in an improved translation of the original, greatly superior to any of the antient versions. Matt. ii. 6. " And thou Bethlehem, territory of Judah, Art by no means least among the captains of Judah; Who shall guide my people, the Israel [of God]." 1. Here the Evangelist has removed the ambiguity of the question proposed by the prophet, by supplying the answer in the negative. As in Nathan's prophecy, "Shalt thou build me a house?" (2 Sam. vii. 5.), the parallel passage answers in the negative, "Thou shalt not build me a house." (1 Chron. xvii. 4.) 2. He has supplied a chasm in the Masorete text, of T, Nagid, a usual epithet of the MESSIAH (1 Chron. v. 2.; Isa. lv. 4.; Dan. ix. 25.), usually rendered 'Hyouμevos, "leader," by the Septuagint, and retained here by the evangelist, as a necessary distinction of his character, as supreme commander, from "the captains of thousands," styled 'Hyeur, judiciously substituted for the thousands themselves in Micah, to mark the analogy more correctly. 3. He has also determined the pastoral nature of the MESSIAH'S "rule" by the verb Touave, "shall guide as a shepherd," afterwards intimated by Micah, y, xas Tоive, as there rendered by the Septuagint. For He is "the shepherd of Israel" (Gen. xlix. 24.; Psal. lxxx. 1.), "the chief shepherd" (1 Pet. v. 4.), and "the good shepherd" (John x. 14.), who appointed his apostles to "guide and pasture his sheep." (John xxi. 16.) 4. The human birth of the MESSIAH is carefully distinguished by Micah from his eternal generation, in the parenthetical clause, which strongly resembles the account of the primeval birth of Wisdom. (Prov. viii. 22—25.) 5. The blessed virgin of Isaiah's former prophecy (vii. 14.) is evidently alluded to by Micah, and also the return of the remnant of the Jews (Isa. x. 20, 21.), and of the final peace of his kingdom. (Isa. ix. 6, 7.) This prophecy of Micah is perhaps the most important single prophecy in the Old Testament, and the most comprehensive, respecting the personal character of the MESSIAH, and his successive manifestation to the world. It crowns the whole chain of prophecies descriptive of the several limitations of the blessed seed of the woman to the line of Shem, to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the tribe of Judah, and to the royal house of David here terminating in his birth at Bethlehem, "the city of David." It carefully distinguishes his human nativity from his eternal generation; foretells the rejection of the Israelites and Jews for a season; their final restoration, and the universal peace destined to prevail throughout the earth in the Regeneration. It forms, therefore, the basis of the New Testament, which begins with his human birth at Bethlehem, the miraculous circumstances of which are recorded in the introductions of Matthew's and Luke's Gospels; his eternal generation, as the ORACLE or WISDOM, in the sublime introduction of John's Gospel: his prophetic character, and second coming, illustrated in the four Gospels and Epistles, ending with a prediction of the speedy approach of the latter in the Apocalypse. (Rev. xxii. 20.)1 V. The style of Micah is, for the most part, forcible, pointed, and concise, sometimes approaching the obscurity of Hosea; in many parts animated and sublime, and in general truly poetical. SECTION VII. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET NAHUM. I. Author and Date.-II. Scope and Synopsis of its Contents.-III. Observations on its Style. BEFORE CHRIST, 720-698. I. NAHUM, the seventh of the minor prophets, is supposed to have been a native of Elkosh or Elkosha, a village in Galilee, and situate in the territory that had been apportioned to the tribe of Simeon. There is very great uncertainty concerning the precise time when he lived; some making him contemporary with Jotham, others, with Manasseh, and others, with Josiah. The most probable opinion is that, which places him between the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, about the year 715 before the Christian æra: and, as the design of this prophet is to denounce ruin upon Nineveh and the Assyrians, for their cruel tyranny over the Israelites, and as the captivity of the ten tribes took place in the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel (2 Kings xvii. 6., &c. compared with 2 Kings xviii. 9-11.), it is most likely that Nahum prophesied against the Assyrians for the comfort of the people of God, towards the close of Hezekiah's reign. II. The inhabitants of Nineveh, like those of other great cities abounding in wealth and luxury, having become extremely corrupt in their morals, God commissioned Jonah to preach to them the necessity of repentance, as the only means of averting their imminent destruction. And such was the success of his preaching, that both the king and people repented and turned from their evil ways; and the divine judgment was in consequence delayed for a time. It appears, however, that this repentance was of no long duration; for, the Ninevites relapsing into their former wickedness, the prophet Nahum was commissioned to denounce the final and inevitable ruin of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire by the Chaldeans, and to comfort his countrymen in the certainty of their destruction. His prophecy is one entire poem, which, opening with a sublime description of the justice and power of God tempered with long I Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii, book i. pp. 462, 463. suffering (i. 1-8.), foretells the destruction of Sennacherib's forces, and the subversion of the Assyrian empire (9-12.), together with the deliverance of Hezekiah and the death of Sennacherib. (13-15.) The destruction of Nineveh is then predicted, and described with singular minuteness. (ii. iii.)1 III. In boldness, ardour, and sublimity, Nahum is superior to all the minor prophets. His language is pure; and the exordium of his prophecy, which forms a regular and perfect poem, is not merely magnificent, it is truly majestic. The preparation for the destruction of Nineveh, and the description of its downfall and desolation, are expressed in the most vivid colours, and with images that are truly pathetic and sublime. SECTION VIII. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ZEPHANIAH. I. Author and Date.-II. Scope and Analysis of this Book. BEFORE CHRIST, 640-609. I. THIS prophet, who was "the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah," (i. 1.) is supposed to have been of the tribe of Simeon; but, though he has mentioned his ancestors for no less than four generations, nothing certain can be inferred from thence, as to the family to which he belonged. We learn, however, from his prophecy that he delivered his predictions in the reign of Josiah; consequently he prophesied about the time that Jeremiah entered on his prophetic office, and in method and subject he greatly resembles him. On this account Zephaniah has been considered as the abbreviator of Jeremiah; but it is evident that he prophesied before Jeremiah, because the latter (Jer. ii. 5. 20. 22.) seems to speak of those abuses as partially removed, which the former (Zeph. i. 4, 5. 9.) describes as existing in the most flagitious extent. From his account of the disorders prevailing in Judah, it is probable that he discharged the prophetic office before the eighteenth year of Josiah ; that is, before this prince had reformed the abuses and corruptions of his dominions. The style of Zephaniah is poetical, though it is not characterised by any striking or uncommon beauties. II. In consequence of the idolatry and other iniquities prevailing in the kingdom of Judah, whose inhabitants had disregarded the denunciations and admonitions of former prophets, Zephaniah was The best commentary, perhaps, on this prophet, is the ninth of Bishop Newton's Dissertations (vol. i. pp. 141-158.); in which he has ably illustrated the predictions of Nahum and other prophets who foretold the destruction of Nineveh. commissioned to proclaim the enormity of their wickedness, and to denounce the imminent desolation that awaited them; to excite them to repentance, to foretell the destruction of their enemies, and to comfort the pious Jews with promises of future blessings. His prophecy, which consists of three chapters, may be divided into four sections, viz. SECT. 1. A denunciation against Judah for their idolatry. (i.) SECT. 2. Repentance the only means to avert the divine vengeance. (ii. 1-3.) SECT. 3. Prophecies against the Philistines (ii. 4-7.), Moabites and Ammonites (8-11.), Ethiopia (12.), and Nineveh. (13-15.) SECT. 4. The captivity of the Jews by the Babylonians foretold (iii. i-7.), together with their future restoration and the ultimate prosperous state of the church. (8—20.) CHAPTER VI. ON THE PROPHETS WHO FLOURISHED NEAR TO AND SECTION I. ON THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. I. Author and Date.-11. Occasion of his Prophecies-Different Collections of them.-III. Synopsis of their Contents.-IV. Prophecies concerning the Messiah.-V. Observations on their Style. BEFORE CHRIST, 628-586. I. THE prophet Jeremiah was of the sacerdotal race, being (as he himself records) one of the priests that dwelt at Anatheth (i. 1.) in the land of Benjamin, a city appropriated out of that tribe to the use of the priests, the sons of Aaron (Josh. xxi. 18.), and situate, as we learn from Jerome, about three Roman miles north of Jerusalem. Some critics have conjectured that his father was the same Hilkiah, the high priest, who found the book of the law in the temple, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah (2 Kings xxii. 8.): but of this opinion there is no better ground than that he bore the same name, which was of frequent occurrence among the Jews: for, if Hilkiah had really been the high priest, he would doubtless have been distinguished by that title, and would not have 1 Hieronymi Comm. in Jer. cc, i. xi. and xxxi. Eusebii Onomast. voce. been placed on a level with priests of an ordinary and inferior class. Jeremiah appears to have been very young when he was called to the exercise of the prophetical office, from which he modestly endeavoured to excuse himself, by pleading his youth and incapacity; but being overruled by the divine authority, he set himself to discharge the duties of his function with unremitting diligence and fidelity during a course of at least forty-two years, reckoned from the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign. In the course of his ministry he met with great difficulties and opposition from his countrymen of all degrees, whose persecution and ill-usage sometimes wrought so far upon his mind, as to draw from him expressions, in the bitterness of his soul, which many have thought difficult to reconcile with his religious principles; but which, when duly weighed, may be found to demand our pity rather than censure. He was, in truth, a man of unblemished piety and conscientious integrity; a warm lover of his country, whose miseries he pathetically deplores; and so affectionately attached to his countrymen, notwithstanding their injurious treatment of him, that he chose rather to abide with them, and undergo all hardships in their company, than separately to enjoy a state of ease and plenty, which the favour of the king of Babylon would have secured to him. At length, after the destruction of Jerusalem, having followed the remnant of the Jews into Egypt, whither they had resolved to retire, though contrary to his advice, upon the murder of Gedaliah, whom the Chaldæans had left governor in Judæa, he there continued warmly to remonstrate against their idolatrous practices, foretelling the consequences that would inevitably follow. But his freedom and zeal are said to have cost him his life; for there is a tradition, that the Jews at Tahpanhes were so offended at his faithful remonstrances, that they stoned him to death, which account of the manner of his decease, though not absolutely certain, is at least very likely to be true, considering the temper and disposition of the parties concerned. Their wickedness, however, did not long pass without its reward; for, in a few years after, they were miserably destroyed by the Babylonian armies which invaded Egypt, according to the prophet's prediction. (xliv. 27, 28.)1 Some Jewish writers, however, affirm that he returned to Judæa, while others say that he went to Babylon, and died there; and a third class are of opinion that he died in Egypt, far advanced in years, and broken by the calamities which had happened both to himself and his country. This prophet's writings are all in Hebrew, except the eleventh verse of the tenth chapter, which is Chaldee.. II. The idolatrous apostacy and other criminal enormities of the people of Judah, and the severe judgments which God was preparing to inflict upon them, though not without a distant prospect of future restoration and deliverance, form the principal subjects of the prophecies of Jeremiah; except the forty-fifth chapter, which re1 Dr. Blayney's Translation of Jeremiah, pp. 221. 322. 2d edit. VOL. IV. N |