but are spoken of as giving false intimations, like the Prophets of Jahveh in 1K.xxii.

258. There is no sign whatever that Hosea was acquainted with the Ten Commandments, the Book of Deuteronomy, or the Levitical Legislation of the Pentateuch.

246

CHAPTER XIII.

ISAIAH I, MICAH, NAHUM, AND ZEPHANIAH.

259. The Book of ISAIAH, like that of Zechariah (243), is composed of prophecies by different authors in different ages, which have all been assigned by the later Compiler to Isaiah son of Amoz.'

(i) ch.I-XII contains only genuine prophecies of the Prophet who lived in the time of Hezekiah.

(ii) ch.XIII-XXIII is a separate collection, containing for the most part genuine prophecies of the older Prophet, but others, viz. xiii.1-xiv.23, xxi.1-10, written during the Captivity.

(iii) ch.XXIV-XXXV is another collection of prophecies, partly genuine, xxviii-xxxiii, but the rest written towards the end of the Captivity.

(iv) ch. XXXVI-XXXIX is an historical narrative, certainly not composed by Isaiah, though containing a genuine prophecy of Isaiah in xxxvii.21-35a.

(v) ch. XL-LXVI consists wholly of prophecies written towards the end of the Captivity.

ISAIAH I, ch.I-XII, XIV.24-XX, XXI.11-XXIII, XXVIIIXXXIII, XXXVII.21-35a, B.C.758-711.

260. ISAIAH alludes in these chapters to sacrifices,'' burntofferings of rams and the fat of fed beasts,' the blood of bullocks, lambs, and he-goats,' i.11, comp. xix.21, xxix.1, 'oblations' and incense,' New-Moons and Sabbaths,' the 'calling of assemblies' and 'solemn meetings,' i.13, the

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'spreading-forth of hands' and 'making many prayers,' i.15, and he speaks of Zion as the city of our solemnities,' xxxiii.20 -expressions which correspond well to he time of Hezekiah, when great attention was paid to the external worship of Jahveh. But the whole tenor of that striking passage, i.11-15, is to depreciate utterly all such performances in comparison with true righteousness; and in the above expressions there is no allusion to any of the ritual prescribed in the Pentateuch. In v.13, New-Moons and Sabbaths,' and in v.14, New-Moons and appointed Feasts,' the New-Moon is treated as of more importance than the Sabbath, as it was even in the Levitical Legislation (VI.431).

261. This, however, was not according to the tenor of the Fourth Commandment, and could hardly have happened if this Commandment had really been regarded even by the Levitical Legislator as Mosaic and Divine. The law in N.xxviii.11, &c., represents, no doubt, the ancient practice, as in Isaiah's time, of the special celebration of the New-Moon, as the first Sabbath of the month, above the others. And so, when Isaiah says, xxx.29—

'Ye shall have the Song, as in the night of a Feast being kept, and gladness of heart, as of one that goeth with the pipe to come into the mountain of Jahveh unto the Rock of Israel'

the first words may refer, as some suppose, to the Pesach being eaten at night, D.xvi.6; but this is very doubtful, and, at all events, though there is plain indication here of some nightly Feast at which hymns were sung, and of religious processions being made to the Temple, there is nothing that reminds us of E.xii or any other part of the Pentateuch.

262. Nowhere, in fact, does Isaiah reprove his people for any neglect of ritual or ceremonial observances. He says that their hands are full of blood,' i.15, that they judge not the fatherless and the widow, i.23,x.2, that their princes are thieves and they are all ready to take bribes, i.23,v.23. He condemns them for idolatry, ii.8,9,18,20, even under the reign of Heze

kiah, i.29, x.11, xxx.22, xxxi.7 (xvii.8 refers to idolatry in Ephraim), while yet they professed to be sacrificing to Jahveh; so that Rabshakeh had some reason for asking, xxxvi.7, 'Is not Jahveh He whose high-places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away?,' since at these high-places they worshipped the Sun-God. He speaks of their soothsaying, ii.6, pride and luxury, ii.7, oppression of the poor and needy, iii.14, v.7, x.2, grasping covetousness, v.8,haughtiness, vanity, and wantonness, iii.16-24, rioting and drunkenness, v.11,12,22, (xxviii.7,8, refers to Ephraim), during impiety, v.18,19, injustice, v.20,23, x.1,2, xxix.20,21, xxx.12, arrogance, v.21, hypocrisy, ix.17, x.6, xxix.13,15, general wickedness, ix.17, recklessness, xxii.13. And he contrasts this with the character of the true servant of Jahvel, who would seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, right the fatherless, plead for the widow,' i.16,17, of him who shall be counted worthy to dwell with the Devouring Fire,' i.e. the Living God, comp. Heb.xii.29, Ps.xv.1, xxiv.3, and above all with that of the expected 'Branch out of the root of Jesse,' and of his times, xi.1,&c., xxviii.16,17, xxxii.1-5,16,17. Everywhere Isaiah lays the stress upon moral excellence, without any regard to the observance of a priestly ritual.

263. In fact, in iii.2, where Isaiah threatens that Jahveh 'will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff'

the mighty man, the man of war, the Judge, and the Prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator'

the Prophet,' we see, is mentioned as part of this stay and staff,' but not the Priest-comp. also v.14, 'the elders of his People and the Princes,' xxx.10, 'Seers,' 'Prophets,' but no "Priests.' In xxviii.7, indeed, he speaks of the Priest in Ephraim, as well as the 'Prophet,' as having 'erred through strong drink and being swallowed up of wine.' But nowhere else in these genuine prophecies are the Priests even mentioned

by Isaiah except in viii.2, where he summons two faithful witnesses to record,' and one of them was Urijah the Priest,— most probably the same who is mentioned (2K.xvi.10,11) as having carried out the directions of Ahaz to make an altar like one at Damascus. Of course there were Priests at Jerusalem in Isaiah's time, comp. the Elders of the Priests' sent with Eliakim and Shebna to consult him, who are mentioned in the historical passage, xxxvii.2, and these were doubtless high in social rank; but their influence as Priests would seem to have been not very highly rated by this Prophet.

264. In the older prophecy quoted by Isaiah in ii.2-4, we find mention made of 'Law,' v.3, but in such a way as to show clearly that the expression does not mean the Mosaic Law, but religious teaching or instruction generally, e.g. by the mouths of Priests and Prophets

'Out of Zion shall go forth Law,

And the Word of Jahveh out of Jerusalem.'

And the same is true of the following passages—

'Hear the Word of Jahveh, rulers of Sodom!

Give ear to the Law of our Elohim, people of Gomorrah!' i.10.

* The separate inscription in ii.1, 'the word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem,' seems to show that ch.ii-v once stood at the head of a collection of Isaiah's prophecies, being possibly the first which Isaiah uttered or, at least, which he wrote down. They begin with words, v.2-4, which are identical with those in Mic.iv 1-3, and in fact contain a prediction about the heathen in future days, rather than a 'word about Judah and Jerusalem.' It can hardly be supposed, however, that Isaiah would have copied the words of a younger contemporary, comp. Is.i.1, Mic.i.1; besides which Is.ii was written in Jotham's days, and therefore previously to Mic.iv, which was written in the days of Hezekiah. On the other hand, Micah does not seem to have copied from Isaiah; for Mic.iv.1-5 evidently belongs to one context; whereas Isaiah has nothing corresponding to Mic.iv.4, though in ii.5 he seems to have stated the substance of Mic.iv.5 in his own language, comp. 'House of Jacob,' Is.ii.5,6, viii.17, x.20, xiv.1, xxix. 22. These phenomena are explained by supposing that Isaiah and Micah have both adopted the words in common from some elder prophet, and that Micah has copied more from this older prophecy than Isaiah.