Mark xiii. 14. Josephus also affirms that Daniel | transactions; that the reader is transported to the himself committed his prophecies to writing.* very spot, and has his passions infallibly engaged His prophecies concerning the Messiah, the de- in every scene. The alternations of terror and of struction of Jerusalem, the revolution of states, delight agitate the bosom, while sentiments of the and other remarkable events, are astonishingly sublimest nature are incidentally communicated. clear, and their very dates precisely marked. All It is, indeed, a tale of wonder, divested of all his prophecies are related to each other, like the fictitious adornments; but a tale of great political several parts or members of the same body. The and moral importance, and of most evident pracfirst is the easiest to be understood, and every tical utility. The events of the sixth chapter succeeding prophecy adds something new to what belong to the time of Darius the Mede: in the goes before. That part of his book which relates seventh and eighth, the reader is carried back to to the Babylonian empire (chap. ii. 4 to the end a previous period, namely, to the first three of chap. vii.), is written in Chaldee; but all the years of the reign of Belshazzar. The last six rest in Hebrew. He lived in great favour with chapters consist of prophecies which, though the Babylonian monarchs, and his extraordinary manifestly connected, were delivered at different merit procured him the like regard from Darius times. + and Cyrus, the two first kings of Persia. He was indeed the only prophet who enjoyed any great share of worldly prosperity. He lived throughout the captivity, but. does not seem to have ever returned to his own country. The last of his visions which we have an account of, was in the third year of Cyrus (about 534 B. C.), when he was about 94 years of age; and it is not likely he lived much longer. He was then at Susa, on the Tigris, where he probably remained till he died.† 2. The style of Daniel is not in general so remarkable for its poetical and figurative cast, as that of most of the other prophets; but it possesses more of the ease and simplicity of historical narration, though the visions which he records are in themselves highly figurative and emblematical. The whole book comprises a detail of regular history and remarkable prophecy; and this intermixture gives it a very novel and interesting complexion. The first six chapters are principally historical, with the exception of the second, which contains the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's prophetic dream, respecting the successive establishment and decay of the chief kingdoms of the world, till the introduction of that which was finally to obtain unrivalled power and universality. There is such an air of truth, and such a justness of colouring, in the different accounts of the miraculous deliverance of Shadrach and his companions from the fiery furnace, to which they were consigned by the persecuting intolerance of Nebuchadnezzar; in the unhallowed and sacrilegious festivity of Belshazzar, with the awful consequences that ensued; in the story of Daniel's commitment and deliverance from the lions' den; and in all the minute details of these * Jewish Antiquities, Took X. chap. 22. Smith's Summary View of the Prophets, p. 155. 3. The prophecies of Daniel were in many instances so exactly fulfilled, that those persons who would otherwise have been unable to resist the evidence which they furnished in support of our religion, have not scrupled to affirm that they must have been written subsequently to those occurrences which they so faithfully describe. But this groundless and unsupported assertion of Porphyry, who, in the third century, wrote against Christianity, serves but to establish the character of Daniel as a great and enlightened prophet; and Porphyry, by confessing and proving from the best historians, that all which is included in the eleventh chapter of Daniel, relative to the kings of the north and of the south of Syria, and of Egypt, was truly and in every particular acted and done in the order there related, has undesignedly contributed to the reputation of those prophecies of which he attempted to destroy the authority; for it is contrary to all historical testimony, and contrary to all probability, to suppose that the Jews would have admitted into the canon of their sacred writ, a book which contained pretended prophecies of what had already happened. And indeed it is impossible that these prophecies should have been written after the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, since they were translated into Greek near 100 years before the period in which he lived; and that translation was in the possession of the Egyptians, who entertained no kindness for the Jews, or their religion. Those prophecies, also, which foretold the victories and dominion of Alexander (chap. viii. 5, xi. 3) were shown to that conqueror himself by Jaddua, the high-priest, as we learn from Josephus (book x. c. 12, book xi. c. 8); and the Jews thereupon obtained an exemption from tribute every sabbatical year, and the free exercise See Encyclopædia Metropolitana, vol. ix. p. 295. 4. Daniel not only predicted future events with singular precision, but accurately defined the time in which they should be fulfilled, as was remarkably exemplified in that illustrious prophecy of the seventy weeks, in which he prefixed the period for "bringing in everlasting righteousness by the Messiah," as well as in giving the mysterious predictions that probably mark out the time or duration of the power of Antichrist, and, as some suppose, for the commencement of the millennium, or universal reign of saints, which they conceive to be foretold, for the explanation of which we must wait the event.* of their laws. Many other prophecies in the | or seven years, added to this, will reach the time book have also been fulfilled since the time of Por- of our Lord's death, or the 33rd of the Christian phyry. era; in all, 490 years, according to the prophecy,+ ver. 25-27; Daniel's last prophetic vision in the third year of the reign of Cyrus, in which the succession of the Persian and Grecian monarchies is described, with the wars that should take place between Syria and Egypt, under the latter monarchy, and the conquest of Macedon by the Romans (chap. x. 1—36); the tyranny of the Antichrist which was to spring up under the Romans, till the church be purified from its pollutions (ver. 36-39); a prediction of the invasion of the Romans by the Saracens from the south, and of the Turks from the north (ver. 40-45, compare Ezek. xxxviii. 2, 15, 4, 5, 16, 8; xxxix. 2, 4; xxxviii. 22, 23; Rev. xx. 8, 9); and the proper conclusion to these great revolutions, in the general resurrection (chap. xii. 1-4). The whole concludes with a notation of the time when these events were to be accomplished; when the Jews were to be restored, Antichrist destroyed, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in, and the reign of the saints to begin (ver. 5-13). ‡ 5. The historical part of the writings of Daniel contains a narrative of the education of Daniel and his associates in Babylon (chap. i.); Nebuchadnezzar's dream, with its interpretation (chap. ii.); the miraculous preservation of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, in the fiery furnace, and their promotion (chap. iii.); a second dream of Nebuchadnezzar interpreted by Daniel, and its accomplishment (chap. iv.); Belshazzar's impious feast, Daniel's interpretation of the mysterious writing, the death of Belshazzar, and the taking of the city by the Medes and Persians (chap. v.); Daniel's promotion under Darius, the conspiracy formed against him, his preservation in the den of lions, and Darius's decree (chap. vi.). 6. The prophetical part comprises the vision of the four beasts, concerning the four great monarchies, with its interpretation (chap. vii.); the vision of the ram and he-goat, typifying the destruction of the Medo-Persian empire, by the Greeks and Macedonians, under Alexander, and its interpretation (chap. viii.). Daniel, understanding from the Prophecies of Jeremiah that the termination of the 70 years' captivity was now drawing towards a close, was engaged in fasting and prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem, when the angel Gabriel was sent to him, to inform him that the holy city should be rebuilt and peopled, and should continue for a period of 70 weeks, or 490 years; at the end of which it should be utterly destroyed for putting the Messiah to death (chap. ix. 1-24): the commencement of this period is fixed to the time when the order was issued for rebuilding the temple, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes; see Ezra vii. 11. Seven weeks, or 49 years, the temple was building; 62 weeks, or 434 years more, bring us to the public manifestation of Messiah, at the beginning of John the Baptist's preaching; and one week, Gray's Key, in loc. § 5.-The Book of Obadiah. 1. Ir is not quite certain when this prophet lived, but it is highly probable that he was contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who denounced the same dreadful judgments on the Edomites, as the punishment of their pride, violence, and cruel insultings over the Jews, after the destruction of their city. The prophecy, according to Usher, was fulfilled about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem. 2. Obadiah's prophecy may be divided into two parts - the judgments denounced on the Edomites, ver. 1-16; the restoration and future prosperity of the Jews, ver. 17-21. Though this prophecy was partly fulfilled in the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the conquests of the Maccabees over the Edomites, 1 Mac. v. 3—5, 65, &c., it is thought to have a further aspect to events still future. § 6.-The Book of Ezekiel. 1. THIS prophet was the son of Buzi, a descendant of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, and consequently of the sacerdotal order. He was carried to Smith's Summary View, p. 164. The reader who is desirous of studying these interesting and important prophecies, may consult the works of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Mr. Faber, Dr. Hales, &c. Babylon along with Jehoiakim or Jeconiah, king of Judah. He entered upon his prophetic office in the fifth year of his captivity, and exercised his functions for about twenty-one years, that is, from the year B. C. 595, and thirty-five years after Jeremiah had begun his office, so that the last eight years of that prophet coincide with the first eight of Ezekiel. His design appears to have been, chiefly, to convince the captive Jews that they erred in supposing their brethren who still remained in Judea to be in happier circumstances than themselves. Hence he describes the terrible judgments impending over that country, with the final destruction of the city and temple, and inveighs against the heinous sins which were the cause of such calamities. Josephus affirms that Ezekiel wrote two books on the captivity at Babylon;* but as we have no intimation of the kind in the Sacred Volume, and as the Jewish historian has not given his authority for the statement, it may fairly be rejected. 2. The Jews assert that the Sanhedrin hesitated before they admitted the writings of Ezekiel into the canon of Scripture; probably because they misunderstood some parts of his prophecies, particularly the eighteenth chapter, which, they conceived to be contradictory to the law of Moses. The discrepancy, however, completely vanishes when the scope or design of the prophet is regarded; and, in fact, Moses himself has said the very thing objected against Ezekiel. See Deut. xxiv. 16. 3. With regard to the style of Ezekiel, Bishop Lowth pronounces him to be much inferior to Jeremiah in elegance, but not excelled by Isaiah in sublimity, though his sublimity is of a different kind. “He is deep, vehement, tragical; the only sensation he affects to excite is the terrible; his sentiments are elevated, fervid, full of fire, indignant; his imagery is crowded, magnificent, terrific, sometimes almost to disgust; his language is pompous, solemn, austere, rough, and at times unpolished; he employs frequent repetitions, not for the sake of grace or elegance, but from the vehemence of passion or indignation." "In many respects he is, perhaps, excelled by the other prophets; but, in that species of composition to which he seems by nature adapted, the forcible, the impetuous, the great and solemn, not one of the sacred writers is superior to him." "The greater part of Ezekiel, towards the middle of the book especially, is poetical, whether we regard the matter or the diction. His periods, however, are frequently so rude and incompact, that we are often at a loss how to pronounce concerning his perform * Antiquities of the Jews, b. x., ch. 6. ance in this respect. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Eze. kiel, as far as relates to style, may be said to hold the same rank among the Hebrews, as Homer, Simonides, and Æschylus among the Greeks. There are some elegies in Ezekiel, which are actually distinguished by the title of lamentations, and which may, with the utmost propriety, be referred to the class of elegies. Among these are the two lamentations concerning Tyre, and the king of Tyre.”+ Michaëlis dissents from Lowth, and is inclined to think that the prophet displays more art and luxuriance in amplifying and decorating his subject than is consistent with poetical fervour. or, indeed, with true sublimity. He pronounces him to be an imitator, but yet to have the art of giving an air of novelty and ingenuity, but not of grandeur and sublimity, to all his compositions; that the imagery which was familiar to the Hebrew poetry he constantly makes use of; and that those figures which were invented by others, but were only glanced at or partially displayed by those who first used them, he dwells upon, and depicts with such accuracy and copiousness, as to leave nothing to add to them, nothing to be supplied by the reader's imagination. Archbishop Newcome, however, has entered into an elaborate investigation of the style of Ezekiel, which he concludes with remarking, that "if the prophet's style is the old age of the Hebrew language and composition, it is a firm and vigorous one, and should induce us to trace its youth and manhood with the most assiduous attention. ‡ 4. This book contains Ezekiel's call to the prophetic office (chap. i. 1—28); his commission and encouragements for executing it (chap. i. 28—ii.); his instructions (chap. iii. 1—27); denunciations against the Jewish people, mingled with promises of mercy and restoration (chap. iv-xxiv.); prophecies against the Tyrians (chap. xxv.-xxviii. 19), and Sidonians (ver. 20-23); promises of deliverance to the Jews, and restoration to their own land (ver. 24-26); a prediction of the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (chap. xxix.— xxxii.); a warning, reminding the prophet of the awful responsibility of his office (chap. xxxiii. 1— 9); an exhortation to the Jews to repent, with promises of mercy and acceptance on their obedience (ver. 10-20). The prophet receives intelligence of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, whence he takes occasion to check the vain confidence of his countrymen, by foretelling the utter desolation of all Judea (ver. 21-29); and reproves the hypocrisy of those who listen to his instructions without obeying them (ver. 30—33.) Lowth on the Poetry of the Hebrews, Lecture 21. Preface to Ezekiel, p. lxii. §2.-The Book of Zechariah. A reproof directed against the rulers of the people, and a promise to restore them to their own land under the Messiah, and render them prosperous 1. ZECHARIAH was the son of Barachiah, but and permanently secure (chap. xxxiv.); a rethe place of his birth and the tribe to which he sumption of the predictions against the Edomites, belonged are equally unknown. He was contemfor their insults to the Jews (chap. xxxv., xxxvi.porary with Haggai, and was called to the pro15); and a promise of deliverance and restoration phetic office for the same purpose as that prophet. to the latter (ver. 16—xxxvii.). A prophecy yet unfulfilled, relating to the victory of Israel over Gog and Magog (chap. xxxviii., xxxix. 1-22; compare Rev. xx. 8, 9), which is concluded with a promise of deliverance from the captivity, and of a future restoration of all Israel (ver. 28, 29); a vision representing a new temple and city, and a new government, typical of an universal church; commonly believed to be the description of a temple of corresponding construction with the celebrated temple of Solomon, but having, probably, a further reference, and really delineating a spiritual edifice, which "shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" (chap. xl.-xlviii.). 2. The poetry of Zechariah is to be found towards the close of his prophecies, which contain several splendid passages. His style so much resembles Jeremiah, that the Jews were accustomed to say the spirit of that prophet had passed into him. SECTION III. PROPHETS WHO FLOURISHED AFTER THE RETURN § 1.-The Book of Haggai. 3. The Book of Zechariah contains an exhorta tion to repentance and to the completion of the temple (chap. i. 1-6); encouragements to the latter work (ver. 7—ii. 5); an admonition for the Jews to depart from Babylon, with a promise of the divine presence (ver. 6-13); further encouragements to rebuild the temple, with assurances of success, and of a great future deliverance by the Messiah (chap. iii., iv.); a vision, in which the divine judgments against the wicked are represented as great and swift: (the vision also intimates that the Babylonish captivity was occasioned by the wickedness of the people, and that a second would occur, should they continue impenitent, chap. v.); a vision of four chariots drawn by several sorts of horses, denoting the succession of the four great empires (chap. vi. 1— 8); another vision, referring, probably, in its primary sense, to the establishment of the kingdom under Zerubbabel and Joshua, but in a fuller sense, to the kingdom of the Messiah (ver. 9—15). A deputation from the Jews in Babylon having been sent to Jerusalem, to inquire of the priests and prophets if they were still to observe the fasts on account of the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet is commanded to enforce upon them the necessity of true repentance, judgment, and mercy, and the utter worthlessness of those outward observances which do not spring from a principle of obedience and love to God (chap. vii.); a promise of the restoration of Judah, with the returning 2. Bishop Lowth pronounces Haggai to be the favour and presence of God (chap. viii. 1-17); most obscure of the prophetic writers. His work a permission to discontinue the fasts of the captimay be considered as, in general, a prose composi-vity (ver. 11, 19); a promise of the future ention, but there are some passages of much sub- largement of the church in the conversion of the limity and pathos. 1. THIS prophet lived about 520 years before Christ. He was raised up for the purpose of stimulating Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people, to resume the building of the temple, which had been interrupted, for fourteen years, by the intrigues of the Samaritans. He commences his work by remonstrating with the people for being so solicitous about the completion and adornment of their own houses, while they suffered the house of God to remain in an unfinished state. He declares that the glory of the latter temple should greatly surpass that of the former-not in external splendour-but in spiritual magnificence, as it should be visited by the King Messiah. 3. This book contains a reproof as above-mentioned, and an encouragement to set about the completion of the Lord's house (chap. i., ii. 9); a prediction of an abundant harvest, as the reward of the people's obedience (ver. 10-19); and a prophecy of the mighty revolution which should take place by the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, under the type of Zerubbabel (ver. 20-23). Gentiles (ver. 20-23). Predictions of the conquest of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, by Alexander the Great (chap. ix. 1-7); a declaration of the number of Philistines who should become proselytes to Judaism, and also of the watchful care of God over his temple in those troublous times (ver. 7, 8); a prophecy of the advent of Christ, the peace and extent of his kingdom, and the complete subjugation of all the enemies of his whom they suppose to be the author of this book. Others conceive Malachi to have been an incarnate angel. For such opinions, however, no good ground can be assigned. people (ver. 9-17, comp. Matt. xxi. 5, and John | pressive of office, and that it was given to Ezra, xii. 15); a denunciation of the evils of idolatry, accompanied with an exhortation to the worship of God, and a promise of great prosperity on the obedience of the people (chap. x., compare Ezek. xxxviii., xxxix.); a prediction of the rejection and destruction of the Jews for their rejection of the Messiah (ch. xi.); God declares his care of his people notwithstanding their sins, and his interposition in their favour; their deep sorrow and grief for the rejection of the Messiah, and their conversion to the faith of the gospel (chap. xii., xiii.); the destruction of Jerusalem, probably by the Romans; God's interposition in the destruction of their enemies; and their subsequent prosperity (chap. xiv., compare Ezek. xxxviii. 39, and Rev. xx. 8, 9). § 3.-The Book of Malachi. 2. This prophet appears to have been raised up for the purpose of reproving the sins of the people, and of reforming those abuses which had crept into the Jewish church and state during the absence of Nehemiah at the court of Persia. His writings contain a denunciation of the divine displeasure, in consequence of the sins and idolatry of the people (chap. i., ii.); a prediction of the coming of Christ, and of the ministry of his harbinger, John the Baptist (chap. iii. 1); the terrible judgments which were to accompany the advent of the Messiah, in case of the impenitence of the people (ver. 2-6); reproofs for various sins committed, and a declaration that God will ultimately make a signal distinction between the righteous and the wicked (ver. 7-iv. 1); another prediction of the appearance of "the Sun of Righteousness," and his great harbinger, John, with a solemn injunction to regard the law of 1. MALACHI, the last of the prophets, completed the canon of the Old Testament Scriptures about 409 years before Christ, towards the end of the government of Ezra and Nehemiah. It has been imagined by some writers, that Malachi (angel Moses (ver. 2-6). or messenger) was merely a general name, ex CHAPTER V. OF THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 1. It is not our intention to do more than ad- in which the sacred books were deposited; or vert to these books, for the purpose of bringing from aro, from, and κρύπτω, I hide, because before the reader the connecting link between the their original is concealed from their readers Old and the New Testament. Malachi, as we have said, was the last of the prophets under the old dispensation; and Nehemiah, who was contemporary with him, was the last of these civil governors appointed by God, and whose proceedings are recorded in sacred history. 2. The chasm thus left in history, between the events recorded in the Hebrew writings and those chronicled in the gospels, has been filled up by Joseph or Josephus, who has never been placed on a level with the canonical writers; and certain other persons, most of them now unknown, who have, by the church of Rome, been exalted to a rank equal to the inspired penmen, but who are of no authority, either as historians or as teachers of divine things. Their books are denominated apocryphala word of Greek origin, derived either from απο της κρύπτης, because they were removed from the crypt, chest, or other receptacle, as quite destitute of proper testimonials, and of a very doubtful character. * These books consist of Esdras, two books (the second being called Tobit), Judith, Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremiah, the Song of the three Hebrews, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, and the three books of the Maccabees. They are of various character and qualities; some of them are found in Syriac, some in Greek, and some only in Latin, while others of them are extant in all the three languages, and also in Arabic. Tobit and the Wisdom of Solomon are the most valuable of these books for their moral precepts, and the books of the Maccabees for their historical narratives. 3. The history of the Apocrypha, however, * Rev. J. Whitridge, in Scripture Manual, Critica Biblica, vol. iii., p. 11. |