landowning class who were seeking to get large estates into their hands, crowding out the small farmers, and crowding together the city dwellers (5. 8). Luxury and debauchery upon which the ill-gotten gains were expended met with his stern condemnation (3. 16 to 4. 1; 5. 11, 12, 22, 23). In contrast with this miserable oppression was the prophet's conception of Jehovah. He declared Jehovah to be a God of justice (30. 18). In all the expectation of a better day that was to come for Judah justice and righteousness were made most prominent (28. 17).

2. The second important item in Isaiah's practical teaching was his plea for political wisdom. It was founded in a religious faith that Jehovah was governing the affairs of men, a more naïve view than we should hold with our careful estimate of historical cause and effect. Yet Isaiah's attitude was soundly practical, and was deduced from a careful survey of the political situation in western Asia. He believed that his people had so sinned that they were to be punished, and he saw that Assyria was the power that would accomplish the result. But he also believed that the Hebrews had a part to play in the providence of God which made it certain that Jerusalem should not be utterly destroyed. We are not accustomed to connect the purposes of God with the permanence of any human institution, and we know, in point of fact, that the Hebrew religion not only survived the fall of Jerusalem but was actually purified thereby. Yet it is undoubtedly most fortunate that Jerusalem was captured by the Babylonians, and not by the Assyrians, in the sixth century, and not in the eighth. Isaiah's foresight was justified in his own generation, and as we look back from the long view that the lapse of time affords us we recognize the sober soundness of his political policy.

Isaiah's fundamental political policy might be stated in the words of Washington-"Avoid entangling alliances." The petty courts of Palestine were alive with intrigue. Confederations for mutual defense were formed now against

one power, now against another. Egypt stood behind them all, endeavoring to unite all the lesser peoples as a buffer against the Assyrian power which she feared. Isaiah believed that all such combinations were futile, and that if Judah would concern herself with the purification of her own social life she need have little fear of foreign enemies. If the message of Amos was that a society founded on injustice could not endure, that of Isaiah was that a society founded on justice could not be overthrown. Judah gave some little heed to his words, and, as a matter of fact, the little state endured while the mighty Assyrian passed away.

While in general disapproving of alliances, Isaiah was particularly distrustful of Egypt. He constantly warned his people. "Egypt helpeth in tain, and to no purpose" (30. 7). He rightly estimated the unreadiness of that ancient and boastful people and knew that reliance upon them would be a costly mistake. Another element in his policy was to keep faith when once it had been pledged.

In pursuance of these views, Isaiah earnestly begged Ahaz to have no fear of Israel and Syria when they tried to coerce him into the league against Assyria, assuring the king that the life of the two northern enemies, "these two tails of smoking firebrands," was nearly burned out (7. 1-9). The prophet was, of course, bitterly opposed to Ahaz's foolish plan of calling upon Assyria for help, and showed the heavy price that Judah would have to pay for such a policy (7. 10-23). The king refused his advice, which he evidently found irksome (7. 10-13). He sent a large present to the king of Assyria and bound himself to be his slave (2 Kings 16. 7-9). So the Assyrian vassalage began, and, having begun, Isaiah insisted that it should be allowed to continue. Egypt was busy promising to free the Hebrews from their degrading servitude, but Isaiah saw that rebellion would mean extermination. He insisted that the payment of the tribute was the punishment for past sin and folly and that the compact with Assyria must be kept. Some of his most

brilliant prophecies were concerned with the endeavor to save Jerusalem from futile revolt. On one occasion he went about Jerusalem clothed with the single scant garment of a slave, and when people wondered why Isaiah should be so garbed he told them that all of them would be dressed in that fashion when they labored for the Assyrians as their captives (ch. 20). When at last the accession of Sennacherib seemed to offer opportunity for successful revolt, and the Egyptian party in Jerusalem was in the ascendant, he vehemently denounced them, scornfully describing Egypt as "Rahab that sitteth still" (30. 1-7).

But Isaiah was unsuccessful and King Hezekiah was persuaded to revolt against his suzerain. The prophet saw that it meant defeat and a terrible scourge of Judah, but he still believed in the safety of Jerusalem. In a splendid oration he denounced the cruel enemy (10. 5-33), and definitely declared his confidence that Jerusalem should be preserved (37. 33-35). How remarkably this confidence was vindicated, the Hebrew tradition states in picturesque fashion (v. 36), and the historical records both of Judah and of Assyria sufficiently indicate.

3. The third element in the social message of Isaiah is the vision of the ideal state, or, as it is more generally called, the Messianic reign. It is important that this should be recognized as a social ideal. Isaiah was not thinking of a life after death or of a spiritual kingdom in the midst of the common world of affairs. He believed in the God of justice. He believed that that justice was to be established among men. He believed that the natural agency for that grand reform was a true prince of the house of David, who should be filled with the impartial wisdom of God (11. 1-5). If the king were just, equity would prevail among the people (compare 2 Sam 15. 2-4).

Besides justice the ideal king would bring peace. Isaiah wrote in a time when cruel warfare was the scourge of nations. Following on the description of the righteous king

22

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CHAPTER XXIV

MICAH

§ 1. THE TIMES OF MICAH

MICAH was a younger contemporary of Isaiah. His prophetic activity began in those stirring days when the Northern Kingdom was hastening to its fall. Israel had always been stronger than Judah. Its fertile plains and noble pasture lands fostered a far larger population than could be sustained by the rugged hill country of Judah. And Samaria had always been richer than Jerusalem. The south, therefore, must have been powerfully influenced by the north. The certainty that the Northern Kingdom was to come to an end, that the major part of the Hebrew race was to be removed from its ancestral land, must have deeply affected the southern prophets.

With extraordinary fatuity the politicians and people of Israel did not expect disaster. They trusted in the strength of their alliances and in the ability of Samaria to stand the siege. But the prophets believed that great moral forces were operating. Amos had declared that a society established on injustice could not endure. He looked for Israel to disappear. Micah's ministry began with the same conviction. The city of Samaria was to him the center of all the evil in Israel, for he was particularly hostile to the sins of the cities.

What is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

In the most thoroughgoing declaration he predicted the ruin of Israel's capital: "Jehovah will make Samaria as a heap of the field" (1.6).

Samaria fell. Amos had seemed the fanatic when he