Companion to the Bible Part 20

1. By the Jewish arrangement, which places together the twelve minor prophets in a single volume, the chronological order of the prophets as a whole is broken up. The three greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, stand in the true order of time. Daniel began to prophesy before Ezekiel, but continued, many years after him. The Jewish arrangement of the twelve minor prophets is in a sense chronological; that is, they put the earlier prophets at the beginning, and the later at the end of the collection. It does not appear, however, that they intended to follow the order of time with exactness. If they did, then in the judgment of many they committed errors. The particulars must be discussed as the books come up separately for consideration.

In regard to the first six, the arrangement of the Septuagint differs from the Masoretic, which is followed in our version, as follows:

MASORETIC TEXT. SEPTUAGINT VERSION.

1. Hosea. 1. Hosea.

2. Joel. 2. Amos.

3. Amos. 3. Micah.

4. Obadiah. 4. Joel.

5. Jonah. 5. Obadiah.

6. Micah. 6. Jonah.

2. This precious collection contains the earliest as well as the latest writings of the Hebrew prophets, except such as are embodied in the historical books; for Hosea, Joel, and Amos, at least, are older than Isaiah, and the three prophets of the restoration are younger than Ezekiel and Daniel. The minor prophets exhibit a great diversity of manner and style--the rugged and sententious, the full and flowing, the oratorical, and the simple and unadorned. In them are pa.s.sages attaining to the sublimity of Isaiah, to the tenderness and pathos of Jeremiah, and to the vehemence of Ezekiel. Nowhere do we find sin rebuked with more awful severity, the true meaning of the law more clearly expounded, or the future glory of Zion more confidently predicted. That some of these writings are obscure and of difficult interpretation cannot be denied. This arises partly from the character of the style, as in the case of Hosea and others; partly from the nature of the themes discussed, as in Zechariah; partly from our ignorance of the times and circ.u.mstances of the writers. Nevertheless the prayerful student will find in them a rich treasury of divine truth, which will abundantly reward the labor bestowed upon it.

I. HOSEA.

3. The prophecies of Hosea were addressed immediately to the kingdom of the ten tribes, yet so that he did not overlook Judah; for he considered the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel as const.i.tuting together the covenant people of G.o.d. Of his personal history we know nothing except that he was the son of Beeri, for the transactions of the first three chapters may be best understood as symbolic acts seen only in vision.

See above, Chap. 22, No. 17. For any thing that appears to the contrary, he was of Israelitish descent. As it is generally agreed that Isaiah began to prophesy in the last year of Uzziah's reign, or but a few years before his death, while Hosea prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam II., the great-grandson of Jehu (2 Kings 14:23), who died about twenty-six years before Uzziah, it follows that Hosea, though partly contemporary with Isaiah, was called to the prophetical work at an earlier period. If we suppose him to have commenced prophesying two years before the death of Jeroboam, and then add the twenty-six remaining years of Uzziah's reign, the sixteen of Jotham, the sixteen of Ahaz, and two of the first years of Hezekiah, we shall have a period of sixty-two years. To Israel this was a calamitous period, embracing four usurpations and murders of the reigning sovereigns, and three invasions of the a.s.syrians. See the history in 2 Kings 15:8-31, and 17:1-6. In the last of these Hosea, king of Israel, became tributary to Shalmaneser, king of a.s.syria; but he proved unfaithful to his master, and sought the alliance of So, king of Egypt. 2 Kings 17:4. For this the a.s.syrian king besieged him in Samaria, and after a siege of three years, took him with the city, and put an end to the kingdom of Israel in the fifth year of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

Hosea seems to have closed his writings when Hoshea was seeking the help of Egypt, while he had at the same time a covenant with a.s.syria (12:1), consequently somewhere early in Hezekiah's reign.

4. Hosea's style is very concise and sententious, and his diction impresses even the casual reader as original and peculiar. A remarkable feature of his book is the constancy with which he sets forth the relation of Israel to Jehovah under the figure of the marriage-covenant; thus making unfaithfulness to G.o.d, and especially idolatry and idolatrous alliances, to be spiritual adultery and wh.o.r.edom. This fact affords a key to the interpretation of the first three chapters, where the nature of the transactions requires that we understand them not as historic events, but as prophetic symbols occurring only in vision. The remaining eleven chapters contain perhaps a summary of the prophet's discourses to the people, written by himself near the close of his ministry. The prophecies of Hosea are repeatedly referred to in the New Testament as a part of the oracles of G.o.d. Matt. 2:15; 9:13; 12:7; Rom.

9:25, 26; and an allusion in 1 Cor. 15:55. The prophet brings his book to a close with a delightful and refreshing view of the future prosperity and peace of the true Israel, chap. 14.

II. JOEL.

5. The prophecies of Joel, the son of Pethuel, give no specifications of place or time. But all the internal indications of the book point to Judea--probably Jerusalem, with its temple, altar, priesthood, and solemn a.s.semblies--as the sphere of his labors, and to the date as among the earliest of those belonging to written prophecy. The coincidences between Joel and Amos cannot well be regarded as accidental. Compare Joel 3:16 with Amos 1:2; Joel 3:18 with Amos 9:13; and notice the striking similarity in the close of the two prophecies. If we may a.s.sume that one of these prophets borrowed expressions from the other, the priority will naturally be given to Joel, from whose closing address (3:16) Amos takes the opening words of his prophecies. He must then be placed as early, at least, as the reign of Uzziah, and perhaps earlier.

From the fact that Joel does not mention as among the enemies of Judah the Syrians who invaded Judah in the reign of Joash, the grandfather of Uzziah, some have placed him as early as the reign of Joash before this Syrian invasion. There is no ground for placing him after Uzziah; for his writings contain no allusion to the a.s.syrian power, which became so formidable soon after Uzziah's time.

6. The writings of Joel bear the full impress of culture in a prophetic school. His Hebrew is of the purest kind; his style is easy, flowing, elegant, and adorned with magnificent imagery; and for vividness and power of description he is not surpa.s.sed by any of the prophets. The immediate occasion of his prophecies is a double plague of drought and locusts, which has already invaded the land, and whose desolating progress he describes in poetic strains of matchless elegance and power.

He summons the people of all cla.s.ses to repentance, and promises, upon this condition, not only the restoration of the land to its former fruitfulness, but also the outpouring of G.o.d's Spirit upon all flesh, the triumph of the covenant people over all their foes, and an era of universal holiness and peace. In this respect he is a model for all the prophets that come after him. They all with one accord look forward beyond the calamities of the present time, and the heavier impending calamities which they are commissioned to foretell in the near future, to the glory of the latter days, when Zion shall be made triumphant over all her foes, and the whole earth shall be given her for her inheritance. The apostle Peter, in his address on the day of Pentecost, quotes a remarkable prophecy of Joel (2:28-32, compared with Acts 2:16-21).

The opinion of some commentators, that under the figure of locusts are represented simply hostile armies, must be regarded as forced and unnatural. More probable is the opinion of Henderson and others, that the prophet uses an actual invasion of the land by locusts as the type of a more formidable invasion of foreign foes. But there does not seem to be any valid reason for departing from the simple interpretation above given.

III. AMOS.

7. Amos prophesied "concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake" (1:1). The time of this earthquake, which is simply mentioned by Zechariah (14:5) as occurring in Uzziah's reign, cannot be determined. We only know that Amos must have prophesied somewhere during the last part of the reign of Jeroboam II., when he was contemporary with Uzziah. Amos was thus contemporary with Hosea, and was a considerable number of years earlier than Isaiah, who began to prophesy near the close of Uzziah's long reign of fifty-two years. The very specific date "two years before the earthquake" indicates that his whole mission to Israel was executed within a single year, perhaps within a few months. It seems to have been after his return to Judah, when at least two years had elapsed, that he collected his prophecies and put them into their present form.

Amos describes himself as one of "the herdmen of Tekoa," a small town southeast of Bethlehem on the border of the wilderness of Judah. 2 Chron. 20:20. It belonged to Judah, whence we infer that Amos was himself a Jew, a supposition which agrees well with the advice of Amaziah: "O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there" (7:12). He speaks of himself as "no prophet, neither a prophet's son" (7:14); which means that he had not been trained up for the prophetical office in any school of the prophets, as were "the sons of the prophets." 1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 2:3, etc. G.o.d took him from following the herd, and gave him a commission to prophesy to His people Israel, an office which he executed at Bethel, where one of the golden calves erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat was worshipped (7:10-17 compared with 1 Kings 12:29). In entire harmony with this historical notice is the character of his prophecies.

His style has not the flowing fulness of Joel, but charms the reader by its freshness and simplicity. His writings abound in images taken from rural scenes and employments, some of which are very unique and striking in their character. See chaps. 2:13; 3:12; 5:19; 6:12; 9:2, 3, 9. He opens his prophecies by a solemn annunciation of the approaching judgments of heaven upon the nations bordering on Israel, specifying in each case the sin which has provoked G.o.d's wrath. The storm pa.s.ses, without pausing in its course, over Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, Judah, till at last it reaches Israel. Here it rests, gathers blackness, and thunders long and loud. The reign of Jeroboam II was one of much outward prosperity. 2 Kings 14:25-28. The vices which Amos rebukes are those which belong to such a period--avarice, violence, oppression of the poor, perversion of justice, luxury, lewdness--all these joined with the idolatrous worship established by Jeroboam the son of Nebat. For such multiplied transgressions G.o.d will cause the sun to go down at noon, and darken the earth in the clear day. Their feasts shall be turned into mourning, their songs into lamentation, and they shall go into captivity beyond Damascus. But while all the sinners among G.o.d's people thus perish by the sword, he will remember his true Israel for good. He will rear up again the fallen tabernacle of David, bring again the captivity of his people of Israel, and plant them for ever in their own land in peace and prosperity. Thus do the visions of Amos, like those of Hosea and Joel, close with a cheering view of the future glory of Zion. Amos is twice quoted in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:42, 43; 15:16, 17).

IV. OBADIAH.

8. The short prophecy of Obadiah is directed against Edom. The Edomites were conspicuous for their hatred of the covenant people. See Ezek.

25:12; 35:5-15; Joel 3:19; Amos 1:11, and the parallel prophecy of Jer.

49:7-22. Accordingly they stand here, in respect to both their guilt and punishment, as the representatives of Zion's enemies in all ages. In like manner the promised victory of G.o.d's people over them shadows forth the universal triumph of the kingdom of heaven which is reserved for "the last days."

Concerning the date of Obadiah's prophecy expositors are not agreed. The whole question turns upon the interpretation of verses 11-14. That these contain an historic allusion to the exultation of the Edomites over the capture and plunder of Jerusalem cannot well be doubted. If this was the final capture of the city by the Chaldeans, then Obadiah's place will be after the beginning of the Babylonish captivity. But since no mention is made of the burning of Jerusalem, some suppose that the prophet refers to an earlier capture, as that by the Philistines and Arabians under Jehoram. 2 Chron. 21:16, 17. In favor of this view is urged the fact that Jeremiah, who was in the habit of using the writings of the earlier prophets, has much in common with Obadiah.

That Jeremiah borrowed the language of Obadiah is far more probable than that both prophets availed themselves of an older doc.u.ment, as some have conjectured. Since, however, Jerusalem was taken more than once by the Chaldeans before its final overthrow (2 Kings chap. 24; Dan. 1:1), Obadiah may have referred to one of these earlier captures, and yet have written before Jeremiah penned his prophecy against Edom.

V. JONAH.

9. We learn from 2 Kings 14:25 that Jonah, the son of Amittai, was of Gath-hepher, which is undoubtedly the same as Gittah-hepher, a town of the tribe of Zebulun in the northern part of Palestine (Josh. 19:13); and that he predicted the successes of Jeroboam II. According to the general a.n.a.logy of Scripture, prophecies like this, relating to one particular event, are not separated by any great s.p.a.ce of time from their fulfilment. He belongs, therefore, in all probability, to the days of Jeroboam II, when Amos also flourished. There is no valid reason for a.s.signing him, as some do, to an earlier date.

10. The story of the book of Jonah is too simple to need any a.n.a.lysis.

His act in fleeing from G.o.d's presence, when commissioned to go to Nineveh with a threatening message, is very extraordinary; but such is the inconsistency and folly of human pa.s.sion. The conduct of the mariners when overtaken by a tempest is not wonderful: it is in harmony with all that we know of ancient habits of thinking and acting. But what befell Jonah, when cast into the sea, is more than wonderful: it is miraculous. That there exist in the Mediterranean fish capable of swallowing a man entire is a well-attested fact. The original Hebrew mentions only, "a great fish." The Alexandrine version, and after that the New Testament, use the word _whale_ apparently in the sense of any great sea monster. But whatever the fish may have been, his preservation alive in its body for the s.p.a.ce of three days, and his subsequent ejection upon the dry land, can be accounted for only by reference to the immediate power of G.o.d, with whom nothing is impossible. The effect of his preaching upon the Ninevites was remarkable; but much more so was his grief at its success, whereby G.o.d was moved to spare the city. The common opinion is that he feared for his reputation as a true prophet; but a deeper ground of his anger may have been that he rightly understood the design of his mission to the Ninevites to be that through repentance they might be saved from impending destruction; while he regarded them as the enemies of G.o.d's people, and unworthy of his mercy.

However this may be, Jonah's mission to the Ninevites foreshadowed G.o.d's purposes of mercy towards the heathen world, and that too at a very suitable time, when the history of the covenant people, and through them of G.o.d's visible earthly kingdom, was about pa.s.sing into lasting connection with that of the great monarchies of the earth.

11. The authorship of the book of Jonah is not expressly given; but may be most naturally referred to the prophet himself. The few alleged Chaldaisims found in it may be explained as belonging to the provincial dialect of the prophet; since we have but an imperfect knowledge of the variations which the living Hebrew language admitted in this respect. In Matt. 12:39-41; Luke 11:29-32 the Saviour refers in explicit terms to events recorded in this book as being true history; nor can the historic character of the narrative as a whole be denied except on the ground that all records of the supernatural are unhistoric.

VI. MICAH.

12. Micah is called the Morasthite, probably because he was a native of Moresheth-gath, a small town of Judea, which, according to Eusebius and Jerome, lay in a southwesterly direction from Jerusalem, not far from Eleutheropolis on the plain, near the border of the Philistine territory. With this agrees the connection in which it is named (1:13-15); for Lachish, Mareshah, and Adullam also lay in that direction. He prophesied "in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." His prophetic activity began, therefore, soon after that of Isaiah, and he was contemporary with him, as well as with Hosea and Amos. His prophecies related to Samaria, the capital city of the kingdom of Israel, and to Jerusalem (1:1). We find accordingly denunciations against Samaria intermingled with his prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem. The people, moreover, are spoken of under the name of Jacob and Israel where, sometimes at least, as in chap. 3:9, Judah must be included. It is generally thought that the book of Micah contains only a summary of his prophecies, prepared perhaps in the days of Hezekiah. But this is not certain; for the reference in Jeremiah 26:18 obviously relates only to the particular prophecy quoted there.

13. The book is commonly distributed into three sections: chaps. 1 and 2; chaps. 3, 4, and 5; and chaps. 6 and 7. Each of these opens with a summons to hear G.o.d's message, and then proceeds with expostulations and threatenings, which are succeeded by glorious promises. The second of these sections, which is the largest and contains the most extended promises, is addressed more particularly to the rulers of the people.

The style of Micah is bold, vehement, and abrupt. His sudden transitions sometimes make his writings difficult of interpretation. He abounds in striking images, taken to a great extent, like those of Amos, from pastoral and rural life. Micah has one remarkable prophecy common to him with Isaiah. Chap. 4:1-3 compared with Isaiah 2:2-4. From the connection of the context the pa.s.sage in Micah is generally thought to be the original. Besides this there is a general agreement between the two prophets in their representations; and especially in the manner in which they perpetually mingle stern rebukes and threatenings with glorious promises relating to the Messiah and his kingdom. The remarkable prophecy concerning the Messiah's birth (chap. 5:2) is quoted with some variations in Matt. 2:5, 6, and referred to in John 7:42. The Saviour's words, as recorded in Matt. 10:35, 36; Mark 13:12; Luke 12:53 contain an obvious reference to Micah 7:6.

VII. NAHUM.

14. Nahum is called "the Elkos.h.i.te," probably from Elkosh, a village of Galilee, which Jerome (Introduction to Nahum) mentions as pointed out to him by his guide. The tradition which a.s.signs for the place of his birth and residence the modern Alkush, an a.s.syrian village on the east side of the Tigris, a few miles above the site of the ancient Nineveh, rests on no good foundation. The prophecy of Nahum is directed against Nineveh, the capital of the a.s.syrian empire. When the prophet wrote, this city was still in the height of its power (chap. 1:12; 2:8); oppressing the nations and purposing the conquest of Judah (chap. 1:9, 11; 3:1, 4).

From chap. 1:12, 13 it appears that the a.s.syrians had already afflicted Judah, and laid their yoke upon her. All these particulars point to the reign of Hezekiah as the probable date of the book.

15. The first chapter opens with a description of G.o.d's awful majesty and power, which nothing created can withstand. These attributes shall be directed to the utter and perpetual overthrow of Nineveh and the salvation of G.o.d's afflicted people. The second chapter begins a sublime description of the process of this destruction by the invasion of foreign armies. The third continues the account of the desolation of Nineveh by her foes. For her innumerable sins she shall be brought to shame before the nations of the earth, and made like populous No, that is, No-amon, the celebrated metropolis of upper Egypt, also called Thebes, whose children were dashed in pieces and her great men laid in chains. The present condition of Nineveh, a ma.s.s of uninhabitable ruins, is a solemn comment upon the closing words of the prophecy; "There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the report of thee shall clap their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness pa.s.sed continually?"

VIII. HABAKKUK.

16. Respecting Habakkuk's personal history we have no information. The apocryphal notices of him are unworthy of credence. From the fifth and sixth verses of the first chapter it is evident that he prophesied not long before that series of invasions by the Chaldeans which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people; that is, somewhere between 640 and 610 years before Christ, so that he was contemporary with Jeremiah and Zephaniah. The theme of his prophecy is, first, the overthrow of Judea by the Chaldeans, and then the overthrow in turn of the Chaldean monarchy, each power in turn for its sins. In the first chapter he predicts in a dramatic form--that of expostulation with G.o.d on the part of the prophet, and G.o.d's answer--the approaching desolation of the land by the Chaldean armies, whose resistless power he describes in bold and striking imagery. In the second chapter the prophet appears standing on his watch to see what answer Jehovah will give to the expostulation with which the preceding chapter closes. He receives a comforting message, but one that will try the faith of G.o.d's people by its delay. Verse 3. It is an announcement of the overthrow of the Chaldean oppressor, carried out in a series of bold and vivid descriptions in which woe upon woe is p.r.o.nounced against him for his rapine, covetousness, iniquitous oppression, and idolatry. The third chapter is a lyric ode in which the prophet, in view of both the judgments that G.o.d is about to execute on his countrymen through the Chaldeans (chap. 1), and the promised deliverance from them at a future period (chap. 2), supplicates and celebrates the future interposition of Jehovah for the redemption of his people in language borrowed from their past history. Thus this sublime song is both a prayer for the renewal of G.o.d's wondrous works in the days of old and a prophecy of such a renewal. The apostle Paul quotes the words of Habakkuk: "The just shall live by his faith" (2:4), and applies them to all believers (Rom. 1:17).

The language of chap. 1:5 implies that the desolation of the land by the Chaldeans would be a _surprising_ event, which could not have been the case after the victory of Nebuchadnezzar over the Egyptians and his capture of Jerusalem in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, B.C. 606. It was also to be in the day of that generation--"in your days." Consequently we cannot date the prophecy earlier than B.C. 640, probably not before B.C. 630.

The dedication of Habakkuk's ode (3:19) "to the chief musician"--the Hebrew word is the same that so often occurs in the t.i.tles of the Psalms--implies that this ode was to be used in the solemn worship of G.o.d. The added words, "on my stringed instruments," are most naturally understood of those under his charge as a leader in the service of song in the sanctuary.

Hence we infer with probability that Habakkuk was a Levite.

IX. ZEPHANIAH.

17. Zephaniah prophesied in the reign of Josiah (1:1), apparently while his work of reformation was in progress and not yet completed (1:4-6, 8, 9); that is, somewhere between his twelfth and his eighteenth year (2 Chron. 34:3-13).