They are also called men of God, and angels, or messengers of God, because, by their inspired discourses, they carried out the divine idea of the theocracy, or the will of God, in the public life of the people." They were likewise called seers," on account of the higher intuition they had of divine truth, and, enlightened by that, of the course of earthly events, both present and future, and by virtue of which they were prophets and foretellers of the future. After Samuel, the common practice of soothsaying seems to have been restricted by the prophethood, or office of prophets. Other nations of antiquity had their seers also, but they were destitute of the true and moral spirit of monotheism, by which the Hebrew prophecy was purified and made holy. The reason why prophecy in general finds no place in modern times, is to be found in the preponderance of reflection over spontaneity. ["Samuel committed the direction of the spirit of the theocratic government into the hands of the prophets, to whom merely a personal reverence was paid among the people. He left the management of the theocratic forms to the priests. By these means he produced a more free development of the Mosaic religion. vol. v. p. 348, sqq.] Hendewerk, Jesaias, vol. i. p. xxxiii., sqq. a The See, also, Hos. ix. 7, Hartmann, Ubers des Mich. 3 There is a distinction between . מַלְאֲכֵי אֱלֹהִים and אַנְשֵׁי אֱלֹהִים the prophets, and demagogues, (judges or heroes,) and kings, which is marked by the idea of the word of God. Redslob, Begriff. d. Nabi; 1839. Jer. xxiii. 22. De Weite, Programm. de Prophetarum in V. T. Ecclesia, et Doctorum Theol. in Eccles. evang. Ratione, atque Similitudine, (Ber. 1816,) Opusc. theol. p. 169, sqq. prophets broke through the symbolical forms, rose to a spiritual view of them, and served the cause of truth by proclaiming the word of God, while the priests remained attached to the symbols, and preserved them in their ancient restrictions and narrowness. Thus it was the office of the prophets to purify and extend the influence of religion and morality; they were politicians, naturalists, and workers of wonders. Their action and influence on the public were sustained and promoted by religion, poetry, symbols, and music. The last, perhaps, held an important place in their education at the schools of the prophets."]" The writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah - especially Isa. liii., Jer. xx.- contain allusions to the conflict of the prophets with the false prophets, with the priests and rulers of the land, and with the unbelief of the people. § 203. CONTENTS AND OBJECTS OF THE PROPHETIC DISCOURSES. While the prophets were zealous for the support and perfection of the theocracy, they fixed their eyes upon the outward as well as upon the inward. They censured the false, untheocratical policy which was pursued with respect to foreign nations, and disclosed the abuses in the government and in the administration of justice. This they seem to have done especially under a feeble admin • De Wette, Bib. Dogmatik, § 70. On the relation of the prophets to the priests, their political and scientific tendency, their ascetic life, and the schools of the prophets, see De Wette, as above, and Archäol. § 145, 268. Carpzov, vol. iii. p. 41, sqq. Knobel, 1. c. vol. i. p. 39, sqq., 82, sqq., ii. 39, sqq. Köster, p. 52, sqq. istration. They found fault with the corrupt morals, with the degeneracy of the public worship of God, which was defiled with idolatry, and reduced to a mere shadow. In respect to all these subjects, they pointed out the True and the Right, and admonished the public and individuals to reform and amend their lives. They threatened the disobedient and impenitent with the punishments of divine justice; but they restored the downcast by joyful promises, by predicting the humiliation of the enemies of the theocracy, and the approach of prosperous times." § 204. SPIRIT OF THE PROPHETIC PREDICTIONS. 1. The predictions of the future were occasioned by, and founded upon, the idea of retribution, as we see in Levit. xxvi. and Deut. xxviii.,-and on the unshaken confidence in the love of Jehovah towards his people. Consequently their predictions had a moral and religious meaning, and might be recalled. This appears from Jer. xxvi. 13, where it is promised Jehovah will repent of the evil denounced, if the people will mend their ways; and verse 29, where an instance is given of his actually withdrawing a denunciation against Hezekiah." 2. These ideas were applied to the circumstances of the time; and in this manner the predictions were occasioned by the historical phenomena of the age. Thus Isaiah' threatened the Jews with an invasion by the a Credner, Der Prophet Joel, p. 65. Knobel, vol. i. p. 203, sqq., 216, sqq. Köster, p. 223, sqq. Assyrians; Jeremiah, with invasion by the Chaldees. [At first, says Eichhorn, the prophets of the kingdom of Israel only threaten their nation with the Syrians, so long as they were the only powerful nation in the neighborhood. Thus Elisha, in his reply to Joash, (2 Kings xiii. 14, sqq.,) speaks of the Syrians. Sometimes they promise victories over them, as Jonah did, under Jeroboam II. (2 Kings xiv. 25.) In the mean time, the Assyrians were becoming a great nation; then the prophets alarm the quiet people with threats of them; but this is done gradually, as a knowledge of this people becomes more clear and distinct. Thus Amos (vi. 14, vii. 10-17) predicts their coming without naming them, probably because in his time they were not entangled in the affairs of Israel. But during the civil troubles that ensued after the death of Jeroboam II., one of the factions into which the state was divided, it is probable, sought aid of the Assyrians, (Hos. ix. 3, xi. 5.) Then Hosea comes out boldly, and prophesies that the Assyrians, sooner or later, will overpower the feeble kingdom of Israel. The same is true of the prophecies which relate to Judah. In the times of Isaiah, the Babylonians were so unimportant that the Hebrew prophets do not mention them. They begin to speak of them when the Chaldees in Babylon took the place of the Assyrians as rulers of Asia.]" Eichhorn, § 513. See, also, Justi, Verm. Abhandl. ub wichtig. Gegenstande d. theol. Gelehrsamkeit, vol. i. p. 266, sqq. [contained also in Paulus, Memorab. vol. iv. p. 139, sqq. He thinks it is so certain the prophets spoke only of such nations as had direct intercourse with the Hebrews, that he denies the date of certain oracles, which speak of distant enemies. He says the office of the prophet was to be a counsellor of the king and people in the exigencies of the time, not to satisfy or excite their curiosity by dwelling on the distant future.] 3. Since this idea of retribution prevails in the prophets throughout, their predictions are in part to be regarded as HOPES and WISHES, menaces and expressions of anxiety; and therefore the fundamental rule of giving them an historical explanation, is to seek the occasion of an oracle in history, rather than its fulfilment. Particular caution is necessary in respect to predictions against foreign nations. 4. These prophecies are almost always indefinite and fluctuating. The later referred to the oracles of earlier prophets; and thus, for example, the Messianic idea gradually received its form, and became permanent.“ The definite predictions of Ezekiel (xii. xxiv. 25, 26, xxxiii. 21, 22) seem not to have been fulfilled. The same must be said of those of Jeremiah, (xxii. 18, 19, xxxvi. 30,) as may be seen by comparing 2 Kings xxiv. 6, 2 Ch. xxxvi. 6, for the authority of Josephus (x. 6,3) can scarcely be decisive in this case. The following, also, are not fulfilled: Amos vii. 11; Hosea's curse of the people, (ix. 3, and xi. 5;) Isaiah's oracle, (xxii. and xxix. ;) his curse pronounced upon Moab, (xvi. 14,) and his prophecy of the destruction of Tyre, (xxiii.)—though Hengstenberg is of the contrary opinion; — the prophecy of Obadiah; Jeremiah's curse of Egypt and Edom, (xliii. 8, xlix. 7, sqq.;) Ezekiel's prophecies against Mount Seir, (xxxv.,) against Ægypt, (xxix.,) and against Gog and Magog, (xxxviii.—xxxix.) b The following are not completely fulfilled: Isa. vii. "See Eichhorn, §515, p. 27. Credner (1. c. p. 63, sqq., and 71, sqq.) perhaps carries this reference of the later to the earlier prophets too far. De Wette, Bib. Dogmatik, § 116. See Hengstenberg, De Rel. Tyr.; 1832. [But see Heeren, Researches into the Intercourse, Policy, Trade, &c., Eng. translation; Oxford, 1833, vol. ii. p. 11, note 2. Knobel, vol. i. p. 300, sq.] |