The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism Part 5

We rather turn to the glorious array of witnesses to the integrity of the Bible that G.o.d has furnished--the book itself, Moses and the prophets, all the New Testament writers and the "Teacher sent from G.o.d."

From these witnesses we rest in the unshaken belief that "G.o.d spake all these words" (Ex. xx. 1) and that "Moses wrote all the words of the Lord" (Ex. xxiv. 4), including Leviticus.

VI. a.s.sUMPTIONS CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ISAIAH.

_"Behold, I am the Lord, the G.o.d of all flesh; is there anything too hard for me?" Jer. x.x.xii. 27._

_"G.o.d hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto G.o.d." Psa. lxii. 11._

_"Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite."

Psa. cxlvii. 5._

_"He revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in the darkness, and that the light dwelleth with him." Dan. ii. 2._

_"Known unto G.o.d are all his works from the beginning of the world" Acts xv. 18._

_"The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men." Psa.

x.x.xiii. 13._

_"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Ex. iv. 12._

_"And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not." Isaiah vi. 9._

The critics claim to have discovered, on literary and other evidence, that the Church of Christ, in all its branches, has been mistaken in all the past concerning the author of the book known as the Prophecies of Isaiah. They a.s.sume that all the foremost scholars of the world, and the faith of G.o.d's people, have been misled. Our critical advisers profess to have discovered that there were at least two, and probably many more prophets, whose writings compose the book. They refuse to recognize Isaiah alone as the author; and for several reasons:

_First_--Because of the change of style of composition from the thirty-ninth chapter to the close of the book.

_Second_--On the ground that the theme is more exalted than in the first thirty-nine chapters. Hence, it is a.s.sumed that these last chapters could not have been written by Isaiah.

_Third_--On the ground that Cyrus is mentioned by name, in the forty-fourth and forty-fifth chapters of the book, as the restorer of Jerusalem. Hence, our critics conclude that this part of the book must have been written after the event, as the prophet (it is a.s.sumed) could not name Cyrus before his birth.

_Fourth_--The critics a.s.sume that the prophet must prophesy out of his immediate surroundings, whatever that may mean. They furnish their troubled disciples the comforting a.s.surance that these discoveries do not diminish the value of the book, but render it more accurate and interesting as a literary work. The professor already quoted, a fair representative of the critical school, in his recent lectures, referred to on a preceding page, distinguished the authors of the book as "Isaiah and the Great Unknown Prophet." Other critics multiply, somewhat indefinitely, the number of "The Unknowns." Our critic regards the change in _style and theme_ from the thirty-ninth chapter to the end of the book as valid proof of at least the dual authors.h.i.+p of the book.

This a.s.sumption instantly raises the question as to who is the author of prophetic themes. Is it the prophet himself or the Holy Spirit? Does the prophet himself bring forth the prophecy of his own foreknowledge? Or, is the Holy Spirit the inspirer of themes new and old? Happily G.o.d has settled the question for us. He declares by his Apostle Peter "that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation"; that is, of the prophet's own disclosure. "For prophecy came not of old time by the will of man; but _holy men of G.o.d spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit_." (2 Peter i. 20, 21.) It is, therefore, bold a.s.sumption to affirm that G.o.d could not give to the same prophet new and more exalted themes in his progressive revelation of truth. It is a limitation of G.o.d himself to the critic's notion of what should, or should not be. This would eliminate the divine element of the book by a sweep of the critic's pen. It is an a.s.sumption too groundless to need a reply.

Further, as to the change of style. Nothing is more natural or reasonable than the fact that a change of theme should produce a change of style. A more exalted theme must quicken the imagination, set the emotions aflame, stimulate all the mental and moral powers of the author. A historical statement, a commonplace theme, can be dealt with in a commonplace style, while new and uplifting truth awakens new powers in the writer. Milton's Paradise Lost was entirely different from his ordinary prose composition. Dr. John Watson's sermons were on a higher level than his books of fiction. Writers who do much of their literary work on the level plain on which the people move, frequently rise to mountain peaks of sublime composition when the occasion and theme demand it.

The style in the later chapters of the book of Isaiah is just what we would expect from the prophet when the Holy Spirit opened to his enraptured mind the theme of redemption through a suffering Messiah, in the fifty-third and following chapters of the book.

The objection to conceding the authors.h.i.+p of the entire book to Isaiah, because the prophet mentions Cyrus by name before his birth, is made in the face of the fundamental fact already stated that G.o.d inspired the writer, and is therefore the author of prophecy, "declaring the end from the beginning." (Isa. xlvi. 10.) He knows all the future and whom he will choose to accomplish his glorious purposes. To deny this fact is to deny all prophecy. If G.o.d can not foretell future events and the instruments for their accomplishment, there can be no prophecy, and G.o.d's omniscience is impeached. Isaiah prophesied in the seventh chapter and fourteenth verse: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Matthew affirms that this prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. (Matt. i. 22, 23.) He also declares in the same connection that the announcing angel foretold that the name "Jesus" was to be given to the Messiah at his birth. These preannouncements must be cast aside if the critic's dictum is accepted.

Shall we discredit Isaiah, the announcing angel, and Matthew on the ground of the critic's literary ac.u.men?

Further, the student of the Word will remember that when Jeroboam was bringing disaster upon Israel, G.o.d sent his prophet to declare: "Behold a son shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee (the altar at Bethel) shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee."

More than three hundred years after this prophecy was given, according to Usher's Chronology, Josiah was born and did the precise things that were predicted concerning him. (See 1 Kings xiii. 2 and 2 Kings xxiii, 15, 16.) The omniscience of the Holy Spirit can predict the name of the instrument as readily as the event which is to be accomplished.

Again, undoubtedly the prophet must speak out of his own environment. He can speak only where he is. But who is to decide how many and what allusions he must make to custom or incident in order to satisfy the critic, as to his time and place in history?

The tailor who decides that he must have twenty yards of cloth to make a suit of clothes, when ten yards are sufficient, will shortly be wanting customers. The critic who has decided how many and what kind of synchronous events must be furnished by the prophet, in order to secure his credence as to authors.h.i.+p, will be left without a prophet or a Bible.

The erection of an arbitrary law, by which to interpret history or prophecy in the Bible, is contrary to all the treatment which secular literature receives from these same critics.

From these strained, forced and unphilosophical methods of dealing with prophecy, we turn to the testimony of the inspired book itself. The book of Isaiah is distinguished by a phraseology peculiar to this prophet. He speaks of G.o.d as "The Holy One of Israel." This t.i.tle, as applied to G.o.d, is used only seven times in the entire Old Testament; once in 2 Kings, three times in the Psalms, twice in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and once in Ezekiel, but never in the minor prophets. But Isaiah uses this t.i.tle as applied to G.o.d, twenty-two times, running through the entire book from the first to the sixtieth chapter.

The reader will be interested to note how the repeated use of the phrase--"The Holy One of Israel"--attests the unity of the authors.h.i.+p of the entire book. Hence the pa.s.sages ("line upon line, line upon line") are here presented to give their unequivocal testimony to our Sabbath School teachers.

1: Isaiah I:4--"They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked _the Holy One of Israel to anger_."

2: Isaiah v:18, 19--"Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: that say ... let the counsel of _the Holy One of Israel_ draw nigh and come, that we may know it."

3: Isaiah v:24--"Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of _the Holy One of Israel_."

4: Isaiah xii:6--"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is _the Holy One of Israel_ in the midst of thee."

5: Isaiah xvii:7--"At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to _the Holy One of Israel_."

6: Isaiah xxix:19--"The poor among man shall rejoice in _the Holy One of Israel_."

7: Isaiah x.x.x:11--"Cause _the Holy One of Israel_ to cease from before us." (The language of a rebellious people.)

8: Isaiah x.x.x:12--"Wherefore, thus saith _the Holy One of Israel_, because ye despise this word ... therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall."

9: Isaiah x.x.x:15--"Thus saith the Lord G.o.d, _the Holy One of Israel_; In returning and rest shall ye be saved."

10: Isaiah x.x.xi:1--"They look not unto _the Holy One of Israel_, neither seek the Lord."

11: Isaiah xli:14--"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, I will help thee saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, _the Holy One of Israel_."

12: Isaiah xli:16--"Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in _the Holy One of Israel_."

13: Isaiah xli:20--"That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and _the Holy One of Israel_ hath created it."

14: Isaiah xliii:13--"I am the Lord thy G.o.d, _the Holy One of Israel, thy_ Savior."

15: Isaiah xlv:11--"Thus saith the Lord, _the Holy One of Israel_, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come, concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me."

16: Isaiah xlvii:4--"As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, _the Holy One of Israel_."

17: Isaiah xlviii:17--"Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, _the Holy One of Israel_, I am the Lord thy G.o.d, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go."

18: Isaiah xlix:7--"Thus saith the Lord ... Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall wors.h.i.+p, because of the Lord that is faithful, and _the Holy One of Israel_, and he shall choose thee."

19: Isaiah liv:5--"For thy Maker is thine husband; The Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer is _the Holy One of Israel_; The G.o.d of the whole earth shall he be called."

20: Isaiah lv:5--"Nations that knew not thee, shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy G.o.d, and for _the Holy One of Israel_."

21: Isaiah lx:9--"The Isles shall wait for me, and the s.h.i.+ps of Tars.h.i.+sh first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy G.o.d, and to _the Holy One of Israel_, because he hath glorified thee."