The Prophets of the Restoration, Or, Haggai

£ibrar^ ofl:he theological ^minavy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY Part of the Addison Alexander Library, which was presented by Messrs. R.L. and A. Stuart 3Sl5t>D .Mft24 THE PROPHETS OF THE RESTORATION, OR, HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, AND MALACHI: $ '$t^ translation, M\ 'gaits. PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, RICHMOND, VA. NEW YOEK: EGBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 285 BROADWAY. 1856. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by EGBERT CAKTEE & BEOTHEES, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. lili&jarti ©. iltnkina, i9rint£r anS 5tfrtotjiptr, No. 26 Franltforl ?trpet. N. Y. A FEW words of explanation may not be improper in presenting this work to the public, for the sake of those who are willing to read a Preface. The title, and some of the most valuable thoughts of the Introduction, were suggested to me by one whose aid I acknowledge with a gratitude that ex- tends backward to the time when I had the rare pri- vilege of listening to words of instruction both from his lips, and from those of his honored father, whose me- mory is cherished by all his pupils with the fondness of a child's affection for a beloved parent. I re-fer to the Rev. J. A. Alexander, D.D., to whom the church may hereafter be as largely indebted in the department of ecclesiastical history, if his life be spared, as it is now in that of exegesis. I have in each successive revision of my studies used honestly every aid v/ithin my reach ; and although, in the absorbing cares and duties of a large pastoral charge, I have not been able to bestow as much care on minute points as I might have done otherwise, I have endeavored to give every matter that had any important bear- VI PREFACE. ing on the meaning of the text a full and impartial consideration, and aimed to set forth simply and clearly the mind of the Spirit. I have given first my own translation, which is presented, like that of Newcome, Henderson, Calvin, and others, in a metrical form, according to the parallelisms. In the Exposition, I have repeated this translation in the notes, that it might be more readily compared with the English version that is given at the top of the page. I have as much as possible avoided the introduction of He- brew words into the notes, but it could not be avoided at times without an awkward, if not unintelligible, peri- phrasis. I have endeavored to avoid all unnecessary expansion of such points as are purely homiletic and practical, whilst I have endeavored to suggest them in a way that may readily be followed out by those who desire to pursue these themes at greater length. My object has been to furnish such an exposition of the meaning of the text as would be intelligible to any thinking layman who wished to understand the Scriptures thoroughly, and also to aid my brethren in the ministry, whose circumstances or studies had not led them to any special investigation of these portions of God's Word. If I have not fully succeeded in combining these two things, those who understand most of this subject will best understand the difficulty of the task. But I can say in all sincerity, as the good Bishop Home did, in sending forth his Commentary on the Psalms, that the work has been its own reward, — PREFACE. Vll and that if any one shall experience half the pleasure in reading it that I did in writing it, my labor has not been misapplied. But I send it forth with the hope that God may bless this feeble effort to turn attention to His Holy Word, and induce other and abler hands to engage in the same blessed and self-rewarding employment. And if a Dedication were in good taste in such a work, I would respectfully and humbly dedicate it to that body of men, who are doing more for the world, and for whom the world is doing less in return, than any other class of workers in society my Brethren in the Christian Ministry. Richmond, Ya., Jan. 1, 1856. IJSTTKODUCTION. The title "Prophets of the Restoration," requires for its full comprehension the presentation of some thoughts concerning tlie nature of prophecy, the position of the prophetic office in the Old Testament economy, and the organic connection between prophecy and history in the development of the great work of redemption. This discussion is the more necessary, because of the narrow view that is commonly taken of the whole subject of prophecy. The general notion of prophecy is simply, that it is the prediction of future events and the proph- ; et is regarded as merely the predicter, whose words are left on record as a proof of the divine origin of the Bible plan of salvation. These are, however, but narrow views of the prophetic function, and views which must often materially affect the attempt to expound the prophetic writings. This is especially true of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, in whom the distinctive charac- ter of the prophetic office is very clearly marked, and to understand whose writings it is absolutely necessary to comprehend the relation of the prophetic office to the Old Testament history. 1 10 INTRODUCTION. § 1. The Nature of the PRoniETic Gift. We must distinguish at the outset between the prophetic gift and the prophetic office. The prophetic gift was that Divine influence which quaUfied a man to be- come a prophet. This gift was bestowed long before the prophetic office was instituted in the Church. The prophetic office was that particular mode of exercising this gift which was connected with the Hebrew com- monwealth, after its form had been established by Moses. The prophetic gift was one of the earliest bestowals of Grod after the fall. Enoch is recorded to have been a prophet, Jude is called a prophet, Gen. 17 ; Abraham 20 : 7 the patriarchs are called prophets, Ps. 105 : 15 ; ; and the prophecies of Jacob, Balaam and Moses are recorded in the book of Genesis. The prophetic office was instituted under the Mosaic economy, but even then the prophetic gift was not always connected with the prophetic office. Thus Daniel was largely endowed with the prophetic gift but was never called to the prophetic office, because he lived in exile, and could not therefore exercise this office. Hence his works were placed by the Jews not among the prophets, but in the third division among the Hagiographa. David also pos- sessed the prophetic gift, and is called a prophet. Matt. 13:35, 27:35, but he never exercised the prophetic office, and hence his prophetic writings are also placed among the Hagiographa. The prophetic office ceased INTRODUCTION. 11 with the comins; of Christ and the termination of the Old Testament economy, hnt the prophetic gift con- tinued among the charisms of the Xew Testament Church, at least as long as any miraculous gifts were enjoyed. Hence it is important for us to discriminate at the outset between the wide prophetic gift which was enjoyed during the Patriarchal, Mosaic and Christian dispensations, and the prophetic office which was limited to the Mosaic, and even then to but a portion of those who enjoyed the prophetic gift. What, then, is the nature of this prophetic gift ? Or in the widest sense, what is a prophet ? We derive the word prophet directly from the Greek TrpccpTiTrjg. This is a derivative from the verb 7Tp6(i)}]iu, which properly means to speak for another, ?". e. in his place, the -rpo being here originally a particle of place and not of time. This was most clearly the meaning of the Hebrew ^''??, a prophet. It is derived from if^-'-P, to boil up or gush out like a fountain, and hence to pour forth a stream of words. That its primary meaning was simply one who spoke for another as his mouth-piece or interpreter, is clear from Ex. 7:1, where God declares to Moses, " See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet." Here it is obvious that a prophet means simply one who speaks for another, whether his words relate to past, present or future events, to facts, doctrines or promises. The prophetic gift was, therefore, something bestowed by God on any one, by virtue of w^iicli he was qualified and authorized 12 INTRODUCTION. to speak aiitlioritativel}^ for him. There is another term appUecl to prophets more anciently, which indicates the manner in which tliis qnahfication was usually received. It is the term "?"i, or seer, which implies that the sub- stance of the prophetic message was usually presented m the form of a vision, or trance, w^iether the body was sleeping, waking, or in some intermediate condition. Hence Balaam speaks of himself (Numb. 24 : 3) as the man whose e3'es were opened, i. e. who was enabled to perceive these prophetic visions. But as the word "ij'i is not confmed to the act of seeing, but is applied to mental impressions made in other ways, as e. g. by the 2 : 42 : 1 Ex. 20 : &c.), sense of hearing (Gen. 19, ; 19, the sense of taste (Gen. 3 : G), the sense of touch (Isa. 44 : 16), and also other more purely mental sources (Ecc. 1 : 16, &c.), we must not restrict the mode of re- ceiving the prophetic gift to purely visual impressions, or visions properly so called.

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