Cheyne believe that fragmentary Isaianic material has been strung together and enlarged by the post-exilic editor. Here again I can only by brackets indicate the results arrived at by these two great scholars; I am unable to set forth their reasons. Late ideas, feeble rhythm or absence of rhythm, confused metaphors, inflated language, bad connexions, imitative echoes are among their arguments. An Isaianic passage towards the close describes in vivid language a supposed advance of an Assyrian army from the north into Judaea.

O Assyria, the rod of mine anger,

And the staff of mine indignation. Against an impious nation I send him,

And against the people of my wrath I give him a charge, To take spoil and to seize booty,

And to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he not thus he planneth,

And his heart-not thus it reckoneth;

But to destroy is in his heart,

And to cut off nations not a few.

6

For he saith, Are not all my captains kings?

Is not Calno as Carchemish?

Is not Hamath as Arpad ?

Is not Samaria as Damascus ?'

[As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and yet their graven images did exceed them of Jerusalem and of Samaria-shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her images?

?']

[Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath completed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

For he saith,]By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom; for I am discerning:

And I have removed the bounds of the peoples,

And have robbed their treasures,

And I have brought down them that were enthroned. And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples: And as one gathereth eggs that are deserted, have I gathered all the earth;

And there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped.'

THE PRIDE OF ASSYRIA

335

Should the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?

Or should the saw magnify itself against him that wieldeth it?

As if the rod should wield him that lifteth it up,

Or as if the staff should lift up him who is not wood. [Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send into his fat limbs leanness;

And under his glory there shall burn a burning like the burning of fire.

And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame:

And it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his garden land, both soul and body :

And it shall be as when a sick man pineth away.

And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.]

[And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay themselves upon him that smote them; but they shall stay themselves upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant shall turn, even the remnant of Jacob, unto God the mighty one. For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them shall return; a consumption is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For a consumption and a decisive work will the Lord God of hosts execute in the midst of the whole earth.]

[Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian, who smiteth thee with a rod, and lifteth up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease and mine anger shall turn to his destruction. And the Lord of hosts shall brandish over him a scourge, like the smiting of Midian at the rock Oreb; and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck.]

He is come to Aiath, he hath passed through Migron;
At Michmash he hath laid up his baggage.

They go through the pass; they make Geba their night encampment.

Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul fleeth.

Shriek loudly, O daughter of Gallim ;

Listen, O Laishah; answer her, O Anathoth. Madmenah escapeth;

The inhabitants of Gebim take flight. This very day he will halt at Nob;

He swingeth his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

[Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, loppeth the bough with

the axe,

And the high ones of stature are hewn down, and the lofty lie low.

And the thickets of the forest shall be cut down with the iron,

And the Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.]

§ 20. The reign of peace.-The collection concludes, even as its predecessor concluded, with a Messianic prediction. The prediction divides itself into three parts, of which the second, different in tone and spirit from the first, and the third, which should more accurately be described as a liturgical appendix,' are clearly not Isaiah's. The countries whence the Jews are to return include lands where there were no Jewish exiles in Isaiah's day. Assyria here stands for the empire of Persia, and one 'return' is already past. The union of Israel and Judah, and the emphasized feeling of enmity towards the neighbouring peoples--Edom and Moab and Ammon are also signs of a late date. The first part-one of the most striking and famous passages in the entire book-has been already quoted in Part I, p. 606. Professor Cheyne thinks that it too is post-exilic; Professor Duhm assigns it, like the prophecy of the wonder-child and the 'mountain of the Lord,' to Isaiah's old age.

And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, And a branch of his roots shall bear fruit.

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and might,

The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

THE PRINCE OF PEACE

And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
Neither arbitrate after the hearing of his ears:
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,

337

And arbitrate with equity for the afflicted of the land: And he shall smite the tyrannous with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,

And faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall feed together;
And a little child shall lead them.

And the cow and the bear shall make friends;
Their young ones shall lie down together,
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,

And the weaned child shall stretch out his hand to the serpent's eye.

None shall do evil or act corruptly in all my holy mountain; For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

[And it shall come to pass in that day, the root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the peoples-of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting-place shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall lift up his hand the second time to redeem the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up a banner for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not oppress Ephraim. But they shall swoop down upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil the children of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the Lord shall dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and he shall shake his hand over the River, and shall smite it into seven brooks, and

make men go over in sandals. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as there was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.]

[And in that day thou shalt say, I will praise thee, O Lord,

For thou wast angry with me, But thine anger is turned away, And thou hast comforted me. Behold the God of my salvation,

I will trust and not be afraid,

For the Lord is my strength and my song,

Yea, he hath become my salvation.

And ye shall draw water with rejoicing out of the wells of salvation.

And ye shall say in that day,

O give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name,
Declare his doings among the peoples,

Make mention that his name is exalted.

Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things;
Let this be known in all the earth.

Exult and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion;

For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.]