of
the prophetic spirit, and that this depended partly upon the measure of
his receptivity, which might have been greater with the former than
with the latter prophets,--and, partly, upon the wants and capacities
of those for whom the prophecy was destined.

A central position, as regards the Messianic predictions, is occupied
by Isaiah. Even his Messianic prophecies, however, when viewed detached
and isolated, bear the character of onesidedness. He nowhere gives us a
complete image of the Messiah. But, whilst the other prophets were
permitted to give only single disclosures, he gives us, in the whole
body of his Messianic prophecies, the materials for a full and entire
image, although not the image itself. The Fathers of the Church have,
therefore, rightly designated him as the Evangelist among the prophets.
But the transition to him from the Psalms and [Pg 165] the Song of
Solomon could not be Immediate. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and
Micah form, as it were, the connecting links. Proceeding from the
Messianic promise, in the shape which it had received at the time of
David and Solomon, they give it a standing in the prophetic message,
and infuse into it new life by means of the connection into which it is
brought by them, and supplement it by adding single new features.

It is our intention to give an exposition of the Messianic passages in
the prophets, according to their chronological order. In placing Hosea
at the head, we follow the example of those who collected the Canon,
and who, regarding not so much the succession of years as that of the
governments, may have assigned the first place to Hosea, because he is
the most important among the prophets at the time of Jeroboam in
Israel, and of Uzziah in Judah, or because he really appeared first,
and the prophecy in chap. i.-iii. is the beginning of written
prophecies. The latter supposition most naturally suggests itself; the
analogies are in its favour, and no decisive argument has been brought
forward against it.

THE PROPHET HOSEA.

GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is
so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed.
But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a
fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God
out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with g