a2»).
But the Jerusalem to which the exilei return is not to be in %\\ respvclB the same as the old. We have emplio-'^ized the cxtcrnul features in the Messianic ideal. But we shull greatly miBconneive the nature of Israel's hope if we rcjcrard it as purely ext'-rnal. The revelation of God's holiness hatl been too clearly appreliended by the prophets to make them content with any ideal which was not ethical. As the condition of enjoving the future salvation ts repentance on Israel's part (Is 1''' '-W), so it Includeii as one of it« chief elements the righteousness of the nation (Jer ai^l-a*). The Meaaianic age is to bu a time of juBti'-e and Judgment and of the pure worship of God. When thf MeHHiah comes, he will he not merely a faithfid shepherd (Hzk S4^') hut R just Judge (Is ll*-5), bindinjf up the broken- hruirti'd, settinfT at liberty the captives, rinhting the wronged (la 01>). but at the some time puniahing the guilty (Is 11^ Cl2) ; In short, realizing the ethical ideal, the failure to attain which ho^l been the cause of all Israel's mJHfortunes. In the great eschatologii:al passages in prophet and pHalniiat alike, sal- vation and righteousness go bona Ln baud (U 4(^ '7 4(i>8 &!& C1>0. cf. Ps 245 (lis 1329. 16),
Such being in general the nature of the Messianic salvation, how widely shall we conceive its ext«nt? In many passagctf Indeed the prophftio vision seems bounded by Isnief. The otd oppressors are to l)e ilestroyed in the great Jud^nncnt of the Dav of J" (la 13. 34. C;ii-8, Ezk 38. 39. esn. aozi, Ztph '^* i^). or, If tney sun'lve at all, it is as captives, holding the same menial position which they had once Imposed ujion Israel (Jl 3", cf. It 61*- *). Elsewhere, however, the prophetic hori/x)n broadens, uid «e have the prediction of a day when the knowledge
a.io amice of J" shall be shared by those who hitherto havs knijwn Him no', Jerusalem is to be the s<:ene not only of ■ universal dominion, but of a universjil worship (Mic 4*-*, cf la r-*-*, la tkJ. 00>^2i, Ps CS31 S2^ Zee S'^ '-O i4ie. i^ Kay, tht time is coming when the Divine worship shall not be confined to Jerusalem. The author of Is 19 associates Egypt and Assyria with Israel as worshippers of the one true God. *In timt day shall there be an altar to J" in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to J". And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto J" of hosts in the land of Eg^-pt; for they shall cry unto J" because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour and a defender, and he shall deliver them. And J" shall be known to Egypt, and the Eg>-ptian8 shall know J" in that day ' (vv. 19-21 c£. Zeph 39- lO, Ps s7). This conception of a salvation wider than Israel culminates in the great passage Is 495. a. Here we have the sublime conception of Israel not merely as the recipient but as the minister of the Divine salvation. * And now saith J" that fortued me from the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob ai,'ain to him and that Israel be gathered unto him , . . yea, he saith. It is too light a thing that thou shouldat be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the pre* eer\'ed of Israel ; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mavest be my salvation unto the end of the earth ' (cf. Is 4521-^ 551 6).
Two features of the prophetic teaching still need special mention, as oearing on the develop- ment of tlie doctrine of salvation. The first is the growing transcendence of the conception ; the second, the increasing stress laid upon the indi- vidual.
In the earlier prophets the Messianic ideal is essentially earthly. Jeremiah, for example, looks for the re-estahlishnient of the Davidic monarchy, and the restoration of conditions more glorious indeed, hut essentially the same as tho.se which preceded tlie Exile (Jer 23* 30** SS^^-^"). But with the lapse of time we note the tendency to magnify the contrast between the Messianic age and that whicli it succeeds. The hope of Isaiah (ch. U) of a renewed nature is taken up hy his successors and developed with a great wealth of detail. In the Messianic age the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert .shall rejoice and blossom as the rose (Is 35'). 'The wolf and the Iamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox * (65^. The voice of weening sliall no more be heard in Jerusalem (05'"). Tnere shall be no more darkness or ^loom, for the un- certain luminaries of earth shall be super.se<led by a Divine light (60"- ^) ; the years of life sIiuU be greatly extended {25^} ; and those Israelites who have passed away in the glooiri and despair of the Exile sliall rise iunu their graves to slinre with their brethren in the Messianic glory (26^*, Dn 123).
It is not always easy to tell how far the passages which speak of a renewed nature are to be taken literally, and bow far they are merely sj-mbolicnl of the great fertility and prosperity of the Mewiiaiiic age. Hut, whatever may be true of inclividual cjises, there can be no doubt that the passages cited prepared the way for that transcendent view of the future which ia characteristic of many of the i\pocnIypti(^ hooks. The pro- phetic hope seemed too great t<> be realized under existing conditions, and hence could be ushered in only by a complete transformation of the present order of things. The cleorest anticipation of this new point of view is given by the unknown author of the last chapters of laaiah in bis doctrine of new heavens and a new earth (6517, cf. tH>22), Where such a view- point obtains, the Day of J ' no longer has its significance, as in the older prophets, as ushering in a new stage of this world's history. It marks the division between two worlds or ages, separating the present period of probation and distress from the final age of fruition and Judgment which is to be the scene of Israel's 'everlasting salvation* (Is 451'. Cf. Dn 71** : Targura on On 4918 (quoted by Uremer, s.v. a-uX'^) : 'My soul waiteth not for the salvation of Gideon the son of Joaa, for that is t«mporal, nor for the salvation of Samson, for it is passing, hilt for the salvation of the Messiah, the son of David, which through thy word thou hast jiromiscd to bring to thy people, the sons of Israel, for this redemption my soul waiteth ; for thy redemption, O Jehovah, ia an everlasting redemption*).