi. 19, xxviii. 1), the author thus com-
bining in one view the promise to David and that to the Israel of the
exodus.
3 In the English versions, this psalm also contains the exhortation to
"kiss the son," that is, to do him homage (12). This is possibly correct,
though the word is bar, and not ben, as in verse 7. Perhaps, however,
the correct translation is, "Do ye homage sincerely."
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 333
lasting Father (ix. 6). Ezekiel represents Yahaweh as
speaking of "the sceptre of my Son" (xxi. 10 [15]),
and though the passage is obscure, Yahaweh's Son can
here be no other than the occupant of the throne of the
line of David.
The term "Son" is subject to certain modes of use
that are peculiar to it. The "seed," whether of Abra-
ham or of David, was to be perpetuated by Sons of
fresh births in each generation. The promise Promise
is therefore in part a promise of perpetual parentage.
Critical points in its history are marked by the gift of
promised sons, such as Isaac, Ishmael, Samson, Samuel,
Solomon. In these cases the mothers are made promi-
nent, witness Sarah and Hagar and Manoah's wife and
Hannah and Bathsheba. There is, so to speak, a son-
ship of human motherhood, as well as a sonship of
divine fatherhood. And in connection with this a cer-
tain formula appears in the successive parts of the
record. It is given most completely in connection with
Hagar's bearing of Ishmael.
"And the Angel of Yahaweh said to her, Behold thou art preg-
nant and about to bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael "
(Gen. xvi. 11).
Less complete versions of the formula appear in con-
nection with the giving of Isaac and of Samson (Gen.
xvii. 19; Jud. xiii. 5, 7).
These phenomena should not be neglected when we
study the sign given through Isaiah to Ahaz, which
Matthew cites as a prophecy concerning the The virgin
virgin mother (Isa. vii. 14–16; Matt. i. 22–23). mother
With only the substitution of Immanuel, "God with
us," for Ishmael, "God heareth," Isaiah's words in the
Hebrew are exactly the same with those uttered to
Hagar: —
334 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
"Behold, thou the almah art pregnant and about to bear a son,
and thou shalt call his name Immanuel."1
The sign given to Ahaz consists in the repeating to him
of a familiar form of words promising the birth of a son,
with the implication that certain events would come to
pass before a child then soon to be born would be old
enough to distinguish good from evil. The sign was
proved true when, within a few years, the events fore-
told came to pass. Those who heard the prophet's
words understood him to be preaching to Ahaz the
familiar doctrine of the promise. There is no absurdity
in supposing that the prophet himself knew by inspira-
tion that he was foretelling a miraculous birth some
centuries in the future. But if this seems to any of us
improbable, we may find room enough for the disposal
of all difficulties in the wide latitude of meaning with
which Matthew frequently uses the phrase "that it
1 The Hebrew verb "call" is here second person feminine (cf. Jer.
iii. 4; Gen. xvi. 11; Isa. lx. 18, in contrast with the third person feminine in
Gen. xxix. 35, xxx. 6; I Chron. iv. 9), and this controls the person of the
preceding adjective and participle. The Greek translates the adjective
and participle by verbs in the third person, but the verb "call" in the
second person, the Greek not being able to distinguish the gender.
Matthew follows the Greek, changing "thou shalt call" to the indefinite
"they shall call."
Almah is not the distinctive word for virgin. So far as derivation goes,
its proper meaning is young woman of marriageable age. But there is no
trace of its use to denote any other than a virgin. It denotes Rebekah
(Gen. xxiv. 43), the sister of Moses (Ex. ii. 8), timbrel players (Ps.
lxviii. 25), young women as distinguished from queens and concubines
(Cant. vi. 8), young women (Cant. i. 3). It occurs twice as a technical
term in regard to the public songs (Ps. xlvi, title; 1 Chron. xv. 20).
Finally, it appears in the clause "the way of a man with a maid"
(Prow. xxx. 19). Here the allusion is to the mystery of "love's young
dream," and the meaning is fine and worthy. It is absurd to make the
meaning degraded and dirty, by regarding the almah as not a virgin. In
fine, the Greek translators chose deliberately and correctly when they
chose parqe<noj as the translation here, and Matthew made no mistake
when he so understood their translation.
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 335
might be fulfilled." Matthew was sure that the virgin
birth of Jesus was a fact. He found that the words of
Isaiah were in remarkable and interesting correspon-
dence with this fact. This justifies his language, irre-
spective of the question whether the words are to be
regarded as properly foretelling the fact.l
Returning from this digression concerning the sons
of promise and the prophecy of the virgin mother, we
note once more that when the word "Son" is Summary
used as a messianic term, the Son is either concerning
Israel or the existing representative of the the Son
house of David, thought of as the fulfilling of the eter-
nal promise. The Son will always exist. Though he is
explicitly said to be Israel, or is expressly identified
with some member of the house of David, he is also in
certain passages (e.g. Ps. ii or Isa. ix. 2-7) declared to
be a superhumanly exalted person. We have here the
same phenomena that we have in the case of the Ser-
vant, and they are to be accounted for in the same way.
We must not delay to trace the later history of this
term, or its relations to what the New Testament has to
say concerning the Son of David, the Son of God, the
Son of man, the fatherhood of God.
2. We have already crossed the line that separates
the messianic terms which primarily denote Israel from
those that primarily denote the Davidic king. The
term "Son" is significant in both ways. We now take
up other Davidic terms.
Words of two different Hebrew stems are in our
English versions translated by our word "Branch," the
word being in some bibles so printed as to The Branch,
indicate that it has a special use. One of Tsemahh
these two is the noun tsemahh with its cognate verb.
1 See article in Homiletic Review for April, 1889.
336 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
The verb denotes the coming up of a shoot from a root
or a seed, or the branching off of a shoot from a stem.
For the noun we will use the traditional translation
"branch." Examine first the passage in Isa. iv. 2-6: —
"In that day the Branch of Yahaweh shall be for beauty and for
honor, and the Fruit of the land for pride and for glory to them that
are escaped of Israel; and it shall come to pass that he that remain-
eth in Zion, and he that is left over in Jerusalem, shall be called
holy, even every one that is written for life in Jerusalem; when the
Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and
shall cleanse the bloodguiltiness of Jerusalem from the midst of
her."
It is obvious that the terms "the Branch of Yahaweh"
and "the Fruit of the land" may here be employed as
designations for the dynasty of David, or for the reign-
ing king in that dynasty. In other words, these phrases
may be terms equivalent in signification to Anointed
one or hhasidh. Some think, however, that these terms
here have not this significance, but are mere expressions
for the crops and for agricultural prosperity. It seems
to me that the messianic interpretation is the correct
one.
However it may be with this passage in Isaiah, the
instances that follow are not open to doubt. To get
The Branch the full meaning of the two passages now
in Jeremiah to be cited from Jeremiah they should be
read carefully in their contexts. The first is immedi-
ately introduced by two verses in which Yahaweh
promises the return of "my flock out of all the coun-
tries whither I have driven them," and that he will
place satisfactory shepherds over them. Then the
promise proceeds:--
"Behold, days are coming, so saith Yahaweh, when I will raise
up to David a righteous Branch; and a king shall reign, and shall
deal skilfully, and shall do judgment and righteousness in the
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 337
earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, while Israel shall abide
securely. And this is his name which one shall call him, Our-
righteousness-is-Yahaweh.
"Therefore behold, days are coming, so saith Yahaweh, when
they shall no longer say, As Yahaweh liveth who brought up the sons
of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, As Yahaweh liveth who brought
up and brought in the seed of the house of Israel from the land of
the north, and from all the lands whither I had driven them, and
they dwelt upon their own ground" (Jer. xxiii. 5-8).
In the second of the two passages in Jeremiah, the
promise of the return is expanded to half a chapter
(xxxiii. 6-13), and then follow the words: —
"Behold, days are coming, so saith Yahaweh, when I will estab-
lish the good word which I have spoken unto the house of Israel
and concerning the house of Judah. In those days and in that time
I will cause to branch forth to David a righteous Branch, and he
shall do judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days
Judah shall be saved, while Jerusalem shall abide securely. And
this is [the name] which one shall call her, Our-righteousness-is-
Yahaweh.
"For thus saith Yahaweh, There shall not be cut off to David
a man sitting upon the throne of the house of Israel" (Jer. xxxiii.
14-17).
This is followed by nine long verses magnifying the
promise which Yahaweh has made to the Levite priests
and to David and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and
comparing the eternity and exactness of his covenant
with them to the eternity and exactness of his covenant
of the day and the night as exhibited in the movements
of the heavenly bodies.
These passages need no comment. In both, the
Branch is the representative of the line of David, reign-
ing according to promise over Yahaweh's kingdom.1
1 Some of the differences between the two passages are interesting. In
both Israel is expressly included, as well as Judah. In one it is the Branch
that is named Our-righteousness-is-Yahaweh, while in the other it is Jeru-
salem.
338 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
In the time after the exile when Zerubbabel and the
highpriest Jeshua were building the temple, when the
The Branch prophecies of Jeremiah concerning the return
in Zechariah after seventy years were much in the thoughts
of the Jewish leaders, we find Jeremiah's doctrine of the
Branch applied to Zerubbabel, the representative for his
generation of the house of David. In each case the
prophet addresses the highpriest, but he speaks to him
concerning Zerubbabel.
"O Joshua the highpriest, listen, pray, thou and thy companions
that sit before thee; for they are men who are a sign; for behold,
I am causing to come to pass my Servant Branch" (Zech. iii. 8).1
In the fuller passage (Zech. vi. 9-15), the prophet is
directed to make crowns for the highpriest and his
companions (11, 14), and place one of them upon the
head of the highpriest,2 giving him this message:--
"Thus saith Yahaweh of hosts, saying, Behold, [there is] a man,
his name is Branch, and from beneath himself he shall branch forth
and build the temple of Yahaweh; it being he that shall build the tem-
ple of Yahaweh, and he that shall carry majesty, and he shall sit and
shall rule upon his throne; and there shall be a priest beside his throne,
and peaceful counsel shall be between them two" (Zech. vi. 12-13).3
1 "I will bring forth" (RV) is incorrect, and misses the meaning.
"Bring in" would be correct. The Branch is spoken of as something that
had been promised, and the promise is now to be made good.
2 "And set [them]" (11). The object is not expressed. RV is incorrect
in failing to italicize "them." Of course it was one crown only, and not
all the crowns, that he was to set on the head of the highpriest. The
crowns were apparently not kingly. The Persian government might have
resented anything that looked like kingly state on the part of these men.
The account specifies five men who are to have the crowns, and that seems
to exclude Zerubbabel.
3 In the last clause but one the translation might be "a priest upon
his throne," which would give us a picture of a priestly throne in addition
to the throne of the Branch. In any case there are two of them. The
Branch is one and the priest is another, and the Branch is Zerubbabel and
not Joshua.
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 339
Zechariah regards Jeremiah's prediction as fulfilled
in Zerubbabel, and he expects that through him will
come the building of the temple, and good govern-
ment and prosperity, and a large immigration of return-
ing Jews; but that did not hinder his recognizing the
fact that Jeremiah had said that the Branch stands for
something that is as eternal as day and night. Ful-
filled in Zerubbabel, the promise concerning the Branch
still remained in existence, ready for whatever com-
pleter fulfilment Yahaweh might have in store. There
is no clear recognition of the Branch in the New
Testament, but clearly the expression is parallel to
Anointed one and hhasidh. In the passage cited
from Zech. iii Servant is used as an equivalent
term, and the fact that David and Israel are from
the promise point of view identical is brought out in
the several passages.
The other word which our versions translate by
"Branch" is netser. "Flower" is a better rendering.
"Thy people being all of them righteous, . . . the The Branch.
Flower of my plantings, the deed of my hands" (Isa. Netser
lx. 21).
"And there shall come forth a bud-shoot out of the stem of Jesse,
while a Flower out of his roots shall be fruitful" (Isa. xi. 1).1
In one of these passages netser denotes the idealized
Israelitish people, and in the other the idealized Davidic
king. The last passage is so very marked as to make
the word conspicuous in spite of the paucity of the
1 The word occurs elsewhere only twice: —
"Thou art cast out of thy grave like a discarded flower" (Isa. xiv. 19).
"And out of the flower of her roots shall one stand up" (Dan. xi. 7).
And it is the only word of the stem, though it may be akin to a stem that
denotes to preserve.
340 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
instances. If one were to choose the one Old Testa-
ment messianic passage that would best serve as a type,
it is possible that his choice might fall upon Isa. xi.
1-10. This passage is cited in the New Testament often
indirectly and once (Rom. xv. 12) formally. It presents
in a strong light "the root of Jesse that standeth for an
ensign of peoples" (10), and the "Flower from his
roots" that will surely become fruit; this Flower rested
upon by the Spirit of Yahaweh, wielding universal do-
minion, the result being good government and peaceful
prosperity and the knowing of Yahaweh throughout the
earth. We must not delay upon the details. In the
mind of the prophet's first hearers the netser may sup-
posably have been Hezekiah, or have been an ideal king
of David's line, but he was so as a link in the promise
made for eternity by Yahaweh to Abraham and Israel
and David and mankind.
The word hhoter, translated "bud-shoot" in the pas-
sage just cited, is perhaps entitled to mention among
the messianic terms, but it need not delay us.
Not least important among these terms, though left
in the background in the English versions, is the word
Nagidh, nagidh, variously translated captain, ruler,
that is, prince, chief ruler, leader, chief governor,
Regent nobles, etc. It is one of three words of a
stem that is much used. One is a preposition signify-
ing in front of. A second is the verb that signifies to
lay before one, that is, to announce, declare, make
known, tell. The word nagidh is used in most parts
of the Old Testament, but its use is more frequent and
more varied in Chronicles than in the other books. In
general it denotes a person or a tribe that is in front of
others, commanding attention and obedience; one that
is before others, not in the sense of being first in the
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 341
order of march, but in the sense of being looked to for
orders; one that is second only to the supreme authority;
one that has the primacy, a primate, viceroy, lieutenant,
regent. The English word "regent" sometimes denotes
a person who performs the duties of the sovereign
because the sovereign is too young, or is otherwise in-
competent. Excluding this use, the English word will
translate nagidh wherever it occurs, and ordinarily with
implications the same as those of the Hebrew word.1
We have heretofore found that the human person who
is over Yahaweh's kingdom on earth is called king,
Yahaweh's Anointed. When the word nagidh is used,
we have a different way of presenting the matter. In
1 Five times the word is plural (2 Chron. xi. 11, xxxv. 8; Job xxix. 10;
Ps. lxxvi. 12; Prov. viii. 6), the persons denoted being military or ecclesi-
astical officers or others of high rank. Three times the regent is an officer
of the highest rank in a foreign nation (2 Chron. xxxii. 21; Ezek. xxviii.
2; Dan. ix. 26). About eleven times, besides instances in the plural, he
is at the head of a department in Israel, the temple, the priesthood, the
treasures, the house (1 Chron. ix. 11; 2 Chron. xxxi. 13; Jer. xx. 1; Neh.
xi. 11; 1 Chron. ix. 20, xii. 27, xxvi. 24; 2 Chron. xxxi. 12, xxviii. 7;
1 Chron. xiii. 1). Four times the regent is of especially high rank, but
is not otherwise designated (1 Chron. xxvii. 4, 16; Job xxxi. 37; Prov.
xxviii. 16). Zebadiah, "the regent of the house of Judah" (not the tribe,
but the royal house), was, next to the king himself, over the people "in all
the king's matters" (2 Chron. xix. 11). Abijah was made regent at the
head of his brothers the sons of Rehoboam (2 Chron. xi. 22).
This general use of the word may serve to define it when it is applied
to the king of Yahawelrs kingdom. David is represented as saying that
Yahaweh has chosen Judah for Regent (I Chron. xxviii. 4). Though
Reuben was the firstborn, Judah had the birthright, so that the Regent
came from him (i Chron. v. 2). Saul and David and Solomon and Jero-
boam and Baasha and Hezekiah are in their kingly character each spoken
of as Regent (1 Sam. ix. 16, x. 1, xiii. 14, xxv. 30; 2 Sam. v. 2, vi. 21;
1 Chron. xi. 2, xxix. 22; 1 Ki. i. 35, xiv. 7, xvi. 2; 2 Ki. xx. 5). And this
way of speaking is employed in the passages that treat specifically of the
promise (2 Sam. vii. 8; 1 Chron. xvii. 7; 2 Chron. vi. 5; Isa. lv. 4; Dan.
ix. 25, xi. 22).
342 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
this mode of speech the king is Yahaweh, and the hu-
man monarch is Yahaweh's Regent, his grand vizier,
his supreme representative, second in rank only to
himself.
This list would be incomplete if we omitted the term
"my Lord" as used in the opening of the one hundred
My Lord, and tenth psalm. The one who uses the
in Ps. CX phrase is speaking in the person of David,
and the person of whom he speaks is Yahaweh's king
or Regent. This would be clear even if we had not the
word of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament
for it (Matt. xxii. 43–45; Mc. xii.. 36; Lc. xx. 42–44;
Acts ii. 34–35; Heb. i. 13, x. 13; I Cor. xv. 25, etc.).
Deferring to the next chapter our examination of the
contents of the psalm, we now only note the name "my
Lord" as here applied to this conquering king, who
sits at Yahaweh's right hand, second in authority only
to him.
In regard to each of the terms in the list we have
been examining, we might repeat, with the requisite
Common changes in details, certain things that have
character of been already said concerning the Servant and
the messianic the Messiah. Each one of them is so univer-
terms sal that it might be applied to any person or
personified aggregate, thought of as representing Yahaweh's
redemptive purposes for mankind. Each one was
primarily understood to denote either Israel or the
contemporary representative of the line of David, or
both, thought of as standing for Yahaweh's promised
blessing to mankind. But in each case this contem-
porary person or personified people is a link in an end-
less chain. The prophets never forget that the promise
is for eternity. They taught that the Servant or the
hhasidh or the Branch or the Son or the Regent belong
YAHAWEH'S HHASIDH 343
to the present and the past, but also to future genera-
tions without limit. They looked forward to the future
manifestation of the Servant or the hhasidh or the
Branch or the Son or the Regent in such glory as
should eclipse all earlier manifestations.
CHAPTER XV
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE
Thus far we have been dealing with the direct state-
ments made in the Old Testament concerning the prom-
ise. In the present chapter we are to look at certain
less direct ways in which it gives testimony in the
matter.
The central line of the Old Testament records is that
of the history of Israel. We have traced the messianic
promise in that history, up to the time when
Summary the psalmists and prophets whose works re-
main to us took up the doctrine. We have noticed how
these poets and preachers of Israel found the promise
in existence and made it the principal theme of their
songs and sermons, regarding it as the central doctrine
of their religion, and treating it accordingly. We have
made a study of some of the terms which they created
for the expressing of this doctrine: Servant, the King-
dom and the Anointed, hhaasidh, Chosen one, Beloved
one, Perfected one, my Called one, Son, Branch, Flower,
Bud, Regent, my Lord. All this is what the records
directly say concerning the promise as existing in the
times of the patriarchs, of the exodus, of David, of
David's successors. Now we come to the consideration
of certain collateral ways in which this literature hands
down this same doctrine of the promise.
As preliminary we need to look more closely at one
or two aspects of the evidence as already presented.
344
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE 345
Inevitably, as we consider these facts and terms one
after the other, there arises in the mind a conception
which we may describe as that of the Person The Person
of the promise. Each one of the messianic of the
terms denotes either a person or an aggre- promise
gate of people personified. We all have to agree in
this, even if we differ in our opinions as to the identity
of the person or the aggregate. For example, if one
regards the Servant as Israel, and another regards him
as the heir to David's kingdom, and another regards
him as the prophet, and another as some typical Israel-
ite, and another as a person who is to come, all alike
have the conception of him as a person. They might
use this conception in formulating their differences, one
saying that the Person of the promise is Israel, another
saying that the prophet himself is the Person of the
promise, another saying that the Person of the promise
is a coming Saviour, and so on.
We have already seen that certain extraordinary
things are said concerning the Person of the promise,
but we now need to attend to this more par- Extraordinary
ticularly. Under the title of the Servant the statements
Person of the promise is in the same breath concerning him
said to be Israel and to have the restoring of
Israel as his mission (Isa. xlix. 1-6). Again, in a closely
connected passage he is one moment presented as Israel,
suffering for the wrongdoing of the nations, and in the
next moment as stricken for the transgressions of "my
people"; at one moment as belonging to a particular
generation, and cut off out of the land of the living, and
in the next moment as prolonging his days and possess-
ing to the full all that is included in Yahaweh's eternal
covenant with Israel (Isa. liii).
Perhaps the eternal and universal dominion ascribed
346 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
to the Person of the promise, under more than one of
the titles by which he is designated, and the peace and
happiness prevailing thereunder, should not be regarded
as extraordinary, because the passages of this kind are
so very frequent. But when we find applied to him,
under the description of the Son that is born, such titles
as Wonderful, Counsellor, God all Victorious, Eternal
Father (Isa. ix. 6), these at least indicate something
most unusual in his character as estimated by the
prophet.
A very marked presentation of this idea of the won-
derful exaltation of the Person of the promise appears
in Jacob's blessing upon Judah: --
"Sceptre shall not be removed from Judah, nor lawgiver from his
lineage, until that he come whose it is, and obedience of peoples be
his" (Gen. xlix. 10).
Even if one does not venture to decide too dogmatically
on a passage concerning which opinions differ so greatly,
one may at least suppose that the poet has here in mind
the conception of the Person of the promise. He says
that the prerogatives of the promise shall descend
through Judah, in a dominion that shall have no end.
Compare Ezek. xxi. 27 [32].1
Jesus showed his insight into the scriptures when he
selected the one hundred and tenth psalm as a typical
instance for calling attention to the extraordinary char-
1 The translation "until Shiloh come" (OV) is not bad. Shiloh is
here not the familiar proper name, but the transliterated Hebrew phrase
"whose it is." To a reader who understands this the meaning is clear.
There is an old-fashioned interpretation that regards the verse as a predic-
tion fulfilled in the fact that Judah under Herod retained some shadow of
national prerogative till after the birth of Jesus. This is really quite
plausible, but the meaning seems to me to be, rather, that the dominion
vested in Judah will never cease, but will be merged into the "obedience
of peoples" to the Person of the promise.
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE 347
acter attributed to the Person of the promise. Let us
look at this song more particularly. Its title is "David's.
A Psalm." There is no reason for disputing The instance
that Jesus and the men of the New Testa- selected by
ment are correct when they say explicitly that Jesus
the words of the psalm are spoken in the person of David
(Matt. xxii. 44; Mc. xii. 36; Lc. xx. 42-43; Acts ii.
34-35).
"The utterance of Yahaweh to my Lord:
Sit thou at my right hand
Until I make thy foemen
a footstool for thy feet.
"The sceptre of thy strength
Yahaweh stretcheth forth from Zion.
Be thou conqueror in the midst of thy foemen.
"Thy people are volunteers in thy muster-day.
In holy splendors from the womb of morning
thy dew of youth are thine.
"Yahaweh hath sworn, and will not repent,
Thou art a priest for ever,
after the manner of Melchizedek.
"It was the Lord upon thy right hand
that crushed kings in the day of his anger.
He dictateth among the nations; it is full of bodies;1
he crushed one that was head over a wide land.
"One drinketh from a brook by the way,
therefore one lifteth up his head."
The singer, apparently, has been reading the account
of the victory of Abraham over the four kings (Gen. xiv).
It is to him like drinking of a brook by the way; he is
refreshed, and feels like holding his head high, when he
thinks how Yahaweh enabled the recipient of the prom-
ise, with his little band of retainers and allies, to defeat
1 That is, the field of the battle is covered with bodies.
348 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
the armies of the "wide land" of the Babylonian-Ela-
mitic empire. He is reminded of what Yahaweh has done
for the Person of the promise from the time of Abraham
to his own time, and of what Yahaweh has promised for
future time without limit. No wonder he speaks of the
Person of the promise as "my Lord."1 He sings of
the strong sceptre of "my Lord," reaching forth from
Zion, of his willing warriors, numerous and splendid as
the morning dewdrops, and of their victories. He re-
members also that the promise-people is "a kingdom of
priests." The, Person of the promise is a priest, as well
as a conqueror. In Abraham he paid tithes to Melchize-
dek, but he is himself a priest of the same rank with Mel-
chizedek. It is not only in the phrase "my Lord" that
the psalm ascribes extraordinary exaltation to the Person
of the promise, but also in what it says concerning his
dominion, his subjects, his victories, his priesthood.
We must not make the mistake of understanding too
concretely this conception of the Person of the promise,
An idea as if it steadily amounted to an expectation
rather than of the coming of a concrete person. In itself
a concrete considered it is an idea rather than a concep-
person tion of fact, though like all such conceptions, it
would come to have, in many minds, more or less of the char-
acter of reality. We must remember that this stream of
teachings, on its way to us from its first fountains, flowed
through different belts of soil, and also received affluents
and from these derived not only greater fulness, but also
varieties of taste and coloring. There might supposably
come a time—actually there came a time—when the
conception of the Person of the promise assumed the
character of an actual expectation of a concrete person.
Of course Christians hold that the Person of the promise
1 On this phrase see Chapter XIV, near the end.
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE 349
became completely a reality in the person of Jesus
Christ.
This conception of the Person of the promise, whether
it existed at any given date as a mere form of thought
or as the presentment of an expected actual A nucleus of
person, became the heart of a more or less a doctrinal
definitely formulated body of ethical and theo- system
logical beliefs. We have had occasion to notice the char-
acter of a suffering mediator attributed to the Person of
the promise — to the Servant, for example, in Isa. liii.
The idea in one form or another is not rare, and the re-
demption spoken of is not from disaster merely, but from
sin and its punishment. This presupposes familiarity
with certain doctrines concerning obligation and right
and wrongdoing, and the relations of Deity to men.
The promise-doctrine, and especially the idea of the
Person of the promise, became a nucleus around which
crystallized an ethical theology. Many of the points of
Christian dogma concerning the extraordinary personal-
ity of Christ, his character, his atonement, his relations
to the Holy Spirit, the privileges of those who are united
to him, are more or less distinctly anticipated in what the
Old Testament says concerning the Person of the promise.
As we have many times had occasion to notice, the
Person of the promise is presented to us both as a typi-
cal Israelite and as a typical human person. The Person
Or, using a mode of speech that is common both typical
among theologians, he is the antitype in an- and antitypal
tithesis to which much that appears in the dealings of
God with man is typical. The subject of type and anti-
type we have briefly considered in Chapter VI. These
terms will now afford us convenient phraseology for pre-
senting what the present chapter has already described
as the collateral lines of the promise-doctrine.
350 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Some of these lines of information at least were in
existence all through the period when the Psalms
and the prophetic books were being produced, and
served to illustrate the teachings of the prophets to
their contemporaries.
I. The prophets were themselves typical men, men
representative of the facts and the principles included
in the promise, types with the Person of the promise
for an antitype.
With the definition above given of the Person of the
promise, this is not directly the same thing as to say
that the prophets were types of the personal coming
Messiah, though it may supposably amount to the same
in the end. So far as the coming Messiah is concerned,
the proposition just stated is hypothetical. Each prophet
stood for the whole line. He was a type of the chief
prophet in case the line of the prophets should culmi-
nate in a chief prophet. This is true alike of the whole
succession and of each prophet in the succession.
In outlining the external history of the prophets, and
again in outlining their functions, we have already
Deut. xviii (Chapters III, V) given some attention to the
eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy. This
passage has also a distinctly messianic character. It
promises that from time to time, as Yahaweh should see
fit, he would raise up a prophet, so as to meet all the
needs which his people might have for communication
with the supernatural world.
"A prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me,
will Yahaweh thy God raise up for thee."
"A prophet will I raise up for them from the midst of their breth-
ren, like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he
shall speak unto them all which I command him" (Deut. xviii. 15,
17-18).
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE—DOCTRINE 351
Scholars are correct in saying that the word "prophet"
is not here a collective, but denotes one prophet and no
more. All the same, however, the word is here used
distributively. The prophets will be a succession, and
each one will have the typical character. As the word
"Messiah" denotes the successive kings of the line of
David, with the possibility that the line may culminate
in a greater King, so there is the possibility that the line
of prophets may culminate in a greater Prophet.
The Apostle Peter (Acts iii. 21, 24) connects this
passage in Deuteronomy with the thought of the "holy
prophets which have been since the world began," and
with "Samuel and them that followed after." Evidently
he understands that the passage refers to a succession
of prophets. But in the same context (21-26) he claims
that it is a messianic prediction, fulfilled in Jesus the
Christ. Stephen (Acts vii. 37) puts the same interpreta-
tion upon it.1 In other places, exceedingly numerous, the
New Testament writers seem to have in mind the details
of the Deuteronomic passage. Jesus is spoken of as
he "of whom Moses . . . did write," as "the prophet
that cometh into the world," as speaking only God's
words (e.g. Jn. i. 45, vi. 14, iii. 34; Lc. x. 16), and
thus as having made a record agreeing with the de-
scription in Deuteronomy. Great stress is laid on the
1 The citations in the Acts are doubtless from the Septuagint, though
they are somewhat free. They differ more from the Hebrew than does
the Septuagint, though neither differs materially. That the citation is
from a form of the text that was current among the disciples is to be
inferred from the fact that the divergences which appear in Peter's
speech are repeated in Stephen's.
In Acts iii. 26 (cf. iv. 2) there is apparently a play on words. Jesus
Christ, here called Servant, is said to he raised up, not merely, like his
predecessors, in the sense of being commissioned, but also in that of
resurrection from death.
352 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
points of comparison and contrast between him and
Moses, as if the New Testament writers had in mind
the "like unto me" of Deuteronomy (e.g. Heb. iii. 2, 5,
ix. 19). The specification "of your brethren" is like-
wise made prominent (Heb. ii. 12, 17, etc.). In these
various ways they claim that the things that were typi-
cally true of each prophet were preeminently true of the
one great prophet, the culmination of the line.
In the fact that the prophet was regarded as espe-
cially the organ of Yahaweh's Spirit, we have an addi-
tional point that characterizes the antitype as it does the
type.
II. The line of passages in which the Old Testament
writers present the theophanic Angel of Yahaweh
— the Angel, as distinguished from angels -- bears col-
laterally on the doctrine of the promise.
That there is such a line of passages no one would
question, nor that the Angel is especially to the front in
the theophanies that are described (see I, 2 (d) of Chap-
ter VI). So much is easy to make out. It is less easy,
in some of the instances, to distinguish between the
Angel and any other angel;1 and this we need not now
1 The following are the passages in which the word "angel" appears
with the article or with a defining genitive. Whether the angel is in all
of them the same person, is another question. For the purposes now in
hand we need not take the trouble to distinguish between "angel of
Yahaweh" and "angel of Elohim."
The Angel (or angel) appears to Hagar, fleeing from her mistress, and
commands her to return; and again appears for her rescue when Ishmael
is at the point of death (Gen. xvi. 7, 9, 10, 11, xxi. 17). He appears to
Abraham when Isaac is upon the altar, and, as we may probably infer, in
the great theophany just before the destruction of Sodom (xxii. 15,
xviii). He is sent with Abraham's servant who seeks a wife for Isaac
(Gen. xxiv. 7, 40). He appears to Jacob in a dream, and is described
by him as "the Angel that redeemed me from all evil" (Gen. xxxi. 11,
xlviii. 16). Hosea represents Jacob as coming into contact with the
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE—DOCTRINE 353
attempt. Nor need we formulate a theological theory
as to the nature of the personage described as "the
Angel."1 It is sufficient to note that in several of the
instances the Angel is represented as appearing in human
form; and in several of the instances he not merely speaks
in the name of Yahaweh, but is personally identified with
Yahaweh. There are relations between the things that
Angel at Bethel, and also, evidently, at Peniel (Hos. xii. 3–5; cf. Gen.
xxviii. 10-19, xxxii. 24–30, xxxv). He met Moses at the burning bush,
and protected Israel at the Red Sea (Ex. iii. 2, xiv. 19; Num. xx. 16, the
word being indefinite in Numbers). It is promised that he shall go before
Israel into Canaan (Ex. xxiii. 20, 23, xxxii. 34, xxxiii. 2, the first and last
instances being indefinite). He rebukes Israel at Bochim, and curses
Meroz (Jud. ii. 1, 4, v. 23). He is prominent in the story of Gideon, and
in the account of the birth of Samson (Jud. vi. 11, 12, 20, 21, 22, xiii.
3, 6, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, all the instances being in the Hebrew
definite). To him the Tekoite woman compares David (2 Sam. xiv.
17, 20), and Mephibosheth does the same (2 Sam. xix. 27). He was
concerned with the pestilence and the threshing floor of Ornan the
Jebusite (2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17; I Chron. xxi. 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 27, 30),
and thus with the selection of the site of the temple. He gave messages
to Elijah (2 Ki. i. 3, 15). Apparently the destroyer of the one hundred
eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyria (2 Ki. xix. 35; Isa. xxxvii. 36;
2 Chron. xxxii. 21) was "an angel," "the angel" that was commissioned
for this purpose, and not the Angel. The Angel (or angel) protects those
who fear Yahaweh, and drives away their persecutors (Pss. xxxiv. 7, xxxv.
5, 6). It is foolish to make excuses before the Angel (Ec. v. 6). "The
Angel of his presence saved" Israel of old (Isa. lxiii. 9). "The house
of David shall be as God, as the Angel of Yahaweh" (Zech. xii. 8). The
word "angel" is used twenty times in Zech. i–vi, and it is merely a mat-
ter of painstaking here to distinguish the Angel from the other angels that
appear. It was God's angel (or Angel) that delivered Daniel from the
lions, and his three friends from the furnace (Dan. vi. 22, iii. 28). The
closing message in Malachi presents Yahaweh's Angel, "the Angel of
the covenant" (iii. 1). "The angel" that appears ten times in the
story of Balaam (Num. xxii) is probably not the Angel.
1 There is some plausibility in the idea that used to be advanced, to the
effect that the Angel is the Son—the second person of the Trinity, as
defined in Christian dogma — temporarily assuming human form, before
his incarnation in the person of Jesus.
354 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
are said concerning him and the New Testament doc-
trine of the incarnation.
The accounts of the theophanic Angel are a constitu-
ent part of the history of the promise. He is repre-
The Angel sented as in communication with Abraham in
and the some of the crises when the promise is men-
promise tioned (Gen. xxii, and by probable inference
xviii). He was with Jacob at Bethel, and when his
name was changed to Israel, and was remembered by
Jacob as "the Angel that redeemed me from all evil "
(Hos. xii. 3–5; cf. Gen. xxxii. 24–30, xxviii. 10-19, xxxv,
xxxi. 11, xlviii. 16). He is with Moses at the burning
bush, and with Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex.
iii. 2, xiv. 19). Evidently it is the theophanic Angel con-
cerning whom Yahaweh says to Israel: "Behold I send
an Angel before thee," and again, "Mine Angel shall go
before thee" (Ex. xxiii. 20, 23). Yahaweh makes this
a great thing; the presence of the Angel with his peo-
ple is his own presence with them.
"If thou wilt indeed hearken at his voice, and do all that I speak,
I will be enemy to thine enemies," etc. (22).
He adds threats that are correspondingly severe.
"Take ye heed of him, . . . be not rebellious with him, for he
will not pardon your transgression, for my name is within him" (21).
When Israel sinned with the golden calf, Yahaweh's
promise to go with him in the person of the Angel was
revoked. The intercession of Moses elicited only this
concession: —
"And now, go thou, lead the people unto the place concerning
which I spake to thee [saying], Behold my Angel shall go before
thee. And in the day of my visiting I will visit their sin upon them"
(Ex. xxxii. 34)
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE—DOCTRINE 355
"Go thou up hence, thou and the people . unto the land
which I sware . . . , saying, To thy seed will I give it, And I will
send an Angel before thee . . . ; for I will not go up in the midst
of thee" (Ex. xxxiii. 1-3).
Observe that here is no renewal of the promise that the
Angel should go, but, on the contrary, an implication
that the promise is no longer in force. After further
intercession, and after punishment inflicted on the peo-
ple, and repentance expressed by them, Yahaweh relents
and says: —
"My presence shall go, and I will give thee rest" (xxxiii. 14).
Apparently it is Yahaweh in the character of the
theophanic Angel that rebukes Israel at Bochim,
and that reveals himself to Gideon and to Manoah
(Jud. ii. 1-4, vi. 11-22, xiii. 3-21). It is the Angel that
deals with David in the matter of the pestilence, when
Ornan's threshing floor was purchased to be the site of
the temple (2 Sam. xxiv. 16-17; 1 Chron. xxi. 12-30).
Various significant allusions are made to the Angel
(Pss. xxxiv. 7, xxxv. 5, 6; Ec. v. 6; Isa. lxiii. 9; Zech.
xii. 8). He appears very prominently, in company with
other angels, in the first six chapters of Zechariah.
And perhaps Malachi's mention of him is the most sig-
nificant of all: —
"Behold, I send my Angel, and he shall prepare a way before me ;
and suddenly the lord whom ye are seeking shall come unto his tem-
ple, and the Angel of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he is
coming, saith Yahaweh of hosts. And who may abide the day of
his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?" (Mal. iii.
1-2).
The word here translated "the lord" is in the sin-
gular, and has the article. It differs from both "the
Lord" and "the LORD," the two familiar forms in which
this word is applied to Yahaweh; and yet the phrase
356 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
"his temple" indicates that the word here denotes
Yahaweh. There are a certain number of parallel in-
stances (e.g. Isa. i. 24, iii. I, x. 16, 33). What is said
here concerning the Angel is a repetition in modified
form of the promise made at the time of the exodus
(Ex. xxiii. 20, 23, xxxii. 34, xxxiii. 2). The question,
"Who may abide the day of his coming?" includes an
allusion to the warnings given in Exodus (xxiii 21,
xxxii. 34c). As cited in the evangelists, it reverts in part
to its original form, as found in Exodus: —
"Behold I send my Angel before thy face,
Who shall prepare thy way before thee"
(Matt. xi. 10; cf. Mc. i. 2; Lc. vii. 27).
What Yahaweh says in Malachi is that his ancient
utterance to Israel holds good, and that he will signally
manifest himself in the person of the theophanic Angel.
Jesus says, as reported by Matthew and Luke, that the
movement in which he and John the Baptist are engaged
is this signal manifestation of Yahaweh. His words
have been commonly understood as also affirming that
John is the Angel (the messenger) sent before his face,
but this is not necessarily their effect.1
In fine, the theophanic Angel appears at all stages
of the history from Abraham to Malachi. He is repre-
sented as in relations with the kingdom, the last days,
the day of Yahaweh, the coming of Yahaweh. He is
especially prominent in giving to Yahaweh's people
their possession in the benefits of the promise.
1 Of course it is a very natural way of understanding them. But it de-
mands the exercise of too much ingenuity for interpreting Malachi, and it
ignores the relation of the exodus passages with both the Malachi passage
and the New Testament citations. It is ingenious conjecture rather than
sound inference which makes "my angel" in Malachi to be a different
being from "the angel of the covenant," and one or both to be different
from the theophanic Angel.
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE 357
III. As we have seen in Chapter VII, the scriptures
represent that the whole of Yahaweh's law was given to
Israel through the prophets. In addition to their direct
utterances, they taught indirectly through the sanctuary
and its furniture and the public worship and all religious
observances. And the promise was so incorporated
into the national institutions that these were a perpetual
reminder of it to those who had the insight needed for
understanding this lesson.
The heart of Israel's sanctuary, as described in the
scriptures, was the ark standing in the holy of holies.
The ark contained the two tables on which The heart of
Deity himself had written the ten words. the cult of
The lid of it, with the cherubim, constituted Israel
what we are accustomed to call the mercy seat. The
ark is called the ark of the covenant, because the ten
words, its contents, were the basis of Yahaweh's cove-
nant with his people (Ex. xxiv. 3, 7-8). It was called
the ark of the testimony because the two tables, Yaha-
weh's autograph, were the authenticated copy of the
basis of the covenant. The covenant consisted in Yaha-
weh's acceptance of Israel as his own people on con-
dition of obedience to the ten words in their religious
and ethical and social obligations. But every Israelite
who had insight knew that this was an impossible con-
dition. He knew that neither Israel as a people, nor
himself, nor other Israelites, were ever, in the eye of
omniscience, perfectly obedient to the ten words. If
that had been all, the covenant was a hopeless proposi-
tion. But that was not all. The mercy seat was sig-
nificant, as well as the two tables. It signified that
Yahaweh was gracious and compassionate as well as
just, ready to forgive as well as strict, one who prof-
fered atonement as well as one who required obedience.
358 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
The heart of the sacred year had the same signifi-
cance with that of the sanctuary. Once in the year the
highpriest entered the holy of holies, and placed on the
mercy seat the blood of the great annual sin-offering.
To this central solemnity were adjusted the three great
feasts and the new moons and the sabbaths and the
daily burnt-offerings, and all special and individual sea-
sons of worship.
Thus the mercy seat and its functions were the heart
of the whole sacrificial system. This was carried out
in the ceremonial of all the various sacrifices. The sin-
offering idea entered into the ritual in connection with
the disposal of the blood of all burnt-offerings and all
peace-offerings. And the ideas that pervaded the sacri-
fices pervaded all the religious observances, the worship
by gifts that were not properly sacrificial, and by prayer
and song and fasting, and the reading of scripture and
the booths of the autumnal feast and the blowing of
trumpets and the resting on the sabbath.
This does not minimize any other significance which
may have belonged to the sacrifices or to the other wor-
ship. It is impossible not to find in the burnt-offering
an emblem of self-surrender, accepted from the skies as
the smoke mounts heavenward. In the sacrificial feasts
the worshipper found religious fellowship with his fel-
low-worshippers and with Deity. But in the Levitical
scheme all other ideas are bound to those that centre in
the ark, with its tables of the covenant and its mercy seat.
Of course it is not claimed that all Israelites of every
period were fully aware of the spiritual meanings of the
Men who rites they practised. In our day the majority
were devout of worshippers are deficient in spiritual in-
and had sight, and very likely the ancient worshippers
insight may have been yet more deficient. It is likely that there
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE—DOCTRINE 359
were Israelites who thought of their sacrifices as a bribe
to their God, or as a way of putting him into good
humor by giving him a good feed. But however true
this may be, it is certain that the cult itself was inspired
by loftier meanings, and that some of the worshippers
were, in a greater or less degree, conscious of these.
Further, it is, of course, true that the view which
a modern person takes of these things will depend very
much on the critical theories he holds. The One's
ceremonial laws of Israel will have maximum critical point
value in the mind of one who holds that they of view
originated with Moses, and were actually, to some extent,
in operation from his time. If one holds that they are
mainly fiction, a presentation of ideas rather than facts,
he, none the less, ought to recognize the principles that
underlie the ideas. And even if one holds that the cere-
monial laws are a chance aggregation of relatively late
materials, coming into existence in different centuries
and in connection with different movements, he is still
under obligation to account for the fact that they may
naturally be interpreted as the expression of these under-
lying principles. It is impossible so to interpret the
laws as to eliminate these meanings utterly from them.
My own opinion is that the meanings are in them
through the design of the prophets who gave Israel the
laws. But if they entered in some other way, at all
events they are there.
The priestly laws of Israel may be regarded as an
especial embodiment of the idea that Israel himself is
"a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" Connected
(Ex. xix. 6). The national priestly character with Israel's
is exhibited in the functions exercised by the priesthood
priests of the nation. When the psalmist says that the
Person of the promise is "a priest for ever after the
360 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
order of Melchizedek," he implies both comparison and
contrast between that priest and the existing priests of
Israel. The author of the book of Hebrews, in his
long comments on this matter, has not failed to catch
the spirit both of the psalm and of the ceremonial
law.
As we have already seen, a different presentation of
the sacrificial idea sometimes occurs. Israel, or the
The victim Servant, or the hhasidh, or the Person of the
as well as the promise, appears as the victim rather than as
priest the priest. Or, rather, inasmuch as his medi-
atorial sufferings are voluntary, he is both priest and
victim.
On the whole, it is, perhaps, this phase of the promise-
doctrine, this idea of vicarious suffering, the precursor
of the New Testament doctrine of the atonement, that
is principally emphasized in the Israelitish legislation.
Every part of the national institutions, and in particular
the worship, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the temple, has
a typal value, is a presentation of the great truths of the
doctrine of the promise. If the truths of sin and redemp-
tion are here most emphasized, emphasis is also placed on
the separateness of Israel, and so on Yahaweh's eternal
purpose for the nations through Israel. The institutions
of Israel were themselves the perpetual fulfilment of the
promise, and therefore a perpetual pointing forward to
the coming stages of the fulfilment.
This was not a light thing. Imagine its influence
over the worshippers who came from all parts of the
earth to Jerusalem, in the generations just before the
public ministry of Jesus. Was not the worship con-
nected in their thoughts with the promise and with the
future glories of Israel? Were they not ready to find
in all its details illustrations of the hope that burned in
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE 361
their hearts? The author of the book of Hebrews knew
what he was about. He knew how to select his argu-
ments so that they would appeal to thoughts that were
already in the minds of those for whom he wrote.
IV. To these lines of collateral testimony we may
add a vast number of matters that are sometimes cited
as instances of type or of prediction.
The quoting of Old Testament examples as types of
the Messiah is a very common practice: Noah's ark,
for example, or Noah himself, or Lot, or Persons or
Melchizedek, or Joseph, or Jonah, and so objects as
forth. The representations of this kind that types
are currently made need careful sifting; but there can
be no doubt that the prophets thought of many persons
and objects as bearing some relation to the great national
promise.
We should also class as collateral any predictive pas-
sages that may be found, which do not connect them-
selves directly with the main line of the Discon-
promise. In these chapters we have exam- nected
ined a large number of the passages that are predictions
commonly quoted as messianic predictions, and we have
found that they are not a miscellaneous collection of dis-
connected fragments, but parts of a continuous history.
They are shoots from a common stem, the stem being
the one never vanishing doctrine of the promise. Two
additional questions arise. First: Have some of these
passages, besides their value as statements of the
promise-doctrine, an additional value as predictions
of specific events in the career of the Person of the
promise? Second: Are there other passages whose
primary value is that of specific predictions? In the
interest of brevity, I shall take the liberty of answering
these questions hypothetically rather than categorically.
362 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
As an example under the first of these two questions
take the Canto of the suffering Servant (Isa. liii). We
have seen that the Servant is the personified
Isa. liii idealized Israel, the people of the promise; and
that he is equally any typical Israelite, and in particular
the one antitypal Israelite who beyond all others stands
for the promise idea. In other words, the Servant is the
Person of the promise, and the Person of the promise
became a reality in Jesus the Christ. But in addition
to this there are several matters of detail in the proph-
ecy which correspond in a marked way to incidents in
the personal career of Jesus. These have been often
pointed out, and we need not repeat them. Are they
to be regarded as specific predictions of these particular
incidents? An alternative reply is sufficient. If one
so regards them, that need not change his opinion of
the main bearing of the passage; if one does not so re-
gard them, the identification of the Servant with Jesus
as the Person of the promise remains unimpaired.
Or take the twenty-second psalm. Except to one
who denies the existence of predictive inspiration, no
theory could be more plausible than that the
Ps. xxii prophet was made to see in vision the events of
the humiliation and death of Jesus, and that he made the
song from what he saw. On this theory, the parts of the
psalm that are cited in the New Testament, and other
parts along with them, are specific predictions. The
prophet-singer in his vision heard the cry: "My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He saw the
enemies of Jesus shaking the head and laughing him to
scorn. He heard them say: Let him deliver him, see-
ing he delighteth in him." He witnessed the thirst, and
the pierced hands and feet, and the projecting bones of
the body fastened to the cross. He saw the garments
COLLATERAL LINES OF PROMISE-DOCTRINE 363
parted, with the casting of lots. And looking beyond,
he saw the victory that the crucified one was winning
through his humiliation, and he sang: —
"I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
* * * * * * * *
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the LORD:
And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
For the kingdom is the LORD'S:
And he is the ruler over the nations" (Ps. xxii. 22, 27-28 RV).
This is one theory of the song. Compare it with
another. In these sufferings of his Jesus was, in his
human nature, an antitypal man. There have been ten
thousand other instances practically the same in type.
Suppose that the prophet had primarily in mind some
typical man or personified people of his own time, the
representative of the promise for that generation; and
that the men of the New Testament simply applied to
Jesus this presentation of the Person of the promise, as
they applied other like presentations.
The question that we have to consider is this: Are
these items concerning the outcry and the scoffing and
the thirst and the pierced hands and feet and the part-
ing of the garments to be regarded as specific predic-
tions of these particular incidents in the crucifixion of
Jesus? If we say that they are, that is no more in con-
flict with the second of the two theories of the song than
with the first. If we say that they are not, it will still
be true, on the second of the two theories, that the song
is a truthful presentation of Jesus as the Person of the
promise, and that the use made of it in the gospels is
exegetically sound.
As with details in the passages that formally teach
the promise-doctrine, so with predictions that seem to
364 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
be isolated. Is Balaam's utterance about the star that
shall arise out of Jacob (Num. xxiv. 17) of the nature of
Other a prediction of a particular messianic event?
instances Are the utterances, "Let their habitation
be desolate" and "Let another take his office" (Pss.
lxix. 25, cix. 8; cf. Acts i. 20), to be regarded as properly
predictions concerning Judas, or simply as scripture
phrases aptly applied to the circumstances? If you say
that they are predictions, you say nothing that contra-
dicts the view of the promise-doctrine that has here been
presented. If you say that they are not, you put your-
self under obligation to explain the New Testament use
of them, but the doctrine of the promise is sufficiently
buttressed without them.
In fine, this body of literature which we call the Old
Testament is so thoroughly permeated with the idea of
the promise that this affects the whole of its contents.
Whatever in it is not of the nature of statement of fact
concerning the promise is likely to be connected with it
by way of illustration or suggestion.
CHAPTER XVI
MESSIANIC EXPECTATION AND FULFILMENT
WE have been trying to interpret what the Old Testa-
ment records say concerning the giving of the promise.
But if the promise is anything, it is a promise. It raised
expectations in men's minds, and it was followed by
fulfilments. We shall be able both to test and to
illustrate the results we have reached if we can bring
them into comparison with the expectations that existed
in the time of Jesus, and with any fulfilments which
the promise may have had.
I. We take up the question of the expectation of
the Messiah as it existed in the New Testament times.
Sources of information on this subject are some of the
later Old Testament Apocrypha, the Psalter of Solomon,
the Sibylline books, the book of Enoch, Jose- Sources
phus, Philo, etc., with the traditions of the early
Christian fathers and the Talmudists. But it should not
be forgotten that the New Testament is by far the most
explicit and trustworthy source. The New Testament
comes nearer than the other sources to being first-hand
evidence on the subject. It is mistaken procedure to
begin by gleaning stray information from other sources,
and then, on the basis thus laid, to subject the New
Testament evidence to modifying treatment before we
accept it.
The statement commonly made is that the Jews, at
the time of the Advent, were looking for a political
365
366 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Messiah, who should free them from the Romans, and
make them a dominant nation. In a rough way the
A temporal statement is true. It has the same sort of truth
deliverer? with other crude general statements-- the
statement, for example, that the earth is round like an
orange. But it needs to be much modified in order to
render it accurate.
The nature of the expectation may be defined in the
following propositions. First, the Jews of the genera-
The ex- tion of Jesus were looking for a signal mani-
pectation festation from Israel's God in fulfilment of
formulated the promise. Second, this quite commonly
took the form of an expectation that the Person of
the promise would appear among men as an actual per-
son, Yahaweh's Servant, his hhasidh, his Chosen one,
the Lord. Third, most prominently it was an expec-
tation of the setting up of the kingdom, with the
Anointed one, the son of David, as king. Fourth, be-
yond this, and in matters of detail, the expectation
presented a great variety of aspects, according to the
characters and the mental and spiritual habits of the
men who held it. In the minds of political leaders and
of others who made the most noise in the world, the
idea of a political Messiah was doubtless to the front,
but even these were uncertain on many points. In the
minds of the more devout, of those who had greater
insight into the scriptures, the spiritual mission of the
hoped-for Coming one was clearly recognized. From
the times of Jesus until now most Christian people have
steadily held to the doctrine of the second coming of
Christ; but that does not mean that they have uniformly
held to some particular millenarian theory. There were
many men of many minds in the generation of Jesus,
as in the present generation. Let us look at a few
MESSIANIC EXPECTATION 367
sections of the superabundant evidence by which these
statements might be substantiated.
To begin with, the promise-doctrine, as we have al-
ready seen (Chapter VIII), is all-pervasive in the New
Testament, and this fact shows the nature of The promise-
the expectation to which the first teachers of doctrine in the
Christianity had to appeal. If we could take New Testament
the space for a fresh study of this matter, now that we
have been prepared for it by our studies in the Old
Testament, we should find that the New Testament is
far more saturated with the promise idea than even the
treatment in our eighth chapter would indicate. In that
chapter we used mainly the passages where the word
"promise" occurs; but the doctrine is taught in a vast
number of other passages.1
The citations made in Chapter VIII for the New
Testament doctrine of the promise were taken mostly
from the book of Hebrews or the writings of Not a Pauline
Paul. But the doctrine is not the opinion of view merely
Paul and of the writer of Hebrews only, but of the other
New Testament men as well. In affirming this matter,
I use advisedly such phrases as "the New Testament,"
"the men of the New Testament." The nouns and
verbs that specifically denote the promise appear in the
utterances of James and John and Peter, and in the
gospels. There is nowhere a more emphatic or explicit
1 For example, the New Testament writers mention in a detailed way
the accounts given in Genesis of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, including
their relations with Sarah, Rebekah, Hagar, Ishmael, Esau, Lot, and others.
The several phrases in which the Old Testament affirms that Israel is Ya-
haweh's own people are repeated in the New Testament by citation from
the Old. For instance, in Heb. xi. 16, the phrase, "And I will be to
them for God," occurring first in Genesis (xvii. 8), and recurring through-
out the Old Testament. Or the phrase "stars of heaven in multitude"
(Neb. xi. 12). Or innumerable other descriptions or incidents or phrases.
368 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
statement of the doctrine than in the following from
Peter's sermon on the day of pentecost, though he does
not use the word "promise": —
"Ye are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God
made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall
all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having
raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every
one of you from your iniquities " (Acts iii. 25-26).
It would be interesting to trace the variations of the
doctrine as seen from the different points of view of the
different men of the New Testament, and to trace its
growth in time in the mind of such a man as Paul
himself. But these things would be mere matters
of detail. The doctrine in its essential character is
taught by Jesus, and by all the original teachers of
Christianity.
The fact that they thus taught it indicates the nature
of the messianic expectation that existed among those
to whom they taught it. When they based their appeal
on the promise, they expected to be understood. Their
ideas of the character of the promise were certainly
so far forth accepted, both in Palestine and in other
regions, as to furnish a basis for the arguments they
based upon it.
The generation to whom Jesus came were looking for
some great manifestation from God in fulfilment of the
ancient promise. It does not follow that they all to a
man expected exactly the same thing, and that the thing
they expected was a military deliverer. As we think
of it, it seems likely that we should find that different
persons expected different things. Doubtless the idea
of a political Messiah loomed up large in the minds of
the politicians and their followers; but these did not
constitute the whole Jewish population.
MESSIANIC EXPECTATION 369
The beginnings of the gospel, as preached both by
John the Baptist and by Jesus, included the announce-
ment that the kingdom of heaven was at An expects-
hand. This indicates the nature of the thing tion of the
that their hearers were looking for, namely, a kingdom
new manifestation of the kingdom that Yahaweh had
anciently set up among men. This idea of the matter
is traceable throughout the gospels. Late in the life of
Jesus, his disciples were seeking positions of honor in
the kingdom. The charge against him before Pilate is
that he claims the sovereignty over a kingdom, thus
placing himself in rivalry with Caesar. The whole New
Testament is an explanation of the nature of the king-
dom. Doubtless this idea became modified during the
interval between the birth of Jesus and the writing of
the several parts of the New Testament; but it was in
existence from the first. The first teachers of Christian-
ity did not create it, they found it current among their
compatriots. The common expectation of the fulfilment
of Yahaweh's ancient promise took the form of this
expectation of the kingdom.
There was also, as we have already noticed, an ex-
pectation of the Person of the promise. At And of a
the very beginning of the public ministry of Person, its
Jesus, we find Philip expressing to Nathanael Anointed king
his expectations in these words: —
"We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the proph-
ets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" (Jn. i. 45).
Philip is cautious, not venturing to say that they had
found the Messiah, but only that they had found the
Person of the promise as pictured in Moses and the
prophets.l But Andrew the day before had been less
1 See Chapter XIII, last paragraph of II.
370 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
cautious, saying to Simon: "We have found the Mes-
siah" (ver. 41). And it is under this latter description
as the Anointed king of the kingdom, that the expected
Person is commonly presented. In proof of this, one
might cite every one of the hundreds of New Testament
passages that speak of Christ or of the kingdom.
It is made very prominent that in their expectations
they thought of this Person of the promise, this Anointed
Descendant king of the kingdom, as being of the royal
and heir of line of David, and heir to the eternal throne
David which Yahaweh had promised to David and
his seed. The Christ is in the New Testament about
thirty times explicitly said to be son of David. The
opponents of Jesus argued against him by appealing to
this point in the current expectation: —
"Doth the Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture
said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethle-
hem, the village where David was?" (Jn. vii. 41-42).
When the wise men inquired for him that was "born
king of the Jews," and Herod gathered "all the chief
priests and scribes," and asked them "where the Christ
should be born," the answer he received was based on
the scripture concerning David's town of Bethlehem
(Matt. ii. 2-6). In the annunciation to Joseph the angel
addresses him as “Joseph, thou son of David” (Matt.
i. 20). The book of Matthew begins with "the gener-
ations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Abraham " (Matt. i. 1). The genealogies of Jesus trace
his line back to David, though also to Abraham, and in
Luke to Adam (Matt. i; Lc. iii). In the annunciation
to Mary, Joseph is described as "of the house of David"
(Lc. i. 27). We are told that Joseph and Mary went
for enrolment "to the city of David which is called
Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of
MESSIANIC EXPECTATION 371
David " (Lc. ii. 4). The angels are represented as say-
ing to the shepherds: "There is born to you this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"
(Lc. ii. 11). Surely, further citations are unnecessary.
But when we have looked at these facts, the case is
still incomplete. The points thus far mentioned are
very definite, but we also have glimpses of Uncertain
points in which the expectation was marked elements in the
by indefiniteness and uncertainty. There were expectation
uncertainties as to whether the manifestation would be
through one person or through several, and, indeed, a
very general uncertainty as to the forms it might be
expected to assume. Alike the first disciples and the
priests in Jerusalem and the Pharisees and the people
and Herod were conscious that they did not know
whether to look for one person or more than one.1
They were talking of the Christ, and Elijah, and "the
prophet," and "one of the old prophets." So far as
they knew, the kingdom might be manifested in one
person sent from God, or in a group or succession of
persons. They looked confidently for a certain great
thing, but concerning the nature of that thing they were
at many points in doubt.
1 "And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from
Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou? And he con-
fessed, . . . I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art
thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he
answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may
give an answer to them that sent us. . . . He said, I am the voice of one
crying in the wilderness." "And they had been sent from the Pharisees"
(Jn. i. 19-24).
"He asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man
is? And they said, Some say John the Baptist; some Elijah; and others
Jeremiah, or one of the prophets" (Matt. xvi. 13-14; cf. Mc. viii. 28, vi.
14-15). Luke has: "And others say that one of the old prophets is risen
again" (ix. 7-9, 19).
372 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
John the Baptist shared in this consciousness of a
lack of complete and specific knowledge. He knew
that he was the voice in the wilderness. He knew that
he was preparing the way for one that should follow
him. He knew that Jesus was his mightier successor,
and was the lamb of God. But he did not know that
he was the Elijah of prophecy, and he did not know
whether Jesus was "He that cometh," or was only, like
himself, a precursor of the Coming one (Matt. iii.; Mc. i;
Lc. iii ; Jn. i. 19-36, iii. 27-36; Matt. xi. 3; Lc. vii.
19, etc.).1 And the disciples of Jesus were constantly
asking questions concerning the kingdom, questions
which showed that their minds were full of unsettled
ideas on the subject. Their uncertainties were not
cleared till after the resurrection (Lc. xxiv).
The New Testament accounts imply that the eternal
and spiritual elements in the expected kingdom, its
Spiritual character as connected with redemption from
elements in sin, its mission for all mankind through
the expecta- Israel, were familiar to the minds of devout
tion Israelites, to such persons as Zacharias and Elisabeth
and Joseph and Mary and Simeon and Anna and John
the Baptist and Andrew and Philip and Nathanael and
Simon. It would be fruitless to inquire how large a
proportion of the adult Jews living at the time of the
birth of Jesus were of this type; but lofty ideas con-
cerning the kingdom were prevalent enough so that one
would be intelligible if he spoke of such things.
1 The more common explanation is that John at first knew, but that
afterward his faith grew dull, and then he did not know. This explana-
tion is based in part on the mistaken theory that faith is a sort of pious
guesswork which good people may substitute for evidence. Certainly
John's course is more reasonably accounted for as resulting from the
limitations of his knowledge.
MESSIANIC EXPECTATION 373
The narratives of the earliest New Testament inci-
dents assume the existence of a conception of the king-
dom as part of a movement dating from Abraham or
from the beginning of the world, and to last eternally.
The angel says to Mary: —
"And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of
his kingdom there shall be no end" (Lc. i. 32-33)
Mary thinks of the revelation made to her as one in
which God her Saviour remembers mercy: —
"As he spake unto our fathers,
Toward Abraham and his seed for ever" (Lc. i. 55).
Zacharias celebrates the "horn of salvation" which "the
Lord, the God of Israel," has raised up —
"In the house of his servant David,
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets
Which have been since the world began;"
"To remember his holy covenant,
The oath which he sware unto Abraham our father"
(Lc. i. 68-73).
The records imply that it was well understood that the
kingdom and the salvation were for mankind as well as
for Israel. They imply this in mentioning Abraham.
They speak of the lamb that takes away the sin of the
world. They represent Simeon as saying: —
"For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples;
A light for revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of thy people Israel " (Lc. ii. 30-32).
The cosmopolitan character of this stanza becomes even
more apparent when one looks it up in the context from
which it is quoted (Isa. xlix).
374 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
We have found the Old Testament, in a few passages,
attributing remarkable exaltation to the Person of the
promise. This feature is very prominent in the earliest
New Testament incidents. The representation is that
in that generation it was a thing to be expected that
the angel should say to Mary: —
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High"
(LC. 1. 32).
It was not out of harmony with the expectations that
prevailed to say that the wise men came to worship the
child, and that Herod pretended to desire to worship
him (Matt. ii. 2, 8, 11), or to represent his birth as
miraculous, or as heralded by angels.
More prominently still these devout Jews are repre-
sented as expecting that the Anointed one will be a
Redemption redeemer from sin. When John said to his
from sin as a two disciples: "Behold the lamb of God that
part of the taketh away the sin of the world " (Jn. i.
expecttion 29, 36), they understood him to imply that the
lamb of God was the Messiah (41). That the Messiah should
be a remedy for sin was an idea intelligible to them.
They understood that the Person who should follow
John would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
They believed that in preparing the way for him John
was preparing the way for Yahaweh to rescue and com-
fort his people. But the idea that John especially put
in their minds was that of redemption from sin: not a
warrior Messiah who should overthrow Rome, but "the
lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."
In this representation of the matter the gospel by
John is not alone. Matthew tells us that the child was
named Jesus because he should "save his people from
their sins" (i. 21)—not from the Romans, but from
MESSIANIC FULFILMENT 375
their sins. Luke represents Zacharias as saying that
John was to —
"Go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people
In the remission of their sins" (Lc. i. 76-77).
The forerunner was to be "filled with the Holy Ghost,"
and was to "turn the disobedient to " "the wisdom of
the just" (i. 15-17). Personal holiness is insisted upon
in the new movement. He that was to be born of Mary
was to be "called holy" (i. 35). The purpose of it all
is that men should serve God " in holiness and righteous-
ness" (i. 75). Not to give further details, the great
message was not merely that the kingdom was at hand.
It was: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand" (Matt. iv. 17).
There were false messiahs in that century, and these
were political pretenders. This fact is sometimes cited
in proof that the Messiah was expected to be False
a political deliverer. But the false messiahs messiahs
all belong to the later generations, after the career of
Jesus had made the messianic idea a concrete one.
This idea of a political Messiah existed. In time it
became sharply defined as the idea of those who refused
to accept Jesus as the Messiah. But among persons
who were thoughtful, and had insight, and understood
the scriptures, the messianic idea was not so simple or
so crude as this. They expected a signal manifestation
in fulfilment of the ancient promise, but one that in-
cluded spiritual as well as temporal elements; and
many of the details became definite in their minds only
with the progress of events.
II. We turn to the question of the fulfilment of the
promise—first, the nature of the thing we call fulfil-
ment, and second, the fulfilment as a fact.
376 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
1. First, what do we mean by fulfilment when we
think of it as sequent to a promise?
From some points of view there is no difference be-
tween performing something that has been promised or
Fulfilment threatened and the coming to pass of some-
of a promise thing that has been foretold; but from other
versus a points of view there is a great difference.
prediction For example, when we think of a promise and its
fulfilment, we think of the means employed for that purpose.
The promise and the means and the result are all in
mind at once, and our conception of each is modified
by our conception of the others. In the case of any
fulfilled promise it would for certain purposes be proper
to single out the foretelling clause in the promise, and
to connect it in thought with the result foretold, describ-
ing the thing as a fulfilled prediction. If the promise
involved a series of results, we might connect any one
of the results with the foretelling clause as a fulfilled
prediction. So far our thinking would be correct. But
if we permanently confined our thought to these items
in the fulfilled promise, we should be led to an inade-
quate and very likely a false idea of the promise and
its fulfilment. To understand the predictive element
aright we must see it in the light of the other elements.
Every fulfilled promise is a fulfilled prediction; but it
is exceedingly important to look at it as a promise, and
not as mere prediction.
Throughout the Old Testament, as we have seen, the
prophets give us the conception of a promise that is
An eternal eternally operative. This necessarily implies
fulfilment a cumulative fulfilment, and certain culmi-
must be nating periods of fulfilment. At every date
cumulative Deity has already begun to perform the great
thing he has promised, and he will never cease performing it.
MESSIANIC FULFILMENT 377
If one affirms that the promise is fulfilled in Jesus
Christ, he ought not to separate that fulfilment from
the rest of the eternal fulfilling movement. The idea
of a long line of fulfilment is not a hypothesis offered
for the solution of difficulties, but a part of the primary
conception of a promise that is for eternity.
And if there is a long line of fulfilment, the nature
of it may change as the ages go by. If the supreme
Ruler of the universe begins the keeping of his promise
by bestowing racial and political dominion, he may con-
tinue it by substituting a dominion of influence, a spir-
itual dominion. The transition from a racial to a spiritual
seed of Abraham, or from a racial to a spiritual king of
the line of David, may be a legitimate transition.
We have found that the promise is of a blessing at
once cosmopolitan and national, and also that it is pre-
vailingly expressed in personal terms. This Cosmopolitan
threefold character must be taken into the and national and
account in considering the nature of the personal
fulfilment. In other words, we have found the
representation that it was given to Israel for the na-
tions, and we have found it taking the form of the pres-
entation of a Person, a person in some cases identifiable
with Israel or with some Israelite, but of whom also are
said things too wonderful to be applied to any ordinary
man. In what they teach concerning the divine pur-
pose through Israel, the prophets sometimes speak of
his mission as a whole, and sometimes of parts of it.
In speaking of the parts they sometimes treat them as
typical, so that an assertion made concerning one part
applies equally to other parts or to the whole; and
sometimes independently of their typical character, so
that what is true of one part does not apply to the whole
or to the other parts.
378 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
As the promise was for eternity and for mankind,
the Person of the promise is a typical human person,
thought of in his relations to Yahaweh. This is equally
true whether you conceive of the Person as merely
ideal, or as a personified people, or as a person existing
when any particular utterance concerning the promise
was made, or as a person then future; whether you call
him Servant or Messiah or hhasidh or Son or Regent
or by some other technical name. The terms differ,
but they are mostly capable of being thought of as
alike.1
We must further have it in mind that a teaching that
was uttered generation after generation, for centuries,
A matter by a succession of prophets, did not ordinarily
familiar and come to its audience as something startling.
practical It was perpetually the repetition in forms
more or less changed of affirmations that were familiar
and well known. And the repeating of it was not
mainly the putting on record of predictions of events, so
that these might be verified in the future; it was the
teaching of a practical theology for the enforcement of
public and private duties.
If one claims that the promise is fulfilled in Jesus
Christ, he should take these various matters into the
1 Generally speaking each may, as we have seen, denote any person of
any race or time, regarded as in close relations with Yahaweh. Each
prevailingly denotes either the Israelitish race or the line of David, or
either, but always with especial reference to their close relations with
Yahaweh. In the use of each, stress is laid on God's purpose for man-
kind, on this as eternal, on this as already manifested, but to have its most
glorious manifestation in the future. In the use of each the prophet ordi-
narily presents the Person of the promise from a subjective point of view
as identical with Israel; but each is capable of being presented objec-
tively, so that the promise nation or the promise king, for example, will
be thought of as differing from the nation or king actually existing, and as
having a mission to these.
MESSIANIC FULFILMENT 379
account, in defining his claim. The validity of his claim
depends on its taking a form consistent with these
facts. If the promise is fulfilled in Jesus, In what sense
it is fulfilled as promise, and not barely as is Jesus the
prediction; its fulfilment in Jesus is a part of fulfilment?
its eternal and cumulative national and world-wide ful-
filment. In the form of the unfolding of a divine
promise, the prophets made a forecast of the future his-
tory of Israel in his relations to mankind. They made
this forecast for the purpose of edifying their contem-
poraries. We need not attempt to answer the question
how far they anticipated the actual details of external
events. In many places in their forecast appears the
figure of the Person of the promise, and in a few places
he takes on an extraordinary character, very like that of
the divine-human Redeemer whom Christians believe
Jesus to be. From their point of view they must needs
think of this Person as springing from Israel, and there-
fore as a part of Israel. If we suppose that some of
the prophets had foreglimpses of the actual personal
Jesus, they were compelled to think of him as a part of
Israel. The apostles sometimes look from the same
view-point, though they also have the conception of the
Christ as greater than Israel, and of Israel as included
in him.
In fine, if we are to regard Jesus as the fulfilling of
the forecast of the prophets, we must follow the mode
of thought of Paul and his associates, thinking, of Jesus
Christ as the greatest fact in the history of Israel, and
as the culminating manifestation of God's purpose for
mankind through Israel. If they were correct in this,
then they were correct in applying directly to Jesus
Christ whatever the prophets say concerning Israel the
promise-people as distinguished from the merely eth-
380 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
nical Israel. And I think that no intelligent student
of history, of any creed, doubts that Jesus is the great-
est fact in the history of Israel; and I see no room for
doubt that Jesus is the culminating manifestation of
God's purpose for the nations through Israel.1
1 "In the sense in which it is true that the Servant is the Israelitish
people personified, personification is not a mere figure of speech; it
involves the recognition of the fact that a people is an organic unit.
In law we speak of a business organization as a corporate person. In
its corporate personal character it has rights and obligations, and is sub-
ject to rewards and punishments. We apply the same modes of speaking
to other aggregates of individuals. We speak of the German people or
of the American church as organic wholes, having each a character and
duties like a person."
"There is nothing to prevent such a personified aggregate from having
relations with itself or its members; as well as with the world outside it.
Even an individual has relations with himself, owes duties to himself, may
be in conflict with himself, should respect himself. In a more marked
sense the same is true of a personified aggregate. The German people
has duties to itself, and to the persons that constitute it. The American
church has obligations to itself and to its members. If the Servant is
Israel personified, that does not exclude him from having a mission to
Israel or to Israelites."
"When Deutero-Isaiah identifies the Servant with Israel, it is never
with Israel as a mere political or ethnical aggregation of persons; invari-
ably it is with Israel as the medium of Yahaweh's gracious purpose for the
nations. Giesebrecht is correct in saying that the personified Israel is not
some part of the people, for example, not those who stand with the prophets,
or the pious kernel within Israel, but the whole people. Nevertheless it
is the ideal Israel, the eternal Israel contemplated in Yahaweh's purpose
and promise, and not merely the concrete Israel existing at any given
point of time."
"Any Israelite, so far forth as he has Israelitish characteristics, may
within limits be taken as a type of the whole people. In particular, any
Israelite who is imbued with the spirit of Israel's call for the sake of man-
kind, may so far forth be regarded as a type of the ideal Israel. Within
limits, that which is true of the people is true of any typical individual
among the people."
"If the history of the world presents us with any one person who is
peculiarly and uniquely a typical Israelite, who stands by himself as the
representative of Yahaweh's promise to the nations through Israel, whose
MESSIANIC FULFILMENT 381
2. Having attained to this conception of the nature
of the fulfilment which we are to expect, we are ready
to consider the fulfilment as a historical fact. The ques-
tion may be divided. First, what are the historical facts,
if any, that seem to correspond to the thing promised to
Abraham and Israel? Second, is the correspondence a
reality? We take up the first of these questions, leaving
the second to be discussed in the following chapter.
What are the facts of history, if any, in which the
supreme powers of the universe have kept the promise
that was made to Abraham and Israel? An A summary
adequate reply would be a many-volumed his- as to the
tory of Israel his relations to mankind. A fulfilment
compact summary of the reply may be framed as fol-
lows, confining itself to a few general salient matters.
If we leave Christianity out of the account, except as
a medium through which Semitic ideas have dissemi-
nated themselves, it still remains true that the Israel-
itish race, both by what they have achieved and by
what they have suffered, have been peculiarly a chan-
nel of benefit to substantially all races, and are likely
to be increasingly so in the future. In this fact Yaha-
weh seems to be keeping the promise that he made of
old, the promise that all the families of the ground
should be blessed in Abraham and his seed. This fact
is not erased, but on the contrary greatly magnified,
experiences and character and relations to the world are such that Israel's
mission to the world culminates in him, then it is correct to apply directly
to that person the statements made in Deutero-Isaiah concerning Israel
the Servant. The writers of the New Testament regard Jesus Christ as
such a person. Because they so regard him they apply to him the utter-
ances concerning the Servant. Their doing so is not a matter of accom-
modating interpretation, but is as correct critically as it is magnificent in
the conception of human history which it implies" (Am. Jour. of Theol.,
July, 1903, P. 543)
382 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
when we recognize Christianity and Mohammedanism
as movements growing out of Israel and constituting
part of the mission of Israel. And these parts of the
fulfilment of the promise to Israel, in their turn, sink
into insignificance beside the fact that the person Jesus
Christ came of the seed of Abraham and Israel — pro-
vided that Jesus is the God-man and the Saviour that
Christians believe him to be. If there has been a ful-
filment, it has been threefold: that in the race Israel,
that in Israel's religion and its daughter religions, that
in the person and work of Jesus; and it is a mistake to
neglect any one of these three factors.
A certain current interpretation claims that the seed
of Abraham in whom the nations are blessed is Israel
A Jewish in- the race, set apart by Yahaweh as his espe-
terpretation cial organ for economic and ethical and reli-
gious revelation to mankind, and still kept separate by
him for the further working out of these his beneficent
purposes. No one need wonder at the great influence
which this interpretation has, especially among the more
reverent and appreciative of the rationalistic thinkers.
But those who hold it sometimes draw the inference
that since the national career of Israel is thus the ful-
filment of the promise, therefore Jesus Christ is not its
fulfilment. This inference is a gross non sequitur.
As opposed to the view just mentioned, a great body
of Christian interpreters claim that the fulfilment is not,
The exclusive except incidentally, in Israel the race; but in
Christian in- the Christian Messiah, perhaps with Israel the
terpretation church, gathered from the nations, and abid-
ing in the Christ. If the other conception was a large
and worthy one, this is still larger and worthier. The
mission accomplished by Israel through Jesus, his atone-
ment, his church, his influence, his personality, is infi-
MESSIANIC FULFILMENT 383
nitely greater than that accomplished by Israel merely
as a race. But if the Christian interpreter persists in
excluding the ethnical Israel from his conception of the
fulfilment, or in regarding Israel's part in the matter
as merely preparatory and not eternal, then he comes
into conflict with the plain witness of both Testaments.
His interpretation is even less consistent with the text
than is the exclusive Jewish conception. Rightly inter-
preted, the biblical statements include in the fulfilment
both Israel the race, with whom the covenant is eternal,
and also the personal Christ and his mission, with the
whole spiritual Israel of the redeemed in all ages. The
New Testament teaches this as Christian doctrine, for
leading men to repentance and for edification; and the
Old Testament teaches it as messianic doctrine, for lead-
ing men to repentance and for edification.
In the biblical idea of the Christ is included the idea
of his mission — his work among men in all the genera-
tions. From one point of view, seeing that the larger
includes the less, his mission includes that of Israel.
From a different point of view, one would say that
Christ and his mission came out of Israel, and were
germinally included in Israel. Genetically, the acorn
includes the oak, the less may include the greater.
Whether from the one point of view or the other, the
scriptures habitually identify both Israel and the Christ
as the fulfilling of the promise.
The exclusive Jewish interpretation and the exclusive
Christian interpretation are equally wrong. Each is
correct in what it affirms, and incorrect in An interpretation
what it denies. The Christian should never that is both Jewish
say to the Jew: "Jesus Christ is the fulfill- and Christian
ing of the promise, and therefore you are shut out."
The truth requires us to say instead: "Your view is
384 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
correct as far as it goes, but it is incomplete. Large
and lofty as is your conception of the mission of Israel,
the true conception is still loftier and larger. You
Israelites have been kept in the world these thousands
of years, and your record as a whole has been a pecul-
iarly splendid and beneficent one. Your vigor as a
race seems to be unabated. No one knows what mag-
nificent possibilities the God of your fathers may have
in store for you. But you do your race injustice if you
claim that its career is circumscribed within even these
spacious boundaries."
Christianity came into the world, so far as its human
founders are concerned, as the joint product of Israel's
bible and of influences set in motion by men of Israelite
blood, who claimed inspiration from the God of Israel.
In a later century Mohammedanism sprang from the
two older forms of the religion of Yahaweh. As adher-
ents of these two religions, several hundred millions of
the human race now profess to worship the God of Israel
as the only God; and these hundreds of millions include
the leading races and the leading civilizations of the
globe. These results are parts of the mission of Israel
in the world; and they are parts of it larger and more
important than those which have thus far been directly
accomplished by the perpetuation of Israel as a separate
race. Put the lowest possible estimate upon Moham-
medanism and the corrupted forms of Christianity, and
even upon Christianity in its purer forms, and still the
blessing of Abraham, flowing and to flow to the nations
through these channels, is such as to be a worthy
fulfilment of even the promise of the infinite God.
That which Israel has achieved through the Israelite,
Jesus Christ, and through those other Israelites his
earliest disciples, and through their successors till now,
MESSIANIC FULFILMENT 385
is not less the accomplishment of what Yahaweh prom-
ised to Israel than are the successes that Israel has
achieved through Moses or David or Solomon or Isaiah
or Nehemiah or Maimonides or the Rothschilds.
But even the view we have thus far been taking is
comparatively a low and narrow view to take of the
outcome of the promise made to Israel. It Fulfilment in
shows up dwarflike by the side of the out- the person of
come in the person of Jesus Christ. If the Christ
Christian doctrines be true, the doctrines of the incar-
nation, the trinity, the person of Christ, the atonement,
salvation, immortality, then there is in the character of
Jesus the Saviour, offspring of Jacob and of David, a
fulfilment of the promise so vast that even the achieve-
ments of the religion that Jesus founded are by com-
parison insignificant.
Even from a theologically agnostic point of view the
wonderful personality of Jesus, coupled with the un-
equalled acceptance he has had among men, render him
a fact greater and more important than a whole cycle
of other facts. Much more, if the doctrines of immor-
tality and of the incarnation and the atonement are true,
then the kingdom of the promise is eternal in the world
of the blessed, and is as much beyond the largest tem-
poral greatness as eternity is beyond time. If they are
true, then the person of the divine-human Saviour, Deity
incarnate in a man of Jewish blood, is as much greater
than the great things we have been considering as God
is greater than men. So far as duration is concerned
there is no final fulfilment for an eternal promise; but
there was a climacteric fulfilment, one whose sublime
height will never be exceeded, in the historical mani-
festation when the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us.
386 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
So much for the facts in which the promise made to
Israel finds its accomplishment. When we are scanning
the career of Israel in search of these facts, we should
look at the whole historical process, and not at some
relatively narrow and circumscribed portion of it.
Possibly we need to remind ourselves that the fulfil-
ment is still in progress. It is not correct to say that
it was accomplished on 'the cross and at the resurrec-
tion, with the implication that these were the last end
of the process. If one holds that the culminating ful-
filment is in the person bf the divine-human Saviour, as
manifested in Jesus Christ, he must none the less hold
that there are remainders of the eternal fulfilment yet
to be wrought out, alike in the Israelitish race, in the
spread of the kingdom on the earth, and in the bless-
edness in heaven of the recipients of the promised
blessing.
CHAPTER XVII
THE APOLOGETIC VALUE OF PROPHECY
VERY familiar among the theologians is the argument
given in such works as Keith On the Prophecies, or
Bishop Thomas Newton's Dissertations on The old ar-
the Prophecies which have remarkably been gument from
Fulfilled, or in its appropriate place in many prophecy
of the full treatises on Dogmatics. It is to the effect
that there are in the scriptures many hundred predic-
tions which have come true. In particular, it is said
that the Old Testament contains numerous predictions
concerning a personage called the Messiah, who was to
come at a certain time in the future; that these predic-
tions sketch his character, give beforehand his biogra-
phy, mention details in his career, his sufferings, his
death, and that these details correspond remarkably to
those of the career of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the
New Testament. It is therefore inferred that, since it
was beyond human power to foresee these details, the
foresight of them must have been by divine inspira-
tion; and thus that the facts prove at once the divine
authority of the prophets who foresaw, and the divine
mission of the Christ who was foreseen.
I do not attack or undervalue this argument. It has
superficial defects, but it is in its essential nature im-
pregnable. We cannot shut our eyes, how- Its
ever, to the fact that it is now much less decadence
influential than formerly. Some of the reasons for this
387
388 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
are not hard to find, and they show that the argument,
however valuable, needs to be restated.
Its influence has been weakened by the indiscriminate
claims which some of its advocates have made. When
you claim instances and fail to make your claim good,
your claim ought, logically, to go for nothing. Prac-
tically, however, it counts against you, bringing suspi-
cion on any other claims you may make.
Again, many even of the valid instances used in this
argument are instances whose validity is not at once ap-
parent, but has to be argued in order to have it accepted.
Instead of cogently using the instance, you have to ex-
haust your logical energy in vindicating your right to
use it.
Again, the argument as commonly presented lacks
unity. It deals with facts that seem to be disconnected
and heterogeneous. Indeed, some of the presentations
make the unconnected character of the facts an impor-
tant part of the argument. They assume that marvel-
lousness is a special proof of divineness. But our
generation is not easily convinced by proofs of this sort.
In its study of God and of miracles, as in its study of
ordinary nature, it believes mainly the truths which it
can classify and reduce to statements of law, and looks
with suspicion on that which is incapable of being so
treated.
Yet again, the argument as commonly presented is
historically associated with the assumption that predic-
tion is the main thing in prophecy. This our genera-
tion rejects. It is convinced that the prophet is a
forthteller rather than a foreteller; that miraculous pre-
diction, however real, is only one item in prophecy, and
not the most important item. This doubtless diminishes
for the time being— by suggestion, of course, and not
APOLOGETIC VALUE 389
by logical necessity — the influence which arguments
from prediction have over us.
Further, the interpreters of the past have treated as
predictions many passages that were not properly such,
but expressions of fears or hopes or wishes or opinions,
or statements as to existing tendencies. Confused hab-
its of interpretation have been established. With similar
confusion of thought, the opponents of the argument
from prediction are now affirming that the prophets
made many predictions that were proved false by the
events; that the fulfilment of what the prophets fore-
told was a haphazard matter; that the thing sometimes
came true, and sometimes not. There is at present
enough of confusion of thought to dull the edge of the
traditional argument.
When to considerations like these we add others based
on the general sceptical and agnostic tendencies of our
age, and on the effect of the current theories The argu-
of criticism, whatever be the weight or the ment needs
bearing any one may assign to these, we to be restated
reach at least one conclusion; namely, that it is not
superfluous to inquire whether some better way can be
found of stating the argument from prophecy. It seems
to me that there is such a way, and that it is indicated
by the treatment of the subject given in the preceding
sixteen chapters.
In these chapters, let us remind ourselves, we have
reached, strictly speaking, only provisional conclusions.
We have been asking: What did the prophets Our provisional
claim? rather than: What were the actual conclusions. Are
facts? We have taken the statements of fact they true?
as we found them, and have tried to get an orderly
understanding of them. Now that we have been over
the ground, we are ready for the inquiry whether the
390 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
conclusions we have reached are genuine fact, or are
falsehood or romance. And this question will closely
connect itself with the question whether we can substan-
tiate the claims of the religion that traces its existence
back to the prophets.
In this region the one most important, indisputable
fact which we possess is the scriptures themselves in
the forms in which we have them. No one doubts that
the scriptures are a fact, existing in some millions of
details. Most of the statements made concerning
their sources, their original form, their structure, the
divine element in them, and other like matters, are more
or less matters of inference, of conjecture, of opinion;
but the scriptures themselves, including their contents,
are a fact. Thus far we have been engaged in simply
examining this fact. Apart from all questions of trust-
worthiness or inspiration, the scriptures are the original
literary sources for information concerning the prophet,
and we have been merely asking what they say con-
cerning him. Now we are ready to ask whether what
they say is sane and credible; and in asking that, to ask
whether the religion taught by the prophets is a rea-
sonable religion.
The effect of such an argument on the mind of any
person will depend somewhat on the view which he
The lowest already holds concerning God and the uni-
theistic pre- verse; but it will have weight with any one
supposition who is so far forth a theist that he regards
the supreme energy of the universe as a Being that is
intelligent and purposeful. We have found the proph-
ets claiming to be in communication with such a Being.
We have found them describing him as not merely the
intelligent supreme energy of the universe, but as the
Power that makes for righteousness, as exercising love
APOLOGETIC VALUE 391
and preference and indignation, as having a plan in
human history, as the creator of nature, always every-
where present in that which he has created, but also as
transcending creation, and able at will to exercise pow-
ers different from those of nature as we understand it;
and in particular as interested in redeeming men from
sin. If we find reason to hold that what they say is
credible, that will be to us proof that their views of the
nature of the supreme energy of the universe are cor-
rect, and in particular that the offered redemption which
they proclaim is a reality. These things will become
credible to us, both on the basis of their testimony and
through our own insight in the course of the processes
by which we are convinced that their testimony is
credible.
Upon this discussion we now enter, first recapitulat-
ing the results we have reached, and then inquiring how
these results bear on the question of apologetic restate-
ment.
I. First, we make a brief recapitulation.
We have found that the scriptures present the prophet
as a citizen with a message from Deity; not a priest,
not a wizard of some sort, not an oracular The prophet
recluse, but eminently a man among men. as we have
We have found that the prophets were the found him
statesmen, the reformers, the writers and poets, the
preachers, of their times, as well as men who claimed
to be in supernatural communication with the unseen
world. We have found that the revelation which they
professed to bring from Deity was the product of their
human good judgment, as well as of special gifts
claimed by them to be superhuman. Much of this so-
claimed revelation was written down, and is still extant
in the scriptures with which we are familiar; and thus
392 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
it is within our reach for purposes of testing and of
judgment.
So far as the element of prediction enters into their
utterances, we have found that it consists almost exclu-
Prophetic sively of promises and threats uttered with
prediction a homiletical purpose. They appeal to ful-
as we have filled prediction as accrediting their divine au-
found it thority, but their utterances contain very little
prediction that purports to have been uttered merely or mainly
for this purpose.
In particular, we have found that the foreshadowing of
the Messiah,which constitutes by far the larger portion of
The messi- all the predictive element in prophecy, is the
anic doctrine teaching of a doctrine, a doctrine in the form
as we have of a promise affirmed to have been given by
found it Yahaweh. We have found the New Testament
calling attention centrally to what it describes as "the promise,"
the one promise which it elsewhere designates as "the
hope of Israel," — identifying this promise as the one
originally made to Abraham, recognizing the specific
promises into which it branched out, tracing its unfold-
ing through the Old Testament narrative, preaching it
as Christian doctrine, claiming that it finds culminating
fulfilment in Jesus Christ, under it announcing salvation
to the gentiles, and connecting it throughout with the
redemptive and ethical and eschatological doctrines of
the gospel. We have found their position fully justi-
fied by the testimony of the Old Testament. The Old
Testament is the literature of Israel regarded as the
people of the promise. We do not need to settle the
critical questions that have arisen in order to justify this
proposition. Many important details under it depend
on questions of date and authorship; but the proposition
as a whole is true on any possible adjustment of dates
APOLOGETIC VALUE 393
and questions of authorship. At the beginning of the
main line of the history recorded in the Old Testament,
we found the record of the giving of this great promise
which was so influential with the men of the New Testa-
ment — the promise that in Abraham and his seed all
the nations shall be blessed. We found this promise
emphasized in the story of the patriarchs. Again we
found it in the records of the time when Israel came
out of Egypt, made central in the form of the affirma-
tion that Yahaweh, the God of all the peoples, has con-
stituted Israel a separate and priestly nation. Later we
found the same promise renewed to David and his seed
— the promise that Israel shall be perpetuated as the
eternal kingdom of God, reigned over eternally by the
anointed king of the line of David. In this connec-
tion we found the promise described as "the torah of
mankind," cosmopolitan as well as everlasting in its
scope. And from David's time on we found the same
promise presupposed in the songs and sermons of the
prophets.
For we have found that the psalms and the prophetic
discourses are simply the preaching of this gospel.
They reiterate the promise. They unfold it The gospel
in new lights, and present it in new aspects. in the Old Testament
They apply it each one to the circumstances as we have
of his own day. They call attention to past found it
fulfilment, and affirm that what God has promised is
sure for time to come. They make the truth vivid by
new illustration. They do this in a main line of messi-
anic prophecy, which can be traced, creating a vocabu-
lary of terms in which to describe the great Agent of
the promise — such terms as Servant, Messiah, Elect
one, hhasidh, Branch; speaking at large of a kingdom,
of universal peace, of the last days, of the always
394 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
impending day of Yahaweh. They equally make the
same truth vivid through the object lessons presented in
their own persons, in the ceremonial law which they
introduced, in all the institutions of Israel.
In their presentation of it the promise is not a mere
forecast of a distant future, but is spiritual food for
immediate use. It was fitted to be the central doctrine
of the practical theology of Israel. If any descendant
of Abraham believed that Deity had chosen his race for
purposes of blessing to mankind, that was a reason why
he should practise repentance and faith and obedience
and deathless patriotism; why he should never despair
even when things were at their worst, but should be
sure that God would carry out his irrevocable plans.
In short, here was a preachable gospel— not merely a
gospel like that which Christians have to preach, but the
very same gospel, though in a less unfolded stage.
In current sermons and addresses in our day the
messianic doctrine of the Old Testament is sometimes
effectively illustrated by the minute scarlet strand said
to exist in every rope of the cordage of the navy of
Great Britain. In one respect the illustration fails.
Rightly understood, the messianic element in the Old
Testament is not a minute thread, difficult to discern; it
is everywhere the principal thing, that which underlies
all the history, all the poetry, all the prophetic preaching,
all the national worship, all the sayings of wisdom. It is
at some points more discernible than at others, but the
whole Old Testament is simply the record of the promise.
II. Does this view of the matter afford a practica-
ble ground for restating the apologetic argument from
prophecy? Is there a basis here for proving the truth
and the superhuman sanctions of the religion revealed
in the scriptures?
APOLOGETIC VALUE 395
In answering this question, we must confine ourselves
to four specific arguments, — those from the personality
of the prophet, from the national ideal, from historical
verisimilitude, from fulfilled prediction; and in the case
of each of these we shall be able to give no more than a
brief illustrative sketch.
I. To me it seems that the personality of the prophet,
as presented in the prophetic writings, is an argument
of no small weight in proof of the genuineness of their
mission and of the truth of their teachings.
The idea that God likes manliness in men, that manli-
ness especially fits a man to interpret God, has in our
day a good deal of currency. Our literature The biblical
is full of this, and is busy in contrasting this ideal of a prophet
idea with real or alleged ideas that have pre- is a true ideal
vailed in the past. One pictures the ultra-professional
minister of a few generations ago, or the minister of
ultra-ecclesiastical type, or the grotesque and distorted
types of holy men that are found somewhere, by way
of illustrating the superiority of the type of Christian
worker who depends solely on his own manliness and
human sympathy and consciousness of divine mission.
Many seem to suppose that this idea of the true charac-
ter of a religious teacher is a twentieth-century idea —
that it perhaps began to come in when the Young
Men's Christian Association introduced athletics into
their methods of work. Prophetic character of this type
seems to be regarded by many as the crowning product
of the current stage of evolution. And I suppose that
none of us doubt the superior fineness of this type as
compared with other types. It ought to stand for some-
thing, then, that this is the type of prophetic character
set forth in the Old Testament, from the earliest parts
of it to the latest.
396 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
That this is the Old Testament presentation of the
prophet has been shown in the preceding chapters, par-
ticularly in the fourth chapter. The prophet is presented
as the highest human religious authority, and yet he is
simply a citizen with a message. We have traditional
conceptions of the prophet in which he is robed or ton-
sured, or otherwise marked by external insignia, or by
professional practices, and perhaps one cannot prove
that these traditional ideas are at all points incorrect;
but none of them are distinctly found in the Old Tes-
tament. So far as the primary record is concerned,
they are importations, and many of them are importa-
tions that contradict the record. The Old Testament
presentation of the highest type of religious teacher dif-
fers very little from the highest conception to which our
century has attained.
This fact is the more marked because it is so in con-
trast with the ideas that have commonly prevailed
among men. In all religions the teacher who has repre-
sented Deity has affected visible marks of distinction
from other men. This is so among the American abo-
rigines; among the Africans and the Islanders of the
sea; among the highly civilized Buddhists and Brah-
mans; among Christian clergymen and scholars. It is so
thoroughly the case that interpreters in all the past have
assumed that the Old Testament prophet could not be
an exception, and have supplied from inference or from
imagination the details that the Old Testament omits.
The uniqueness of the prophet of Israel in this respect
is not to be lightly passed over. He is a class by
himself.
These facts have a double bearing on questions of
apologetics. First, this biblical idea of the typical reli-
gious man is a true idea. It appeals to our judgment
APOLOGETIC VALUE 397
as to what ought to be. We are sure that it is correct.
This judgment ought to carry with it our respect for
the records that present the conception. The Apologetic
writers of these records were persons who bearings
had attained to insight. Their affirmations have a claim
on our confidence. But this is not all. We are com-
pelled, in the second place, to raise the question how
they attained to such a conception. The old-fashioned
opinion that it was revealed to them by divine inspiration
will account for the phenomena. Can any one account
for them more reasonably? Account for it as you may,
these men were, somehow or other, in remarkably close
relations with the supreme intelligent Energy that mani-
fests itself in the universe.
The argument gains in cogency if we carry it over
into the region of the inspiration of the prophets, and of
divine revelation through them. Tell a child God revealing
that God gave the bible through the prophets, himself through
the prophets writing it, and the child inevi- the prophets
tably gets the notion of something like a dictating pro-
cess. That notion persistently clings to our minds, and
we find it difficult to prevent its vitiating any idea we
may form of the matter. Our study of the prophets
offers a different form of conception. We have before
us the conception of the supreme Energy of the universe
operating purposefully in human history. In particular
we examine a block of history extending from Abraham
to the time when the New Testament was written. God
causes the events of the history to be transacted, the
prophets themselves and their writings being portions
of the events ; and he causes a record to be made of the
events transacted. He is represented as raising up the
prophets, and as guiding them guiding them in such
a way that each prophet distinctly continues to be him-
398 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
self, even while he is the agent of Deity. Here we have
a mode of conception not lax in its recognition of the
divine element and wide enough to include all the phe-
nomena in the case.
2. If this argument from the Old Testament ideal of
the prophet is strong, yet stronger is the argument from
the national ideal which the promise-doctrine represents
as existing in the consciousness of Israel.
That ideal is that Israel is God's chosen channel of
blessing to mankind.
The details of the argument are partly dependent on
critical questions. If Moses wrote the pentateuch, then
Critical theo- the promise was already on record in his
ries and the time, whether one count the date as the thir-
national ideal teenth century before Christ, or the sixteenth,
and was in the consciousness of the family of Abraham
more than four centuries earlier. But how if one holds
that, Moses did not write the pentateuch? Certain
scholars say that the earliest parts of the pentateuch
date from a time shortly before Amos, about 800 B.C.;
and that there is an element of fiction in the narrative,
so that we cannot be sure of the facts for the times
much earlier than that century. Now it is not a matter
of indifference which of these views we hold. One con-
tradicts the other, and one of the two is necessarily false.
In matters of apologetical detail the difference is impor-
tant, and it is so in its bearing on many other questions.
Nevertheless, the main contention from the national
ideal stands firm on either view, or on any intermediate
view.
Whether it began in the twentieth century before
Christ, or the sixteenth or the thirteenth or the eighth,
it is on record that a certain national ideal existed in the
consciousness of Israel. Israelites held that the God
APOLOGETIC VALUE 399
of all the earth had chosen Israel as his own especial
people, for purposes of blessing to mankind. We need
not insist that every person was greatly under the influ-
ence of this ideal. The majority were ignorant and
indifferent, as the majority in Christendom are to-day
ignorant and indifferent concerning the great truths of
religion. But the doctrine of the promise was widely
enough understood so that the prophets could appeal
to it in their preaching; and devout souls in Israel
accepted it with the whole heart.
Think for a moment what a conception this was, to
stand as a nation's ideal. Chosen of God for pur-
poses of blessing to all mankind! Had the The signifi-
sages of China or India or Persia or Babylon cance of such
any conception to compare with this? Did an ideal
Greek philosophy or that more wonderful thing, Greek
insight, ever attain to it? Was it incorporated into the
Roman ethics of legislation? In these modern times
we have borrowed the idea from the bible. It is an
element of some importance in our religion, our philan-
thropy, our statesmanship. In hours of supreme mis-
sionary enthusiasm we sometimes rise to a very distinct
consciousness that, our nation, our race, our church, is
chosen of God for purposes of blessing to mankind.
But this consciousness, even on the theory of those who
date it latest, was on record in Israel when Rome was
founded; on record centuries before Plato or the pub-
lishing of the Greek drama with its wonderful theology
and ethics; existing and on record then, and then be-
lieved and preached as the ancient religious tradition of
the nation. If the same consciousness existed in the
Abrahamic race twelve centuries earlier, that makes the
case so much the stronger; but it is strong enough if
we take the later date.
400 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
Such are the facts in this argument from the promise
as the statement of a national ideal. They have two
bearings. First, the ideal is a worthy one. It indicates
mental largeness and moral fineness. The men who
entertained and taught it deserve our respect, and de-
serve it both intellectually and spiritually. It is not
reasonable to reject lightly the things which they affirm
to be true. And secondly, we have to face the question
how they attained to such an ideal. It is a remarkable
phenomenon. In possessing it they are a class by
themselves.
How shall we account for this wholly unique instance
of national consciousness? this ideal of Israel as di-
How is this vinely chosen, not for his own sake, but for
ideal to be ac- the sake of the nations? If one offers the
counted for? hypothesis of miraculous divine inspiration,
that will account for it. On this hypothesis, God gave
Israel's ideal to him by superhuman revelation. And
certainly the ideal is worthy of such an origin. If we
thus account for it, it proves the divine mission of the
prophets, the apostles, the scriptures. But suppose one
refuses to entertain the hypothesis of an inspired reve-
lation; suppose he tries to account for the phenomena
from an agnostic point of view. The thing that he has
to account for is the fact that this altruistic ideal existed,
and that it constituted a part of the monotheism that
has come to mankind through Israel. It existed, and
it is so very marked a thing in human history that it
amounts to a special and exceptional manifestation of
the powers that control history. It shows something in
regard to the nature of the powers that control history.
Somehow or other, Israel and the prophets and apostles
sustain this peculiar relation to the powers that control
human history, whoever or whatever these powers may
APOLOGETIC VALUE 401
be. It follows that Israel and the prophets and apos-
tles and the scriptures have an especial claim to atten-
tion and credence, even from a theologically agnostic
point of view. But the facts also constitute a strong
argument against theological agnosticism, and in favor
of the doctrine that the power in history is a personal
and self-revealing God.
The strength of this argument from the national ideal
will perhaps be the more apparent if we set it in contrast
with a different ideal that has sometimes been A contrasting
presented. Whoever has thoughtfully read ideal
Mr. Kingsley's novel, Hypatia, doubtless has a certain
picture deeply burned into his memory — the picture
there so frequently sketched of all the millions of the
human race who lived before Christ as now burning in
hell. Whether or no Mr. Kingsley is correct in repre-
senting that this was current Christian doctrine in the
time of Cyril, there can be no doubt that it is a doctrine
that many Christians have taught. Probably there are
those now living who regard it as a part of the scheme
of Christian theology; who recognize no revelation of
a redemptive divine purpose for any who lived before
Jesus came save the obedient few in Israel. Such views
of Christian doctrine as this have caused apologists to
be at a great disadvantage when they addressed intelli-
gent and humane minds. That disadvantage is turned
to advantage when one notices what the ideal presented
by the prophets actually is; for that ideal makes the'
divine redemption for men conterminous with human
history.
An added consideration of some weight is to be found
in the method in which the prophets present their ideal.
It is easy to teach a great religious doctrine in such
terms that it shall be intelligible only to persons of certain
402 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
attainments or habits of mind; in such terms that it
would be uninteresting to those who have not reached
Argument these attainments, or to those who have left
from their them behind. By putting their doctrine into
mode of the form of a promise, the prophets rendered
presentation it intelligible to those to whom it was first given,
and yet expressed it in terms that could be retained age
after age as its truths unfolded themselves. They thus
made it a statement of doctrine that was fitted to be
central in religious teaching and practice for all time.
In this characteristic of the form of their teaching, we
have something that is of weight in apologetics.
In this matter of the national ideal, therefore, we
have an argument based onlundoubted facts. It is not
open to the charge of being trivial. No one can belittle
it by placing "mother Shipton's prophecy" by the side
of it. Its facts are the grave and central things of his-
tory. Its force is obvious, I think, on the first presen-
tation; and it grows weightier the more one reflects
upon it.
3. We turn to the argument from historical verisimili-
tude. The account of the prophets and of the promise,
as we have found it in the scriptures, commends itself
to the historical judgment as bearing the marks of truth.
Of course, the scholars of the so-called Modern View
would not wholly accept this affirmation. They regard
Marks of a large proportion of the statements of fact
historicity made in the bible as either fiction or false-
hood. In the preceding sixteen chapters we have been
examining what purport to be facts. There are those
who would admit our conclusions to be biblically correct
and spiritually truthful, who would yet deny their truth-
fulness as matters of fact. And indeed it is supposable
that a statement may be true in its own proper sense,
APOLOGETIC VALUE 403
and may have spiritual value, and may nevertheless be
fiction. One who holds that many of the statements we
have examined are unhistorical might also supposably
hold that they are in their proper value truthful. We
need not raise this question, however, unless we find rea-
son for doubting their historical verity. If the view given
by the testimony in the case is self-consistent and reason-
able, and marked by such continuity as history ought to
possess, we need not hesitate to accept it as true to fact.
(a) The question of self-consistency is largely a ques-
tion of details. But if the view we have drawn from the
bible has been correctly drawn, that very fact Self
shows that the records are mainly consistent; consistency
for the view itself is certainly consistent. Records that
are full of contradictions will not yield an agreeing view
of a matter except by processes of elimination; and we
have not found it necessary to resort to such processes.
The consistency of the record becomes impressive in
proportion as one examines a large body of details; and
the number of details which we have passed under review
is very large. In them all we have found that the doc-
trine of the promise serves as a key. It has solved the
difficulties before they arose, by the simple process of
suggesting the true understanding of the text.
One difficulty with the argument from fulfilled proph-
ecy, as sometimes presented, is that many of its cita-
tions from the Old Testament are not at Difficulties and
once obviously applicable. An apologist the promise-
cites a passage as applying to Jesus. One doctrine
looks up the passage and finds that the words were
spoken of Israel, or of some ancient historical person-
age, in a context that gives no hint of referring to a
coming person who is to appear some centuries in the
future. Just at this point there is often found a gulf
404 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
between the apologist's premises and his conclusion,
and he has to resort to some device for bridging the
gulf. We are familiar, for instance, with the formula
in which one says: Yes, it does indeed appear that the
passage applies primarily to Israel or to David or to
the author or to his hero, as the case may be; but this
one of whom it was originally spoken is here to be
regarded as a type of the personal Christ; and so the
Antitype is signified through the type. Perhaps there
is no greater fault to be found with this than that it
opens the way for bringing in too large an element of
personal opinion in interpreting passages of scripture.
But this is only one of the many devices of apologetic
exegesis, ranging all the way from the idea of generic
prophecy, manifold fulfilment, progressive fulfilment,
down to that of double meaning or of accommodated or
allegorical interpretation. Some of these devices are
legitimate processes for getting at the essential truth,
and some are of a pretty desperate character.
In almost every one of these instances it simplifies
the case, and renders it intelligible, to note that the
prophet in the given instance is speaking of Israel as
the people of the promise, or of some person as repre-
sentatively related to the promise; and that the apostle
who quotes him is speaking of Jesus as the fulfilment
of the promise made to and through Israel. When we
note that both are dealing with the promise, we see that
they are on common ground.
With this in mind, read the New Testament through,
comparing it with the Old at every suitable point. As
you find that the difficulties vanish and the statements
become luminous, in one case after another, your con-
viction of the thorough truth of the scriptures and their
claims will grow deeper and more intense.
APOLOGETIC VALUE 405
To put this in other words, the appeal of the New
Testament to the Old in proof of the claims of Jesus is
rather to a doctrine taught there than to utterances that
were the mere foretelling of events; and when we
understand this doctrine, the meaning of the appeal be-
comes clear. That which is not easily intelligible as
long as we count it to be the foretelling of an event may
become perfectly plain the moment we recognize it as
a doctrinal statement. It was as competent for the
apostles to appeal to the doctrines taught by the
prophets as to any other prophetic utterances.
And so the fact that this is the nature of their appeal
offers itself to us as a solution of problems that would
otherwise be puzzling. It affords an improved way of
stating whatever is true in the theories of generic
prophecy. It presents itself as a reconciliation of the
Jewish and the Christian interpretations of the prophe-
cies, so far forth as both are tenable; as a reasonable
substitute for all theories of a double sense; and, in
fine, as a full refutation of most of the objections raised
against the messianic claims of Jesus Christ, as set
forth in the New Testament.
(b) But however consistent with itself the biblical
presentation of the matter I may be, is it rationally
credible?
We are not to accept absurdities as fact, on the
ground of their being self-consistent. If they are
absurdities, their consistency may prove them to be
fiction rather than falsehood, but it cannot prove them
to be history. This question still remains: Is the
account given by the prophets inherently unbelievable?
One's reply will depend in part on his mental attitude
toward miracles. So we may begin by classifying the
statements of the prophets into those which affirm the
406 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
occurrence of miraculous events, and those which do
not. For present purposes we have no need to define
more closely than by saying that miraculous events are
such as the human mind cannot account for as the prod-
uct of natural law. Supposably what we call miracle
may really come under natural law, and might be so
accounted for by a superhuman mind, the divine mind
for example; but we do not now need to discuss this.
We need not be troubled even if the definition thus
given of miracle is a sliding definition, the human mind
to-day being able to account for things that were unac-
countable to men of earlier times.
The record as we have studied it has been almost ex-
elusively concerned with events that are not, under this
Most of the definition, miraculous. We have found it to
events un- be, not an account of a series of marvels, but
miraculous of sober and believable facts, some of them
remarkable and wonderful, but no one of them a miracle
in the sense of being out of the ordinary and intelligible
operations of nature. It is true that there are miracu-
lous events described in the records, and that we have
not disputed their reality; but also we have not made
use of them.
Of course, nothing could be more sane or open to
credence than the affirmations of the prophetic writings
in regard to ordinary unmiraculous events, provided
these are taken by themselves. No one would allege
against them any charge of inherent incredibility. And
the history of the prophets, as we have traced it, is
almost exclusively made up of events of this kind.
But how is it when these writings affirm events such
as the human mind cannot account for as the product of
natural law? They certainly make affirmations of this
sort. Shall we accept these as fact? or shall we reject
APOLOGETIC VALUE 407
them, and regard them as discrediting all other affirma-
tions of the prophets? If one holds that every alleged
apprehension of the supernatural is irrational, Alleged
he must of course hold that the biblical miraculous
account of the prophets is irrational so far events
forth as they lay claim to the supernatural. But even
such an one has no reason for holding that the prophets
are not in the main honest and truthful in the account
they give of themselves. One might give them credit
for that, even if he regarded their claim to superhuman
revelations as a delusion. But who knows that their
communion with the superhuman was a delusion? Most
men now living are not ready to take the sweeping posi-
tion that all alleged communication with the superhu-
man is unreal. What intellectual right has an agnostic
to affirm that the ordinary system of operations of the
ultimate powers of the universe cannot be interpene-
trated by a different system or by a different mode of
energy? He who says that forsakes the ranks of agnos-
ticism, and simply affirms something of which he has no
evidence.
In short, the question whether we are to believe those
parts of the prophetic records which, so far as we can
see, transcend natural law, is a question which depends
on the cogency of the evidence. And here the unique-
ness of the biblical accounts of miracle must not be
neglected. Their simplicity and soberness and freedom
from grotesqueness, when they speak of miracle, differ-
entiate them from most other accounts of miracle, and
are strong points in their favor. Why should we disbe-
lieve their testimony in this matter?
But even from the point of view of one who is con-
vinced that miracles do not occur, these records are not
incredible so far as they relate to unmiraculous events.
408 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
And so, really, in view of the facts in the case, miracle
or no miracle, there is no reason for doubting that the
The history recorded history of the prophets is true his-
as a whole is tory, or that the record concerning the prom-
true ise is a trustworthy record of a reality.
(c) When we turn to the question of historical conti-
nuity, this statement, "There is no reason for doubting,"
is changed to one more positive. There are overwhelm-
ing reasons for believing.
The historicity of a record, when attacked, may be
defended by showing that the record is self-consistent
and is free from incredible statements. These have
more than a negative value, constituting a probability in
favor of trustworthiness. If to this it can be added, in
the case of any record, that it conforms to the tests of
historical continuity, the probabilities in its favor become
very strong indeed. They would be strong even in a
record made by a single person, though in that case the
continuity might be accounted for as the product of the
constructive mind of the author. But where the record
is made up of many independent writings, the proof
from continuity is especially cogent.
Nowhere is this mark more distinct than in the writ-
ings of the prophets. They include many different
Historical documents of different authorship and dates.
continuity in No writer of either the Old or the New Testa-
the bible ment is properly a writer of history. Their
historical narratives are uniformly selections from his-
tory made for the purpose of teaching religious lessons.
These facts render it the more remarkable that we find
among them in so high a degree a correct conception of
the nature of historical movements. They treat history
as a continuous process of dynamic ideas working them-
selves out in social movements. One ought to see that
APOLOGETIC VALUE 409
their method is correct, even if he disagrees with them
as to the nature of the dynamic ideas. Further, they so
present the events that they fit together in intelligible
lines of antecedence and consequence.
Many are accustomed to say that the biblical writers
are not scientific historians, and to ask indulgence for
them on the ground that nothing of this kind ought to
be expected from them. But they need no indulgence,
provided the view we have taken of the promise and
its place in the history is correct. A perfectly definite
conception of historical unity and continuity underlies
the New Testament interpretations of the Old Testa-
ment, and equally underlies the Old Testament itself.
This conception makes the promise to be the centre, and
arranges all the facts according to their relations to the
promise. In this the best of the historians of our own
time do not surpass the men of the bible, and most men
who have treated of their themes are far behind them.
Once more we come face to face with the fact of the
uniqueness of these writings and these men. They are
a class by themselves. And what a class it is!
For our purpose all this has more bearings than one.
There is an argument from the nature of the facts.
Their interfitting and continuity is proof that Bearings in
they are true to reality; for chance state- the argument
ments would not fit thus, and it is unimaginable that
all these writers joined in fabricating a fiction. There
are arguments from the character of the biblical men.
The loftiness of their point of view is wonderful. If we
account for it by their inspiration, we have in it direct
proof of the divine authority of the men and of their
writings. If we try to account for it otherwise, we
have to attribute to them remarkable insight and rare
trustworthiness, and we thus put ourselves under obliga-
410 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
tion to accept their testimony, both in regard to the
history they narrate and when they claim divine author-
ity for themselves.
It is remarkable that such a national ideal as that
indicated in the promise should have been framed among
such a people; but this ideal being given as one of the
elements of this historical problem, we can see that
the problem has wrought itself out congruously from
the time of Abraham until now. With the view we
have taken of the promise and its fulfilments, they
constitute a historical movement, extending over some
thousands of years of past time, and indefinitely into
the future. This movement, whether considered in
itself, in its relations with other history, or as the
channel of a special revelation from God, is one that
will stand the tests of all reasonable investigation.
4. We turn to a fourth argument from the facts we
have traversed— the argument from fulfilled prediction.
When we substitute the conception of one promise for
that of many foretold events, this argument, far from
becoming effete, gains immensely in strength.
The national ideal existed, let us remember, not merely
as a conception of something which might be, but of
Has the something which actually was. Israel's son-
promise been ship with God, his priesthood between God
kept? and the nations, his electness for the sake
of the nations, his office as Yahaweh's Servant among
the nations, his anointing for purposes of blessing to
mankind—these are spoken of as matters of obliga-
tion; this is what Israel ought to be; but they are also
spoken of as matters of fact. Israel is all these. He
is so, no matter how unworthy he permits himself to
be. The promise is essentially a statement of facts,
largely a statement of future facts, a predictive state-
APOLOGETIC VALUE 411
ment. In this character has it turned out to be
true?
Our present treatment of the question of fulfilled
prediction must be restricted to the answering of this
question. Of course, however, the prophets made many
other predictions. Our argument does not destroy the
instances that were cited in the older books on proph-
ecy. Some of those instances it strengthens by binding
them together. The others it leaves intact, provided
they are in themselves tenable. It does not require the
giving up of a single case of fulfilled prediction which
is otherwise defensible. It simply places a distinguish-
ing emphasis on the one body of fulfilled prediction which
is central and all-embracing.
The promise is, remember, that the seed of Abraham
shall be Yahaweh's channel of blessing to mankind.
To this end, it was promised, Israel should The thing
be kept in existence and multiplied, even promised was
after he should become a people without a exceptional
country. This was not a matter-of-course future career
for Israel, such as any person could forecast. It was
not the regular experience for all peoples to have. In
the time of Abraham or Moses or Isaiah or Jeremiah,
there were very many other peoples on the earth, each
seemingly as distinctive and as likely to persist as
Israel. Most of these peoples long ago became extinct,
either by dying out or by mingling their blood with that
of others. Where now are the Assyrians or Babylo-
nians or Philistines? A few ancient peoples have per-
sisted, for example the Copts in Egypt or the Greeks
or Arabians, largely as subject races on the soil where
their ancestors once were lords. As a rule, expatriated
peoples have either perished or become incorporated
into other races. A fractional percentage of such races
412 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
may have survived, the Gypsies being a supposable ex-
ample, but not as a people having any significance in
history. There were scores of peoples whom the Assyr-
ian and Babylonian conquerors deported to other coun-
tries, as they did Israel; but so far as we know not one
of them now remains as a distinct people. The destiny
foretold for Israel was not the ordinary destiny of all
peoples, such as a sagacious person might have pre-
dicted on general principles, but was one altogether un-
paralleled. Has the promise, nevertheless, proved to be
a true prediction?
(a) This question must be answered in the affirmative,
even if we look no further than the secular history of
Israel.
The Israelitish race still exists, without a country, but
one of the greatest races on earth, the peer of any other
in wealth, in intelligence, in the power it wields. It is
the only expatriated ancient people that thus survives as
great and cosmopolitan. Its history, like that of other
peoples, includes things to glory in and things to be
ashamed of. Israelites have been and are of all shades
of character, from the meanest to the noblest. But
Israel is everywhere an international and a mediatorial
people. In matters of banking and commerce and
Finance, finance, the world owes Israel an immense
science, art, debt. In matters of statesmanship, partial-
monotheism larly international statesmanship, the debt is
also large. From the time of Daniel until now Israel-
itish public men have been at the helm, sometimes in
one nation and sometimes in another. In science and
literature and music, the debt is likewise great. But
high above all these things, the literature of Israel's
prophets has been translated into all languages. Israel
has been made the channel for communicating to man-
APOLOGETIC VALUE 413
kind the monotheism of the religion of Yahaweh, and
the monotheism thus communicated now influences the
thought and the welfare of hundreds of millions in every
climate and of all races.
Suppose we stop at this point, and ask: Has the
promise been kept? Have all the families of the ground
been blessed in Abraham and his seed? Who can
answer otherwise than in the affirmative?
One might supposably object to this reasoning by
raising the point that Israel is not the only people that
has a mission. The fact is readily granted, but compare
the missions. Egypt has a mission to the world. India
has a mission to the world. So have Greece and Rome
and Arabia. State this, if you please, in the diction of
the Abrahamic promise. Yahaweh has blessed mankind
through Arabia and Rome and Greece and India and
Egypt. But the blessing through Israel is so utterly
different from that through these others, different in
kind, in quantity, in quality, in details, as to constitute
it a thing unique in history. Further, the national
mission to mankind was not preached in these other
nations as it was in Israel; was not made central in the
national religion for centuries; was not lifted up and
exhibited as a national ideal; in short, is not, as in
Israel, a matter of fulfilled prediction.
The promise to Israel was for eternity. We are not
at the end of eternity yet, and are to this extent not
qualified to say whether in this particular Eternal
the promise corresponds with the fulfilment. fulfilment
But inasmuch as ages of history have rolled by, and now,
at the end of thirty or forty centuries, Israel seems more
vigorous than ever, we have an impression of unlimited
time that may well be taken into the account. And
whatever stress any one may lay upon the physical
414 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
possession of Palestine and kingly state there, as items
in the promise, who dare say that these may not be
resumed in time to come, and with such conditions of
permanence that the current centuries of dispossession
shall seem, in comparison, but a mere temporary inter-
ruption?
In the treatment of the promise-doctrine in the Old
Testament much is made of the sufferings of the Agent
Mediatorial of the promise—sufferings which are in some
suffering sense mediatorial. This is especially the case
in those consecutive chapters in Isaiah which treat of
the Servant of Yahaweh — chapters that are more em-
phasized in the New Testament than anything else
except the promise to Abraham. The Servant's visage
is marred beyond measure, he is despised and rejected,
led as a sheep to the slaughter, and this for iniquities
not his own, and with the effect of bringing blessing to
others. It is not wonderful that devout Jews see in
this a characteristic mark of the history of their race.
From Rameses II of Egypt to the reigning emperor of
Russia, antisemitism has been one of the vices of the
world. No other people has been so cruelly persecuted
through so many centuries. Others have been perse-
cuted, and have either conquered their persecutors or
else become extinct or slavish; Israel alone has main-
tained his place in spite of persecution. The very
cruelties practised have resulted in enlarging the bene-
fits conferred on mankind through him. All mediation
between God and sinful men is at the cost of suffering
on the part of the mediator. Of this truth the history
of God's priestly kingdom, Israel, has been emphatically
typical.
Were this, then, all; were there no further fulfilment
that could possibly be claimed, we might here safely
APOLOGEIC VALUE 415
rest our case. Here is no trifling with marvellous trivi-
alities, no appeal to details that have a flavor of super-
stition in them; but an appeal to great facts, The argu-
well verified and beyond dispute. It is an ment not
argument from prediction, indeed. It rests on trivial
the fact that certain things were foretold thousands of
years before they occurred. But it is prediction that
conforms to the law of historical continuity; and it is,
by reason of that fact, at once the more remarkable and
the more indubitable.
Concerning Frederick the Great of Prussia the story
is often told that he said one day to one of his chaplains:
"Give me in a word conclusive proof of the claims you
make for Christianity." The chaplain replied: "The
Jews, your majesty"; and the agnostic king was silent,
whether convinced or not. He was too well informed
in history not to feel the force of the reply. Even with
the crude, distorted, prejudiced notions that have pre-
vailed in Christendom concerning Israel, the proof is
one that cannot be set aside; and it grows in strength
as one attains to correcter views of the glories of Israel-
itish history. As in biblical times, so now. Israel never
ceases to be God's witness in the world.
(b) The fulfilment in the civil history of Israel does
not stand alone; note also the fulfilment in the religions
of Israel and Christianity and Islam.
Jesus of Nazareth was an Israelitish man. Those
who most strongly hold to the Christian doctrine that
he is God incarnate none the less regard him Their civili-
as a man of Israel, and to all others he is zational
simply a man of Israel. The first disciples results
and Paul and Paul's first coworkers were all Israelites.
The writers of the New Testament were of Israelitish
blood. Christianity, both in fact and in the claims of
416 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
its founders, is the extension of the influence of Israel
in the world. So far as the words go, the Christ is
simply the anointed king of the line of David. The
Christian kingdom of God on earth claims to be the
perpetuated eternal kingdom promised to David. Simi-
lar statements — similar though with a difference —
might be made in regard to the religion of Mohammed.
In strict truth, perhaps Christianity should be regarded
as the religion of Israel itself; but Christianity and
Mohammedanism are, in the common thought of men,
daughter religions to the religion of Israel. We must
not enlarge; but in one or another of the three forms
several hundred millions of men and women acknowl-
edge allegiance to the God of Israel, and profess to
regard this allegiance as the greatest thing in their lives.
Those who do this include the leading powers of the
earth, and they are engaged in active and successful
propaganda for persuading the rest of mankind. What-
ever these three religions have done or are doing or shall
do for civilization, for morality, for human well-being, is
a part of the work that Yahaweh has wrought for
mankind through Israel. Has he made good his prom-
ise that in Abraham and his seed all the families of
the ground shall be blessed? The magnificent results
achieved by Israel as a race sink into insignificance by
the side of the greater results accomplished through the
three religions, and all are alike parts of the blessing of
the promise.
But in our estimate of these religions as a blessing
we have not yet reached the end. There is something
Their per- greater, namely, their spiritual values. The
sonal and blessing bestowed through them on mankind
spiritual has not been exclusively external or civiliza-
results tional or temporal. Under the power of the religion of
APOLOGETIC VALUE 417
Yahaweh, especially in its purer forms, human hearts
have been changed, human lives have been renewed,
men have been sanctified, have been victorious over
death, have had good hope of eternal blessedness. If
spiritual character is of the nature of the highest good,
how large an endowment of this good has come to men,
directly or indirectly, through the people of the promise!
All the nations have received spiritual blessing through
Abraham and his seed.
(c) Once more, the fulfilment in the person of Jesus
is so marked as to be classed by itself. He is the repre-
sentative person of the promise and its accomplishment.
This argument doubtless seems more weighty to
those who hold the Christian orthodox view of the per-
son of Christ than to others, but it is not to Not proof for
be despised by others. If the doctrines of the orthodox
immortality and of the incarnation and the only
atonement are true, then this range of the fulfilment
of the promise is higher than those we have hitherto
traversed, so much higher that they become low in the
comparison. But does it not remain so, even if we
waive the acceptance of these doctrines? Apart from the
question of his divine-human character, who is there that
fails to see that Jesus is, from the promise point of view,
the typical Israelite? that the men of the New Testa-
ment were correct in claiming that the promise was
culminatingly fulfilled in him? Thinking of Jesus, for
the moment, as a reverent agnostic might think of him,
does he not embody preeminently the idea that was in
the promise to Abraham? In his character and work,
in the cosmopolitan reach of his influence, in his expe-
rience as a suffering mediator, is he not the very anti-
type of Israel as the people of the promise?
We have spoken of the promise as fulfilled in the
418 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
three religions of Yahaweh, but we must not forget that
the personality of Jesus is an element in those three reli-
gions. In Christianity he is supreme. In Islam he shares
the throne with Mohammed. And as for Judaism, it is
intensely conscious of his presence, even if it excludes
him. Eliminate him utterly from the three religions,
and how much that is of real value would remain?
In fine, is he not, more than all else combined, the
channel through which the blessing of Abraham has
flowed to the nations? Is not the blessing itself best
described in brief by speaking of the earth-wide domin-
ion of the anointed son of David?
Let me repeat this in the words published many years
ago by the distinguished Jew, Benjamin Disraeli: --
"The pupil of Moses may ask himself whether all the princes of
the house of David have done so much for the Jews as that prince
who was crucified on Calvary. Had it not been for him the Jews
would have been comparatively unknown, or known only as a high
oriental caste which had lost its country. Has not he made their
history the most famous history in the world? Has not he hung
up their laws in every temple? Has not he avenged the victims of
Titus, and conquered the Caesars? What successes did they antici-
pate from their Messiah? The wildest dreams of their rabbis have
been far exceeded. Has not Jesus Christ conquered Europe, and
changed its name into Christendom? All countries that refuse the
cross wither, while the whole of the new world is devoted to the
Semitic principle and its most glorious offspring, the Jewish faith!"
(Interior, Jan. 20, 1881).
Certainly there is no room for doubt. There is a. cor-
respondence between the word of promise spoken long
ago by the prophets and the fulfilment which
Summary we ourselves behold: that in Israel the peo-
ple, that in the great religions in which men worship
Yahaweh, that in the peerless personality of Jesus.
This correspondence is sure proof both of the divine
APOLOGETIC VALUE 419
mission of the prophets and of the truths concerning
him who is the supreme fulfilment of the promise.
If any one should raise the point that the preaching
of the promise by the prophets, and afterward by the
apostles and their successors, has had an in- A futile
fluence in bringing about the result promised, objection
the fact is admitted, but it has no weight as an objection.
There is a difference between prediction in the form of
a great promise and predictions in the form of discon-
nected bits of the marvellous. How did it happen that
a like promise was not preached, with like results, in
other nations than Israel? Even if you grant that the
promise has wrought out its own fulfilment as naturally
as in the case in which the acorn is a prediction of the
oak, it is none the less true that the performing of the
thing promised proves that the prophets were not mis-
taken in claiming that they had a revelation from the
Promiser. It proves that both the revealing and the
accomplishing of the promise are a part of the programme
of the Intelligence that is supreme in human history.
The proof is as convincing as it is wonderful.
The Apologetic of the twentieth century is dis-
posed to deal with human experience and human
ethical judgments rather than with histori- The Apologetic
cal facts. Within limits this Apologetic has that surrenders
great advantages in point of direct applica- historical fact
bility and convincingness. But if it surrenders the field
of historical fact, it thus renders itself vulnerable. Win
a man to Christianity by appealing to his spiritual per-
ceptions and his sense of what is reasonable, and you
will in turn lose him if he becomes convinced that
Christianity originated in fraud. Open a person's
eyes to behold the peerless personality of Jesus, and
his vision will become blurred if he comes to think
420 THE PROMISE. MESSIANIC PROPHECY
that Jesus habitually made assertions which he did
not know to be true. If we surrender to the enemy
the positions of historical Apologetics, that enables
him seriously to disturb us in our possession of the
other parts of the field.
We need make no such surrender. In arguing from
the unique character of the prophet as presented in the
scriptures, from the unique national ideal of the people
of the promise, from the unique conformity of our record
of them to the requirements of historical criticism, from
the unique character of the promise as fulfilled predic-
tion, we hold a position that is both impregnable and of
strategic importance. It is impossible for one who has
really studied the matter to disbelieve that the state-
ments concerning the promise were on record, as then
ancient, more than twenty-three centuries ago; or to
disbelieve that the forecasts thus recorded have ever
since been proving themselves to be realities. This
establishes the fact of a central superhuman element
in the history of the religion of Yahaweh. Account
for it as you will in your philosophy concerning mira-
cles, the fact is certain. And the reality of the tran-
scendent divine element in this part of the field being
demonstrated, the question of its existence in other
parts of the field is simply a question of the sufficient-
ness of the evidence. Holding this position, we corn-
mand the field, so far as the defence of Christianity as
a revelation from God is concerned. Having substan-
tiated these claims, we are entitled to make other like
claims covering the whole region.
Every advance in genuine knowledge of truth
strengthens our reasons for holding that the truth is
true. To this rule the truths concerning the prophets
are no exception.
INDEX
When the references in this Index are to the chapters, many of the details are omitted
from the Index. They may be found in the Table of Contents, and in the marginal cut-in
notes.
Of the numerous scriptural quotations and references in the volume only a few appear
in the Index.
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Aaron, the prophet of Moses, 43. Abraham, his prophetic character, 39; the promise to him, see Promise. Acts ii. 16-18, 111; iii. 21-26, 38, 351, 368; iv. 25-26, 250 ; viii. 32-33, 283; xxvi. 6-7, 179. Agrippa, 179, 190. Ahab and the prophets, 97. Ahab son of Kolaiah, 61. Ahijah, 47, 49, 53, 100. Amalekites and Canaanites, 225. Amos, 57, 96, 161, 311. Amos vii-viii, 118. Amplifications of the promise, 246. Angel, the, 24, 29, 45, 123, 145, 352-356. Anointed, 298-303. See Messiah. Antitype. See Type. Apologetic value of prophecy. See Prophecy. Apologetics, historical, 419. Appearing of Yahaweh. See Theoph- any. Argument from prophecy, 387. Ark and mercy seat, 357. Art, its presentment of the prophet, 67. Asaph the seer, 22, 47, 49, 78, 100. Asideans, 328. Assembly of nations, 198. Astrologers, 67. Authority, prophetic, 169. Azariah the prophet, 53.
Balaam, 43, 104. Baruch, the law in, 139. Baruch the scribe, 61. Biography, prophetic, 36. Book of the law, 145. See Torah.
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Branch, messianic term, 335-340. Burden. See Massa.
Caiaphas a prophet, 104. Called one, 272, 330. Canaanites and Amalekites, 225. Casiphia, the place, 63. Celebrations of events, 249. Cessation of prophecy, 63. Chosen one, 272, 329. Christ. See Messiah. Christocentric theology, 193. 1 Chronicles xvii, 229 and often; xxii, 229, 233, 246, 332; xxv, 49; xxix, 48. 2 Chronicles vi, 247, 253 ; xviii, 55. Citizen with a message, 66–87. Collateral presentations, 251, Chapter XV, 344-364. See Table of Con- tents. College of Huldah, 80. Coming person, 302. See Person of the promise. Common false notions of prophet, 67. Comparative religion, 12–14. Conjurer contrasted with prophet, 93. Consistency of bible record, 403. Contemporary understanding, 211, 227, 239, 242, 251. Continuity of the promise. See under Promise. Cosmopolitan and local, the prophet both, 102. Cosmopolitan, the promise. See Nations. Costume of the prophets, 67, 69. Covenant formula, 203, 217, 234.
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421
422 INDEX
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Covenants, 201, 203, 273, etc. Credibility. See Scriptures. Cretan prophet, 104. Critical questions, 7, 33, 40, 44, 47, 66, 207, 209, 226, 238, 261, 298, 359, 398. Culminating fulfilment. See Promise, fulfilments of. Cumulative fulfilment, 129-132, 205, 376, 404. Cyrus, 62, 255, 273, 275.
Daniel, 62, 117. Daniel ii, 297; vii, 297, 306; ix, 297, 301. Dates of prophetic functions, 90. Dates of terms for prophet, 32. David a prophet, 29, 35, 37, 47, 48, 78, 100, 170, etc. David, his house, line, seed, kingdom, 230, 289-297, 370, 418, etc. David, promise to, Chapters X—XIV, 228-240, 247-260, 269-284, 317-343. See Table of Contents. Day of Yahaweh, 56, 190, 304-312. Deborah the prophetess, 44. Dervishes, 68. "Desire of all nations," 329. Details, certain matters of, 16. Deuteronomy xviii, 44, 91, 350. Devout persons are prophets, 103. Direct examination versus cross-exam- ination, 7. Disconnected predictions, 361, 388. Doctrine, messianic. See Promise- doctrine. Dreams, 115.
Ecclesiasticus and the law, 138. Eisegesis, 9 ; of Christian doctrine, 10; of negative assumptions, II; of theories of religion, 12. El and Elohim, 18. Eldad and Medad, 42. Elect one. See Chosen one. Eli, prophecy in his time, 45. Eliezer son of Dodavah, 53, 54. Elijah, 29, 37, 53-56, 68, 79, 96, 100. Elisha, 29, 37, 53-56, 69, 79, 96. Elohim and El, 18. Emmaus, 179. Equivocal prophecy, 127. |
Eschatology, 190, 304, 312. See Day of Yahaweh. 2 Esdras and the law, 135. Eternity of the promise. See under Promise. Ethan, 47, 100. Evangelism, prophetic, 99. Evidence tested by use, 8, Chapter XVII. Excitation, absence of artificial, 124. Exilian prophets, 62. Exodus iii, 123, 219 ; vii. I, 43, 90 ; xix, 123, 222, 290 ; xxiii. 20-23, 354 ; xxxii. 34 if., 354. Exodus, times of, 41, Chapter X, 217- 228. See Table of Contents. Expectation. See under Messiah. External history. See under Prophets. External presentment of a prophet, 66. Ezekiel, 62, 68, 118, etc. Ezra, 62, 82.
False messiahs, 375. False prophets, 55, 59, 61-63, 102, 116. Familiar fact, the promise was, 251, 378. Fetich-men, 67. Frenzy, prophetic, 35, 72. Fulfilled prophecy, argument from, 387, 410. Fulfilment, messianic, Chapter XVI, 375-386, see Table of Contents; in Israel the race, 285, 288, 381, 412; in Christianity and Islam, ib. and 41s ; in Jesus Christ, 186, 285, 288, 379, 381, 385, 417; still in progress, 386, 413. Functions of a prophet. See under Prophets.
Gad the seer, 22, 47, 48, 100. Generic prophecy. See Cumulative fulfilment. Genesis, early chapters, 38; xiv, 347; xviii, 122; xlix. 10, 346. Gentiles. See Nations. Gideon, 45. Godly one. See Hhasidh. Gospel in the prophets, 177, 393. Great Synagogue, 63. Greek oracle-givers, 67.
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INDEX 423
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Habakkuk, 60. Haggai, 62. Hanani the seer, 24, 53. Hananiah son of Azzur, 61, 126. Heman the seer, 22, 47, 49, 78, 100. Hhasidh, 245, Chapter XIV, 313-328. See Table of Contents. Hhoter, 340. Hhoseh and its cognates, 22, 26, 49, 51, 53, 55, 6o, 115, 119. Historical continuity of bible records, 408. Historical fact in Apologetics, 419. Historical verisimilitude, 402-410. Historicity, 6-15. Holy one. See Hhasidh. Holy Spirit. See Spirit of Yahaweh. Homiletical character, 99, 243. Hope, messianic, 179, 304, 365-375. Hosea, 58, 73, 94, 95, 149, 161, 331. House of David, 229. How one became a prophet, 84. Huldah the prophetess, 60, 80.
Iddo the seer, 22, 49, l00. Ideal Israel. See Promise-people. Ideal of a prophet, in bible, 395-398. Ideal, the national, 398. Ideals, the highest, limited to a few, 226. Insignia, their significant absence, 71, 86. Institutions as types, 357. Interpreting dreams, 118. Interpreting the promise, see Fulfil- ment, and Contemporary under- standing; one-sided interpreting, 285, 382. Interpreting the sources, 9. Irrevocability of the promise, 185, 219, 232, 256. Isaac as a prophet, 40. Isaiah, 56, 58, 94. Isaiah as a statesman, 95. Isaiah ii, 294, 296; iv, 336; vii. 14-16, 333; ix. 1-7, 250, 296, 329; xi. 1-10, 250, 297, 339; xl-lxvi, 265-288 ; xli, 270; xlii, 271, 282, 294; xliii, 272; xliv, 270, 271, 275 ; xlv, 255, 271; xlviii, 271; xlix, 271, 274, 279 ; 1, 270, 276, 282; 283, 362; lv, lvi, 255, 277 ; lx, 274; lxi, 274, 281; lxiii, 112, 113, 277; lxv, 277, 297.
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Israel at the exodus, see Exodus ; as fulfilment of the promise, see Ful- filment; his mission to himself, 280, 380; the promise-people, 259, 273 as Servant, 270, see Servant.
Jacob as a prophet, 40. Jadon. See Jedo. Jahaziel, 53. Jedai. See Jedo. Jedo the seer, 22, 29, 47, 49, 53, 100. Jeduthun, 22, 47, 49, 78, 100. Jehoiada, 53, 54. Jehu son of Hanani, 22, 53, 100. Jehu son of Nimshi, 30. Jeremiah, 6o, 82, 94, 118. Jeremiah iii, 316; xxiii, 336; xxix. 26- 27, 72 ; xxxiii, 337. Jeshurun, 272, 330. Jesus Christ the culminating fulfilment. See Fulfilment. Job, his dreams and visions, 43. Joel, 56, 111, 306-310. John the Baptist, 65, 372. Jonah, 57. Josephus and the law, 135. Joshua a writer, 100. Judah giving torah unto Goshen, 140. Judges, times of, 44. Judges vi, 45; xiii, 45, 123, 353. Judgment scenes, 306, 308.
Kingdom, the, 189, 231, Chapter XIII, 289-298, see Table of Contents; of influence, 298, 303; of Yahaweh, 295. Kings from Abraham, Jacob, David, 231. I Kings viii, 247, 253; XViii, III, 112; xxii, 53, III, 114, 127. 2 Kings i. 7-8, 68, 69. Knox and Mary of Scotland, 97.
Latter days, 305. Law. See Torah; in sense of scripture, 134; as a New Testament term, 136. Leaders are in a sense prophets, 104. Leviticus xxvi. 44-45, 220. Literary work by the prophets, too. Local and cosmopolitan, the prophet both, 102. Longevity of the prophets, 75.
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424 INDEX
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Lovingkindness, 313. Luke i. 38, 373-375; iv, 281. Lying Spirit of Yahaweh, 113.
Maccabxan times, 65. Magic versus prophecy, 91. Mahhazeh, 23. Malachi, 62, 355. Manifold fulfilment. See Cumulative fulfilment. Mankind. See Nations, and Promise. Manliness of the prophets, 85. Manoah, 29, 45, 145. Man of God, 28, 45, etc. Man of the Spirit, 30. Mar'ah, Mar'eh, 25-28. Massa, 30, 56, 58, 60. Matthew i. 22-23, 333; xii, 283. Medad and Eldad, 42. Mediatorial suffering, 261, 284, 360, 414. Medicine-men, 67. Meshullam, 272, 330. Message of the prophet, Chapter VI, 110-132. See Table of Contents. Messiah, expectation of, Chapter XVI, 365-375, see Table of Contents; a political deliverer, 365; the term, Chapter XIII, 298-303, see Table of Contents; see Person of the promise. Messiahs, false, 375. Messianic doctrine. See Promise-doctrine. Messianic hope, 179, 304, 365-375. Messianic terms, Chapters XII-XIV, 263-342, 251. See Table of Contents. Metaphorical terms for prophet, 32. Methods, true and false, 14. Micah, 59. Micaiah, 53, 113. Miracle, 405-407. Miracles by prophets, 106. Miriam the prophetess, 42. Miscellaneous types, 361. Modern View. See Critical questions. Modes of revelation to prophets, 115. Monotheism, Israelitish, 87, 108, 133, 412. Moses as a prophet, 41, etc. Multitude of nations, 200. "My Lord," 342, 347.
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Nabhi and its cognates, 21, 51, 55, 60, 72. Nagidh, 340. Nahum, 60. Naioth in Ramah, 73, 77. Nataph, 31, 60. Nathan, 37, 47, 48, 100, 144. National ideal of Israel, 398; compared with others, 399; a contrasting ideal, 401; how accounted for, 400. National personality, 265. Nations, assembly of, 198; multitude of, 200; promise interest of, 181, 188, Chapter IX, 197—206 (see Table of Contents), 221, 232, 253, .269, 279, 377; their share in the temple, 253. Naturalistic prophetic functions. See under Prophets. Nehemiah, 62. Netser, 339. New Testament, as a source, 4, 365; its doctrine of the promise, 367, Chap- ter VIII, 175-194, see Table of Contents. Noadiah the prophetess, 63. Numbers xi. 24-29, 42, III; xii. 6-8, 27, 42, 90. Numerousness of the prophets. See under Prophets.
Obadiah, 57, 307. Obadiah, Ahab's steward, 54, 79. Oded of Asa's time, 53. Oded of the time of Ahaz, 59. Old argument from prophecy, 387. Old Testament, 168. See Torah. Oracle priests, 67. Order of treatment, 15. Order, the prophetic, 80. Ordination of prophets, 83. Organizations. See under Prophet. Original study, need of, 5. Outward mien of a prophet, 66.
Patriarchs, the, as recipients of the promise, Chapter IX, 197-206. See Table of Contents. Patriarchs as prophets, 39. Paul before Agrippa, 179, 190; at An- tioch, 184; his interpretations, 201, 202, 205.
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INDEX 425
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Peculiar people. See Yahaweh's own, and Covenant formula. Pentateuch, 163. Periods of the history, 37. Person of the promise, 303, 345-350, 361-364; the conception, 345; ex- traordinary in character, 345; ideal or actual, 348 ; looked for as coming, 369; a reality in Jesus, 349. Persuasive speech of the prophets, 132. Picture-visions, 118. Poets, the prophets as, 100. Political Messiah, 365. Powwow circles, 68. Practical dogma. See under Promise-doctrine. Pre-Abrahamic prophecy, 38, 196. Preachers, the prophets as, 99, 177, 243. Prediction versus prophecy, 21, 88, 102, 105, 107, 175, 177, 212, 228, 240, 242, 211, 392; argument from, 387, 410-420. Predictions, 361. Preliminary matters, Chapter I, 3-20. See Table of Contents. Presupposing the promise, 251, 378. Priest versus prophet, 81, 82, 91. Priesthood, of Israel, 222, 357; of the Person of the promise, 360. Progressive fulfilment. See Cumulative fulfilment. Promise, Chapters VIII to XVII, 175-- 420; to Abraham, Chapters VIII, IX, 179-192, 197-206, see Table of Contents; contemporary under- standing of, 211, 227, 239, 242, 251; continuity of, 224, 233, 252; cumula- tive fulfilment of, see Cumulative ful- filment; for eternity, 185, 204, 219, 231, 256, 376, 378, 413, see Irrevoca- bility; at the exodus, see Exodus; to David, see David; fulfilment of, see Fulfilment; interpretations of, see Contemporary understanding, and Fulfilment; known in earliest times, 210; for the nations, see Nations; New Testament presentation, see New Testament. Promise-doctrine, the, Chapters VIII- XV, 175-364, see Table of Con- tents; in Abraham's time, 211; in |
David's time, 239; diction of, 266; eschatological trend of, see Escha- tology; familiar at all dates, 251, 378; homiletical character of, 243, etc.; pervades the whole Old Testa- ment, 179, 241; in the post-Davidic prophets, Chapter XI, 241-262, see Table of Contents; practical dogma, 214, 228, 240, 242, see Contemporary understanding ; presupposed as familiar, 251, 378; proposition, for- mulated, 178 ; recapitulation of, 241, 392; a solution for difficulties, 403; subordinate items of, 197; suited to men of all eras, 402; in theology of New Testament, 189. Promise-people, the, 259, 273. Promise-phrases as repeated, 245. Promise point of view, 273. Promises, 182, 192, 392. Proof texts, 244. Prophecy, before Abraham, 38; apolo- getic value, Chapter XVII, 387-420, see Table of Contents; cessation of, 63; in time of Eli, 45; homiletical, 21, 89, 243; times of the judges, 44; Maccabsean times, 65; patriarchal times, 39; versus prediction, see Prediction. Prophet, biblical ideal of one, 395-398 how to become one, 84; not a magician, 91; a manly man, 85; a messianic type, 350; terms denoting, Chapter II, 21-35, see Table of Contents; used at all dates, 32; all applicable to same person, 34; de- grees of extension, 34. Prophet, the word, 21, 89. profh<thj, 21. Prophetic authority, 169. Prophetic diction in New Testament, 185. Prophetic men, 34. See Prophets. Prophets, Chapters II-VII, 21-174; baseless notions concerning them, 67-71; citizens with a message, Chapter IV, 66-87, see Table of Contents; "Companies" of, 50, 74- 79; contrast with Gentile prophets, 86; Egyptian, 81; Elijah and Elisha group, 53-56; evangelistic preach- ers, 99, 242; Exilian group, 62; |
426 INDEX
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external history, Chapter III, 36-65, see Table of Contents; disclosers of secrets, 107; false, see False prophets; functions of, Chapter V, 88-109, see Table of Contents; Isaiah group, 56-60; Jeremiah group, 60- 61; literary men, 100; longevity, 75; their message, see Message; how given, 110-124; how uttered, 125- 132; their Messianic forecast, see Promise-doctrine; their miracles, 106, 405; numerous, 54, 59, 61, 62, 63; order, the prophetic, 80-84; ordination, 80-84; organization, 50, 73, 74, 76-80; persuasive speech of, 132; postexilian, 62-63; preachers, 21, 89, 99, 243; primary and sec- ondary, 35, 101; promise-doctrine teachers, Chapter XI, 241-262, see Table of Contents; versus prophetic men, 35; reformers, 98; Samuel and Nathan group, 47-52; Scripture writers, see under Scriptures, and Torah; secondary and primary, 35, 101; sons of the, 54, 56, 59, 76-80, 83; statesmen, 94-98; terms describ- ing them, see Terms; torah and the prophets, see Torah; types of Person of the promise, 350. Proverbs, use of the word torah, 141. Provisional conclusions settled, 389. Provisionally historical viewpoint, 7. Psalm ii, 249, 294, 301; vii, 306; xvi, 244, 324; xxii, 362; xlv, 250, 295, 299; lxxii, 245, 253, 292 ; lxxxix, 247- 256, 325, 332; cv. 14-15, 39; cx. 342, 347; cxxxii, 247, 316, 318; cxlv, 296.
Rachel and the innocents, 128. Rational probability of bible statements, 405. Recapitulations, no, 192, 195, 241, 263, 344, 391, 418. Redemption from sin, 191, 215, 329, 374. Reformers, the prophets as, 98. Regent, 340. Religious diction, 257. Repetitions of the old phrases, 245. Rest, the promised, 221, 233. Revelation, modes of, 115, 397. |
Roeh and its cognates, 24, 26, 51, 52, 53, 55, 60, 115, 119. Romans ix, 274.
Sacred year, 358. Saint. See Hhasidh. Saith Yahaweh, 30. Samaria, Assyrian colonists, 1415. Samson, 45, 113. Samuel, 24, 29, 34, 37, 47, 70, 82, 100. I Samuel ii-iii, 45, 46, 51, 300, 325; ix, 46, 52; x, 52, 74, 76 ; xix. 18-24, 73, 77. 2 Samuel vii, 229, 256, and often. Schools of the prophets. See Sons of the prophets. Scope of the volume, 3. Scriptures, see Torah; authorship, 133; credibility, 6, 405; equally of pro- phetic authority, 170; not three canons, 167; as a source of infor- mation, 4; to be tested by use, 8. Secondary prophets, 35, 101. Secrets disclosed by prophets, 107. Seed of Abraham, of David, 181, 202, 205, 230, 267. See under David. Seer. See Hhozeh and Roeh. Separative institutions, 218. Series of type and antitype, 131. Sermon-texts, 244. Servant, Chapter XII, 263-288. See Table of Contents. Shemaiah, 29, 47, 50, 53, 100. Shemaiah son of Delaiah, 63. Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 61. Simon the just, 63. Sin and redemption. See Redemption. Solomon, 47, 48, 100. Son of Yahaweh, 218, 232, 236. Sons of the prophets. See under Prophets. Sons, promised, 333. Sources, 4, 365. Special terms. See Terms. Spirit of Yahaweh, 110-115, 191. Spirit, man of the, 30. Spiritual Messiah expected, 372. Spokesman of Deity, 91. Statesman, the prophet as, 8o, G4. Stephen, 183. |
INDEX 427
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Study versus superficial reading, 5. Subordinate items in the promise, 197. Succession of the prophets, 81. Successive fulfilment. See Cumulative fulfilment. Suffering. See Mediatorial suffering. Superhuman prophetic functions, 105. See under Prophets. Synagogue, the Great, 63.
Technical terms. See Messianic terms. Temple, its builder, 230; dedication prayer, 247; for the nations, 253- 255. Terms denoting the prophets. See Prophets. Terms indirectly denoting the prophet, or the Person of the promise, 32, 329. Terms, messianic. See Messianic terms. Testimony, its credibility, 6. Theology, of the promise, see Prom- ise-doctrine; of the Person of the promise, 349. Theophany, 24, 40, 121, 352. See Angel. Tishbite, 97. "To thee for God." See Covenant formula. Torah, Chapter VII, 133-172, see Table of Contents; abstract use of the noun, 152; authoritative, 142; book of the, 145, 158; the definite aggregate, 153 ; derivation of the word, 139; Deuteronomic and Deuteronomistic mention, 158; of divine origin, 141; earlier mention, 157, 161; a growing aggregate, 156, 162, 166; Josephus's use of the word, 135; Judah's giving of torah, 140; of mankind, 237; oral and written. 148; Old Testament uses of the word, 149; Old Testament as extant torah, 166-172; Pentateuch and
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torah, 163 ; priests its guardians, 145; produced at five epochs, 167; prophets its revealing agents, 143; called also Prophets, and Writings, 162; of Samaritan colonists, 146; written and oral, 148. Tsemahh, Branch, 335-340. Type and antitype, 126-131, 349-364.
Uncertainties concerning the expected Messiah, 371. Unearthly phenomena, their absence, 68. United Israel as a prophetic ideal, 96. Universalness of the prophetic diction, 287. Uriah son of Shemaiah, 6x. Use as a test of evidence, 8, Chapter XVII.
Virgin mother, the, 333. Vision, intellectual, 119. Vision, pictorial, 118. Voudou, 67.
Word of Yahaweh, 29, and often.
Yahaweh's house and David's house, 229. Yahaweh's kingdom, 295. See King- dom. Yahaweh, the name, 17. Yahaweh's own, 222, 223, 290.
Zadok the' seer, 24, 47, 49, 82. Zechariah (i-viii), 62, 118. Zechariah (ix-xiv), 58. Zechariah iii, vi, 338; xiii. 2-6, 69; xiv. 16-21, 255. Zechariah son of jehoiada, 54. Zechariah of Uzziah's time, 57. Zedekiah son of Chenaanah, 55. Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, 61. Zephaniah, 60, 307. Zerubbabel, 338.
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