Chapter LVIII: Epilogue (4)

They that turn justice to wormwood, and abase righteousness to the earth! They hate him that reproveth in the gate and him that speaketh sincerely they abhor. Wherefore, because ye trample on the weak, and take from him a present of corn, ye shall have houses built of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them: vineyards for pleasure have ye planted, but ye shall not drink of their wine. For I know how many are your crimes and how forceful your sins--ye that browbeat the righteous, take bribes and {362} turn aside the poor in the gate. Therefore the prudent in such a time is dumb, for an evil time it is.

Seek good and not evil, that ye may live, and Jehovah God of Hosts be with you as ye say he is. Hate evil and love good: and in the gate set justice on her feet again --it may be that Jehovah God of Hosts may have pity on the remnant of Joseph.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah, God of Hosts, Lord: On all the open ways, lamentation, and in all streets they shall be saying, "Ah woe! Ah woe!" And in all vineyards, lamentation, and they shall call the ploughman to wailing, and to lamentation them that are skilful in dirges, for I shall pass through their midst, saith Jehovah.

Woe unto you that long for the day of the Lord!

Wherefore would ye have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light. As when a man fleeth from the face of a lion and a bear falls upon him: and he comes unto the house and leans his hand upon the wall and a serpent bites him. Is it not darkness, the day of Jehovah, and not light? storm-darkness, and not a ray of light upon it?

I hate, I loathe your feasts, and I will not smell the savour of your gatherings to sacrifice. Though ye bring to me your burnt-offering, and your meal-offerings, I will not be pleased, or your thank-offerings of fatted calves, I will not look at them. Let cease from me the noise of thy songs: to the playing of thy viols I will not listen. But let justice roll on like water, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.

[Footnote: This translation is in the main that of George Adam Smith in the "Expositor's Bible."]

{363}

HOSEA

(Hosea belonged to the same generation as Amos, and meets the same social sins and oppressions of the poor by the rich. He emphasizes the religious side of the difficulties. Sin is treachery against God, and peculiarly mean treachery; for God loves his people. Hosea's emphasis on the love of God is almost the beginning of the greatest idea about God that man ever conceived. It grew out of a very sad part of his own life. His wife had left him, and yet he could not forget her. He still loved her, and could not cease loving her. This experience showed him what God must be like. God loved Israel. When Israel sinned, God was hurt and saddened. Could God cease to love Israel? Never! If he, a man, still loved his wife, could Jehovah, being God, love less? Must not his love be greater than man's? So it comes about that Hosea gives a very vivid and wonderful picture of the sad and terrible results of sin, and of the tender, compassionate love of God. The book is more disconnected than many of the prophecies. It is a series of independent sections, nearly all of which express, in different language, much the same ideas of Israel's sin and God's love.)

I

SOWING THE WIND; REAPING THE WHIRLWIND

When I would heal Israel, then is the iniquity of Ephraim discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood: and the thief entereth in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. And they consider not {364} in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now have their own doings beset them about; they are before my face. They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me. Ephraim, he mixeth himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: yet they have not returned unto the Lord their God, nor sought him for all this. And Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding: they call unto Egypt, they go to Assyria. When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the birds of the heaven: I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard. Woe unto them! for they have wandered from me; destruction unto them! for they have trespassed against me: though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me. And they have not cried unto me with their heart, but they howl upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, they rebel against me. Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet do they devise mischief against me. They return, but not to him that is on high; they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Set the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he cometh {365} against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. They shall cry unto me, "My God, we, Israel, know thee." Israel hath cast off that which is good: the enemy shall pursue him. They have set up kings, but not by me; they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. He hath cast off thy calf, O Samaria; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel is even this; the workman made it, and it is no God: yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

II

THE LONGING OF GOD FOR HIS CHILDREN

Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. And let us follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is sure as the morning: and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth.

When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. The more the prophet called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. Yet I {366} taught Ephraim to walk; I took them on my arms; but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? mine heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not come in wrath. They shall walk after the Lord, who shall roar like a lion: for he shall roar, and the children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will make them to dwell in their houses, saith the Lord. I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O grave, where is thy destruction? I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

{367}

MICAH

(It is supposed that Micah lived in the time of Isaiah, the prophet. His message resembles that of Amos in its stern denunciation of the wrong-doing of the rich. He himself belonged to the poorer classes and speaks from a full heart when he describes the misery of the poor and the oppression of the rich. Like Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea, he is a social reformer.)

Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. The voice of the Lord crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. "Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with deceitful weights? For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt store up, but shalt not keep it; and that which thou carriest away will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but shalt not {368} reap: thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt not drink the wine."

Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat; my soul desireth the firstripe fig. The godly man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the mischief of his soul: thus they weave it together. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

{369}

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it. And many nations shall go and say, "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." And he shall judge between many peoples, and shall reprove strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all the peoples will walk everyone in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

{370}

OBADIAH

(This is the shortest of the books of prophecy in the Old Testament. It denounces the evil of the people of Edom, who, when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, took delight in its distresses and, pursuing the fugitives in the mountains, captured them and returned them to the Babylonian army. Nothing definite is known of the prophet.)

The vision of Obadiah.

Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom: "We have heard tidings from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the nations: thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, 'Who shall bring me down to the ground?' Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, would they not steal till they had enough? if grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?

How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden treasures sought up! All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee on thy way, even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread lay a snare under thee: there is none understanding in him.

{371}{372}

"THE PROPHETS"

From the frieze of "The Prophets," by Sargent, in the Boston Public
Library.

The prophets here represented are Micah, Haggai, Malachi, and
Zechariah.
[End illustration]

{373}

Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter. For the violence done to thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress. Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. And stand thou not in the mountain passes, to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy dealing shall return upon thine own head. But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.

{374}

JOEL

(At some time, we are not told just when, a terrible plague of locusts came upon the land. A prophet, whose name was Joel, took this occasion to tell the people of their sins, and of the judgments which God would bring upon them.)

I

THE PROPHET LAMENTS FOR HIS LAND

Hear this, ye old men,
And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.
Hath this been in your days,
Or in the days of your fathers?
Tell ye your children of it,
And let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation.
That which the palmerworm hath left
Hath the cankerworm eaten;
And that which the cankerworm hath left
Hath the caterpillar eaten.

Be ashamed, O ye husbandmen,
Howl, O ye vinedressers,
For the wheat, and for the barley;
For the harvest of the field is perished.
The vine is withered, {375}
And the fig tree languisheth;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also, and the apple tree,
Even all the trees of the field are withered:
For joy is withered away from the sons of men.

Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly,
Gather the old men
And all the inhabitants of the land
Unto the house of the Lord your God,
And cry unto the Lord.

Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is at hand.
And as the destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Is not the food cut off before our eyes,
Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
The seeds rot under their clods:
The garners are laid desolate,
The barns are broken down;
For the corn is withered.
How do the beasts groan.
The herds of cattle are perplexed,
Because they have no pasture;
Yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

O Lord, to thee do I cry:
For the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee: {376}
For the water brooks are dried up,
And the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

II

THE WARNING TO THE PEOPLE

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in my holy mountain;
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble.
For the Day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
As the dawn spread upon the mountains;
A great people and a strong.
There hath not ever been the like,
Neither shall there be any more after them,
Even to the years of many generations.
A fire devoureth before them;
And behind them a flame burneth:
The land is as the garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Yea, and none hath escaped them.
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses;
And as horsemen, so do they run.
Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap,
Like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble;
As a strong people set in battle array.
At their presence the peoples are in anguish;
All faces are waxed pale; {377}
They run like mighty men;
They climb upon the wall like men of war;
And they march everyone on his ways.
And they break not their ranks;
They march everyone in his path;
They burst through the weapons of the enemy;
And turn not from their course.
They leap upon the city;
They run upon the walls;
They climb upon the houses;
They enter in at the windows like a thief.
The earth quaketh before them;
The heavens tremble:
The sun and the moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shining.
And the Lord uttereth his voice before his army;
For his camp is very great;
For he is strong and executeth his word:
For the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
And who can abide it?

III

THE LORD WILL PARDON

(If the people turn from evil and repent, and worship him in the true spirit, the Lord will not send this terrible army of vengeance upon them.)

Yet even now, saith the Lord,
Turn ye unto me with all your heart,
And with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: {378}
Rend your heart and not your garments,
And turn unto the Lord your God:
For he is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy,
And repenteth him of the evil.

IV

A PROPHECY OF PLENTY

(The plea of the prophet was effective. The people repented, and their prophet promised that the Lord would not only forgive his people, but would bless them with abundance.)

Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil,
And ye shall be satisfied therewith:
And I will no more make you a reproach among the nations:
But I will remove far off from you the northern army,
And will drive him into a land barren and desolate,
His vanguard into the eastern sea,
And his rearguard into the western sea.
Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice.
For the Lord hath done great things.
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field:
For the pastures of the wilderness do spring,
For the tree beareth her fruit,
the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God:
For he giveth you the former rain in just measure, {379}
And he causeth to come down for you the rain,
The former rain and the latter rain, in the first month.
And the floors shall be full of wheat,
And the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,
The cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm,
My great army which I sent among you.
And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And ye shall praise the name of the Lord your God,
That hath dealt wondrously with you:
And my people shall never be ashamed.
And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the Lord your God, and there is none else:
And my people shall never be ashamed.

And it shall come to pass afterward,
That I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
And your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions:
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days
Will I pour out my spirit.

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ZEPHANIAH

(Zephaniah is another of the prophets who tell of the destruction which will come upon the people in the terrible "day of the Lord." Then his prophecy, like the others, breaks into joyous strains at the close, as he tells of the blessings which will be showered upon the nation when it repents.)

I

THE DAY OF WRATH

The Day of the Lord is near:
It is near and hasteth greatly.
Even the voice of the Day of the Lord;
The mighty man crieth there bitterly.
That Day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of waste and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of trumpet and alarm
Against the fortified cities,
And against the high battlements.

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together,
O nation that hath no shame;
Before the decree bring forth,
Before the day pass as the chaff,
Before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you.
Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth,

{381}{382}

"THE PROPHETS"

From the frieze of "The Prophets," by Sargent, in the Boston Public
Library.

The prophets here represented are Zephaniah, Joel, Obadiah, and Hosea. [End illustration]

{383}

Which have wrought his judgment;
Seek righteousness,
Seek meekness:
It may be ye shall be hid
In the Day of the Lord's anger.

This is the joyous city,
That dwelt carelessly,
That said in her heart, "I am,
And there is none else beside me:"
How is she become a desolation,
A place for beasts to lie down in!
Everyone that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his head,
Woe to her that is rebellious and polluted,
To the oppressing city.
She obeyed not the voice;
She received not correction;
She trusted not in the Lord;
She drew not near to her God.
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions;
Her judges are evening wolves;
They leave nothing till the morrow.
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons:
Her priests have profaned the sanctuary,
They have done violence to the law.

The Lord in the midst of her is righteous;
He will not do iniquity;
Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light,
He faileth not;
But the unjust knoweth no shame.

{384}

IV

SING, O DAUGHTER OF ZION

Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel;
Be glad and rejoice with the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
The Lord hath taken away thy judgments,
He hath cast out thine enemy:
The king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee:
Thou shalt not fear evil any more.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, "Fear thou not:
O Zion, let not thine hands be slack.
The Lord thy God is in the midst of thee,
A mighty one who will save:
He will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love,
He will joy over thee with singing."

{385}

NAHUM

(Nineveh was the capital city of the great empire of Assyria. It was, to the Hebrews, the expression of all the power and cruelty and bloodthirstiness of that mighty and oppressive empire. The story of the barbaric savagery of this empire almost passes belief. The monuments of Assyria are its own strongest accusing witnesses. They show pictures of captives of war whose eyes are being put out, who are being skinned alive, who are suffering all the tortures that a savage imagination can invent. Any such torture might come to any Hebrew taken in war. Is it any wonder that the people not only dreaded, but bitterly hated this city? Is it strange that they thought Jehovah would certainly overthrow it? Nahum, in a poetic prophecy of great vigor and vividness, pictures the overthrow, and exults in the fall of the great, rich, cruel city. That fall came, at the hands of the Medes and Babylonians, in about 608 B. C. Since that time, Nineveh has remained in ruins, and is to-day buried under the sand hills of the desert.)

I

THE GOODNESS AND THE GREATNESS OF THE LORD

The Lord is a jealous God and avengeth; the Lord avengeth and is full of wrath; the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of {386} his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that put their trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make a full end of the place thereof, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make a full end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For though they be like tangled thorns, and be drenched as it were in their drink, they shall be devoured utterly as dry stubble. There is one gone forth out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, that counselleth wickedness.

Thus saith the Lord: Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away.

Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

And the Lord hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

{387}

Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,

That publisheth peace!

II

THE DOOM OF NINEVEH

(In describing the doom of Nineveh, the writer draws one of the most vivid pictures of war that was ever written.)

The Hammer is come up to thy face!
Hold the rampart! Keep watch on the way!
Brace the loins! Pull thyself firmly together!
The shields of the heroes are red,
The warriors are in scarlet;
Like fire is the shining of his chariots in the day of his muster,
And the horsemen are prancing.
Through the markets rage chariots,
They tear across the squares;
The look of them is like torches,
Like lightnings they dart to and fro.
And now they flee. "Stand, stand!" but there is none to rally.
Plunder silver, plunder gold!
Infinite treasures, mass of all precious things!
Void and devoid and desolate is she.
Melting hearts and shaking knees,
And anguish in all loins,
And nothing but faces full of black fear. {388}
Where is the Lion's den,
And the young lion's feeding ground?
Whither has the Lion retreated,
The whelps of the Lion with none to make afraid:
The Lion who tore enough for his whelps,
And strangled for his lionesses.
And he filled his pits with prey,
And his dens with rapine.
Lo, I am at thee,
I will put up thy lair in flames,
The sword shall devour thy young lions;
I will cut off the earth from thy rapine,
And the noise of thine envoys shall no more be heard.

Woe to the City of Blood,
All of her guile, robbery full, ceaseless rapine!

Hark the whip,
And the rumbling of the wheel,
And horses galloping,
And the rattling dance of the chariot!
Cavalry at the charge, and flash of sabres,
And lightning of lances,
Mass of slain and weight of corpses,
They stumble on their dead!

All thy fortresses are fig trees with figs early ripe:
Be they shaken they fall on the mouth of the eater.
Lo, thy folk are but women in thy midst:
To thy foes the gates of thy land fly open;
Fire has devoured thy bars.

{389}{390}

"THE PROPHETS"

From the frieze of "The Prophets," by Sargent, in the Boston Public
Library.

The prophets here represented are Amos, Nahum, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
[End illustration]

{391}

Draw water for the siege, strengthen thy forts!
Get thee down to the mud, and tramp in the clay!
Grip fast the brick mould!
There fire consumes thee, the sword cuts thee off!

Asleep are thy shepherds, O king of Assyria,
Thy nobles do slumber;
Thy people are strewn on the mountains,
Without any to gather.
There is no healing of thy wreck,
Fatal thy wound.
All who hear of thy fall shall clap their hands at thee,
For upon whom hath not thy cruelty passed without ceasing?

[Footnote: This translation is, in part, that of George Adam Smith.]

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HABAKKUK

(The little book of Habakkuk was written just before the fall of Jerusalem. This prophet is dealing with a problem new to Israel. It was, Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper? It came from the rapid rise of the great, cruel empire of Babylon. Assyria had fallen, but instead of Israel being free as the people had expected they would be when Assyria was out of the way, it found itself under the power of the New Babylonian government. Why did God allow this? the people asked, in sad despair at the hopeless political situation. The prophet Habakkuk attempted to answer the question. He called himself a watchman, set to see if God would not answer this question. And the answer comes. It is in a sort of enigma: "Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him; but the just shall live by his faith." Then the rest of the book is the expansion of the thought of this enigma. And what is its meaning? It could be expressed somewhat in this way: "Be patient; hold faith in God. In faith in him is the promise of life. Wickedness contains the germs of its own destruction, and will inevitably fall, Wait and you will see that this is so.")

I

WARNINGS OF THE WATCHMAN

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.

And the Lord answered me, and said, "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not {393} delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink.

What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, "Awake;" to the dumb stone, "Arise!" Shall this teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

II

A PRAYER OF THE PROPHET

O Lord, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid:
O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, {394}
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

God came from Teman,
And the Holy One from mount Paran
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of his praise.
And his brightness was as the light;
He had rays coming forth from his hand:
And there was the hiding of his power.
Before him went the pestilence,
And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.
He stood, and measured the earth;
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations:
And the eternal mountains were scattered,
The everlasting hills did bow;
His goings were as of old.

I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction:
The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
Was the Lord displeased against the rivers?
Was thine anger against the rivers,
Or thy wrath against the sea,
That thou didst ride upon thine horses,
Upon thy chariots of salvation?
Thy bow was made quite bare;
The oaths to the tribes were a sure word.
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw thee, and were afraid;
The tempest of waters passed by: {395}
The deep uttered his voice,
And lifted up his hands on high.
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of thine arrows as they went,
At the shining of thy glittering spear.

Thou didst march through the land in indignation,
Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.
Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
For the salvation of thine anointed;
Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked,
Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck.
Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors:
They came as a whirlwind to scatter me:
Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
Thou didst tread the sea with thine horses,
The heap of mighty waters.

I heard, and my belly trembled,
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in my place:
That I should rest in the day of trouble,
When it cometh up against the people which invadeth him in troops.
For though the fig tree shall not blossom,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;
The labour of the olive shall fail,
And the fields shall yield no meat; {396}
The flock shall be cut off from the fold,
And there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength,
And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet,
And will make me to walk upon mine high places.

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HAGGAI

(In 538 B.C., while Israel was still captive in Babylon, the mighty Babylonian empire was overthrown by Cyrus the Great. What a rejoicing there was among the Israelites and all the other enforced colonists of Babylonia! Cyrus was a statesman. He saw how Babylon was made weak by the large number of discontented inhabitants who had been imported as captives of war. He wisely decided to allow all who wished, to go home again. Many Israelites, who now were often called Jews, accepted his offer and returned to Palestine, with high hopes of a brilliant future for the nation. But they found Jerusalem in ruins and their brother Jews discouraged. Then followed a long series of famine years. Most of the people who came back had been reared on the rich plains of Babylonia, and were not able easily to make a living on the barren, rocky ridges of Judea. They became poor and discouraged. Their plan had been to build the temple, and they had set up an altar soon after they came, but fifteen years had passed, and the temple was not yet built. Part of the time the government had interfered with the building. The enemies of the Jews had persuaded the imperial officers that a temple would be only a fortress in disguise, and that the record of the Jews for insurrection and revolt was such that fortresses were not safe in their hands. But now a new king had come to the throne, and Haggai, who seems to have been a priest, came forward on a feast day with a proposal to build the temple. His little book has no grace of style, no great prophetic thought, no poetry or oratory, but is a plain proposition to get the temple built, with a promise that if they do, God will give them his blessing. It is good to know that the people responded to his appeal and the temple was built. This prophet with his plain style was more successful than almost any other prophet.)

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I

THE PROPHET URGES THE PEOPLE TO BUILD THE TEMPLE

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest, saying, "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, 'This people say, It is not the time for us to come, the time for the Lord's house to be built.'" Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, saying, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: 'Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.'"

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. 'Why?' saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house. Therefore for your sake the heaven withholdeth the dew, and the earth withholdeth her fruit. And I called for a {399} drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands."

Then Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, "'I am with you,' saith the Lord."

And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.

A month later came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Speak now to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 'Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes as nothing?' 'Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' saith the Lord; 'and be strong, O Joshua, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land,' saith the Lord, 'and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts, according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my spirit abode among you: fear ye not.' For thus saith the Lord of hosts: 'Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the {400} heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the treasures of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory,' saith the Lord of hosts. 'The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,' saith the Lord of hosts. 'The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former,' saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I give peace,' saith the Lord of hosts."

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ZECHARIAH

(Zechariah aided Haggai in his attempt to get the temple built. Nothing is known of his personality or history. Most of his prophecy is in the form of a series of visions, whose meaning as a whole is that God is guiding in the history of the world, and will make Israel glorious by and by, in spite of its present low estate.)

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the prophet, saying, "The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Return unto me saith the Lord of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.'"

{402}

I

THE VISION OF THE HORSEMEN IN THE GLEN

I saw in the night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the glen; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white. Then said I, "O my lord, what are these?" And the angel that talked with me said unto me, "I will shew thee what these are." And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, "These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth." And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest." Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, "O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?" And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me kind words and comforting. So the angel that talked with me said unto me, "Cry thou, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, {403} and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Cry yet again, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.'"

II

THE VISION OF THE CITY OF PEACE

And I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, "Whither goest thou?" And he said unto me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof." And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, by reason of the multitude of men and cattle therein. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.'

"'Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord: for he is waked up out of his holy habitation.'"

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III

THE VISION OF THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK

And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And he said unto me, "What seest thou?" And I said, "I have seen, and behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof."

And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, "What are these, my lord?" Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, "Knowest thou not what these are?" And I said, "No, my Lord." Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it.'" Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel."

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IV

THE VISION OF THE FLYING BOOK

(The flying book or roll is the vengeance of God, which flies into the house of the evil-doer like a great bird, and roosts there and destroys it.)

Then again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, a book flying. And he said unto me, "What seest thou?" And I answered, "I see a book flying; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits."

Then said he unto me, "This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every thief shall be purged away from hence; and every perjurer is hereby purged from hence. I will cause it to go forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall roost in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with its beams and its stones."

V

THE VISION OF THE WOMAN IN THE BARREL

(The prophet sees Wickedness as a woman who is in a barrel measure. She is pushed down into it, the leaden cover is put on, and she is carried away out of the land.)

And the angel of Jehovah who spake with me came forward and spake to me and said to me, "Lift now thine eyes and see what this is that comes forth." {406}

And I said, "What is it?"

And he said, "This is a barrel coming forth."

And he said, "This is their transgression in all the land."

And behold, the round leaden top was lifted off, and lo, a woman sitting inside the barrel.

And he said, "This is Wickedness," and he thrust her back into the barrel, and thrust the leaden cover upon the mouth of it. And I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and lo, two women came forth with the wind in their wings, and they bore the barrel betwixt earth and heaven.

And I said to the angel that talked with me, "Whither do they carry the barrel?"