False prophets are delined to be those by whom J" did not speak, and true prophets those by whom 11^ spoke. The dehnition is true on both its sides, and there are instances when nothing more can be said. But usually it is possible to go a step further back The opposite way of statin" the point lias also a truth in it : J" did not speak by certain prophets because they were false. His speaking or not speaking was not a mere occur- rence, isolated and in no connexion with the previous mind of the prophets and their religious principles. It is extremely difficult to realize the condition of people's minds at any time in Israel. There were many jilanes of religious attainment. There were worshippers of other gods than J" ; and there were those who combined J" and other gods in their worship (Zeph 1). Tliere were wor- shippers of J" to whom J ' was little more than a symbol of their nationality. There were wor- shippers of J" who, in addition to regarding Him as the impersonation of their nationality, ascribed to Him lofty natural attributes, such as power, but who reflected little if at all on the moral aspects of His being. And there were those to whom the moral overshadowed all else, and who regarded J" as the verj' impersonation of the moral idea. Scholars will dispute how far moral concep- tions of J" prevailed among the people from the first, and also how much moral teaching was set before them at the beginning. But the great lesson-book in which thoughtful men read was the national history and fortunes. This was written by the finger of God. In the prosperous days after David little advance might be made ; men settled on their lees. But by and by God sent unto them ' them that pour oti" (Jer 48'-). The disasters suffered in the olistinate Syrian wars from Omri onwards awoke the conscience of men, revealing the nature of J", and directing the eye to the national sores ; for at all times national disaster and internal miseries were felt to be due to the displeasure of God (2 S •IV- 24i», 1 K 17'). Thus, though history casts little light on its growth, there arose a society educated in the things of God, and it was out of this society that the true pro|i1iets were called ; for the idea that the breadth and wealth of religious and moral conceptions in a propliet like Amos were all supplied to him by revelation after his call, will hardly be maintained. Those who stood on a lower plane were not suited for the purposes of J", and He did not speak by them. They came forward in His name, but it was mainly national impulses that inspired them.
There are three lines on which Jeremiah opposes the otiier prophets : the political, the moral, and the personal. (1) The false or national prophets desired that Israel should take its place amon" the nations as one of them ; be a warlike State, ride on horses, build fenced cities, and when in danger seek alliances abrojul. Jeremiah and the true prophets instead of all these things recommend quiet con- fidence and trust in J" (Is 7" 17'). (2) The naifonal [uophets had not a stringent morality. Jeremiah charges some of them with being immoral (Jer 23'^). But what characterized tliem all was a superficial judgment of the moral condition of the nation, which was but the counterpart of their inadequate conception of the moral being of J". The condition of society did not strike them as at all desperate. Hence they preached Peace, and
healed the hurt of the people slightly. On the other hand, the wordsof Micah, ' I am full of power to declare to Jacob his transgressions ' (3*), might be taken as the motto of every true prophet. It ia possible, even true, that the demands of the true prophets were ideal, that they could not be realized in an earthly community, that it was the spirit of the future yet to be that was reflecting itself in their hearts — a future that even to us is stUl to be ; and it is not impossible that the people felt this and passed by their words as impossible of realization (Jer 2'-'^) — a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice (Ezk 33^-'). (3) With his tendency- to introsjiection Jeremiah analyzes hia own mind ; and that naive feeling of former pro- phets, that; they spoke the word of J", is to him a distinct element of consciousness. He knows that he stands in the council of J", and he is certain that the false prophets have not his experience (2328. 2SI). He does not hesitate to go further and assert that those prophets whom he opposes are conscious that tliey have no true fountain of in- spiration within them. Their prophetic manner, 'saith J",' is atVectation (23*'), and there is nothing personal in the contents of tlieir oracles, which they steal every one from his neighbour (23'°). The prophets of this time speak of their ' dreams,' and it is possible that the crisis in the nation's history agitated them and produced mental ex- citation ; out it is evident that they represented a phase of prophecy which had long been overcome. It is strange that, from the days of Micaiah ben Imlah under Ahab down to the fall of the Jud;ean State, no change seems to have taken place in the position and principles either of the true prophets or of the false.