of Hezekiah. From this time forward the idea of a suffering Messiah was (to say the least) rendered possible. The doctrine that length of days must be regarded as a sign of Divine favour must have received a fatal blow in the experience that the worst of all the Kings of Judah had the longest reign of fifty-five years.

2

Habakkuk. All these feelings are summed up in the Prophet Habakkuk. Both by the legend which has attached itself to his name,' and by the internal evidence of his writings, he must have lived under the impressions of the age immediately preceding the dissolution of the kingdom, and if, as is probable, somewhat later than this period, yet deriving his experience from it. He, more than any other of the Prophets, represents the perplexities, not of the nation, but of the individual soul-the peculiar trial which tormented so many exalted spirits at his time. He, more than any other, has furnished to the Christian Apostle the doctrine which forms the keynote of the three Epistles to the Romans, the Galatians, and the Hebrews. From this--its first appearance in the Prophets may be best learned the original and most comprehensive signification of Justification by Faith. He saw with grief the increasing contrast of sin and prosperity, innocence and suffering. Whoever had seen or heard of the tyranny of Manasseh-the luxury and selfishness of the nobles-the poor neglected-the Prophets persecuted-during these last agonies of the kingdom of Judah, might well be provoked into the sceptical, yet confiding, prayer: O Lord, how long 'shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? and cry unto thee 'out of violence, and thou wilt not save? Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that

1 Bel and the Dragon, 33-39.

2 Hab. ii. 4, quoted in Rom. i. 17, Gal. iii. 11, Heb. x. 38. For the

phrase itself see Professor Lightfoot, On the Galatians, p. 149.

'deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked 'devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? And 'makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, 'that have no ruler over them ?' 1

He retires into himself; he mounts above the world to gain a calmer and loftier view; he stands upon his watch and sits upon his tower.2 Like Zephaniah the Divine watcher-like Elijah at Horeb-like Elisha on his tower by the Jordanlike Isaiah when he heard the cry, Watchman, what of the 'night?' he waits to see what the Divine answer to his doubts would be. At last it comes. It comes after long delay. The 'vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall 'speak.' It comes wrapt in contradictions- tarrying, and 'yet not tarrying.' He was to write the vision plainly on tablets, and not to be disappointed by its delay, or bewildered by its contradictions. Behold he whose heart is lifted up 'within him shall not have his course smooth before him. 'But the just shall live by his faith.' That brief oracle inspires Habakkuk with new life. He had waited in fear for the Divine message; his lips had quivered at the voice, his bones were consumed, his whole being troubled. But as his fear melts into hope, the Prophet seems to be transformed for the moment into the Psalmist; the ancient poetic fervour of Deborah is rekindled within him; the great days of old rise before him; 5 and in that last lyrical outburst of Hebrew poetry, the wild struggle is at length calmed; a deep peace settles down over the close of the life which had begun in such a tempest of doubt and agitation. Although the fig

3

6 tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; 'although the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields 'yield no food; although the flocks be cut off from the fold, ' and there shall be no herd in the stall;' yet the Divine joy

Joisah.
B. C.

640-609.

in his breast is inextinguishable. His last strain is as of a second David, leaping from crag to crag like the free 1gazelle, in a strength mightier than his own.

Whatever be the date or precise fulfilment of these hopes of Habakkuk, it is certain that in the accession of the grandson of Manasseh a better day dawned upon the Church of Judah. The popular election which placed Josiah on the throne, of itself marks some strong change of public feeling. There was also a circle of remarkable persons in or around the Palace and Temple, who, possibly driven together by the recent persecutions, had formed a compact band, which remained unbroken till the fall of the monarchy itself. Amongst these the most conspicuous at this time were Shaphan the secretary, Hilkiah the High Priest, and Huldah the Prophetess, who, with her husband Shallum, himself of the Priestly race, and keeper of the royal wardrobe, lived close by the Temple precincts. Within this circle, the King had grown up, with another youth, destined to be yet more conspicuous than the King himself— the Prophet Jeremiah. It was by the joint action of this group that a discovery was made which, if we could but unravel its whole mystery, would throw more light on the history of sacred literature than any other event under the monarchy, and which, even in the obscure form in which we now discern it, precipitated the great reaction of Josiah, and B. c. 622. coloured the whole teaching of his age. Eighteen years

bad passed before the King entered on the work which, from the various influences which it represented, and from its unexpected and welcome appearance, was to make his remembrance like the composition of the perfume that is made by the art of the apothecary; sweet as honey in all mouths,

Hab. iii. 17-19. Ver. 19 is taken from Ps. xviii. 33.

22 Kings xxi. 24; 2 Chr. xxxiii. 25.

* 2 Kings xxii. 14. In the second fortification of the city,' translated ' in the college,' see Thenius ad loc.

and as music at a banquet of wine.'' The Temple during the previous reign had fallen into a state of neglect such that, as in the time of Joash, a complete repair had become necessary. On this occasion, however, the King and the Priesthood acted in entire harmony. Suddenly, under the accumulated rubbish or ruins of the Temple (as it would seem), the High Priest discovered a roll containing the 'Book 2 of the Law.'

Whatever may have been the exact nature of this document, two points, and two alone, are clear. First, it was as complete a surprise as if the Book had never been known before. During the troubles of the reign of Manasseh, there is no proof of its destruction. During the previous reigns, with two or three doubtful exceptions, there is no proof of its existence. David, Solomon, Asa, and Jehoshaphat had lived in constant, and apparently unconscious, violation of the ordinances which came home with such force to Josiah. Whether it were written now or ages before, the revolution in the mind of the discoverers was the same. Like the revival of the Pandects at Amalfi, like the revival of the Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible at the Reformation, the sudden republication of the sacred Book of the Constitution amounted almost to a new revelation.

Secondly, whatever other portions of the Pentateuch may have been included in the roll, there can be little doubt that the remarkable work to which the Greek translators gave the name of the Second Law' (Deuteronomy) occupied the chief place. The duties of the Prophetic order, the duties

1 Ecclus. xlix. 1.

The facts stated in the text are such as are admitted by all. The arguments for the book being Deuteronomy, are well stated in Dean Milman's History, i. 389; for its being the whole Pentateuch, in Ewald, iii. 699.

The argument here remains the same, whether the Book of Deuteronomy, in its present shape, was of a long anterior date (as Dean Milman, 208, 209, 215), or written in the time of Manasseh (as Ewald, iii. 683), or by Jeremiah himself (as Bishop Colenso, On the Pentateuch, Part 3, p.vii.).

Discovery

of the Book

of the Law.

Deuteronomy.

Josiah's

reforma

tion.

of the King, the necessity of political and religious unity, the prohibition of high places, the extreme severity against idolatrous practices, the blessings and curses pronounced on obedience and disobedience to the Divine precepts, are all peculiar to Deuteronomy, and either applied or were directly1 applicable to the evils which Josiah was called to reform. There was a still higher purpose which the Second Law' served, a still nobler spirit in which Moses might be said to have risen again in the days of Josiah, to promulgate afresh the code of Sinai. Now, for the first time, the Love of God, as the chief ground of His dealings with His people-the love towards God as the ground of their service to Himthe spiritual character and free choice of that service 2—were urged on the nation with all the force of Divine and human authority. Fully to bring out this aspect of the Mosaic law was reserved for a greater than Josiah-that other youth of whom we spoke, his contemporary Jeremiah; and yet more completely for a Greater either than Josiah or Jeremiah, to whom the Book of Deuteronomy was amongst the chief weapons which He deigned to use from the ancient Scriptures, and who, beyond even Jeremiah, corresponded to the Second Moses, of whom that book spoke.

But for the moment it was not the Prophet, but the King, who took his stand on the newly-discovered law. To him it was communicated by the Secretary Shaphan. By him it was recited aloud from end to end to an immense concourse assembled in the court of the Temple, in which every order of the State, Priests and Prophets, no less than nobles and peasants, heard the new revelation from the lips of the Royal Reformer, as he stood erect, leaning against the pillar,' at the

1 Deut. xii. 2, xvi. 21, 22, xvii. 18, xviii. 10, xxiii. 17, 18, &c.

2 Deut. vi. 4-9, vii. 6–11, x. 12–15,
xix. 9, xxx. 6-20.

Matt. iv. 4, 7, 10; John v. 46.
Comp. Deut. viii. 3, vi. 13, 16; xviii.

15-22.

42 Kings xxiii. 3. So Mahomet leaned first against a palm tree and then against a pillar; so the Khalif at Cordova had his own special pulpit in the great mosque.