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(2) But the modern reader's chief snare is that he will read N.T. views into O.T. passages, and give a Christian meaning which is not there to O.T. Messianic ideals and aspirations. For instance, we can easily read a Christological meaning into the "Suffering Servant," the Immanuel Prophecy, the Messianic King; but, for the original writers or readers, was it there at all? Of course, we can

plead that God saw further than Isaiah, Micah, or Jeremiah, and made these prophets say more and better than they knew. This may be; but here our one aim is to see what these O.T. Israelites themselves thought of the Messianic Kingdom or of Life after Death. And for this we must clear our minds of all Christian ideas on these subjects, or we shall see the O.T. picture in quite a wrong perspective and defeat our own ends.

From first to last, Israel's Hope clusters round "The Day of the Lord" which is to usher in Israel's great prosperity and blessedness. "The Day" plays a vital part in it all, and we must begin with that. "The Day" is not the blessed future itself, only the divine act of judgment inaugurating it, or the Day of God's divine interposition. The words of Amos (760-750 B.C.): "You that desire the day of the Lord," (v. 18) prove that the phrase was already quite familiar and on all lips. It dates much further back in Israel's history.1

With Israel, as with their Arab kinsmen, "the Day" had originally the definite signification of "the day of battle" (cf. Is. ix. 4, "the day of Midian"). So in the popular mind the "Day of the Lord" was

For reasons given in Ch. III., we do not quote in the text so-called earliest promises of a Future Hope as made e.g. to Adam (Gen. 3') or to Abraham (Gen. 123), or Noah or Jacob. But the Song of Deborah, which shows us Jehovah actually leading Israel in battle against His and their enemies (Judg. v.); 2 Sam. vii. with God's express covenant with David; and Ex. xx. 22–xxiii. 33, the Book of the Covenant (800 B.C.), with its promises of prosperity to Israel if true to its Jehovah,—all help to explain Amos' "you that desire the day of the Lord."

Cheyne, Enc. Bib. 1348; Robertson Smith, Prophets, 2, 397.

to be the day when Jehovah, at the head of Israel's hosts, would personally deliver them from their foes, wreak dire judgment on His and His Israel's enemies, usher in a Golden Era of everlasting material prosperity for His Chosen People, and Himself take up His abode in their midst. This idea of an Israelite Kingdom of God naturally flowed from the identification of Jehovah with His Israel. Ever since His Sinai Covenant with Israel, He is their God, they are His people. Jehovah's and Israel's fortunes stand or fall together. Hence Deborah curses Meroz "Because they came not to the help of the Lord" (Judg. v.).

Universally, up to 800 B.C., "The Day of the Lord" was viewed as a crushing day of Israel's judgment on Israel's enemies. On that day Jehovah would vindicate His own and His Israel's honour by crushing their foes and setting up His glorious Kingdom. On the people's lips "the Day" had a material and national meaning pure and simple. From Amos onward, prophet after prophet challenges this comfortable Hope of Israel, and tries to substitute one based on moral grounds. They adopt the phrase, but give it a moral note which converts it into a day, not of God's blessing, but of His wrath on a sinful Israel. They frankly tell Israel: You think yourselves God's Israel to whom all His covenanted promises are made. You are not it. The real Israel of God and the actual Israel are poles apart; till you become the true Israel, the promises are not for you, only God's wrathful judgment on you!

Yet the prophets believe in an Israelite Kingdom of God every whit as much as the people themselves. Jehovah has pledged Himself to it, and, in spite of Israel's badness, the prophet's implicit faith in Jehovah and His Covenant-promises does not waver for one instant. True, a sinful Israel must be purified of its dross as if by fire, but from its ashes will rise a new Israel, meet to be citizens of the Kingdom of God. This Hebrew Kingdom of God must be, will

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be. Indeed, they all see it very near at hand; but of the exact time of its coming knows no man, only God. This, however, they do know: the Day of the Lord must first come, a Day of terrible visitation on Israel itself, sifting its wheat from the chaff. Yet with all their emphasis on it as a Day of Judgment, they know it is but a purifying judgment. Its cleansing work done, at once the Golden Age will dawn on a righteous Israel. Unlike the present evil age, the Golden Era will be an age free from all ills and foes within and without. God will bestow upon His People such glory, peace, and well-being as David's and Solomon's glorious reigns never knew; the Jews' fondest dreams will be more than realised. This "redemption of Israel" is to be God's own act at His appointed time. God Himself will suddenly and miraculously intervene, manifest Himself visibly, vindicate His own and His Israel's honour; He will be Israel's King, they His People in direct communion with Him; to Him, and to His Israel, shall every nation bow the knee.

In some Messianic prophecies God is spoken of as raising some chosen human agent as His "anointed" (= Messiah) for the express purpose of delivering His Israel. At times he is a sublime Davidic king. David's reign, the hey-day of Israel's glory, was ever idealised by later generations, but 2 Sam. vii. gives us a deeper reason for this expectation of a Davidic Messiah. In God's own name, Nathan the Prophet had covenanted with David that his house, his kingdom, his throne should be established for ever, and that Israel's immortality as a nation should be as sure as that of David's own line (2 Sam. vii. 8-17).1 Hence

N.B. The phrases: "I will be his father, and he shall be My son"; "thy throne and thy kingdom shall be established for ever"; "I have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name"; "I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more."-These promises of God are the key to two-thirds of the so-called Messianic expectations.

we often hear of the coming Deliverer as a righteous Branch or Sprout of David's line, a Davidic King, the Lord's "anointed," very gracious, full of the strength and Spirit of the Lord, and abundant blessings flow from the righteous rule of this ideal King. Some prophets, however, have no Davidic king, but some other Deliverer whom God has anointed and upon whom He has poured His Spirit, e.g. Zerubbabel, Cyrus. Others, again, have no human Deliverer at all; God Himself is Israel's Redeemer, the new Israel's King, and Jerusalem His Holy City and abode. As to the fate of the nations, Second Isaiah and the author of Is. xix. are universalists, and show us God loving the nations for their own sake and lovingly drawing them to Himself; the majority of Bible-writers, however, are particularists; they reserve all the glory of the Kingdom for the Jews and make the nations their vassals.

The rich growth of these Messianic prophecies is natural. Once given: (1) God's Covenanted promises to Israel at Sinai; (2) His Covenant with David; (3) David and his glorious kingdom as seen through the eyes of later oppressed Jews; (4) Israel's practical monopoly of Jehovah as their God,-and we can readily understand Israel's Hope, as well as the bright colours in which a glowing Hebrew imagination would paint its picture of the Golden Age and its Messianic King. It is a sketch rich in Oriental poetry, imagery, hyperbole, but wondrously grand and inspiring.

Such are the broad general outlines. We shall now trace the gradual evolution of the Messianic ideal in the prophets, taking them one by one, but dividing them into three groups: (a) pre-exilic, (b) exilic, (c) post-exilic, and for this reason. Roughly speaking, before the Exile, the Day of the Lord is a day of judgment on a sinful Israel itself; during the Exile, "the Day" finds Israel chastened and purified, so its judgment is on their foes; after the Exile, Israel

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is constantly sinning again and always under foreign yoke, so "the Day" is at times a judgment on Israel itself, more often on their Gentile oppressors.

(A) Pre-exilic prophets.

Amos (c. 760-750 B.C.) tells Israel: You expect "the Day of the Lord" to be a day of triumph over your foes. Not so. It is going to be a terrible day of judgment, but upon you. "You only have I known, O Israel, therefore I will punish you for all your sins." Amos has no reference to a better future (Am. ix. 86-15, a Messianic prediction of the restoration of David's kingdom, with nations subject to it, and the prosperity of the Golden Age, is admittedly a post-exilic addition to counteract the ill-omened close ix. 1-8a; 86 not only flatly contradicts 8a but 9b as well).

Hosea (c. 750-737 B.C.) also sees a day of judgment on Israel's harlotries. But Jehovah is Israel's Husband and still loves His faithless Bride, tenderly watching over her, so that even "the valley of trouble shall be a door of hope"; "In that day I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies." The old relations of full Husband and Bride will be restored, and the Golden Age will come. Hosea is the first prophet to declare the Messianic ideal of godliness and happiness. If Hos. iii. 5 is his (?), a Davidic King is promised: "Afterward shall Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king."" This is the first reference to a Messianic ruler.

Micah (724 B.C.- ?). Corruption and oppression cry to God for vengeance. "Hear this, ye heads and rulers of Israel that abhor judgment and pervert all equity.... Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest" (iii. 9 sqq.). Yet immediately follows a picture of the Golden Age, with the Temple rebuilt and glorious, Jerusalem the world's religious centre to which all nations flock; and the Law of God universally obeyed ushers in an age of universal peace and happiness. True, Assyria is already at the gate, "thou shalt go even to Babylon," but a glorious restoration is promised, and "thou shalt beat in pieces many people" (iv.). Mic. v. 2 sqq,, like Hosea, foresees an anointed King of David's line, born at David's birthplace, Bethlehem. The strength and spirit of the Lord will be in him, and "he shall be great unto the ends of the earth"; Assyria will