Daniel is informed A. M. 3470. Ol. LXI. 3. DANIEL. of the times. A. M. 3470. B. C. 534. OL. LXI. 3. Anno Tarquinii Superbi, R. Roman., 1. end: many shall run to and said I, O my Lord, what shall b 5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. 6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? e d 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and 1a half; and when he shall have accomplished K P t W 13 But go thou thy way till the end be: to scatter the power of the holy people, all" for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at these things shall be finished. 8 And I heard, but I understood not: then a Heb. lip. above. 11t the end of the days. b Ch. x. 4.- c Ch. x. 5.Ch. viii. 13.- Deut. xxxii. 40. Rev. x. 5, 6. b Ch. vii. 25. xi, 13. Rev. xii. 14. Or, Ch. iv. 34.part Luke xxi. 24. Rev. x. 7.- Ch. viii. 24. n Ch. xi. 35. Zech, xiii. 9.Ver. 4. o Hos. xiv. 9. Salmasius in his book De modo Usurarum, p. 446, proves from Hesychius. Many shall run to and fro] Many shall endeavour to search out the sense; and knowledge shall be increased by these means; though the meaning shall not be fully known till the events take place: THEN the seal shall be broken, and the sense become plain. This seems to be the meaning of this verse, though another has been put on it, viz. "Many shall run to and fro preaching the gospel of Christ, and therefore religious knowledge and true wisdom shall be increased." This is true in itself; but it is not the meaning of the prophet's words. Verse 5. Behold, there stood other two] Probably two angels. We know no more of them, unless they be the same as those called saints, chap. viii. 13, which see. The river was most likely the Tigris. Verse 6. The man clothed in linen] Gabriel, in a human form. Thus he is represented, chap. x. 5. Verse 7. Which was upon the waters] By this description, he was standing on the water. This is very similar to the description of the angel, Rev. x. 5, 6, and in the seventh verse there seems to be a reference to this prophecy, a time, times, and a half." See the note on chap. vii. 25. Versẹ 8. I heard, but I understood not] Could not comprehend what the time, times, and half time should refer to. These make three years and a half of prophetic time, answering to one thousand two hundred and sixty years. of God will be clearly seen in these matters. See on ver. 4. We must wait till the time of the end;" and this, it appears from the following calculations, will not arrive before the TWENTIETH CENTURY. We here see the reason why these prophecies are at present so imperfectly understood. God has sealed them. Verse 10. Many shall be purified] During the interim, the great work of God's providence and grace shall be carried on in the salvation of men; who, in the midst of trials, temptations, and difficulties, shall be purified and made white-be fully saved from their sins. None of the wicked shall understand] Because they are wicked, and will continue in their sins, the eyes of their understanding shall be closed, and their hearts hardened; so that they shall not see the light of the glorious gospel. But the wise] Those who open their hearts to God, that he may pour in his light, shall understand the things that make for their peace. Verse 11. From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away] See the notes on chap. x 25-27. The abomination that maketh desolate set up]! believe, with Bp. Newton, that this is a proverbis phrase; and may be applied to any thing substituted in the place of, or set up in opposition to, the ordinances of God, his worship, his truth, &c. Adrian's temple, built in the place of God's temple at Jerusalem, the church of St. Sophia turned into a Mobammedan mosque, &c., &c., may be termed abominations that make desolate. Perhaps Mohammedanism may be the abomination; which sprang up A. D. 612. If we reckon one thousand two hundred and ninety years, ver. 11, from that time, it will bring us down to A. D. 1902, when we might presume from this calculation, that the religion of the FALSE PROPHET will cease to prevail in the world; which from the present year, 1825, is distant only seventy-seven years. Verse 12. Blessed is he that waiteth] He who implicitly depends on God, expecting, as his truth cannot fail, that these predictions shall be accomplished in due time. And cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.] This is seventy-five days more than what is included in the three years and a half, or the time, times, and a half in the seventh verse; and as we have met with so many instances of prophetical days and years, this undoubtedly is another instance; and as a day stands for a year, this must mean a period of one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years, which period is to bring all these wonders to an end, ver. 6. But we are left totally in the dark relative to the time from which these one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years are to be reckoned. If, however, we reckon them from the above epoch, A. D. 612, when Mohammedanism arose, they lead us to A. D. 1947, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in; and thus a final closure of vision and prophecy be made, as then all the great events relative to the salvation of men shall have taken place. Wars and contentions will probably then Masoretic notes. cease over the whole world; Jews and Gentiles become one fold, under one Shepherd and Bishop of souls; and the triune God be properly worshipped and glorified, from generation to generation, over the face of the whole earth. But all these conjectures may be founded in darkness. We have not chronological data; and "the times and seasons God has reserved in his own power." Verse 13. But go thou thy way till the end be] Here is proper advice for every man. 1. Thou hast a way—a walk in life, which God has assigned thee; walk in that way, it is thy way. 2. There will be an end to thee of all earthly things. Death is at the door, and eternity is at hand; go on to the end-be faithful unto death. 3. There is a rest provided for the people of God. Thou shalt rest; thy body, in the grave; thy soul, in the divine favour here, and finally in paradise. 4. As in the promised land there was a lot for each of God's people, so in heaven there is a lot for thee. Do not lose it, do not sell it, do not let thy enemy rob thee of it. Be determined to stand in thy own lot at the end of the days. See that thou keep the faith; die in the Lord Jesus, that thou mayest rise and reign with him to all eternity. Amen. MASORETIC NOTES. Number of verses in this Book, 357. Middle verse, chap. v. 30. Masoretic sections, 7. Finished correcting for the press, March 1st, 1831.-A. C. INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HOSE A. HOSEA, the son of Beeri, is the first of the minor prophets. Epiphanius says that he was of the town of Belemoth, in the tribe of Issachar; which is no other, in all probability, than Beelmeon, towards Esdraelon, in this tribe. The rabbins say that Bura was his father, who is mentioned in the Chronicles, and was prince of the tribe of Reuben at the time when Tiglath-pileser carried some of the tribes of Israel into captivity. But if it be so, Hosea must be said to be of the tribe of Reuben; and a native of Beelmeon, beyond Jordan. This prophet lived in the kingdom of Samaria; and his prophecies for the most part have a view to this state, though there are likewise some particular things which concern the kingdom of Judah. We read, in the introduction to his prophecy, that he prophesied under the kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, and under Jeroboam II., king of Israel. If he prophesied in the reign of all these princes, he must have lived a very long time; for there are a hundred and twelve years from the beginning of Uzziah's reign to the end of Hezekiah's reign. Uzziah began to reign A. M. 3194, and Hezekiah's reign ended in 3306. Add, if you please, twenty or five and twenty years, which might be the age of Hosea when he began to prophesy; and this will make one hundred and thirty-two, or, one hundred and thirty-seven years. And if we were to take ten years from Uzziah, and as many from Hezekiah, during which Hosea might not have prophesied, there will still remain one hundred and twelve, or one hundred and fifteen years. In the whole collection of Hosea's prophecies, we find nothing which proves that he prophesied so long. And, besides, why should his prophecies be dated in the title by the reigns of the kings of Judah, when he did not live under their dominion? It is therefore very probable that this title is not Hosea's, but some ancient transcriber's; and that the true beginning of this prophet's work is at these words: "The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea." It is our opinion that he began about the end of Jeroboam's reign, who was the second king of Israel of this name. See Calmet. St. Jerome and many others believe Hosea to be the oldest prophet, whose writings are in our possession; and that he was witness to the first captivity of the four tribes carried away by Tiglath-pileser, and the extinction of the kingdom of Samaria by Shalmaneser. St. Jerome will have it that he prophesied even afterwards. The first verses of chap. i. have a view to the death of Zechariah, king of Israel, and son of Jeroboam II. From the sixth verse of the first chapter, to the third chapter, is a prediction of the captivity of Israel: but after he has foretold this captivity, he declares the return and end of it. He inveighs strongly against the disorders which prevailed in the kingdom of the ten tribes. It appears that in his time there were idols; not only at Dan, Beth-el, and Samaria, but likewise at Gilgal, upon Tabor, at Sichem, Beer-sheba, and upon the mountains of Gilead. He speaks of the Israelites as of a people entirely corrupted, and the measure of whose sins was filled up; he foretels that their golden calves should be pulled down, cast upon the ground, and carried into Assyria. He reflects, with the same severity, upon the irregularities which reigned in Judah. He stands up against those who went to worship false gods at Gilgal. He speaks of Sennacherib's invading the territories of Judah. He foretels that the people of Judah shoul still continue some time in their country after the captivity of the ten tribes; but that after this they themselves should likewise be carried captives beyond the Euphrates, from whence the Lord would bring them back after a certain number of years. The style of Hosea is obscure, and his expressions often dubious and perplexed. The things whereof he speaks contribute farther to his obscurity, by reason of their distance, and our ignorance of the history of those times. In the beginning of Hosea's prophecy, we read that the Lord directed him "to take unto him a wife of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms;" that is, to marry a woman who, before her marriage, had lived a debauched life, but who, after her marriage, should retire from all bad conversation, and whose children should be legitimate, notwithstanding that, by INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF HOSEA. reason of the blemish which their mother had contracted by her former life, they were called the children of whoredoms. This prostitute woman, and the children who were to be born of her, were a figure and a kind of real prophecy which described the idolatry and infidelity of Samaria and the ten tribes, formerly the Lord's spouse, but who afterwards became idolatrous and corrupt. The children of this faithless woman are children of prostitution, since they imitate the idolatry of their mother. God gives these children the names of Jezreel, God will disperse; Lo-rechamah, or Without mercy; and Lo-ammi, Thou art no longer my people; to show,— 1. That God was going to revenge upon the house of Jehu, king of Israel, the sins which he had committed at Jezreel, when he usurped the kingdom of the ten tribes. 2. That the Lord would treat his idolatrous and sinful people without mercy. 3. That he would reject them, and no more look upon them as his people. Hosea is concise, sententious, and abrupt. It is his manner to omit the connexive and adversative particles; an observation which we should recollect when we observe them occasionally supplied by Versions or manuscripts. These are among the causes of that obscurity for which he is remarkable; but the greatest difficulties arise from the corrupt readings which deform the printed text. He chiefly addresses Israel; but introduces frequent mention of Judah. He not only inveighs against the vices of the people, but sharply arraigns the conduct of their kings, princes, and priests. Like many of the Hebrew prophets, he tempers denunciations of God's vengeance against an idolatrous and vicious people, with promises of abundant mercies in store for them; and his transitions from one of these subjects to the other are rapid and unexpected. He abounds with short and lively comparisons; and, like the best Greek and Roman writers, often omits the particle of similitude. These comparisons he sometimes accumulates in the spirit of that poetry which is most admired. See chap. vi. 3, 4, ix. 10, xi. 11, xiii. 3, xiv. 5, 6, 7. He has often a Great force of expression. See chap. i. 7, ii. 3, 18, 21, 22, iv. 2, vi. 5, xi. 4, l. 1, xii. 1, l. 1. He is sometimes HIGHLY ANIMATED. See chap. iv. 14, v. 8, viii. 1, ix. 5, 14, xiii. 10, 14. Many BEAUTIFUL PASSAGES Occur in this prophet, as in the SIMILES throughout; in the ALLEGORIES, chap. ii. 2, 20, vii. 11, 12, viii. 7, l. 2, 3, 4, x. 11, 12, 13, xiii. 15; in the PATHOS, chap. xi. 3, l. 1, 2, and ver. 8, 9; in the FIGures, chap. xiii. 12, xiv. 2, l. 5. There are also some parts which are truly SUBLIME, as chap. v. 14, 15, viii. 7, l. 1, x. 8, l. 2, 3, xiii. 7, 8. I have already, at the beginning of Isaiah, given a table of the chronological succession of all the prophets that of Archbishop Newcome on the twelve minor prophets I subjoin here, because it contains some differences from the preceding. ORDER AND TIME IN WHICH THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS FLOURISHED. 1. JONAH prophesied between 823 B. C. and 783 B. C. in the reign of Jeroboam II., king of Israel. See 2 Kings xiv. 25. 2. Aмos prophesied from about 823 B. C. to about 785 B. C. in the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in that of Jeroboam II., king of Israel. See Amos i. 1. 3. HOSEA flourished from about 809 B. C. to about 698 B. C., in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in that of Jeroboam II., king of Israel. See Hos. i.. 1. [But see the observations in the preceding page.] 4. MICAH flourished between 757 B. C. and 698 B. C., in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. See Mic. i. 1. 5. NAHUM is supposed to have prophesied between 720 B. C. and 698 B. C., in the reign of Hezekiah. 6. JOEL is supposed to have prophesied between 697 B. C. and 660 B. C., in the reign of Manasseh. 7. ZEPHANIAH prophesied between 640 B. C. and 609 B. C., in the reign of Josiah. See Zeph. i. 1. 8. HABAKKUK is thought to have prophesied between 606 B. C. and 598 B. C., in the reign of Jehoiakim. 9. OBADIAH prophesied soon after 587 B. C., between the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the destruction of the Edomites by the same prince. 10. HAGGAI prophesied about 520 B. C. after the return from Babylon See Haggai i. 1. 11. ZECHARIAH prophesied from 520 B. C. to about 518 B. C.; and was contemporary with Haggai. See Zech. i. 1. 12. MALACHI is generally believed to have prophesied about 436 B. C. THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET HOSEA. Chronological Notes relative to the commencement of Hosea's prophesying, upon the supposition that this event took place in the last year of the reign of Jeroboam II., king of Israel. Year of the world, according to the Usherian account, 3219.-Year of the Julian Period, 3929.-Year since the Flood, 1563.-Year from the vocation of Abram, 1136.-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 227.-Year before the First Olympiad, 9.-Year before the building of Rome, 32.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 785.-Cycle of the Sun, 9.-Cycle of the Moon, 15.-Second year of Cœnus, the second king of Macedon; which was the thirtieth from the foundation of the monarchy. -Thirteenth year of Agamestor, perpetual archon of the Athenians.-Thirteenth year of Ardysus, king of Lydia.-Twelfth year of Amulius Sylvius, king of the Albans.-Twenty-fifth year of Charilaus, king of the Lacedæmonians,-Forty-first year of Jeroboam II., king of Israel.-Twenty-sixth year Uzziah, king of Judah. of CHAPTER I. Under the figure of a wife proving false to her marriage vows, and bearing children that would follow her example, the prophet represents the shameful idolatry of the ten tribes. which provoked God to cast them off. The whole passage is information by action instead of words. The names of the children are all emblematical. The first is intended to pat Israel in mind of their unrepented guilt, and the acts of cruelty committed in their palace of Jezreel, (1'Kings xxi. 1). The second and third, signifying not finding mercy, and not my people, denote that, in consequence of their guilt, they were to be rejected of God, 1-9. God promises, however, to repair the loss to his church by calling in the Gentiles, 10; and by uniting all the children of God under one head, the Messiah, in the latter days, 11. THE word of the LORD that Jeroboam the son of Joash, came unto Hosea, the son king of Israel. of Beeri, in the days of Uz- 2 The beginning of the word ziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Heze- of the LORD by Hosea. A. M. cir. 3219. с And A. M. cir. 3219. cir. annum 12. kiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a Isai. i. 1.- b 2 Kings xiv. 23. NOTES ON CHAP. I. c So ch. iii. 1. added by the compiler of his prophecies, and that it Verse 1. Hosea, the son of Beeri] See the pre- relates more to facts which took place in those reigat ceding account of this prophet. In the days of Uzziah, &c.] If we suppose, says Bp. Newcome, that Hosea prophesied during the course of sixty-six years, and place him from the year 790 before Christ to the year 724, he will have exercised his office eight years in the reign of Jeroboam the second, thirty-three years in the reign of Uzziah, the whole reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, and three years in the reign of Hezekiah; but will not have survived the taking of Samaria. But see the preceding account of this prophet. I think the first verse to be a title to this book and had been predicted by Hosea, who would only be said to have prophesied under all those kings, by b predictions, which were consecutively fulfilled unde them. By those, though dead, he continued speak. The prophet's work properly begins at ver 2; hence called, "The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea." Verse 2. A wife of whoredoms] That is, says Newcome, a wife from among the Israelites, who were remarkable for spiritual fornication, or idolatry. God calls himself the husband of Israel; and this chosen nation owed him the fidelity of a wife. See |