However, he also, on this account, separates i. 1-ii. 4, from it, which is too hazardous.

The prophecies, (xiii.—xxiii.,) with the exception of xiv. 24-27, xvii. 12-xviii. 7, and xx., relate to foreign nations, and bear the title "oracle."" Perhaps the miscellaneous collection (xxviii.-xxxiii.) is a separate, small collection of passages that are certainly genuine.

The first part (i.—xxxix.) originated from the combination of these independent collections, to which xxiv. —xxvii. xxxiv. xxxv. were added. Then xxxvi.-xxxix. were appended, with the design of collecting together all that related to Isaiah."

Finally, the second part (xl.-lxvi.) was added; but it is not clear for what reason. All this was done after the exile, and probably after the redaction of the older historical books.

§ 214.

LITERARY CHARACTER OF ISAIAH.

The genuine passages of Isaiah, both in form and substance, are to be ranked with the noblest productions of the golden age of prophetic literature.

The discourse is, for the most part, oratorical; it rarely contains symbols or parables. The style is noble, powerful, concise, rich in images and thoughts, and rarely indulging in enumerations or antitheses, as in ii. 12-17, and iii. 1—4, 18—24.

It makes

с

Gesenius, vol. i. p. 19, sqq. See the opinions of Eichhorn, §526, sqq., and Bertholdt, p. 1393, sqq. [Also, Knobel, l. c. § 19, 28, 31, 32.] Gesenius divides Isaiah into four books, viz., i.—xii., xiii. xxiii., xxiv.—xxxv., and xl.-lxvi. He makes the third consist of supplementary matter.

moderate use of a play upon words; but it is not without hardness, and sudden transitions, which appear in the following passages:

"Yea, in that day shall they roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if one look to the land, behold, darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens." (v. 30.) "But the darkness shall not remain, where now is distress. Of old he brought the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali into distress, into contempt. In future times shall he bring the land of the sea beyond Jordan, the circle of the Gentiles, into honor." (viii. 23, and xxviii. 15.) The rhythm is strong and full, often running out into beautiful periods. One passage (ix. 7—x. 4) consists of strophes. The thoughts are earnest, natural, and free:

"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I am satiated with the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts: in the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of goats, I have no delight. Incense is an abomination to me; the new moon, also, and the Sabbath, and the solemn assembly, iniquity, and festivals I cannot endure. Your new moons and your feasts my soul hateth. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them," &c. (i. 11, sqq.) "Since this people draweth near to me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips, while their heart is far from me, and their worship of me is according to the commandments of men, therefore, behold, I will proceed to deal marvellously with this people." (xxviii. 13.)

Sometimes the style is sublime:—

"Go into the rock; hide yourselves in the dust; from the terror of Jehovah, and the glory of his majesty." (ii. 10.) "At that time shall men cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which they have made to worship, to the moles and the bats; fleeing into the caves of the rocks, and the clefts of the craggy rocks, from the terror of Jehovah, and the glory of his majesty. Trust, then, no more in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for what account is to be made of him?" (ii. 20-22.)

• See examples in i. 23, ii. 19, x. 18, xvii. 1, xxix. 9, xxxii. 18.
See, also, v. 15, 16, x. 5—15.

Sometimes it is full of a high inspiration, but without fanaticism, as in iv. 2-6."

There is but one parable in the book, and that is successful, (v. 1—6.)

There is but one vision, (chap. vi.,) and that is simple and sublime. It contains but few symbolical actions, and these are performed without any pretension, (viii. 1-3, xx.) The somewhat enigmatical sign (vii. 14) was probably suited to the circumstances of the time "Behold, the damsel shall conceive and bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel," &c.

The spurious passages also-in particular, xiii. xiv. xl.—lxvi. — deserve great praise on account of their lively and flowing style, which is sometimes lyric, — (lxiii. 7-lxiv. 12,) and of their beautiful and often sublime thoughts, (xl. 15-17, lv. 8, 9, and lxvi. 1, 2.)

Sometimes the thoughts are free and bold, as in lviii. 3—17, where real and not formal holiness is commended; but verse 13 enjoins the formal observance of the Sabbath. In lxvi. 21, the poet says, priests and Levites shall be taken, not from one tribe, but from all nations. But, in general, the spurious parts are destitute of the powerful dignity of the genuine Isaiah, and the depraved, sunken taste they display cannot be denied."

* See i. 27, sq., and xxviii. 16, sqq., xı. 1—16, and xxxii. 16-18.

There is an apocryphal book of Isaiah, published with the title Ascensio Jesaia Vatis, Opusculum Pseudepigraphum, multis abhinc Seculis, ut videtur, deperditum, nunc autem apud Ethiopes repertum, cum Versione Lat. Anglicanaque publici Juris, factum a Ricardo Laurence; Oxon. 1819, 8vo. See Gesenius, 1. c. vol. i. p. 47. Nitzsch, Examination of two Fragments of an old Latin Version of the 'Araßátov 'Hoatov, in Stud. und Krit. for 1830, p. 209, sqq.

CHAPTER II.

JEREMIA H.“

§ 215.

HIS LIFE AND TIMES.

JEREMIAH of Anathoth (i. 1) was the son of Hilkiah the priest, who, as Eichhorn thinks, is mentioned in 2 Kings xxii. 4, though Jahn maintains another Hilkiah is there spoken of." He prophesied from the thirteenth year of Josiah (i. 2, 3) to the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, - from 629 to 588 B. C.,—and even after that event, or nearly half a century. (xl.—xlv.)

He lived in that eventful period when the feeble

Sanctii Comm. in Jerem. Proph. et Thren.; Lug. Bat. 1618, fol. Joa. Ecolampadii Comm. in Jerem. et Thren.; Arg. 1530, fol.

Joa. Piscatoris Comm. in Jerem.; Herb. 1614.

Seb. Schmid. Comm. in Jerem.; Frcf. 1685, 2 vols. 4to.

Jo. Clerici Comment. in Proph.

Herm. Venema Comment. in Librum Prophet. Jerem.; Leov. 1765, 2 vols. 4to. Benj. Blayney's Jeremiah and Lamentations; a new Translation, with Notes, critical, phil. and explanatory; Lond. 1784, 4to.

J. D. Michaelis, Observatt. philol. et crit. in Jerem. Vaticinia et Thren. Ed. J. F. Schleusner; Gott. 1793, 4to.

Chr. F. Schnurrer, Observatt. ad Vatic. Jeremiæ, 4 Dissert.; Tüb. 1793 -1797, 4to. in Commentatt. theol., ed. Velthusen et al. vol. iii.

Hensler, Bemerkk. üb. Stellen in Jerem. Weissagg.; Lpz. 1805.
Rosenmülleri Scholia in Jerem. Maurer, 1. c.

Spohn, Jeremias Vates e Vers. Jud. Alexandr. ac Reliqu. Interpr. Græc. emendatus Notisque crit. illustratus; Lips. 1794, 1824, 2 vols.

F. C. Movers, De utriusque Recensionis Vet. Jeremiæ, Græcæ Alexand. et Heb. Masoret. Indole et Origine, Com. Crit.; 1837. [Hitzig, Der Prophet Jeremia; Lpz. 1841, (pt. iii. of Exegetische Handbuch, zur. A. T.)]

⚫ Eichhorn, § 535. Jahn, vol. 11. p. 540. [See Knobel, vol. ii. p. 253, sqq.]

kingdom of Judah, torn asunder by inward disorders, must necessarily fall a sacrifice in the collision of the two prevailing powers, Babylon and Egypt. His efforts, by wise counsel, to retard the destruction of his earnestly-beloved country, were rewarded by his corrupt contemporaries with ingratitude, and even with a prison, and attempts to murder. He himself complains touchingly of his treatment.

Chap. xv. 10.

"Alas for me, my mother, that thou hast borne me,
To live in strife and contention with all the land!

I have neither borrowed nor lent money,

Yet doth every one curse me."

Chap. xi. 19.

“I ...... knew not that they had formed plots against me, [Saying,] 'Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,

Let us cut him off from the land of the living,

That his name may no more be remembered.'"'"

When he was set free by Nebuchadnezzar, he preferred to dwell among the ruins of his native land, (xxxix. 11, sqq., xl. 1, sqq.,) but followed the relics of the people in their flight to Egypt, though he had spoken against it. (xlii. xliii.) Here he probably ended his life.

§ 216.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK.

Besides prophecies, this book contains also historical accounts, and may be divided into two parts:

a

See, also, xii. 5, 6, xvi. 18, sqq., xviii. 18, sqq.. xix. 7, sqq., xx. xxvi. 7, sqq., xxxii. 2, xxxvi. 26, xxxvii. 13, sq., xxxviii. See the stories about Jeremiah, in 2 Maccabees, ii. 1–7. Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepigraphus, V. T. p. 1111. Carpzov, l. c. p. 130. Bertholdt, p. 1415, sq.