PROPHECIES.
"Prophecy is a demonstration of divine knowledge; as miracles,
in the restricted acceptation of the word, are a demonstration of
divine power. Prophecies being true, revelation is established as
a fact."--Keith.
"The predictions respecting Christ are so clear, so detailed
and circumstantial, as to constitute together one of the most
important proofs of the inspiration of the Bible and of the truth
of Christianity."--Hitchcock.
A prophet, according to the orthodox and popular signification of
the term, is one who predicts. A prophecy is a prediction, and the
writings of the prophets are a collection of predictions regarding
future events. Prophet and prophecy, as used in the Bible, have no
such meaning. The prophet might make a prediction, just as any one
may make a prediction, but this was not necessarily any part of his
office. The functions of the prophet were those of preacher, poet,
and musician. There were not merely a score of them, but thousands
of them. The more talented prophets became authors--composed the
poems, recorded the history, and wrote the religious works of the
Hebrews. Some of these prophets were moral reformers--labored earnestly
to reform their people. The wicked were exhorted to forsake their
sins, and threatened with divine retribution if they did not. When
their countrymen were in bondage they consoled them with the promise
that God would liberate them. The oppressed and the captive longed
for a deliverer. The prophet gave utterance to these longings, and
this gave birth to the Messianic idea.
The more important of these so-called prophecies will now be examined.
1.
"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees'
excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall
never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to
generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall
the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert
shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures;
and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the
wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and
dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come,
and her days shall not be prolonged" (Isaiah xiii, 19-22).
Had this prophecy been literally fulfilled, it would not have evinced
supernatural prescience on the part of the prophet. It is the fate
of cities to flourish for a time and then decay. The world contains
the ruins, not of Babylon alone, but of a thousand cities.
The enemies of Babylon wished for and hoped for its destruction. The
prophet voiced that wish and hope. Perhaps at that very moment the
victorious armies of the Persian were leveling its walls.
But this prophecy has not been literally fulfilled. Babylon was not
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; it has been inhabited;
it has been dwelt in from generation to generation; the Arabian
has pitched his tent there; shepherds have made their fold there;
satyrs have not danced there; dragons have not occupied her palaces;
her days were prolonged. The ancient glory of Babylon has faded,
but a thriving city still exists there, a standing refutation of the
claim that Isaiah's prophecy has been fulfilled.
2.
"For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will bring upon Tyrus
Nebuchadrezzar [Nebuchadnezzar], king of Babylon.... With the hoofs
of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy
people by the sword, and thy strong garrison shall go down to the
ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey
of thy merchandise.... And I will make thee like the top of a rock:
thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more:
for I the Lord have spoken it" (Ezekiel xxvi, 7, 11, 12, 14).
Here is a specific prediction. But it was not fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar
did not destroy, nor even conquer, Tyre. "He reduced the whole sea
coast except Tyre, which stood a thirteen years' siege by water
and by land, ending, not in subjection, but ... leaving the native
sovereigns on their thrones and their wealth and power untouched"
(Chambers's Encyclopedia).
A thousand years after Ezekiel uttered his prophecy, Jerome, the
foremost Christian of his age, declared it to be "the most noble and
beautiful city in Phoenicia." Twenty-four hundred years have passed,
and Tyre still survives.
3.
"Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be
a ruinous heap" (Isaiah xvii, 1).
This prophecy was spoken nearly twenty-seven hundred years ago,
and yet during all these centuries Damascus has flourished, and is
to-day the most prosperous city of Western Asia.
4.
"And I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from
the tower of Syene even unto the borders of Ethiopia. No foot of
man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it,
neither shall it be inhabited forty years" (Ezekiel xxix, 10, 11).
This and a score of other prophecies concerning Egypt have never
been fulfilled.
5.
"For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel
shall surely be led away captive out of their own land" (Amos vii, 11).
Jeroboam did not not die by the sword, and Israel was not led away
captive, as predicted. "And the Lord said not that he would blot out
the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of
Jeroboam the son of Joash. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and
all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered
Damascus and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they
not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And
Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel"
(2 Kings xiv, 27-29).
6.
"Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none
to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast
out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost" (Jeremiah
xxxvi, 30).
This prophecy was not fulfilled. "So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers:
And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead" (2 Kings xxiv, 6).
7.
"And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment;
and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years"
(Jeremiah xxv, 11).
It is now conceded by all critics that the book of Jeremiah, as a
whole, was not composed before the Captivity. But even if these words
were uttered before the Captivity, they are fatal to the claim of
Bible inerrancy; for either the prophecy was not fulfilled, or Bible
history is false. According to the historical books of the Bible,
the Captivity did not last seventy, but only about fifty years.
Referring to this and similar prophecies, Matthew Arnold says: "The
great prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah are, critics can now see,
not strictly predictions at all" (Literature and Dogma, p, 114).
8.
"And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end
of the earth even unto the other" (Deut. xxviii, 64).
These words were uttered, not as a prophecy, but as a warning or
threat. If they obey the Lord's statutes a long list of blessings are
promised; if they do not obey them, a hundred evils are threatened,
among which is the one quoted. One of the most dreaded and one of the
most common calamities in that age was the conquest or dispersion
of one tribe or nation by another. In an enumeration of all known
evils, it would be strange if this, the one most often threatened,
had been omitted.
9.
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel" (Isaiah vii, 14).
This is cited as a prophecy of Jesus Christ. The only thing in it
suggestive of the story of Jesus is the word "virgin." The word
thus translated, however, does not necessarily mean virgin in the
common acceptation of this term, but simply "young woman," either
married or single. Correct this error and the text reads: "Behold, a
young woman shall conceive, and bear a son." All that is suggestive
of the miraculous conception vanishes. But this is not the only
error. The forms of the verbs have been changed. The passage should
read as follows: "Behold, a young woman is with child and beareth a
son." The woman was with child when the prophet wrote. This precludes
the possibility of a reference to Jesus Christ. Not only this, the
context utterly forbids it. All the events named by the prophet,
including the birth of this child, occurred more than seven hundred
years before Christ.
Michaelis rejects this prophecy. He says: "I cannot be persuaded that
the famous prophecy in Isaiah (chap. vii, 14) has the least reference
to the Messiah."
10.
"I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In
his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this
is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS"
(Jer. xxiii, 5, 6).
The correct rendering of this passage is as follows:
"I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the land. In
his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and
this is the name whereby they shall call themselves: The Eternal is
our righteousness."
In order to make a Messianic prophecy of this passage and give it
effect, no less than eight pieces of trickery are employed: 1. The
word "branch" is made to begin with a capital letter. 2. The word
"king" also begins with a capital. 3. "The name" is rendered "his
name." 4. The pronoun "they," relating to the people of Judah and
Israel, is changed to "he." 5. The word "Eternal" is translated
"Lord." 6. "The Lord our righteousness" is printed in capitals. 7. In
the table of contents at the head of the chapter are the words "Christ
shall rule and save them." 8. At the top of the page are the words
"Christ promised."
11.
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, ... until Shiloh come;
and unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. xlix, 10).
The meaning of Shiloh being somewhat obscure, it was made to apply
to Christ. It is now known that Shiloh was the national sanctuary
before the Jews occupied Jerusalem. A correct translation of the
passage reads as follows:
"The pre-eminence shall not depart from Judah so long as the people
resort to Shiloh; and the nations shall obey him."
But even if the writer meant "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah
until Christ comes," as claimed, the prediction was not fulfilled; for
the sceptre departed from Judah six hundred years before Christ came.
12.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be declared
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace" (Isaiah ix, 6).
This passage, even if genuine, is not applicable to Jesus Christ. But
it is not genuine. Professor Cheyne, the highest authority on Isaiah,
pronounces it a forgery.
13.
"Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the Prince,
shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks" (Daniel viii, 25).
It is claimed that "week" here means a period of seven years, and
assumed, of course, that by Messiah is meant Christ. Seven weeks
and three score and two weeks are sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years,
the time that was to elapse from the command to rebuild Jerusalem to
the coming of Christ, if the prophecy was fulfilled.
The decree of Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple was made
536 B.C. According to the accepted chronology, Christ was born 4
B.C. From the decree of Cyrus, then, to the coming of Christ was 532
years instead of 483, a period of seven weeks, or forty-nine years,
longer than that named by Daniel.
Ezra, the priest, went to Jerusalem 457 B.C. This event, however, had
nothing whatever to do with the decree for rebuilding Jerusalem and the
temple. It occurred 79 years after the decree was issued, and 58 years
after the temple was finished. But a searcher for Messianic prophecies
found that from the time of Ezra to the beginning of Christ's ministry
was about 483 years, or 69 prophetic weeks; and notwithstanding there
was a deficiency of 79 years at one end of the period, and an excess
of 30 years at the other, it was declared to fit exactly.
14.
"The days shall come, in the which there shall not be left one stone
[of the temple] upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away
captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the
Gentiles" (Luke xxi, 6, 24).
It has been shown that the books containing this so-called prophecy of
Jesus were written one hundred years after the conquest and destruction
of Jerusalem.
15.
"The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. And
the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven
shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in
the clouds with great power and glory.... Verily I say unto you,
That this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done"
(Mark xiii, 24-26, 30).
That generation did pass, and more than eighteen centuries have
followed, and yet the Son of man has not come and these things have
not been done. Christ was a false prophet.
16.
"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet.... And upon her
forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother
of Harlots" (Revelation xvii, 4, 5).
Protestant churches have no difficulty in recognizing in this Mother
of Harlots the Church of Rome, apparently forgetting that they are
her daughters.
The following, relative to Bible prophecies, is from the pen of
William Rathbone Greg:
"A prophecy, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, signifies
a prediction of future events which could not have been foreseen
by human sagacity, and the knowledge of which was supernaturally
communicated to the prophet. It is clear, therefore, that in order
to establish the claim of any anticipatory statement, promise, or
denunciation to the rank and title of a prophecy, four points must
be ascertained with precision, viz., what the event was to which the
alleged prediction was intended to refer; that the prediction was
uttered in specific, not vague, language before the event; that the
event took place specifically, not loosely, as predicted; and that
it could not have been foreseen by human sagacity."
"It is probably not too much to affirm that we have no instance in the
prophetical books of the Old Testament of a prediction in the case of
which we possess, at once and combined, clear and unsuspicious proof
of the date, the precise event predicted, the exact circumstances of
that event, and the inability of human sagacity to foresee it. There
is no case in which we can say with certainty--even where it is
reasonable to suppose that the prediction was uttered before the
event--that the narrative has not been tampered with to suit the
prediction, or the prediction modified to correspond with the event"
(Creed of Christendom, pp. 128, 131.)