to those writings. When he announces to the Jews of Pisidian Antioch his epoch-making decision to ' turn to the Gentiles,' it is in an utterance of Isaiah (49'') that he seeks the Divine sanction of his action : ' I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles' (Ac 13*^). When he reasons with the Athenians as to the error of making the Godhead ' like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device' (Ac 17^"), he seems to echo the words, if not the ironical tones, of the prophet of the Exile (Is 40'*). His experience among the Jews of Rome reminded him of what befell Isaiah in Jerusalem many centuries earlier. Both the pro- phet and the apostle seemed to be sent to hearers impervious to Divine truth, who could not be con- verted and healed. The Epistle to the Romans supplies the strongest proof of St. Paul's absorp- tion in the prophecies of Isaiah. It is significant that most of his quotations occur in the chapters which contain his philosophy of the fall and rising again of Israel (9-11), and that many of them are taken from Deutero-Isaiah. His doctrine of elec- tion inevitably suggests the clay and the potter (Ro 9-' II Is 45^). He is helped to face the Jewish rejection of the Messiah by the conception of the Remnant {rb KardXein/xa, Ro 9^ || Is 10-'^) — a concep- tion which seemed to the prophet so important that he gave one of his own children the symbolic name of ' Remnant-shall-return' (Is 7^). The thought of Christ as a stumbling-stone to the Jews is parallel to that of Jahweh as a stumbling-stone to the houses of Israel (Ro 9^ || Is 8''*). While the uni- versal proclamation of tiie gospel suggests the ' beautiful feet ' of those who preached deliverance from Babylon (Ro 10'* || Is 52'^), the sadness of speaking to deaf ears prompts the question, ' Who hath believed our report?' (Ro lO's || Is 53'). The prevenient grace of God excites the wonder of both the prophet and the apostle (Ro 10-" || Is 61'), and Israel's present insensibility seems to them both a spirit of stupor (Ro 11* || Is 29"*). Tlie assurance of the ultimate salvation of all Israel is based on the advent of a Deliverer (Ro ll^s || Is 59-'^) ; but both writers confess a reverent agnosticism in presence of the mysteries of Divine providence (Ro ll** || Is 40"). The Epistles to the Corinthians also prove the affinity of these great minds. Both writers know the unprofitableness of mere earthly wisdom (1 Co l'» II Is 29'^ 1 Co po II Is 38'*) ; both believe in a spiritual creation which will make all things new (2 Co 5'^ || Is 43'8f-); and both of them, with all their breadtli of outlook, recognize the impera- tiveness of separation from heathemlom (2 Co 6'^ || Is 52"). Isaiah's hope of immortality, the strongest that is found (apart from Daniel) in the prophetic writings, is used to clinch St. Paul's great argu- ment for the resurrection of the dead— 'death is swallowed up in victory' (1 Co 15*^ || Is '25* ; els viKos, which takes the place of the prophet's ' for ever,' is due to the Aram, sense of the Heb. word). (2) The other NT writer who especially felt Isaiah's spell was the author of the Apocalypse. His Christ, as the First and the Last, is clotiied with the attributes of Isaiah's God (Rev 1'^ |i Is 41* 44®). The trisagion of his living creatures was uttered by the seraphim in the heavenly Temple (Rev 4* II Is 6^). His vision of the rolling up of heaven as a scroll was Isaianic (Rev G''* || Is 34*), and his exquisite description of the final state of the blessed — ' they shall hunger no more . . . wipe away every tear from their eyes ' — is a cento of pro[)hetic phrases, which are now used to picture the consummation of the redemptive work of the Lamb (Rev 7'"- il Is 49'" 25*). ' Fallen is Babylon ' — a voice of sceva indignatio reminiscent of Rome's own ' Carthago est delenda ' — was the doom of the real Babylon before it was pronounced upon the mystical one (Rev 14* || Is 2P). The description of
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the militant Messiah as clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood is suggested by the attributes of the Hero who came from the conquest of Edoni (Rev 19'* II Is 63^*^). The desire for a new heaven and a new earth was not itself new (Rev 2V \\ Is 65"'), and the ideal city is depicted in Isaianic colours (Rev 21 '9- ^'' || Is GO'''- s- 1'). The free invi- tation with which the Revelation properly ends ^22is-2i being a harsh editorial postscript) only echoes the words of welcome uttered by the evan- gelical prophet (Rev 22^7 1| Is 55').
James Strahan.
ISRAEL. — Israel was the nation to which God's promises had been given. Generally the idea of privilege is associated with the use of the word, just as ' Israel' was originally the name of special privilege given by God to Jacob, the great ancestor of the race (Gn 32-8 3510)^ j^ differs from both • Hebrew ' and ' Jew,' the former standing, at least in NT times, for Jews of purely national sympathies who spoke the Hebrew or Aramaic dialect (Ac 6^) ; the latter, a term originally applied to all who belonged to the province of Judah, and, after the Babylonian captivity, to all of the ancient race wherever located. ' Israel,' on the other hand, is pre- eminently the people of privilege, the people who had been cliosen by God and received His covenant. Thus frequently a Jewish orator addressed the people as 'men of Israel' (Ac 2^2 3'* 48- »« 5^5 IS'^ etc. ).