PROPHETS. 



273 



Israel. He belongs, therefore, with Joel and Obadiah ; 

 though, unlike them and Amos, he was a northern 

 Israelite. It is possible that he was the earliest of 

 the four, and therefore the earliest of the prophets 

 who have given tlfeir names to the prophetic books. 



The Book of Jonah is thoroughly recognized both 

 in the New Testament and in tradition, as well known 

 and as scriptural, and hence as having whatever 

 authority of inspiration belongs to any book of Scrip- 

 ture, "fhis fact, and, along with it. the religious 

 teachings of the book, should be carefully guarded, no 

 matter what questions may arise in regard _ to its 

 authorship, or the settling of the difficulties it pre- 

 sents. 



We now resume our study of the history. Unless 

 reasons can be given for some different interpretation, 

 the Biblical numerals make the interval between the 

 death of Jeroboam II. and the destruction of Samaria 

 to be seventy-four years. The chronology adopted in 

 the BRITANNICA'S article on HOSEA would reduce this 

 nearly one-half, while still other different views of the 

 matter have their advocates. These differences cannot 

 here be discussed ; it is sufficient to say here that the 

 numerals given in the BRITANNICA are merely tenta- 

 tive ; the failure of any one of half a dozen conjectures 

 would leave them groundless ; there is reason here for 

 careful inquiry into all items of evidence that may 

 throw light upon the Biblical numerals and statements, 

 but no reason, as the evidence stands, for rejecting or 

 suspecting these. 



In any case the de^th of Jeroboam was followed by 

 anarchy in northern Israel. Probably there was an 

 interregnum before the accession of his son Zechariah, 

 and certainly Xechariah, after reigning only six months, 

 was slain by Shallum. who, in turn, was in a month 

 dethroned and slain by Menahem. The ten years of 

 Menahem extended from the thirty-ninth of Lzziah to 

 the forty-ninth. In the early part of it, apparently, 

 Pul, king of Assyria, invaded the land, and Menahem 

 paid him a thousand talents "to confirm the kingdom 

 in his hand." To this date, most likely, belongs the 

 deportation of the tribes east of the Jordan, mentioned 

 in 1 Chron. v. 6, 26. That Pul was Tiglath-pileser 

 seems to be generally accepted, but a comparison of 

 the Biblical dates with the Assyrian shows it to be 

 probable that these transactions occurred before he 

 became king of Assyria. An Assyrian account of them 

 probably exists, in the shape of the fragmentary in- 

 wriiitions mentioned above, eonjecturally attributed to 

 Tiglath-pileser. These mention Menahem as paying 

 tribute, and Uzziah as the chief of an 0nti- Assyrian 

 confederacy. 



Menahem was succeeded by Pekahiah, and he by 

 IVkah, whose first year was the last year of Uzziah. 

 I '/.ziah was succeeded by Jotham, and he by Ahaz. who 

 came to the throne in the seventeenth year of IVkah. 

 By this time the combination of peoples which had 

 constituted the empire of Jeroboam II. and Uzziah 

 was broken up, and the unity of Israel and Judah was 

 also broken. Pekah joined llezin of Damascus in war 

 against Ahaz ; Ahaz became tributary to Tiglath- 

 pileser, and asked help from him ; he conquered 

 DuuMM, and deported its citizens, and captured 

 several cities of the north of Israel, deporting their 

 inhabitants, 2 Kings xv. 29. Apparently this is a 

 different deportation from that of the trans-Jordanic 

 people. 1 Chron. v. 26. These transactions are narrated 

 Homewhat in full in the Assyrian records, Tiglath- 

 pileser, Ahaz, llezin, and Pekah being mentioned by 

 name. 



The. Book njf Ilnxrn. According to its inscription 

 prophesied in the times of Jeroboam II. and of 

 Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, of Judah. Of 

 tin; prophecies contained in this book the earlier 

 UtottU the deiiili of Jeroboam, bat, perhaps, none 

 are later than I 'y./.iah. The histori'-al situation exhib- 

 ited in the earlier propbecie* of II'. -a is thesau.e with 

 the contemporary situation as shown in Amos ; the 



later parts of the book often directly mention Assyria, 

 and represent Israelitish public men as in a state of 

 perpetual intrigue with Assyria and with Egypt, e. <;., 

 v. 13; vii. 11, 16 ; viii. 9 : ix. 3, 6 ; x. 6 ; xi. 5; xii. 

 1 ; xiv. 3. The violent changes in the monarchy are 

 also alluded to in such passages as viii. 4 and xiii. 1 1 . 

 The absence of elements like these from Amos, 

 Obadiah, and Joel, and their presence in Hosea, are 

 facts that enable us to fit the dates of these proph- 

 ecies very closely to those of the history. 



The Earlier Prophecies fif Isaiah. The points in the 

 treatment of Isaiah which especially need notice have 

 already been considered in the article on ISAIAH. 

 The parts of Isaiah which we naturally assign to the 

 reign of Uzziah are the three prophecies contained in 

 chaps, ii.-vi. The historical situation here ought to 

 agree with that in Hosea, and the agreement actually 

 exists, if we make due allowance for the fact that 

 Isaiah is essentially a Judnite prophet, and Hosea 

 a Northern prophet. The Book of Isaiah, chaps, vii. 

 -xii., is made up of prophecies of the time of Ahaz. 

 In them the invasion of Pekah and llezin and the 

 Assyrian intrigues and movements of the time are 

 especially prominent. 



The Prophecies in ZecJiariah ix.-xiv. The relation of 

 these chapters to the earlier chapters of the Book of 

 Zechariah will be considered in its proper place. For 

 the present we have to notice the historical situation 

 presented in them. Chans, ix.-xi. are a discourse 

 entitled "The Burden of the Word of Jehovah in the 

 La ml of Hadrach," while chaps, xii. -xiv. are 

 entitled " The Burden of the Word of Jehovah upon 

 Israel." 



In the first of these two discourses the follow- 

 ing are among the noteworthy points : "Hadrach" 

 occurs only here in the Bible. The name is used about 

 in the same way with such names as Hamath, Damas- 

 cus, Samaria, in the Assyrian inscriptions, in connec- 

 tion both with Meuahem and with Pekah. The time 

 of the prophecy was during the Assyrian period, x. 10, 

 11. It was when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah 

 were both in existence, that is, before the downfall of 

 Samaria, ix. lo, 13 ; x. 6 ; xi. 14. According to the 

 traditional translation of ix. 2 it was a time when 

 Hamath was the border of Israel, and therefore before 

 the empire of Jeroboam II. had utterly gone to 

 pieces, hike Joel and Amos, this discourse groups 

 together Tyre, Sidon, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ashdod, and 

 Ekron, as having certain relations with Judah, but, 

 unlike them, omits Edoui, ix. 1-8. Like Joel, it has 

 something to say concerning the Greeks, ix. 13. A 

 short time previously there had been in existence "my 

 covenant whieh I made with all the peoples," and this 

 covenant had now been broken, xi. 10. There had 

 also been " brotherhood," now broken, between Ju- 

 dah and Israel, xi. 14; cf. ix. 10. 13; x. 6. The 

 "exactor" has been passing through upon the temple 

 at Jerusalem, perhaps by way of Philistia, ix. 8 ; x. 4. 

 Apparently, there has been a great recent defeat of 

 Ephraiiu and Judah combined, ix. 10, (Trans- 

 late thus : ' ' And though I cut off chariot from 

 Ephraim, and horse from Jerusalem, and battle-bow 

 be cut off. yet he shall speak peace," etc., cf. Hos. i. 7; 

 ii. 20 [18]), the prisoners being now confined in dry 

 wells and such places (ix. 11,12). Israelites from 

 Gilead and Lebanon have been sown among the peo- 

 ples, and their return is promised, especially from 

 Assyria and Egypt (x. 8-12 ; cf. Hos. vii. 16 ; ix. 3-6). 

 The Israelites are now the "flock of slaughter," and 

 therefore "the most miserable of sheep ' (xi. 4, 7), 

 especial emphasis being laid upon certain mercenary 

 transactions by which they became so (xi. 5 ; cf. Hos. 

 viii. 9 : 2 Kings xv. 19). It is a time of bad " shep- 

 herds," and of the cutting off of shepherds (x. 2, 3 ; 

 xi. 8, 16, 17). On the whole the situation is pretty 

 sharply that of the later years of the reign of Uzziah, 

 either shortly before or shortly after the death of 

 Menahem. 



