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2 On a mountain bare set up a signal;

Lift up a voice to them; wave a hand,
And they shall enter gates of nobles.

3 Also I have called my mighty ones for my anger-
Those that exult proudly in my glory.

4 Voice of a multitude in the mountains, as of much people;
Voice of a tumult of kingdoms of nations assembled,

Jehovah of hosts mustering a host of battle;

5 Coming from a land afar,

From the end of the heavens

Jehovah and the instruments of his fury,
To lay waste all the land.

6 Howl ye! For near is the day of Jehovah;
As a destruction from Shaddai shall it come.
7 Therefore shall all hands become slack,
And every heart of man shall melt.

8 And they shall be in trepidation;

Writhings and throes shall seize them;

As the travailing woman shall they twist in pain.
Each at his neighbour they shall look astonished,
Their faces, faces of flames.

9 Behold, the day of Jehovah comes;

Cruel and wrath, and burning of anger,

To make the land a desolation,

And her sinners will be destroyed out of her.

10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations

Shall not shed forth their light;

Dark has the sun become in his going forth,
And the moon will not cause her light to shine.

11 And I will visit upon the world evil,

And upon the wicked their iniquity.

And I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease,

And the haughtiness of the lawless I bring low.

12 I will make men rarer than refined gold,
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make heaven tremble,
And the land shall shake from her place,
In the overflowing wrath of Jehovah of hosts,
And in the day of the burning of his anger.

Refers to the

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It has never been questioned by the best interpreters that the passage refers to the overthrow of Babylon by the fall of Babylon. Medes. The heading of the chapter, and the specific statements that follow (verses 17, 19), put this beyond all doubt. And yet it is done, according to the prophet, by Jehovah, who musters his host of mighty heroes from the end of the heavens, causes a tumultuous noise of kingdoms of nations, fills human

hearts with trembling, and despair, and throes of agony, shakes heaven and earth, and blots out sun, and moon, and stars. This fearful judgment of Babylon is called "the day of Jehovah," "the day of the burning of his anger." Standing in the forefront of Isaiah's oracles against the heathen world-powers, it is a classic passage of the kind, and its style and imagery would naturally be foliowed by other prophets when announcing similar judgments.'

apocalyptic

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Such highly emotional and figurative passages are common to all the prophetic writers, but in the so-called apocalyptic Prominence of prophets we note a peculiar prominence of symbolism. symbols in the In its earlier and yet undeveloped form it first strikes our books. attention in the Book of Joel, which may be called the oldest apocalypse. But its fuller development appears among the later prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, and its perfected structure in the New Testament Apocalypse of John. In the exposition, therefore, of this class of prophecies it is of the first importance to apply with judgment and skill the hermeneutical principles of biblical symbolism. This process requires, especially, three Three hermethings: (1) That we be able clearly to discriminate and neutical prindetermine what are symbols and what are not; (2) that served. the symbols be contemplated in their broad and striking aspects rather than their incidental points of resemblance; and (3) that they be amply compared as to their general import and usage, so that a uniform and self-consistent method be followed in their interpretation. A failure to observe the first of these will lead to endless confusion of the symbolical and the literal. A failure in the second tends to magnify minute and unimportant points to the obscuring of the greater lessons, and to the misapprehension, ofttimes, of the scope and import of the whole. Not a few interpreters have put great stress upon the import of the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image (Dan. ii, 41, 42), and have searched to find ten kings to correspond; whereas, from aught that appears to the contrary, the image may have had twelve toes, like the giant of Gath

"Such passages," says Fairbairn, "are not to be regarded simply as highly wrought descriptions in the peculiar style of oriental poetry, possessing but a slender foundation of nature to rest upon. On the contrary they have their correspondence in the literature of all nations, and their justification in the natural workings of the human mind; we mean its workings when under circumstances which tend to bring the faculty of imagination into vigorous play, much as it was acted on with the prophets when, in ecstacy, they received divine revelations. For it is the characteristic of this faculty when possessed in great strength, and operated upon by stirring events such as mighty revolutions and distressing calamities, that it fuses every object by its intense radiation, and brings them into harmony with its own prevailing passion or feeling."-Prophecy, p. 158.

(2 Sam. xxi, 20). A care to observe the third rule will enable one to note the differences as well as the likeness of similar symbols, and save him from the error of supposing that the same symbol, when employed by two different writers, must denote the same power, person, or event.

3. ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF SIMILAR PROPHECIES.

Not only are the same, or like figures and symbols, employed by different prophets, but also many whole prophecies are so like one another in their general form and import as to require of the interpreter a minute comparison. Thus only can he distinguish things which are alike and things which differ.

First we observe numerous instances in which one prophet apVerbal analo- pears to quote from another. Isa. ii, 1-4 is almost idengies. tical with Micah iv, 1-3, and it has been a problem of critics to determine whether Isaiah quoted from Micah, or Micah from Isaiah, or both of them from an older prophet now unknown. Jeremiah's prophecy against Edom (xlix, 7-22) is appropriated largely from Obadiah. The Epistle of Jude and the second chapter of Peter's Second Epistle furnish a similar analogy. A comparison of the oracles against the heathen nations by Balaam, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, as already indicated, shows many verbal parallels. From all which it appears that these sacred writers freely appropriated forms of expression from each other as from a common treasure house. The word of God, once uttered by an inspired man, became the common property of the chosen people, and was used by them as times and occasions served.

prophetic rev

The twofold presentation of prophetic revelations, both of visTwofold pre- ions and of dreams, demands particular attention. It sentation of is first brought to our attention in the dreams of Joseph elations. and of Pharaoh, and as we have seen above (pp. 306, 307), the double dream was, in its significance, but one, and the repetition under different symbols was the divine method of intensifying the impression, and indicating the certainty of the things revealed. "As to the doubling of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it is because the word (77, this particular revelation) from God is established, and God is hastening to accomplish it" (Gen. xli, 32). A principle of prophetic interpretation so explicitly enunciated in the earliest records of divine revelation deserves to be made

1" Such verbal repetitions," says Hengstenberg, "must not be, by any means, considered as unintentional reminiscences. They served to exhibit that the prophets acknowledged one another as the organs of the Holy Spirit."-Christology, vol. i, p. 291.

prominent.' It serves as a key to the explanation of many of the most difficult questions involved in the apocalyptic Scriptures. We shall have occasion to illustrate this principle more fully in treating the visions of Daniel and John.

of

It is important, furthermore, to study the analogies of imagery in the apocalyptic portions of prophecy. Isaiah's vis- Analogies ion of the Seraphim (Isa. vi, 1-8), Ezekiel's vision of imagery. the Living Creatures (Ezek. i and x), and John's vision of the throne in heaven (Rev. iv), have manifest relations to one another which no interpreter can fail to observe. The scope and bearing of each can, however, be apprehended only as we study them from the standpoint of each individual prophet. Daniel's vision of the four beasts out of the sea (Dan. vii) furnishes the imagery by which John depicts his one beast out of the sea (Rev. xiii, 1-2), and we note that the one beast of the latter, being a nameless monster, combines also the other main features (leopard, bear, lion) of the four beasts of the former. John's second beast out of the earth, with two horns like a lamb (Rev. xiii, 11), combines much of the imagery of both the ram and the he-goat of Daniel (viii, 1-12). Zechariah's vision of the four chariots, drawn by different coloured horses (vi, 1-7), forms the basis of the symbolism of the first four seals (Rev. vi, 1–8), and John's glowing picture of the New Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new land (xxi, xxii), is a manifest counterpart of the closing chapters of Ezekiel. The most noticeable difference, perhaps, is that Ezekiel has a long and minute description of a temple and its service (xl-xliv), while no temple appears in the vision of John, but rather the city itself becomes all temple, nay, a Holy of Holies, being filled with the glory of God and of the Lamb (Rev. xxi, 3, 22, 23).

ery applied to different sub

jects.

It will be evident from the above-mentioned analogies that no proper interpretation of any one of these similar prophecies similar imagcan be given without a clear analysis and careful comparison of all. We are not to assume, however, that by the use of the same or similar imagery one prophet must needs refer to the same subject as the other. The two olive trees of Rev. xi, 4 are not necessarily the same as those of Zech. iv, 3, 14. The beasts of John's Apocalypse are not necessarily identical with those of Daniel. John's vision of the new heaven, and the new land, and the golden city, is doubtless a fuller revelation of redeemed Israel than Ezekiel's corresponding vision. But one of these visions cannot be fully expounded without the other, and each should

1 For many valuable suggestions on what he calls the "Double Allegory," see Cochran, The Revelation of John its Own Interpreter, New York, 1860.

be subjected to a minute analysis, and studied from its own historical or visional standpoint.

mary.

From these considerations it will also be seen that, while duly General sum- appreciating the peculiarities of prophecy, we nevertheless must employ in its interpretation essentially the same great principles as in the interpretation of other ancient writings. First, we should ascertain the historical position of the prophet; next the scope and plan of his book; then the usage and import of his words and symbols; and, finally, ample and discriminating comparison of the parallel Scriptures should be made.

It is, moreover, of the first importance that the interpreter of the prophetic Scriptures keep in mind the following considerations:

1. Old Testament prophecy is but a part of the Old Testament revelation of God, and should ever be studied in the light of the entire Hebrew dispensation. It should also be repeatedly emphasized that history, law, psalm, proverb, and prophecy are so many parts of a series of divine communications given at sundry times, and constituting an organic whole. In the construction of every large building, single parts, when seen alone and separate from the rest, may appear unpleasant to the eye and offensive to the cultured taste, but, when studied in their relation to the entire structure, they are seen to be essential to the support and relief of all. In a like manner should we regard various portions of the composite elements of the Old Testament revelation.

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2. Prophecy deals mainly with the persons and events of the times in which it was first uttered. The prophet was a power of God, a living messenger to kings, and peoples, and nations. voiced God's message for the time, and hence we find the language of Old Testament prophecy full of allusions to contemporary events. Hence also the necessity of extensive and accurate historical knowledge in order to understand and explain the written productions of the ancient seers.

3. The Hebrew prophets also spoke and wrote in the deep consciousness of being oracles of Jehovah, "the Holy One of Israel." They were impelled by the divine Spirit, and rose above the fear of men. And yet they never lost their self-consciousness as human beings, and the divine truths which were given them to communi cate to men took outward form in accord with the mental and psychological qualities of each individual prophet. Hence the interpreter should note the personal qualities and characteristic style of each prophet as well as the organic entirety of the Old Testament prophetical literature.

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