Egypt is predicted in similar terms by Ezekiel (xxxii. 7, 8.); and also the terrible judg ments that would befall the unbelieving Jews, by Joel (ii. 28-31.). And Jesus Christ himself employed the same phraseology in foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (Matt. xxiv. 29.). In further illustration of this rule it may be observed that the prophetical writings contain numerous figures and similitudes that appear strange to our habits and modes of thinking. These figures and similitudes, therefore, must be interpreted agreeably to the genius of oriental writing for instance, very numerous metaphors are taken from agriculture and the pastoral life; some of the prophets themselves having been herdsmen or shepherds. Other representations of events, which were to come to pass under the New Testament dispensation, are drawn from the sacred rites of the Jews. Thus, the conversion of Egypt to the gospel is foretold (Isai. xix. 19, 21.) by setting up an altar, and offering sacrifice to the Lord; and the conversion of the Gentiles in general (Mal. i. 11.) by the offering up of incense. The service of God under the gospel is set forth (Zech. xiv. 16.) by going up to Jerusalem, and keeping the feast of tabernacles there; and the abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit, in the miraculous gifts which attended the preaching of the gospel, is represented (Joel ii. 28.) by prophesying, and dreaming dreams, and seeing visions. In this passage the prophet, in order that his meaning might be the better understood by those whom he addressed, expressed the abundant measure of gifts and gospel light by images drawn from those privileges which were at that time most highly valued by the Jews; though it is true that in some respects his words had a literal fulfilment. Although the prophets thus frequently employ words in a figurative or metaphorical meaning, yet we ought not, without necessity, to depart from the primitive sense of their expressions; and that necessity exists, only when the plain and original sense is less proper, as well as less suitable to the subject and context, or contrary to other passages of scripture. But, even in this case, we must carefully assign to each prophetical symbol its proper and definite meaning, and never vary from that meaning.1 III. As the greater part of the prophetic writings was first composed in verse, and still retains much of the air and cast of the original, an attention to the division of the lines, and to that peculiarity of Hebrew poetry by which the sense of one line or couplet so generally corresponds with another, will frequently lead to the meaning of many passages; one line of a couplet, or member of a sentence, being generally a commentary on the other. Of this rule we have an example in Isai. xxxiv. 6. The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Idumæa. Here the metaphor in the first clause is illustrated by the phraseology of the next: the sacrifice in Bozrah means the great slaughter in the land of Idumæa, of which Bozrah was the capital. Similar instances occur in Isai. xliv. 3. and lxi. 10., and in Micah vi. 6., in which the parallelism is more extended. Concerning the nature of prophetic poesy, see pp. 373, 374. of the present volume. IV. Particular names are often put by the prophets for more general ones, in order that they may place the thing represented, as it were, before the eyes of their hearers; but in such passages they are not to be understood literally. Thus, in Joel iii. 4., Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestine, are put, by way of poetical description, for all the enemies of the Jews; and (vv. 6, 8.) the Greeks and Sabæans for distant nations. In like manner the prophet Amos (ix. 12.), when speaking of the enemies of the Jews, mentions the remnant of Edom, or the Idumæans. V. It is usual with the prophets to express the same thing in a great variety of expressions; whence they abound in amplifications, each rising above the other in strength and beauty. For instance, when describing drought or famine, they accumulate together numerous 'The figurative character of the prophetic style is discussed at length by Fairbairn, Prophecy viewed in respect to its distinctive Nature, its special Function, and proper Interpretation, part i. chap. v. sect. iv. pp 133., &c. epithets, to represent the sorrow that would accompany those calamities: on the other hand, when delineating plenty, they portray, in a great variety of expressions, the joy of the people possessed of abundance of grain; and, in like manner, the horrors of war and the blessings of peace, the misery of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous, are contrasted with numerous illustrations. [Universal terms, however, as belonging to poetic diction, must not be pressed too far.] VI. The order of time is not always to be looked for in the prophetic writings; for they frequently resume topics of which they have formerly treated, after other subjects have intervened, and again discuss them. Jeremiah and Ezekiel may, in particular, be cited as instances of this abruptness of style; whose discourses, being first dispersed, were afterwards collected together without regard to the order of time. In the midst of the mention of particular mercies promised to, or of judgments denounced against, the people of God, the prophets sometimes break forth into sublime predictions concerning the Messiah: these digressions appear extremely abrupt and incoherent to those who do not consider how seasonable the mention of Christ may be, in conjunction with that of the mercies of God (of which he is the foundation and pinnacle, the ground and consummation), and with the threats of the judgments of God, in which he was his people's grand consolation. A careful examination, however, of the plan and distribution of the different prophetical books will always enable the diligent reader to trace the arrangement and scope of the respective prophecies. Where, indeed, a new prediction or discourse is distinguished from a former one by a new title, as in Haggai i. 1. and ii. 10, 20., it is an easy task to trace such an arrangement and scope; but where the prophets do not introduce any new titles (Hosea for instance) it becomes very difficult. Vitringa has laid it down as a canon2, that in continued predictions, which are not distinguished one from another by titles or inscriptions, we should carefully attend both to the beginning and end of the prophetic serinon, as well as to the period of time in which the scene of the prophetic vision is fixed, and to the period in which it ends. This will tend to illustrate the sermons or discourses of Isaiah, in the forty-first and following chapters of his prophecy. It is, however, probable that those prophecies-whose terminus à quo demonstrates the beginning of the time of Christ's kingdom, and the terminus ad quem the end of that time -give a narration of the principal events that shall befall the church in a continued series, unless anything intervene which may require us to go back to former times. Upon this foundation depends the interpretation of Isai. liv. 1. to lx. 22. The commencement of this prophecy unquestionably belongs to the beginning of Messiah's kingdom: the term or end falls upon the most flourishing state of that kingdom, which is to follow the conversion of the Jewish nation, and the vindication of the afflicted church; which deliverance, and the flourishing state of Christ's kingdom, are described in Isai. lix. 19— 21. and Ix. throughout. [If a prophecy, it must be added, be strictly chronological, the links of it have their accomplishment in definite events.] VII. The prophets often change both persons and tenses, sometimes speaking in their own persons, at other times representing God, his people, or their enemies, as respectively speaking, and without noticing the change of person; sometimes taking things past or present for things future, to denote the certainty of the events. Of this observation we have a signal instance in that very obscure prediction contained in Isai. xxi. 11, 12. which, according to Bishop Lowth's translation, is as follows: THE ORACLE CONCERNING DUMAH. A voice crieth unto me from Seir: The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye: come again. This prophecy, from the uncertainty of the occasion on which it was uttered, as well as from the brevity of the expression, is very obscure; but, if we observe the transitions, and carefully distinguish between the person speaking and the person spoken to, we shall be able 'to apprehend its general import. It expresses the inquiries, made of a prophet of Jehovah Boyle on the Style of the Holy Seriptures, Works, vol. ii. p. 271. 2 Typus Doctrinæ Propheticæ, pars iii. cap. ii. p. 179. by a people who were in a very distressed condition, concerning the fates which awaited them. The Edomites as well as the Jews were subdued by the Babylonians. They anxiously inquire of the prophet, how long their subjection is to last. He intimates that the Jews should be delivered from captivity, but not the Edomites. The transition being thus observed, the obscurity disappears. Isai. ix. 6., liii. throughout, lxiii, throughout, Zech. ix. 9., and Rev. xviii. 2. (to mention no other instances), may be adduced as examples of the substitution of the past or present, in order to denote the certainty of things yet future: attention to the scope and context of the prophetic discourse will here also, as in the preceding rule, enable the reader to distinguish the various transitions with sufficient accuracy.' It may here be further observed, that, when the prophets speak of the latter, or last days, they invariably mean the days of the Messiah, or the time of the gospel dispensation. The expression, that day, often means the same time, and always some period at a distance. VIII. When the prophets received a commission to declare anything, the message is sometimes expressed as if they had been appointed to do it themselves. This remark has, in substance, been already made. It is introduced again, in order to illustrate the phraseology of the prophetic writings. One or two additional examples will show the necessity of attending to it in interpreting the predictions of the sacred writings. Thus, when Isaiah was sent to tell the Jews, that their heart would become fat, and their ears heavy, and that they would be guilty of shutting their eyes, so as not to understand and believe the truth, the message is thus expressed: Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. This implies that they would not employ the faculties which they possessed, so as to understand and believe the gospel. The reason of this is assigned: Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed (Isai. vi. 9, 10.). This is merely a prediction of what they would do; for, when this prophetic declaration was. accomplished, the Saviour quoted the passage, and expressed its genuine sense: In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (Matt. xiii. 15.). This condition is still more explicitly stated in John iii. 19.: This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. The Lord said to Jeremiah, I have put my words in thy mouth; see, I have this day set thee over the nations, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant (Jer. i. 9, 10.). The meaning of this message is, that the prophet was appointed to declare to the nations, that they should be rooted out, pulled down, and destroyed, and that others would be planted in their place, and built up. When Ezekiel beheld the glory of the God of Israel, he observes, that it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city (Ezek. xliii. 3.); that is, when he came to prophesy that the city should be destroyed. IX. As symbolic actions and prophetic visions greatly resemble parables, and were employed for the same purpose, viz. more powerfully to instruct and engage the attention of the people, they must be interpreted in the same manner as parables.2 This change of tense, however, is not exclusively confined to predictions of future events: it is sometimes used by the prophets to represent duties as performed which ought to be done thus, in Mal. i. 6., A son honours (ought to honour) his father. But it is more frequently employed by the writers of the New Testament to express both our Christian privileges, and the duties to which they oblige us. Thus, Matt. v. 13., Ye are (ought to be) the salt of the earth. Rom. ii. 4, The goodness of God leadeth (ought to lead) thee to repentance. 2 Cor. iii. 18., We all, with open face beholding (enjoying the means of beholding) as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are (ought to be) changed into the same image from glory to glory. Similar instances may be seen in 1 Cor. v. 7.; Col. iii. 3.; Heb. xiii. 14.; 1 Pet. i. 6.; 1 John ii. 15., iii. 9., and v. 4, 18. Dr. Taylor, Key to the Apostolic Writings, § 274., in Bishop Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. p. 421. 2 On the construction of parabolic language, see pp. 345–350, of this volume. We must therefore chiefly consider the scope and design of such symbolic actions and prophetic visions, without attempting too minute an explanation of all the poetical images and figures with which the sacred writers adorned their style. For instance, in Zech. i. 7-11., it is not necessary to inquire what is meant by the man riding upon a red horse, and standing among the myrtle-trees: this vision represents so many angels returning, probably from the kingdoms over which they presided, to give to Jehovah an account of their expedition and ministry. The horses, it has been conjectured, denote their power and celerity; and the different colours the difference of their ministries. The scope of the vision, however, is sufficiently plain: the angels tell that all the earth was sitting still and at rest; the Persian empire and other nations connected with Judæa enjoying peace at that time, though the Jews continued in an unsettled state.' SECTION II. OBSERVATIONS ON THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF PROPHECY IN GENERAL. A PROPHECY is demonstrated to be fulfilled when we can prove that the event has actually taken place, precisely according to the manner in which it was foretold, either from sacred history, where practicable, or from profane authors of unimpeachable veracity; whose characters stand so high, that they cannot possibly be suspected of having forged anything to favour the idea of its accomplishment. In order to ascertain whether a prediction has been fulfilled, we must first endeavour to find out the general scheme of the prophecy in question, or the type it bears, by a careful comparison of the parts with the whole, and with corresponding prophecies both earlier and later; and to classify the various things spoken of, lest the judgment be perplexed with a multitude of references. And, secondly, in our deductions from the prophecies thus arranged, those predictions, and their respective accomplishments, are principally to be selected and urged, which chiefly tend to remove all suspicion of their taking place by accident, or being foretold by some happy conjecture. Now this may be done, by showing the vast distance of time between the prophecy and the event foretold; the agreement of very many, even of the minutest circumstances, so that, when completed, the description determinately applies to the subject; and, lastly, the dependence of actions upon the uncertain will of man, or upon opportunity presenting itself; for all these things are of such a nature, that no unassisted human intellect either can or could possibly foresee them. These two general observations being premised, we now proceed to offer a few canons by which to ascertain the accomplishment of prophecy. I. The same prophecies frequently have a double meaning, and refer to different events, the one near, the other remote; the one temporal, the other spiritual or perhaps eternal. The prophets thus having several events in view, their expressions may be applicable partly to one, and partly to another; and it is not always easy to mark the transitions. What has not been fulfilled in the first, we must apply to the second; Archbishop Newcome on Zech. i. 7-11. [The remarks of Bp. Terrot on the Interpretation of Prophecy, inserted in the Appendix to vol. i. of his translation of Ernesti's Principles of Biblical Interpretation, pp. 213-224., may be consulted with advantage. See also Dr. Chalmers, Evidences of the Christian Religion, book ii. chap. vii, 18--25., pp. 219-228. (edit. 1855).] and what has already been fulfilled may often be considered as typical of what remains to be accomplished. The double sense of prophecy has been opposed with much ingenuity by Mr. Whiston, Dr. Sykes, and Dr. Benson, in this country, and by Father Balthus in France, as well as by most of the German theologians, who severally contend that the ancient prophecies contain only one sense; but that the rule above stated is correct we apprehend will appear from the following remarks and illustrations: 1. "Throughout the whole of prophetical scripture, a time of retribution and of vengeance on God's enemies is announced. It is called the day of the Lord; the day of wrath and slaughter; of the Lord's anger, visitation, and judgment; the great day; and the last day. At the same time it is to be observed that this kind of description, and the same expressions, which are used to represent this great day, are also employed by the prophets to describe the fall and punishment of particular states and empires; of Babylon, by Isaiah (xiii.); of Egypt, by Ezekiel (xxx. 2-4., and xxxii. 7, 8.); of Jerusalem, by Jeremiah, Joel, and by our Lord (Matt. xxiv.); and, in many of these prophecies, the description of the calamity, which is to fall on any particular state or nation, is so blended with that general destruction, which, in the final days of vengeance, will invade all the inhabitants of the earth, that the skill of our ablest interpreters has been scarcely equal to separate and assort them. Hence it has been concluded, by judicious divines, that these partial prophecies and particular instances of the divine vengeance, whose accomplishment we know to have taken place, are presented to us as types, tokens, and forerunners of some greater events which are also disclosed in them. To the dreadful time of universal vengeance they all appear to look forward, beyond their more immediate object. Little, indeed, can we doubt that such is to be considered the use and application of these prophecies, since we see them thus applied by our Lord and his apostles." 1 2. Thus Psal. ii. is primarily an inauguration hymn, composed by David, the anointed of Jehovah, when crowned with victory, and placed triumphant on the sacred hill of Sion. But, in Acts iv. 25., &c., the inspired apostles with one voice declare it to be descriptive of the exultation of the Messiah, and of the opposition raised against the gospel, by both Jews and Gentiles. The latter part of Psal. xvi. is spoken of David's person, and is, unquestionably, in its immediate sense, to be understood of him, and of his hope of rising after death to an endless life; but it is equally clear, from Acts ii. 25-31., that it was spoken of Christ, the Son of David, who was typified by that king and prophet. Again, Psal. xxii., though primarily intended of David when he was in great distress and forsaken by God, is yet, secondarily and mystically, to be understood of our blessed Saviour during his passion upon the cross; and so it is applied by himself (Matt. xxvii. 46.). And it is further observable, that other passages of this psalm (vv. 8, 16, 18.) are noticed by the evangelist, as being fulfilled at that time (Matt. xxvii. 35, 43.): now it is certain that they could not be fulfilled, unless they had been intended in this mysterious sense of Jesus Christ. Psal. xlv. is, in the original, a song of loves, an epithalamium on the nuptials of king Solomon and the king of Egypt's daughter; but from Heb. i. 8, 9. we are assured that it is addressed to Christ; and, therefore, in a remote and spiritual sense, it celebrates the majesty and glory of his kingdom, his mystical union with his church, and the admirable benefits that would be conferred upon her in the times of the gospel. It would be no difficult task to adduce many other psalms in which the 1 Dr. Woodhouse on the Apocalypse, pp. 172, 173. "One of the most remarkable of these prophecies," he observes, "is that splendid one of Isaiah, chap. xxxiv.; the importance and universality of which are to be collected from the manner in which it is introduced. All nations and people, the world and all things in it, are summoned to the audience. It represents the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of the recompences for the controversy of Sion (ver. 8.); it descends on all nations and their armies (ver. 2.). The images of wrathful vengeance and utter dissolution are the same which are presented under the sixth seal in the Revelation of St. John (vi. 12-17.). The hosts of heaven are dissolved; the heavens are rolled together as a scroll of parchment; the stars fall like a leaf from a vine, or a fig from its tree. And yet Idumæa is mentioned by the prophet as the particular object of vengeance: such seems to be the typical completion and primary application of this prophecy; but it has evidently a more sublime and future prospect, and in this sense the whole world is its object; and, using the same symbols and figurative expressions with the prophecy of the sixth seal, with those of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and, above all, the sixteenth chapters of the Apocalypse, and with others of the Old and New Testaments, it must, with them, be finally referred to the great day of the Lord's vengeance for its perfect completion." Ibid., p. 174. Dr. Randolph has a beautiful exposition of this psalm at the end of vol. i. of his View of Christ's Ministry, pp. 563-515. |