CHAPTER I.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.

Primeval prophecy concerning the Messiah—Errors in the translation of it, in different versions—Correct in the Septuagint—Tradition of this prophecy in the Ante and Post Diluvian ages—Its clearer development in the Patriarchal Age—Dr. Lamb’s explanation of the word _Shiloh_—Prophecy of Balaam in the Critarchal Age—Predictions of Moses and Hannah—The glorious revelations of the Monarchal Age—The testimony of the Psalms to the Messiah—Explanation of the last words of David from Kennicott—Application of the term _Sun_ to Jehovah—Testimony of the Prophecies to the Messiah—Isaiah, the Evangelical Prophet—The predictions at the close of the Monarchal and the commencement of the Hierarchal Age—Testimony among the Heathen.

In the Introduction to the first part of this Dissertation, we very shortly alluded to the tradition and prophecies concerning the first Advent of the Messiah, which were prevalent in the world before the era of Christianity. That, in consequence of the prophecies, traces of such a tradition, from a very remote period, should be found among all nations, will not be deemed improbable by those who attentively read and sincerely believe the records of Inspiration. There indeed, we find that the first sweet note of Jubilee which sounded in the ears of Fallen Man, was the distant promise of Redemption by the hands of a Mediator, announced in the Divine prediction of the punishment to be inflicted on the Author of Sin by the Seed of the woman:—“HE shall bruise thy _Head_, and thou shalt bruise his _Heel_;” Gen. iii. 15. The meaning of this very remarkable passage is greatly obscured in our vulgar translation by the use of the neuter pronoun _It_ (Ipsum), instead of the masculine _He_ (Ipse), which clearly refers to the _Seed_ of the woman, who is _Christ_. The Seventy Interpreters have correctly employed the masculine pronoun _He_ (ἄυτος) in the Greek Version; while, in the Latin Vulgate, the feminine pronoun _She_ (Ipsa) has very absurdly been inserted, as if the prediction referred to the _Woman_ herself and not to her Seed! Some have attributed this error to Josephus; but we do not think it is at all borne out by the passage referred to in his Antiquities, although it is quite evident that he was utterly ignorant of the true meaning of the prophecy.[41] To us, it appears to savour more of a Rabbinical or Roman Catholic gloss; be this, however, as it may, it is evident that had the translators or editors of the Latin version remembered that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” they would not have committed such an egregious mistake.

With the reign of sin, began the reign of mercy. Thus early was it declared that the Messiah should come to destroy the _works_ of the Devil; and thus early was it announced that the Christ should _suffer_ and enter into his glory! All the attempts of the Wicked One for ages have never been able to obliterate this first and glorious prophecy of God from the remembrance of the human mind. Onward it has passed from father to son, and from patriarch to patriarch, gathering fresh vigour and clearness in its descent; brightly did it beam, even in the Antediluvian age, through the righteous preaching of Enoch and of Noah; and having survived the deluge, anew did it shine forth in the Postdiluvian age, in the glorious anticipations of the ancient Idumean prince, and in the Divine revelations vouchsafed to the great Father of the Jewish nation. “I know,” said Job (xix. 25), “that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the _latter day_ upon the earth.” Again, “to Abraham and his seed were the promises made;” for, God said not “_And to seeds_, as of many; but as of one, _And to thy seed_, which is Christ.” See Genesis xiii. 15; xv. 18; xviii. 7; xxii. 18; and Galatians iii. 16.

The divine predictions concerning the person and work of the Messiah were more clearly developed in the Patriarchal age. To Isaac and to Jacob, they were at first announced in terms very similar to those in which they were conveyed to Abraham; Genesis xxvi. 3; xxviii. 13; and xxxv. 10. But to Israel, was it given, to declare to the Twelve Patriarchs, while uttering his dying benediction, the celebrated prophecy concerning _Shiloh_, which was fully verified in the Advent of our Saviour, whatever may be deemed the true interpretation of the name; Genesis xlix. 10. Although we cannot agree with Dr. Lamb, in his theory of the existence of a Hieroglyphic language previous to a Phonetic one, we think that he has struck out the real meaning of this term _Shiloh_, when he says, “The word is literally ‏ש‎, ‘who’ or ‘who is’ ‏ילוה‎(Jelovah), the very same word as ‏יהוה‎ ‘Jehovah,’ with the original ‏ל‎ restored. Thus Jacob points out the Messiah by a title which could be applied to no other individual, and declared the Divinity of our Saviour about seventeen hundred [1838] years before his birth. The three words, (omitting ‏יס‎ which implies an attribute of omniscience)

‏אליה‎ Alovah, The Creator, ‏יהוה‎ Jehovah, The God of Israel, ‏ילוה‎ Jelovah, The Promised Messiah,

are one and the same. We need no farther comment upon the 58th verse of the 8th chapter of St. John: Ἀμὴν, Ἀμὴν, λέγω ὑμῖν, πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενεσθαι, ἐγώ εἰμι. “Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was I am.” See his work entitled “Hebrew Characters derived from Hieroglyphics,” p. 86.

During the Critarchal Age, the predictions concerning Christ were less numerous; but it commenced with the brilliant prophecy of the Star which was to come out of Jacob, and terminated with the first announcement in Scripture of the name of the Messiah. To Balaam it was permitted to foresee in splendid vision, the glory of Israel in the latter days, and the rise of a Sceptre or King who should possess universal dominion; see Numbers xxiv. 17. Dr. Gill, in his comment on this passage, seems to think that the Star which the Eastern Magi saw at the birth of Christ, is here clearly foretold, and that the Jews themselves were at that period in expectation of such a phenomenon. That this universal King was to be a Jew, is manifestly the opinion held by the Seventy Interpreters; for in their version, the prophecy is thus rendered, “A star shall arise out of Jacob, and _a man_ shall be raised up, or shall raise himself up, out of Israel.” How strongly does this passage remind us of our Saviour’s own words, when speaking of his Mission, he said, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again;” John x. 18. Moses, who had so often spoken to the children of Israel concerning Jehovah their God, and the “Angel of his presence,” was at last commissioned to predict the Advent of Christ in the following words: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth;” Deuter. xviii. 15. To this prophecy is added an awful sanction, to which our Saviour plainly alluded when speaking of the unbeliever he said, “the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day;” John xii. 48. But to the mother of Samuel, the prophet, was it first given to announce in holy prayer and song, the name of the Messiah, the anointed of the Lord; for she said “Jehovah shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto our king, and exalt the horn of his _Messiah_;” 1 Samuel ii. 10.

The clearest revelations of this divine personage, however, were reserved for the glory of the Monarchal Age, the acme of the Levitical dispensation, which all along prefigured the good things to come. In the Psalms written by David the king, “the sweet Psalmist of Israel,” we find the brightest anticipations of the happiness and universality of Christ’s kingdom, accompanied with the most distinct intimations of his estate of humiliation and exaltation. We refer particularly to the 2nd Psalm, which speaks of him by name as the Messiah; the 8th, of his assumption of our nature; the 16th, of his resurrection and ascension; the 22nd, of his words and his feelings on the cross; the 24th and 68th, of his reception and glory in heaven; the 40th, of the union of his divine and human nature; the 45th and 72nd, of the eternity and glory of his reign; the 91st of his temptation; the 97th of his adoration by the angels; the 102nd and 110th, of his divinity, perpetual priesthood, and eternal duration; the 118th, of his rejection by the Jews; the 132nd, of his name and office as the Messiah; and, the 146th, of his final and everlasting dominion. Moreover, in the last words of David, as elucidated by the critical industry and acumen of Dr. Kennicott, we have a remarkable prophecy of the coming of Christ, couched in one of the most splendid and pleasing figures which can be drawn from the phenomena of the natural world: “And as the light of the morning, shall arise _Jehovah_ the Sun, a morning without clouds, with the glittering of the dew on the tender herb of the earth;” 2 Samuel xxiii. 4. In this passage of the printed Hebrew text the word _Jehovah_ has been omitted; but the corresponding words Θεος and Κυρισς have been preserved in the Septuagint; and Dr. Kennicott found the word ‏יהוה‎ Jehovah, which is wanting in the printed text, in one of the oldest Hebrew MSS. in the Bodleian library, marked by him No. 2; see his “Dissertation” entitled “The Printed State of the Hebrew Text, &c.” vol. i. pp. 468–471. As ‏ש‎ _Shin_ or _Sin_, in the Hieroglyphics of Dr. Lamb, signifies the _Sun_, being the first and last letter of the Hebrew word ‏שמש‎, _Shemesh_, the Sun, it is possible that even the term ‏שילה‎ _Shiloh_, which he has so ingeniously explained, may have originally signified the _Sun Jelovah_: and hence, the origin and propriety of some of the figurative and prophetical expressions to be found in the Psalms and the Prophets. Thus, in Psalm lxxxiv. 11, “The Lord God is a _Sun_ and shield:” in Isaiah xix. 18, “One shall be called the City of the _Sun_;” xxx. 26: “the light of the _Sun_ shall be sevenfold, as the light of _seven_ days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people;” lx. 20: “thy _Sun_ shall go no more down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting _light_;” and, in Malachi iv. 2, “But unto you that fear my name, shall the _Sun_ of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.”

Almost all the predictions concerning Christ to be found in the writings of the prophets, were delivered to the Jews during the Monarchal age; and so clearly and distinctly have some of the prophecies, particularly those of Isaiah, pointed out his generation, his person, his office, his character and his sufferings, that rather than yield to conviction, infidels have even dared to assert that the descriptions which they contain were written _after_ the events took place! This Evangelical prophet first unfolded the true meaning of the primeval prophecy, by announcing, in the 7th chapter, that he should be born of a Virgin, and that his name should be called _Immanuel_, or _God with us_; by ascribing to him, in the 9th, the names and attributes of Deity; by declaring, in the 11th, his descent from David according to the flesh; by describing in the 11th, 32nd, and 61st, his offices as a prophet, priest and king; by foretelling, in the 40th, the words and the office of his Forerunner, John the Baptist; in the 11th, and 49th, the calling of the Gentiles to his kingdom; and, in the 49th, 60th, and 65th, their willingness to receive him as the Messiah; in the 52nd, and 53rd, his external appearance and circumstances; in the 6th, 8th, and 28th, his unbelieving reception and final rejection by the Jews; in the 53rd, the gracious design of his sufferings, and the striking manner of his trial, death and burial: and by declaring in the 35th, 40th, and 55th, his glory as the Almighty conqueror, the compassionate Saviour, and the righteous Judge of all; in the 9th, his heirship to the throne of _David_, as the _beloved_ king of all the true Israel of God; and in the 35th, 62nd, and 65th, his glorious reign in the new Jerusalem above, in the heavenly and eternal Zion, as the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the Omnipotent Creator, the everlasting Ruler, and the immortal Preserver of Angels and of Men.

Towards the close of the Monarchal age, during the Babylonish captivity, and near the beginning of the Hierarchal age, many splendid predictions of the Messiah, were vouchsafed to the Prophets, for the comfort of those who mourned in Zion for the abominations of the land and the sins of Judah, and for the solace of those who piously submitted to the righteous judgments of God. Thus, in the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah, we have a prophecy of the future elevation of a king of the house of David, whose name should be called _The Lord our Righteousness_; and in the 33rd, of the _perpetual humanity_ of the final heir to David’s throne; in the 34th and 37th, of Ezekiel, of the _ultimate accession_ of the Antitype _David_ as the Shepherd and Prince of his people; in the 7th of Daniel, of the everlasting dominion of the _Son of Man_ over all the kingdoms of the world, given to him by the _Ancient of Days_; in the 8th and 12th, of the _opposition_ to the kingdom of the Prince of Princes, and of the _Time of the End_ disclosed by the _Wonderful Numberer_; in the 9th, 10th, and 12th, of the coming of the _Messiah_ the Prince, and of the Defence of his people by _Michael_ the great and sole Archangel; in the 2nd of Haggai, of the Advent of the _Desire_ of all nations, and the _Glory_ of the Second Temple; in the 3rd and 6th of Zechariah, of the springing up, in due time, of the righteous servant of Jehovah, denominated _The Branch_; in the 13th, of the mystery of the _Incarnation_, and the circumstances attending the _Crucifixion_; and, in the 3rd and 4th of Malachi, of the Mission of John the Baptist, and the unexpected appearance of the “Angel of the Covenant” in the Temple at Jerusalem.

In the midst of all these glorious predictions from the fall of Adam to the close of the Old Testament Canon, comprising a period of more than 5000 years,[42] we cannot suppose that the Heathen were left utterly ignorant of their existence and their meaning; or, that the people of God did not, in some way or other, make known to the nations by whom they were surrounded, the glory of his grace and the manifestations of his eternal power and Godhead. It is certain, indeed, that Jehovah never left himself without a witness to his truth, his mercy and his goodness, in any age of the world; and we shall now proceed shortly to enquire by what means this testimony was begun and carried on among mankind, by the perpetual exhibition of the natural and supernatural phenomena, which accompanied the revelations of his will to his chosen people in all ages.