(1) [Bleek, p. 566, observes that this proper name occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament, and this circumstance may have favoured the notion that it was an appellative.] Already the Septuagint translate the superscription, Λήμμα λόγου Κυρίου ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐν χειρὶ ἀγγέλου αὐτοῦ [with which may perhaps be compared the fancy that Haggai and he were angels; see § 99, Note 1]; and on i. 1 Jonathan remarks, "Malachi, whose name is called Ezra the scribe." The somewhat widely diffused opinion, that Malachi was not the prophet's actual name, but was only an official title, cannot be justified, although it has certainly found eloquent defenders in Vitringa, Observatt. sacr. 1. vi. p. 331 sqq., and Hengstb. Christol. iii. p. 583 ff. [Bleek, p. 566, says that Jerome speaks of this view as that of the Jews in his time, and seems himself to approve of it. Among its modern supporters he names Simonis, Onomasticon, p. 298; but he himself adheres to the common opinion.] Already Carpzov, p. 455, remarks excellently in opposition to it: "At enim vero hoc si liceat, etiam Obadjæ et Hoseæ nomina in appellativa transmutare omnemque demum historiam hac nominum confusione turbare licebit. Quin potius constantem urgemus scripturæ propheticæ morem, ex quo vaticiniorum scriptores propriis, quæ ex circumcisione retulerunt, nominibus suis in fronte operum designantur, allegorica vero quadam aut ambigua delineari appellatione et sic in dubio relinqui non consueverunt." That the name is significant proves nothing. "The name of Elijah, too, is extremely significant for the problem of the life of the great man who bore it, and for his peculiar working; so also is the name of Isaiah for the principal contents of his prophecies, as well as for his own typical character; but this does not imply that these men had assumed their names only at a later time, on account of their significance" (Caspari, Mich. p. 28), or that the names were merely symbolical. And the form, contracted from xviii. 2,, 2 Chron. xxix. 1. laid down at full length by Caspari, id.

2, is justified by 28, 2 Kings Comp. Häv. p. 431, and the proof

(2) This view has been so well established in Vitringa's dissertation de Malach. proph., in his Observatt. sacr. l.c., that it cannot be shaken by the unimportant objections of Hitzig, klein. Proph. p. 389 f.; Herbst, Einl. ii. p. 169 f.; and Maurer, Comm. p. 717. Comp. Hac. p. 432 ff. [Bleek, pp. 566-7, admits the strength of the common opinion, among whose supporters he also names Jahn, Rosenmüller, Bertholdt, and Hengstb.; yet with Ewald and Reinke he prefers the other view, attaching weight to Ilitzig's objection, that the offerings to the governor, i. 8, do not suit the account given by Nehemiah of himself, ch. v. 14 ff., and point rather to some Persian governor. But as the

prophetic Canon seems to have been formed in Nehemiah's time, he would place Malachi a little earlier, and not later.]

§ 105. The Book of Malachi.

The writings of Malachi contain a connected prophecy as to the relation of Jehovah to His people. It is divisible into three sections. The first (i. 2-ii. 9) represents Jehovah's loving, fatherly, longsuffering, and compassionate disposition toward the covenant people. The second (ii. 10–16) represents Him as the only God and Father. The third (ii. 17-iii. 24) represents Him as the righteous and eternal Judge of His people; and to them it points out how they sin against their God by their external and hypocritical worship, by their faithlessness toward the Lord manifested in marriages with heathen wives, and by their murmuring at the absence of divine judgments: but God shall appear as the strict Judge of all the ungodly, and as the Sun of Righteousness to those that fear His name; and preparation shall be made for His appearing by the sending of a second Elijah (1).

(1) The book is divided into three sections by Ewald, ii. p. 542, and by Häv. p. 427; whilst six sections are assumed by Hengstb. Christol. iii. p. 590 ff., De Wette, and Maurer,—namely, i. 2–5, i. 6-ii. 9, ii. 10-16, ii. 17-iii. 6, iii. 7-12, iii. 13-24. [Bleek, pp. 567-8, reckons five sections, by combining the first and second of these into one.] Ewald finds in the book learned dissertation rather than living discourse. More correctly, Häv., p. 430, judges that oral discourses lie at the basis of the work; and that their original character is not entirely effaced in the present form of the composition, but that it sets before us a general survey of the weightiest impelling forces in the prophet's active life.

In correspondence with the subject-matter is the form of representation, which is strongly distinguished from the more dramatic delineations of the older prophets by an approach to the tutorial method of dialogue; and which consequently is not distinguished by soaring enthusiasm, but rather comprehends within its glance the practical want of the time, and strives to teach and to reform by antithetical propositions, and by sentences laden with important matter (2). Along with this, the matter is carefully arranged in

VOL. I.

2 E

strophes; and the language has preserved its beauty and polish extremely well, considering the lateness of the date (3).

(2) De Wette's judgment, § 252, is incorrect: "One feels everywhere the flatness and deadness of spirit, which can indeed make attempts, but always ineffectively, and which is no longer master of its materials." Against this, comp. Häv. p. 427. In the dialogue form, with the somewhat monotonous turn of expression, a short proposition being set down, then the doubting questions of the people brought up in opposition to it, then the answer given at large, we can scarcely avoid noticing the influence exerted on prophetic discourse by the method of the schools which were rising up. Yet this is of no value as a proof that prophecy was dying out.

(3) Comp. Ewald, ibid.

罪

THIRD DIVISION.

THE HOLY WRITINGS (Dan, Aytoypapa).

§ 106. Classification of them.

HE Holy Writings of the Old Testament represent the religious life of the most eminent bearers of the theo

cratic spirit among the covenant people, as that life was developed internally; or else they describe how it took shape externally-that life which was awakened and nourished in them by divine revelation. In respect of their matter and their form, these writings fall into three classes—(1) the poetical writings, (2) the prophetical book of Daniel, and (3) the sacred histories. They have this mark common to them all, which combines them into one division of the canonical writings, as distinguished both from the Law and from the Prophets (or prophetical books, whether historical or predictive), that they want the constitutive and regulative significance of the writings of Moses for the theocracy, and that they are not the immediate products of the conservative and yet developing activity of the prophets. But they grew up on the spiritual soil of the old covenant, prepared and hallowed as this was by supernatural divine revelation; and in general, and with reference to the principal part of their contents, they are to be considered less as proceeding from immediate divine inspiration, than mainly as mediate results of divine revelation, or products of the divine and spiritual life begotten in Israel by the Law and Prophecy, which were ordained for the internal and external edification of the theocracy. [Some of these expressions, we think, must appear objectionable to an intelligent believer in the plenary inspiration of Scripture. Yet the most of what Keil says, and perhaps all that he would be anxious to say, might be expressed unexceptionably without any great change in his language.]

CHAPTER L

THE POETICAL WRITINGS.

Rob. Lowth, de sacra poesi Hebræorum prælectt. acad., Oxoniæ 1753, 4to, and often. Notas et epimetra adj. J. D. Michaelis, ii Partes, ed. 2, Gottinge 1770. Suis animadverss. adjectis ed. E. F. K. Rosenmueller, Lipsia 1815. J. Gf. v. Herder, vom Geiste der ebräischen Poesie, Dessau 1782-3, Leipzig 1787, 2 Thle. Sorgfältig durchgesehene u. mit mehreren Zusätzen verm. Ausg. v. K. W. Justi, Leipzig 1825, 2 Thle. (also often in Herder's works). J. G. Wenrich, de poeseos Hebraic. atque Arab. orig. indole mutuoque consensu atque discrimine commentat., Lipsia 1843. Jos. Lev. Saalschütz, v. d. Form der hebr. Poesie, nebst e. Abhandlung ü. die Metrik der Hebr., Königsberg 1825. Also, his Form u. Geist der bibl. hebr. Poesie, Königsberg 1853. E. Meier, die Form der hebr. Poesie, Tübingen 1853; also, his Geschichte d. poet. National-Literatur der Hebr.. Leipzig 1856. Heinr. Ewald, die poet. BB. des Alten Test. erklärt, 4 Theile, Göttingen 1835-39 (Th. i., Allgemeines üb. d. hebr. Poesie u. das Psalmbuch) [third ed. published in 1866 under the title, die Dichter d. Alten Bundes]. E. Meier, die poet. BB. des Alten Test. übersetzt u. erklärt, 4 Abthll., Stuttgart 1850–53.

§ 107. Character of Hebrew Poetry, and its Different Species.

Hebrew poetry is a fruit of religion. We have not to seek for its origin in external occasions of one sort or another, perhaps in warlike occurrences or the like (1). But as the entire life of the Israelites was supported and animated by the testimonies of the Lord, His promises and His saving acts, and was directed and conducted by the revealed law to the higher truths of religion as the ideal and the aim of spiritual effort; so this might also be said of the holy feelings and moods awakened by the glorious manifestations of the divine righteousness and grace which filled the minds of pious theocratic men, and inspired them for songs, and hymns of praise, and holy poems. the Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament has remained so thoroughly true to its origin, in all its forms and steps of development, that not only secular poetry never was able to spring up and thrive alongside

And