AE
5
E56
1823

V.19

ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.

SCRIPTURE continued from last Volume.

cover.

Scripture. JEREMIAH was called to the prophetic office in the

was called to the prophetic office in the tained in the 46th and five following chapters, being Scripture. 13th year of the reign of Josiah the son of Amon, placed at the end, as in some measure unconnected with 55

A. M. 3376, A. C. 628, and continued to prophecy the rest. But in some copies of the Septuagint these six
Jeremiah.

upwards of 40 years, during the reigns of the degene- chapters follow immediately after the 13th verse of the
rate princes of Judah, to whom he boldly threatened 25th chapter.
those marks of the divine vengeance which their rebelli- Jeremiah, though deficient neither in elegance nor
ous conduct drew on themselves and their country. Af- sublimity, must give place in both to Isaiah. Jerome
ter the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, he seems to object against bim a sort of rusticity of lan-
was suffered by Nebuchadnezzar to remain in the deso- guage, no vestige of which Dr Lowth was able to dis-
late land of Judea to lament the calamities of his infatu-

His sentiments, it is true, are not always tbe
ated countrymen. He was afterwards, as he himself in- most elevated, nor are bis periods always neat and com-
forms us, carried with his disciple Baruch into Egypt, pact; but these are faults comnion to those writers whose
by Johanan the son of Kareah.

principal aim is to excite the gentler affections, and to It appears from several passages that Jeremiah com- call forth the tear of sympathy or sorrow. This obsermitted his prophecies to writing. In the 36th chapter vation is very strongly exemplified in the Lamentations, we are informed, that the prophet was commanded to where these are the prevailing passions; it is, however, write upon a roll all the prophecies which be bad ut- frequently instanced in the prophecies of this author, tered ; and when the roll was destroyed by Jehoiakim and most of all in the beginning of the book (L), which the king, Jeremiah dictated the same prophecies to is chiefly poetical. The middle of it is almost entirely Baruch, who wrote them together with many additional historical. The latter part, again, consisting of the last circumstances. The works of Jeremiah extend to the six chapters, is altogether poetical (M); it contains selast verse of the sist chapter; in which we have these veral different predictions, which are distinctly marked; words, “ Thus far the words of Jeremiahı." The 52d and in these the prophet approaches very near the sublichapter was therefore added by some other writer. It mity of Isaiah. On the whole, however, not above half is, however, a very important supplement, as it illustrates the book of Jeremiah is poetical. the accomplishment of Jeremiah's prophecies respecting The book of Lamentations, as we are informed in the book the fate of Zedekiah.

the title, was composed by Jeremiah. We shall present of Lamen56 Chronolo

The prophecies of Jeremiah are not arranged in the to our reader an account of this elegiac poem from the tations. gical ar- chronological order in which they were delivered. elegant pen of Dr Lowth. rangement What has occasioned this transposition cannot now be The Lamentations of Jeremiah (for the title is proof his wri- determined. It is generally maintained, that if we con- perly and significantly plural) consist of a number of lings. sult their dates, they ought to be thus placed :

plaintive eflusions, composed on the plan of the funeral In the reign of Josiah the first 12 chapters. dirges, all on the same subject, and uttered without

In the reign of Jehoiakim, chapters xiii. xx. xxi. v. connection as they rose in the mind, in a long course 11, 14.; xxii. xxiii. xxv. xxvi. xxxv. xxxvi. xlv.- xlix. of separate stanzas. These have afterwards been put I-33•

together, and formed into a collection or correspondent
In the reign of Zedekialı, chap. xxi. 1-10. xxiv. whole. If any reader, however, should expect to find
xxvii. xxxiv. xxxvii. xxxix. xlix. 34–39. I. and li. in them an artificial and methodical arrangement of the

Under the government of Gedaliah, chapters xl. xliv. general subject, a regular disposition of the parts, a per-
The prophecies which related to the Gentiles were con- fect connection and orderly succession in the matter,

and

57

a

(L) See the whole of chap. ix. chap. xiv. 17, &c. xx. 14–18.

(M) Chap. xlvi.-i. to ver. 59. Chap. lii. properly belongs to the Lamentations, to which it serves as an
exordium.
VOL. XIX. Part I.

+

A

my

tire poem.

60

Scriptorc, and with all this an uninterrupted series of elegance If there be any sorrow, like unto my sorrow, which is Scrip! and correctness, he will really expect what was foreign

inflicted on me; to the prophet's design. In the character of a mourn- Which Jehovah inflicted on me in the day of the vio. er, he celebrates in plaintive strains the obsequies of his lence of his wrath. ruined country: whatever presented itself to his mind For these things I weep, my eyes stream with water; in the midst of desolation and misery, whatever struck Because the comforter is far away, that should tranquihim as particularly wretched and calamitous, whatever lize soul : the instant sentiment of sorrow dictated, he pours forth My children are desolate, because the enemy was strong. in a kind of spontaneous eflusion. He frequently pauses,

But to detail its beauties would be to transcribe the enand, as it were, ruminates

upon the same object; fre-
quently varies and illustrates the same thought with
different imagery, and a different choice of language ; ceived the first revelations from

heaven, in the fifth year Ezekiel was carried to Babylon as a captive, and re

Ezekiel! so that the whole bears rather the appearance of an ac

of Jehoiakin's captivity, A. C. 595.

The book of cumulation of corresponding sentiments, than an accu

Ezekiel is sometimes distributed under different leads. rate and connected series of different ideas, arranged in the form of a regular treatise. There is, however, no

In the three first chapters the commission of the prophet

is described. From the fourth to the thirty-second wild incoherency in the poem ; the transitions are easy chapter inclusive, the calamities that befel the enemies of 58

and elegant. 1 Low di. The work is divided into five parts : in the first, se

the Jews are predicted, viz. the Ammonites, the Moabvided.

ites, and Philistines. The ruin of Tyre and of Sidon, cond, and fourth chapters, the prophet addresses the

and the fall of Egypt, are particularly foretold; prophepeople in his own person, or introduces Jerusalem as

cies which bave been fulfilled in the most literal and speaking. In the third chapter a chorus of the Jews

astonishing manner, as we have been often assured by is represented. In the fifth the whole captive Jews

the relation of historians and travellers. From the 32d pour forth their united complaints to Almighty God.

chapter to the 40th he inveighs against the hypocrisy Each of these five parts is distributed into 22 stanzas, according to the number of the letters of the alphabet. them to resignation by promises of deliverance. In

and murmuring spirit of his countrymen, admonishing In the first three chapters these stanzas consist of three lines. In the first four chapters the initial letter of final return of the Jews from their dispersion in the lat

the 38th and 39tl chapters he undoubtedly predicts the each period follows the order of the alphabet ; and

ter days, but in a language so obscure that it cannot be in the third chapter each verse of the same stanza be

understood till the event take place. The nine last gins with the same letter. In the fourth chapter all the stanzas are evidently distichs, as also in the fifth, chapters of this book furnish the description of a very

remarkable vision of a new temple and city, of a new which is not acrostic. The intention of the acrostic

religion and polity. was to assist the memory to retain sentences not much

«Ezekiel is much inferior to Jeremiah in elegance ; Charace connected. It deserves to be remarked, that the verses of the first four chapters are longer by almost one half sublimity is of a totally different kind. He is deep,

in sublimity he is not even excelled by Isaiah: but bis as a wr than Hebrew verses generally are: The length of them

vehement, tragical ; the only sensation he affects to exseems to be on an average about 12 syllables. The prophet appears to have chosen this measure as being full of fire, indignant; his imagery is crowded, magni

cite is the terrible; his sentiments are elevated, fervid, solemn and melancholy:

ficent, terrific, sometimes almost to disgust: his lan“ That the subject of the Lamentations is the destruc

guage is pompous, solemn, austere, rough, and at times The sub

tion of the holy city and temple, the overthrow of the ject and state, the extermination of the people ; and that these unpolished : he employs frequent repetitions, not for

the sake of grace or elegance, but from the vehemence beauty of events are described as actually accomplished, and not

of passion and indignation. Whatever subject he treats Low it. in the style of prediction merely, must be evident to

of, that be sedulously pursues, from that he rarely deevery reader; though some authors of considerable re

parts, but cleaves as it were to it; wbence the connec* Josephus. putation* have imagined this poem to have been comJerome,

tion is in general evident and well preserved. In many Usserius, posed on the death of King Josiah. The prophet, in

respects he is perhaps excelled by the other prophets ; deed, has so copiously, so tenderly, and poetically, be

but in that species of composition to which he seems wailed the misfortunes of his country, that he seems

, completely to have fulfilled the office and duty of a by nature adapted, the forcible, the impetuous, the

great and solemn, not one of the sacred writers is supemourner. In my opinion, there is not extant any poem

rior to him. His diction is sufficiently perspicuous; all which displays such a happy and splendid selection of

bis obscurity consists in the nature of the subject. Via imagery in so concentrated a state. What can be more

sions (as for instance, among others, those of Hosea, elegant and poetical, than the description of that once flourishing city, lately chief among the nations, sitting The greater part of Ezekiel, towards the middle of the

Amos, and Jeremiah)

are necessarily dark and confused. in the character of a female, solitary, afflicted, in a state

book especially, is poetical, whether we regard the matof widowhood, deserted by her friends, betrayed by her

ter or the diction. His periods, however, are frequentdearest connections, imploring relief, 'and seeking consolation in vain? What a beautiful personification is that ly so rude and incompact, that I am often at a loss

how to pronounce concerning his performance in this of “ the ways of Sion mourning because none are come to ber solemn feasts ?” How tender and pathetic are the

respect.

“ Isaiali, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, as far as relates to following complaints ?

style, may be said to hold the same rank among the Hea Chap. i. Is this nothing to all you who pass along the way ? be- brews, as Homer, Simonides, and Æschylus among the

Lowth.

59

a

a

:

niinor pro

Scripture. So full an account of Daniel and his writings has plished since the time of Porphyry; particularly those Scripture.

been already given under the article DANIEL, that little respecting Antichrist : now, if it contains any prophe. 62

remains to be said on that subject. Daniel flourished cies, who will take upon him to affirm that the divine Daniel.

during the successive reigns of several Babylonish and Spirit, which dictated these many centuries before they
Median kings to the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. were fulfilled, could not also have delivered prophecies
The events recorded in the 6th chapter were contempo- concerning Antiochus Epiphanes ?
rary with Darius the Mede; but in the 7th and 8th The language in which the book of Daniel is com-
chapters Daniel returns to an earlier period to relate the posed proves that it was written about the time of the
visions which he beheld in the three first years of Bel- Babylonish captivity. Part of it is pure Hebrew: a
shazzar's reign; and those which follow in the four last language in which none of the Jewish books were com-
chapters were revealed to him in the reign of Darius. posed after the age of Epiphanes. These are arguments
The last six chapters are composed of prophecies deliver- to a deist. To a Christian the internal marks of the
ed at diflerent times ; all of which are in some degree book itself will show the time in which it was written,

* Ezek. xiv. connected as parts of one great scheme. They extend and the testimony of Ezekiel will prove Daniel to be

14. xxviii. 3. through many ages, and furnish the most striking de

at least his contemporary
*

65
scription of the fall of successive kingdoms, which were The twelve minor prophets were so called, not from Twelve
to be introductory to the establishment of the Messiah's any supposed inferiority in their writings, but on ac-
reign. They characterize in descriptive terms the four count of the small size of their works. Perhaps it was

phets. great monarchies of the world, to be succeeded by for this reason that the Jews joined them together, and

that kingdom which should not be destroyed." considered them as one volume. These 12 prophets 63 Character

The whole book of Daniel being no more than a presented in scattered hints a lively sketch of many par. of his pro- plain relation of facts, partly past and partly future, ticulars relative to the history of Judah and of Israel, as Gray's key phecies. must be excluded the class of poetical prophecy. Much well as of other kingdoms; they prophecy with histori-to the Old indeed of the parabolic imagery is introduced in that cal exactness the fate of Babylon, of Nineveh, of Tyre,

Testament. book; but the author introduces it as a prophet only; of Sidon, and of Damascus. The three last prophets as vision:ry and allegorical symbols of objects and events, especially illustrate many circumstances at a period when totally untinctured with the true poetical colouring the historical pages of Scripture are closed, and when The Jews, indeed, would refuse to Daniel even the cha- profane writers are entirely wanting. At first the racter of a prophet : but the arguments under which Jewish prophets appeared only as single lights, and solthey shelter this opinion are very futile ; for those lowed each other in individual succession ; but they bepoints which they maintain concerning the conditions came more numerous about the time of the captivity. on which the gift of prophecy is imparted, the differ- The light of inspiration was collected into one blaze, ent gradations, and the discriminations between the true previous to its suspension ; and it served to keep alive prophecy and mere inspiration, are all trilling and ab- the expectations of the Jews during the awful interval surd, without any foundation in the nature of things, which prevailed between the expiration of prophecy and and totally destitute of scriptural authority. They add, its grand completion on the advent of Christ. that Daniel was neither originally educated in the pro- Hosea has been supposed the most ancient of the 12 Prophecies phetic discipline and precepts, nor afterwards lived con- minor prophets. He flourished in the reign of Jero. of Hosea. formably to the manner of the prophets. It is not, boam II. king of Israel, and during the successive reigns however, easy to comprehend how this can diminish bis of Uzziah, Jotham, Abaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Juclaim to a divine mission and inspiration ; it may pos- dah. He was therefore nearly contemporary with Isibly enable us, indeed, to assign a reason for the dissi- saiah, Amos, and Jonah. The prophecies of Hosea bemilarity between the style of Daniel and that of the ing scattered through the book without date or conother prophets, and for its possessing so little of the nection, cannot with any certainty be chronologically diction and character of poetry, which the rest seem to arranged.

67 have imbibed in common from the schools and discip- Hosea is the first in order of the minor prophets, and Character 64 line in which they were educated.

is perhaps, Jonah excepted, the most ancient of them of their Their auThe prophecies of Daniel appear so plain and intel- all. His style exhibits the appearance of

style.

very remote thenticity. ligible after their accomplishment, that Porplıyry, who antiquity; it is pointed, energetic, and concise. It

wrote in the 3d century, affirms, that they were written bears a distinguished mark of poetical composition, in
after the events to which they refer took place. A that pristine brevity and condensation which is obser-
little reflection will show the absurdity of this suppo- vable in the sentences, and which later writers have in
sition. Some of the prophecies of Daniel clearly refer to some measure neglected. This peculiarity has not esca-
Antiochus Epiphanes, with whose oppressions the Jews ped the observation of Jerome : “ He is altogether (says
were too well acquainted. Had the book of Daniel he, speaking of this prophet) laconic and sententious."
not made its appearance till after the death of Epipbanes, But this very circumstance, which anciently was sup-
every Jew who read it must have discovered the forgery. posed no doubt to impart uncommon force and elegance,
And what motive could induce them to receive it among in the present ruinous state of the Hebrew literature is
their sacred books ? It is impossible to conceive one. productive of so much obscurity, that although the ge-
Their character was quite the reverse : their respect for neral subject of this writer be sufficiently obvious, he is
the Scripture bad degenerated into superstition. But the most difficult and perplexed of all the prophets.
we are not left to determine this important point from There is, however, another reason for the obscurity of
the character of the Jews ; we have access to more de- his style : Hosea prophesied during the reigns of the
cisive evidence; we are sure that the book of Daniel four kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Abaz, and Heze-
contains prophecies, for some of them have been accom- kial. The duration of his ministry, therefore, in what-

66

A 2

* Joel

a

*Scripture. ever manner we calculate, must include a very consider- The following prophecy of a plague of locusts is de- Scrip

able space of time. We have now only a small volume scribed with great sublimity of expression :
of his remaining, which seems to contain his principal

For a nation hath gone up on my land,
prophecies; and these are extant in a continued series,
with no marks of distinction as to the times in which

Who are strong, and without number :
they were published, or the subjects of which they treat.

They have destroyed my vine, and have made my fig-
,

tree a broken branch.
the prophecies of Hosea, we sometimes find ourselves in They have made it quite bare, and cast it away : the

branches thereof are made white.
a similar predicament with those who consulted the scat-
tered leaves of the Sibyl.
The field is laid waste; the ground mourneth *. 7, 10, 8

70 As a specimen of Hosea's style, we select the follow

Amos was contemporary with Hosea. They both Prophed ing beautiful pathetic passage :

began to prophecy during the reigns of Uzziah over of Anos How shall I resign thee, O Ephraim!

Judah, and of Jeroboam II. over Israel. Amos saw
How shall I deliver thee up, O Israel !

his first vision two years before the earthquake, which
How shall I resign thee as Admah!

Zechariah informs us happened in the days of Uzzial.
How shall I make thee as Zeboim !

See Amos.
My heart is changed within me ;

Amos was a herdsman of Tekoa, a small town in the
I am warmed also with repentance towards thee. territory of Judah, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.
I will not do according to the fervonr of my wrath ;-

In the simplicity of former times, and in the happy cli-
I will not return to destroy Ephraim :

mates of the East, these were not considered as dislio-
For I an God, and not man;

nourable occupations. He was no prophet (as he inHoly in the midst of thee, though I inhabit not thy cities.

formed Amaziah +), neither was he a prophet's son, + Amos vi

that is, he had no regular education in the schools of 14. Prophecies Concerning the date of the prophecy of Joel there

the prophets. of Joel. are various conjectures. The book itself affords nothing

The prophecies of Amos consist of several distinct by which we can discover when the author lived, or

discourses, which chiefly respect the kingdom of Israel; upon what occasion it was written. Joel speaks of a

yet sometimes the prophet inveighs against Judah, and great famine, and of mischiefs that happened in conse- threatens the adjacent nations, the Syrians, Philistines, quence of an'inundation of locusts ; but nothing can be Tyrians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites.

,

71 gathered from such general observations to enable us to Jerome calls Amos“ rude in speech, but not in their style fix the period of his prophecy. St Jerome thinks (and knowledge [ ;" applying to him what St Paul modestly + Proem. it is the general opinion) that Joel was contemporary professes of himself ç. ** Many (says Dr Lowth) have comment.

. with Hosea. This is possibly true; but the founda

. followed the authority of Jerome in speaking of this in, Amos,

$ 2 Cor. xi. tion on which the opinion rests is very precarious, viz. prophet, as if he were indeed quite rude, ineloquent, ó. That when there is no proof of the time in which a

and destitute of all the embellishments of composition. prophet lived, we are to guided in our conjectures The matter is, however, far otherwise. Let any person respecting it by that of the preceding prophet whose

who has candour and perspicacity enough to judge, not epoch is better known. As this rule is not infallible, it

from the man but from his writings, open the volume therefore ought not to hinder us from adopting any

of his predictions, and he will, I think, agree with me,
other opinion that comes recommended by good rea-

that our shepherd' is not a whit behind the
l

very chief
Father Calmet places him under the reign of of the prophets Il.' He will agree, that as in sublimity | 2 Cor. xi.
Josiah, at the same time with Jeremiah, and thinks it

and magnificence be is almost equal to the greatest, so probable that the famine to which Joel alludes

, is the in splendou of diction and elegance of expression he is same with that which Jeremiah predicted, ch. viii. 13. 69

scarcely inferior to any. The same celestial Spirit inCharacter The style of Joel is essentially different from that of

deed actuated Isaiah and Daniel in the court and Amos of their IIosea ; but the general character of his diction, though in the sheep-folds ; constantly selecting such interprestyle. of a different kind, is not less poetical. He is elegant,

ters of the divine will as were best adapted to the occaperspicuous, copious, and fluent; he is also sublime, ani

sion, and sometimes from the mouth of babes and suckmated, and energetic. In the first and second chapters lings perfecting praise :' occasionally employing the naLowth on he displays the full force of the prophetic poetry, and

tural eloquence of some, and occasionally making others Hebrew shows how naturally it inclines

to the use of metaphors, eloquent." Poetry, allegories, and comparisons. Nor is the connection of

Mr Locke has observed, that the comparisons of this Sect. 21. the matter less clear and evident than the complexion prophet are chiefly drawn from lions and other animals of the style: this is exemplified in the display of the

with which he was most accustomed ; but the finest
impending evils wnich gave rise to the prophecy; the images and allusions are drawn from scenes of nature.
exhortation to repentance ; the promises of happiness There are many beautiful passages in the writings of
and success both terrestrial and eternal to those who be-

Amos, of which we shall present one specimen :
come truly penitent; the restoration of the Israelites;
and the vengeance to be taken of their adversaries. But Wo to them that are at ease in Zion,
while we allow this just commendation to his perspi- And trust in the mountains of Samaria ;
cuity both in language and arrangement, we must not Who are named chief of the nations,

To whom the house of Israel came:
deny that there is sometimes great obscurity observable
in his subject, and particularly in the latter part of the Pass ye unto Calneb and see,
prophecy.

And from thence go to Hamath the Great ;

Then

sons,