And to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with thy God?

In these words the prophetic conception of spiritual religion expresses itself at its best, and its profoundly ethical and social character is made clear.

DIRECTIONS FOR STUDY

I. Read ch. 1; 2. 1-11; ch. 3; 4. 9 to 5. 1; 5. 10-15. Note Micah's attitude toward Samaria and Jerusalem.

2.

What are the specific charges which Micah makes against the various classes of rulers?

3. Note his denunciation of the prophets (3. 5-8). How can this be justified? What is the basis of Micah's confidence in his own insight? (3. 8.)

4. Compare Micah's attitude with that of Isaiah. In what particulars were the prophets alike and in what did they differ? If they were both genuine prophets, how could they have different views?

5. How far did the social situation in Judah justify the message of Micah?

6. How can Micah's message be applied to modern conditions? 7. What are the reasons for believing that 6. 1-8 is a fragment of later prophecy?

8. Compare this passage with Isa 1 and Psa 51, and consider what Hebrew religion was at its best.

9. What suggestion do these passages make as to the relation of the church to social justice and philanthropy?

10. What is the distinction between justice and kindness? Note that they are not here offered as alternatives.

CHAPTER XXV

JEREMIAH

§ 1. THE SILENCE OF THE PROPHETS

We know nothing of the last years of Isaiah nor of the work of the many disciples who had gathered about him, and who had presumably caught his spirit. The splendid hopes of a glorious Israel which was to succeed the Assyrian invasion were not fulfilled. Assyria did not decline after the withdrawal of Sennacherib, but rose to her mightiest strength in the next half century. It seemed as if Isaiah had been wrong in his promises, and that Jehovah was but a weak God in comparison with the mighty Asshur. To be sure, if Isaiah had been living he would not have lost his faith. He would have pointed out that Judah had not learned her lesson, that the corruptions against which he had protested still existed, and that the overthrow of the Assyrian was only delayed. But the people had no mind to hear such explanations, and Isaiah's disciples had neither the boldness nor the ability to offer them.

A period of reaction from the Isaianic point of view resulted. Manasseh, who succeeded his father Hezekiah, reigned for nearly half a century and manifested continuous hostility to the prophets. Many of them were put to death, including Isaiah himself, if the later Jewish tradition is to be accepted, and stern repression put a stop to the freedom that had characterized the great preachers of the eighth century.

In one important respect Manasseh followed the guidance of Isaiah. He came to the throne as a vassal of Assyria and he was wise enough never to attempt a revolt. The great kings Esar-haddon and Ashur-bani-pal made cam

paigns against Egypt, in which their armies marched through Palestine, but the submissive loyalty of the little kingdom of Judah saved it from devastation. It doubtless paid well for the immunity, both in annual tribute, and in the levies which were made upon it during the campaigns.

To Manasseh and his people it seemed wise to seek aid from gods more powerful than Jehovah. The worship of the heavenly bodies (2 Kings 21. 5), the various forms of magic and necromancy that were so common in the East flourished in Jerusalem, and even the horrid custom of child sacrifice came again into vogue (2 Kings 21.6). With the development of idolatry came in the unethical conception of deity which was common among the idol worshipers. The lofty idea of a God of righteousness gave place to that of the familiar deity represented by the image, who could be fed with sacrifices, pleased with incense, cajoled by flattery. Instead of the God of ethical demands, Jerusalem had gods who could serve her ends.

The question of idolatry, therefore, was not merely ecclesiastical. It was not a matter of sensuous as opposed to imaginative worship. It went to the heart of the social problem. Gods who could be bought were the allies of the aristocracy, of the privileged classes. All the iniquities against which the prophets had preached could therefore continue without hindrance. One could bribe the gods as he could bribe the judge and live his selfish life in peace. The cry of the innocent blood (Jer 7. 6), the needs of the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger, were not heeded by such deities It was Jehovah, the God of justice and of love (4. 2), who was concerned with the social morality of his people, and only when a nation realized that the idols were vanities, and that Jehovah was God alone, would the evils of the land be righted. It was from this point of view that we must estimate the assault of the later prophets upon idolatry. All social, ethical, as well as spiritual values were involved in the contest.

The prophets, unable to preach, were earnestly hoping for some opportunity for reformation. The better type of the Jerusalem priests were equally dissatisfied with the course of events. There seems to have been some cooperation between priests and prophets in the great plan to produce another law book which should bring the old law up to date, and should bring the great authority of Moses to bear upon the evil situation of the time. Out of this cooperation was produced the book of Deuteronomy. The death of Manasseh, and the murder of his son Amon after a brief reign of two years, brought Josiah to the throne as a child. The priests and prophets who were seeking the reformation of the national life secured the custody of the young king. In process of time the publication of the new codification of the old law became possible. We have already noted in connection with each of the institutions of Hebrew life the advance in the social ideal which this law sought to bring about.

§ 2. JEREMIAH'S WARNINGS

It was when the young king Josiah had been thirteen years on the throne and before the Book of the Law was promulgated, that the impulse to preach came to a young man of the priestly order, whose home was in the village of Anathoth, about four miles northeast of Jerusalem. The explanation of the complex activity of Jeremiah and of those tumultuous utterances which have been so often misunderstood is very simple. It is found in the religious experience of that ardent, sympathetic, and sensitive soul. him God was the supreme reality. He conceived him very simply as good, just, gracious, ordering the affairs of all mankind with sole regard to righteousness. It was, therefore, the supreme duty of the Hebrews to serve Jehovah with loyalty, utterly disregarding the immoral and senseless gods of the heathen, and to live together in mutual justice and love as became the servants of the righteous God. Instead of such loyalty Jeremiah saw around him a condition

diametrically opposed. It seemed to him as he looked at the life of his people that there was not in all Jerusalem a good man, "that doeth justly, that seeketh truth" (5. 1). The nation seemed to be given over to evil. What could God do with such a people but visit them with dire chastisement?

As these ideas formed themselves in the young man's mind an event of fearful portent took place in western Asia. The Scythian hordes broke loose in the north, and swept down upon the civilized peoples in one of those devastating raids which so often disturbed the progress of ancient culture; or perhaps one might also say, which sometimes broke up an effete culture and made way for something better. The occasion was one to kindle the prophetic fervor, and Zephaniah came forward with his message of doom, the Dies Ira. Jeremiah felt the same impulse, and although very reluctant to assume the role, entered upon his long career career as a prophet (ch. 1).

The Scythian invasion was to Jeremiah the scourge of God upon his wicked people:

Behold, he shall come up as clouds,

And his chariots shall be as the whirlwind:

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe unto us! for we are ruined (4. 13).

But the prophet hoped that the people might take warning:

O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.

How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee? (4. 14.)

Reformation seemed almost impossible, however, as he looked at his wanton people; "they have made their faces harder than the rock." Again and again, therefore, he returned to his threats,

Behold, a people cometh from the north country;

And a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of

earth.