of God's dispensations towards his people, and the fates of the nation,-events which are still depending, and will not be fully accomplished until the final restoration of Israel. DISCOURSE 2. (ch. vii.-ix. 7.) commences with an historical account of the occasion of the prophecy (vii. 1—3.), and then follows a prediction of the ill success of the designs of the Israelites and Syrians against Judah (vii. 1—16.); to this succeeds the denunciation of the calamities that were to be brought upon the king and people of Judah by the Assyrians, whom they had now hired to assist them. (vii. 17-25.) These predictions are repeated and confirmed in ch. viii., the ninth and tenth verses of which give a repeated general assurance that all the designs of the enemies of God's people shall ultimately be frustrated; and the discourse concludes, after various admonitions and threatenings (viii. 11–22. ix. 1.), with an illustrious prophecy (ix. 2-7.), in the first instance, perhaps, of the restoration of prosperity under Hezekiah, but principally of the manifestation of the Messiah, the transcendent dignity of his character, and the universality and eternal duration of his kingdom.

DISCOURSE 3. (ch. ix. 8.—x. 4.) contains a distinct prophecy and a just poem, remarkable for the regularity of its disposition and the elegance of its plan. It has no relation to the preceding or to the following prophecy, but is exclusively addressed to the kingdom of Israel, and its subject is a denunciation of vengeance awaiting their enemies. DISCOURSE 4. (ch. x. 5. xii.) foretells the invasion of Sennacherib, and the destruction of his army (x. 5—34. xi.); and, according to Isaiah's usual method, he takes occasion, from the mention of a great temporal deliverance by the destruction of the Assyrian host, to launch forth into a display of the spiritual deliverance of God's people by the Messiah, to whom this prophecy relates; for that this prophecy relates to the Messiah we have the express authority of St. Paul in Rom. xv. 12. The hymn in ch. xii. seems, by its whole tenor, as well as by many of its expressions, much better calculated for the use of the Christian than for the Jewish church under any circumstances, or at any time that can be assigned; and the Jews themselves seem to have applied it to the times of the Messiah.

PART III. contains various Predictions against the Babylonians, Assyrians, Philistines, and other Nations with whom the Jews had any intercourse (ch. xiii.-xxii.); these Predictions are contained in nine Prophetic Poems or Discourses. DISCOURSE 1. (ch. xiii. xiv. 1—28.) contains one entire prophecy, foretelling the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians: it was probably delivered in the reign of Ahaz, about two hundred years before its completion. The captivity itself of the Jews at Babylon (which the prophet does not expressly foretell, but supposes in the spirit of prophecy as what was actually to be effected), did not take place till about one hundred and thirty years after this prediction was delivered. And the Medes, who (in xiii. 7.) are expressly mentioned as the principal agents in subverting this great monarchy, and releasing the Jews from that captivity, were at this time an inconsiderable people, having been in a state of anarchy ever since the fall of the great Assyrian empire, of which they had made a part under Sardanapalus; and did not become a kingdom under Deioces, until about the seventeenth year of Hezekiah's reign. The former part of this prophecy, Bishop Lowth remarks, is one of the most beautiful examples that can be given of elegance of composition, variety of imagery, and sublimity of sentiment and diction in the prophetic style; and the latter part consists of a triumphal ode, which, for beauty of disposition, strength of colour, grandeur of sentiment, brevity, perspicuity, and force of expression, stands unrivalled among all the monuments of antiquity. The exact accomplishment of this prophecy is recorded in Dan. v. Jerome (in loc.) says, that, in his time, Babylon was quite in ruins; and all modern travellers unanimously attest that Babylon is so utterly annihilated, that even the place, where this wonder of the world once stood, cannot now be determined with any certainty. On the subject of this prophecy, see Vol. I. p. 126. DISCOURSE 2. (ch. xiv. 29–32.) contains severe prophetic denunciations against the Philistines, the accomplishment of which is recorded in 2 Kings xviii. 8.

DISCOURSE 3. (ch. xv. xvi.) is a prophecy against the Moabites; it was delivered soon after the preceding, in the first year of Hezekiah, and it was accomplished in his fourth year when Shalmaneser invaded the kingdom of Israel. He might, probably, march through Moab; and, to secure every thing be

hind him, possess himself of their whole country, by taking their principal strong places. Jeremiah, says Bishop Lowth, has happily introduced much of this prophecy of Isaiah into his own larger prophecy against the same people in his forty eighth chapter; denouncing God's judgments on Moab subsequent to the calamity here foretold, and to be executed by Nebuchadnezzar, by which means several mistakes in the text of both prophets may be rectified.

DISCOURSE 4. (ch. xvii.) is a prophecy chiefly directed against Damascus or the kingdom of Syria, with whose sovereign the king of Samaria (or Israel) had confederated against the kingdom of Judah. Bishop Lowth conjectures that it was delivered, soon after the prophecies of the seventh and eighth chapters, in the commencement of Ahab's reign. It was fulfilled by Tiglath-Pileser's taking Damascus (2 Kings xvi. 9.), overrunning a very considerable part of the kingdom of Israel, and carrying a great number of the Israelites also captives into Assyria; and still more fully in regard to Israel, by the conquest of the kingdom, and the captivity of the people, effected a few years after by Shalmaneser. The three last verses of this chapter seem to have no relation to the prophecy to which they are joined: they contain a noble description of the formidable invasion and sudden overthrow of Sennacherib, which is intimated in the strongest terms and most expressive images, exactly suitable to the event.

DISCOURSE 5. (ch. xviii.) contains one of the most obscure prophecies in the whole book of Isaiah. Vitringa considers it as directed against the Assyrians; Bishop Lowth refers it to the Egyptians; and Rosenmüller, and others, to the Ethiopians. DISCOURSE 6. (ch. xix. xx.) is a prophecy against Egypt, the conversion of whose inhabitants to the true religion is intimated in verses 18-25. of ch. xix.

DiscOURSE 7. (ch. xxi. 1-10.) contains a prediction of the taking of Babylon' by the Medes and Persians. "It is a passage singular in its kind for its brevity and force, for the variety and rapidity of the movements, and for the strength and energy of colouring with which the action and event are painted." The eleventh and twelfth verses of this chapter contain a prophecy concerning Dumah or Idumæa, the land of the Edomites, Mount Seir; which, from the uncertainty of the occasion on which it was delivered, as well as from the brevity of the expression, is very obscure. The five last verses comprise a prophecy respecting Arabia, which was fulfilled within a year after its delivery.

DISCOURSE 8. (ch. xxii.) is a prophecy concerning the capture of the Valley of Vision, or Jerusalem (verses 1-14.), the captivity of Shebna (15-19.), and the promotion of Eliakim. (20-24.) The invasion of Jerusalem here announced is either that by the Assyrians under Sennacherib; or by the Chaldæans under Nebuchadnezzar. Vitringa is of opinion that the prophet had both in view; viz. the invasion of the Chaldæans in verses 1-5. and that of the Assyrians in verses 8-11. Compare 2 Kings xxv. 4, 5. and 2 Chron. xxxii. 2—5, DISCOURSE 9. (ch. xxiii.) denounces the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar (1-17.), the restoration of its prosperity, and the conversion of the Tyrians. Accordingly a Christian church was early formed at Tyre, which became a kind of mother-church to several others, which were connected with it. See Acts xxi. 1-6.3

PART IV. contains a Prophecy of the great Calamities that should befall the People of God, His merciful Preservation of a Remnant of them, and of their Restoration to their Country, of their Conversion to the Gospel, and the Destruc tion of Antichrist. (ch. xxiv.-—xxxv.)

DISCOURSE 1. (ch. xxiv. xxv. xxvi.) was probably delivered be fore the destruction of Moab by Shalmaneser, in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign; but interpreters are not agreed whether the desolation announced in ch. xxiv. was that caused by the invasion of Shalmaneser, the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, or the destruction of the city and nation by the Romans. Vitringa is singular in referring it to the persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes; and Bishop Lowth thinks it may have a view to all the three great desolations of the country, especially to the last. In verses 21-23. it is announced that God shall at length revisit and restore his people in the last age; and

1 Bishop Newton has collected and illustrated the various predictions of Isaiah and other prophets against Babylon. See his Dissertation on the Prophecies, vol. i. diss. ix. See also Vol. I. p. 126. supra. Bishop Newton's Dissertations, vol. i. diss. xi. See also Vol. I. pp. 124, 125. On the accomplishment of the various prophecies against Tyre, see

3 Scott, on Isa. xxiii. 18.

then the kingdom of God shall be established in such perfection as wholly to obscure and eclipse the glory of the temporary, typical, preparatory kingdom now subsisting. On a review of this extensive scene of God's providence in all its parts, the prophet breaks out into a sublime and beautiful song of praise, in which his mind seems to be more possessed by the prospect of future mercies than by the recollection of past events (xxv.); this is followed by another hymn in ch. xxvi. In verse 19. the deliverance of the people of God from a state of the lowest misery is explained by images plainly taken from the resurrection of the dead.

DISCOURSE 2. (ch. xxvii.) treats on the nature, measure, and design of God's dealings with his people. DISCOURSE 3. (ch. xxviii.) contains a prophecy directed both to the Israelites and to the Jews. The destruction of the former by Shalmaneser is manifestly denounced in verses 1-5.; and the prophecy" then turns to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the remnant of God's people, who were to continue a kingdom after the final captivity of the Israelites. It commences with a favourable prognostication of their affairs under Hezekiah; but soon changes to reproofs and threatenings for their disobedience and profaneness." In verses 23-29. the wisdom of Providence is illustrated by the discretion of the| husbandman.

DISCOURSE 4. (ch. xxix.-xxxiii.) predicts the invasion of Sennacherib, the great distress of the Jews while it continued (xxix. 1-4.), and their sudden and immediate deliverance by God's interposition in their favour; and the subsequent pros perous state of the kingdom under Hezekiah; interspersed with severe reproofs and threats of punishment for their hypocrisy, stupidity, infidelity, their want of trust in God, and their vain reliance on assistance from Egypt; and with promises of better times both immediately to succeed and to be expected in the future age. (18-24. xxx.-xxxiii.) DISCOURSE 5. (ch. xxxiv. xxxv.) makes one distinct prophecy, an entire, regular, and beautiful poem, consisting of two parts; the first containing a denunciation of the divine vengeance against the enemies of the people or church of God; the second part describing the flourishing state of the church of God consequent upon the execution of those judgments. It is plain from every part of it, that this chapter is to be understood of Gospel times. The fifth and sixth verses of ch. xxxv. were literally accomplished by our Saviour and his apostles.2 In a secondary sense, Bishop Lowth remarks, they may have a further view; and, running parallel with the former part of the prophecy, may relate to the future advent of Christ, to the conversion of the Jews, and their restoration to their own land; and to the extension and purification of the Christian faith;events predicted in the Holy Scriptures as preparatory to it. PART V. comprises the Historical Part of the Prophecy of Isaiah.

Ch. xxxvi. relates the history of the invasion of Sennacherib, and of the miraculous destruction of his army, as a proper introduction to ch. xxxvii., which contains the answer of God to Hezekiah's prayer, that could not be properly understood without it. On the subject of these chapters, see p. 265. supra. Ch. xxxviii. and xxxix. relate Hezekiah's sickness and recovery, and his thanksgiving for restoration to health, together with the embassy of the king of Babylon.

The prophet, Bishop Lowth remarks, connects these two events together, scarcely ever treating of the former without throwing in some intimations of the latter; and sometimes he is so fully possessed with the glories of the future more remote kingdom of the Messiah, that he seems to leave the immediate subject of his commission almost out of the question. This part consists of twelve prophetic poems or discourses. DISCOURSE 1. (ch. xl. xli.) contains a promise of comfort to the people of God, interspersed with declarations of the omnipo tence and omniscience of Jehovah, and a prediction of the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity by Cyrus.

DISCOURSE 2. The advent and office of the Messiah are foretold (xlii. 1—17.); for rejecting whom the incredulity of the Jews is reproved. (18-25.) A remnant of them, however, it is promised, shall be preserved, and ultimately restored to their own land. (xliii. 1-13.) The destruction of Babylon and the restoration of the Jews are again foretold, as also (perhaps) their return after the Roman dispersion (14-20.); and they are admonished to repent of those sins which would otherwise bring the severest judgments of God upon them. (21—28.) DISCOURSE 3. contains promises of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, intermingled with an exposure of the folly of idolatry (xliv. 1-20.), which, in force of argument, energy of expres sion, and elegance of composition, far surpasses any thing that was ever written upon the subject. The prophet then announces by name the instrument of their deliverance, Cyrus, (21-28. xlv. 1-5.); and, after adverting, in splendid imagery, to the happy state of the people of God, restored to their country, and flourishing in peace and plenty, in piety and virtue, he proceeds to answer or prevent the objections and cavils of the unbelieving Jews, disposed to murmur against God, and to arraign the wisdom and justice of his dispensations in regard to them; in permitting them to be oppressed by their enemies, and in promising them deliverance instead of preventing their captivity. (6-25.) St. Paul has borrowed the prophet's imagery, and has applied it to the like purpose with equal force and elegance in Rom. ix. 20, 21. DISCOURSE 4. foretells the carrying away of the idols of Babylon (xlvi. 1-5.); the folly of worshipping them is then strikingly contrasted with the attributes and perfections of Jehovah (6— 13.); and the divine judgments upon Babylon and Chaldea are further denounced. (xlvii.)

DISCOURSE 5. contains an earnest reproof of the Jews for thei infidelity and idolatry (xlviii. 1-19. 21, 22.); and foretells their deliverance from the Babylonian captivity. (20.) DISCOURSE 6. The Messiah (whose character and office had been generally exhibited in ch. xlii.) is here introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission, which is, not only to restore the Israelites, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one church together with the Is raelites, and with them to partake of the same common salva tion, procured for all by the great Redeemer and Reconciler of man to God. (xlix.)

DISCOURSE 7. predicts the dereliction of the Jews for their rejection of the Messiah (1. 1--3.), whose sufferings and exaltation are foretold. (4-11.) The prophet exhorts the believ ing Jews, after the pattern of Abraham, to trust in Christ, and foretells their future restoration after the Babylonish captivity, as also their ultimate conversion to Christianity. (li. lii. 1-12.) DiscOURSE 8. predicts the humiliation of Christ, which had been intimated in 1. 5, 6., and obviates the offence which would be occasioned by it, by declaring the important and necessary cause of it, and foreshowing the glory which should follow it. (lii. 13-15. liii.)

DISCOURSE 9. foretells the amplitude of the church, when Jews and Gentiles should be converted. (liv.) DISCOURSE 10. is an invitation to partake of the blessings of the Gospel, from which none shall be excluded who come on the terms prescribed. (lv. lvi. 1—8.)

> Smith's Summary View of the Prophets, p. 64.

DISCOURSE 11. denounces calamities against the inhabitants of Judah, who are sharply reproved for their idolatry and hypocrisy. Bishop Lowth is of opinion, that the prophet probably

$5. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JOEL.

¡. Auther and date.—II. Occasion and scope.—III. Analysis of the book.-IV. Observations on its style. BEFORE CHRIST, 810-660, or later.

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

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

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

PART I. is an Exhortation, both to the Priests and to the People, to repent, by reason of the Famine brought upon them by the Palmer-worm, c. in consequence of their Sins (i. 120.); and is followed by a Denunciation of still greater Calamities, if they continued impenitent. (ii. 1—11.) This discourse contains a double prophecy, applicable, in its primary sense, to a plague of locusts, which was to devour the land, and was to be accompanied with so severe a drought and famine as should cause the public service of the temple to be interrupted; and, in its secondary sense, it denotes the Babylonian invasion,-and perhaps also the invasions of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans, by whom the Jews were successively subjugated.

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

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

1 See Simonis Onomasticon Vet. Test. p. 517.

2 De Vitis Prophetarum in Epiphanii op. tom. ii. p. 245.

3 Relandi Palestina, p. 633.

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

Introductio in Libros Canonicos Vet. et Nov. Test. pp. 120, 121.
Scholia in Vet. Test. Partis septimæ, vol. i. pp. 433, 431.

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

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

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

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

II. The people of Judah and Israel being very profane and impenitent in the days of Isaiah (in consequence of which the Assyrian captivity was then hastening upon Israel, and the Babylonian not long after fell upon Judah), the prophet Micah was raised up to second Isaiah, and to confirm his predictions against the Jews and Israelites, whom he invited to repentance both by threatened judgments and by promised mercies.10

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

INTRODUCTION or title, i. 1.

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

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

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

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

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

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

of the Reign of Hoshea, the last King of Israel. (iv. 9-13. v.-vii.

In this portion of the book of Micah, the Jews are threatened with the Babylonish captivity (iv. 9, 10.): this event took place almost one hundred and fifty years after Micah's time; and the Chaldæans, who were to be the instruments in effecting it, had not arisen in the prophet's age to any distinction among the nations. The total overthrow of Sennacherib's forces is foretold (11-13.); and the pious king Hezekiah is assured of God's preservation by a new promise of the Messiah, who should descend from him (and the place of whose nativity is particularly indicated), and by a prediction of Sennacherib's murder. (v. 1-15.) The people are then forewarned of the judgments that would befall them for their sins in the reign of Manasseh (vi. 1-16.): the wickedness of whose reign is further described, together with his captivity and return from Babylon, as also the return of the Jews from Babylon, and from their general dispersion after they shall be converted to the Gospel. (vii.)

IV. The book of Micah, who (we have seen) was the contemporary of Isaiah, contains a summary of the prophecies delivered by the latter concerning the Messiah and the final return of the Jews, which are thus translated and arranged by Dr. Hales:

CHAP. V. 2. "And art thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, little to be esteemed] Among the thousands of Judah?

From thee shall issue [THE LEADER),

Who shall rule my people, the Israel [of God] (But his issuings are from old,

From days of eternity).

III 3. Therefore he will give them up [for a season]
Until the time that she which shall bear

Have borne: then shall return

The residue of thy brethren [the Jews]
Along with the outcasts of Israel.

IV. 4. And he shall stand and guide them
In the strength of THE LORD,

In the majesty of THE NAME OF the Lord his God,
And when they return, He shall be magnified
Unto the ends of the earth,

And he shall be their PEACE."

Matt. ii. 6. "And thou Bethlehem, territory of Judah,

Art by no means least among the captains of Judah;
From thee shall issue THE LEADER,

Who shall guide my people, the Israel [of God]."

1. Here the evangelist has removed the ambiguity of the question proposed by the prophet, by supplying the answer in the negative. As in Nathan's prophecy, Shalt thou build me a house ?" (2 Sam. vii. 5.) the parallel passage answers in the negative," Thou shall not build me a house." (1 Chron. xvii. 4.)

2. He has supplied a chasm in the Masorete text, of Nagid, a usual epithet of the MESSIAH (1 Chron. v. 2. Isa. lv. 4. Dan. ix. 25.), usually rendered 'Hyuns, “leader," by the Septuagint, and retained here by the evangelist, as a necessary distinction of his character, as supreme commander, from the captains of thousands," styled 'Hy, judiciously substituted for the thousands themselves in Micah, to mark the analogy more correctly.

66

3. He has also determined the pastoral nature of the MESSIAH'S "rule" by the verb Tv, "shall guide as a shepherd," afterwards intimated by Micah, ny, xx gaμary, as there rendered by the Septuagint. For He is "the shepherd of Israel" (Gen. xlix. 24. Psal. Ixxx. 1.), "the chief shepherd" (1 Pet. v. 4.), and "the good shepherd" (John x. 14.), who appointed his apostles to "guide and pasture his sheep." (John xxi. 16.)

4. The human birth of the MESSIAH is carefully distinguished by Micah from his eternal generation, in the parenthetical clause, which strongly resembles the account of the primeval birth of Wisdom. (Prov. viii. 22—25.)

5. The blessed virgin of Isaiah's former prophecy (vii. 14.) is evidently alluded to by Micah, and also the return of the remnant of the Jews (Isa. x. 20, 21.), and of the final peace of his kingdom. (Isa. ix. 6, 7.)

This prophecy of Micah is, perhaps, the most important single prophecy in the Old Testament, and the most comprehensive, respecting the personal character of the MESSIAH, and his successive manifestation to the world. It crowns the whole chain of prophecies descriptive of the several limitations of the blessed seed of the woman to the line of Shem, to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the tribe of Judah, and to the royal house of David here terminating in his birth at Bethlehem," the city of David." It carefully distinguishes his human nativity from his eternal generation; foretells the rejection of the Israelites and Jews for a season; their final restoration, and the universal peace destined to prevail throughbasis of the New Testament, which begins with his human out the earth in the Regeneration. It forms, therefore, the birth at Bethlehem, the miraculous circumstances of which are recorded in the introductions of Matthew's and Luke's Gospels; his eternal generation, as the ORACLE or WISDOM, in the sublime introduction of John's Gospel: his prophetic character, and second coming, illustrated in the four Gospels and Epistles, ending with a prediction of the speedy approach of the latter in the Apocalypse. (Rev. xxii. 20.)1

V. The style of Micah is, for the most part, forcible, pointed, and concise, sometimes approaching the obscurity of Hosea; in many parts animated and sublime, and in general truly poetical. His tropes are very beautiful, and varied according to the nature of the subject.

7. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET NAHUM.

I. Author and date.-II. Scope and synopsis of its contents.— III. Observations on its style.

BEFORE CHRIST, 720-698.

I. NAHUM, the seventh of the minor prophets, is supposed to have been a native of Elkosh, or Elkosha, a village in Galilee, and situate in the territory that had been apportioned to the tribe of Simeon. There is very great uncertainty concerning the precise time when he lived; some making him contemporary with Jotham, others, with Manasseh, and others, with Josiah. The most probable opinion is that which places him between the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, about the year 715 before the Christian æra; and, as the design of this prophet their cruel tyranny over the Israelites, and as the captivity is to denounce ruin upon Nineveh and the Assyrians, for of the ten tribes took place in the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel (2 Kings xvii. 6. &c. compared with 2 Kings xviii. 9-11.), it is most likely that Nahum prophesied against the Assyrians for the comfort of the people of God towards the close of Hezekiah's reign, and not long after the subversion of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser.

II. The SCOPE of this prophecy is, to denounce the certain and imminent destruction of the Assyrian empire, and particularly the inhabitants of its metropolis Nineveh; who, after a transient repentance in consequence of Jonah's preaching, had relapsed into their former sins, which they even aggravated by their wickedness. Prophet introduces consolation for his countrymen, whom he

encourages to trust in God.

With this denunciation, the

sublime description of the justice and power of God tempered His prophecy is one entire poem, which, opening with a destruction of Sennacherib's forces, and the subversion of by long-suffering and goodness (i. 1-8.), foretells the the Assyrian empire (9-12.), together with the deliverance of Hezekiah and the death of Sennacherib. (13-15.) The destruction of Nineveh is then predicted, and described with singular minuteness. (ii. iii.) This prophecy, Archbishop Newcome observes, was highly interesting to the Jews, as the Assyrians had often ravaged their country, and had recently destroyed the kingdom of Israel.

III. In boldness, ardour, and sublimity, Nahum is superior to all the minor prophets. His language is pure; and the exordium of his prophecy, which forms a regular and perfect poem, is not merely magnificent, it is truly majestic. The preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its downfall and desolation, are expressed in the most

1 Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book i. pp. 462, 463. 2 Lowth's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 98.

Newton's Dissertations (vol. i. pp. 141-158.); in which he has ably illus The best commentary, perhaps, on this prophet, is the ninth of Bishop trated the predictions of Nahum and other prophets who foretold the de

struction of Ninevehi.