After the time of Solomon, the Messianic prediction was for a
considerable time discontinued. It was first resumed, and farther
expanded, by the Canonical prophecy which began under Uzziah. There
cannot be any doubt that that which _appears_ as an interval was
_really_ such. There is no ground for the supposition that any
important connecting links have been lost. The Messianic prediction in
the oldest canonical prophets is immediately connected with that which
existed previously at the time of David and Solomon.
It is not a matter of chance that, whilst the blossom of prophetism
appeared as early as Samuel, the canonical prophetism took its rise at
a much later date. Nor is it the result of accident, that we do not
possess any written prophecies, either by Elijah, who, at the
transfiguration of the Lord, appeared as the representative of all the
Old Testament prophets, or by Elisha. Nor is it merely accidental that,
at the time of Uzziah, there appears all at once, and simultaneously, a
whole series of prophets. All these things are connected with the
circumstance, that it was only at that time that great events for the
Covenant-people were in preparation,--that, only then, those
catastrophes were impending which were to be brought about by the
Asiatic kingdoms, and which kept equal pace with the sin of Israel, the
measure of which was being more and more filled up. Canonical prophecy
is closely linked with these catastrophes. It is called to disclose to
the Church the meaning of these judgments, and, thereby, to secure to
them their effects in all time coming. The Messianic predictions
uttered by the prophets are likewise closely connected with the
announcement of these judgments. Whilst false security was shaken by
the threatenings, despondency--which is as [Pg 163] hostile to true
conversion--was prevented by pointing to the future coming of the
Saviour.
The prophets do not deliver the Messianic prediction in its whole
compass, any more than do the writers of the Messianic Psalms. On the
contrary, it is always only certain individual aspects which they
exhibit. The writers of the Messianic Psalms take up those features
which presented points of contact with their own lives and their own
experiences, or at least the circumstances of their times. This is
quite in keeping with the more subjective origin of Psalm-poetry. Thus
David describes the suffering Messiah surrounded by powerful enemies,
and who, after severe struggles, at length obtains victory and
dominion. To Solomon, He appears as the Ruler of a great and peaceful
kingdom, and he beholds the most distant nations reverentially offering
presents to Him and doing Him allegiance. But the Prophets, in pointing
out this or that feature, are not so much guided by their own
experience, disposition of mind, and peculiar circumstances, as by the
wants of those whom they are addressing, and by the effect which they
are anxious to produce on them. When they have to do with
pusillanimity, desponding at the sight of the heathen world as it seems
to be all-powerful,--they then represent the Messiah as the invincible
conqueror of the heathen world, who shall subject the whole earth to
the kingdom of God. When they have to deal with pride, trusting in
imaginary prerogatives of the Covenant-people, and boldly challenging
the judgments of God upon the heathen,--they then represent the Messiah
as Him who shall make a great separation among the Covenant-people
themselves, and who shall be a consolation to the godly, while He
brings inexorable judgments upon the wicked when they have to do with
those who mourn in Zion, who through the inflicted judgments of the
Lord have been brought to a deep sorrow on account of their sins,--they
then represent the Messiah as Him who shall one day take away the sins
of the land, who is to bear their griefs and carry their sorrows. Now,
as canonical prophecy extends over several centuries, during which
circumstances, wants, and dispositions the most diverse, must have
taken place, and as the Messianic prophecy is in harmony with these, it
displayed, more and more fully, its riches, and did so in a manner far
more effective and vivid than it could possibly have [Pg 164] done had
it been proclaimed in the form of a discussion or treatise. As the
Messiah was thus represented from the most various points of view, and
in the way of direct perception, and divine confidence,--as He was thus
everywhere pointed out as the end of the development. He could not but
become more and more the soul of the nation's life.
In the Messianic announcements by the prophets, no such gradual
progress in clearness and distinctness can be traced, as in those of
the Pentateuch. The assertion that there existed with them at first,
only a general hope of better times, unconnected with any person, rests
on the unfounded hypothesis that Joel is the oldest among all the
prophets,--and at the same time on the erroneous assumption that he was
ignorant of a personal Messiah,--and, _further_, on the incorrect
supposition that the prophets, who write only what presents itself
immediately to their view, have not in their creed all that they omit
to say. It is, _moreover_, opposed by the prospect of a personal
Messiah held out in the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Song of
Solomon. How very slender is the ground for inferring that, because
many essential points are not touched upon by Hosea, Joel, and Amos,
they, therefore, did not know them, is shown by the fact that neither
do several among the later prophets--as Jeremiah and Ezekiel--touch
upon them, although the previous more distinct prophecies of Isaiah
were certainly known and acknowledged by them. We must never forget
that it is from above that each of the prophets received his share of
the prophetic spirit, and that this depended partly upon the measure of
his receptivity, which might have been greater with the former than
with the latter prophets,--and, partly, upon the wants and capacities
of those for whom the prophecy was destined.
A central position, as regards the Messianic predictions, is occupied
by Isaiah. Even his Messianic prophecies, however, when viewed detached
and isolated, bear the character of onesidedness. He nowhere gives us a
complete image of the Messiah. But, whilst the other prophets were
permitted to give only single disclosures, he gives us, in the whole
body of his Messianic prophecies, the materials for a full and entire
image, although not the image itself. The Fathers of the Church have,
therefore, rightly designated him as the Evangelist among the prophets.
But the transition to him from the Psalms and [Pg 165] the Song of
Solomon could not be Immediate. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and
Micah form, as it were, the connecting links. Proceeding from the
Messianic promise, in the shape which it had received at the time of
David and Solomon, they give it a standing in the prophetic message,
and infuse into it new life by means of the connection into which it is
brought by them, and supplement it by adding single new features.
It is our intention to give an exposition of the Messianic passages in
the prophets, according to their chronological order. In placing Hosea
at the head, we follow the example of those who collected the Canon,
and who, regarding not so much the succession of years as that of the
governments, may have assigned the first place to Hosea, because he is
the most important among the prophets at the time of Jeroboam in
Israel, and of Uzziah in Judah, or because he really appeared first,
and the prophecy in chap. i.-iii. is the beginning of written
prophecies. The latter supposition most naturally suggests itself; the
analogies are in its favour, and no decisive argument has been brought
forward against it.