It is not easy to say in what sense we are to take the former part of the sentence. It may either be to sleep secure from danger; or, to enjoy ease and plenty, i. e. to remain in a prosperous state; or lastly it may indicate the state after death, or a happiness beyond the grave. This last meaning the professor prefers on account of the parallelism, since the corresponding member of the sentence, his seed shall inherit the land, is undoubtedly among those blessings which the Deity promises to the righteous after death. PSALM CXXX. 20. According to our translation: "For they speak against thee wickedly, "And thine enemies take thy name in vain.” The professor thinks that nasa lishave may be translated to profess falsely or to perjure themselves. The sense of the second line will therefore run thus: Who swear falsely by thy cities, i. e. by Sichem, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, &c. by which it was customary for the Jews to swear, as is plain from MATT. v. 35, and this interpretation not only is such as would be suggested by a proper attention to the parallelism, but is perfectly correspondent to the context : "I would that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O God; "Who use thy name only for deceit, “And swear fasely by thy cities. "Do not I hate them, who hate thee," &c. PSALM CXXXvii. 9. "Who giveth to the beast his food, "And to the young ravens which cry.” More agreeable to the Hebrew idiom thus, "Who giveth to the beast his food, "And to the young ravens that for which they cry." But the most complete examples of the use of the parallelism will be found in our Author's Preliminary Dissertation to his Isaiah. T. LECTURE XX. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPHETIC POETRY. The whole of the book of Daniel, as well as of Jonah, are to be excepted as not poetical, though of the prophetic kind; also certain historical relations inserted in the books of the prophets-Some poems occur in the prophetic writings, which properly belong to the other classes of poetry -The remainder constitutes what may be termed a system or code of prophetic poetry-The character of this species of poetry deduced from the nature and design of prophecy itself-An example of the true style of prophetic poetry produced from Isaiah, and explained: also another from the prophecies of Balaam, translated into English verse. N In the two last lectures I endeavoured to explain upon what reasons I was induced to class the predictions of the prophets among the poetical productions of the Hebrews. I speak not of all, but the greater part of the prophetic writings: for there are among them parts which are not prophetic, and even among those which are, there are some passages not poetical. I except, in the first place, those narrations plainly historical, relating to the facts which gave occasion to the prophecies, and which serve to introduce, to explain, and illustrate them some of this kind occur in Isaiah, and in Jeremiah many more. The whole of what is called the prophecy of Jonah is the bare recital of a fact, and contains nothing of poetry but the prayer of the prophet, which is an ode. Some of the prophecies themselves must also be excepted, which are indeed sublime and important as to the matter, but not at all poetical as to the style and metrical structure of this kind many pas. sages occur in Ezekiel; who frequently appears more of the orator than the poet. The whole book of Daniel too, being no more than a plain relation of facts partly past and partly future, must be excluded the class of poetical prophecy. Much I confess of the parabolic imagery is introduced in that book, but the author introduces it as a prophet only; as visionary and allegorical symbols of objects and events, totally untinctured with the true poetical colouring. The Jews, indeed, would refuse to Daniel even the character of a prophet, but the arguments under which they shelter this opinion are very futile for those points which they maintain, concerning the conditions, on which the gift of prophecy is imparted; the different gradations, and the discrimination between the true prophecy and mere inspiration; are all trifling and absurd, without any foundation in the nature of things, and totally destitute of scriptural authority.1 They add, that Daniel was neither originally educated 66 66 1 See MAIMON, More Neboc. ii. 45. Our author in this place alludes to the Rabbinical notions concerning inspiration, which are explained more at large by BASNAGE. They distinguish," says that author, "eleven deK grees of prophecy. They reckon among inspired men those who felt some inward emotions, urging them to perform extraordinary actions, as Samson. Those, who composed hymns and psalms, because they be"lieved themselves inspired with God's Spirit, were accounted so many prophets. However these prophets are distinguished from the following "orders: 1. When Zechariah says, the word of the Lord came unto me• "2. Samuel heard a voice, but did not see who spoke. 3. When a man 66 speaks in a dream with a prophet, as it happened to Ezekiel, to whom a 66 man cried, Son of man. 4. Angels spoke often in dreams. 5. It was "sometimes thought, that God himself spoke in a dream. 6. Some mys"tical objects were discovered. 7. An audible voice was heard from the "midst of these objects. 8. A man is seen speaking, as it happened to "Abraham under the oak of Mamre, which however was a vision. 9. Last"ly, an angel is perceived speaking. Thus Abraham heard one, when he "was binding Isaac upon the altar to sacrifice him: but that was also a "vision." Hist. of the Jews, B. IV. ch. xviii. § 11. T. in the prophetic discipline and precepts, nor afterwards lived conformably to the manner of the prophets. I do not, however, comprehend how this can diminish his claim to a divine mission and inspiration; it may possibly enable us, indeed, to assign a reason for the dissimilarity between the style of Daniel and that of the other prophets, and for its possessing so little of the diction and character of poetry, which the rest seem to have im. bibed in common from the schools and discipline in which they were educated.2 There occur, moreover, in the writings of the prophets, certain passages, which although poetical, yet do not properly belong to this species of poetry. I allude to some instances in Isaiah, Habbakuk, and Ezekiel, which appear to constitute complete poems of different kinds, odes as well as elegies. These also being excepted, all the other predictions of the prophets (including such as are extant in the historical books, most of which have been occasionally quoted in the course of 2 We may add the decline of the Hebrew language, which in the Babylonish captivity lost all its grace and elegance. Nor among so many evils which befel their nation, is it surprising that they should have neither leisure nor spirit for the cultivation of the fine arts? Besides, when a language is confined chiefly to the lowest of the people, it is hardly to be expected that it should produce any poets worthy of the name. Let any man compare what was written in Hebrew before and after the Babylonish exile, and I apprehend he will perceive no less evident marks of decay and ruin than in the Latin language. Wherefore it appears to me very improbable, that any psalms, which breathe a truly sublime and poetical spirit, were composed after the return from Babylon, excepting perhaps that elegant piece of poetry the cxxxviith. Certainly nothing can be more absurd than the error, into which some commentators have fallen, in attributing some of the sublimest of the psalms to Ezra, than whose style nothing can be meaner or more ungraceful. Indeed I have myself some doubts concerning the cxxxixth, which I am more inclined to attribute to Jeremiah, or some contemporary of his; and I think the taste and spirit of the bard, who sung so sweetly elsewhere the miseries of his nation, may very plainly be discerned in it. M. these lectures, form a whole, and constitute that particular species of poetry, which I distinguish by the appellation of prophetic. I shall now endeavour, in the first place, to offer to your consideration such a description of this species of poetry, as may serve to distinguish it from the rest; and afterwards to delineate the peculiar character of each of the prophets, as far as may be consistent with the object of these Lectures. The genius of the prophetic poetry is to be explored by a due attention to the nature and design of prophecy itself. The immediate design of all prophecy is to inform or amend those generations that precede the events predicted, and it is usually calculated either to excite their fears and apprehensions, or to afford them consolation. The means which it employs for the accomplishment of these effects, are a general amplification of the subject, whether it be of the menacing or consolatory kind, copious descriptions, diversified, pompous, and sublime; in this also it necessarily avoids too great a degree of exactness, and too formal a display of the minuter circumstances; rather employing a vague and general style of description, expressive only of the nature and magnitude of the subject: for prophecy in its very nature implies some degree of obscurity, and is always, as the apostle elegantly expresses it, "like a light glimmering in a dark place, until the day dawn, " and the day-star arise."3 But there is also a further use and intention of prophecy, which regards those who live after the prediction is accomplished, and that is, the demonstration and attestation which it affords of the divine veracity this evidently appears to demand a different form of enunciation; for correct language, apt imagery, and an exact display of circumstances, are pe 32 PET. ii. 9. |