WE come now to the second of the three great divisions of the Old Testament called

Nebeeim; or, "The Prophets"

There are eight books altogether in this division. Four are called "the Former Prophets," and four "the Latter Prophets," after Zech. i. 4.

These books are reckoned among the prophets because the Holy Spirit used prophets as the instruments in their composition, and because they record the deeds of those who were raised up as God's witnesses.

There was no place for the prophets in all the minute details and instructions given by God in the Pentateuch. Prophets and prophecies have always been connected with man's failure. The prophets were God's spokesmen when man's testimony failed. They were men specially raised up by God, qualified by God, and consequently the prophet was recognised by the people as "a man of God."¹⁹ When priests and people alike failed, God provided for the failure by raising up a special order of men who should be witnesses to His people. The official title was Nabee or spokesman, as Aaron was the spokesman of Moses. (Exod. vii. 1, and iv. 16.) The prophet was therefore called "the messenger of Jehovah" (Haggai i. 13); "the man of the Spirit." (Hosea ix. 7.) He stands forward in the name of Jehovah; his word is "the word of Jehovah"; he is "the servant of Jehovah" (Amos iii. 7; 2 Kings xvii. 13, &c.); while the priest was only "the minister of Jehovah." (Num. xviii. 2, &:c.) The prophet spoke from God (2 Peter i. 21), and for God; hence as man's thoughts and ways are contrary to God's (Isa. lv. 8), he was necessarily "against" man. (Jer. i. 17-19.). The prophets were therefore the most unpopular men in the whole nation, and as the priests became absorbed in their ritual the prophets were their natural opponents.

The eight books forming the Nebeeim are doubtless so placed because prophets were employed as the agents in writing down the words of the Holy Spirit.

The Former Prophets

are prophetico-historical; viz., Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. (See Zech. i 4.)

Joshua— "Y'Hosua"

THE INHERITANCE POSSESSED.

The first of these eight books is so called in the Hebrew, and in the Septuagint, Vulgate, and other versions. It is so named, not because Joshua was necessarily the author,²⁰ but because he forms the chief subject of the book.

Although it stands in close connection with the Pentateuch, yet it is absolutely distinct from it. For (1) it has never yet been found in any MS. bound up with or forming part of the Pentateuch, not even of the Samaritan Pentateuch. (2) Its record is complete in itself, and independent of the Pentateuch. For example, it repeats the account of the separation of the three cities of Refuge by Moses, and supplements it by completing the account of the three separated by Joshua. And (3) there is a peculiarity of language in which the archaisms which pervade the Pentateuch are entirely absent

The book begins with the words, "Now after the death of Moses," and proceeds to define its two great subjects — (1) The conquest of the land, and (2) Its partition, (i. 2-9.)

The object of the book, as Keil devoutly observes, "is to magnify the inviolable covenant faithfulness of Jehovah in the fulfilment of His promises." (xxi. 43-45.) All rests on the divine command and the associated promise, and Joshua himself is "called to effect the accomplishment of the divine promise, according to an appointment recorded in the law itself." (Deut. xxxi. 7.)

His name thus embraces the object of the book. His name Oshea (Num. xiii. 16), which means simply "Saviour," is changed to Y'Hoshua — i.e. "Jehovah is Salvation"; and it shows beforehand how Jehovah would bring Israel in by Joshua as He had brought them out by Moses. (Num. xiv. 8; Isa. xii. 2.)

It may be useful to note that in the following passages reference is made to events recorded in the book of Joshua. (Psalm xliv. 2, 3; lxvii. 54, 55; lxviii. 12, 13; cxiv. 1-8. Judges xviil. 31. 1 Samuel i. 3, 9, 24; iii. 21. Isaiah xxviii. 21. Hab. iii. 11-13. Acts vii. 45. Heb. iv. 8; xi. 30-32. James ii. 25.)

Judges— "Shopheteem"

THE INHERITANCE DESPISED.

In the Septuagint the book is called ΚριΤαί, "Judges," and in the Vulgate, "Liber Judicum," "the book of Judges," being a translation of the Hebrew title Shophetean.

The word Judges does not exactly represent the Hebrew, which does not mean to subjugate and then rule, but it is from the verb, to set upright, put right, and then to rule. The office was peculiar to Israel, and stands alone in the history of the world.

The origin and description of the office is given and explained in ii. 7-19.

Joshua begins, "Now after the death of Moses," and Judges begins, "Now after the death of Joshua." But if Joshua is the book of the inheritance possessed, Judges is the book of the inheritance despised.

The book is a record of the failure of Israel and the faithfulness of God. Apostasy, chastisement, and deliverance is the cycle constantly repeated. The last words of the book give the key to its one great lesson. " In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in, his own eyes."

Four times over the significant words are repeated, "no king." (xvii. 6; xviii. 1; xix. 1, and xxi. 25.)

Exodus xv; 18 had declared "the kingdom is Jehovah's"; and Deuteronomy xxxiii. 5 had said that " He was King in Jeshuron," but now through the apostasy of the people there was "no king"!

The book divides naturally into two parts; i-xvi. historical: sin, suffering, and salvation; xvii.-xxi. moral and historical, tracing the source and course of the evil.

In the former part there is no mention of "Shiloh" where "the house of God" (the Tabernacle) was set up (Joshua xviii. 1, the first mention of the place "Shiloh"), and where the congregation of the Lord "assembled together." (Genesis xlix. 10, "Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.) In the latter half it is mentioned only three times.²¹

The former half tells of disobedience and its consequences. It covers a period of 300 years, and yet no mention of Shiloh. After the death of Joshua the corruption soon set in, and the people fell away. So it was after the death of the true Joshua — "Jesus."

Idolatry in the garb of Christianity is arrived at by retrograde steps. Hence in Judges we have a picture of Christendom. Note these steps.

(1) The true "house of God" neglected. So much so that it was hard to find then, as it is now! (See xxi. 19.) Its position had to be minutely described to a seeker, and the direction carefully given. "Shiloh. . . a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah." This shows the condition of things where God is not acknowledged, and there is "no king."

(2) Man makes his own "house of God" (see xvii. 5, R.V. margin), and depends on the power of "shekels" for the production of it. He makes his own gods and his own priest, (xvii. 6-13.)

(3) He pays his priest a fixed salary, ten shekels a year, a suit of clothes and his board, which proves poor pay.

(4) The blessing he "knew" he would get (xvii. 13) does not come, for Micah is disendowed and robbed of the whole thing, including his gods and his priest.

(5) The priest gets promotion, and becomes priest to a whole tribe instead of a family, and thus open idolatry continues the whole time that the true house of God- was neglected in Shiloh. Note the emphatic words, "They set them up Micah's graven image, which he had made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh." (xviii. 31. This is the first mention of "Shiloh" in Judges.)

(6) Man's religion ends in reducing the three feasts of Jehovah to one, the chief feature of which was girls dancing! (xxi. 19, 2i.) What a commentary on the "religion" of the present day, when everything is made "pleasant" for the flesh, to the accompaniment of "string bands" and "solo singers."

All the evil comes of forsaking the true "house of God" and this leads socially to lawlessness ("no king"); nationally to captivity; and ecclesiastically to apostasy.

"No king" is stamped upon the. book of Judges! So it is to-day. Lawlessness prevails. Universal charity is the order of the day. All error is to be tolerated at the expense of the Truth; and Union is to be based on social considerations instead of on divine' doctrines.

Quite so! But when David came there was a king in Israel, and then what a change! (Read Psalm cxxxii.)

The fact is remarkable that the tribe whose name means judging (Dan, Genesis xxx. 6; xlix. 16), is the tribe that fell upon Micah's "house of God," and this points to the fact that judgment is about to fall upon what now goes by that name.

Jeroboam's calves were afterwards set up in Bethel (the house of God), and Dan (judging), and so Shiloh was soon judged. In 1 Samuel iv., "The ark of God was taken," and its priests were slain.

The last mention of Shiloh is in Jeremiah vii. 12-15, words which come with a solemn application to Christendom to-day: "Go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My sight"

While Christendom is thus warned and exhorted to look at Shiloh we wait for God's King, David's Son, and David's Lord. He will set up the true " house of God." He will be our true Shiloh, for "unto Him shall the gathering of the people be," and He is coming to gather His people to be with Himself for ever.

Samuel— "Sh'muel"

ASKED OF GOD.

In the MSS. and earliest printed editions of the Hebrew Bible Samuel is not divided into two books. The Sedarim, i.e., the ancient divisions of the text, so called from the order for public reading, are numbered continuously throughout without any reference to first or second books. These are thirty-four in number.

The division into two books was first made by the translators of the Septuagint (Cent. iii. B.C.) merely for the sake of convenience, so as to close the first book with the death of Saul, and begin the second with the accession of David. This division was followed by the Vulgate, and was actually followed by Jacob ben Chayim in his edition of the Hebrew Bible. (Venice, 1524-5.)

The Septuagint designates these two books as the First and Second of the Kingdoms, and the Vulgate First and Second of Kings. Hence the heading in the A.V. (not 'the R.V.). The Book of Samuel is composed of the words of Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. (See 1 Chron. xxix. 29, R.V.)

Sh'muel means heard of God or asked for of God, and the two great events are — Hannah's request for a son answered in the - gift of Samuel,²² and the people's request for a king answered in Saul and David. The former to show what man's king was, the latter to show a king "after God's own heart" (i.e. choice). The difference was seen in the fact that when Samuel met them Saul was seeking for his father's asses, which he could not find; while David was keeping his father's sheep, which he did not lose! " Behold, he keepeth the sheep."

Asking of God is the key to the book, especially in the light of 1 Sam. viii., ix., xvi., and 2 Sam. vii. In answer to our prayers God may give in anger and take away in wrath (Hosea xiii. 11); but when He gives "after his own heart" there is blessing indeed.

Kings — "V'Hamelech David"

KING DAVID.

Like Samuel, the division of Kings into two books is not found in any Hebrew MS., not in the early printed editions. The Massorah regards it as one book, and the thirty-five divisions called Sedarim are numbered continuously throughout without regard to first and second books.

The Septuagint designates them Third and Fourth of the Kingdoms, while the Vulgate says Third and Fourth of the Kings. Like most of man's works, the division is very awkwardly made, cutting up the lives of Ahaziah and Elijah.

In the A.V. we have the first purely English title "Kings." " Now King David" gives the key to the whole book. Everything is measured by this standard. The character of all the kings is tested by the manner in which they approached or differed from David, and their lives are pourtrayed according as they followed or diverged from the way of David.

They are viewed as David's successors; not as so many independent kings, but as so many successors of David. Events are recorded to illustrate this great principle, on which prosperity or adversity depended.

The differences between the histories common to the books of Kings and Chronicles will be noticed under the latter book.

The great lesson of the book lies in its Hebrew title. It points us to the history and failure of man as a king. Man failed as a priest, he fails as a prophet, and he fails as a king, and causes those whose eyes are opened to cry out for the one divine Prophet, Priest, and King.

The book opens with the temple of God built, and closes with that temple burnt. It begins with king David, and ends with the king of Babylon. It gives the first successor of king David on the throne of his glory, and finishes with the last successor a dependent in the house of his captivity. Never shall the throne of David be occupied again until He comes whose right it is, and the King shall reign in righteousness. (Isaiah xxxii. 1.)

The Latter Prophets

are prophetico-predictive; viz., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; and after them, united in one book, the twelve so-called "minor [or lesser] prophets." These follow the four prophetic books of history, and refer more particularly to the future. They are " the words of Jehovah " who was, and is, and is to come, the self-existent God. Therefore prophecy has a reference to the past, present, and future; and a praeterist, presenter, and futurist interpretation. No one of these three by itself can exhaust the fulness of Jehovah's word.

Isaiah,

THE SALVATION OF JEHOVAH.

In the Sept. Version the book is called "Esaias"; and in the Vulgate, "Prophetiæ Isaiae."

Isaiah lived midway between Moses and Christ, and prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, four kings intimately associated with the ruin and hope of the nation.

Uzziah apostatised, and was "cut off from the house of the Lord." (2 Chron. xxvi. 21.) Jotham "entered not into the temple of the Lord." (xxvii. 2.) Ahaz ""Shut up the doors of the house of the Lord." (xxviii. 24.) Hezekiah "opened the doors of the house of the Lord." (xxix. 3.)

Isaiah's prophecy opens with a description of the religious degradation of the people — a degradation seen in the fact that the people were never more religious or zealous in ritual observances, and never a greater abomination in the sight of God. (Isaiah i. 10-15.)

Thus the way is prepared for the revelation of "the salvation of Jehovah," as the name of Isaiah means, In no other book of the Old Testament (except the Psalms) is the word "salvation" so frequently found. It will prove a fruitful study to read the book with this word in the mind, and to interpret it in the light of the meaning of the name Isaiah. The book prophecies the coming of Him who should be Jehovah's salvation to the end of. the earth, (xlix. 6.)

He is called forth "in the year that king Uzziah died." (vi. 1.) He sees the king of Judah driven forth from among men — smitten with leprosy and cut off from the house of the Lord; and he beholds another king — "the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple!"

Thus side by side with the death of the earthly king is presented the King of heaven, whose own arm was to bring Salvation, (lix. 16.)

It is the book where several important things are mentioned for the first time. "The day of the Lord" (chap, ii.), a definite "Messiah." The Bride. The new heavens and the new earth, &c., &c.

It is worth remembering that all the earlier editions of our English Bible had the opening words of this prophecy printed on the title page, and most significant and suitable they were in such a connection:

"Hear O heavens
And give ear O earth:
For the Lord hath spoken."

Thus the three "greater" prophets foretell the coming of "the servant of Jehovah." In Isaiah He is presented as coming as the salvation of Jehovah; in Jeremiah as the suffering witness; while in Ezekiel we see Him as the mighty God subduing all enemies under His feet, reigning in glorious peace as "Jehovah Shammah" — the Lord is there — which are the closing words of Ezekiel.

THE MINOR PROPHETS.

The twelve books which are known by this name are so called, not on account of any lack of importance or authority, but only on account of their brevity: i.e., the lesser prophets.

According to the MSS., and all the printed texts, these twelve books have always been grouped together, regarded and enumerated as one book; probably, as Kimchi observes, lest one should be lost on account of its small size.

The Sedarim or ancient divisions of the Text for public reading are twenty-one, and they are numbered continuously through all the twelve books. Dr. Ginsburg²³ quotes the St Petersburg Codex, which states that this book contains 1050 verses.

These twelve prophets are arranged chronologically, and appear to be put into three groups:

The Assyrian period, 7 books, from Hosea to Nahum;

The Chaldean period, 2 books, Habakkuk and Zephaniah;

The Post-exile period, 3 books, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

It is this 'prophecy which foretells the sending of the "messenger of Jehovah." (iii. 1; iv. 5, 6). Malachi is the last of the prophets of the Old Testament, and the New Testament opens with John the Baptist echoing his voice and crying out, " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, as it is written in the prophet, Behold I send My messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before me." Thus the two covenants are linked together.

Continued in Part 4

20) Although the Talmud (Baba Bathra, fol. 14, 2) asserts that Joshua wrote all except the last eight verses.

21) It is mentioned seven limes in Joshua.

22) Saul afterwards asked for Samuel, but did not ask of God. (I Sam. xxviii.)

23) Introduction to Hebrew Bible, p. 95.

24) Zeph. iii. 8 is emphasised by the fact that it contains every letter of the Hebrew alphabet, including the five finals. The Massorah calls attention to the fact.