CHAPTER I_The Expositor's Bible: The Book of the Twelve Prophets, Vol. 1 Commonly Called the Minor

THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE. Edited by Rev.

W. R. NICOLL, D.D., Editor of _London Expositor_.

1ST SERIES IN 6 VOLS.

=MACLAREN, Rev. Alex.=--COLOSSIANS--PHILEMON.

=DODS, Rev. Marcus.=--GENESIS.

=CHADWICK, Rev. Dean.=--ST. MARK.

=BLAIKIE, Rev. W. G.=--SAMUEL, 2 VOLS.

=EDWARDS, Rev. T. C.=--HEBREWS.

2D SERIES IN 6 VOLS.

=SMITH, Rev. G. A.=--ISAIAH, VOL. I.

=ALEXANDER, Bishop.=--EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN.

=PLUMMER, Rev. A.=--PASTORAL EPISTLES.

=FINDLAY, Rev. G. G.=--GALATIANS.

=MILLIGAN, Rev. W.=--REVELATION.

=DODS, Rev. Marcus.=--1ST CORINTHIANS.

3D SERIES IN 6 VOLS.

=SMITH, Rev. G. A.=--ISAIAH, VOL. II.

=GIBSON, Rev. J. M.=--ST. MATTHEW.

=WATSON, Rev. R. A.=--JUDGES--RUTH.

=BALL, Rev. C. J.=--JEREMIAH. CHAP. I-XX.

=CHADWICK, Rev. Dean.=--EXODUS.

=BURTON, Rev. H.=--ST. LUKE.

4TH SERIES IN 6 VOLS.

=KELLOGG, Rev. S. H.=--LEVITICUS.

=STOKES, Rev. G. T.=--ACTS, VOL. I.

=HORTON, Rev. R. F.=--PROVERBS.

=DODS, Rev. Marcus.=--GOSPEL ST. JOHN, VOL. I.

=PLUMMER, Rev. A.=--JAMES--JUDE.

=COX, Rev. S.=--ECCLESIASTES.

5TH SERIES IN 6 VOLS.

=DENNEY, Rev. J.=--THESSALONIANS.

=WATSON, Rev. R. A.=--JOB.

=MACLAREN, Rev. A.=--PSALMS, VOL. I.

=STOKES, Rev. G. T.=--ACTS, VOL. II.

=DODS, Rev. Marcus.=--GOSPEL ST. JOHN, VOL. II.

=FINDLAY, Rev. C. G.=--EPHESIANS.

6TH SERIES IN 6 VOLS.

=RAINY, Rev. R.=--PHILIPPIANS.

=FARRAR, Archdeacon F. W.=--1ST KINGS.

=BLAIKIE, Rev. W. G.=--JOSHUA.

=MACLAREN, Rev. A.=--PSALMS, VOL. II.

=LUMBY, Rev, J. R.=--EPISTLES OF ST. PETER.

=ADENEY, Rev. W. F.=--EZRA--NEHEMIAH--ESTHER.

7TH SERIES IN 6 VOLS.

=MOULE, Rev. H. C. G.=--ROMANS.

=FARRAR, Archdeacon F. W.=--2D KINGS.

=BENNETT, Rev. W. H.=--1ST AND 2D CHRONICLES.

=MACLAREN, Rev. A.=--PSALMS, VOL. III.

=DENNEY, Rev. James.=--2D CORINTHIANS.

=WATSON Rev. R. A.=--NUMBERS.

8TH AND FINAL SERIES IN 7 VOLS.

=FARRAR, Archdeacon F. W.=--DANIEL.

=SKINNER, Rev. John.=--EZEKIEL.

=BENNETT, Rev. W. H.=--JEREMIAH.

=HARPER, Rev. Prof.=--DEUTERONOMY.

=ADENEY, Rev. W. F.=--SOLOMON AND LAMENTATIONS.

=SMITH, Rev. G. A.=--THE MINOR PROPHETS, 2 VOLS.

About 400 pages in each Volume. Price for either series, six volumes

$6.06. (Orders for 2 or more series at same rate will be sent by

Express. prepaid.) (Separate vols. $1.50 postpaid. Descriptive

circular sent on application.)

THE BOOK

THE TWELVE PROPHETS

COMMONLY CALLED THE MINOR

GEORGE ADAM SMITH, D.D., LL.D.

PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS

FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW

_IN TWO VOLUMES_

VOL. I.--AMOS, HOSEA AND MICAH

_WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND A SKETCH OF PROPHECY

IN EARLY ISRAEL_

NEW YORK

A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON

3 and 5 West Eighteenth Street

London: Hodder and Stoughton

1906

HENRY DRUMMOND

PREFACE

The Prophets, to whom this and a following volume are dedicated,

have, to our loss, been haunted for centuries by a peddling and an

ambiguous title. Their Twelve Books are in size smaller than those

of the great Three which precede them, and doubtless none of their

chapters soar so high as the brilliant summits to which we are swept

by Isaiah and the Prophet of the Exile. But in every other respect

they are undeserving of the niggardly name of "Minor." Two of them,

Amos and Hosea, were the first of all prophecy--rising cliff-like,

with a sheer and magnificent originality, to a height and a mass

sufficient to set after them the trend and slope of the whole

prophetic range. The Twelve together cover the extent of that range,

and illustrate the development of prophecy at almost every stage from

the eighth century to the fourth. Yet even more than in the case of

Isaiah or Jeremiah, the Church has been content to use a passage

here and a passage there, leaving the rest of the books to absolute

neglect or the almost equal oblivion of routine-reading. Among the

causes of this disuse have been the more than usually corrupt state

of the text; the consequent disorder and in parts unintelligibleness

of all the versions; the ignorance of the various historical

circumstances out of which the books arose; the absence of successful

efforts to determine the periods and strophes, the dramatic dialogues

(with the names of the speakers), the lyric effusions and the

passages of argument, of all of which the books are composed.

The following exposition is an attempt to assist the bettering of all

this. As the Twelve Prophets illustrate among them the whole history

of written prophecy, I have thought it useful to prefix a historical

sketch of the Prophet in early Israel, or as far as the appearance of

Amos. The Twelve are then taken in chronological order. Under each

of them a chapter is given of historical and critical introduction

to his book; then some account of the prophet himself as a man and a

seer; then a complete translation of the various prophecies handed

down under his name, with textual footnotes, and an exposition and

application to the present day in harmony with the aim of the series

to which these volumes belong; finally, a discussion of the main

doctrines the prophet has taught, if it has not been found possible

to deal with these in the course of the exposition.

* * * * *

An exact critical study of the Twelve Prophets is rendered necessary

by the state of the entire text. The present volume is based on a

thorough examination of this in the light of the ancient versions and

of modern criticism. The emendations which I have proposed are few

and insignificant, but I have examined and discussed in footnotes all

that have been suggested, and in many cases my translation will be

found to differ widely from that of the Revised Version. To questions

of integrity and authenticity more space is devoted than may seem to

many to be necessary. But it is certain that the criticism of the

prophetic books has now entered on a period of the same analysis

and discrimination which is almost exhausted in the case of the

Pentateuch. Some hints were given of this in a previous volume on

Isaiah, chapters xl.-lxvi., which are evidently a composite work.

Among the books now before us, the same fact has long been clear

in the case of Obadiah and Zechariah, and also since Ewald's time

with regard to Micah. But Duhm's _Theology of the Prophets_, which

appeared in 1875, suggested interpolations in Amos. Wellhausen (in

1873) and Stade (from 1883 onwards) carried the discussion further

both on those, and others, of the Twelve; while a recent work by

Andrée on Haggai proves that many similar questions may still be

raised and have to be debated. The general fact must be admitted

that hardly one book has escaped later additions--additions of an

entirely justifiable nature, which supplement the point of view of

a single prophet with the richer experience or the riper hopes of a

later day, and thus afford to ourselves a more catholic presentment

of the doctrines of prophecy and the Divine purposes for mankind.

This general fact, I say, must be admitted. But the questions of

detail are still in process of solution. It is obvious that settled

results can be reached (as to some extent they have been already

reached in the criticism of the Pentateuch) only after years of

research and debate by all schools of critics. Meantime it is the

duty of each of us to offer his own conclusions, with regard to every

separate passage, on the understanding that, however final they may

at present seem to him, the end is not yet. In previous criticism

the defects, of which work in the same field has made me aware, are

four: 1. A too rigid belief in the exact parallelism and symmetry of

the prophetic style, which I feel has led, for instance, Wellhausen,

to whom we otherwise owe so much on the Twelve Prophets, into many

unnecessary emendations of the text, or, where some amendment is

necessary, to absolutely unprovable changes. 2. In passages between

which no connection exists, the forgetfulness of the principle

that this fact may often be explained as justly by the hypothesis

of the omission of some words, as by the favourite theory of the

later intrusion of portions of the extant text. 3. Forgetfulness of

the possibility, which in some cases amounts almost to certainty,

of the incorporation, among the authentic words of a prophet, of

passages of earlier as well as of later date. And, 4. depreciation

of the spiritual insight and foresight of pre-exilic writers. These,

I am persuaded, are defects in previous criticism of the prophets.

Probably my own criticism will reveal many more. In the beginnings

of such analysis as we are engaged on, we must be prepared for

not a little arbitrariness and want of proportion; these are often

necessary for insight and fresh points of view, but they are as

easily eliminated by the progress of discussion.

* * * * *

All criticism, however, is preliminary to the real work which the

immortal prophets demand from scholars and preachers in our age. In

a review of a previous volume, I was blamed for applying a prophecy

of Isaiah to a problem of our own day. This was called "prostituting

prophecy." _The_ prostitution of the prophets is their confinement to

academic uses. One cannot conceive an ending, at once more pathetic

and more ridiculous, to those great streams of living water, than to

allow them to run out in the sands of criticism and exegesis, however

golden these sands may be. The prophets spoke for a practical purpose;

they aimed at the hearts of men; and everything that scholarship can

do for their writings has surely for its final aim the illustration

of their witness to the ways of God with men, and its application to

living questions and duties and hopes. Besides, therefore, seeking to

tell the story of that wonderful stage in the history of the human

spirit--surely next in wonder to the story of Christ Himself--I have

not feared at every suitable point to apply its truths to our lives

to-day. The civilisation in which prophecy flourished was in its

essentials marvellously like our own. To mark only one point, the rise

of prophecy in Israel came fast upon the passage of the nation from an

agricultural to a commercial basis of society, and upon the appearance

of the very thing which gives its name to civilisation--city-life,

with its unchanging sins, problems and ideals.

A recent Dutch critic, whose exact scholarship is known to all

readers of Stade's _Journal of Old Testament Science_, has said of

Amos and Hosea: "These prophecies have a word of God, as for all

times, so also especially for our own. Before all it is relevant to

'the social question' of our day, to the relation of religion and

morality.... Often it has been hard for me to refrain from expressly

pointing out the agreement between Then and To-day."[1] This

feeling will be shared by all students of prophecy whose minds and

consciences are quick; and I welcome the liberal plan of the series

in which this volume appears, because, while giving room for the

adequate discussion of critical and historical questions, its chief

design is to show the eternal validity of the Books of the Bible as

the Word of God, and their meaning for ourselves to-day.

* * * * *

Previous works on the Minor Prophets are almost innumerable. Those

to which I owe most will be found indicated in the footnotes. The

translation has been executed upon the purpose, not to sacrifice the

literal meaning or exact emphasis of the original to the frequent

possibility of greater elegance. It reproduces every word, with

the occasional exception of a copula. With some hesitation I have

retained the traditional spelling of the Divine Name, Jehovah,

instead of the more correct Jahve or Yahweh; but where the rhythm

of certain familiar passages was disturbed by it, I have followed

the English versions and written Lord. The reader will keep in mind

that a line may be destroyed by substituting our pronunciation of

proper names for the more musical accents of the original. Thus,

for instance, we obliterate the music of "Isra'el" by making it two

syllables and putting the accent on the first: it has three syllables

with the accent on the last. We crush Yerushalayîḿ into Jerúsalem;

we shred off Asshûr into Assyria, and dub Miṣraîḿ Egypt. Hebrew has

too few of the combinations which sound most musical to our ears, to

afford the suppression of any one of them.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] J. J. P. Valeton, jun., _Amos en Hosea_, 1894: quoted by Budde in

the _Theologische Literaturzeitung_, September, 1894.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

PAGE

PREFACE vii

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 1

_INTRODUCTION_

CHAP.

I. THE BOOK OF THE TWELVE 3

II. THE PROPHET IN EARLY ISRAEL 11

1. FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TILL SAMUEL.

2. FROM SAMUEL TO ELISHA.

III. THE EIGHTH CENTURY IN ISRAEL 31

IV. THE INFLUENCE OF ASSYRIA UPON PROPHECY 44

_AMOS_

V. THE BOOK OF AMOS 61

VI. THE MAN AND THE PROPHET 73

1. THE MAN AND HIS DISCIPLINE

(i. 1; iii. 3-8; vii. 14, 15).

2. THE WORD AND ITS ORIGINS

(i. 2; iii. 3-8; and _passim_).

3. THE PROPHET AND HIS MINISTRY

(vii.; viii. 1-4).

VII. ATROCITIES AND ATROCITIES 121

AMOS i. 3-ii.

VIII. CIVILISATION AND JUDGMENT 141

AMOS iii.-iv. 3.

IX. THE FALSE PEACE OF RITUAL 156

AMOS iv. 4-vi.

1. FOR WORSHIP, CHASTISEMENT

(iv. 4-13).

2. FOR WORSHIP, JUSTICE (v.).

3. "AT EASE IN ZION" (vi.).

4. A FRAGMENT FROM THE PLAGUE

(vi. 9, 10).

X. DOOM OR DISCIPLINE? 181

AMOS viii. 4-ix.

1. EARTHQUAKE, ECLIPSE AND FAMINE

(viii. 4-14).

2. NEMESIS (ix. 1-6).

3. THE VOICES OF ANOTHER DAWN

(ix. 7-15).

XI. COMMON-SENSE AND THE REIGN OF LAW 196

AMOS iii. 3-8; iv. 6-13; v. 8, 9;

vi. 12; viii. 8; ix. 5, 6.

_HOSEA_

XII. THE BOOK OF HOSEA 211

XIII. THE PROBLEM THAT AMOS LEFT 227

XIV. THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL WIFE 232

HOSEA i.-iii.

XV. THE THICK NIGHT OF ISRAEL 253

HOSEA iv.-xiv.

XVI. A PEOPLE IN DECAY: I. MORALLY 255

HOSEA iv.-vii. 7.

1. THE LORD'S QUARREL WITH ISRAEL

(iv.).

2. PRIESTS AND PRINCES FAIL

(v. 1-14).

3. REPENTANCE FAILS

(v. 15-vii. 2).

4. WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES

(vii. 3-7).

XVII. A PEOPLE IN DECAY: II. POLITICALLY 269

HOSEA vii. 8-x.

1. THE CONFUSION OF THE NATION

(vii. 8-viii. 3).

2. ARTIFICIAL KINGS AND ARTIFICIAL

GODS (viii. 4-13).

3. THE EFFECTS OF EXILE

(ix. 1-9).

4. "THE CORRUPTION THAT IS THROUGH

LUST" (ix. 10-17).

5. ONCE MORE: PUPPET-KINGS AND

PUPPET-GODS (x.).

XVIII. THE FATHERHOOD AND HUMANITY OF GOD 290

HOSEA xi.

XIX. THE FINAL ARGUMENT 299

HOSEA xii.-xiv. 1.

1. THE PEOPLE AND THEIR FATHER

JACOB (xii.).

2. THE LAST JUDGMENT

(xiii.-xiv. 1).

XX. "I WILL BE AS THE DEW" 308

HOSEA xiv. 2-10.

XXI. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 318

HOSEA _passim_.

XXII. REPENTANCE 333

HOSEA _passim_.

XXIII. THE SIN AGAINST LOVE 346

HOSEA i.-iii.; iv. 11 ff.;

ix. 10 ff.; xi. 8 f.

_MICAH_

XXIV. THE BOOK OF MICAH 357

XXV. MICAH THE MORASTHITE 375

MICAH i.

XXVI. THE PROPHET OF THE POOR 386

MICAH ii., iii.

XXVII. ON TIME'S HORIZON 400

MICAH iv. 1-7.

XXVIII. THE KING TO COME 408

MICAH iv. 8-v.

XXIX. THE REASONABLENESS OF TRUE RELIGION 419

MICAH vi. 1-8.

XXX. THE SIN OF THE SCANT MEASURE 426

MICAH vi. 9-vii. 6.

XXXI. OUR MOTHER OF SORROWS 435

MICAH vii. 7-20.

INDEX OF PASSAGES AND TEXTS 439

CHRONOLOGY OF THE DOUBLE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL, _c._ 940-639 B.C.

*** _c._ = _circa_: it refers only to the accession of the kings of

Judah and Israel; the years are exact so far as they concern the

Assyrian data. A date opposite the mere name of a king signifies the

year of his accession.

-------+-------------+-----------------+---------+------------------------------+-----------------------+-----

-------+-------------+-----------------+---------+------------------------------+-----------------------+-----

940_c._|Disruption of the Kingdom. | | | |

923_c._|Abijam. | | | | |

920_c._|Asa. | | | | |

918_c._| ... |Nadab. | | | |

915_c._| ... |Baasha. | | | |

891_c._| ... |Elah. | | | |

888_c._| ... |Zimri. Omri. | | | |

876_c._| ... |Ahab. |} | Revolt of Mesha of Moab: the | |

874_c._|Jehoshaphat. | ... |} Elijah.| Moabite Stone (_circa_ 860).| |

854 | ... |First contact of |} | Israel and Syria with | Assyria at the Battle | 854

| | |} | | of Ḳarḳar. |

853_c._| ... |Ahaziah. |}} | | |

852_c._| ... |Joram. | } | | |

.... | ... | Invades Moab w. | } | | |

| | Judah and Edom. | } | | |

850 | ... | ... | } ... | }Campaigns in all these 3 yrs| by Shalmaneser II. of |{850

849_c._|Jehoram. | ... | } ... | } Assyria against Dadidri or | Hadadezer of Damascus.|{849

846 | ... | ... | } ... | }Revolt of Edom from Judah | ... |{846

844_c._|Ahaziah. | | } | (2 Kings viii. 20 ff.). | |

842_c._|Athaliah. |Jehu. | }Elisha.| ... | Tribute from Jehu. | 842

... | ... | ... | } ... | War of Hazael with | Assyria. | ...

839 | ... | ... | } ... | War of Hazael with | Assyria. | 839

836_c._|Joash. | ... | } ... | }Hazael subdues Gilead (Amos | ... |{836

814_c._| ... |Jehoahaz. | } ... | } i. 3); attacks Gath, but is| ... |{814

| ... | ... | } ... | } bought off from Jerusalem. | |{

812 | ... | ... | } ... | ... | Ac. of Ramman-Nirari. | 812

806 | ... | ... | } ... | Arpad, campaign against, by | Assyria. | 806

803 | ... | ... | } ... | Damascus, under Meri, besieged and taken by Assyria. | 803

... | ... | ... | } ... | A year of pestilence. | ... | ...

798_c._| ... |Joash. | } | | |

797_c._|Amaziah. | | | | |

783_c._| ... |Jeroboam II. | ... | ... | Shalmaneser III. | 783

778_c._|Uzziah | | | | |

775 | ... |}Jeroboam | ... | ... | Expedition to |

| |}re-conquers | | | Cedar Country. | 775

773 | ... |}Moab, Gilead, | ... | Damascus, campaign against, | by Assyria. | 773

772 | ... |}and part of | ... | Hadrach, campaign against, | by Assyria. | 772

765 | ... |}Aram. | ... | A pestilence. | Ac. of Assur-dan-il. | 765

763 |Total eclipse of the sun on June 15th | visible in Syria and at | Nineveh. | 763

759 | ... | ... | } ... | A pestilence in Western Asia.| ... | 759

755 | ... | ... | } ... | Hadrach suffers attack from | Assyria. | 755

754 | ... | ... | } Amos. | Arpad suffers attack from | Assyria. | 754

753 | ... | ... | } ... | ... | Ac. of Assur-Nirari. | 753

745 | ... | ... | } ... | ... | Accession of |

| | | } | | Tiglath-Pileser III. | 745

743 | ... |Zechariah, son of|} ... | } | | 743

| |Jeroboam (6 mo.).|} ... | } ... | |

| |Shallum (1 mo.). |} ... | } Arpad besieged, and after | two or three years |

| |Menahem. |} Hosea. | } | taken by Assyria. |

742 | ... | ... |} ... | } | | 742

741 | ... | ... |}} ... | } | | 741

740 |"The yr King | ... |}} | | |

736? |Uzziah died."| |}} | | |

|Jotham sole ruler. |}} | | |

738 | ... |Menahem is |}} | mentioned as tributary to | Assyria. | 738

737_c._| |Pekahiah. |}} | | |

736_c._|Ahaz. |Pekah, the | } | | |

| |Gileadite. | } | [(Isa. vii.).| |

735 |Ahaz is attacked both by Pekah | } | and by Rezin of Damascus | ... | 735

734 | ... |Captivity of Gil-| } | | etc., by Assyria |

| | ead, Galilee, | } | | (Isa. viii., ix.). | 734

733 | ... | ... | } ... |Damascus besieged and taken by| Assyria. | 733

732 |Ahaz pays homage | } | at Damascus to the King of | Assyria. | 732

731 | ... | ... | } ... | ... |Tiglath-Pileser becomes| 731

730_c._| ... |Hoshea. | } | | King of Babylon under|

| | | } | | the name of Pul. |

727_c._|Hezekiah. | ... | }Isaiah.| ... | Shalmaneser IV. | 727

725 | ... |Siege of Samaria | } | | begins. |

722 | ... |Fall of Samaria. | } ... | ... | Sargon takes Samaria. | 722

or 1 | | | } | | | or 1

720 | ... | ... |}} ... | Gaza overthrown by Sargon as he marches past Judah | 720

or 19 | | |}} | and defeats Egypt at Raphia. |or 19

715 | ... |Samaria peopled |}} | |by subjugated tribes | 715

| | |}} | | deported from Assyria.|

711 | ... | ... |}} ... | Ashdod taken by | Sargon. | 711

709 | ... | ... |}} ... | ... |Sargon takes Babylon | 709

| | |}} | | from Merodach-Baladan.|

705 | ... | ... |}} | ... | Death of Sargon. | 705

| | |}} | | Ac. of Sennacherib. |

704 | ... | ... |}} ... | ... War | with Merodach-Baladan.| 704

701 |Invasion of Judah |}} | and of all Syria | by Sennacherib. | 701

|Deliverance of Jerusalem. |}} | Siege of Ekron. Battle of | |

| | |} Micah. | Eltekeh. | |

695 |Manasseh. | ... |} | | |

_c._[2]| | | | | |

681 | ... | ... | ... | ... | Sennacherib murdered. | 681

678 | ... | ... | ... | Phœnicia subdued by | Asarhaddon. | 678

671 | ... | ... | ... | Tyre taken by | Asarhaddon on his | 671

668 | ... | ... | ... | ... | Assurbanipal. | 668

641_c._|Amon. | ... | ... | Tyre assists | Assurbanipal against | 641

639_c._|Josiah. | | | | |

-------+-------------+-----------------+---------+------------------------------+-----------------------+-----

FOOTNOTE:

[2] This date is very uncertain. It may have been 690, or according

to some 685.

_INTRODUCTION_

Καὶ τῶν ιβ' προφητῶν τὰ ὀστᾶ

ἀναθάλοι ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῶν,

Παρεκάλεσαν δὲ τὸν Ἰακώβ

καὶ ἐλυτρώσαντο αὐτοὺς ἐυ πίστει ἐλπίδος.

_And of the Twelve Prophets may the bones_

_Flourish again from their place,_

_For they comforted Jacob_

_And redeemed them by the assurance of hope._

ECCLESIASTICUS xlix. 10.

CHAPTER I

_THE BOOK OF THE TWELVE_

In the order of our English Bible the Minor Prophets, as they are

usually called, form the last twelve books of the Old Testament.

They are immediately preceded by Daniel, and before him by the three

Major Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah (with Lamentations) and Ezekiel. Why

all sixteen were thus gathered at the end of the other sacred books,

we do not know. Perhaps, because it was held fitting that prophecy

should occupy the last outposts of the Old Testament towards the New.

In the Hebrew Bible, however, the order differs, and is much more

significant. The Prophets[3] form the second division of the

threefold Canon: Law, Prophets and Writings; and Daniel is not among

them. The Minor follow immediately after Ezekiel. Moreover, they are

not twelve books, but one. They are gathered under the common title

_Book of the Twelve_;[4] and although each of them has the usual

colophon detailing the number of its own verses, there is also

one colophon for all the twelve, placed at the end of Malachi and

reckoning the sum of their verses from the first of Hosea onwards.

This unity, which there is reason to suppose was given to them before

their reception into the Canon,[5] they have never since lost.

However much their place has changed in the order of the books of

the Old Testament, however much their own internal arrangement has

differed, the Twelve have always stood together. There has been every

temptation to scatter them because of their various dates. Yet they

never have been scattered; and in spite of the fact that they have

not preserved their common title in any Bible outside the Hebrew,

that title has lived on in literature and common talk. Thus the Greek

canon omits it; but Greek Jews and Christians always counted the

books as one volume,[6] calling them "The Twelve Prophets," or "The

Twelve-Prophet" Book.[7]. It was the Latins who designated them "The

Minor Prophets": "on account of their brevity as compared with those

who are called the Major because of their ampler volumes."[8] And

this name has passed into most modern languages,[9] including our

own. But surely it is better to revert to the original, canonical

and unambiguous title of "The Twelve."

The collection and arrangement of "The Twelve" are matters of

obscurity, from which, however, three or four facts emerge that are

tolerably certain. The inseparableness of the books is a proof of the

ancient date of their union. They must have been put together before

they were received into the Canon. The Canon of the Prophets--Joshua

to Second Kings and Isaiah to Malachi--was closed by 200 B.C. at

the latest, and perhaps as early as 250; but if we have (as seems

probable) portions of "The Twelve,"[10] which must be assigned to

a little later than 300, this may be held to prove that the whole

collection cannot have long preceded the fixing of the Canon of the

Prophets. On the other hand, the fact that these latest pieces have

not been placed under a title of their own, but are attached to the

Book of Zechariah, is pretty sufficient evidence that they were added

after the collection and fixture of twelve books--a round number

which there would be every disposition not to disturb. That would

give us for the date of the first edition (so to speak) of our Twelve

some year before 300; and for the date of the second edition some

year towards 250. This is a question, however, which may be reserved

for final decision after we have examined the date of the separate

books, and especially of Joel and the second half of Zechariah. That

there was a previous collection, as early as the Exile, of the books

written before then, may be regarded as more than probable. But we

have no means of fixing its exact limits. Why the Twelve were all

ultimately put together is reasonably suggested by Jewish writers.

They are small, and, as separate rolls, might have been lost.[11] It

is possible that the desire of the round number twelve is responsible

for the admission of Jonah, a book very different in form from all

the others; just as we have hinted that the fact of there being

already twelve may account for the attachment of the late fragments

to the Book of Zechariah. But all this is only to guess, where we

have no means of certain knowledge.

"The Book of the Twelve" has not always held the place which it now

occupies in the Hebrew Canon, at the end of the Prophets. The rabbis

taught that Hosea, but for the comparative smallness of his prophecy,

should have stood first of all the writing prophets, of whom they

regarded him as the oldest.[12] And doubtless it was for the same

chronological reasons, that early Christian catalogues of the

Scriptures, and various editions of the Septuagint, placed the whole

of "The Twelve" in front of Isaiah.[13]

The internal arrangement of "The Twelve" in our English Bible is the

same as that of the Hebrew Canon, and was probably determined by what

the compilers thought to be the respective ages of the books. Thus,

first we have six, all supposed to be of the earlier Assyrian period,

before 700--Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah; then three

from the late Assyrian and the Babylonian periods--Nahum, Habbakuk

and Zephaniah; and then three from the Persian period after the

Exile--Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The Septuagint have altered the

order of the first six, arranging Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel and Obadiah

according to their size, and setting Jonah after them, probably because

of his different form. The remaining six are left as in the Hebrew.

Recent criticism, however, has made it clear that the Biblical order

of "The Twelve Prophets" is no more than a very rough approximation

to the order of their real dates; and, as it is obviously best for us

to follow in their historical succession prophecies, which illustrate

the whole history of prophecy from its rise with Amos to its fall

with Malachi and his successors, I propose to do this. Detailed

proofs of the separate dates must be left to each book. All that is

needful here is a general statement of the order.

Of the first six prophets the dates of Amos, Hosea, and Micah (but

of the latter's book in part only) are certain. The Jews have been

able to defend Hosea's priority only on fanciful grounds.[14] Whether

or not he quotes from Amos, his historical allusions are more

recent. With the exception of a few fragments incorporated by later

authors, the Book of Amos is thus the earliest example of prophetic

literature, and we take it first. The date we shall see is about 755.

Hosea begins five or ten years later, and Micah just before 722. The

three are in every respect--originality, comprehensiveness, influence

upon other prophets--the greatest of our Twelve, and will therefore

be treated with most detail, occupying the whole of the first volume.

The rest of the first six are Obadiah, Joel and Jonah. But the Book

of Obadiah, although it opens with an early oracle against Edom, is in

its present form from after the Exile. The Book of Joel is of uncertain

date, but, as we shall see, the great probability is that it is late;

and the Book of Jonah belongs to a form of literature so different from

the others that we may, most conveniently, treat of it last.

This leaves us to follow Micah, at the end of the eighth century,

with the group Zephaniah, Nahum and Habakkuk from the second half

of the seventh century; and finally to take in their order the

post-exilic Haggai, Zechariah i.-ix., Malachi, and the other writings

which we feel obliged to place about or even after that date.

One other word is needful. This assignment of the various books to

different dates is not to be held as implying that the whole of a

book belongs to such a date or to the author whose name it bears. We

shall find that hands have been busy with the texts of the books long

after the authors of these must have passed away; that besides early

fragments incorporated by later writers, prophets of Israel's new dawn

mitigated the judgments and lightened the gloom of the watchmen of her

night; that here and there are passages which are evidently intrusions,

both because they interrupt the argument and because they reflect a

much later historical environment than their context. This, of course,

will require discussion in each case, and such discussion will be

given. The text will be subjected to an independent examination. Some

passages hitherto questioned we may find to be unjustly so; others

not hitherto questioned we may see reason to suspect. But in any case

we shall keep in mind, that the results of an independent inquiry are

uncertain; and that in this new criticism of the prophets, which is

comparatively recent, we cannot hope to arrive for some time at so

general a consensus, as is being rapidly reached in the far older and

more elaborated criticism of the Pentateuch.[15]

* * * * *

Such is the extent and order of the journey which lies before

us. If it is not to the very summits of Israel's outlook that we

climb--Isaiah, Jeremiah and the great Prophet of the Exile--we are

yet to traverse the range of prophecy from beginning to end. We

start with its first abrupt elevations in Amos. We are carried by

the side of Isaiah and Jeremiah, yet at a lower altitude, on to the

Exile. With the returned Israel we pursue an almost immediate rise to

vision, and then by Malachi and others are conveyed down dwindling

slopes to the very end. Beyond the land is flat. Though Psalms are

sung and brave deeds done, and faith is strong and bright, there is

no height of outlook; _there is no more any prophet_[16] in Israel.

But our "Twelve" do more than thus carry us from beginning to end of

the Prophetic Period. Of second rank as are most of the heights of

this mountain range, they yet bring forth and speed on their way not

a few of the streams of living water which have nourished later ages,

and are flowing to-day. Impetuous cataracts of righteousness--_let

it roll on like water, and justice as an everlasting stream_; the

irrepressible love of God to sinful men; the perseverance and

pursuits of His grace; His mercies that follow the exile and the

outcast; His truth that goes forth richly upon the heathen; the

hope of the Saviour of mankind; the outpouring of the Spirit;

counsels of patience; impulses of tenderness and of healing; melodies

innumerable,--all sprang from these lower hills of prophecy, and

sprang so strongly that the world hears and feels them still.

And from the heights of our present pilgrimage there are also clear

those great visions of the Stars and the Dawn, of the Sea and the

Storm, concerning which it is true, that as long as men live they

shall seek out the places whence they can be seen, and thank God for

His prophets.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Including, of course, the historical books, Joshua to 2 Kings,

which were known as "the Former Prophets"; while what we call the

prophets Isaiah to Malachi were known as "the Latter."

[4] עשר תרי ספר, the Aramaic form of the Hebrew עשר שנים, which appears

with the other in the colophon to the book. A later contraction is

תריסר. This is the form transliterated in Epiphanius: δαθαριασαρα.

[5] See Ryle, _Canon of the O.T._, p. 105.

[6] So Josephus, _Contra Apion_, i. 8 (_circa_ 90 A.D.), reckons the

prophetical books as thirteen, of which the Minor Prophets could only

have been counted as one--whatever the other twelve may have been.

Melito of Sardis (_c._ 170), quoted by Eusebius (_Hist. Eccl._, iv.

26), speaks of τῶν δώδεκα ἐν μονοβίβλῳ. To Origen (_c._ 250: apud

Ibid., vi. 25) they could only have been one out of the twenty-two he

gives for the O.T. Cf. Jerome (_Prolog. Galeatus_), "Liber duodecim

Prophetarum."

[7] Οἱ Δώδεκα Προφῆται: Jesus son of Sirach xlix. 10; Τὸ

δωδεκα-πρόφητον.

[8] Augustine, _De Civ. Dei_, xviii. 29: cf. Jerome, _Proem. in Esaiam_.

[9] The German usage generally preserves the numeral, "Die zwölf

kleinen Propheten."

[10] See Vol. II. on Zech. ix. ff.

[11] _Talmud_: Baba Bathra, 14_a_: cf. Rashi's Commentary.

[12] _Talmud_, _ibid._

[13] So the Codices Vaticanus and Alexandrinus, but not Cod. Sin. So

also Cyril of Jerusalem († 386), Athanasius (365), Gregory Naz. (†

390), and the spurious Canon of the Council of Laodicea (_c._ 400)

and Epiphanius (403). See Ryle, _Canon of the O.T._, 215 ff.

[14] By a forced interpretation of the phrase in chap. i. 2, _When the

Lord spake at the first by Hosea_ (R.V.), _Talmud_: Baba Bathra, 14_a_.

[15] For further considerations on this point see pp. 142, 194, 202

ff., 223 ff., 308, etc.

[16] Psalm lxxiv. 9.

The Expositor's Bible: The Book of the Twelve Prophets, Vol. 1 Commonly Called the Minor · 第 1 / 31 章