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LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
PRINCETON, N. J.
Presented by
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Cbe Annotated Bible
Cbe Ijoly Scriptures Analysed and Annotated
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BY
A. C. GAEBELEIN, D.D.
Editor of "OUR HOPE"
Uolutne U Daniel to malacfti
PUBLICATION OFFICE "OUR HOPE"
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THE PROPHET DANIEL
The Prophet Daniel.
At the close of the history of Hezekiah, the noble king of Judah, as reported by the prophet Isaiah, is found a significant prophecy. Hezekiah, like so many other good men before and after him, had fallen into the crime jf the devil, pride (1 Timothy iii:6), and the Lord through the prophet Isaiah announced therefore the future judgment upon the royal house of David: "Behold the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. He said, moreover. For there shall be peace and truth in my days" (Isaiah xxxix:6-8).
About one hundred years after this startling prophecy was literally fulfilled. The opening verses of the book of Daniel introduce us to this. The Babylonian king came and beseiged the city of Jerusalem and conquered it. Among those carried away was Daniel and his companions. Daniel, as we learn from the third verse of the first chapter, was of princely descent.
This young man, the captive in Babylon, became, through the marvellous pre Jence of God, one of the leading figures and prominent actors in the great Babylonian empire, under the reign of Nebuchad- nezzar. He was made, in spite of his youth, a great man — the prime minister of Babylon.
Of his personal history, his character and remarkable experiences we know more than of any of the other prophets of God. As a mere lad he was brought to the strange land as a captive. We behold him and his companion, true to Jehovah, maintaining their God-given place of separation. He honored Jehovah and Jehovah honored him. Soon the Lord used the young captive by revealing unto him the for- gotten dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation of the dream. Then followed the exaltation of the obscure captive; and afterwards he seemed to have been the close companion of the great Gentile monarch, who acknowledged finally the Lord-God of Israel as his God. Then God honored him by giving him the great visions of the future, so remarkable in their scope. The Lord appeared unto him; he talked with angels, and the messenger Gabriel addressed him as "the man greatly beloved."
As an old man he had been quite forgotten during the reign of the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar; only the Queen mother, the aged wife of Nebuchadnezzar, remembered him. In that memor- able night when Babylon fell the old prophet interpreted the band.
4 THE PROPHET DANIEL
writing on the wall, though old in years, still young in his faith. Under the reign of Darius he was cast among the lions, on account of his devotion to Jehovah, and wonderfully delivered.
What a man of prayer he was we learn Jrom the ninth chapter. He reached a very old age, continuing even into the reign of Cyrus, and when his great work was done, ere the Lord called him home, he received the promise: "But go thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of days" (xii:13). In the great faith chapter of the Hebrew Epistle his name is not mentioned, but his deeds are there. "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions" (Heb- rews xi:33).
The Authenticity of Daniel.
V Perhaps no other book of the Bible has been so much attacked as the Book of Daniel. It is a veritable battlefield between faith and unbelief. For about 2,000 years, wicked men, heathen philosophers and infidels have hammered away against it; but the Book has proven to be the anvil upon which the critics' hammers have been broken into pieces. The Book has survived all attacks, and we need not fear that the weak and puerile critics, the most subtle infidels of Christendom in our day, can harm the Book. It has been denied that Daniel wrote the book during the Babylonian captivity. Kuenen and Wellhausen and their imitating disciples like Canon Farrar, Driver and others of inferior calibre, claim that the work was not written in the Exile, but centuries later. Daniel had nothing to do with the Book at all; a holy and gifted Jew^ wrote it instead, and it is avowed fiction. Such are a few of the infidel statements made against this sublime Book. These critics follow the wicked assailant of Christianity of the third century, Porphyr, who contended that the Book of Daniel is a forgery, that it was written during the time of the Maccabees, after Antiochus Epiphanes, so clearly foretold in this book, had appeared. The whole reasoning method of the destructive Bible-Criticism may be reduced to the following: Prophecy is an impossibility, there is no such thing as foretelling events to come. Therefore a book which contains predictions must have been written after the events which are predicted. But how could the man who committed such a forgery be a pious Jew? No, the Book of Daniel is either Divine or it is the most colossal forgery and fraud. No middle ground is possible.
We give a few of the evidences which answer the infidel attacks upon this great fundamental prophetic book.
It should be enough for every Christian that our Lord, the infallible Son of God, mentions Daniel by name in His great prophetic discourse delivered on Olivet (Matthew xxiv:15). There can be no question that our Lord at least t^yice more referred to the Book of Daniel. When He speaks of Himself and His coming again in the clouds of
THE PROPHET DANIEL 5
heaven as the Son of Man, He confirms Daniel's vision in chapter vii:13; and when He speaks of the stone to fall in Matthew xxi:44, He confirms Daniel ii:44-45. How does the critic meet this argu- ment? He tells us that our Lord accommodated Himself to the Jewish views current in His day. They say, perhaps He knew better, and some say that He did not know. In other words, they deny the infal- libility of our Lord, and with this invention that He accommodated Himself against His better knowledge, they accuse our Lord of something worse. When the Lord uttered the words, "Daniel the Prophet" He put at once His unimpeachable seal on both the person and the Book of Daniel.
But there are other evidences. The heathen Porphyr declared that the Book was written during the days of the Maccabees; as stated above the modern critics have echoed the opinion of that lost heathen soul. But the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which was made before the times of the Maccabees, contains the Book of Daniel. It was in the hands of the learned Hebrews, who translated in the third century before Christ the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek. The Book therefore antedates the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Furthermore during the days of the Maccabees a book was written, the first book of the Maccabees, a historical account of those event- ful days. This Maccabean work not only presupposes the existence of the Book of Daniel, but shows actual acquaintance with it, and therefore gives proof that the Book must have been written long be- fore that period (1 Mace. i:54,compare with Daniel ix:27; ii:59 and Daniel iii).
The reliable Jewish historian Josephus also furnisheth historically an evidence for Daniel. He tells us that when Alexander the Great, who is mentioned in Daniel's prophecy (chapter viii), came to Jeru- salem in the year 332 B. C, Jaddua the high priest, showed him the prophecies of Daniel, and Alexander was greatly impressed with them.
Then we have the testimony of another prophet of the exile, the prophet Ezekiel. He speaks twice in the highest terms of Daniel, whose contemporary he was. (See Ezekiel xiv:14-20 and xxviii:3.)
Daniel also betrays such an intimate acquaintance with Chaldean customs and history, as well as their religion, such as none but one who lived there and was an eye-witness could have possessed. For instance, the description of the Chaldean magicians perfectly agrees with the accounts found in other sources. The account of the in- sanity of Nebuchadnezzar is confirmed by the ancient historian Berosus.
Then there has been a most striking vindication of this Book through the Babylonian excavations, tablets, cylinders and monuments. Into this we cannot fully enter, but we cite but one of the most striking.
The name of Belshazzar furnished for a long time material to the
6 THE PROPHET DANIEL
infidels to reject the historical accuracy of the book. The father of Belshazzar was Nabonnaid, who was not a son of Nebuchadnezzar at all. How then could Belshazzar be a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar? This objection is seemingly strengthened by the fact that no ancient historians include in the list of Babylonian kings the name of Belshazzar.
Berosus, who lived about 250 years after the Persian invasion, gives the following list of Babylonian monarchs:
Nabuchodonosar (Nebuchadnezzar). Evil Marudak, who is the Evil Merodach of the Bible. Neriglissor. Laborosoarchod. Nabon- naid. Cyrus, the Persian conqueror.
DiflFerent attempts were made to clear up this diflBculty, but they failed. Now, if Daniel wrote his Book he must be correct. But the critics are ever ready to put the doubt not on the side of history, but on the side of the Bible. So they said Berosus was not mistaken and that if Daniel really had written the Book which bears his name he would have been historically correct. This is how matters stood up to 1854. In that year Sir Rawlinson translated a number of tablets brought to light by the spade from the ruins of the Babylonian civil- ization. These contained the memorials of Nabonnaid, and in these the name of Bil-shar-uzzar appeared frequently, and is mentioned as the son of Nabonnaid and sharing the government with him. The existence of Belshazzar and the accuracy of Daniel were at once estab- lished beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Daniel was promised by Belshazzar to become the third ruler in the kingdom (Dan. v:16).
Why the third and not the second? Because Nabonnaid was the first, Belshazzar his son was the second and vice-regent. Nabonnaid had a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar for wife and therefore Belshazzar from his mother's side was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.
But have the critics learned by this complete defeat? Have they profited by this experience and will they leave the Bible alone? Not by any means. They will continue to look for flaws in the infallible Book. Some day they will discover the seriousness of their work.
The Important Prophetic Message of Daniel. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the Book of Daniel. It is the key to all prophecy; without a knowledge of the great prophecies contained in this book the entire prophetic portion of the word of God must remain a sealed book. One of the reasons why so few Christians have a correct knowledge of the prophetic forecast in the Bible is the neglect of the Book of Daniel. The great prophetic portions of the New Testament, the Olivet discourse of our Lord (Matthew xxiv and xxv), and above all the great New Testament book of prophecy, the Book of Revelation, can only be understood through the prophecies of Daniel.
run PROPHET DANIEL 7
To both, the Babylonian king and God's prophet were revealed the political history of the "Times of the Gentiles" (Luke xxi:24). The rise and fall of the great monarchies. Babylonia, Medo-Persian, Graeco-Macedonia and the Roman, are successively revealed in this Book. The appointed end of these times and what will follow the times of the Gentiles is made known. Our generation lives in the very shadow of that end. Then there are prophecies relating more specifically to Jerusalem and the Jewish people, showing what will yet come for that city and the nation.
It will be impossible in our brief annotations to do justice to all the details of this prophetic book. The larger work on "The Prophet Daniel" by the author of the Annotated Bible may be obtained at a small cost from the publisher and this exposition should be carefully studied with the accompanying pages.
The Division of Daniel.
The Book of Daniel is written in two languages, in the Hebrew and in the Aramaic, the language of Chaldea. The first chapter is WTitten in Hebrew, in style closely allied to the Hebrew used in the book of Ezekiel. Chapters viii-xii are likewise written in the Hebrew language. But chapters ii:4-vii:28 are written in the Aramaic language. This gives an additional argument for the authenticity of the book. The author was conversant with both languages, an attain- ment exactly suited to a Hebrew living in exile, but not in the least so to an author in the Maccabean age, when the Hebrew had long since ceased to be a living language, and had been supplanted by the Aramaic vernacular dia- lect. Daniel was led to employ both languages for a specific reason. What concerned these great monarchies, Babylonia and Medo-Persia, was written in the language with which they were familiar. What concerned the Jewish people was written for them in Hebrew. We shall not follow the linguis- tic division of the book.
We find in the book two main sections :
I. DANIEL IN BABYLON. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. HISTORICAL EVENTS. Chapters i-vi.
Chapter I. Daniel and His Companions in Babylon.
Chapter II. The Great Prophetic Dream of Nebuchad- nezzar.
Chapter III-VI. Historical Events.
n. THE GREAT PROPHECIES OF DANIEL. Chap- ters vii-xii. Chapter VII. The Night Visions of Daniel. Chapter VIII. The Vision of the Ram and the He-Goat. Chapter IX. The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.
THE PROPHET DANIEL 9
Chapter X. Preparation for the Final Prophecy.
Chapter XI. The Wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae Predicted. The Coming Events of the End.
. Chapter XII. The Great Tribulation and Israel's Deliver- ance/
10 THE PROPHET DANIEL
Analysis and Annotations.
I. DANIEL IN BABYLON. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. HISTORICAL EVENTS.
Chapters i-vi.
CHAPTER I.
DANIEL AND HIS COMPANIONS IN BABYLON.
1. The Introduction. Verses 1-2.
2. The King's Command. Verses 3-5.
3. Daniel and His Companions. Verses 6-21.
1. The Introduction: Verses 1-2. Divine judgment, which had threatened so long, had finally fallen upon Jerusa- lem. It was executed by the divinely chosen instrument, Nebuchadnezzar. Three times he came against Jerusalem. In 606 B.C. he appeared the first time. This is the visita- tion mentioned here. In 598 he came again and carried away more captives, including Ezekiel. In 587 he burned the city and the temple.
2. The King's Command : Verses 3-5. As already stated in the introduction the young captives of the king's seed and of the princes (both of Judah) was in fulfilment of prophecy. They were to be added to the king's court and to receive special royal favors, instructions in the wisdom and language of the Chaldeans and have the privileges of the king's table.
3. Daniel and His Companions: Verses 6-21. Daniel means — God is my Judge; Hananiah is — Beloved of the Lord; Michael — Who is as God; Azariah — ^The Lord is my help. These beautiful names were soon changed into names of heathen meaning, to blot out the very memory of Jehovah. Daniel becomes Belteshazzar (Bel's prince); Hananiah is named Shadrach (Illumined by the sun-god); Mishael is called Meshach (who is like Shach-Venus) ; and Azariah is changed to Abednego (the servant of Nego).
The purpose of the four expressed their loyalty to the
THE PROPHET DANIEL 11
God of their fathers and their obedience to His law. The Lord rewarded them for their loyalty and faithfulness, as He is still the rewarder of all who trust in Him and walk in separation.
CHAPTER II. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM AND ITS INTERPRETATION.
1. The Forgotten Dream. Verses 1-13.
2. The Prayer Meeting in Babylon and the Answer. Verses 14-23.
3. Daniel Before the King. Verses 24-28.
4. The Revelation and Interpretation of the Dream. Verses 24-45.
5. The Promotion of Daniel and His Companions. Verses 46-49.
1. The Forgotten Dream: Verses 1-13. The King had a dream which was occasioned by thinking concerning the future (verse 29). God answered his desire by this dream, which made a great impression on him. But he had forgotten the dream. The soothsayers, wise men and magicians, who were kept by him to interpret dreams, were unable to reveal the forgotten dream : they confessed their utter helplessness. The king condemned them to death. Inasmuch as Daniel and his companions were counted among the wise men, "they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain."
2. The Prayer Meeting and the Answer: Verses 14-23. And now Daniel steps to the front. But there is no haste and no hurry connected with it, for "He that believeth shall not make haste." He is brought before the king and prom- ises to the king the meaning of that dream. It was the lan- guage of faith; he had confidence in God. He knew that the same Jehovah who had given another captive wisdom, Joseph in Egypt, was his God also. Then there was a prayer meeting in Babylon. While the condemned wise men, the astrologers and magicians trembled for fear of death, Daniel and his companions asked "mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret." The prayer was speedily answered.
3. Daniel Before the King: Verses 24-28. After Daniel had praised the God of heaven he requested an audience with the King. How beautiful he is in the presence of the mighty Monarch! What an opportunity to glorify himself I
12 THE PROPHET DANIEL
But he hides himself completely and gives God all the glory. Then he tells the king that in the dream he is about to relate God has made known unto him "what shall be in the latter days."
4. The Revelation and Interpretation of the Dream: Verses 24-45. Daniel then told to the king the forgotten dream :
Thou, O King, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken to pieces together, and be- came like the chaflf of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth (verses 31-35).
The great man image is the prophetic symbol of the "Times of the Gentiles." This expression "The Times of the Gen- tiles" is not found in the Book of Daniel, but it is a New Testament phrase. Our Lord used it exclusively. In that part of His prophetic discourse which is reported in the Gospel of Luke and which relates to the fall of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the nation, our Lord said: "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled" (Luke xxi:24). Now, the times of the Gentiles did not begin when Jerusalem rejected the Lord from heaven. Our Lord does not say that the times of the Gentiles were then ushered in. The times of the Gentiles started with the Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. The Glory of the Lord departed from Jerusalem. The other great Prophet of the captivity, Ezekiel, beheld the departure of the She- kinah. "Then did tJie Cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up
THE PROPHET DANIEL 13
from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city" (Ezek. xi:22-23). But before that Jeremiah recorded a remarkable word. These are the words of Jehovah concerning Nebuchadnezzar:
I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuch- adnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand (Jeremiah xxvii: 5-9).
Jerusalem had been supreme because the throne and the glory of Jehovah was there. Though Assyria, Egypt and Babylon had tried repeatedly to overthrow Jerusalem, they were held in check by the power of God and Divine inter- vention, but when the measure of the wickedness of Jeru- salem was full, Nebuchadnezzar was chosen to become the first great monarch of the times of the Gentiles. The do- minion was then taken away from Jerusalem and transferred to the Gentiles.
Therefore the golden head in this prophetic man-image represents Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire. The chest of silver, according to Divine interpretation, stands for an inferior monarchy which was to follow the Babylonian empire. This second world empire is the Medo- Persian. The belly and thighs of brass represent the third great monarchy, the Graeco-Macedonian. The fourth great monarchy which was to rise during the times of the Gentiles, represented by the two legs of iron, is the iron empire, Rome. Here, then, is history pre- written. 3od, who knows the end from the beginning, rev^ealed in this dream the coiu-se of the times of the Gentiles, beginning with the Babylonian monarchy and followed by three more: The Medo-Peysian,
14 THE PROPHET DANIEL
the Graeco-Macedonian and the Roman. Notice the pro- cess of deterioration as indicated in the composition of this image: Gold, silver, brass, iron, and finally the iron getting less and clay taking a prominent place. It shows that polit- ically the times of the Gentiles are not improving.
Everything which this image represents has been fulfilled, except the last portion, when a stone falls out of heaven and strikes the ten toes and the clay, so that the whole colossal figure goes to pieces, the different constituent metals become like the chaff on the summer thresliingfloor and the striking stone becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth.
The fourth Empire, the Roman, has not yet fulfilled its history. The final form, and with it the final form of the times of the Gentiles is yet to pass into history. This final form is symbolically seen in the ten toes and the clay, in the feet of the image. The territory which constituted the now extinct Roman empire will in the near future undergo a political revival. It will reappear in a confederated Europe, except certain countries which never belonged to the Roman empire. In that confederacy will be kingdoms to the num- ber of ten; the clay represents democracies, the rule by the people and for the people. The late great war has brought such a political combination into our times. Such is the future and end of the times of the Gentiles, as foretold in the feet of the image.
But what does the smiting stone represent, the stone which abolisheth the image and becomes itself a great mountain filling the whole earth?
The Stone is Christ. That the stone represents Christ is seen from the Scriptures. "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foun- dation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation" (Isa. xxviii:16). Zechariah speaks of this stone with seven eyes upon it and engraven. We read of Him in the New Testament as the foiuidation stone of the church, the cornerstone, the stone rejected by the builders. Most interesting is His own word in the Gospel of Matthew: "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken:
THE PROPHET DANIEL 15
but ou whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder" (Matt, xxi:44). Here We have Israel's sin and judgment and the fate of the Gentiles. Israel stumbled against this stone; for them He was a stumblingstone and rock of offence. In consequence they were broken as a nation. But the Gentile world, rejecting Him, will be broken when the stone falls. They will be ground to powder by the falling stone. Our Lord must have had the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in mind when he spake these words. The falling stone of which He speaks and the striking stone in the dream mean the same Person, Himself.
The stone doing its work in smiting the image is a proph- ecy of the second coming of our Lord. The mountain filling after that the earth foreshadows that kingdom which will be established with the return of Christ and His enthrone- ment as King of kings.
5. The Promotion of Daniel and His Companions: Verses 46-49. The heathen monarch then acknowledged Daniel's God in a threefold way: The God of gods (the Father); the Lord of Kings (God the Son) ; the Revealer of secrets (God the Holy Spirit). Daniel is lifted from the place of humilia- tion to a place of exaltation. He did not forget his com- panions; they share honor and glory with him. It is a beautiful picture of that day when our Lord will receive the throne and when His own will not be left behind in sharing with Him His glory.
HISTORICAL EVENTS. CHAPTERS HI- VI.
The four chapters which follow the great dream of Neb- uchadnezzar are of a historical character. They do not contain direct prophecies, but record certain events which transpired during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, his successor and grandson Belshazzar, and Darius, the Mede. On the personal history of these three persons and where they are found in profane history we have little to say, as a deeper examination of this subject would lead us too far and would be tedious. But this much nuist be said that the criticism
16 THE PROPHET DANIEL
which charged Daniel with being incorrect has been com- pletely silenced by the Babylonian cylinders of Cyrus and Nabonnaid and the so-called annalistic tablets, the very records of those days. It is true the personality of Darius the Mede has not yet been definitely located historically. However, we do not believe the Bible because its historical statements can be verified from profane history. We be- lieve the Bible because its records are divinely inspired and therefore correct. What would we know of the genuineness of these ancient tablets and cylinders covered with cunei- form inscriptions if it were not for the Bible? These wit- nesses from the stones, which indeed cry out, do not verify the Bible, they are rather declared genuine and correct by the Word of God.
These four chapters then give us historical events. Each has a prophetic meaning, though direct prophecy is not found in them.
These chapters describe the moral conditions which held sway during the two first world empires; they indicate prophetically the moral conditions which continue to the end of the times of the Gentiles. Five things may be traced in these four chapters: The moral characteristics of the times of the Gentiles; what will happen at the close of these times; the faithful remnant in suffering; their deliverance and the Gentiles acknowledging God, as King and the God of heaven.
CHAPTER III.
THE IMAGE OF GOLD.
1. The Image of Gold. Verses 1-7.
2. The Faithful Three. Verses 8-18.
3. The Miraculous Deliverance. Verses 19-25.
4. The Worshipping King.
1. The Image of Gold: Verses 1-7. He had an immense statue of gold made, the image of a man, no doubt, and he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. It was idolatry and the deification of man. Idolatry and the deification of man are then the first moral characteris-
THE PROPHET DANIEL 17
tics mentioned which are to prevail during the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles produce a religion which is opposed to the God of heaven. The image was sixty cubits high and six broad. Seven is the divine number and six is the number of man. Sixty cubits and six re- minds us of that familiar passage in the Book of Revelation, where we have the number of a man given, that mysterious number "Six hundred three-score and six," that is 666. The image then represents man, but the climax of man was not yet reached. However, the beginning foreshadows the end of the times of the Gentiles. That end is described in chapter xiii of Revelation.
The civil power tried to force this universal religion upon the people. The great governors, judges, captains and rulers had to appear for the dedication of the image. But then the whole thing had a religious aspect. Listen, after looking at this great awe-inspiring image of gold — the sweetest music — the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sackbut, psal- tery, dulcimer and all kinds of music sounds forth. No doubt the Chaldean priests approached chanting some sweet Babylonian song. Why all this.^* To stir up the religious emotions and aid in this way the worship of an idol. It is intensely interesting that the ancient Babylonian worship, with its ceremonials and chanting is reproduced in Rome, which is called in Revelation, Babylon.*
2. The Faithful Three: Verses 8-18. The companions of Daniel refused to worship the image and were cast into the fiery furnace. Notice their wonderful trust in God.
3. The Miraculous Deliverance: Verses 19-25. The very men who cast them down were consumed by the flames. But when the King looked towards the furnace he beheld to his great astonishment not three men bound and burning up, but four men loose and actually walking in the fire. "They have no hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." And when they were brought up from the
*The Book by Mr. Hyslop "The Two Babylons" gives reliable and important information on this fact.
18 THE PROPHET DANIEL
fiery furnace, no smell of fire was about them, not even a hair was singed, only the bands which has bound them were burned off. The fire had set them free but it could not touch them. But did the King speak true when he beheld the fourth like the Son of God? Little did he know what he said or what it meant, but assuredly he saw in that fire the Son of God, Jehovah, for He had promised His people, "When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle on thee." The faithful Lord kept His promise to His trusting servants.
And has not all this been repeated throughout the times of the Gentiles especially during the Roman Empire? Pagan Rome persecuted the true worshippers of God and in great persecutions multitudes suffered martyrdom. But think of what is worse. Papal Rome, that Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots. There we find the images and the sweet music, the prostrations and political power enforcing unity of worship. The fiery furnaces were there, the stake, the most awful tortures for those who were faith- ful to God and to their Lord. Think of the story of the Waldensians and Huguenots And while for these noble martyrs, for whom there is a martyr's crown in the coming day of Christ, there came no deliverance and their bodies were consumed by the fire, yet the Son of God was with them and with praising hearts and a song upon their lips. He carried them through the fire.
And during the great tribulation will a faithful rem- :iant of Jews suffer under the man of sin, as these three Hebrews suffered; but they will likewise be delivered.
4. The Worshipping King. Verses 26-30. Once more Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God and made a decree that severe punishment should be the lot of all who say anything amiss against the God of Daniel's companions.
THE PROPHET DANIEL 19
CHAPTER IV. THE TREE VISION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
1. The King's Proclamation. Verses 1-3.
2. The King Relates the Tree Vision. Verses 4-18.
3. Daniel Interprets the Vision. Verses 19-27.
4. The Tree Vision Fulfilled. The Kings Abasement and
Restoration. Verses 28-37.
1. The King's Proclamation: Verses 1-3. This chapter is in form, at least in part, of a proclamation. This pro- clamation must have been written after the king had passed through the experience recorded in this chapter.
2. The King Relates the Tree Vision: Verses 4-18. Read carefully the vision the king had and compare with Ezekiel xxxi:3 and Matthew xiii, the parable of the mustard seed. In each case the great big tree is tlie symbol of pride and self -exaltation.
3. Daniel Interprets the Vision: Verses 19-27. The prophet's interpretation of this dream needs no further comment. A careful reading will make it clear in its meaning.
4. The Tree Vision Fulfilled. The King's Abasement and Restoration: Verses 28-37. Twelve months later he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. Then with a haughty mien he utters the fatal words: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of ray power and for the honor of my majesty." Notice the personal pronoun. But while he yet uttered these words a heavenly voice was heard which announced that the kingdom is departed from him. What Daniel had said in his interpretation is repeated from heaven. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar and he was driven from men and did eat grass as the oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. And after the seven times had passed over him his understanding returned unto him and he blessed the Most High.
The great characteristic here is pride and self-exaltation.
20 THE PROPHET DANIEL
As judgment came upon the great monarch in the begin- ning of the times of the Gentiles, so judgment will yet fall upon this proud and self-exalting age of the Gentiles. That great big, political and religious tree will some day be hewn down and be destroyed.
And Nebuchadnezzar's great humiliation in becoming a beast for seven times (seven years),* points us to the end of this Gentile age once more. Apostasy from God will be the great characteristic of that end. There will be no more looking up to God, but the attitude of the beast will be the attitude of the nations. We see much of this already. They mind earthly things and become the "earth-dwellers" so frequently mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Mad- ness and bestiality will seize upon the Gentiles, after the One who hinders, the Holy Spirit is removed. Then proud and apostate Christendom will believe the lie and follow the beast with its lying wonders. This will last seven times, that is, seven years.
The stump of the great tree which remains in the field suggests the fact that the judgments which fall upon the nations in the time of the end will not completely destroy all nations. Many of them will be swept away. For those who wilfully rejected the Gospel and turned away from the truth, there is no hope. But there are others which will be left and when these judgments are in the earth, the nations learn righteousness. .
The millennium is also seen in this chapter in the restor- ation of Nebuchadnezzar and in the praise He gives to the Most High. In the previous chapter the three friends of Daniel speak of "Our God," but in this chapter we hear of "The Most High." It is the millennial name of God. We see then in the fourth chapter the pride and self-exaltation of the Gentiles, and how the Gentiles will be humiliated and judged. First there is self-exaltation, that is followed
*The attempt to ascertain from this "seven times" the length of the times of the Gentiles as some do lacks the support of Scripture. The seven times mean seven years.
THE PROPHET DANIEL 21
by judgment, and then follows restoration and the acknow- ledgement of the Most High.
That nothing more is now reported of Nebuchadnezzar, that the last which we hear of him in Scripture is his acknow- ledgment of the Most High, is also not without meaning. It foreshadows the universal acknowledgment of God in the Kingdom which the God of heaven will set up, when the stone fills as the mountain the whole earth.
CHAPTER V. BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST.
1. Belshazzar's Licentious Feast. Verses 1-4.
2. The Writing on the Wall. Verses 5-9.
3. Forgotten Daniel. Verses 10-16.
4. The Message of Daniel. Verses 17-31.
1. Belshazzar^s Licentious Feast: Verses 1-4. This feast of wickedness and blasphemy needs no further anno- tations. But it shows the great decline morally in the great Babylonian empire. Nebuchadnezzar, no doubt, had handled the golden vessels of the house of the Lord most carefully. He had stored them away, fearing to misuse them. The grandson sent for these vessels to drink out of them wine with his harlots and to praise his idols.
2. The Writing on the V/all: Verses 5-9. A mysterious finger then wrote over against the candlestick on the wall. The king saw plainly the part of the hand that wrote. The feast of licentiousness became suddenly a feast of gloom and consternation. Nor could the astrologers and wise men read thfe writing which had appeared on the wall.
3. Forgotten Daniel: Verses 10-16. At this point the Queen, the aged widow of Nebuchadnezzar, appeared on the scene and called attention to an old man, who played such an important part during the reign of her husband. Daniel is sent for.
4. The Message of Daniel: Verses 17-31. Daniel refused the honors of the king. He knew that ere long the blaspheming king would be no more. And Daniel was more than an interpreter of the handwriting on the wall.
22 THE PROPHET DANIEL
He is God's prophet and messenger, as a reading of this portion of the chapter shows.
This chapter reveals the blasphemous character of the end of the Babylonian monarchy. Blasphemy, rejection of God's Truth are about us on all sides. There is a "Mene, Mene, Tekel" for apostate Christendom and for that final phase of Babylon as revealed in Rev. xvii and xviii.
CHAPTER VI. UNDER DARIUS THE MEDE. DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN.
1. The Decree of Darius. Verses 1-9.
2. Daniel's Faith and Steadfastness. Verses 10-15.
3. Daniel Cast into the Lion's Den, and the Deliverance. Verses 16-24.
4. The Degree of Darius. Verses 25-28.
1. The Decree of Darius: Verses 1-9. From the opening of this chapter we learn that Daniel also held a very high position in the beginning of the second monarchy, which had conquered Babylonia. He was preferred above all the other presidents and princes. This created jealousy. They devised a very cunning plan and made the king sign a decree, which they were sure Daniel would break. Inas- much as the law of the Persians and Medes was irrevocable they were sure that the hated old man would be cast into the lion's den.
2. Daniel's Faith and Steadfastness: Verses 10-15. It is a beautiful scene. When Daniel knew the decree had been signed, he went calmly back into his house and with his windows open towards Jerusalem he prayed and gave thanks to the Lord. He looked away from earthly circum- stances and looked to the omnipotent One. The accusation followed. The king now discovers that he is in a desperate condition. His law demands that Daniel be cast to the lions, but his heart filled with love for Daniel would have liked to save him, but he found no way of delivering him.
Well may we think here of another Law and another Love. God, a holy and righteous God and a God of love, found a way to save man. God's holy Law condemns man, who is a sinner and the curse of the law rests upon him.
THE PROPHET DANIEL 23
God's Love is set upon the world, and He "so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whoso- ever believeth on Him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life." The curse of the Law came upon Him who knew no sin and who was made sin for us, and therein is Love manifested. Daniel is cast into the lions' den as our blessed Lord was given to the lion (Psalm xxii:21), and a stone is laid upon the mouth of the den and it is sealed with the King's signet. He is so to speak in a grave, as good as dead in the eyes of the world, for who has ever heard of hungry lions not devouring a man. And all this brings before us that other place, the tomb in the garden, where He was laid and the stone before it, which bore the seal of the Roman world power. But as Daniel could not be hurt by the lions, so He who went into the jaws of death could not be hoi den by death. The tomb is empty and He is victor over death and the grave. All this is blessedly fore- shadowed in this experience of God's prophet.
The Lord in whom Daniel trusted and whom he served delivered him from the lions. His accusers and their families were given to the ferocious beasts, which devoured them at once.
4. The Decree of Darius: Verses 25-28. King Darius also acknowledged the God of Daniel.
The final characteristic of the times of the Gentiles is man worship. The heads of these empires including the Roman Caesars claimed divine honors. Papal Rome also puts up man as the viceregent of the Lord. And all about us we find the deification of man. Finally there comes the head of all this apostasy, the son of perdition, the man of sin, who demands worship for himself (2 Thessalonians ii).
IL THE GREAT PROPHECIES OF DANIEL.
Chapters vii-xii. CHAPTER VII.
THE NIGHT VISIONS OF DANIEL.
1. The Night Vision of the Three lieasts. Verses 1-6.
2. The Night Vision of the Fourth Beast. Verses 7-8.
24 THE PROPHET DANIEL
3. The Judgment Vision. Verses 9-12.
4. The Son of Man and His Kingdom. Verses 13-14.
5. The Interpretation of the Visions Given. Verses 15-28.
1. The Night Vision of the Three Beasts. Verses 1-6.
The sea in the vision is the type of nations (Rev. xvii:15). The three first beasts he saw represented the same great monarchies which were shown to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream by the gold, silver and brass. The lion Daniel saw first rising out of the sea stands for the Babylonian empire symbolized by the lion (Jere. iv:7). The plucking of the wings and the man's heart must refer to Nebuchadnezzar's insanity and restoration (chapter iv). The bear is the emblem of the Medo-Persian monarchy (corresponding to the chest of silver in the image). One side of the bear was raised up, higher than the other, because the Persian element was the strongest. The three ribs denote the conc^uest of three provinces by this power. The leopard with four heads and wungs is the picture of the great Alexandrine empire, the Graeco-Macedonian (corresponding to the belly and thighs of brass in the image).
The fou -wings denote its swiftness, the four heads the partition of this empire into the kingdoms of Syria, Egypt, Macedonia and Asia Minor. It is seen in the next chapter as the rough he-goat with a notable horn (Alexander the Great) and the little horn (Antiochus Epiphanes). The fourth beast was not seen in the first vision. Before we turn to the second night vision of the Prophet we call atten- tion to the fact that in the selection of beasts to represent these world powers who domineer the times of the Gentiles, God tells us that their moral character is beastly. The lion devours, the bear crushes, the leopard springs upon its prey.
2. The Night Vision of the Fourth Beast: Verses 7-8. This represents Rome, corresponding to the two legs of iron and the ten horns with the little horn between has the same meaning as the ten toes on the feet of the image. The little horn we find more fully mentioned in another portion of this chapter. Thus the prophet beheld the same mon-
THE PROPHET DANIEL 25
archies revealed in the second chapter under the emblem of ferocious beasts. Such the nations are and in their standards and national emblems they have borne witness to their beastly characters. Notice also here the same process of deterioration as in the image. The monarchies degenerate from lion to bear, from bear to leopard and then into a great nondescript.
3. The Judgment Vision: Verses 9-12. This vision bring us to the close of the times of the Gentiles. When the fourth beast with the ten horns and the little horn, the last thing spoken of this world empire, is in full swing, then the end comes. It is a great judgment scene which is here before us. How different the end of this age as revealed in the Word and as it is believed in Christendom. The great mass knows nothing whatever about this age coming to an end. It will go on indefinitely, so they believe, and its future is world progress, better times and the triumph of the Christian civilization. But others concede that a judgment must come and they think of the judgment here as the universal judgment, the great white throne judgment. This judgment is not the last judgment at all. 1+ ,is a judg- ment which precedes the final judgment by 1,000 years. This judgment here must be read in connection with pass- ages like Matthew xxv:31-46 and Rev. xix:19-21. In reading the last passage no one can doubt that we have the same judgment here revealed to Daniel. But who is the One who occupies the central place in this vision of judgment? There can be but one answer. It is our ever blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. John v:22 gives the conclusive answer: "For the Father judgetli no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." The Ancient of Days is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is still more demonstrated if we turn to John's great Patmos vision.
4. The Son of Man and His Kingdom: Verses 13-14. These words are so plain that every Christian knows what they mean. They describe the second coming of Christ and the Kingdom He then receives from the Father's hands. If this passage were more considered, Christians would
26 THE PROPHET DANIEL
stop speaking about the kingdom now. No kingdom till Christ comes again. Both the judgment vision and the vision of His coming to receive the kingdom correspond to the stone which smites the image and as a mountain fills the whole earth.
4. The Interpretations of the Visions given: Verses 15-28. First, Daniel hears about the four beasts. But there is a significant statement in verse 18, the Saints of the most High receiving the kingdom.
Who are the Saints of the Most High? The fact that the term "Most High" is in the plural and may also be translated with "The most high or heavenly places" has led some expositors to say that the Saints are the same who are seen in the Epistle to the Ephesians in which "the heavenly places" are repeatedly mentioned: in other words, the Saints which compose the church. It is true the church will be with the Lord in Glory and "we shall reign over the earth," but this does not necessarily mean that the Saints here represent the church. There are other Saints besides "Church Saints." The Saints of whom Daniel was thinking were his own beloved people. To that people is promised a kingdom in the days of the Messiah. With Him, the Lord in Glory, there is a heavenly people, so as Messiah and the Son of Man in connection with the earth He has an earthly people, Saints which will receive and possess with Him that kingdom which will fill the whole earth. These Saints are the Godfearing Jews, who pass through the great tribulation and inherit the blessings and promises which God gave through their own prophets.
Another important matter is the little horn of whom now Daniel hears more fully. The ten horns are kings and the little horn in their midst will be the final imperial head of the revived Roman empire, that world domineering person of whom we read repeatedly in the Word of God. He must be distinguished from another one, the personal anti-Christ, the man of sin and son of perdition. In Rev- elation the revived Roman Empire is seen in chapter xiii: 1-10, and the second beast which John saw rising from the
THE PROPHET DANIEL 27
sea is the false Christ having two horns like a lamb but speaking like a dragon (Rev. xiii:ll, etc.). A closer study of these coming leaders of the end time is needed to under- stand the details; here we but point the way. Our larger work on Daniel will give help on all these chapters.
CHAPTER VIII. THE RAM AND THE HE-GOAT.
1. The Vision. Verses 1-14.
2. The Interpretation of the Vision. Verses 15-27.
1. The Vision: Verses 1-14. Beginning with this chapter to the end of the book prophecy will lead us mostly upon Jewish ground. While some of these prophecies were ful- filled in the past, most of them are related to the future when the great end fulfillment takes place before tlie coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven to receive the kingdom. The phrases "the latter times," "the time of the end," "in the last end of the indignation," appear several times in these chapters. These phrases describe the same period of time mentioned in the seventh chapter, "a time, times and dividing of times;" the 1,260 days or 43 months in the book of Revelation. It is the great tribulation which is recorded in the last chapter of this book.
The time and place of the vision in this chapter are given in the beginning. The Ram, according to divine inter- pretation (verses 15, etc.), is the Medo-Persian monarchy — the silver kingdom, the kingdom also typified by the bear. The He-goat with a notable horn is the Graeco-Macedonian monarchy and the notable horn is Alexander the Great. In 334 B. C, Alexander leaped like a swift he-goat across the Hellespont and fought his successful battles, then pushed on to the banks of the Indus and the Nile and then onward to Shushan. The great battles of the Granicus, Issus and Arbella were fought, and he stamped the power of Persia and its King, Darius Codomannus, to the ground. He conquered rapidly Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Tyre, Gaza, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia. In 329 he conquered Bactria, crossed the Oxus and Jaxaitis and defeated the
28 THE PROPHET DANIEL
Scythians. And thus he stamped upon the ram after having broken its horns. But when the he-goat had waxed very great, the great horn was broken. This predicted the early and sudden death of Alexander the Great. He died after a reign of 12 years and eight months, after a career of drunkenness and debauchery in 323 B. C. He died when he was but 32 years old. Then four notable ones sprang up in the place of the broken horn. This too has been fulfilled, for the empire of Alexander was divided into four parts. Four of the great generals of Alexander made the division namely, Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy. The four great divisions were, Syria, Egypt, Macedonia and Asia Minor.
Then a little horn appeared out of one of these divisions; it sprung up out of Syria. This little horn is of course not the little horn mentioned in the previous chapter, for the little horn in Daniel vii has its place in connection with the fourth beast (Rome), while this one comes from a division of the third beast, the Graeco-Macedonian monarchy.
History does not leave us in doubt of how and when this great prophetic vision was fulfilled. This little horn is the eighth king of the Seleucid dynasty. He is known by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes; after his wild and wicked deeds he was called Epimanes, the madman. Long before he invaded the pleasant land (Israel's land), Daniel saw what he would do. He conquered Jerusalem. He took away the daily sacrifice in the temple and offered a swine and swine's blood upon the altar. He introduced idol worship, devastated the whole land and killed some 100,000 Jews.
^ In verses 13-14 is an angelic conversation. The 2,300 days (literal days) cover just about the period of time during which Antiochus did his wicked deeds. When they were ended Judas Maccabaeus cleansed the sanctuary about December 25, 165 B. C.
We believe these 2,300 days are therefore literal days and have found their literal fulfillment in the dreadful days of this wicked king from the North. There is no other
THE PROPHET DANIEL 29
meaning attached to these days and the foolish speculations that these days are years, etc., lacks scriptural foundation altogether. Such views and fanciful interpretations bring the study of Prophecy into disrepute. We have special ref- erence to the Seventh Day Adventist delusion. They teach the abominable falsehood that the Lord Jesus Christ did not enter into the Holiest till the year 1844 had been reached, because this is according to their reckoning 2,300 years after Cyrus had issued the command to build the temple. That this is a denial of the Gospel itself and Sat- anic is self-evident.
2. The Interpretation of the Vision: Verses 15-27. Gab- riel is the interpreter of the whole vision. It should be carefully studied. It points to a future fulfillment.
Gabriel told Daniel that the vision has a special meaning for the time of the end. Four different expressions are used to denote the time of the final fulfillment of the vision : (1) "The time of the end," viii:17. (2) "The last end of the indignation," viii:19. (3) "The latter time of their kingdom" viii:23. (4) "When the transgressors are come to the full," verse 23.
Once more, at the close of the age, before the Lord comes in visible glory, in the days of the great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, an invasion from the North takes place. Israel's land will once more undergo the horrors of a devastation, foreshadowed by Antiochus Epiphanes. The King of the North, as he is also called in Isaiah's pro- phecy, "the Assyrian," will do this work. For details and other prophecies relating to this coming event see our exposition of Daniel, pages 102-118.
CHAPTER IX. THE PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS.
1. The Time and Occasion of Daniel's Prayer. Verses 1-2.
2. The Prayer. Verses 3-19.
3. The Answer and the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Verses 20-27.
1. The Time and Occasion of Daniel's Prayer. Verses 1-2. It was in the first year of Darius, of the seed of the
30 THE PROPHET DANIEL
Medes, that Daniel understood by the sacred writings of his people, especially by the prophecy of Jeremiah, that the end of the years of the captivity was at hand. The promises in the Word of God led him at once to seek the face of the Lord and he poured out a wonderful prayer in His presence.
2. The Prayer: Verses 3-19. It has three parts. Verses 4-10: Confession of the failure of his people and acknow- ledgment of God's covenant mercies. Verses 11-14: The deserved curse as written in the law of Moses. Verses 15-19 : Pleadings for mercy to turn away His anger and to remem- ber His city, Jerusalem and His people. Throughout this prayer we read how completely he identified himself with the sins, the failure, the shame and the judgment of the people of God. This is remarkable. As we have seen from the first chapter, he was brought to Babylon when quite young and belonged even then to the believing, God fearing element of the nation. Yet he speaks of the nation's sins, their rebellion, their transgressions of the law and their wicked deeds as if they belonged to him. Of all the Bible characters Daniel appears as the purest. The failures of Abraham, Moses, Aaron, David and others are recorded, but Daniel appears with no flaw whatever in his character. As far as the record goes he was a perfect man. Of course he too was "a man of like passions" as we are, and as such a sinner. Yet this devoted and aged servant with such a record of loyalty to God and to His laws confesses all the people's sins and the curse and shame, which came upon them as His own.
3. The Answer and the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks: Verses 20-27. The prayer was not ended. How near heaven is may be learned from verses 20-32. Heaven is not far away, for there is no space and no distance with God. When Daniel began his confession and humiliation the Lord called Gabriel and instructed him what he should tell the praj'ing prophet, and then Gabriel was caused to fly swiftly through the immeasurable space, and before Daniel ever reached the "Amen" the messenger stood
THE PROPHET DANIEL 31
before him and stopped his prayer. What blessed assur- ance! The moment we pray in the Spirit and in His Name our voices are heard in the highest heaven.
We give a corrected text of the great prophecy, perhaps the greatest in the entire prophetic Word.
Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to cover iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies. Know therefore and understand: From the going forth of the word to re- store and to rebuild Jerusalem unto Messiah, the Prince, shall be Seven Weeks and Sixty-two Weeks. The street and the wall shall be built again, even in troublous times. And after the Sixty-two Weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city ^nd the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with overflow, and unto the end war, the desolations determined. And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and because of the protection of abominations there shall be a desolator, even until the consummation and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolator (verses 24-27).
The literal translation of the term "seventy weeks" is "seventy -sevens." Now, this word "sevens" translated "weeks" may mean "days" and it may mean "years." What then is meant here, seventy times seven days or seventy times seven years? It is evident that the "sevens" mean year weeks, seven years to each prophetic week. Daniel was occupied in reading the books and in prayer with the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity. And now Gabriel is going to reveal to him something which will take place in "seventy -sevens," which means seventy times seven years. The proof that such is the case is furnished by the fulfillment of the prophecy itself. Now seventy- seven years makes 490 years.
What is to be accomplished. Verse 24 gives the great things which are to be accomplished during these seventy- year weeks or 490 years. They are the following: (1) To finish the transgression. (2) To make an end of sins. (3) To cover iniquity, (4) To bring in the righteousness
32 THE PROPHET DANIEL
of ages. (5) To seal the visiou and prophet. (6) To anoint the Holy of Holies.
It must be borne in mind that these things concern exclusively Daniel's people and not Gentiles but the holy city Jerusalem. It is clear that the finishing of transgres- sion, the end of sins and the covering of iniquity has a special meaning for Israel as a nation.
Now, these seventy year-weeks are divided into three parts. The first part consists in seven weeks, that is seven times seven, 49 years. During these 49 years the street and the wall of Jerusalem was to be rebuilt and the complete restoration accomplished. The reckoning of this time begins in the month Nisan, 445 B. C, when the command was given (Nehemiah ii). Then follows the second division consisting of 62 weeks of years, that is sixty-two times seven, 434 years. At the close of these 434 years, or 483 years reckoned from the month Nisan in 445 B. C, Messiah the Prince should be cut off and have nothing. Messiah the Prince is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Here then is a startling prediction of the death of Christ, the Messiah rejected by His people and not receiving the king- dom which belongs to Him as the Son of David. The sixty-two weeks, or 434 years, expired on the day our Lord rode into Jerusalem for the last time; during that week He was crucified.*
*For full proof see "The Coming Prince," by Anderson, and our book on the Prophet Daniel.
THE PROPHET DANIEL
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34 THE PROPHET DANIEL
Then we have a remarkable prediction concerning the fate of Jerusalem after the nation rejected the Lord Jesus Christ: "And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary ; and the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the end war, the deso- solations determined." Who is "the Prince that shall come?" Expositors have erred seriously in making of this prince the Lord Jesus Christ. This Prince is not our Lord. It is the little horn predicted in Daniel vii to rise out of the Roman Empire in the time of the end, when the Roman Empire is revived politically and has its ten horns. There- fore "the people of the prince that shall come" are the Roman people. Here then is a prediction that the Romans were to take the city and burn the sanctuary. How liter- ally this has been fulfilled! And all this was revealed when the Roman Empire was not yet in existence. Such are the marvels of Divine prophecy. After that there are to to be wars and desolations for Jerusalem and the Jewish people. It is the same that our Lord predicted when He said: "They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations" (Luke xxi:24).
But all this leaves seven years, that is one week, un- accounted for. We have up to now 483 weeks, and there are to be 490 years. The last week of seven years is still future. The course of the Jewish age was interrupted. It is an unfinished age. Between the 483 years which ended when the nation rejected the Lord of glory and the beginning of the last seven years of the Jewish age, this last year-week is this present age, the unreckoned period of time during which God does His great work in sending forth the Gospel of His Grace to the Gentile nations, to gather out of them a people for His Name. This age of Grace is still on but it will end some day when God's purpose is accomplished. Then the true church will be gathered home to glory and the I>ord will turn again to His people Israel and the last week of Daniel will pass into history. During these seven years the Prince that shall come, the little horn of Daniel vii, will enter into a covenant with the Jewish people. Not with
THE PROPHET DANIEL 35
all of them, for there is a remnant of godly Jews who will not accept this one (indicated by the expression "the many" — see correct translation). In the middle of the week he breaks that covenant and the result will be the great trib- ulation, the time, times and half of a time, 1,260 days, 42 months of Daniel vii and Rev. xiii. When this great tribulation ends the Lord Jesus Christ comes back and the great things mentioned in verse 24 will be accomplished.
CHAPTER X. THE PREPARATION FOR THE FINAL PROPHECY.
This chapter contains the preface to the final great pro- phecies as found in the last two chapters of this book. The certain man who appeared unto Daniel at the banks of the river Hiddekel (Tigris) was the Lord. Compare with Revelation i, where John, the beloved disciple, beheld Him in a vision of glory. Daniel's vision is a pre-incarnation vision of the same One whom John beheld after His resur- rection and in His glorified humanity.
The delayed answer by the angelic messenger is explained by the power of darkness. A powerful demon-prince, a Satanic agency, having control over Persia, so that he claimed the title the prince of Persia, kept back the answer. Then the prophet was strengthened.
CHAPTER XI.
THE WARS OF THE PTOLEMIES AND SELEUCIDAE PREDICTED,
THE COMING EVENTS OF THE END.
1. The Wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae. Verses 1-35.
2. The Time of the End. The Man of Sin. Verses 36-45.
1. The Wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae: Verses 1-35. Here we have history prewritten and the greater part of this chapter (verses 2-35) is fulfilled historically. So accurate are these predictions and their subsequent ful- fillment that the enemies of "the Scripture of Truth" have declared that it could never have been written by Daniel several hundred years before these persons came into exist- ence and fought their battles. The pagan Porphyry in the
36 THE PROPHET DANIEL
third century in his "Treatise against Christians" bitterly attacked the belief that Daniel wrote these predictions. He argued that all was written after the events had taken place. The same arguments are used by the critics. Such is this most subtle infidelity that it can make use of the statements of a poor heathen in opposition to the divine revelation.
The prophecies given here were minutely fulfilled during the years 301 B. C, to 168 B. C. History verifies every- thing. The history covers a good part of the Persian and Graeco-Macedonian Empires, but mostly the wars of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae. Artaxerxes, Darius, Alexander the Great, Ptolemy Lagris, the King of the South, Ptolemy Euergetes, Seleucus Calinicus, Ptolemy Philopater, Antiochus Epiphanes, even the Roman fleet (the ships of Chittim), all enter into this prophecy. A detailed exposition of the prophecy and its fulfillment would fill many pages. (See the Exposition on Daniel pages 168-179).
Before we pass on we desire to say again that all in these verses we have briefly followed has been historically fulfilled. We point out a mistake in which some have fallen. In verse 31 we read of "the abomination that maketh desolate." Our Lord in His Olivet discourse (Matthew xxiv:15) said: "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand)." Some believe that when our Lord spoke these words he referred to Daniel xi: 31, and that this is the abomination of desolation. This is not quite correct. The abomination that maketh desolate of verse 31 is past and happened in the days of the atrocities committed by Antiochus Epiphanes. The abomination of desolation to which our Lord refers is mentioned in chapter xii:ll, and it points, as we shall find later, to the abomination set up by the Antichrist, the second beast, in the middle of the week. The typical meaning of Antiochus Epiphanes and his crimes in the land of Judea and against Jerusalem we have already learned in connection with chapter viii.
2. The Time of the End. The Man of Sin: Verses 36-
THE PROPHET DANIEL 37
45. The time of the end is mentioned in verse 35. What is to befall Daniel's people in the latter days as Daniel was told in chapter x :4 is now revealed. Between verses 35 and 36 we must put a long and unreckoned period of time. An- tiochus Epiphanes and the victorious Maccabees end the historical fulfillment of the predictions of the great proph- ecies in the first part of this chapter, and since then over 2,000 years have come and gone and the fulfillment of verses 36-45 have not yet been. First we read of a wilful King. Who is this king so fully pictured in verses 36-45?
Many expositors of Daniel apply this passage to Antiochus Epiphanes, because they see not the important interval which exists between verses 35 and 36. However, a closer examination of the description of this King shows that he cannot be Antiochus. He is another person altogether, and as we shall see later, will be a Jew and assume Kingly honors in the midst of the Jewish people. Antiochus was a Gentile. Others again identify this King with the first beast in Revelation xiii, and say that the head of the revived Roman Empire, one like Napoleon I is meant, while others see here a reference to the pope in Rome. And whether the head of the Roman power, or the pope, or perhaps Mohammed, the term Antichrist is freely applied to each. Those who see the Papacy here and the Romish corruption make some startling applications which are extremely fanciful.
The Wilful King is the x\ntichrist. The Jewish people rejected their King, the Messiah, who came to His own, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord told the Jews: "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John v:43). This other one has not yet come. We have his photograph here. He appears in Israel's land in the time of the end as a counterfeit Messiah and takes also the place of King in their midst. This wilful King, the personal Antichrist who deceives the apostate mass of the Jewish people, is re- peatedly mentioned in the Old Testament prophetic Word. Isaiah speaks of him and his end (Isa. xxx:33, lvii:9). Zechariah calls him "the idol shepherd" (Zech. xi:15-17).
38 THE PROPHET DANIEL
He is repeatedly mentioned in the Psalms as "the wicked ninn" — "the man of the earth" — "the bloody and deceitful man." In the Book of Revelation he appears as the second beast out of the land (Palestine) (Rev. xiii:ll-17). The two horns like a lamb as he is described there show clearly that he imitates Christ. He has the spirit of the dragon and appears as a religious leader, for this reason he is also called "the false prophet" in the Book of Revelation (chapters xvi:13, xix:20, xx:10).
In the New Testament he is called in the writings of John "the Antichrist". (See 1 John ii:18-22, iv:3; 2 John 7). Another great prophecy of the same person is found in 2 Thess. ii, where he is called "tlie man of sin, the son of perdition." The early church believed that this evil person will be a real man, a Jew, and be energized by Satan. That he is the papal system or something else was invented later.
In verses 40-45 we have a prophecy of the wars and con- flicts during the time of the end. The false King, Israel's false Messiah, the Antichrist, plays an important part in these conflicts. Then there are the kings of the South and of the North. The king of the South comes out of Egypt. His antagonist is the king of the North. The king of the South will be overthrown by the powerful king of the North, the same who is typified by the Antiochus Epiphanes. (Read about this invasion in Joel ii and Zechariah xiv.)
While the King of the North and his proud hosts are thus overthrown by the Army of the Lord, what becomes of the wilful King, the Antichrist in the City.?^ The King of the North cannot touch him. But the Lord Himself will deal with that wicked one. "Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the bright- ness of His coming" (2 Thess. ii:8). Thus ends the great conflict of the time of the end. The eternal abode of the Satanic instruments of the time of the end, the beast, that coming Prince, the Antichrist and the King of the North will be the lake of fire.
THE PROPHET DANIEL 39
CHAPTER XII. THE GREAT TRIBULATION AND ISRAEL'S DELIVERANCE.
"And at that time." What time? The time of the end, the time of trouble such as never was before; the same time to which our Lord refers in Matthew xxiv:21.
Michael, the great prince which standeth for the Jewish people, is now also mentioned again. He will stand up and take a leading part in the events of that time. From the Book of Revelation v/e learn (chapter xii) that there will be war in heaven, that is where Satan has his dominion now as the prince of the power of the air. Michael, assisted by his angels, will cast out the great dragon, the devil and his angels. They will be forced down to the earth. Then when Satan and his angels are cast out the great tribulation will be instituted (Rev. xii:12). Michael will stand up in another sense and take a definite part in the deliverance of Daniel's people. It is not fully revealed what that will be.
The deliverance of which we read in these verses and the awakening of those "who sleep in the dust of the earth" has likewise been grossly misinterpreted. Because exposi- tors have not seen the application of all this to the Jews in their future history in the land, they have read the church in here, and even what they term a general resurrection on a general judgment day. But we shall see now what is meant by the deliverance of Daniel's people.
Physical resurrection (as so often stated: a general resur- rection) is not taught in the second verse. Physical resur- rection is used as a figure of the national revival of Israel in that day. They have been sleeping nationally in the dust of the earth, buried among the Gentiles. But at that time there will take place a national restoration, a bringing to- gether of the house of Judah and of Israel. It is the same figure as used in the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel xxxvii. This vision is employed by the men, who have invented the theory of a second chance and larger hope for the wicked dead to back up their evil teaching, but anyone can see that it concerns not the Gentiles but the Jewish people and that it is not a bodily resurrection^ but a national revival and
40 THE PROPHET DANIEL
restoration of that people. Their national graves, not literal burying places, will be opened and the Lord will bring them forth out of all the countries into which they have been scattered.
There will be two classes, the godly and the ungodly. The ungodly accept the false Messiah, and in their national revival, shame and everlasting contempt awaits them, while the others, the godly, will enjoy life in the kingdom. The wise in verse 3 are the Jewish teachers and witnesses in the endtime, those which compose the godly remnant. A special reward will be theirs during the kingdom, they shall shine as the stars forever. The same holds good, only in a higher sense for all those who are witnesses for Him during this age, who are faithful to Christ.
Then Daniel is addressed and beholds angels once more, as well Him who appeared clothed in linen, none other than the Lord. Then Daniel asked his final question.
Verses 11-12 have puzzled many readers of the book. Different theories are given.
But what is the meaning of these 1,290 and 1,335 daj's? Can there be anything plainer than the fact that these 1,290 and 1,335 days are literal days? \Mio authorizes us to make of these days years? By what process of exposition are we to arrive at the conclusion that "days" mean "years?" It is worse than folly to do that.
Now, the great tribulation lasts for 1,260 days. But here we have 30 days or a whole month added. The Lord will be manifested at the close of the great tribulation of 1,260 days, 31^2 years. Matthew xxiv:29-31 teaches us this. The extra month will in all probability be needed to make pos- sible certain judgment events especially with the overthrow of the nations which came against Jerusalem and the judg- ment of nations as given in Matthew xxv:31. We cannot speak dogmatically on all this. But certain it is that 1,335 days after the Antichristian abomination had been set up in Jerusalem, that is, 75 days, or lYz months beyond the time of the great tribulation, the full blessing for Israel and the establishment of the glorious rule of Israel's King, the
THE PROPHET DANIEL 41
once rejected Lord Jesus Christ, will have come, for it is written, "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and five and thirty days." This is as far as any teacher can safely go, and here we would rest.
HOSEA
The Prophet Hosea
INTRODUCTION
The Minor Prophets begin with the Book of Hosea. There are twelve of these books which are called by the name "minor prophets" not because their contents are of less authority than the preceding prophetic books, but on account of their size. The Jews considered them one book and the Talmud says of them, "our fathers made them one book, that they might not perish on account of their littleness." The term "minor prophets" was used by the church in early days. Augustinus states: "The prophet Isaiah is not in the books of the twelve prophets who are therefore called minor, because their discourses are brief in comparison with those who are called "greater" because they composed considerable volumes." Jewish tradition claims that the present arrangement was made by the great synagogue formed by Ezra. This arrangement is not chronological. Joel precedes Hosea, while Hosea, Amos and Jonah were nearly contemporary; Obadiah is diflBcult to place. The introduction to the book enters into the question of date. Micah, the Morasthite, ministered between the years 757 and 699 B. C. Nahum, the complement and counterpart of the book of Jonah, also prophesied during the period of Isaiah. Habakkuk is later than the preceding prophets. He speaks of the invasion of the land by the Chaldeans as imminent; his prophetic office was probably exercised during the second half of Manasseh's reign. Zephaniah prophesied under the reign of Josiah, between 642 and 611 B. C. Haggai, Zech- ariah and Malachi are post-exilic.
HOSEA AND HIS TIMES
The first verse of the book determines the period of Hosea. He prophesied while Uzziah was reigning in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel, as well as during the time when Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings over Judah. His whole prophetic ministry covers probably over seventy years, so that he must have reached a very old age. His prophecy is directed almost exclusively to the house of Israel, which had degenerated in a short time and Hosea lived during these awful years. Jeroboam II was almost the last king who ruled by the appointment of the Lord. After him kings made their way to the dottering throne of Israel by murdering their predecessors. Shallum slew Zechariah; Menahem slew Shallum; Pekah killed the son of Menahem; Hosea killed Pekak. All was anarchy in Israel.
The religious conditions were still worse. Nearly all these usurpers had made alliances with foreign powers which resulted in the in-
46 THE PROPHET HOSEA
troduction of the immoral, corrupt Phoenician and Syrian idolatry. The first Jeroboam had set up a rival worship so that the people would not go to Jerusalem to worship in the divinely appointed way. Jer- oboam had been in Egypt (1 Kings xi:40; xii:2) where he had seen nature worshipped in the form of a calf. This worship he introduced in the identical words which their fathers had used when they wor- shipped the golden calf in the wilderness. (See Exodus xxxii:4 and 1 Kings xii:28). Outwardly the difiFerent ceremonies of the law, the feasts of Jehovah, the new moons and Sabbath days, the sacrifices and offerings were maintained, but all was a corrupt worship. The calf was the immediate object of that idolatrous worship. They sacrificed to the calf (1 Kings xii:32); they kissed the calf (Hosea xiii:2) and swore by these idol-calves (Amos viii:4). As Dr. Pusey states: "Calf- worship paved the way for the coarser and more cruel worship of nature, under the names of Baal and Ashtaroth, with all their abominations of consecrated child sacrifices, and horrible sensuality." It led to the most awful sins and degradation. Here is a description of the moral conditions prevailing in the days of Hosea, a condition brought about by the false worship and departure from God. Hosea and Amos / acquaint us with it. All was falsehood (Hosea iv:l; vii:l, 3); adultery (Hosea iv:ll, vii:4, ix:10); bloodshed (Hosea v:2; vi:8); excess and luxury were supplied by secret or open robbery (Hosea iv:2; x:13; xi:12; iv:ll; vii:5; vi:4-6; Amosiv:!); oppression (Hosea xii:7; Amos iii:9-10); false dealing (Hosea xii:7; Amos viii:5); perversion of justice (Hosea x:5; Amos ii:6, 7); grinding of the poor (Amos ii:7, viii:6). Adultery was consecrated as an act of worship and religion (Hosea iv:14). The people, the king and the priests were all steeped in debauchery. Corruption had spread everywhere; even the places once sacred through Jehovah's revelation. Bethel, Gilgal, Gilead, Mizpah, Shechem, were special scenes of vileness and wickedness. Remonstrance was useless for the knowledge of Jehovah was wilfully rejected; they hated rebuke. To understand the message of Hosea and Amos these conditions, both religious and moral, must be fully understood.
THE MESSAGE OF HOSEA
Like the message of other prophets Hosea's message is one of I judgment and future mercy. He announced the coming judgment as certain and irreversible. They were to be led away into captivity. His sons and daughters born to him by Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, expressed this coming judgment in their names which were given to them by divine direction. "Lo-Ruhamah" — I will have no mercy; and "Lo-Ammi" — not my people. Then he announced in the name of the Lord, "I will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease;" "I will have no more mercy upon the house of Israel:" "They
THE PROPHET HOSEA 47
shall be wanderers among the nations;" — "They shall not dwell in the Lord's land;" — "Israel is swallowed up; she shall be among the nations like a vessel in which is no pleasure." In the greater portion of his message there is an exposure of the people's moral condition and their \ impenitent state.
But there is also the message of mercy, which is found in the very beginning of the book. Here are a few of these comforting words, which still await their fulfillment in the day when they shall "seek the Lord their God, and David their King (the Messiah); and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days" (iii:5): — "I will betroth her to me forever;" — "They shall fear the Lord and His goodness;" — "He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight;" — "Till He come and rain righteousness upon you;" — "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death;" — "I will heal their back- sliding;"— "I will be as the dew unto Israel, He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth its roots as Lebanon."
"It belongs to the mournful solemnity of Hosea's prophecy that he scarcely speaks to the people in his own person. The ten chapters, which form the center of the prophecy, are almost wholly one long dirge of woe, in which the prophet rehearses the guilt and the pun- ishment of his people. If the people are addressed, it is, with very few exceptions, God Himself, not the Prophet, Who speaks to them; and God speaks to them as their judge. Once only does the prophet use the form so common in other prophets "saith the Lord." As in the three first chapters, the prophet, in relation to his wife, represented the relation of God to His people, so, in these ten chapters, after the first words of the fourth and fifth chapters; — "Hear the word of the Lord, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land;" — "Hear ye this, O priests;' — whenever the prophet uses the first person, he uses it not of himself, but of God. "I," — "My," — are not Hosea, and the things of Hosea, but God and what belongs to God. God addresses the prophet in the second person. In four verses only of these chapters does the prophet himself apparently address His own people Israel, in two expostulating with them (ix:l, 5); in two calling them to repentance (x:12 and xii:6). In two other verses he addresses Judah, and foretells their judgment mingled with mercy (iv:13). The last chapter alone is one of almost unmingled brightness; the prophet calls to repentance, and God in His own person accepts it, and promises large supply of grace."*
We learn then from the message of this book, what is so largely written in all the prophets, that their is a glorious future in store for all Israel. Judah and Israel both will receive the promised blessing
"Dr. Pusey on Hosea.
48 TEE PROPHET HOSEA
and glory in that day when the King comes back, when Ephraim joy- fully cries out "I have seen Him" (xiv:8).
The conditions in Israel also find their counterpart in our own times.
Christendom has turned its back in greater part upon the true wor-
r ship, rejects the truth, yea the highest and the best God has given, the
I Gospel of Christ, hence the moral decline and apostasy and ere long a
greater judgment than that which fell upon Israel.
THE PROPHET HOSEA 49
The Division of Hosea
Hosea (meaning Salvation) in his style is abrupt and sententious. As already stated in the introduction he is the prophet of the ten tribes, though Judah is also mentioned by him. The book begins with two symbolical actions commanded by Jehovah, to illustrate Israel's adulterous condition and Jehovah's enduring love for His people in spite of their faithlessness. This is followed by a terse prophecy as to the condition of the people for many days and their return in the latter days (chapters i-iii).
The main portion of the book begins with the fourth chapter. This part begins with "Hear the Word of the Lord." In this section their religious and moral degrada- tion through the priests and their coming ruin is announced. Then follows a description of the judgment which was to come upon Ephraim (the house of Israel) and also upon Judah. This is beheld by the prophet in a solemn vision (v:8-15), followed by a brief prophecy as to what will take place when the remnant of Israel returns unto the Lord (vi:l-3). Then the Lord reproves them for their incon- stancy, their immorality, their lewd priests. From chapter vii to xiii we have similar remonstrances, with renewed an- nouncements of the judgments on account of their wicked- ness, idolatries, leagues with heathen nations; the judgment is to be exile. What is to be their lot is predicted. This punishment is not to be delayed; it will, however, not destroy them, but purge them, leaving a remnant. The last chapter is one of gracious promise of what will take place in the day of their return. The division of this book is therefore twofold.
50 THE PROPHET HOSEA
I. THE REJECTION OF ISRAEL AS AN ADULTEROUS WIFE AND HER FUTURE RECEPTION AND RESTORATION. Chapters i-iii.
IL THE MESSAGES OF EXPOSTULATION, JUDG- MENT AND MERCY. Chapters iv-xiv.
There are different subdivisions which will be pointed out and followed in the analysis and annotations.
The Book of Rosea is quoted a number of times in the New Testament. See Matt. ii:15, ix:13, xii:7; Rom. ix:25, 26; 1 Cor. xv:55; 1 Peter ii:5, 10.
THE PROPHET HOSEA 51
Analysis and Annotations
I. THE REJECTION OF ISRAEL AS THE ADULTEROUS WIFE; HER FUTURE RECEPTION AND RES- TORATION
Chapters i-iii.
CHAPTER I ISRAEL'S SIN AND PROMISE OF RESTORATION
1. The Introduction. 1.
2. The Prophet's Marriage and Birth of Jezreel. 2-5.
3. The Birth of Lo-Ruhamah. 6-7.
4. The Birth of Lo-Ammi. 8-9.
5. The Future Restoration. 10-11.
1. The Introduction: Verse 1. This superscription gives the period of Hosea's ministry. First stands the statement that the word of the Lord came to him. Hosea means sal- vation; his father's name, Beeri, means "my well." Both are typical names. Critics have pointed out that Hosea was undoubtedly a resident of the northern kingdom of Israel, yet he mentions but one of the kings of Israel, Jero- boam, while four kings of Judah are given in this introduc- tion. Inasmuch as Hosea long survived Jeroboam, the king of Israel, and the Judaic kings extend far beyond the time of the one Israelitish king, it has been alleged that the second part of the superscription does not harmonize with the first. Such is not the case. The superscription is made in this manner for some purpose. Hosea marks his prophecy by the names of the kings of Judah, because in Judah the theocracy remained. He mentions Jeroboam (the Second), whose reign ended in the fourteenth year of Uzziah, because he was the last king of Israel through whom God acted and vouchsafed help to the rival kingdom. All the other kings of Israel who came after Jeroboam, by whom the Lord sent deliverance to the ten tribes (2 Kings xiv :27) were therefore
52 THE PROPHET HOSEA
recognized by the prophets of God; the kings which followed were robbers and murderers, whose names the Spirit of God finds unfit to mention in the prophetic ministry of Hosea.
2. The Prophet's Marriage and Birth of Jezreel: Verses 2-5. In the beginning of his ministry, when Hosea was a young man, the Lord commanded him to take unto him a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, and that for the reason, because the land hath committed great whore- doms, departing from the Lord. This command was at once executed by the prophet; he took to wife Gomer, the daugh- ter of Diblaim.
We are confronted with an interesting question. What is the nature of these transactions? Were they real events, that Hosea literally took this woman and had children by her, or were they nothing but pictorial, visionary illustra- tions of the spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness of Israel? Did the prophet actually and literally enter into such an impure relationship, or, is it wholly an allegory? Luther supposed that the prophet called his lawful wife and chil- dren by these names at a certain time to perform a kind of a drama before the people and thus remind them of their apostasy. The objectors to the literalness of this incident, and defenders of the allegorical explanation, have pointed out that it would be unworthy of God to command and sanction such an unchaste union. The allegorical meaning is entirely excluded by the text, which speaks of a literal transaction. All is related as real history, the marriage and the birth of the children. We quote first Dr. Pusey's words in support of the literal meaning of this command by the Lord.
"We must not imagine things to be unworthy of God, because they do not commend themselves to us. God does not dispense with the moral law, because the moral law has its source in the mind of God Himself. To dispense with it would mean to contradict Himself. But God, who is abso- lute Lord of all things which He made, may, at His sovereign will, dispose of the lives or things which He created. Thus, as sovereign Judge, He commanded the lives of the Canaan-
TEE PROPHET ROSEA 53
ites to be taken by Israel, as, in His ordinary providence, He has ordained that the magistrate should not bear the sword in vain, but has made him His minister, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So, again. He, whose are all things, willed to repay to the Israelites their hard and unjust servitude by commanding them to spoil the Egyptians. He, who created marriage, commanded to Hosea whom he should marry. The prophet was not de- filed by taking as his lawful wife, at God's bidding, one defiled, however hard a thing this was."*
This is the strongest defense of the literal interpretation of this incident. But there is another interpretation pos- sible, which we believe is the correct one. As the context shows the symbolical meaning of Hosea's marriage is to illustrate Israel's unfaithfulness. But Israel was not always unfaithful; she played not always the harlot. Of necessity this had to be symbolized in the case of the prophet's mar- riage. The question then arises, was Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim an impure woman when Hosea married her, or did she become unchaste after her marriage to the prophet? We believe the latter was the case. The Hebrew does not require the meaning that she was impure at the time of the marriage; in fact, as already indicated, the supposition that Gomer lived the life of a harlot before her marriage to the godly prophet, destroys the parallelism, which the prophet's message embodies, with the relation of God to Israel. The expression "a wife of whoredoms and children of whore- doms" simply intimated to Hosea what the woman he mar- ried was going to be. If not taken in this sense it would mean that Gomer had already children when Hosea married her.
Gomer was called "a wife of whoredoms" by the omniscient Lord, in anticipation of her future conduct. She fell and became immoral after her union with Hosea, and not before. In this way she became a symbol of Israel, married unto the Lord, but afterwards became the unfaithful wife. With
*Pusey on Hosea.
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this view, the entire prophetic message of Hosea in the be- ginning of this book harmonizes. The name of the woman is Ukewise suggestive. Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, means "Completion — a double cake of figs." Israel's wickedness is symbolized as complete and the double cake of figs is symbolical of sensual pleasures. And the prophet in spite of her unfaithfulness still loved her and did not abandon her. This illustrates Johovah's love for Israel.
Then she bore him a son. Expositors have stated, "The children were not the prophet's own, but born of adultery and presented to him as his." But that can not be the meaning in view of the plain statement "she conceived and bare him a son."
The Lord commands him to call this son "Jezreel." Jezreel has likewise a symbolical meaning. It means "God shall scatter" (Jer. xxxi:10); but it also means "God shall sow" (Zech. x:9). Thus Israel was to be scattered and sown among the nations. Jezreel was the valley in which Jehu executed his bloody deeds. On account of his hypocritical zeal, the blood of Jezreel is now to be avenged, and the kingdom of the house of Israel would cease. Thus the name Jezreel (resembling in sound and form "Israel") indicates the speedy end of Israel, scattered and sown among the nations, on account of their whoredoms (see Ezek. xxiii).
3. The Birth of Lo-ruhamah: Verses 6-7. Next a daugh- ter is born. Here "bare him" as found in verse 3 is omitted. The prophet receives a name for her — ^Lo-ruhamah, which means "not having obtained mercy." Interesting are the two renderings of the Holy Spirit of this passage in the New Testament. In Romans ix:25 it is rendered "not beloved" and in 1 Peter ii:10, "hath not obtained mercy." Love and mercy were now to be withdrawn from Israel and they were to be taken away utterly. !
Then the house of Judah is mentioned. They shall be saved by the Lord their God, because He has mercy on them. Their salvation was not by bow, by sword, or by battle, horses and horsemen. It was only a little while later when the Assyrian, who was God's instrument in the execution
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of judgment upon Israel, came before the gates of Jerusa- lem, but Jerusalem was saved in the manner as predicted here, not by bow or sword, but the angel of the Lord smote the army of 185,000 in one night. And later Judah was saved and a remnant brought back from Babylon. Then there is a future salvation for Judah in the end of the age.
4. The Birth of Lo-Ammi: Verses 8-9. Another son is born and "God said. Call his name Lo-Ammi, for ye are not my people and I am not your God." Lo-Ammi means "not my people." Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi are sym- bolical of Israel's rejection and the withdrawal of God's mercy. That this is not to be permanent the next two verses make this clear.
5. The Future Restoration: Verses 10-11. Abruptly we are transported from the present into the distant future, and a prophetic utterance of great depth follows. The tenth verse is quoted by the Holy Spirit in Romans ix and gives full light on the meaning of the passage here. God's sover- eignty is the theme of the ninth chapter of Romans: "And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He has afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As He saith also in Osee (Greek form of Hosea), I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them. Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God" (Rom. ix:23-26). Here is the commentary to Hosea i:10. It means first that Israel shall be reinstated; but it also means the call and salvation of the Gentiles, and Gentiles called in sovereign grace are to be constituted "the sons of the living God." It is a pro- phetic hint on the blessing to come to the Gentiles, and that blessing is greater than Israel's.
The eleventh verse is a great prophecy and remains still unfulfilled. Some expositors claim that it was fulfilled in the return of the remnant of Jews under Zerubbabel. But the Babylonian captivity is not in view here at all. The great
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day of Jezreel will come, when King Messiah, our Lord returns. Then shall Judah and Israel be gathered together under one head, and gather once more to their national feasts in the land.
CHAPTER II
APPEAL AND PUNISHMENT FOR UNFAITHFULNESS THE RESUMED RELATIONSHIP
1. The Appeal and Complaint. 1-5.
2. The Punishment for Unfaithfulness. 6-13.
3. The Resumed Relationship and its Great Blessing. 14-23.
1. The Appeal and the Complaint: Verses 1-5. Who is
addressed in the first verse of this chapter? Some think the children of the prophet are meant. The godly in Israel, those who obtained mercy, are addressed, for the Lord acknowl- edges such still as "Ammi" — my people. The godly are to plead with the rest of Israel their mother, but who is dis- owned by Jehovah as the wife, on account of her adulterous conduct. Then the Lord threatens her with severe punish- ment because of her unfaithfulness. She is to be stripped naked and be as in the day she was born (see Ezek. xvi:4). Nor would there be mercy for her children because the mother, Israel, continued to go after her lovers.
2. The Punishment for Unfaithfulness: Verses 6-13. Her way is to be hedged up with thorns; a wall of separation is to be raised and to keep her from her lovers. And if she follow after them and make a sinful alliance with them (sym- bolical of the idol worship of heathens which Israel practised) she would not find them. Thus she might return to her first husband, to Jehovah. Israel had received from the Lord corn, wine, oil, silver and gold. Then they attributed it all to Baal and used it in idol worship. In verses 9-13 the punishment is fully made known. She is to be left alone; the gifts and blessings will be withdrawn; her lewdness is to be uncovered, all mirth will cease and the days of Baalim, spent in licentious worship, would be visited upon herin judgment.
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3. The Resumed Relationship and its Great Blessing: Verses 14-23. Immediately after the announcement of her punishment follows the assurance of future mercy. Israel's conversion is promised (verses 14-17) and the great mercies of Jehovah's covenant are to be renewed (verses 18-23). The Lord of Love will not forever abandon His people and though Israel has played the harlot so long, with no willing- ness to return unto Him, He Himself in infinite love is going to woo her back. He will allure her, as He brings her into the wilderness, and there speak "to her heart" (the Hebrew meaning). That will be in the coming day when the Lord will remember the remnant of His people during the time of Jacob's trouble and save them in that day. Then she will get her vineyards, her place of blessing, promised to Israel as His earthly people. The valley of Achor shall be the door of hope. In that valley Achan died, on account of whom all Israel had fallen under the ban (Josh. vii). There judgment had been enacted and after that blessing was restored to Israel and the ban was removed. Achor means "troubling." When Israel is in that great trouble, the great tribulation, the valley of trouble will become the door of hope, for then the Lord will forgive them their sins, cover them with His grace and redeem them by His power. Then the singing times begin again for Israel. "She shall sing there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." Songs of praise on account of accomplished redemption by Jehovah's power will then burst forth (Exod. xv; Isa. xii). She will be fully restored to her former relationship, typified by mar- riage. "It shall be in that day, saith the Lord, that Thou shalt call Me Ishi (my husband), and shalt call Me no more Baali (my master). She will be re-married to the Lord, symbolically speaking, and become the earthly wife of Jehovah, while the church, the espoused virgin, becomes in glory the Lamb's wife (Rev. xix:6-8).
But greater blessing will be connected with that coming day of blessing, when Israel is received back (Rom. xi:15). Verse 18 tells us that creation will then be blest; the time
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of its deliverance has come. Here the same is indicated as in Isaiah xi:6-7 and Romans viii:21. The end of wars comes then and miiversal peace blesses the "whole earth. This is always the order in the divine forecasts. First, Israel has to be brought back, and after that the blessings for the earth and the nations, including that peace, which the blinded world-church tries to secure without the Lord Jesus Christ. All these promises as to the future of Israel, her restoration and spiritual blessings, are unrealized. "It is infatuation to think that all this was fully accomplished in the return of a remnant from the captivity. The result is that even Christians, misled by this miserable error, are drawn away into the rationalistic impiety of counting God's Word here mere hyperbole to heighten the effect, as if the Holy Spirit deigned to be a verbal trickster, or a prophet were as vain as a litterateur. No; it is a brighter day, when the power of God will make a complete clearance from the world of disorder, misrule, man's violence and corruption, as well as reduce to harmless and happy resubjection the entire animal kingdom."
In that day all the great covenant blessings will return to redeemed Israel. Betrothed again to Jehovah in right- eousness, in judgment, in faithfulness and mercies, Israel will know Jehovah. There will be an uninterrupted line of blessing from the heavens down to every earthly blessing. Heavens and earth will be gloriously united, and in answer to the call of His people the heavens will hear and cover all with blessing, for Satan's power is now gone. Israel is no more Lo-Ammi, but they will be "His people" and He will be "their God," while the redeemed nation itself will be a blessing in the earth.
CHAPTER III ISRAEL'S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
1. The Past. 1-3.
2. The Present. 4.
3. The Future. 5.
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1. The Past: Verses 1-3. The command here is not that the Prophet should enter into relation with another woman, but it concerns the same Gomer, the unfaithful wife. It seems she left the Prophet and lived in adultery with another man. "And Jehovah said unto me, Go again, love a wife, who is beloved of her friend and who is an adulteress; just as Jehovah loves the children of Israel, who have turned towards other gods, and love raisin cakes"* (correct trans- lation). She is not called "thy wife," simply "a wife"; yet the Prophet is told to love the adulterous wife. This woman, whom the Lord commands Hosea to love, he had loved before her fall; he was now to love her after her fall, and while in that condition, in order to save her from abiding in it. It was for her sake that she might be won back to him. Such is the love of Jehovah for Israel.
He bought the adulteress for half of the price of a com- mon slave (see Exod. xxi:32); it denotes her worthlessness. The measure of barley mentioned reminds of the offering of one accused of adultery, and, being the food of animals, shows her degradation likewise. He thus was to buy her back, not to live with him as his wife, but that she might sit as a widow, not running after others, but wait for him during an undefined, but long season, until he would come and take her to himself. While she was not to belong to another man, he, her legitimate husband, would be her guardian. Israel's spiritual adultery is in view in all this.
2. The Present: Verse 4. Here we have direct proph- ecy, a very remarkable one, as to Israel's present condition. It is to be their state for "many days." These "many days," unreckoned, are the days of this present age, in which Israel is in the predicted condition, while God visits the Gentiles, to gather through the preaching of the Gospel a people for His Name, that is, the church. Their condition is to be threefold: Without a civil polity, without king or prince; without the appointed Levitical worship, no sacrifice; with- out the practice of idolatry, to which they had been given,
"Used in the idolatrous worship.
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without image, ephod and teraphim — the distinctly priestly garment, the ephod; the teraphim, the tutelary divinities, which they used before the captivity. Before the captivity they had kings; now they have none, would have none; after the captivity Judah, had princes; no princes during the "many days." The real approach to God according to the Levitical service was to cease, for during the "many days" there would be no sacrifice. This has been Israel's condi- tion for nineteen hundred years. What a wonderful fore- cast of the present we have here! Clearly then, this de- scribes the present condition of Israel — the most anom- alous spectacle the world has ever seen — a people who go on generation after generation without any of those things which are supposed to be essential for keeping a people in existence. They have lost their king, their prince; they have neither the true worship nor the worship of idols. They are unable to present a sacrifice, because they have no temple and no more priesthood. Here is an evidence of the supernaturalness of the Bible, one which no Jew nor destructive critic can deny.
3. The Future: Verse 5. Afterward — in the latter days. These two statements open and end the prophecy concern- ing their future. The "afterward" is not yet; the latter days are still to come. Their future is returning and seek- ing the Lord, their God and David their king. This is Christ. Nearly all the rabbinical writers and expositors explain it in this way. David himself this could not be. It is He who is David's Son and David's Lord, our Lord (see Ezek. XXX :23, 24). Here we have the prediction of the future conversion of Israel to the Lord, in the latter days, the days of His coming again.*
*The Targum of Jonathan says on Hosea iii:5: "This is the King Messiah; whether he be from among the living or from the dead. His name is Messiah. The same explanation is given by the mystical books Zohar, Midrash Shemuel and Tanchuma. The greatest authorities among the Jews are one in declaring that "the last days" mean the days of the Messiah; we have reference to Kimchi, Abarbanel, Moses Ben Nacham and many others.
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II. THE MESSAGE OF EXPOSTULATION JUDG- MENT AND MERCY
Chapters iv-xiv
CHAPTER IV
THE LORD'S CONTROVERSY WITH HIS PEOPLE
1. The Condition of the People. 1-5.
2. The Loss of Their Priestly Relation. 6-11.
3. Israel's Idolatry. 12-19.
1. The Condition of the People: Verses 1-5. This chap- ter begins with a terse description of the condition of the professing people of God. First, we have the negative side — ^no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God. And there was no truth, because they had rejected the Word of the Lord, hence the result no mercy and no knowledge of God. It is so still whenever and wherever the Word of God is set aside. Then follows the positive evil which was so prominent in their midst: Swearing, lying, killing, stealing, commit- ting adultery, and abundant shedding of blood. Such was the continued moral condition of the house of Israel, the ten tribes. It was all the result of having rejected the Word of the Lord and having turned away from Him. The result of unbelief, destructive criticism and denial of the truth is today, as it was then, swearing, lying, stealing, killing and the immoralities of our times. Therefore judgment would overtake all, even the land itself.
2. The Loss of Their Priestly Relation: Verses 6-11. The people were destroyed for lack of knowledge, the know- ledge of God and His truth. They had lost their place of nearness to the Lord, their priestly character into which the Lord had called the nation (Exod. xix). Therefore they would be rejected to be no longer in priestly relationship to Jehovah. And the priestly class was as corrupt as the people — "like people like priests." They were to be pun- ished for their ways and their doings.
3. Israel's Idolatry: Verses 12-19. Having left Jehovah they had turned to idols, asked counsel of a piece of wood
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and practised divination. This abominable idol worship was practised upon the tops of mountains. There, under trees, they gave themselves over to the vile rites of Baal- peor and Ashtaroth, both men and women abandoned them- selves to the grossest sins of the flesh. And the Lord threatens that He would leave them alone in their vileness and not correct them, that they might be brought back. The first chapter of Romans is illustrated by verse 14; they glorified not God, became idolators and then God gave them up to their vile affections.
Then there is a warning to the house of Judah in verse 15. The most sacred places, like Gilgal, had become the scene of the idolatry of the ten tribes. Bethel, the house of God, became a Beth-aven, the house of vanity. If Judah offended and committed the same whoredoms, she would not escape judgment. The warning was unheeded.
"Ephraim (the ten tribes) is joined to idols; let him alone." Ephraim was too far gone; further remonstrances would not help, and so the evil is permitted to go unchecked, to run its full course.
CHAPTER V— VI:3
THE MESSAGE TO THE PRIESTS, THE PEOPLE AND THE
ROYAL HOUSE. JUDGMENT, AFFLICTION AND THE
FUTURE RETURN
1. The Message of Rebuke. 1-7.
2. The Judgment Announced. 8-15.
3 The Future Return and the Blessing. vI:I-3.
1. The Message of Rebuke: Verses 1-7. The first verse shows who is addressed: the Priests, the house of Israel and the house of the King. Judgment was in store for them, for Mizpah and Tabor, the places of hallowed memory, had been turned by their idolatrous worship into a snare. An old and interesting tradition among the Jews states that at Mizpah the apostates waited for those Israelites who went up to Jerusalem to worship there, to murder them. The next verse seems to indicate something like this tradition.
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"And the apostates make slaughter deep; but I am a chas- tisement to them all"* (see also chapter vi:9). And the Lord saw it all. "I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me." He knew the whoredoms of Ephraim and the defilement of Israel. Their evil deeds kept them from re- turning to their God, for the demon of whoredoms had taken complete possession of them and it kept them in sin and rebellion. Pride was the leading sin of Ephraim, it was to testify against them and both Israel and Ephraim would stumble on account of their guilt and Judah would share the same fate. And though they go with their flocks of sheep and their herds, willing and ready to sacrifice, they shall not be able to find Him, for He hath withdrawn Him- self.
2. The Judgment Announced: Verses 8-15. Then fol- lows a vision of judgment. The judgment is seen as having already fallen upon the guilty nation. The horn (Shophar) is blown in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah; the alarm is sounded. Gibeah and Ramah were situated on the northern boundary of Benjamin. The enemy was behind Benjamin pursuing. There will be no remedy and no escape (verse 9). "The princes of Judah have become, like the removers of landmarks: I will pour out upon them my wrath like water" (verse 10). A curse is pronounced in the law upon those who remove the landmarks (Deut. xxvii:17). Judah instead of taking warning from the disaster coming upon the northern kingdom, the ten tribes, sought gain by an enlargement of their own border. The princes of Judah, instead of weeping over the calamity, rejoiced at the removal of Israel as the means of removing the boundary line and increase their estate. Wrath was in store for Judah. To Ephraim the Lord would be as a moth. To the house of Judah He would be as rottenness. The moth destroys. Both terms, moth and rottenness, are symbols of destroying influences working against the house of Israel and the house
*We give the passage we quote in a better and more literal rendering. The authorized version is frequently incorrect.
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of Judah (see Isa. 1:9, li:8; Psalm xxxix:ll; Job xiii:28). Then they turned to the Assyrian for help and to King Jareb. But there was no help. Jareb is not a proper name, it is an epithet applied to the king of Assyria and means "He will contend" or "He will plead the cause." Like a lion would be the Lord to Israel, and like a young lion to Judah. The same symbolical language is used in Isaiah in connection with the Assyrian, the rod of God's anger (Isa. x). "Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it" (Isa. v:29). Thus judgment came upon them and they were carried away as a prey. And like the lion after his attack withdraws to his den, so the Lord would withdraw from them, leave them and return to His place, waiting till their repentance comes and they seek Him early in their affliction.
The last verse of this chapter has a wider meaning than the past judgment which came upon the house of Israel. The Lord of glory came to earth and visited His people. He came with the message and offer of the kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. After they had rejected Him, delivered Him into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified. He returned to His place. There He is now at the right hand of God, waiting for that day, when the remnant of Israel will repent and seek His face (see Acts iii:19-20). That will be in their coming great affliction, in the time of Jacob's trouble.
3. The Future Return and the Blessing: Chapter vi:l-3. The division of the chapter at this point is unfortunate. The three verses of chapter vi must not be detached from the previous chapter. Here we have the future repentance of the remnant of Israel, that is during the great tribulation. Believingly they will acknowledge His righteous judgment and express their faith and hope in His mercy and the promised blessings and restoration. They express what their great prophet Moses so beautifully stated in His
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prophetic song, that great vision given to him, ere he went to the mountain to die. "See now that I, even I, am He and there is no god with Me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand" (Deut. xxxii:29). "After two days will He revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight (literally, before His face)." They have been dead spiritually and nationally, but when the two days of their blindness and dispersion are over, there is coming for them the third day of life and resurrection. Jewish expositors have pointed out the fact that a day is with the Lord as a thousand years. They state that they will be in dispersion for two days, that is, two thousand years, after which comes the third day of Israel's glorious restoration. One Rabbinical commentator says: "The first day we were without life in the Babylonian captivity, and the second day, which will also end, is the great captivity in which we are now, and the third day is the great day of our restoration." Like Jonah was given up by the fish on the third day, so comes for Israel a third day of life and glory. Then the latter and the former rain will fall upon their land again, and, blest by Him, their Saviour-King, they will live in His sight. But the passage, no doubt, also points to the resurrection of our Lord, the true Israel in a hidden way.
CHAPTER VI:4-11 DIVINE MOURNING OVER EPHRAIM AND JUDAH
1. What Shall I do to Thee? 4-6.
2. Their Transgression. 7-11.
L What Shall I do to Thee? Verses 4-6. The Lord grieves and mourns over the condition of the people whom He loves. After the brief glimpse given of their great future of glory we are brought back into the days of Moses. The Lord grieves and mourns over His people whom He loves, who today are still beloved for the Father's sake (Rom. ix). But while He loved them, their love was like the morn-
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ing cloud, like the dew, vanishing soon away. The morn- ing cloud looks beautiful, gilded by the rays of the rising sun, but it quickly disappears through the heat of the sun; the dew glitters in the early morning, but soon it is gone. Thus was their love, fluctuating and changing. How often is the love of His heavenly people like the morning cloud and the dew! Thank God that His love never changes! The Prophets He had sent to them came, therefore, with words of condemnation, instead of words of comfort and cheer. They came to hew, as stone or wood is hewn, and the mes- sage of judgment they proclaimed condemned them; this is the meaning of the sentence, "I have slain them by the words of my mouth."
2. Their Transgression: Verses 7-11. "Yet they like Adam have transgressed the covenant; they have dealt treacherously against Me." As God had made known His covenr at to Adam, given him a commandment, so He had made a covenant with them and made known unto them His will. Like Adam they had transgressed the covenant. Adam had been called into relationship with His Creator and a place of blessing and favor in Eden had been given to him. He transgressed, and after his fall he was driven out. This happened to Israel. Called of God, who entered with them into a covenant and gave them the land of promise, but when they transgressed, like Adam, they were also driven out.* Iniquity and blood was everywhere. Even the priests lurked as a band of robbers and murdered the travelers on the way to Shechem, one of the cities of refuge, f
*Attentioii has been called to an important distinction. Man is called a sinner. The Gentiles as such are never called transgressors. We read in the New Testament of sinners of the Gentiles, but never 'transgressors" of the Gentiles. Adam was under a law, which he broke and by it he became a transgressor. Israel was under the law, which they broke and became transgressors. But no covenant existed with the Gentiles, nor had they the law given to them; hence while they are lost sinners, they are not called transgressors in the sense in which the covenant people are called transgressors.
fNote correct translation: "Upon the way they murder (those who go) to Shechem" (verse 9).
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The horrible thing was that Israel was steeped in whore- doms; they were not only spiritually adulterers, but follow- ing the idol worship they lived in literal harlotry and lewd- ness. Judah, too, would get a harvest. But the final sen- tence of this chapter, "When I return the captivity of My people," is a prophecy, not concerning the return from Babylon, but that other great restoration which is yet to come. Looked upon in this light the entire verse is pro- phetic. "For thee, also, Judah a harvest waits, when I shall turn the captivity of My people." When God restores His people in His promised covenant mercies then Judah will be visited by judgment as it will be in the end of this age.
CHAPTER Vn THE MORAL DEPRAVITY OF ISRAEL
1. Their Moral Depravity. 1-7.
2. Mingling With Heathen Nations. 8-16.
1. Their Moral Depravity: Verses 1-7. All the gracious efforts of the Lord to heal Israel resulted in a greater mani- festation of the iniquity of Ephraim. Instead of turning to Him in true repentance and self -judgment their evil heart turned away from Jehovah, and they continued in their downward course. They did not consider that the Lord would remember all their evil deeds and punish them for it. The king and the princes, the political heads were as corrupt as the priests, they were pleased with the impeni- tence and wickedness of their subjects. Then follows a graphic description of their moral depravity. They were adulterers, burning with lust, "like an oven heated by the baker, who rests, stirring up (the fire), after he has kneaded the dough until it be leavened." They indulged in all the vile, obscene practices connected with the idol worship of the heathen about them. They were also drunkards and were heated with wine as they were with lust. They made their heart like an oven; their baker (meaning their own evil will and imagination) slept all night, but, awakening
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in the morning, their lust is stirred up again. Nor did any- one call upon the name of the Lord.
Such was the moral depravity of a people with whom the Lord had entered into covenant, the favored nation. The source of it was unbelief and the rejection of His Word. The sad history of Israel is repeated in professing Christendom today.
2. Mingling with Heathen Nations: Verses 8-16. The Lord called Israel to be a separated nation, but Ephraim mingled with the heathen (not, people) and is compared to a cake not turned. They adopted heathen ways, heathen manners and heathen vices. Like an unturned cake, which is black and burnt on the one side, while above it is un- baked, such was Ephraim's condition. Such a cake was fit for nothing; it had to be thrown away. The strangers with whom they mingled devoured their strength, nor did they not notice the signs of their speedy national decay. This is the meaning of the statement, "Gray hairs are here and there upon him, and he does not know it." Furthermore, Ephraim is likened to a silly dove without understanding. Instead of flying back to Jehovah their help and rest, they fluttered, like a moth around the flame, around Egypt and Assyria, trying to find deliverance there. But while flutter- ing from Egypt to Assyria and from Assyria to Egypt, they did not see the net which was spread for their destruction — that net was Assyria itself. In this net the Lord caught them; their freedom would be ended and captivity begin. Then follows the divine Woe. "Woe unto them! for they have wandered from Me. Destruction upon them, that they have transgressed against Me!" The divine lament cried after them, "I would have redeemed them, but they spoke lies against Me." While they may have cried with their mouth, their heart did not. They were like a deceit- ful bow on which the archer cannot depend, so the Lord could not depend upon Israel. God had, to apply the sym- bol, bent Israel as His own bow against evil and idolatry, but they turned themselves against Him.
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CHAPTER VIII— IX :9 THE APOSTASY IS FOLLOWED BY JUDGMENT
1. The Judgment Announced. 1-7.
2. The Apostasy Which Resulted in Judgment. 8-14.
3. Warning Against Self-Security. Chapter ix:l-9.
1. The Judgment Announced: Verses 1-7. The Prophet is commanded to sound the alarm of the impending judg- ment. The message is that the enemy will come swift as an eagle upon house of the Lord, which here does not mean the temple (which was in connection with Judah), but Israel as the chosen people was the house, the dwelling-place of the Lord. All their spurious profession, their false claim, "My God, we know Thee, we, Israel," will go for nothing, because they transgressed the covenant and the law. The obnoxious thing they did is stated in verse 4. They had separated themselves from Judah and chosen their own kings and princes in self-will, thus putting themselves out- side of the theocracy; idolatry speedily followed. In Bethel they had erected the worship of the calf, the great abomina- tion in the sight of the Lord. He rejects their corrupt wor- ship, and ere long the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces, like the golden calf their fathers made in the wilder- ness. They sowed the wind and the whirlwind would be the harvest (see chapter x:13, xii:2; Job iv:8; Prov. xxii:8). They sowed vanity and evil; the tempest of destruction would be their reaping. What they sowed would not yield fruit at all. The Hebrew contains a play of words, " Tsemach brings no Quemach,'' which may be rendered, "shoot brings no fruit."
2. The Apostasy which Resulted in Judgment: Verses 8-14. Israel had been swallowed up by the nations, that is, by mingling with them. By their doings they have become like a despised vessel. Their sin was going up to Assyria, like a wild ass, suing there for love and favor. They were like a stubborn brute going there by itself. Ephraim was even worse than the stubborn ass. They formed unnatural alliances with the Gentiles. There they gave presents, hir-
70 TEE PROPHET ROSEA
ing lovers, literally rendered, "Ephralm gave presents of love" to practice her whoredoms. They forgot their Creator, God; their sacrifices Jehovah despised. Therefore the judgment.
3. Warning Against Self-Security: Chapter ix.l -9. Under the reign of Jeroboam II Israei enjoyed great prosperity. It seems they had a bountiful harvest, corn and wine was in abundance. They gave themselves over to feasting and rejoicing. It was at such an occasion when the Lord sent this warning against their own security. Their captivity is announced where they would eat things unclean and feast days will no longer be possible. Then the Prophet beholds them as already in the Assyrian captivity. They went away and turned towards the South to escape the sure destruc- tion. But "Egypt will gather them, Memphis will bury them." Their precious things of silver will give way to thistles and thorns. The day of visitation was at hand; their in- iquities are remembered and their sins will be visited.
CHAPTER IX:10-XI:11 RETROSPECT. ISRAEL'S FAILURE AND RUIN
1. Israel Once Beloved Now Fugitive Wanderers. 10-17.
2. Their Guilt and Punishment. Chapter x:l-ll.
3. Exhortation and Rebuke. 12-15.
4. The Mercy of a Merciful God. Chapter xi:l-ll.
1. Israel Once Beloved, but Wanderers Now: Verses 10-17. Like a wayfaring man who finds grapes and figs in the desert and delights in them, so the Lord found Israel in the desert and they were His pleasure when He led them out of Egypt. But they requited His love by going after Baal-Peor, one of the filthiest gods of heathendom. To this they consecrated themselves and practice their vile abomina- tions. Therefore the glory which He had given to His people will fly away like a bird and their licentious worship of unnatural vices would avenge itself so that there would be no pregnancy and no birth; the promised increase would stop. It seems verses 14-17 are an outburst of the Prophet.
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How literally the sentence has been fulfilled. "They will be wanderers."
2. Their Guilt and Punishment: Chapter x:l-ll. Here is another retrospect, Israel once called to be a thriving vine (not empty), called to be fruitful; but Israel did not bring forth the expected fruit. As the nation abounded and pros- pered they increased their idol altars; as the land yielded its increase in the same measure they made their images. Their heart was smooth, or deceitful, for this they will now have to suffer. "Their heart is smooth; now will they make expiation." They will have no more king. The smooth or deceitful heart is described in verse 4, while in the verse which follows the judgment upon their calves they wor- shipped is announced. It, the calf, will be carried to Assyria to be made a present of to the king. The high places will be destroyed and thorns and thistles will overgrow its altars. Then they will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall upon us!" Well, it is to read in connection v,ith this prophetic statement what our Lord said about the judgment of Jerusalem in Luke xxiii:30 and what is written in connection with the breaking of the sixth seal in Revelation vi:16.
Gibeah is mentioned (verse 9). The corruption of Gibeah is also noted in chapter ix:9. The horrible abomination of Gibeah is recorded in Judges xix in consequence of which the tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out. And the people had become as wicked and guilty as Benjamin at Gibeah. The nations are now to be used to punish Israel. "And the nations will gather themselves against them, when I bind them for their offences" (verse 10, literal translation).
3. Exhortation and Rebuke: Verses 12-15. Here is a break in the judgment message. If they would return to the Lord and would sow righteousness, they would reap mercy. But such sowing is impossible unless the fallow ground is broken up, that is, true repentance and a heart return unto the Lord. "For it is time to seek the Lord, until He come and rain righteousness upon you." In what infinite patience He waited for the repentance of His people!
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But while He would save them, they would not! Still God's gifts and calling are without repentance and the day will come when a remnant of Israel will seek the Lord; then He will come and rain righteousness upon them.
How different was their condition! The Lord rebukes them, for they had ploughed wickedness, and reaped ini- quity. The noise of war is now heard; Shalman (a con- tracted form of Shalmanezer, the King of Assyria) is ad- vancing and shall destroy all their fortresses as he destroyed Beth-arbel. (There is no further record of Beth-arbel and its destruction.) And who was responsible for all this havoc and the impending calamity? "Thus has Bethel done to you, for the evil of your great evil. In the early morning the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off." Bethel was the seat of Israel's idolatry, it drew God's wrath and finally ended the monarchy in Israel and their national existence.
4. The Mercy of a Merciful God: Chapter xi:l-ll. This chapter starts with a beautiful allusion to Israel's youth, when in sovereign love He called Israel, His firstborn Son, out of Egypt, redeeming them by blood and power (Exod. iv:22-23). But this passage is quoted in the second chap- ter of the Gospel of Matthew: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying. Out of Egypt have I called My Son" (Matt, ii :15) . The blending together of Israel and Christ is very interesting. Christ is the true Israel and goes through the entire history of the nation, without failure and in divine perfection. He was carried as an infant into the land where Israel suffered in the fiery furnace; and finally He died for that nation and in some future day through Him, the true Israel (called such in Isa. Ixix), Israel's great future and glory will come to pass.
But while the Son of God, the true Israel, was perfect and holy in all His ways, Israel was unfaithful. This record of Jehovah's faithfulness and mercy is here unfolded. He sent them prophets who called them, but they turned away from Him and gave themselves over to the Baalim and the idol- gods. How loving He had been to them! He led them, took them into His arms and healed them. He drew them
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with cords of love and was towards them "as those that would raise the yoke-strap over their jaws, and I reached out to them to eat" (verse 4). It is a beautiful picture of His great gentleness with them. Perhaps some of them were anxious to turn to Egypt and find a home there and thus escape the cruel Assyrian. But the Lord declares that they shall not return to Egypt, but Assyria is to be their king, because they refused to return. The sword of judgment would do its work completely (verses 6-7). Then follows a most wonderful outburst of deepest sorrow over the stubborn nation :
"How should I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I surrender thee, Israel? How should I make thee Like Admah? Or set thee like Zeboim? My heart is turned within me; My repentings are kindled together."
It is the same Lord who speaks here, who centuries later stood before the city and broke out in loud weeping when He beheld the city: "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes" (Luke xix:42). "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. xxiii:37). How He loves His people! And though He has punished them, He does not forsake them; He will not be angry for- ever; He is a covenant keeping God, "For I am God and not man" (verse 9). "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" (Mai. iii:6). And so here, this chapter of Jehovah's mercy ends with the assurance of their future restoration and blessing. "They will follow the Lord." That will be "when like a lion He
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roars." That is the day when He appears again as "The lion of the tribe of Judah." Then, in that day, like a bird from Egypt they will hasten back and like a dove from Assyria. "Then will I make them dwell in their houses, saith the Lord." Here is another prophecy of their restora- tion to their own, God-given home land.
CHAPTER XI:12-Xn THE INDICTMENT
1. Ephraim's Indictment. Chapter xi:12-xii:2.
2. Remembrance of the Past. 3-6.
3. What Israel Had Become. 7-14.
1. Ephraim's Indictment: Chapter xi:12-xii. 2. Lying and deceit had been Ephraim's course towards Jehovah; instead of trusting Him and following Him faithfully they had attached themselves to idols, while Judah stiU outwardly cleaved to Jehovah, though it was in a rambling way. The word translated "ruleth" means rambling. The better rendering of the sentence is "and Judah is also rambling towards God (or unbridled against Him) and towards the faithful Holy One." But while outwardly Judah seemed to be all right, Ephraim fed on wind, was occupied with the vain, the empty things, increased in lies and desolation and turned to Assyria and Egypt for help, sending as a present olive oil to the latter and making a covenant with the former (see 2 Kings xvii:4). Then the mask is torn from Judah 's face. The Lord had a controversey with them also and would repay them according to their evil deeds.
2. Remembrance of the Past: Verses 3-6. Jacob's sons are now reminded of Jacob*s experience. Though he was so weak and sinful yet the Lord in marvellous grace met him. The experience at Peniel is recalled. "Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplica- tion unto Him." There he learned the sufficiency of grace and his strength was made perfect in wealoiess. The angel who appeared unto him that night was none other than the Son of God. What a reminder it was to them. "He found
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him (Jacob) in Bethel!" In the very place where the Lord found Jacob and Jacob found the Lord, they had set up their awful, God-defying idol worship. Where God had shown such mercy there they practised now their abomina- tions. Jehovah, the God of hosts, was still the same. He is the Lord who changes not. He was waiting still for their return. To such a God, who keeps His covenant promises they were urged to return and prove their true return by keeping mercy and justice and by waiting on Jehovah con- tinually. But the call of grace and mercy was unheeded.
3. What Israel Had Become: Verses 7-14. The Lord calls apostate Israel a merchant, that is in Hebrew "Canaan" (Canaan means traffic; see Ezek. xvii:4). They had become Canaanites with the balances of deceit, loving to oppress. They had become fraudulent merchants, by cheating and oppression. Their wrong attitude towards Jehovah, having forsaken Him, led to a wrong attitude towards their fellow- men. Instead of repenting they boasted, "I am become rich, I have found me out substance." They were breaking the law continually (see Lev. xix:36 and Deut. xxv:13-16). Yet in all their lawbreaking they prided themselves of being a righteous nation. *Tn all my labors they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin." How all this fits a good part of the Jews today is to well known to need further comment.
Some day it will be different through the grace and mercy of the never-changing Lord. He is the Jehovah who de- livered them out of Egypt; all their blessing and prosperity they owed to Him; He had guided and preserved them, and all their sinning would not diminish His faithfulness to them. They are going to dwell again some day in tents, a reference to the feast of tabernacles, that great feast which typifies the coming millennial blessings for restored Israel. Such had been the continued testimony of the prophets He had sent, who announced the coming judgments and the final blessings in a future day. But now everything was ruin on account of their idolatry. Gilgal was the seat of a part of their idolatry (chapter iv:15, ix:15). Then once more they are reminded of their progenitor Jacob. He fled
76 TEE PROPHET ROSEA
before Esau his brother, yet though he was weak he served faithfully for a wife and for a wife he kept guard and Jehovah guarded and blest him. So He would concern Himself with them again. The twenty-sixth chapter of Deuteronomy throws light on this passage. But what was Ephraim's con- dition? Instead of acknowledging all Jehovah had done for Jacob and his offspring they provoked Him to bitter anger, therefore the Lord would punish them.
CHAPTER XIII EPHRAIM'S RUIN AND JUDGMENT
1. Ruin and Judgment. 1-8.
2. It is Thy Destruction, O Israel! 9-11. 8. Mercy to Follow Wrath. 12-14.
4. The Desolation of the Nearing Judgment. 15-16. ;
1. Ruin and Judgment: Verses 1-8. In the beginning Ephraim was humble, and knowing his dependence, he spoke with trembling. Then he became puffed up, exalted him- self in Israel, loving the pre-eminence, it led on to the schism from Judah and the house of David. The next step after this separation from Judah was idolatry, then the dying of the nation began. This sad history of Ephraim, reveal- ing the steps of decline, beginning with self-exaltation and ending in ruin and death, has often been repeated in the individual history of countless multitudes among the pro- fessing people of God. i
Then they went from sinning to sinning, from bad to worse, just as in our own days, the apostates in Christendom go from bad to worse in fulfillment of 2 Timothy iii:13. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." Idolatry flourished on all sides. They added idol images in Gilgal and Beersheba to the golden calves (Amos viii:14). Then the judgment is announced. Just as the rising sun quickly disperses the morning clouds and the dew, so they should pass away (see chapter vi:4). They would be like the chaff driven with a whirlwind out of the threshing floor (Psa. i:4, xxxv:5; Isa. xvii:13, xli:15-
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16); they would be like the quickly evaporating smoke, which comes out of the windows of a house without a chimney.
Then the Lord reminds them of their former relationship and that He is the true God, "and there is no Saviour beside Me." In the land of the wilderness He knew them and there He cared for them and provided all their needs. But instead of acknowledging Him, they became full; self- exaltatiou followed, and then they forgot Him. Through- out the Word of God self-exaltation, pride is always given as the starting point of departure from God and the conse- quent ruin.
Verses 7-8 are interesting. They are to be rent by wild beasts, which, symbolically, represent the Gentiles. The ten tribes were carried away by the Assyrian, while later, when Judah met its judgment, the whole land was devastated by the lion-empire (Babylonia) ; by the bear (Medo-Persia) ; by the leopard (the Graeco-Macedonia ; and finally by the dreadful beast, "the beast of the field shall tear them," the Roman power.
2. It is Thy Destruction, O Israel: Verses 9-11. "It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou art against Me, against thy help." What they had done in lifting themselves up, in forsaking Jehovah was spiritual and national suicide. They were alone responsible for their destruction. Where was their King to save them out of such ruin and destruction.? The house of David with which the covenant had been made they had forsaken. He reminds them again of an episode in their past history, when they, their fathers, were rebellious and asked for a king. Such kings like Saul had been their kings which reigned over the ten tribes.
3. Mercy to Follow Wrath: Verses 12-14. Ephraim de- liberately held on to his sin. Their iniquity was bound up; it was laid by in store. The reference is to the Oriental cus- tom of tying up money and other valuables into a bundle and hiding it somewhere. It was done for security. So the Lord would see to it that their sins and iniquity would not be forgotten; all their sins were preserved for punishment
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(see Deut. xxxii:34). Sorrow and great trouble should come upon them. It has been thus in the past, it will be so in the future, in the time of "Jacob's trouble" (Jer. xxx:4). When that time comes, when all their hope and strength is gone (Deut. xxxii •.36-43) then He will deliver. Then all the enemies will be put down. Redemption from death and the plagues will come; they will be ransomed from the power of Sheol (not hell). Israel will be raised from its national death — sleep. Long she has been buried among the nations, without spiritual and national life, like those who are in the power of Sheol. But Jehovah will deliver the faithful por- tion of Israel and Judah, and they will rise from the dust of the earth, the symbol of their national restoration. To use this passage, as it has been done, to teach the resti- tution of the wicked, is wrong. It has nothing to do with the wicked dead and their future, but all applies to the restoration of Israel (see the annotations of chapters xvi and xxxvii of the Prophet Ezekiel).
3. The Desolation of the Nearing Judgment: Verses 15- 16. These verses describe the horrors of the coming judg- ment by the Assyrians (see 2 Kings viii:12, xv.l6, and Amos i:13).
CHAPTER XIV THE RETURN AND THE GLORIOUS REDEMPTION
1. The Exhortation to Return. 1-3.
2. The Glorious Redemption. 4-9.
1. The Exhortation to Retiirn: Verses 1-3. This chap- ter is a wonderful finale co tlie messages of Hosea. What tender entreaties! What gracious assurance! What glori- ous promises of a future redeiription! It is Jehovah beseech- ing His people, those who Ivr.d forsaken Him, outraged His character of holiness and wlio had despised Him. First is the call to return. God's hands are tied as long as His people stay away from Him and do not return to Him in true repentance. No true salvation and deliverance for
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His people is possible without a true heart return unto Him. It is this for which He looks and waits.
Then the Lord Himself puts His word and a prayer into their mouth. He loves to provide all. "Take with you words and turn to Jehovah and say unto Him, Forgive all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips." Could their poor, darkened and mis- trusting hearts ever even have imagined to ask thus of Him? Their consciences were defiled; the burden of guilt was upon them. But Jehovah does not mention their sins and their guilt, but tells them just to pray for forgiveness and for a gracious reception. And He who tells His wayward people to pray, to turn to Him, to pray for forgiveness. He who assures them that He hears, assures them of a gracious receiving, will never fail. How full of comfort these few sentences are to all His people at all times! We can imagine that in Hosea's day there were individual Israelites who took these words to heart. After them generations of Jews read them and turned individually to the Lord, found for- giveness and became the objects of His grace. And we too, as His people, when we have gone back in our spiritual life, can find our comfort here, and appropriate all this in faith as we act upon His Word. In the future the remnant of Israel will take these gracious exhortations to heart, and before the glorious redemption is given to them return to the Lord with this prayer.
"So will v/e render the calves of our lips." Literally ren- dered it IS "we will pay as young oxen our lips," i.e., present the prayers of our lips as a thankoffering; we will be wor- shippers. Such is the result of a real return unto the Lord with sins forgiven and restored to His fellowship. The days of singing are coming for Israel in that day when they return unto Him and He appears in His Glory to be enthroned as King. It will usher in the singing times for all the world, including groaning creation, then delivered. Then follows the evidence of their genuine repentance. It is expressed in words suited to the condition of Ephraim in Hosea's day. They repudiate Assyria; they acknowledge that no salva-
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tion is there, but only in Jehovah. No longer will they trust in their own strength and in the strength of their horses; no longer will they turn to idols and call them "Our God," but they will acknowledge Him in whom the fatherless findeth mercy. Israel, God's Firstborn son, had been the prodigal, was fatherless, though the Father's love never gave them up. But now the prodigal returns and knows there is One in whom the fatherless findeth abundant mercy. All this true repentance will be manifested at the close of this age, when the remnant of Israel turns to the Lord. ' ^^
2. The Glorious Redemption: Verses 5-9. His gracious answer to such repentance follows. Three times Jehovah speaks "I will." This is the word of Sovereign grace (see Annotations on Ezekiel, page 315). The three "I wills" are: (1) I will heal their backslidings; (2) I will love them freely; (3) I will be a dew unto Israel. They are arranged in a most blessed order. Mercy, love and gracious refresh- ment resulting in fruitfulness and beauty, such is the order. The past is wiped out, the present is love and the future is glory. Like the lily, like Lebanon and like the olive-tree, Israel is to be. The lily denotes beauty; they will be clad in the beauty of holiness. Lebanon stands for strength and stability; they will become the nation of power which can never be moved. Then they shall be once more the olive- tree; the broken off branches will be put back (Rom. xi:16, etc.). The blessings of the restored Israel in the millennium are given in the seventh verse.
Beautiful is verse 8. "Ephraim (shall say), "What have I to do any more with idols? I hear and I look upon Him; I am like a green fir tree. From Me is thy fruit found." Ephraim, the cake half turned, Ephraim, of whom it was said, he is joined to idols, leave him alone, now repudiates the idols. And why? I hear and I look upon Him! The vision of the Lord turned the stubborn heart. It is so still; the great power is to hear Him, to look upon Him. In that day Israel will look on Him whom they pierced, the great turning point in their future history. Then the nation will yield the fruit through their fellowship with Him. Blessed
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ending of this prophecy. "For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein."
JOEL
The Prophet Joel
INTRODUCTION
Joel means "Jehovah is God." This name occurs frequently in the Old Testament (1 Sam. viii:2; 1 Chronicles iv:35, v:4, viii:12, etc.). The Prophet Joel was the son of Pethuel. Numerous guesses have been made about his personality. A tradition states that he was from Bethom in the tribe of Reuben. In 1 Chronicles xxiv:16 a man by name of Pethaliah is mentioned. Some have connected him with the father of Joel, Pethuel, claiming upon this that Joel belonged to a priestly family; but this, as well as other claims cannot be confirmed. Jewish expositors make the statement , that Pethuel was Samuel, because Samuel had a son by name of Joel; but, inasmuch as the sons of Samuel were evildoers this is incorrect. The book itself does not give even a single hint as to his personal history.
WHEN AND WHERE JOEL LIVED
As to the time and place, when and where he exercised his prophetic oflBce, we are not left in doubt. He prophesied not like Hosea among the ten tribes, but he was a prophet of Judah. The entire prophecy bears witness to it; this fact has never been disputed. It is different with the date of Joel. Destructive criticism has assigned to Joel a post-exilic date, with some very puerile arguments. For instance they claim that the mention of the walls of Jerusalem (chapter xi:7, 9), point to a date after Ezra and Nehemiah. Such an argument is not an argument of a scholar, but of a schoolboy. Critics also object to an early date because the Greeks are mentioned in chapter iii:6. But the Greeks are also mentioned in an inscription of Sargon (about 710 B. C), and long before that in the Armana letters a Greek is also mentioned, as stated in "Higher Criticism and the Monuments" by Professor Sayce.
The best Jewish and Christian scholarship has maintained a very early date of Joel. When the editor published his larger work on Joel, in which he puts the date between 860 and 850 B. C, Professor H. A. Sayce of Oxford, one of the greatest scholars of our times, wrote in a personal letter to the writer: "Let me thank you heartily for your very interesting exposition of Joel. I am glad to see a work of the kind on conservative lines; the attempts to find a late date for the prophet rests on arguments which to the inductive scientist are no arguments at all." This strong statement and endorsement of a very early date for Joel certainly outweighs the arguments of certain critics who possess nothing like the scholarship of the Oxford professor.
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There is nothing mentioned in Joel of the Assyrian period 800-650, nor is there anything said of the Babylonian period 650-538, hence Joel must have prophesied before the Assyrian period, that is in the ninth century B. C, or he must have lived after the exile. The latter is excluded, therefore Joel exercised his office as prophet in Judah during the middle of the ninth century, as stated above, about 860-850 B. C. This view is abundantly verified by different facts found in the book itself.
Now, the date of Amos is generally accepted as being in the middle
of the 8th century before Christ. In the first chapter of the Book of
Amos there is an undoubted quotation from the Book of Joel. (See
N Joel iii:16 and Amos i:2). Dr. Pusey makes the following argument out
of this fact:
"Amos quoting Joel attests two things. (1) That Joel's prophecy must, at the time when Amos wrote, have become a part of Holy Scriptures, and its authority must have been acknowledged; (2) That its authority must have been acknowledged by, and it must have been in circulation among, those to whom Amos prophesied; otherwise he would not have prefixed to his book those words of Joel. For the whole force of the words, as employed by Amos, depends on being recognized by his hearers, as a renewal of the prophecy of Joel. Certainly bad men jeered at Amos, as though this threatening would not be fulfilled."
The seven strongest reasons for the early date of Joel are the fol- lowing:
1. Joel charges the Philistines with having invaded Judah, captured the inhabitants, and sold them as slaves. Now, according to 2 Chron. xxi:10, this happened under Joram, B. C. 889-883. And they suffered the punishment predicted for their crime, under Uzziah, 2 Chron. xxvi:6. Hence Joel could not have written this book before B. C. 889, nor later than 732.
2. The Phoenicians, i. e., those of Tyre and Sidon, who in the days of David and Solomon were the allies, had in later times become the enemies of Judah. They too had been guilty of selling Jewish prisoners to the Grecians. Joel predicts that they also shall be punished for this crime — a prediction fulfilled in the time of Uzziah, B. C. 811-759. This proves that Joel must have prophesied before the days of Uzziah.
S. The Edomites (iii:19), are ranked among the enemies of Judah- They came from the same stock as the Jews, and on account of their sin against their brethren, their country was to become a perpetual desolation. From 2 Kings viii:20, comp. with 2 Chron. xxi:8, we learn that they became independent of Judah in the time of Joram, B. C. 889-883. They were again subdued, and their capital city Petra captured, B. C. 838-811, though the southern and eastern parts of their territory were not conquered until the reign of Uzziah, about B. C. 830.
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The prophet must have exercised his ministry, therefore, prior to the latter date.
4. The fact that no mention is made of the invasion by the Syrians of Damascus proves that Joel was one of the early prophets. This occurred in the latter part of the reign of Josiah, B. C. 850-840.
5. The high antiquity of Joel is proved by the fact that he makes no reference to the Assyrian invasion of the two Jewish kingdoms in B. C. 790. On the other hand, Amos clearly alludes to it (vi:14).
6. Another proof is derived from the relation between Joel and Amos. The latter was certainly well acquainted with the writings of the former.
7. The mention of the Valley of Jeoshaphat is a circumstance leading to the same conclusion. It took this name from the memorable victory there gained over Moab and Ammon. The way in which Joel refers to it shows that this event must have been a comparatively recent one, and that the memory of it was still fresh.
On these grounds we conclude that in fixing the time of this prophet, we cannot take for our terminus a quo an earlier date than B. C. 890, nor for our terminus ad quern a later one than 840. It most probably falls between B. C. 860-850. Joel therefore is probably the oldest of the Minor Prophets.
THE -PROPHECY OF JOEL
The prophecy of Joel is one which extends from his own time to the time of Israel's restoration and blessing in the day of the Lord. The style of the brief prophecy is sublime. To show its beauty we give a corrected metric version. It must be read through several times to grasp its vivid descriptions, the terse and solemn utterances, the full, smooth phrases, and above all the revelation it contains. His utter- ances are distinguished by the soaring flight of imagination, the origin- ality, beauty and variety of the similes. The conceptions are simple enough, but they are at the same time bold and grand. The perfect order in which they are arranged, the even flow, the well compacted structure of the prophecy are all remarkable.
He may well be called "The Prophet of the Lord's Day." Five times he mentions this day. Chapters i:15, ii:l-12, 10-11, 30-31, and iii:15-16. The great theme then is "The Day of the Lord," that coming day, when the Lord is manifested, when the enemies of Israel are judged, when the Lord restores and redeems Israel.
The occasion of the book and prophecy of Joel was a dreadful scourge which swept over the land of Israel. Locusts swarms had fallen upon the land and stripped it of everything green. There was also a great drought. All was a chastisement from the Lord. Hence we see in the first chapter the penitential lamentations of old and young, priests and people. Then the vision widens in the second chapter. The locusts
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appear no longer as a scourge of literal insects; they become typical of an invading army. This hostile army invades the land from the North and makes the land a wilderness. The alarm is sounded in Zion; the repentance of the people follows. Then comes the great change in this picture of desolation and despair. The day of the Lord is announced. He acts in behalf of His people. He delivers them from the Northern Army; He restores what the locusts had devoured; the land is restored and the latter rain is given. At the close of the second chapter stands the prophecy which predicts spiritual blessings through the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh, a prophecy which has not yet been completely fulfilled, which is not now in process of fulfillment, but which will be accomplished in the day of the Lord. The last chapter is the great finale of this symphony of Prophecy. Here the judgment of the nations is vividly portrayed; what the day of the Lord will bring, and what will follow in blessing is the final theme. But few Christians have ever given much heed to this prophetic book. There are many important truths in this book. A great deal of confusion might have been avoided if more attention had been given to the setting in which the prediction of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh is found. The Pentecostal delusion is built up mostly upon the wrong interpretations of this prophecy.
THE DIVISIONS OF JOEL
The divisions of the prophecy of Joel, as found in our English version, cannot be improved upon. We follow it in our analysis and annotations.
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The Book of Joel
A METRIC VERSION
CHAPTER I.
1. The Word of Jehovah which came to Joel, the Son of Pethuel.
2. Hear this, ye aged men
And open the ear ye inhabitants of the land! Hath this happened in your days. Or even in the days of your fathers? S. Relate it to your children
And your children to their children. And their children to another generation.
4. What the Gazam* left, the Arbeh hath devoured And what the Arbeh left, the Jelek hath devoured And what the Jelek left, the Ckasel hath devoured.
5. Awake, ye drunkards and weep! And howl all ye drinkers of wine Because of the sweet wine.
For it is taken away from your mouth.
6. For a nation has come up upon my land Mighty and without number —
His teeth — lion's teeth —
The jaw teeth, that of a lioness.
7. He hath made my vine for a desolation And my figtree broken off;
Peeled off completely and cast it away; Its branches are made white.
8. Lament like a virgin!
Girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9. Cut off is the meat and drink offering from the house of Jehovah.
The priests mourn, the servants of Jehovah. 10. "Wasted is the field Mourning is the land — For wasted is the corn The new wine is dried up The oil faileth."
*We left these four words untranslated for reasons which will be given in the exposition.
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11. Be ashamed, husbandmen! Howl — vine dressers!
For the wheat and the barley. Because the harvest of the field is lost.
12. The vine is dried up And the figtree faileth
The pomegranate, also the palm and the apple tree." All the trees of the field are withered. Gone is joy from the children of men.
13. Gird yourselves and lament, O ye priests. Howl, ministers of the altar;
Come lie down in sackcloth all night
Ye ministers of my God.
For withholden from the house of your God
Are the meat offering and the drink offering.
14. Sanctify a fast.
Call a solemn gathering.
Bring together the Elders
All the inhabitants of the land
In the house of Jehovah your God
And cry unto Jehovah
15. Woe! For the Day!
Because near is the day of Jehovah
Even like destruction from Shaddai* it comes.
16. Is not the food cut off before our eyes? From the house of our God joy and gladness.
17. The seeds have perished under their clods. The garners become desolate
The storehouses are broken down For withered is the corn.
18. Hear the cattle groan!
The herds of cattle are bewildered, For there is no feeding place for them. Also the flocks of sheep are made to suffer, f
19. To Thee, Jehovah, I cry.
For the fire has consumed the goodly places of the desert And a flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
20. Also the cattle of the field look up J unto Thee
*The only time Shaddai (Almighty) is used in Joel. In the Hebrew there is a resemblance of sound between "destruction" and "Shaddai.''
fThe Hebrew word, which we translate "made to suffer" means in its root "to be guilty." The form of the verb used here would best be translated by the German "bussen."
JAnother word different from the 19th verso is used, though nearly all translators use "cry." It is more a groaning, desirous looking up.
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For the streams of water are dried up.
And a fire hath consumed the goodly places of the desert.
CHAPTER II.
1. Blow the trumpet in Zion,
Sound an alarm in the mount of my holiness. Let all the dwellers of the land tremble. For the day of Jehovah cometh. For it is near at hand.
2. A day of darkness and gloom
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
Like the dawn spread upon the mountains; —
A people numerous and strong!
Never hath there been the like before.
Neither shall the like come again.
In the years of many generations.
3. A fire devoureth before them. And behind them a flame burneth;
Before them the land is as the garden of Eden, And behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and nothing can escape them.
4. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses. And like the horsemen shall they run.
6. Like the noise of chariots.
On the mountain tops, they shall leap.
Like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble.
Like a strong people set in battle array.
6. Before them the peoples are in distress All faces turn to paleness.
7. They run like mighty men
They climb the wall like men of war; And they march each one in his ways. And they turn not aside from their ranks.
8. Nor doth one press upon another.
A mighty one* marches in the high road. They fall upon the dart, but are not wounded.
9. They spread themselves in the city. They run along upon the wall. They climb up into the houses.
They enter in by the windows like a thief. 10. The earth trembleth before them. The heavens shake.
*This is the literal meaning.
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The sun and the moon are darkened. And the stars withdraw their shining.
11. And Jehovah uttereth His voice before his army For very great is His host.
For He that executeth His Word is mighty;
For great is the day of Jehovah and very terrible.
And who can stand it?
12. Yet even now, saith Jehovah, Return unto me with all your heart.
With fasting and with weeping and with mourning.
13. And rend your heart and not your garments. And return unto Jehovah your God,
For He is gracious and merciful.
Slow to anger and of great loving kindness
And repenteth Him of the evil.
14. Who knoweth He may return and repent And leave a blessing behind.
An oblation and a drink offering For Jehovah your God.
15. Blow the trumpet in Zion, Sanctify a fast.
16. Call out a solemn assembly, Gather the people. Sanctify a congregation. Assemble the old men. Gather the children.
And those that suck the breasts;
Let the bridegroom leave his chamber
And the bride her closet;
17. Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, Weep between the porch and the altar. And let them say: —
"Spare Thy people, O Jehovah, And give not thine heritage to reproach That the nations should rule over them*. Wherefore should they say among the peoples Where is their God?"
18. Then Jehovah will be jealous for His land. And will have pity on His people.
19. And Jehovah will answer and say to His people: Behold I am sending to you the corn.
The new wine and the oil;
And ye shall be satisfied therewith.
"Or, "they that should be a byword of the nations."
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And I will no longer make you For a reproach among the nations. *
20. And I will remove afar from you the One from the North And will drive him into a dry and desolate land.
His face toward the Eastern sea
His rear toward the Western sea
And his stench shall arise
And his ill odour shall ascend.
For he hath lifted himself up to do great things.
21. Fear not, O Land Be glad and rejoice.
For Jehovah doeth great things.
22. Fear not, ye beasts of the field!
For the pastures of the desert spring forth.
The tree beareth her fruit
The fig tree and the vine give their strength.
23. Ye children of Zion, be glad and rejoice In Jehovah your God;
For He giveth you the early rain in righteousness. He causeth to descend for you the showers , The earl}' and the latter rain as before.
24. And the floors shall be full of corn.
And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
25. And I will restore to you the years. Which the Arbeth hath eaten.
The Jekel, the Chasel and the Gazam, My great army, which I sent among you. 20. Then ye shall be in abundance, and be satisfied And praise the name of Jehovah your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be ashamed.
27. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I Jehovah am your God, and none else. And my people shall never be ashamed.
28. And it shall come to pass afterwards,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;
Your old men shall dream dreams.
Your young men shall see visions.
29. Yea, even upon the men servants and the maid servants. In those days will I pour out my Spirit.
30. And I will give wonders in the heaven and on earth. Blood, and fire and pillars of smoke.
31. The sun shall be turned to darkness. And the moon into blood.
Before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.
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32. And it shall come to pass
Whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be saved . For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance. As Jehovah hath said. Even for the remnant whom Jehovah shall call.
CHAPTER III.
1. For behold in those days and in that time.
When I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem; '■
2. I will also bring together all nations.
And will bring down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; And there will I judge them on account of my people, And my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. And they divided my land.
3. And they cast lots for my people. They gave a boy for a harlot.
And sold a girl for wine, and drank it.
4. Yea also, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Sidon,
And all the borders of Philistia.' Would you requite me with retaliation? If your retaliate
Swiftly and speedily will I bring your recompense Upon your own head. 6. Because ye have taken my silver and gold,
And have brought into your temples my very best things
6. And the children of Judah and of Jerusalem, Ye sold to the children of the Greeks,
That ye might remove them far from their border.
7. Behold I will raise them up out of the place whither ye sold them,
And I will return the retaliation upon your own head.
8. And I will sell your sons and your daughters Into the hands of the sons of Judah.
And they shall sell them to the Sabeans to a far off nation. For Jehovah hath spoken it.
9. Proclaim this among the nations: Declare a war!
Arouse the mighty ones!
Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up! 10. Beat your ploughshares into swords. And your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong.
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11. Come together,
All ye nations round about
Gather yourselves together.
Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down,
O, Jehovah!
12. Let the nations arise and come up To the valley of Jehoshaphat,
For there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.
13. Put in the sickle.
For the harvest is ripe;
Come— Tread!
For the wine-press is full.
The vats overflow;
For their wickedness is great.
14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of Jehovah is at hand in the valley of decision.
15. The sun and the moon are darkened And the stars withdraw their shining.
16. And Jehovah shall roar from Zion,
And send forth His voice from Jerusalem; And the heavens and the earth shall shake; But Jehovah will be a refuge for His people And a fortress for the sons of Israel.
17. And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, your God, Dwell in Zion, my holy mountain;
And Jerusalem shall be holy, .
And strangers shall no more pass through her.
18. And it shall come to pass in that day
That the mountains shall drop down new wine.
And the hills shall flow with milk,
And all the river beds of Judah shall be full with waters.
And a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah,
And shall water the valley of Shittim.
19. Egypt shall be a desolation
And Edom shall be a desolate wilderness.
For their violence against the children of Judah,
Because they shed innocent blood in their land.
20. But Judah shall abide forever.
And Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21. And I will purge them from the blood From which I had not purged them. And Jehovah will dwell in Zion.
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Analysis and Annotations
Chapter i. I. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS.
IL THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD; THE RUIN, THE REPENTANCE AND THE RESTORATION.
Chapter ii.
in. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD; ISRAEL'S ENEMIES JUDGED; THE KING- DOM ESTABLISHED.
Chapter iii.
I. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS CHAPTER I
1. The Prophet's Appeal. 1-4.
2. The Call to the Drunkards. 5-7.
3. The Call to the People and the Priests. 8-14.
4. The Day of the Lord; the Suffering Land. 15-18.
5. The Prayer of the Prophet. 19-20.
1. The Prophet's Appeal: Verses 1-4. The Prophet an- nounces that it is the Word of Jehovah he utters, which came to him. Verses 2 and 3 are an introduction to the description which follows the great calamity which had befallen the land. It is in the form of an appeal. What had happened to the land is of such a fearful character that it is unprecedented. The visitation of the land by the locust plague is to be related to future generations, because there is a great prophetic meaning as to the future attached to the locusts, which will be pointed out later. The fourth verse we render in a way our own, leaving the words of the destroying insects untranslated.
What the Gazam left, the Arbeh hath devoured; And what the Arbeh left, the Jelek hath devoured; And what the Jelek left, the Chasel hath devoured.
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We left the Hebrew words untranslated because they do not express insects of different species; they are one insect, the locust, in a fourfold stage. Gazam means "to gnaw off;" Arbeh is "to be many"; this is the common name of the locusts on account of their migratory habits. Jelek is "to lick off," and Chasel means "to devour or consume." The locust passes through a fourfold stage in its development to full growth. First, it is the gnawing locust, when first hatched; then it gets its wings and flies about; after that it starts in its destructive work by licking off whatever it finds, and, finally, it reaches its full growth and devours everything in its path. For a full description of the locusts, their habits, their awful work of destruction in Oriental countries see our commentary on Joel, pages 33-39 and in Appendix B.*
The locust plague which laid Israel's land bare was a judg- ment from the Lord. It was one of the judgments the Lord sent upon Egypt, and Moses had prophetically announced that the Lord would use them to punish his people (see Deut. xxviii:38, 42).
But these literal locusts, which fell literally upon the land and destroyed in a short time all vegetation, are symbolic of other agencies which were to be used later in Israel's his- tory to bring judgment upon the land and the people. They are typical of Gentile armies, as stated in the second chap- ter, where the Lord calls them "My great army," Here is unquestionably a prophetic forecast as to the future of the land. From Daniel's prophecy we learn twice that four world-powers should subjugate Israel and prey upon the land: Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Graeco-Macedonia and Rome. Zechariah, also, in one of his night visions, beheld four horns, and these four horns scattered Judah and Jerusa- lem. We see, therefore, in the locusts, first, the literal locusts which destroyed everything in vegetation at the time Joel
*Many foolish applications have been made of these locusts. One of the most ridiculous is the one made by a certain woman-healer in her book "Lost and Restored."
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lived, and these locusts are symbolical of future judgments executed upon the land and the nations by the prophetically announced world-powers. At the close of the "times of the Gentiles," during which Jerusalem is trodden down, the final invasion of the land takes place; it is this which is described in the second chapter.
2. The Call to the Drunkards: Verses 5-7. The first swarm had probably appeared in the fall; only the vine- yards had not yet been harvested. They attacked the vine- yards and speedily the vines and the grapes disappeared under the onslaught. The drinkers of wine were therefore to suffer first. That there was much drunkenness among the people Israel, especially in the days of their prosperity, may be learned from Amos vi:l-6; Isa. v.ll, xxiv:7-9, xxviii: 7, etc. In verse 6 the locusts are described as a nation, mighty without number, with lion's teeth. This confirms the typical application to Gentile nations of the future who would devastate the land. See, furthermore, Numbers xiii :33, Isaiah xl:22 and Jeremiah li:14, where the same comparison is made. -^
3. The Call to the People and to the Priests: Verses 8- 14. On account of the great disaster the people are called to mourn and put on sackcloth. "Lament like a virgin, girded with sackcloth, for the husband of her youth." This is a significant expression.. Israel in her relationship to Jehovah is here indicated. We are reminded of Isaiah iii:26 concerning Jerusalem, "And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she, being desolate, shall sit on the ground;" and Isaiah liv:6, "For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God." So great was the havoc wrought that the meal and drink offering was cut off from the house of the Lord so that the priests mourned, the servants of Jehovah. This is their mournful chant:
Wasted is the field, Mourning is the land. For wasted is the corn. The new vine is dried up. The oil faileth. j
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This is followed by the call to lament for the husbandmen and vinedressers. The whole harvest was gone, and besides the failure of the vine, the fig tree the other trees are also mentioned, yea, "all the trees of the field are withered." On account of the severity of this visitation joy had left the children of men.
Then comes the definite call to the priests to lament and cry unto Jehovah and to sanctify a fast (verses 13-14). But there is no record of a response. At the close of this chapter the Prophet alone raises his voice to Jehovah. We shall learn in the second chapter of the time of the national re- pentance of Israel.
4. The Day of the Lord. The Sufifering Land: Verses 15-18. For the first time we meet the day of the Lord (Yom Jehovah), that phrase used so frequently in all the prophetic books. The 15th verse is an exclamation of the Prophet as before his vision that day appears. In the midst of the weird description of the calamity, present in Joel's day, he beholds a greater judgment approaching. It is the same day he beholds which the other prophets mention; each time Joel uses this expression it means the coming day of the Lord, still approaching. It may be noticed that the five passages in Joel in which "the day of the Lord" is men- tioned are progressive. ^
For a comparative study of this important phrase we quote the leading passage of the different prophets.
Isaiah. The phrase "in that day" is found many times in his book. We mention ii:2-5, 10-22, 26; iv xi;xiii:6- 13. The great glory predictions of Isaiah liv, Ix, Ixi and Ixii are all related to this day.
Jeremiah. He also speaks of that day (chapters xxv:30- 33; xxx:18-24).
Ezekiel. Chapters vii and viii. From chapters xxxvii- xlviii we have the record of great events both of judgment and blessing which will come to pass in connection wdth that day. While Daniel does not use in his book the phrase "day of the Lord" nearly all his great prophecies are con- nected with that day. It is the day in which the stone
100 TEE PROPHET JOEL
smites the great image, representing the times of the Gen- tiles, and demoHshes it; the day on which "the Son of Man" comes in the clouds of heaven to receive the kingdom, Hosea points to that daj' in chapters ii and iii, as well as in the closing chapter. Amos witnesses to it in chapters i:2, vi:3, ix, 2,15. Obadiah, who lived about the same time as Joel, speaks of the day in verse 15 of his brief prophecy. Micah in his prophecy refers to it in chapter v :15. In Nahum the day is described in which the Lord will deal in judg- ment with the wicked world cities (see chapter i:l-9). The third chapter of Habakkuk reveals that day. Zephaniah has a great deal more to say about that day than the pre- ceding prophetic books (see chapters i: 14-1 8; ii and iii). Haggai bears witness to it in chapter ii:6-7. (Compare with Heb. xii -.26-29) . Zechariah uses the phrase "in that day" many times, especially in the last three chapters. Malachi reveals the day in chapters iii:l-3 and iv:l-3).
We learn from all this what a prominent place the day of the Lord occupies in the prophecies. It must be so, for it is the day of manifestation and consummation. Joel beheld here for the first time this day.
Then follows an additional description of the great calamity which had come upon the land in Joel's day (verses 16-18).
5. The Prayer of the Prophet: Verses 19-20. Joel was, like all the other prophets, a man of prayer. No other mention is made by the Prophet concerning himself, but this brief word is sufficient to give us a glimpse of his inner life and his trust in the Lord. He cried to Jehovah in the great distress.
n. THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD. THE REPENT- ANCE AND RESTORATION OF ISRAEL.
CHAPTER n
1. The Alarm Sounded; the Day at Hand. 1-2.
2. The Invading Army from the North. 3-11.
3. The Repentance of the People and Cry for Help. 12-17.
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4. "Then." The Great Change. 18.
5. Promises of Restoration. The Early and Latter Rain. 19-27.
6. The Outpouring of the Spirit upon all Flesh. 28-31.
7. Deliverance in Mount Zion and Jerusalem. 32.
1. The Alarm Sounded; the Day at Hand: Verses 1-2.
With this chapter we reach the heart of the prophecy of Joel. The description of the Uteral locust plague is now no longer continued. As we have shown the literal locusts in their different stages were symbolical of nations laying waste the land as the locusts had done. Dispensation- ally the first chapter stands for the entire times of the Gentiles, which began with Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. ii:36- 38) , and they continue till the time comes when the God of heaven sets up a kingdom that cannot be destroyed. The second chapter takes us at once to the end of the times of the Gentiles, when the day of the Lord is to be enacted. Before the Lord appears in that day, the greatest distress will be upon the land and the people; there will be a great time of trouble such as never was before (Matt. xxiv:21). The remnant of His people v.ill cry to the Lord for inter- vention and for deliverance, and the Lord will answer their cry and deliver them. Then their land becomes once more like the garden of Eden, there will be a great outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh and from Jerusalem the great kingdom-center blessings will extend to all the nations/
This v/hole chapter as well as the next one is therefore imfulfilled. Nothing of it has been fulfilled. Before it can be fulfilled a part of the people Israel must be restored to | the land of promise and the ancient ceremonies and insti- tutions be at least partially restored.
The chapter begins with the sounding of the alarm for "the Day of Jehovah cometh, for it is near at hand." The last prophetic week of Daniel is now in process of fulfillment and near its end (see annotations on Dan. ix). A part of the people are back in the land, having returned there in unbelief, just as we see it today in the Zionistic movement. But in their midst will also be found a God-fearing remnant.
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The blowing of the trumpet shows that they have revived their ancient custom (see Num. x:l, 2, 9). We also men- tion that trumpets are often connected with the appearing of the Lord and the restoration of Israel. In the second verse the day is described and may be compared with Zephaniah i:15-16 and Isaiah lx:2. Then there is an in- vading army announced which is fully described in the verses which follow. The words, "As the dawn spread upon the mountains," are a description of the day and not of the army, as some have taken it. On the one hand the day of the Lord is a day of darkness and gloom, on the other hand it is "like the dawn spread upon mountains." After the darkness, the morning light will break "the morning without clouds" (2 Sam. xxiii:4).
2. The Invading Army from the North: Verses S-IL Many armies in past history have occupied the land of Israel and wasted it, but here is the coming great invasion from the North. This invasion is mentioned in the Prophet Isaiah also. The Assyrian who came in Isaiah's day to take Jerusalem is the type of the final Assyrian who threatens the land and the people with destruction. He is also pre- figured by Antiochus Epiphanes, who came into the land of Israel as the predicted little horn, rising from one of the divi- sions of the Graeco-Macedonian Empire (Dan. viii*).
This army of Israel's enemies finds the land like the garden Vof Eden; it has been restored through political Zionism, irrigated and cultivated. The Jews are at it now, deter- mined to make Palestine the garden-spot of the world, their Eden, as it has been said. Then comes the rude awakening. They thought themselves safe; they dreamed that their plans they had made without trusting in the Lord and with- out true repentance, had fully succeeded. But now the greatest trouble of their long history of blood and tears is at hand. The land is once more stripped of its beauty.
*We refer the reader to our larger works on Daniel, Joel and the Harmony of the Prophetic Word. In the exposition of Joel a full explanation of this invading army is given on pages 91-104.
THE PROPHET JOEL 103
Before them the land is as the garden of Eden, And behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and nothing can escape them.
The Lord uses these destructive hosts to humble His people, to show them that He is their help, when this great calamity is upon them. The symbolical language here is characteristic of other prophecies.
The earth trembleth before them;
The heavens shake.
The sun and the moon are darkened.
And the stars withdraw their shining
**********
For the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible.
Compare this with the following passages: Isa. xiii:13; Hab. i:6, 12; Zech. xiv:3, 4).
3. The Repentance of the People and Cry for Help: Verses 12-17. Here is the Lord calling to His people to return unto Him with true repentance (compare with Hosea v:15-vi:l). And during that great tribulation there will be a truly penitent portion of the people who turn to Him in the manner described in this chapter. It is this rem- nant which will be saved in that day, while the impenitent part will be cut off in judgment. Ezekiel xx:38 and Zech. xiii:8-9 speak of this. What Moses spoke long ago now takes place (Deut. xxx:l-4). The many prophetic prayers recorded in the Psalms, as pointed out in the annotations of that book, will then be offered up by this godly waiting rem- nant (Psa. xliv:13-14, cxv:23, lxxix:9-10, etc.). This mourn- ing and prayer for deliverance precedes the visible mani- festation of the Lord in the day of His Coming. When at last deliverance has come there will be another lamentation. This is found in Zech. xii:9-14 and in Rev. i:7.
4. "Then!" The Great Change: Verses 18. "Then Jehovah will be jealous for His land and will have pity on His people." Here is the great change. Up to this point we have seen nothing but calamity and judgments. Literal locusts had devoured the land — the types of nations which
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would prey upon the land. They came, and Jerusalem was trodden down by the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles terminated in Jacob's trouble, out of which they are to be saved (Jer. xxx:4). We saw their great repentance. Here is the answer from above. When their power is completely gone (Deut. xxxii:36), then will the Lord be jealous for His land and pity His people. Often this little word "then" is found in the prophetic Word marking the great change, from Israel's past judgments and rejection to deliverance and glory. The following passages should be carefully examined and compared with the 18th verse here: Isa. xiv:25, xxiv:23, xxxii:16, xxxv:5-6, lviii:8, 14, lx:5, lxvi:12; Ezek. xxviii :25-26, etc.
The Lord's personal manifestation is not mentioned here. The deliverance does not come apart from the second Com- ing of our Lord. The entire prophetic Word bears witness to this. "Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem" (Zech. xiv:3-4). "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in glory" (Psa. cii:16). "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against His enemies" (Lsa. xlii:13).
5. Promises of Restoration. The Early and Latter Rain: Verses 19-27. Here is His gracious answer. He will bless their land and make it fruitful once more, as it used to be, the land flowing with milk and honey. It is foolish to spirit- ualize the terms corn, new wine and oil. Yet it has been done. One of the older commentators of this book says on this verse about the corn, wine and oil, that it has been fulfilled in the church. The corn he applies to the body of Christ, the wine to the blood of Christ, and the oil to the Spirit. Earthly blessings, such as belong to His earthly people are exclusively in view. Then they shall be no longer a reproach among the nations. Inasmuch as they are still a reproach we know that this promise is still future in its fulfillment. The One from the North will be overthrown
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and pass away forever. That all this cannot mean the Babylonian captivity and the small remnant which re- turned to the land may be learned from the statement "no longer" a reproach.
Because the Lord does all this they are commanded to rejoice, the children of Zion, which does not mean a spiritual Zion, but God's only true Zion. The early and the latter rain is restored to the land. Of late this term, too, has been strangely misapplied. It has been claimed that the early and latter rain mean spiritual blessing. The early rain, it is said, means the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, and the latter rain, these deluded people tell us, is another Pentecost, a greater manifestation of the Spirit. This latter rain, they teach, consists, according to their conception, in a restoration of "pentecostal gifts" and is especially evidenced in making strange sounds, which, it is claimed, is the original gift of tongues. This unscrip- tural teaching has led to all kinds of fanaticism and worse things than that.
Nowhere in the Bible is there warrant for us to believe that "the early and latter rain" has a spiritual significance. To say that the earlj^ rain and the latter rain typify bless- ings and manifestations of the Spirit of God, peculiar to the opening of this present age and to its close is extremely fanciful and cannot be verified by the Scriptures. It is strange that even men who seem to possess considerable light have endorsed this kind of exposition, which has worked such harm among so many Christian people. There is absolutely no prediction anywhere in the New Testament that the present age is to close with "a latter rain" experi- ence, a time when the Holy Spirit is poured out and that in greater measure. This age, according to divine revelation, ends in apostasy and complete departure from God and His truth (2 Thess. ii:3-12). After the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, for the formation of the church, the body of Christ, there is nowhere to be found a promise in the church epistles that another outpouring is to take place, by which a part of the church is to get into possession again
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of the different sign gifts. The enemy of souls has made good use of these distorted teachings to bring in his most subtle delusions.
The rain has altogether a literal meaning. Read carefully the following passages for a confirmation: Lev. xxxvi:4; Deut. xi:14-17; 1 Kings viii:33-35 and Jer. iii:5.
Then all the harm done by the locusts, the army the Lord used in judging His people, will be restored. "And My people shall never be ashamed" (verse 27). This again is sufficient proof that all this remains unfulfilled.
6. The Outpouring of the Spkit Upon All Flesh: Verses 28-32. This interesting passage invites our closest atten- tion. The almost general interpretation of this prophecy has been that it found its fulfilment on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured forth. Most expositors confine the fulfilment to that event while others claim that Pentecost was only the beginning of the fulfilment and that the event which occurred once continues to occur through- out this Christian age. We quote from one of the best com- mentaries. "But however certain it may be that the ful- filment took place at the first Christian feast of Pentecost, we must not stop at this one Pentecostal miracle. The ad- dress of the Apostle Peter by no means requires this limita- tion, but rather contains distinct indications that Peter himself saw nothing more therein than the commencement of the fulfilment, but a commencement indeed, which em- braced the ultimate fulfilment, as the germ enfolds the tree; for if not only the children of the apostles' contemporaries but also those that were afar off — i. e., not foreign Jews, but the far off heathen, were to participate in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which com- menced on Pentecost must continue as long as the Lord shall receive into His Kingdom those that are still standing afar, i. e., until the fulness of the Gentiles shall have entered the kingdom of God."
There is, however, no Scriptural foundation for the state- ment that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit commenced on Pentecost must continue throughout this present age.
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The Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. He was poured out once, and nowhere in the New Testament is there a continued or repeated outpouring of the Holy Spirit promised. The difficulty with interpreting this great proph- ecy of Joel of having been fulfilled on Pentecost and being fulfilled throughout this age is that which follows in the next two verses. Wonders in heaven and on earth, fire, pillars of smoke, a darkened sun and a blood-red moon are mentioned, and that in connection with the day of Jehovah, which, as we have seen is the great theme of Joel's vision. These words have been generally applied to the destruction of Jerusalem, which followed the day of Pentecost. The spiritualizing method has been fully brought into play to overcome the difficulties the 30th and 31st verses raise. The terrible day of Jehovah, it is claimed, is the destruction of Jerusalem. Thus we read in the commentary of Patrick and Lowth: "This (verse 30) and the following verse prin- cipally point out the destruction of the city and the temple of Jerusalem by the Romans, a judgment justly inflicted upon the Jewish nation for their resisting the Holy Spirit and contempt of the means of grace." We quote another leading commentator on Joel ii:30, Dr. Clarke. He states: "This refers to the fearful sights, dreadful portents and destructive commotions by which the Jewish polity was finally overthrown, and the Christian religion finally estab- lished in the Roman empire. See how our Lord applies this prophecy in Matthew xxiv:29 and the parallel texts." And in verse 31 ("the sim shall be turned into darkness") Clarke says "it means the Jewish polity, civil and ecclesiastical, shall be entirely destroyed." Others give these words the same spiritualized meaning. These learned doctors tell us that Joel ii:30 and 31 relates to the destruction of the nation, and the civil and ecclesiastical polity of the Jews! This is a fair example of the havoc which a Bible interpretation makes, which ignores the great dispensational facts revealed in the Word of God. But inasmuch as the 32d verse, the last verse in this second chapter of Joel, reveals that there shall be deliverance in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem after
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these signs and wonders, and the continuation of the proph- ecy in the third chapter shows the judgment of the enemies of the people Israel. God's ancient people, such interpre- tations appear at once as fundamentally wrong.
It is strange that all these expositors use the word "ful- filment" in connection with this prophecy, saying, that Peter said that the day of Pentecost was the fulfilment of what is written by Joel. But the Holy Spirit did not use the word "fulfilment" at all. He purposely avoided such a statement. In so many passages in the New Testament we find the phrase "that it might be fulfilled," but in mak- ing use of the prophecy in Acts, chapter ii, this phrase is not used and instead of it we read that Peter said, "But this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel" (Acts ii:16). There is a great difference between this word and an out and out declaration of the fulfilment of that passage. Peter's words call the attention to the fact that something like that which took place on the day of Pentecost had been predicted by Joel, but his words do not claim that Joel's prophecy was there and then fulfilled. Nor does He hint at a continued fulfilment or coming fulfilment during this present age. The chief purpose of the quotation of that prophecy on the day of Pentecost was to point out to the Jews, many of whom were scoffing, that the miraculous thing which had happened so suddenly in their midst was fully confirmed by what Joel had foretold would be the effect of the outpouring of the Spirit. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit had taken place, but not in the full sense as given in the Prophecy of Joel. He came for a special pur- pose, which was the formation of the Church and for this purpose He is still on earth.
Without following the events on Pentecost and their meaning it is evident from the entire prophecy, which pre- cedes this predictioji of the outpouring of the Spirit, that these words have never been fulfilled. We might briefly ask. What is necessary according to the contents of this second chapter in Joel, before this prophecy can be accomplished? We just mention what we have already learned before in
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our exposition. The people Israel must be partly restored to their land, that great invasion from the North, bringing such trouble to the land must have taken place, then there must also have come the intervention of the Lord and He must be jealous for His land and pity His people, then at that time this great outpouring of the Spirit of God will take place. It stands in the closest connection with the restoration of Israel. The promises which are Israel's (Rom. ix:4) may be grouped into two classes, those which pertain to the land, earthly blessings and supremacy over the na- tions, and spiritual blessings, such as knowing the Lord, walking in His ways, being a kingdom of priests and proph- ets. The earthly blessings are accomplished by the power of Jehovah v/hen He is manifested as their deliverer and the spiritual blessings will be conferred upon them by the out- pouring of the Spirit.
The word "afterwards" with which this prophecy is intro- duced refers to the same period of time as the phrase "in the latter days," that is, the days when the Lord will redeem His earthly people and be merciful to His land.
Therefore when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pente- cost it was not in fulfilment of Joel's prophecy. This proph- ecy has never been fulfilled nor will it be fulfilled during this present age, in which the Church is being formed, which is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. After this is accom- plished the Lord will begin His relationship with His earthly people, when He appears in His day then they will experi- ence the fulfilment of this great prediction.
There are numerous passages in the Old Testament which shed interesting light upon this future outpouring of the Spirit (see Isa. xxxii:15, xHv:3-4, lix:19-21; Ezek. xxxvi:27- 28, xxxvii:14, xxxix:29).
7. Deliverance in Mount Zion and Jerusalem: Verse 32. The great coming outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh will result in salvation. It is blessedly true now that "who- soever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved," but it will be also true in that day. The word our Lord spoke, "Salvation is of the Jews" will find its largest fulfill-
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merit. The nations will then be joined to the Lord in the kingdom (Zech. ii:ll).
III. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD; ISRAEL'S ENEMIES JUDGED; THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED.
CHAPTER in
1. The Judgment of the Nations. 1-8.
2. The Preceding Warfare of the Nations and How it Ends. 9-16.
3. Jehovah in the Midst of His People. 17-21.
1. The Judgment of the Nations: Verses 1-8. The
first verse specifies the time when Jehovah will do what He announces in the two verses which follow. It will be in those days, in that time, when the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem is brought back. Clearly then up to this time this cannot yet have been, for the captivity of His people is not yet ended. They are still scattered in the great dispersion among the nations of the earth. The time is future when the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem is brought back. Israel, the ten tribes are not mentioned here, but they are included in the prophecy; they will likewise be brought back. Joel only mentions Judah, because His prophecy was addressed to Judah and Jerusalem. The cap- tivity, or dispersion, which is the same thing, of the people Israel will not end till divine power accomplishes it accord- ing to the many promises in the Word of God. And when at last the heavens are silent no longer and Jehovah in His power begins to fulfil His promises and their captivity ends, it will mean judgment for the nations.
It is Jehovah HimseK who speaks, what He is going to do in that day, when He arises and has mercy on Zion. "I will also bring together all nations and will bring them down