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CHAPTER IV.

ON THE PROPHETS.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROPHETS AND THEIR WRITINGS.

I. The Prophetical Books, why so called.-II. Different kinds of prophets mentioned in the Scriptures. III. Situation of the prophets, and their manner of living.—IV. Nature of the prophetic inspiration. — V. Collection of their writings, and mode of announcing their predictions.-VI. Number and order of the prophetic books.

WE

now enter on the fourth or prophetical part of the Old Testament, according to the division which is generally adopted, but which forms the second division, according to the Jewish classification of the sacred volume. This portion of the Scriptures is termed prophetical, because it chiefly consists of predictions of future events; though many historical and doctrinal passages are interspersed through the writings of the Prophets, as there also are many predictions of future events scattered through those books, which are more strictly historical. The authors of these books are, by way of eminence, termed Prophets, that is, divinely inspired persons, who were raised up among the Israelites to be the ministers of God's dispensations. Jehovah, at sundry times and in divers manners, spake unto the fathers by the prophets: for prophecy came not of old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (Heb. i. 1. 2 Pet. i. 21.) In the earliest ages of the world, some individuals were raised up, who sustained this high function. Thus we find the prophetical character expressly ascribed to Enoch and others, before the giving of the law; but reckoning from Moses to Malachi (which perhaps is the more correct mode of computation), we find a series of prophets, who flourished in a continued succession during a period of more than one thousand years; all confirming the authority of their predecessors; co-operating in the same designs; uniting in one spirit to deliver the same doctrines, and to predict the same blessings to mankind; labouring to reduce the people to the observance of their instructions; and denouncing the severest judgments against such as continued disobedient, or treated their divine commission with neglect or contempt.

II. To these messengers of heaven, frequent reference is made in various parts of the sacred writings. The term PROPHET, indeed, is of general signification. It was applied by the heathens to all persons who were supposed to be conversant with divine things; and, in conformity to this notion, Saint Paul in his Epistle to Titus (i. 12.),

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when citing a passage from a profane poet, calls him a prophet, because the heathens supposed their poets to be inspired. In the historical books of the Old Testament we meet with frequent notice of the schools of the prophets; these appear to have been seminaries, where religious truths, or the divine laws, were particularly taught.1 The pupils in these schools were not, strictly speaking, all of them prophets; though God bestowed upon some of them the spirit of prophecy, or of predicting future events. (2 Kings ii. 3.) Further, in the Old Testament, the prophets are spoken of, as "holy men of God," as "seers," and as "prophets," in the most exalted sense of the term. The first denomination seems to have been sometimes applied to men of exemplary piety, who assiduously studied the divine law, as communicated by their legislator Moses; who firmly believed in the predictions of good and evil that should attend the Israelites according to the tenor of their conduct; who were observant of the character of the times in which they lived; and who might be able to discern the natural and inevitable consequences of particular actions, without the necessity of immediate inspiration. These men of God, however, received peculiar communications upon certain emergencies. They were divinely appointed to execute some important commissions, and to predict events which were not in the ordinary course of things, and far beyond the reach of human penetration. It was this which sometimes gave them the title of seers. The higher class of prophets were those who foretold important events that were to take place at distant periods; which no human sagacity could foresee, and which were most opposite to the natural conceptions or general expectations of mankind: as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets.2

III. The prophets, according to Augustine,3 were the philosophers,

1 When these schools of the prophets were first instituted, is no where recorded in the Scriptures; but as the earliest mention of them is in the time of Samuel, it is not probable that they existed anterior to his days. It is not unlikely that the degeneracy of the priesthood first occasioned the institution of these places, for the better education of those who were to succeed in the sacred ministry. According to the places specified in Scripture (1 Sam. x. 5. 10. and xix. 20. 2 Kings ii. 5. iv. 38. and xxii. 14.) the schools of the prophets were first erected in the cities of the Levites; which, for the more convenient instruction of the people, were dispersed through the several tribes of Israel. In these places, convenient edifices were built for the abode of the prophets and their disciples, who were thence termed the sons of the prophets; and at their head some venerable truly inspired prophet was placed as governor, who is called their father. (1 Sam. x. 2. 2 Kings ii. 12.) Samuel was one, and perhaps the first, of those fathers (1 Sam. xix. 20.); and Elijah was another (2 Kings ii. 12), who was succeeded by Elisha in this office. (2 Kings iv. 38.) The sons of the prophets lived together in a society or community (2 Kings vi. 1.); they were instructed in the knowledge of the law, and of the principles of their religion, as well as in the sacred art of psalmody, or (as it is termed in 1 Sam. x. 5. and 1 Chron. xxv. 1. 7.) prophesying with harps, psalteries, and cymbals. At the conclusion of their lectures and religious exercises, they were accustomed to eat together with their masters. Stillingfleet's Origines Sacræ, pp. 92-101. 8th edition.

2 Dr. Cogan's Theological Disquisitions, p. 275. et seq. Dr. Gregory Sharpe's Second Argument in Defence of Christianity from Prophecy, pp. 1-20. 3 De Civitate Dei, lib. xviii. c. 41.

divines, instructors, and guides of the Hebrews in piety and virtue. These holy men were the bulwarks of religion against the impiety of princes, the wickedness of individuals, and every kind of immorality. Their lives, persons, and discourses were alike instructive and prophetical. Raised up by God to be witnesses of his presence, and living monuments of his will, the events that frequently happened to them were predictions of what was about to befal the Hebrew nation. Although the prophets possessed great authority in Israel, and were highly esteemed by pious sovereigns, who undertook no important affairs without consulting them, yet their way of life was exceedingly laborious, and they were very poor, and greatly exposed to persecution and ill-treatment. They generally lived retired, in some country place, and in colleges or communities, where they and their disciples were employed in prayer, in manual labour, and in study. Their labour, however, was not such as required intense application, or was inconsistent with that freedom from secular cares which their office required. Thus, Elisha quitted his plough, when Elijah called him to the prophetic office (1 Kings xix. 19, 20.); and Amos (vii. 14.) tells us that he was no prophet, neither a prophet's son, but a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. The pupils or sons of the prophets, who lived under the direction of Elijah and Elisha, erected their own dwellings, for which they cut down the timber that was requisite. (2 Kings vi. 1-4.)

The apparel of the prophets was in unison with the simplicity of their private life. Elijah was clothed with skins, and wore a leather girdle round his loins. (2 Kings i. 8.) Isaiah wore sackcloth (xx. 2.), which was the ordinary habit of the prophets. Zechariah, speaking of the false prophets who imitated externally the true prophets of the Lord, says that they should not wear a rough garment (Heb. a garment of hair) to deceive. (Zech. xiii. 4.) Their poverty was conspicuous in their whole life. The presents they received were only bread, fruits, and honey; and the first-fruits of the earth were given them, as being persons who possessed nothing themselves. (2 Kings iv. 42.) The woman of Shunem, who entertained Elisha, put intc the prophet's chamber only what was plain and absolutely necessary. (2 Kings iv. 10.) The same prophet refused the costly presents of Naaman (2 Kings v. 16.), and pronounced a severe sentence upon his servant Gehazi, who had clandestinely obtained a part of them. (20-27.) Their frugality appears throughout their history ;-for instance, the wild gourds, which one of the prophets ordered to be prepared for his disciples. (2 Kings iv. 38-41.) The angel gave Elijah only bread and water for a long journey (1 Kings xix. 6-8.); and Obadiah, the pious governor of Ahab's household, gave the same food to the prophets whose lives he saved in a cave. (1 Kings xviii. 13.)

It does not appear that the prophets were bound by any vow of celibacy; for Samuel had children, and the Scriptures mention the wives of Isaiah (viii. 3.) and Hosea. (i. 2.) But no women or wives

seem to have been admitted into the colleges of the prophets, who maintained a very guarded intercourse with the female sex, as is evident in the conduct of Elisha towards his benevolent hostess. (2 Kings iv. 27.)

But, however they might be respected by pious monarchs, the prophets were frequently exposed to cruel treatment from wicked princes, whose impiety they reprehended, and to insults and jeers from the people, whose immoral practices they censured and condemned; and many of them were even put to violent deaths. (Heb xi. 35-38.) Yet, amid all these persecutions and this injurious treatment, they despised dangers, torments, and death, and with wonderful intrepidity attacked whatever was contrary to the law and worship of Jehovah, contemning secular honours, riches, and favours, with astonishing disinterestedness.

IV. Great diversity of opinion has prevailed respecting the nature, extent, permanency, and different degrees of inspiration which the prophets possessed. Not to enter into a useless discussion of conflicting sentiments, we may remark, that the communication between God and man is by prayer, by the word of God, and by his works: in old times it was also by the prophets, and before them by the angel of the Lord, and the proper symbols of the divine presence. Mankind, at first, consulted God by prayers and sacrifices at his altars. After the promulgation of the law from mount Sinai, and the establishment of the priesthood, we find three modes of communicating the divine will mentioned in the Old Testament: 1. The Shechinah:

2. The Urim and Thummim:—and 3. Revelation by visions and dreams, or by inspiration. When these kinds of prophecy ceased under the second temple, they were succeeded by the Bath Kol, voice from heaven, or daughter of a voice, because when a voice or thunder came out from heaven, another voice issued from it; but, as we have little certain information respecting this mode of divine communication, we shall briefly notice the three kinds of prophecy just enumerated.

1. The Shechinah was the sitting or dwelling of God between the cherubim on the mercy-seat, or cover of the ark (Psal. lxxx. 1. and xcix. 1.); whence He delivered His answers in an articulate voice. (Exod. xxv. 22. xxix. 42. Numb. vii. 89.)

2. The Urim and Thummim, which was on the high-priest's breastplate (Exod. xxviii. 30.), was another standing oracle, to be consulted on all great occasions (Numb. xxvii. 21. 1 Šam. xxviii. 6 xxiii. 9. xxx. 7. Ezra ii. 63.); and the answers were returned by a visible signification of the divine will. This oracle was not only venerable among the Jews, but was also celebrated among the Greeks, as Josephus informs us,1 for its infallible answers.

3 Another mode of revealing the divine will was by visions and

1 Ant. Jud. lib. iii. c. 8. (al. 9.) § 9.

dreams, or, as it is elegantly expressed by the Temanite, "in thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men." (Job iv. 13.) Of this sort was Abraham's dream, in which Jehovah foretold the bondage of his posterity in Egypt, and their deliverance, accompanied with the promise of long life to himself before he should be gathered in peace to his fathers. (Gen. xv. 12-15.) Such was the dream of Jacob, when he beheld "a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, the angels of God ascending and descending upon it." (Gen. xxviii. 12.) Abimelech was reproved and admonished in a dream by the Lord, concerning Sarah. (Gen. xx. 3.) The dreams of Joseph, and of Pharaoh and his servants, were divine (Gen. xxxvii. 5. xl. 5. xli. 1.); as also was that of Nebuchadnezzar, respecting the fate of many kingdoms. (Dan. ii. 1.) All these were worthy of the divine interposition, and carried the evidence of their divine original by the revelations they made, and the strong impressions they left upon the mind. But the most frequent of these extraordinary communications of the designs of God, and of his will, was by his prophets, whom he inspired with that knowledge which was necessary for the correction and instruction of his people in every age, but more especially for the preservation of true religion among the Jews only, of all the nations of the earth, and "chiefly, as Saint Paul says, "because that unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Rom. iii. 2.),- those oracles which contained the gracious promise of the Messiah.

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"In all the cases here described, the prophets could not, without doubting the clearest and most palpable evidence, distrust the truth of the revelations, which they received; and, with respect to us, we have ample reason, from a collective consideration of their writings, to be convinced that their inspiration was accompanied with sufficient characters to distinguish it from the dreams of enthusiasm, or the visions of fancy." Though their bodily strength was sometimes. overpowered by the magnitude of their revelations, and their eyes were dazzled with the splendour of the visionary light, as in the instances of Daniel (x. 5-9.) and the apostle John (Rev. i. 17.), yet they retained full possession of their understanding, and the free exercise of their reason. The prophetical spirit, seating itself in the rational powers, as well as in the imagination, never alienated the mind, but informed and enlightened it; and those who were actuated by it always maintained a clearness and consistency of reason, with strength and solidity of judgment. For God did not employ idiots or fools for the purpose of revealing his will, but those whose intellects were entire and perfect; and he imprinted so clear a copy of his truth upon them, that it became their own sense, being digested fully into their understandings, so that they were able to represent it to

1 Dr. Gray's Key, p. 325.

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