ormers, the advocates of political liberty,
expositors of the principles that give life and stability to a nation. In
Judah, Joel wrote prophetic discourses; in Israel, Amos and Hosea. Now,
too, a redactor put together the Elohistic and Jehovistic documents,
making various changes in them, adding throughout sentences or words that
seemed desirable, and suppressing what was unsuited to his taste. Several
psalm-writers enriched the national literature after David. Learned men at
the court of Hezekiah recast and enlarged (Proverbs xxv.-xxix.) the
national proverbs, which bore Solomon's name because the nucleus of an
older collection belonged to that monarch. These literary courtiers were
not prophets, but rather scribes. The book of Job was written, with the
exception of Elihu's later discourses, which were not inserted in it till
after the return from Babylon; and Deuteronomy, with Joshua, was added to
the preceding collection in the reign of Manasseh. The gifted author of
Deuteronomy, who was evidently imbued with the prophetic spirit, completed
the Pentateuch, _i.e._, the five books of Moses and Joshua, revising the
Elohist-Jehovistic work, and making various additions and alterations. He
did the same thing to the historical books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings;
which received from him their present form. Immediately before and during
the exile there were numerous authors and compilers. New psalms appeared,
more or less national in spirit. Ezekiel, Jeremiah and others prophesied;
especially an unknown seer who described the present condition of the
people, predicting their coming glories and renovated worship in strains
of far-reaching import.(34) This great prophet expected the regeneration
of the nation from the pious portion of it, the prophets in particular,
not from a kingly Messiah as Isaiah did; for the hopes resting on rulers
out of David's house had been disappointed. His aspirations turned to
spiritual means. He was not merely an enthusiastic seer with comprehensive
glance, but also a practical philosopher who set forth the doctrine of the
innocent suffering for the guilty; differing therein from Ezekiel's theory
of individual reward and punishment in the present world--a theory out of
harmony with the circumstances of actual life. The very misfortunes of the
nation, and the signs of their return, excited within the nobler spirits
hopes of a brighter future, in which the flourishing reign of David should
be surpass