Chapter 22

The Greater Prophets. 1. General Remarks on the Prophetical Writings--2. Different Offices of the Prophets under the Theocracy--Their Office as Reprovers--3. As Expounders of the Mosaic Law in its Spirituality--4. And of its End, which was Salvation through the Future Redeemer--They wrote in the Decline of the Theocracy--Their Promises fulfilled only in Christ--I. _Isaiah_--5. He is the First in Order, but not the Earliest of the Prophets--His Private History almost wholly Unknown--Jewish Tradition Concerning him--Period of his Prophetic Activity--6. Two Great Divisions of his Prophecies--Plans for Classifying the Contents of the First Part--Analysis of these Contents--General Character of the Second Part, and View of its Contents--7. Objections to the Genuineness of the Last Part of Isaiah and Certain Other Parts--General Principle on which these Objections are to be met--Previous Preparation for the Revelations contained in this Part--True Significance of the Promises which it contains--Form of these Promises--Mention of Cyrus by Name--Objection from the Character of the Style considered--8. Direct Arguments for the Genuineness of this Part--External Testimony; Internal Evidences--9. Genuineness of the Disputed Passages of the First Part--II. _Jeremiah_--10. Contrast between Isaiah and Jeremiah in Personal Character and Circumstances--Our Full Knowledge of his Outward Personal History and Inward Conflicts--11. His Priestly Descent--His Native Place--Period of his Prophetic Activity--Degeneracy of the Age--Persecutions to which his Fidelity subjected him--He is more occupied than Isaiah with the Present--His Mission is emphatically to unfold the Connection between National Profligacy and National Ruin; yet he sometimes describes the Glory of the Latter Days--12. The Chronological Order not always followed in his Prophecies--General Divisions of them--First Division; Second Division; Appendix--Attempts to disprove the Genuineness of Certain Parts of Jeremiah--_The Book of Lamentations_--13. Its Hebrew Name--Its Authorship and the Time of its Composition--14. Structure of its Poetry--III. _Ezekiel_--15. His Priestly Descent and Residence--Notices of his Personal History--Period of his Prophetic Activity--16. Peculiarities of his Style--17. His Allegoric and Symbolic Representations--General Remarks on the Nature of Allegories and Symbols--18. The Two Divisions of the Book--Contents of the First Part; of the Second Part--Prophecies against Foreign Nations--Promises relating to the Glory of the Latter Days--Ezekiel's Vision of a New Jerusalem with its Temple--Meaning of this Vision and Principles according to which it is to be interpreted--IV. _Daniel_--19. Its Place in the Hebrew Canon--Notices of Daniel's Personal History--20. Arrangement and Contents of the Book--First Series of Prophecies; Second Series--Intimate Connection between the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse--21. Assaults made upon the Book of Daniel in Respect to its Genuineness and Credibility--Grounds on which it is received as a Part of the Sacred Canon--Its Unity; Uniform Tradition of the Jews and its Reliability; Testimony of Josephus; of the Saviour; Language and Style; Intimate Acquaintance with the Historical Relations and Manners and Customs of the Age--22. Insufficiency of the Various Objections urged against the Book--Chronological and Historical Difficulties; Difficulties connected with the Identification of Belshazzar and Darius the Mede; Silence of Jesus the Son of Sirach respecting Daniel; Alleged Linguistic Difficulties; Commendations bestowed upon Daniel--The Real Objection to the Book on the Part of its Opponents lies in the Supernatural Character of the Events which it records--Remarks on this Objection