THE LORD As a well casteth forth her waters, so she casteth forth her wickedness violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds. Movement by In the rhapsodies so far reviewed we have seen the movement that consists in a continuous advance, and the movement that advances only by alternations. There is a third type of movement in which the distinctness of the parts is more prominent than the progress from one part to another. Such divisions in the movement of a literary composition are felt to correspond to the Acts' of a drama, but, differing from these Acts by the absence of continuous succession, they should be indicated by some different name, such as 'Vis Amos's Rhapsody of the Judgment to come ions." A prophecy of Amos is an illustration, his Rhapsody of the Judgment to come. The first of the three divisions or Visions' into which it falls brings out Israel's part in a general judgment, and it is a piece of Lyric Prophecy. The second section is a series of appeals to Israel, and is in the form of Discourse. The third presents the coming of the judgment in the form of Dramatic Vision. i, ii The portion constituting the first Vision has been cited at length in a previous chapter. It is a chain of lyric woes denounced against various peoples: free recitative of prose detailing Vision I special features of each, while rhythmic refrains speak the common doom. It is clear that the various denunciations are so arranged as to lead up to that on Israel as a climax. A note of this prophet's treatment is his power of emphasising by holding back. What the judgment on Israel is to be is kept a mystery; the formula used for the other nations devouring fire does not appear in the last case, but the judgment is described only by its effects, flight perishing from the swift, and the mighty unable to deliver himself. 1 Compare the use of this word in the title page of Isaiah, Then follows a pleading Vision II iii-vi The second Vision is a series of appeals increasing in intensity. First, we have four general appeals, each ushered in by the cry, "Hear ye," or "Publish ye." The effect is to picture Corruption ripe for Judgment. in which discourse becomes lyrical. The successive warnings sent by God are enumerated — cleanness of teeth, the guilty city isolated by drought with abundance all around, blasting and mildew, pestilence after the manner of Egypt, and burning like that of Sodom and Gomorrah- and after each comes the refrain, "Yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD." The pleading turns to a threat: Therefore THUS will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do The coming judgment still remains veiled under the mysterious thus. Then follows a Wail; a fourth and fifth appeal are denunciations of 'Woe." The limit of appeal seems now to be reached God swears by Himself that Jacob and his sins have become a thing of abhorrence. Only at the very end does v-vi. 7 the mystic judgment begin to take substance, as we hear vi. 8-14 of captivity in the east and the nation that is to afflict the whole land. Vision III vii-ix. 6 With the third part of the rhapsody the judgment appears sensibly to advance, as the series of visions pass before us. A visionary appearance of locusts at their work of destruction is seen but when the destruction has proceeded a certain way the prophet interposes his intercession, and the Lord. repents and says it shall not be. Another vision, and fire is seen devouring the great deep; but when it reaches the land the prophet again makes intercession, and the judgment is stayed. The next vision displays a plumbline: the exact limit has been reached, beyond which there can be no passing by of the iniqui 1 Throughout these and other parts of Amos we find parenthetic interruptions, in which the prophet makes appeal to the opponents of all prophecy. See Minor Prophets volume of Modern Reader's Bible, page 251. vii. 10-17 ties of Israel. The emphasis of this as a turning-point is further seen by the way in which the prophet introduces here one of his characteristic digressions, describing the efforts of those in authority to restrain him from prophesying evil to Israel. We are thus prepared for the next vision of summer fruit: Israel is ripe for her fall. With the final vision the judgment has begun. The Lord, standing on the altar of his house, bids smite the chapiters, that the thresholds may shake, and the universal destruction of house and people may follow. ix. 1-6 ix. 7-10 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them. The next section, if not a vision, may almost be regarded as emblem prophecy: the Ethiopians are used as an image, to suggest how Israel is now regarded as on a par with the most remote heathen. But just before its close, the prophecy takes a turn in its movement: "I will not utterly destroy." Thus the last strain of this, as of other rhapsodies, can be the song of a golden age, when "the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed"; and the people shall be planted upon their land, to be plucked up ix. 11-15 no more. I have felt it less necessary to dwell in detail upon this beautiful prophecy of Amos, because this movement in which logical takes the place of temporal succession, will be found again in another composition, a colossal and wonderful example of the rhapsodic form, which needs a separate chapter for its consideration. CHAPTER XIX THE RHAPSODY OF 'ZION REDEEMED' [Isaiah XL-LXVI] THE last twenty-seven chapters of our Book of Isaiah form a single composition: no less stupendous as a literary monument than supreme in importance as inspiration of Hebrew and Christian religion. To expound it. would require a volume; all that I can attempt is to elucidate its outer literary form, well assured that here, as always, this must be an important factor in the interpretation. Isaiah's Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed Every reader feels a difficulty in catching the unity of the whole, however strongly he may feel the attraction of the parts. No narrative is carried on from beginning to end, though there is much to suggest progress of story; though reasoning abounds, there is no sign of a logical plan; if the reader seeks to take refuge in supposing a collection of many compositions, he is continually confronted with evidences of unity. The full force of this part of the Bible is brought out by considering it a Rhapsody, the prophetic form made by the fusion of all literary forms in one; which can thus give the realistic emphasis of dramatic presentation to its ideas, while free at any point to abandon drama for discourse or lyric meditation. This Rhapsody of Zion Redeemed has a movement which, like that of other rhapsodies, is best compared to the succes- Its general sion of parts in an Oratorio. On the whole, this matter movement is so far an advance that, like many movement and other prophecies, it works forward from an immediate judgment and deliverance, on to the final judgment of the nations and restoration of the remnant in a Messianic kingdom. But the seven divisions into which the whole falls are not seven stages in this advance, but (like those in the prophecy of Amos) seven independent Visions,' side by side in part and partly successive, each complete in itself and drawing matter from all parts of the national history, and all necessary to be exhibited before the action is consummated. The seven Visions may be described as follows: I The Servant of Jehovah delivered from Bondage 2 The Servant of Jehovah Awakened 3 Zion Awakened 4 The Servant of Jehovah Exalted 5 Zion Exalted 6 Redemption at work in Zion 7 The Day of Judginent The mere reading of these titles suggests advance in the movement as a whole. Yet it is impossible to say that (for example) the sixth section either follows or precedes those standing before it it embraces the whole action looked at from a particular point |