1 [The symbolic actions of chaps. i. iii. are related in prose. But Hosea's style generally is highly poetic, full of vivid description and richness of imagery, in which there mingle much tenderness and pathos; so that Ewald calls him the prophet of tragic and elegiac sorrow, and regards him and Joel as the most poetical of the older prophets. There is an obscurity in his writings, arising mainly from his conciseness and abrupt transitions. There are peculiarities in his diction too. Keil enumerates many peculiar words used by him; such as D', ii. 4.; naba, ii. 12.; 2, iv. 18.; p, v. 13.; 271, v. 13., x. 6.; 7, vi. 10.; D, fragments, viii. 6.; '30, viii. 13.; пppyp, ix. 7, 8.; лn, xiii. 1.; nan, xiii. 5.; 78, where? xiii. 14. Remarkable forms of an Aramaic cast are , xi. 3.; 78DNO, iv. 6.; the infinitive 2, vi. 9.; is for 8, xi. 4.; DN for DP, x. 14.; Np, xi. 7.; Np for mp, xiii. 15.; Singular constructions are by, vii. 16.; by-by, xi. 7.; by my, ix. 8.; unpy o'ng nphwą, xiv. 3.; ¡nd 'a'n?a, It may be added, that Hengstenberg has conclusively shown that Hosea has based his prophecies upon the Pentateuch.3 Keil believes that he refers to Amos.1 Several passages in this book are cited or referred to in the New Testament: see Matt. ii. 15., ix. 13., xii. 7.; Rom. ix. 25, 26. SECTION VIII. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JOEL. I. Author and date.-II. Occasion and scope.-III. Analysis of the book. BEFORE CHRIST, 810-660, or earlier; perhaps 877-847. I. CONCERNING the family, condition, and pursuits of this prophet, there is great diversity of opinion among learned men. Although several persons of the name of Joel are mentioned in the Old Testament, we have no information concerning the prophet himself, except what is contained in the title of his predictions (i. 1.), that he was the son of Pethuel. According to some idle reports collected and preserved by the pseudo-Epiphanius, he was born at Bethor, a village belonging to the tribe of Reuben. It is equally uncertain under what sovereign he flourished, or where he died. Kimchi and others place him in the reign of Joram, and are of opinion that he foretold the seven years' famine which prevailed in that king's reign (2 Kings viii. 1-3.). The authors of the two Jewish Chronicles intitled Seder Olam (both great and little). Jarchi, and several other Jewish writers, who are also followed by Drusius, archbishop Newcome, and other Christian commentators, maintain that he prophesied under Manasseh. Tarnovius, Eckermann, Calmet, and others, place him in the reign of Josiah; but Vitringa', Moldenhawer 2, Rosenmüller 3, and the majority of modern commentators, are of opinion (after Abarbanel), that he delivered his predictions during the reign of Uzziah: consequently, he was contemporary with Amos and Hosea, if indeed he did not prophesy before Amos. This opinion, which we think more probable than any, is supported by the following arguments: 1. Only Egypt and Edom (iii. 19.) are enumerated among the enemies of Judah; no mention whatever being made of the Assyrians or Babylonians: 2. Joel (iii. 4 -7.) denounces the same judgments as Amos (i. 9-11.) against the Tyrians, Sidonians, and Idumæans (who had invaded the kingdom of Judah, carried off its inhabitants, and sold them as slaves to the Gentiles): 3. It appears, from Joel ii. 15-17., that at the time he flourished the Jews were in the full enjoyment of their religious worship: 4. More prosperous times are promised to Judæa, together with uncommon plenty (ii. 18, 19.): 5. Although Joel foretells the calamity of famine and barrenness of the land, it is evident from Amos (iv. 6, 7.) that the Israelites had not only suffered from the same calamity, but were even then labouring under it. [It is difficult among the conflicting opinions of eminent critics to venture on forming a decisive judgment respecting the date of Joel. But perhaps some lines may be drawn within which we may suppose him to have lived. Now, not only is Tyre threatened, but acts of hostility had been committed by the Tyrians against Judah (iii. 4—6.). But a hostile position would not have been assumed by Tyre till after Athaliah's death, who was the daughter of a Tyrian princess. We cannot place Joel, therefore, earlier than the reign of Joash. Again, Edom is threatened with impending judgment (iii. 19-21.). Now Edom revolted from Judah under Jehoram (2 Kings viii. 20.); and, if we may suppose that Amaziah's conquest (2 Kings xiv. 7.; 2 Chron. xxv. 11, 12.) was the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy, we must of course place it before that expedition, that is, not later than the first half of Amaziah's reign. It is true that this is but conjectural; for Jeremiah, much later, threatens Edom in similar language (Jer. xlix. 17.); still it is not improbable that the earlier judgment is the one intended. Between the beginning of Joash's reign, then, and, at the latest, the 14th of Amaziah's must Joel have lived. And, as after the death of Jehoiada the temple worship was neglected (2 Chron. xxiv. 17,18.), Joel's prophecy may be dated before that event, or in the earlier part of the reign of Joash, while that king yet observed the precepts of the law, between 877 and 847 B.C. Joel therefore preceded Amos, Typus Doctrinæ Prophet. cap. iv. pp. 34, 35. 2 Introductio in Libros Canonicos Vet. et Nov. Test. pp 120, 121. who adopts some of his expressions (comp. Amos i. 2. with Joel iii. 16.; Amos ix. 13. with Joel iii. 18.').] II. From the palmer-worm, locust, canker-worm, caterpillar, &c. being sent upon the land of Judah, and devouring its fruits (the certain forerunners of a grievous famine), the prophet takes occasion to exhort the Jews to repentance, fasting, and prayer, promising them various temporal and spiritual blessings. III. This book consists of three chapters, which may be divided into three discourses or parts; viz. PART I. An exhortation, both to the priests and to the people, to repent, by reason of the famine brought upon them by the palmer-worm, &c. in consequence of their sins (i. 1—20); which is followed by a denunciation of still greater calamities, if they continued impenitent (ii. 1—11.). A double prophecy, applicable, in its primary sense, to a plague of locusts, which was to be accompanied with so severe a famine as should cause the public service of the temple to be interrupted 2; and, in its secondary sense, it denotes the Babylonian invasion, and perhaps also the invasions of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans. PART II. An exhortation to keep a public and solemn fast (ii. 12— 17.), with a promise of removing the calamities of the Jews on their repentance (18-26.). From the prosperity of the land here described, the prophet passes to the blessings of the gospel, particularly the effusion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit with these he connects the destruction of the Jewish polity in consequence of their rejecting the gospel; interspersing promises of safety to the faithful and penitent, afterwards signally fulfilled to the Christians (27-32. Comp. Acts ii. 17-21.). PART III. predicts the general conversion and return of the Jews, and the destruction of their opponents, together with the glorious state of the church that is to follow (iii). [Keil would divide the prophecy into two parts, the first, i. ii. 18., comprising a call to repentance under the fearful plague inflicted; the second, ii. 19-iii. 21., connected with the preceding by the declaration," The Lord answered and said to his people," containing promises of deliverance and eventual blessing. It is a question whether the description of the locusts is literal or figurative. This is discussed by Hävernick 3, who, agreeing with Hengstenberg, adopts the latter view. If, however, it be a present judgment which is described rather than a future calamity, the literal interpretation must be preferable. And for this Keil strongly argues.* The greatest difficulty in the way of this is the expression (ii. 20)," the northern army;" and it is maintained that locusts never came into Judæa from the north. It is replied that they certainly infested Syria and the Syrian desert; so that a north-west wind might carry them thence into Judæa. This is not very satisfactory; 'See Keil, Einleitung, § 86. pp. 322, 323. 2 The famine predicted by Joel Jahn refers to that which took place in the time of the Maccabees. See 1 Macc. ix. 23-27. Einleitung, § 237. II. ii. pp. 294, &c. though perhaps upon the whole the literal sense is to be preferred.'] IV. The style of Joel, though different from that of Hosea, is highly poetical 2: it is elegant, perspicuous, and copious, and at the same time nervous, animated, and sublime. In the first two chapters he displays the full force of the prophetic poetry; and his descriptions of the plague of locusts, of the deep national repentance, and of the happy state of the Christian church, in the last times of the gospel. are wrought up with admirable force and beauty. SECTION IX. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET AMOS. I. Author.-II. Occasion of his prophecy.—III. Its scope.-IV. Synopsis of its contents.-V. Observations on its style. BEFORE CHRIST, 810-785. I. AMOS is the third of the minor prophets, according to the order adopted in our modern bibles: he is supposed to have been a native of Tekoah, a small town in the kingdom of Judah, situate about four leagues to the south of Jerusalem. There is, however, no proof of his being a native of this place, except his retiring thither when driven from Bethel by Amaziah, the high priest of Bethel (Amos vii. 10—13.). Calmet thinks he was born in the territories of Israel. We have more certain information of his rank and condition in life; for he himself tells us that he was "no prophet, neither a prophet's son ;" in other words, that he was not educated in the schools of the prophets, but was called to the prophetic office from being a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. In Palestine, "none but the very poor consent to be herdsmen, and only such, at this day, gather sycamore fruit, or use it."3 That he prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah king of Judah, and of Jeroboam II. the son of Joash, we are not only informed from the first verse of his predictions, but we also have internal evidence of it from the argument or subject-matter of his book. For the prophet describes the state of the kingdom of Israel, particularly in chap. vi. 12—14., to be precisely such as is recorded in 2 Kings xiv. 23, &c. We further learn from Amos i. 1., that he began to prophesy in the second year before the earthquake, in the reign of Uzziah; which is, by Josephus and most commentators, referred to that prince's usurpation of the sacerdotal office when he attempted to offer incense. Consequently Amos was contemporary with Hosea (though he is supposed not to have lived so long as the last-mentioned prophet), with Jonah, and probably also with Joel. [That Amos was a native of Tekoah, that at least it was his ordinary ' Comp. Kitto's Cycl. of Bibl. Lit. art. Joel.; Henderson, The Book of the Minor Prophets, note on ii. 19, 20.; Ewald, Die Propheten des A. B. vol. i. pp. 78, 79. The question has been largely discussed by Dr. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary, 1860 Introd. to Joel, pp. 97, &c. He decides against the literal interpretation of the passage. 2 Early in the last century, Hermann Von der Hardt, whom, from his love of philo. sophical paradoxes, bp. Lowth has termed the Hardouin of Germany, attempted to reduce Joel's elegies to iambic verse. He accordingly published the first three elegies at Helmstadt, in 1708, and again, with additions, at the same place, in 1729, in 8vo. " Dr. Thomson's The Land and the Book, p. 23. Lond. 1860. dwelling-place, cannot admit of reasonable doubt. Amaziah's recommendation (vii. 12.) to him to flee into Judah is an additional reason for supposing him a native of the southern kingdom. Whether he did so flee and return to Tekoah is not stated. Amos was not trained in the prophetic schools; but it by no means follows that he was uneducated, a mere working-man. From his compositions we might conclude him a person of some attainments; and the word pi (i. 1.), describing his occupation, is used elsewhere (2 Kings iii. 4.) to signify a large possessor of flocks. The story of Josephus that the earthquake in Uzziah's reign occurred at the time that prince attempted to burn incense is evidently baseless. For Amos delivered his prophecies in the days of Jeroboam II. of Israel (vii. 10, &c.). But Jeroboam died in the fifteenth of Uzziah (2 Kings xiv. 23., xv. 1.). Hence the earthquake must have occurred not later than the seventeenth year of Uzziah, no doubt long before Uzziah's sacrilegious attempt (2 Chron. xxvi., 16-21.).' It is true that some critics have supposed an error in 2 Kings xv. 1., and have imagined that Uzziah's accession was twenty-seven years before Jeroboam II.'s death: still this would carry us little beyond the middle of Uzziah's reign. Besides, some of the predictions in Amos i. were fulfilled by Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 6, 7.); after which his prosperity seems to have continued a considerable space (2 Chron. xxvi. 8-15); else Jotham his son would have been too young to undertake the office of regent, which he assumed on his father being struck with leprosy.] II. The Occasion on which Amos delivered his predictions was the oppression of the Jews and Israelites by the neighbouring nations, and the state of the two kingdoms under Uzziah and Jeroboam II. (Amos i. compared with 2 Kings xiv. 25-27., and 2 Chron. xxvi. 615.). But as the inhabitants of those kingdoms, especially the Israelites, abandoned themselves to idolatry, effeminacy, avarice, and cruelty to the poor, contrary to the divine command, the prophet takes occasion thence to reprove them with the utmost severity. III. The Scope of the book is to certify to the twelve tribes the destruction of the neighbouring nations, to alarm those who " were at ease in Zion," living in a state of carnal security, by the denunciation of imminent punishment, to lead them to repentance, and to cheer those who were truly penitent with the promise of deliverance from future captivity, and of the greater prosperity of the Messiah's kingdom; of which we have a particular prediction in ix. 11. IV. The book of Amos contains nine chapters or discourses, of which Calmet thinks that the seventh is first in order of time 2: it may be divided into three parts; viz. PART I. The judgments of God denounced against the neighbouring Gentile nations: as the Syrians (i. 1-5.), which see fulfilled in 2 Kings xvi. 9.; the Philistines (i. 6-8.), recorded as accomplished in 2 Kings xviii. 8.; Jer. xlvii. 1, 5.; and 2 Chron. xxvi. 6.; the Tyrians (i. 9, 10.); the Edomites (i. 11, 12. compared with Jer. xxv. 1 See Keil, Einleitung, § 88. p. 328. Comp. Smith's Dict. of the Bible, art. Amos. [2 Some critics have imagined that vii. 1-ix. 10. was delivered at Bethel, and that Amos expanded this after his return to Tekoah into the book we have. But this is doubtful. See Keil, Einleitung, § 89. |