refusing to be < iforted. It was at Ramab that the
Chaldsean i |ueror assembled the last band of eap-
1 i : the pro-peel ol perpetual exile lay before
them. < In their departure the last hope of Israel's ex- ist! o e set in. d to expire. In the hold freedom of Eastern imagery, the ancestral mother of the tribe is conceived ol as present al the Bcene, and as raising a loud wail of distress. This scene was substantially repeah d in the massacre al Bethlehem. The cruel Edomite who then held the government of Judsea
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PROPHET
aimed what was meant to be a fatal blow against the real hope of Israel. ''Though it was but a handful of children that actually perished, yet as among these the
< Ihild of l'r ise was supposed to he included, it might
, well seem as if all were lost " i l'airhainr. Sei Poi n:\.
VII. Interpretation of Predictions.- -In addition to the hints given above and below, we hen- ha\ dy
-pace lor a \\'W rules, deduced from the account which
we have given of the nature of prophecy. They are, i 1. 1 Interpose distances of time according as history may show them to be necessary with respect to the past, or inference ma_\ -how them to be likely in respect to the future, because, as we have seen, the prophetic visions are abstracted from relation- in time, i .'. | Dis- tinguish the form from the idea. Thus (saiah i\i. lb)
represents the idea of the re val of all obstacles from
before God's people in theform of the Lord's destroying the tongue of the Egyptian sea', and smiting the river into seven streams. (3.) Distinguish in like manner figure from what is represented by it.e. g. in the verse previous to thai quoted do not understand literally "They shall ,/fy upon tht shoulders of the Philistines" I ver. 1 1 i. (l.i ."Make allowance for the imager}' of the prophetic \ isions, and for the poetical diction in which they are expressed. (.">.) In roped to thinirs past, in- terpret by the apparent meaning, checked by reference to events; in respect to things future, interpret by the apparent meaning, checked bj reference to thi analogy of the faith. (6.) Interpret according to the principle which may be deduced from the examples of visions explained in the Old Test, (7.) Interpret according to the principle which may be deduced from the examples of prophecies interpreted in the New Test. See [n-
TERPKETATION.
VIII. Usi of Prophecy. - Predictions are at once a part and an evidence ol revelation: al the time that they are delivered, and until their fulfilment, a part : after they have been fulfilled, an evidence. An apostle i •_' I'et.i. 19) describes prophecj as"a light shining in a dark place." or "a taper glimmering where there is nothing to reflect its rays." that is. throwing some light, but only a feeble light as compared with whal is shed from the Gospel history. To this light, fee hie as it is.
"you do well," says the apostle, " to take heed." And
he warns them not to be offended al the feebleness of the light, because it is of the nature of prophecy until its fulfilment (in the case of Messianic predictions, of which he i- Bpeaking, described as " until the day dawn. and the day star arise in your hearts") to shed only a feeble light. Nay, he continues, even the prophecies are not to he limited to a single and narrow inn rpreta-
tioil, "for the prophecy came not in old lime by the
will of man." i. e. the prophets were not affected by persona] considerations in their predictions, "hut holy
men of old spake by the impulse (jptpoflEVOl) of the Holy Ghost." This is in entire keeping with the above views i j vi) of the character of the prophetic utter- ances, and was the u-e of prophecy before its fulfilment — to act as a feeble lighl in the midst of darkness, which
it did not dispel, hut through which it threw il- ia\s in
such a way as to enable a true-hearted believer to di- rect hi- sieps and guide his anticipations (comp. Acts xiii. 27 i. But after fulfilment, Peter Bays, "the word of prophecy" becomes "more sure" than it was before, that is. ii is no Longer merely a feeble lighl to guide, hut it is a linn ground of confidence, and. combined
with the apostolic testii ly, serves a- a trustworthy
evidence .if the faith; so trustworthy that even after he
and his brother apostles are dead, those whom he ad- dressed will feel secure that they -had not followed cunningly ie\ ised fables," hut the truth.
A- an evidence, fulfilled prophecy i- as satisfactory
as anything can he. for who can know the future ex- cept the Ruler who disposes future events; and from
whom can come prediction except from him who knows the future? After all that has been said and unsaid,
prophecy and miracles, each resting on their own cvi-
PROPHET
551
PROPHET
deuce, must always be the chief and direct evidences of the truth of the divine character of a religion. Where they exist, a divine power is proved. Nevertheless, they should never be rested on alone, but in combina- tion with the general character of the whole scheme to which they belong. Its miracles, its prophecies, its morals, its propagation, and its adaptation to human needs, are the chief evidences of Christianity. None of these must be taken separately. The fact of their conspiring together is the strongest evidence of all. That one object with which predictions are delivered is to serve in an after-age as an evidence on which faith may reasonably rest is stated by our Lord himself: "And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe" (John xiv, 29). See Pkophecy.