(the Deuteronomic code) was the primary stage in a movement which was carried on during the exile mainly, it would seem, under the influence of Ezekiel. The so-called priestly code seems to have been slowly compiled and elaborated before the return from Babylon, but apparently the work was not finally completed before the mission of Ezra to Jerusalem; it is with Ezra's name that we ought to connect the promulgation of the completed book of the Law, described in the eighth chapter of the book of Nehemiah. All the evidence points to the conclusion that the book publicly read by Ezra on the occasion of Nehemiah's arrival at Jerusalem (444 B.C.) was none other than the Pentateuch substantially in its present form. What had hitherto been a priests' book became a people's book, and thus the Law became the nucleus of the Old Testament scriptures 1.

The Prophets' do not as yet seem to have been collected in any authoritative or canonical form. Writings of various prophets were already current, both historical documents which were afterwards classed as earlier' or 'former Prophets,' and the books ascribed to most of the 'latter' Prophets themselves. But these did not as yet form a recognized part of Scripture. It was only on the analogy of the Law, and at a considerably later period, that 'the Prophets' came to be regarded as a canonical book, and to be ranked as Holy Scripture by the side of the Law. Now it is most probable that our Lord in speaking of the Law and the Prophets' is simply referring to those two great divisions of Hebrew Scripture which were respectively known by these titles. He refers to 'the Law' as the oldest and most venerable portion of the Hebrew Bible, and to 'the

1 Ryle, op. cit. ch. iv. It was the Pentateuch which the Samaritan synagogue took over from the Jews in about the year 430 B. C.

2 Perhaps not before 300 B.C. Prof. Ryle says, Before the beginning of the second century B. C., the second stage in the formation of the Canon had ended; and the limits of "the Law and the Prophets" had been determined' (p. 109).

Prophets' as a collection of writings formed at a later date, and probably not regarded by the ordinary Jew as standing entirely on the same level of dignity and authority as the Law. According to His wont, our Saviour is conversing with the Jews on the basis of their own traditions and preconceptions. He is addressing men whose religion was predominantly legalistic; and it is noticeable that two of the passages where the phrase 'the Law and the Prophets' is found occur in the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christ is as it were proclaiming the new law of the Messianic kingdom1. He is speaking to those whose religion, whether for better or for worse, had tended to become the religion of a book or even a code, and there can be no question that He speaks not from the critical standpoint, but from the standpoint of one who is concerned with the practical work of religious instruction, and who is dealing with men to whom the Law was the most sacred of possessions and the most authoritative of institutions.

Speaking broadly, the phrase the Law and the Prophets' represents two spiritual tendencies, which were not absolutely opposed, or even two distinct periods in the history of Israel's religion, which were not as a matter of fact strictly successive in point of time. So far as we can judge, Prophecy and Law were co-existent and co-operative elements in Israel's spiritual development from the first: but it is evident on a careful study of the Old Testament history, and of the course of events which followed the return from Babylon, that two main epochs are practically distinguishable: the age of the Prophets, which lasted for some two centuries before the exile, and the age in which the Law became the principal factor in Israel's spiritual progress. But, as a recent writer observes, 'No one maintains that the Law first appeared, or first began to exercise its influence, when the prophetic development had already come to a close. The

1 Matt. v. 17; vii. 12.

existence of the book of Deuteronomy in the seventh, and of the "Book of the Covenant" already apparently in the ninth century, would instantly refute any such assertion. On the other hand, no one denies that Prophecy exercised decisive influence upon the formation and development of the Law. Even the most convinced defender of the traditional view will allow to Moses in his activity as lawgiver prophetic inspiration, and will not deny him a prophetic character. We have already seen that Moses was recognized by later prophets as himself one of the greatest of prophets. The book of Deuteronomy indeed reminds us at its close that There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face 2; and Hosea expressly teaches that By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved.

Thus the expression 'the Law and the Prophets,' or its converse, was not necessarily intended to emphasize the idea of succession in time; it implies a reference to the Hebrew Scriptures according to their constitutive elements. In any case it cannot be meant to imply that the work of the prophets was in any sense of secondary importance in the development of Israel's religion. On the contrary, when we consider the entire tone and tendency of our Lord's teaching we shall conclude that He, the Wisdom of God, sets His seal to the work of the ancient Prophets when He places the moral requirements of God in the very forefront of the new law, and assigns to the fulfilment of legal righteousness a subordinate place: Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice. If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. Woe unio 1 Valeton, Vergängliches und Ewiges im A. T. p. 22; Hos. xii. 13.

1

Deut. xxxiv. 10.

you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone1. Nay, does not this last passage remind us that He whose Spirit inspired the sacred writers Himself recognized the oneness of divine intention which underlay the teachings of the Law and the Prophets alike. In both of them the Jews were right in supposing that they had eternal life 2: for man's true life consists in the love of God and the imitation of Him. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets. On two chief commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets 3.

It cannot be too often repeated that prophecy is the dominant and distinctive element in Israel's religion. Without it Israel would only have been one of the innumerable nomad tribes of the Semitic race, the very traces of which have perished. Hebrew history has been justly called 'a history of prophecy,' since it is the history of a relation between God and an elect people in which prophets were the principal mediators. The God-ward aspirations of Israel attained in them the highest and most representative expression; through them the message of Jehovah was communicated to His people. All the great turning-points in the history were connected with the appearance of prophets. Their activity was the most decisive factor in the moral and social progress, as well as in the religious development of the nation. In

2 John v. 39.

1 Matt. v. 20; ix. 13; xii. 7; xxiii. 23. 3 Matt. vii. 12; xxii. 40. Observe that Christ's references to 'the Law and the Prophets' seem to indicate that to Him these were the most important parts of the Canon. The 'Writings' formed a group, of which the limits were scarcely yet precisely defined. The reference to 2 Chron. xxiv. 21 in Matt. xxiii. 35 appears to imply that the books of Chronicles closed the Hebrew Canon then as now. See Valeton, Christus und das A. T. 31 foll.

4 Darmesteter, Les Prophètes d'Israël, p. 210. Cp. Driver, Sermons on the O. T. p. 101.

a word, apart from prophecy the history loses all its significance. Consequently, although it cannot be said that our present tendency lies in the direction of underrating or ignoring the influence of Hebrew prophetism, our subject requires that some attempt should be made to estimate anew its unique significance. I run the risk of touching on a good deal that is already very familiar to my hearers, but the theme is one of special importance to all who desire to understand the ideals which make Christianity what it isthe religion of the better hope.

I.

The beginnings of prophetism bear witness to the close connexion that existed between Hebrew institutions and the phenomena of Semitic religion in general. Tradition points to the activity and influence of Samuel as marking a creative epoch in Israel's history, and it is significant that his distinctive work was the regulation and organization of prophetism. The natural soil out of which the prophetic gift was developed seems to have been the tendency to ecstatic religious excitement which is characteristic of the Semitic temperament. Prophetism was in fact an institution which Israel originally shared with its heathen neighbours'. The gods of Phoenicia had their prophets; the prophets of Baal we know— fanatical devotees who with wild dancing and music endeavoured to attract the attention or win the favour of their god, by cutting themselves with lancets and knives till the blood gushed out upon them 2. In some respects akin to these Canaanitish Nebiim seem to have been the bands of prophets

1 The story of Balaam shows that in a rude form prophetism existed among the Semitic races before the conquest of Canaan. The Nabhi of that age was little more than a sorcerer, whose incantations were supposed to operate with infallible effect. See Renan, Histoire du peuple d'Israel, bk. ii. ch. I.