As prophecy came TroXvptpiJc. Kai TroXvrpuTrwg, in many portions and in many modes (Heb. i, 1), we need not be surprised to rind a relative disregard of time in its announcements. The seers beheld things to come much as we look upon a starry sky. To the natural eye all the orbs that bespangle the tirmament seem to be at the same distance from the earth. Though the monarchies of Daniel are successive, yet in a certain way they are described as co-existent ; for it is only on tlic establishment of the last that they seem to disap- pear. As the precise time of individual events is not revealed, prophecy describes them as continuous. The representation is rather in space than in time; the whole appears foreshortened; perspective is regarded rather than actual distance; as a common observer would describe the stars, grouping them as they appear, and not according to their true positions. Prof. Payne Smith well observes, "The prophets are called seers, and their writings visions. They describe events pass- ing before their mental eye as simple facts, without the idea of time. A picture may represent the past, the present, or the future; this we may know from its ac- cessories by the inference of the judgment, but not by the sight as such. If time is revealed, as in the seventy weeks of Daniel, time is the idea impressed upon the mind. But where time is not itself the thing revealed, the facts of revelation are not described as connected with or growing out of one another, as in the pages of history, but are narrated as facts merely, which future ages must arrange in their proper place, as one by one they are fulfilled." The first conquest and the complete destruction of Babylon are spoken of together (Jer. 1, 41), though nearly a thousand years elapsed between them. Zechariah connects the spiritual salvation of the Church in the distant future with the temporal de- liverance of the Jews under Alexander and the Macca- bees. In the description which is given of the humili- ation and glory of the Messiah, notice is seldom taken of the interval which is to elapse before the full and final establishment of his kingdom. So Paul in the ful- ness of his faith, which realized the object of his hope, and brought vividly before the eye of his mind the con- summation of all things, has used language respecting the coming of Christ which some have misinterpreted as implying that he expected the day of Christ to arrive in his lifetime. Occasionally the precise time was re- vealed, as in the case of the sojourn of Abraham and his posterity in Egypt (Gen. xv, 13) ; the disruption of Ephraim (Isa. vii, 8), and the captivity in Babylon (Jer. xxix, 10). But usually the prophets were entirely ignorant of the time, and only ascertained, after careful inquiry, that they spoke of the distant future (1 Pet. i, 10-12). At evening-time it shall be light (Zech. xiv, 7). The faithful in the land will discern the period when the events are upon the eve of fulfilment. See
ESCHATOLOGY.
IX. Development of Messianic Prophecy. — Prediction, in the shape of promise and threatening, begins with the book of Genesis. Immediately upon the fall, hopes of recovery and salvation are held out, but the manner in which this salvation is to be effected is left altogether
indefinite. All that is at first declared is that it shall come through a child of woman (Gen. iii, 15). By de- grees the area is limited : it is to come through the family of Shem (ix, 2G), through the family of Abra- ham (xii, 3), of Isaac (xxii, 18), of Jacob (xxviii, 14), of Judah (xlix, 10). Balaam seems to say that it will be wrought by a warlike Israeli tish King (Numb, xxiv, 17) ; Jacob, by a peaceful Ruler of the earth (Gen. xlix, 10) ; Moses, by a Prophet like himself, i. e. a revealer of a new religious dispensation (Deut. xviii, 15). NaT than's announcement (2 Sam. vii, 1G) determines further that the salvation is to come through the house of Da- vid, and through a descendant of David who shall be himself a king. This promise is developed by David himself in the Messianic Psalms. Psalms xviii and lxi are founded on the promise communicated by Nathan, and do not go beyond the announcement made by Na- than. The same may be said of Psa. Ixxxix. which was composed by a later writer. Psalms ii and ex rest upon the same promise as their foundation, but add new features to it. The Son of David is to be the Son of God (ii, 7), the anointed of the Lord (ver. 2), not only the King of Zion (ver. 6; ex, 1), but the inheritor and lord of the whole earth (ii, 8; ex, 6), and, besides this, a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (ex, 4). At the same time he is, as typified by his progeni- tor, to be full of suffering and affliction (Psa. xxii, lxxi, cii, cix) : brought down to the grave, yet raised to life without seeing corruption (Psa. xvi). In Psa. xiv, lxxii, the sons of Korah and Solomon describe his peaceful reign. Between Solomon and Hezekiah inter- vened some 200 years, during which the voice of proph- ecy was silent. The Messianic conception entertained at this time by the Jews might have been that of a King of the royal house of David who would arise, and gather under his peaceful sceptre his own people and strangers. Sufficient allusion to his prophetical and priestly offices had been made to create thoughtful con- sideration, but as yet there was no clear delineation of him in these characters. It was reserved for the proph- ets to bring out these features more distinctly.