•Wellhausen, Hint. 293. Wellhansen'B remark that 'the point of the story narrated of Saul (1 S in22ii-) can he nothing out Saniuel'B anti David's enjo>Tjienl of the disf;race of the naked king ' (p. 208), is merely the cynical sally of a modern buinourist.
t This view of Am 71< is rightlv taken by J. 0. Mattbes, art. 'The False Prophets,' Mod. liev., July 1884. See also J. Bol>ertson, Early lielig. of Israel, p. 00.
in religion, — of course no king of that age was irreligious in the sense of neglecting tlie tradi- tional religion, — naturally the propliets, at least those among them m ho were ethically progressive, took another side. It might have been well for the peaceable development of the kingdom of J" if the prophets and rulers had always been in harmony, and it might seem a calamity when a dissidence arose between them ; but undoubtedly, though the disagreement was often fruitful of trouble and revolution, it contributed to the inde- pendence of the prophetic order. Prophecy re- sumed the ' national ' element in it, which it had divested itself of and delegated to the riionarcliy, and stood forth against all classes and fuiKrtions as the immediately insjiired guardian of the kingdom of J" in all its interests. Moses was the type of the true prophet (Hos 12", Dt 18").
3. The Canonical Prophets. — Prophets like Nathan, Elijah, and Elisha, following the ex- ample of Samuel, directly interfered in the govern- ment of the State. Nathan determined the suc- cession to the throne (1 K l'-"') ; Elijah denounced the dynasty of Omri, and Elisha set in motion the revolution that overthrew it (2 K 9). The latter prophet was the very embodiment of the national spirit in the Syrian wars, and took the field in the campaign against Moab (2 K S""'). Elijah and he were the national buhvai-k — ' the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof ' (2 K 2"^). But after Elisha the propliets withdraw from exter- nal national, and party, conflicts. They no more head revolutions. l^evertlieless, they remain statesmen as much as their great predecessors. They could not cease to be politicians as long as the kingdom of J" had the form of a State. They oppose, warn, and counsel kings and State parties according to the exigencies of the time. Hosea, indeed, thinks the monarchy impotent for good, if it has not been from the beginning the source of all evil (IS'"^-). But Isaiah, so long aa the State was independent, warned Ahaz against involving his kingdom in the struggles of the nations, in the collision of which his country would be crushed (Is7); and when the dream of independ- ence had passed away he resisted with equal strenuousness the meditated revolt of Hezekiah and the Egyptian party against the Assyrian
Sower (Is 3U"''- Sl'"^-)- I'le same principles guided er. and Ezk. in the Chahhean age (Jer 21' 3S-, Ezk 17). But the only weapon which the prophets now use is the word of God which is in their mouth. Jer., though set over the nations to pluck up and break do«n, wields only the word of J", which is like a h.ammer breaking the rocks in pieces (Jer 1». 10 2,3"'), and which has a self-fulfilling energy (Is 55'"^). J" hews the people by the prophets, and slajs them with the words of His mouth (Hos 6"). But in this age new thoughts, difficult to account for, filled the minds of the prophets. Formerly, J", as God and ruler of His people, rejected dynasties, and by the proi>hets overthrew them (Hos 13") ; now, it is the conviction of all the prophets, both of the north and south, that J" haa rejected the nation, that Israel as an independent State is doomed to perish. Side by side with this thought, or as a consequence of it, another thought appears. The complex notion 'national- religious' seems reflected on and analyzed, and the 'religious' assumes such preponderating weight that the 'national' appears of little value. The ideal kingdom of J" is a religious community faith- ful to the Lord. Another thing, closely connected with the two just mentioned, is the lotty spiritual and ethical conception of J" God of Israel reached by the prophets of this age, and, what is but the obverse sitfe of it, their severe judgment on the moral condition of the people. This lofty con-
PROPHECY AXD PROPHETS
PROPHECY AKD PROPHETS 111
cepjion of J" and this pure ideal of what His people must be, cannot be an unmediatcd and inexplicable leap upward of Imnian religious genius, neither can it be a sudden divine creation. It did not, like Jonah's gourd, grow up in a night. History, unhappily, does not enable us to follow its growth. But it is the perfect efflorescence of a tree whose roots stood in the soil of Israel from the beginning, whose rital et<'rjfies had always been ino\'ing towards flower, and >vhich burst forth at last in the g'jrgeous blaze of colour which we see. The ■wealtn of ethical and religious teaching found in the prophets of this age has led to a reaction Hgaii.st the former idea that prophecy was speeih- cally prediction, and the \-iew has become i)reva- lent that the true function of the prophet was to be a teucher of ethical and religious truths. This view is also one-sided. The prophets never cease to be ' seers ' ; their face is always turned to the future. They stand in the council of J" (Am 3', Jer 23--), and it is what He is about to do that they declare to men. Their moral and reli- g;ous teaching is, so to speak, secondary, and due to the occasion. Their conviction is that the destruction of the nation is inevitable, and they iwell on the nature of J" and on the moral de- clension of the people to impress their conviction on the nation — ' prepare to meet thy God, O Israel ' (Am 4'"). Or, as their conviction of the inevit- ableness of the nation's doom does not seem absolate, but is crossed, at least at times, by the possibility or even the hope that it might be averted (Am 5"- ", Is 1", Jer 36'-*), they impress on the people the mind and life which is acceptable to J" — that ^^llich is good, and what the Lord requires of them (Mic C) — that they may repent, and that His judgments may be arrested. Or, when the foreboding of near destruction again oppresses them, they look beyond the dark and tempestuous night that is gathering to the day that will dawn behind it (Is 8""), — for though J" will destroy the sinful kingdom He will not destroy the house of Jacob (Am 9'), — and they dilate on the righteousness and the peace and the joy of that new age (Is 9'-*, Hos 2^^"). The prophets now emjploy writing, and the short, drastic oracles of former times (1 S 15*-', IK 11" 21'») give place to discourses of considerable length. By writing they could influence many whom their voice could not reach, and the written word became a perma- nent possession of the godly kernel of the people, upholding therti in the midst of the darkness when God's face was hidden, and being wlien the calamities were overpast a witness that God had still been with them (Is S'"-, Ezk 2"). The instances of Deuteronomy and the roll of Jeremiah show that a writing produced a far more powerful impression than the spoken word of the prophet.