takes the place of confidence! The assurance that the nation is destined to supremacy, which was observed in the oracles of the Mosaic period, has little place. How vague are the assurances of the prophet, and how far off they are removed! 4. One thing only remains, but therein is the ground of hope and light for the future. The prophet's faith in Jehovah has deepened and broadened. No longer is he merely the background of hope and assurance. He comes to the forefront in a new aspect, better understood, more fully revealed. And in that larger knowledge and intuition lies the "Preparation.”] TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. THE BACKGROUND OF THE PROPHETIC ACTIVITY : (a) times of Elijah, 1 Ki. xvii.-xix.; 2 Ki. i.-ii. 12; (b) times of Elisha, 2 Ki. ii. 12-xiii. 21; (c) times of Amos and Hosea, 2 Ki. xiv. 23-xvii. 6; (d) elements of the social and political life of the age. Read the histories, e.g. Kent, Hist. of Hebrew People, II, Chs. 4-8; Kittel, Hist. of the Hebrews, II, Chs. 2-4. 2. MESSIANIC INTERPRETATIONS of early oracles made by writers of this age studied in the light of this age. Cf. pp. 16-27, 35, for the material. 3. THE PREPARATION FOR AMOS AND HOSEA: (a) the literary preparation for these prophets as argued from their books (the literary form, etc.); (b) the religious preparation required by their doctrines (ethical standards, legislative materials, etc.); (c) a careful study of the preparation for their messianic ideas based on the statements made in the text (pp. 79-90). Robertson, Early Religion of Israel, Ch. III; Kent and Sanders, Messages of the Earlier Prophets, Introduction; H. G. Mitchell, Amos. 4. THE BOOKS OF AMOS AND HOSEA outlines for detailed study of these books will be found in the O. T. Student, VII. pp. 201–207. 5. THE NEW TESTAMENT ALLUSIONS to passages in these prophets, especially Hosea xi. 1, studied and interpreted with a view to the establishment of principles. CHAPTER V MESSIANIC HOPES FROM THE TIME OF ISAIAH It is now I. THE book of Isaiah is beset with two obstacles in the way of its study in that, first, its chapters The are not all from the same author or period and, Literature. second, the pieces belonging to Isaiah, son of Amoz, are not in chronological order. Modern Isaiah. scholarship has labored with a fair measure of success to remove both difficulties. quite generally agreed that chapters xl.-lxvi. belong to the last years of the exile period or later. To these are added chapters xii., xiii., xiv. I-23, xxi. 1-10, xxiv.-xxvii. as being produced in the same age. The order of the sermons of Isaiah, except in a few cases, is reasonably established.1 The criticism of Micah is still in some confu- Micah. sion.2 Chapters i.-iii., excepting ii. 12, 13, are recognized by all to be Micah's. On the re mainder of the book there is much difference of opinion, the tendency being to recognize a larger 1 The literature upon Isaiah is endless. A very full bibliography will be found at the conclusion of G. A. Smith's article "Isaiah" in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. The book presenting the best combination of the critical and expository elements is G. A. Smith's Isaiah I-XXXIX in the "Expositor's Bible" Series. Driver's Isaiah, his Life and Times, is admirable. 2 See Driver, Int., p. 325 ff.; G. A. Smith, XII Prophets, I, p. 357 ff. ΙΟΙ The The Syro- element of Micah's original words in the midst of some interpolations and later additions. II. The prophetic activity of Isaiah and, in a less definite sense, that of Micah also, gathers about two great periods: (1) the decline and fall of northern Israel with the accompanying political crisis in Judah in the reign of Ahaz (about 732 B.C.); and (2) the period of the invasion of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (701 B.C.). The earlier prophets had already begun to recognize the tremendous significance of the king of Assyria as a factor in the life of western Asia, and had sought to interpret it in the light of their faith. In the year 743 B.C., Tiglathpileser III began that series of western expeditions which sealed the fate of Syria. In 738 came the overthrow of the coalition centering about Hamath, at which time the Syrian states, including Damascus under King Rezon and Israel under Menahem, sent tribute. By 735 B.C. the two kings were in revolt and joined in an endeavor to overthrow the king of Judah, apparently with the purpose of compelling the alliance of Judah in the struggle against Assyria. Isaiah had already begun his prophetic work. His call, as it is recorded in the sixth chapter, has been dated in 737, and his sermons in chapters ii.-v. follow within the next year or two.1 1 With the exception, possibly, of ch. ii. 2-4, which is almost identical with a passage in Micah (see p. 116 f.), and was probably inserted in this place by an editor. In connection with the war of defence against Syria and Israel he utters a series of prophecies which we find in chapters vii. 1-ix. 7. The episode and declarations made here present Isaiah's person and purpose most clearly before us. In the midst of the frantic endeavors of the nations of western Asia to preserve their existence in the face of the Assyrian, and over against their petty feuds with one another, Isaiah calls for a different policy. Judah need not fear, either from Israel or from Damascus. Assyria will attend to them before long. Nor, on the other hand, need they whose God is Jehovah seek for protection with the Assyrian. In Isaiah's prophetic vision, to become involved with the great nation of the Tigris is not only to evidence want of faith in Jehovah, but also to incur all the misfortunes and disasters that accompany the supremacy of Assyria. If Judah will be content in reliance upon its God to keep clear of all foreign complications and to live in quietness, prosperity and peace will be its portion. This was the prophet's programme. But the king had already committed himself to the opposite policy. The Assyrian, therefore, as Isaiah sees, will certainly come and desolate the country, bringing privation, darkness, and destruction in his train. During the thirty years that followed the SyroEphraimitic war a new antagonist of Assyrian oppression came upon the scene, in the person of |