from the army of Sennacherib; we have also related in its place what is known of the birth and death of this great prophet, namely, that he was of royal lineage, perhaps brother to Uzziah king of Judah, that he prophesied at the court of Judah for upwards of sixty years, during the successive reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, and probably lived into the reign of Manassah, by whom tradition relates he was cruelly put to death, by being sawn asunder with a wooden saw, the cause pretended being that the expression, chap. vi., " In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne," was contrary to the law, as Moses said, "No man can see God and live." Isaiah was one of those prophets who witnessed against the kings and the people in the latter days, when they were fast sinking into idolatry and sin, only to be effectually restrained by the sufferings of the seventy years captivity. It has been thought that the grandeur of his sentiments, and the dignity and majesty of his style, peculiarly fitted him to be the prophet of the court, while Amos addressed the herdsmen and vinedressers of the fields; however that may have been, there is no such distinction in the prophet's exhortations to his rebellious countrymen; all are reproached with their sinful folly and wickedness, while to the remnant of Judah is promised a return to their land, and a happy restoration, with the blessing of Christ's kingdom for their final reward.

Besides the book which bears his name in the Old Testament, Isaiah wrote an account of the actions of Uzziah, which has perished; also an apocryphal book, entitled the "Ascension of Isaiah," and another, the "Vision of Isaiah,” have been ascribed to him, but without sufficient authority.

B. C.

CHAPTER XXII.

JOEL. MICAH.

NOTHING certain is known of the life 810. of the prophet Joel, and the time of his delivering his prophecies. Whether before or after the captivity of the Ten Tribes is uncertain. Bishop Gray, after giving the reasons for the various dates assigned, says, "We may safely suppose him to have lived in the reigns of Uzziah king of Judah, and of Jeroboam the Second king of Israel, who flourished as contemporary sovereigns, and to have delivered his prophecies soon after Hosea had commenced his ministry;" thus he was contemporary with Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah. His prophecies do not regard the kingdom of Israel, but are directed against Judah, and besides the calamities which should afflict that land, the conclusion presents that remarkable prophecy of the final assembling of all nations in the Valley of Jeho

saphat, when the wicked will be destroyed: "but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."

The style of Joel is eminently poetical: Bishop Lowth characterizes it as elegant, sublime, animated, and energetic: his language and arrangements are perspicuous, though there is sometimes great obscurity in his subject, particularly in the latter part of his prophecy relating to the judgment of God in the valley of decision.* The most remarkable passage is perhaps that in which is described the desolation caused by locusts, in the second chapter; it is generally considered to have a double signification, and to describe a plague and famine caused by these insects, which some suppose to have occurred in the prophet's life-time, and also to be a metaphorical prediction of the inroads of the Assyrians or Chaldeans. After relating in the first chapter, the destruction caused by these wasting insects, and the famine and drought which followed, when "the meat is cut off before thine eyes," and "the beasts of the field cry, for the rivers of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness:-"the prophet continues in what is thought to be a

The name Jehosaphat signifies "the judgment of Jehovah," and there is a question whether the particular valley on the east of Jerusalem is here meant, or whether the expression is figurative, meaning the Valley of the LORD's judgment. "The precise application of this prophecy must be shown by the event." Gray's Key.

beautiful allegory, showing the march of a vast army, destroying every thing in its progress, though it may possibly have a yet more important significance, and refer to yet unfulfilled events. The language is suitable to both interpretations, describing with wonderful exactness the extraordinary appearance and effects produced by a flight of locusts; their coming darkening the air, the noise they make in browzing upon the trees and herbage, which is described by travellers as resembling that of the distant sound of moving multitudes, or the trampling of horses; their shape also, and appearance when they are eating is so strikingly like the horse, particularly the head, that the comparison has been suggested by those unacquainted with this metaphor in Joel.

Сн. 2. "Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand: A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen so shall they run.*

The Italian name for locust is Cavaletta, a small horse.

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array."

The effect of a flight of locusts, described by those who have witnessed it, is exactly such as is here so forcibly given. Volney says, it is as if fire had followed their progress, the country is so blackened; not a blade of grass or the smallest vegetation is to be seen, and they come in such myriads, that no human means can stay their progress, or save the country from their ravages: "the Tartars themselves are less destructive:" they usually follow the track of the wind, and pursue their course until driven over the sea, into which they fall, either from exhaustion, or because they do not distinguish it from land, and alight upon it: but they are more commonly destroyed by the violent storms which prevail in the seasons when they appear. The rest of this beautiful metaphor is equally descriptive, but too long for entire insertion: at the close, the prophet calls upon the people to mourn and fast in sincerity, not alone outwardly. "Rend your hearts, and not your garments," says the stern admonisher, "and turn unto the LORD your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil."

We conclude this account with the following passage from Bishop Gray. "In consideration "of these important prophecies, we need not