Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-07

the place is Judah and Jerusalem. But
with the fortieth chapter everything
| changeA The scene is now the far East.
Judah and Jerusalem are in ruins The
Jews are in exile. The great Empire of
Assvria has given way to the great Empire
of Babylon; and that, in its turn, is on the
eve of being destroyed by the vast armies
of the Medes and Persians. And while the
great sovereign of the first part is Sennaeh-
crib, the great sovereign OF the second part
is Cyrus But between the day when the
Jews were looking for Sennacherib, and
the day when they were expecting Cyrus,
there was an interval of almost $50 years.
part and the second, of nearly 160 years
That is plain even to those who are ignor-
ant of Hebrew.
Let us now leave the question of author
ship, which, alter all, is only literary
question, and has no real connection with
religion, and come to q matter OF more con-
sequence, the scenes in the midst Of which
the author wrote. We study the historic
background.
Might Have Had . Vision.
IfIsaiah wrote the last q chapters, then
he saw this all in o vision Transporting
himself into the future. That is entirely
possible. God could have told Isaiah what
was coming several centuries ahead. If,
however, the Great Unknown wrote these
chapters, then he lived, like all the other
prophets, in the midst of the scenes which
he described, and was an actor as the others
were in all this history. These sermons
then. like all the other sermons of the
Bible, were preached on texts taken, like
the editorials in the daily papers, out of the
events of the day. That is certainly prob
able. Of two alternative explanations of
anything in the Bible or out of it, it is al
ways wise to choose that which is most in
accord with God ordinary way of working.
And Gods ordinary way is not to help the
preacher to preach . sermon which may be
of use a hundred and fifty years afterward
and is no use whatever now, but to preach
sermon that will fit the congregation and
the day.
In any case, we are interested in the his
toric background.
The first thing is to learn the history
which lies between the 39th and the 10th
chapters of the Book of Isaiah. Senna-
cherib went home from bis strange defeat
and never again troubled the provinces of
Palestine. His most eminent successor was
Ashur-bani-pae, who was the Augustus of
the East. In his reign literature and art
fourished wonderfully. After his death
the power of Assyria began to decline, and
the power OF Chaldea began to grow. The
great city of Assyria was Nineveh; the
great city of Chaldea was Babylon. Baby
Ion rose in rebellion and Nineveh was de-
stroyed.
Among the Exiled Children.
The Chaldeans became the great power of
the East The great king of the Chaldeans
was Nebuchadnezzer In his day the old
ambition of sennacherib to fight Egypt was
revived again. Once more an army marched
against Egypt, and the power of that great
nation was broken. On the way, Judah
the jews rebelled. The first rebellion, un-
der Jehoikim, was punished by carrying
away into exile of great company of jew
ish people. The second rebellion, under
Zedediah, was followed by the exile of
almost all the others Jerusalem was laid
waste; the temple of the Lord was burned
In Babylonia, among these exiled Jews,
the second Isaiah uttered his prophecy.
Already there were indications OF new
political overturning As Isaiah had antic-
ipated the coming of Sennacherib, the Assy-
rian, as Jeremiah had awaited Nebuchad-
nezzer, the Chaldean, so the great unknown
looks for Cyrus, the Persian. Cyrus, he
declares will be the deliverer of Israel.
U
sermons OF comfort and hope are preached.
Under these circumstances, in the midst
of these great political changes and chances,
what did the prophet say? The 27 chapters
fall into t.ree divisions of nine chapters
each.
Liberty to All the Captives.
The first division is demonstration of
the certainty of release and restoration.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people" are
the words that are set at the beginning.
And what is the ground of the certainty?
Strong faith in the righteousness and in the
power of God. These chapters are full of
comparisons between God and the idols of
Babylon. No craven image, whether of
deity or of dollar, can stay the sure de-
liverance of God; God will defend the
right. We look about at the evil condi-
tions which beset us in our day, at the
great company of our brothers and sisters
held in bondage not BY any prince or
potentate but BY poverty. We wonder II
there can be any end to all the contradic-
tions of Christianity which confront us in
the social and industrial world in which we
live.
And the prophet brings even to us his
message of hope. Somehow, in his own
wise way, the same God Will again pro-
claim liberty to all the captives,
sight to all the blind, and health
to all the bruised. The prophet looks out
toward the horizon, and behold, a great
company Is coming, sent of God. Cyrus
And Cyrus is the messenger of
God. The truth which underlies that is
true to-day. ALI the great movements of
the race are signs of the working of the
ever-present God.
1hs Leader OF the World.
In the second division of the chapters
there Is no more mention made of Babylon
or of Cyrus. The prophet looks past all
that into the future, the future of restored
Israel. He depicts the ideal kingdom.
Especially he depicts the ideal prophet who
in that day shalL be the leader and the ex-
ample of the people. He is called the Ser
want of the Lord, a mysterious figure, some
times a personifcatiou OF nation,
sometimes their great guide and leader. He
is not only to be the restorer Of the people,
but the teacher Of the whole world,
prophet to the Gentiles And he is to die
for his people, the innocent for the guilty.
Thus the prophet looks into the far
future. The Golden Age, he teaches, is yet
to come. The horizon is radiant with hope.
By and by, he cries to the down-trodden
exiles, comes the hero will win the victory
OF victories, whose power shall not fall like
the scepter of these Eastern monarchs, but
shall endure forever; and he will be our
hero, and his victory will be our victory.
And we will reign with him world without
end. GEORGE HODGES.