[108] _Cf._ Doughty, _Arabia Deserta_.
[109] The Turanians, who occupied Mesopotamia before the Semitic invasion, were the first builders of cities.
[110] Babylon, as far as we can learn, first rose to power about the time of that Amraphel who fought in the Mesopotamian league against the neighbours and friends of Abraham. Amraphel is supposed to have been the father of Hammurabis, who first made Babylon the capital of Chaldea. It scarcely ever again ceased to be such; but it was not till the fall of Assyria, about 625 B.C., and the rebuilding of Babylon by Nebuchadrezzar (604-561), that the city's second and greatest glory began.
[111] See ch. iv., pp. 53-56.
[112] Vol. i., pp. 409-315.
[113] Vol. i., pp. 275, 286, 294.
[114] See especially _Satires III._ and _VI._, and _cf._ Bagehot's _Physics and Politics_.
[115] Rev. xvii., xviii.
[116] Ch. xlv.
ISAIAH xlviii.
On the substance of ch. xlviii. we have already encroached, and now it is necessary only to summarise its argument, and to give some attention to the call to go forth from Babylon, with which it concludes.
Chapter xlviii. is addressed, as its first verse declares, to the exiles from Judah[117]: _Hear this, Oh House of Jacob, that call yourselves by the name of Israel, and from the waters of Judah have come forth_: that is, you so-called Israelites, who spring from Judah. But their worship of Jehovah is only nominal and unreal: _They who swear by the name of Jehovah, and celebrate the God of Israel, not in truth and not in righteousness; although by the Holy City they name themselves, and upon the God of Israel they lean--Jehovah of Hosts is His Name!_
_The former things I published long ago;_[118] _from My mouth they went forth, and I let them be heard--suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. Because I knew how hard thou wert, and a sinew of iron thy neck, and thy brow brass. And I published to thee long ago; before it came to pass I let thee hear it, lest thou shouldest say: Mine idol hath wrought them, and my Image and my Casting hath commanded them. Thou didst hear it: look at it whole_,--now that it is fulfilled,--_and you! should ye not publish it?_ All the past lies as a unity, prediction and fulfilment together complete; all of it the doing of Jehovah, and surely enough of it to provide the text of confession of Him by His people. But now,--
_I let thee hear new things_--in contrast with the former things--_from now, and hidden things, and thou knewest them not. Now are they created, and not long ago; and before to-day thou hadst not heard them, lest thou shouldest say, Behold I knew them. Verily,_[119] _thou hadst not heard, verily, thou hadst not known, verily, long since thine ear was not open; because I knew thou art thoroughly treacherous, and Transgressor-from-the-womb do they call thee._
The meaning of all this is sufficiently clear. It is a reproach addressed to the formal Israelites. It divides into two parts, each containing an explanation _Because I knew that_, etc.: vv. 3-6_a_, and vv. 6_b_-9. In the first part Jehovah treats of history already finished, both in its prediction and fulfilment. Many of the wonderful things of old Jehovah predicted long before they happened, and so left His stubborn people no excuse for an idolatry to which otherwise they would have given themselves (ver. 5). Now that they see that wonderful past complete, and all the predictions fulfilled, they may well publish Jehovah's renown to the world. In the first part of His reproach, then, Jehovah is dealing with stages of Israel's history that were closed before the Exile. The _former things_ are wonderful events, foretold and come to pass before the present generation. But in the second part of His reproach (vv. 6_b_-9) Jehovah mentions _new things_. These new things are being created while His prophet speaks, and they have not been foretold (in contradistinction to the former things of ver. 3). What events fulfil these two conditions? Well, Cyrus was on his way, the destruction of Babylon was imminent, Israel's new destiny was beginning to shape itself under God's hands: these are evidently the things that are in process of creation while the prophet speaks. But could it also be said of them, that they had not been foretold? This could be said, at least, of Cyrus, the Gentile Messiah. A Gentile Messiah was something so new to Israel, that many, clinging to the letter of the old prophecies, denied, as we have seen, that Cyrus could possibly be God's instrument for the redemption of Israel. Cyrus, then, as a Gentile, and at the same time the Anointed of Jehovah, is the new thing which is being created while the prophet speaks, and which has not been announced beforehand.