history of the surrounding heathen nations. He meddles not, like Daniel, with the revolutions of the great empires of the world. His own country seems to engross his whole attention; her privileges, her crimes, her punishment, her pardon. He predicts, indeed, in the strongest and clearest terms, the ingrafting of the Gentiles into the church of God. But he mentions it only generally: he enters not, like Isaiah, into a minute detail of the progress of the business. Nor does he describe, in any detail, the previous contest with the apostate faction in the latter ages. He makes no explicit mention of the share which the converted Gentiles are to have in the re-establishment of the natural Israel in their antient seats; subjects which make so striking a part of the prophecies of Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah, Haggai, and, occasionally, of the other prophets. He alludes to the calling of our Lord from Egypt: to the resurrection on the third day; he touches, but only in general terms, upon the final overthrow of the Antichristian army in Palestine, by the immediate interposition of Jehovah; and he celebrates, in the loftiest strains of triumph and exultation, the Saviour's final victory over death and hell. But yet, of all the prophets, he certainly enters the least into the detail of the mysteries of redemption. We have nothing in him descriptive of the events of the interval between the two advents of our Lord. Nothing diffuse and circumstantial, upon the great and interesting mysteries of the incarnation, and the atonement. His country and his kindred, is the subject next his heart. Their crimes excite his indignation; their sufferings interest his pity; their future exaltation is the object on which his imagination fixes with delight. It is a remarkable dispensation of Providence, that clear notices, though in general terms, of the universal redemption, should be found in a writer so strongly possessed with national partialities.) This Judaism seems to make the particular character of Hosea as a prophet. Not that the ten tribes are exclusively his subject. His country is indeed his particular and constant subject; but his country generally, in both its branches, not in either taken by itself."

According to this view of the subject, the general argument of Hosea's prophecy "appears to be the fortunes of the whole Jewish nation in its two great branches; not the particular concerns (and least of all the particular temporal concerns) of either branch exclusively. And to this grand opening the whole sequel of the prophecy corresponds. In setting forth the vices of the people, the picture is chiefly taken, as might naturally be expected, from the manners of the prophet's own times; in part of which the corruption, in either kingdom, was at the greatest height; after the death of Jeroboam, in the kingdom of Israel; in the reign of Ahaz, in the kingdom of Judah. And there is occasionally much allusion, sometimes predictive allusion, to the principal events of the prophet's times. And much more to the events in the kingdom of Israel, than to those in Judah. Perhaps, because the danger being more immediately imminent in the former kingdom, the state of things in that was more alarming, and the occurrences, for that 1 Bishop Horsley's Hosea, Preface, pp. vii. vii.

reason, more interesting. Still the history of his own times in detail in either kingdom, is not the prophet's subject. It furnishes similies and allusions, but it makes no considerable part, indeed it makes no part at all, of the action (if I may so call it) of the poem. The action lies in events beyond the prophet's times: the commencement indeed within them; but the termination, in times yet future; and, although we may hope the contrary, for aught we know with certainty, remote. The deposition of Jehu's family, by the murder of Zedekiah, the son and successor of Jeroboam, was the commencement; the termination will be the restoration of the whole Jewish nation under one head, in the latter days, in the great day of Jezräel and the intermediate parts of the action are the judgments, which were to fall, and accordingly have fallen, upon the two distinct kingdoms of Israel and Judah, typified by Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi.”1

The scope of this prophet's prediction is, 1. Partly to detect, reprove, and convince the Jewish nation generally, and the Israelites in particular, of their many and heinous sins, especially of their gross idolatry; the corrupt state of the kingdom is also incidentally noticed;-2. Partly to denounce the imminent and utter rejection, final captivity, and destruction of the Israelites by the Assyrians (if the former persisted in their wicked career,) notwithstanding all their vain confidence in the assistance to be afforded them by Egypt; and 3. Partly to invite them to repentance with promises of mercy, and evangelical predictions of the future restoration of the Israelites and Jews, and their ultimate conversion to Christianity.

III. The prophecy of Hosea contains fourteen chapters, which may be divided into five sections or discourses, exclusive of the title in ch. i. 1. viz.

DISCOURSE 1. Under the figure of the supposed infidelity of the prophet's wife is represented the spiritual infidelity of the Israelites, a remnant of whom, it is promised, shall be saved (i. 2—11.) and they are exhorted to forsake idolatry. (ii. 1-11.) Promises are then introduced, on the general conversion of the twelve tribes to Christianity; and the gracious purposes of Jehovah towards the ten tribes, or the kingdom of Israel in particular, are represented under the figure of the prophet taking back his wife on her amendment. (ii. 11-23. iii.)

DISCOURSE 2. The prophet, in direct terms, inveighs against the bloodshed and idolatry of the Israelites (iv. 1—14. 17—19.) against which the inhabitants of Judah are exhorted to take warning. (15, 16.) In chap. v. 1-14. the divine judgments are denounced against the priests, the people, and the princes of Israel, to whom are held out promises of pardon in v. 15. which are continued through verses 1-3. of chap. vi. The metaphors used by the prophet on this occasion are remarkably strong and beautiful. The resurrection, the morning, and the refreshing showers, in 1 Bishop Horsley's Hosea, Preface, p. xxvi.

2 Bishop Horsley contends at great length, contrary to most interpreters, that the prophet's marriage was a real transaction, and a type of the whole Jewish nation, distinct parts of which were typified by the three children, Jezrael, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi. See the Preface to his version of Hosea, pp. viii.—xxv.

their season, supply them; in a more immediate sense they denote a speedy and gracious deliverance, but in a remote sense they refer to the resurrection of Christ, (compare Hosea vi. 2. with 1 Cor. xv. 4.) and the blessings of the Gospel.

DISCOURSE 3. The prophet's exhortations to repentance proving ineffectual, God complains by him of their obstinate iniquity and idolatry (vi. 4-11. vii. 1—10.) and denounces that Israel will be carried into captivity into Assyria by Sennacherib, notwithstanding their reliance on Egypt for assistance. (vii. 11—16. viii.) DISCOURSE 4. The captivity and dispersion of Israel is further threatened (ix. x.), the Israelites are reproved for their idolatry, yet they shall not be utterly destroyed, and their return to their own country is foretold (xi.) Renewed denunciations are made on account of their idolatry. (xii. xiii. 1—8.) DISCOURSE 5. After a terrible denunciation of divine punishment, intermixed with promises of restoration from captivity (xiii. 9—16.); the prophet exhorts the Israelites to repentance, and furnishes them with a beautiful form of prayer adapted to their situation (xiv. 1-3.); and foretels their reformation from idolatry, together with the subsequent restoration of all the tribes from their dispersed state, and their conversion to the Gospel. (4-9.)

IV. The style of Hosea, Bishop Lowth remarks, exhibits the appearance of very remote antiquity; it is pointed, energetic, and concise. It bears a distinguished mark of poetical composition, in that pristine brevity and condensation which is observable in the sentences, and which latter writers have in some measure neglected. This peculiarity has not escaped the observation of Jerome, who remarks that this prophet is altogether laconic and sententious.2 "But this very circumstance, which antiently was supposed to impart uncommon force and elegance, in the present state of Hebrew literature, is productive of so much obscurity, that, although the general subject of this writer is sufficiently obvious, he is the most difficult and perplexed of all the prophets. There is, however, another reason for the obscurity of his style. Hosea, we have seen, prophesied during the reigns of the four kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah: the duration of his ministry, therefore, in whatever manner we calculate it, must include a very considerable space of time. We have now only a small volume of his remaining, which, it seems, contains his principal prophecies; and these are extant in a continued series, with no marks of distinction as to the times when they were published, or of which they treat. It is, therefore, no wonder if, in perusing the prophecies of Hosea, we sometimes find ourselves in a similar predicament with those who consulted the scattered leaves of the Sibyl."

1 The prediction in Hosea xi. 10, 11. respecting the return of the Israelites to their own country, was partly fulfilled in consequence of Cyrus's decree (2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, 23. Ezra i. 1-4.); but, in its fullest extent, it remains to be accomplished in the future restoration of the Jews to their own land. This is one instance, among many, in which the language of the prophets is adapted to two or more events. We have the authority of an inspired writer to extend this remark to another part of the same chapter. (Compare xi. 1. with Matt. ii. 15.) Smith's Summary View of the Prophets, p. 177. 2 Præf. in xii. Proph.

3 Lowth's Prælect. xxi. Bishop Horsley differs in opinion from Bishop Lowth,

SECTION IV.

ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH.

1. Author and date. II. Scope.-III. Analysis of the contents of this book.-IV. Observations on its style.

BEFORE CHRIST, 810-698.

I. THOUGH fifth in the order of time, the writings of the prophet Isaiah are placed first in order of the prophetical books, principally on account of the sublimity and importance of his predictions, and partly also because the book, which bears his name, is larger than all the twelve minor prophets put together.

Concerning his family and descent, nothing certain has been recorded, except what he himself tells us (i. I.), viz. that he was the son of Amos, and discharged the prophetic office in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah who successively flourished between A. M. 3194 and 3305. There is a current tradition that he was of the blood-royal; and some writers have affirmed that his father Amoz or Amos was the son of Joash, and consequently brother of Uzziah king of Judah. Jerome, on the authority of some rabbinical writers, says, that the prophet gave his daughter in marriage to Manasseh king of Judah; but this opinion is scarcely credible, because Manasseh did not commence his reign until about sixty years after Isaiah had begun to discharge his prophetic functions. He must, indeed, have exercised the office of a prophet, during a long period of time, if he lived to the reign of Manasseh; for the lowest computation, beginning from the year in which Uzziah died, when he is by some supposed to have received his first appointment to that office, brings it to sixty-one years. But the tradition of the Jews, which has been adopted by most Christian commentators, that he was put to death by Manasseh, is very uncertain; and Aben Ezra, one of the most celebrated Jewish writers, is rather of opinion that he died before Hezekiah; which Bishop Lowth thinks most probable. It is, however, certain, that he lived at least to the fifteenth or sixteenth year of Hezekiah; which makes the least possible term of the duration of his prophetic office to be about forty eight-years.

The name of Isaiah, as Vitringa has remarked after several preceding commentators, is in some measure descriptive of his high character, since it signifies the Salvation-of-Jehovah; and was given with singular propriety to him who foretold the advent of the Messiah, through whom all flesh shall see the salvation of God. (Compare Isa. xl. 5. with Luke iii. 6. and Acts iv. 12.) Isaiah was contemporary with the prophets Amos, Hosea, Joel, and Micah.

as to the cause of the obscurity which is observable in the prophecies of Hosea. Bishop Horsley ascribes it, not to the great antiquity of the composition, nor to any thing peculiar to the language of the author's age, but to his peculiar idioms, frequent changes of person, his use of the nominative case absolute, his anomalies of number and gender, and the ambiguity of pronouns. See the Preface to his version of Hosea, pp. xxix.—xliii.

Isaiah is uniformly spoken of in the Scriptures as a prophet of the highest dignity; Bishop Lowth calls him the prince of all the prophets, and pronounces the whole of his book to be poetical, with the exception of a few detached passages. It is remarkable, that his wife is styled a prophetess in viii. 3., whence the rabbinical writers have concluded that she possessed the spirit of prophecy : but it is very probable that the prophets' wives were called prophetesses, as the priests' wives were termed priestesses, only from the quality of their husbands. Although nothing further is recorded in the Scriptures concerning the wife of Isaiah, we find two of his sons mentioned in his prophecy, who were types or figurative pledges of God's assurance; and their names and actions were intended to awaken a religious attention in the persons whom they were commissioned to address, and to instruct. Thus, Shearjashub (vii. 3.) signifies," a remnant shall return," and showed that the captives who should be carried to Babylon, should return thence after a certain time; and Maher-shalal-hashbaz (viii. 1. 3.), which denotes "make speed (or run swiftly) to the spoil," implied that the kingdoms of Israel and Syria would in a short time be ravaged.

Besides the volume of prophecies, which we are now to consider, it appears from 1 Chron. xxvi. 22. that Isaiah wrote an account of the Acts of Uzziah king of Judah: this has perished with some other writings of the prophets, which, as probably not written by inspiration, were never admitted into the canon of Scripture. There are also two apocryphal books ascribed to him, viz. "The Ascension of Isaiah," and "The Apocalypse of Isaiah;" but these are evidently forgeries of a later date, and the Apocalypse has long since perished.3

II. The scope of Isaiah's predictions is three-fold, viz.

1. To detect, reprove, aggravate, and condemn the sins of the Jewish people especially, and also the iniquities of the ten tribes of Israel, and the abominations of many Gentile nations and countries; denouncing the severest judgments against all sorts and degrees of persons, whether Jews or Gentiles.

2. To invite persons of every rank and condition, both Jews and Gentiles, to repentance and reformation, by numerous promises of pardon and mercy. It is worthy of remark that no such promises are intermingled with the denunciations of divine vengeance against Babylon, although they occur in the threatenings against every other people.

3. To comfort all the truly pious (in the midst of all the calamities and judgments denounced against the wicked) with prophetic promises of the true Messiah, "which seem almost to anticipate the Gospel history, so clearly do they foreshow the divine character 1 Gray's Key, p. 365. 2 Gray's Key, p. 372.

3 Ascensio enim Isaiæ et Apocalypsis Isaia hoc habent testimonium. Jerom. Comment. on Isaiah, c. lxiv. (Op. tom. iii. p. 473.) See also tom. iv. p. 344. The anabaticon or ascension of Isaiah is mentioned by Epiphanius, among the books received by Hierax, founder of the sect of the Hieracites, in the fourth century. Hæres. 67. Dr. Lardner's Works, vol. iii. p. 402. For a further account of this apocryphal production, see Vol. I. Appendix, No. V. Sect. I. pp. 631, 633, 634.