SIR E. STRACHEY ON JEWISH HISTORY AND POLITICS.*
[FIRST PlaTICB.l
This book is not only very interesting, but very instructive read- ing. Sir Edward Strachey has spared no pains to present Jewish history during the time of Isaiah in the light in which it has most interest for all subsequent times, as a lesson on the duties of patriotism in periods of national disaster and humiliation, on the vices and dangers arising out of civil war, on the char- acter of the policy best calculated to restore national courage without degrading it into insolence, and on the grounds which will justify a stern policy in war and the various shades of such a policy. The distinctive feature of the book is its success in connecting the historical phenomena of the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah with those of other times, both ancient and modern, in which crises of the same grave national character have occurred, and in helping us to see that these crises differed from those of Isaiah's day less in kind, than in the fact that they were not steadily interpreted in the same profoundly religious light by the Greek, or English, or Prussian statesmen of the period, at all events until the moment came when irresistible calamity forced their minds to turn inwards, and discover for themselves some spiritual light behind the cloud. However, this book is by no means a mere moral dissertation. Its criticism of the true historical meaning of the various events referred to is sagacious and keen. Its analysis of the arguments for and against the school commonly called the Rationalistic school of criticism,—that which dissolves away all the vision of the prophet by referring everything that seems to transcend every-day foresight to the date when it would have needed no foresight to discern it,—is large and thoughtful. And its review of the latest information derived from the interpretation of the Assyrian inscriptions, though necessarily founded not on first-hand knowledge, but on the study of what the best modern philologists have done, is very lucid, and has all the marks of the most perfect historical candour. The discussion as to the applicability to the time of Isaiah, of the Babylonian prophecies of the earlier part of the book, such as chap- ters xiii. and xiv., is thoroughly good criticism, and though the pre- sent writer may not be an adequate judge of the issue, the argu- ment for the decision arrived at seems to him clearly triumphant. And though we do not feel that Sir Edward Strachey has solved, or even adequately discussed, the much more difficult problem of the Isaian origin of the latter part of the book, from chapter xL onwards, it seems to us that he has done a great deal in the inter- pretation of the earlier chapters, andin the merely preliminary dis- * Jewish IfiltiOTY and Politics in the Times of Sargon and SennacheriO; an Inquiry into the Historical Meaning and Purpose of the Prophecies of Isaiah. By Sir E Strachey, Bart. Second Edition, revised, with Additions. London W. Isbister and Co. cussion which he has given to the later, to help us to apprehend better the true character of the problem. We think he has satis- factorily proved that the importance assigned to Babylon as a place of Jewish captivity, and the reference, to "the Chaldeans," both of which have been considered by the rationalistic critics as final indications of a later origin than the time of Isaiah, are not merely perfectly consistent with, but quite appro- priate to the time of Isaiah, without supposing any miraculous foreknowledge of the details, or even outlines, of future events. It is quite another thing, of course, to explain the later part of the book, where the name of Cyrus himself is twice mentioned, and where, in other places the prophet looks to one "from the east" (c. xli., v. 2), and "one from the north, and from the rising of the sun " (c. xli., v. 25), and one who " shall let go my captives " (c. xlv., v. 13), to do what in the earlier part of the book the known Isaiah had always referred to a "branch of Jesse." Sir Edward Strachey's hypothesis of a later gloss or interpretation laving crept into the text, might explain, and perhaps would explain, the actual naming of Cyrus; but it would not explain . these repeated references to a stranger from the East, who is to take the place of a national deliverer, and who must be re- garded as actually exercising power, since he is to release the cap- tives of the Jews. We admit that in one passage of the latter part of the book (c. lv., v. 8-5) the prophet returns again to the old idea of the house of David as being the true leader and com- mander of the people, and we admit to the full the force of the considerations urged by Sir Edward Strachey as showing, or seem- ing to show, that this later part of the book was written at a time when the Temple service was still going on, and when Zion could stall be taunted with debasing herself by sending presents and messengers to a king afar off. Indeed, as far as we can see, an adequate solution of the problem presented by the latter part of these wonderful prophecies is not yet to be found, but we think Sir Edward Strachey is inclined to be too easily satisfied with his own tentative suggestions, though we readily admit that he does not pretend to put them forward as a final settlement. It is clear that he has not studied the later part of the prophecy with any- -thing like the minute care he has given to the earlier and more openly political part, and that what he writes on this subject is more of the nature of prolegomena to a complete study of it, than of an extended criticism. But with regard to the first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah, this book is as full of historical help as it is -wise and elevated in its moral tone ; and we can hardly give a better specimen of the kind of reality which Sir Edward Strachey gives to his subject, than by quoting the following passage criti- cising the contrast betWeen the worldly statesman, Shebna's, and the religious prophet, Isaiah's, views of the Egyptian alliance at the time of Sennacherib's invasion :—
"We see from Isaiah's subsequent denunciations of the Egyptian alli- ance, that the ground of them was, that the people of Israel should trust in Jehovah their own Sing for deliverance,and in no other power what- ever. Though he encouraged Hezekiah to the boldest defiance and most resolute resistance of Sennacherib at the last, there is no indication that he advised or approved his first refusal of the tribute which Alias lad consented to pay : on the contrary, the whole tenour of the pro- phet's discourses is, that the subjection to the Assyrian yoke was a needful though harsh discipline for the nation ; that Jehovah would himself effect their deliverance in due time; and that they were to wait patiently till then. This simple and entire trust in Jehovah, as the Head of the nation, and of each member of it in particular,—as their actual Ruler, and ever-present Friend, watching over them every -moment with the care of a Husband and a Father,—this is the master- light of all Isaiah's philosophy, moral and political, and the one lesson which in a hundred forms he is continually teaching the people. Whether he was right, whether this is indeed the one thing 'which makes a nation happy and keeps it so,' the reader must decide for him- self : I will only point out that to us, judging after the event, the good- sense, and sound practical statesmanship of Isaiah's policy, and the folly of that of Shebna and the public opinion which supported his govern- ment, are alike obvious. It was no doubt an admirable policy for the interests of Egypt that Palestine, with its mountain-defiles and strong fortresses, should consent to be her northern military frontier, and that Hebrew blood and treasure should be expended in maintaining the for- tified cities of Samaria and Jerusalem, Lachish and Libnah, against the advance of Assyria. If the invaders overcame these obstacles at last. Egypt would meanwhile have gained some years of security at no cost to herself, and would be then better able to meet a half-exhausted foe; while, if the resistance of the Hebrews was successful, they themselves would have been so weakened as to be at the mercy of the ally they had been serving too well. In no case could Israel be other than a sufferer : if the contest of the great belligerents could have been fought out in some other country than Palestine there might have been a little more plausibility in Shebna's scheme for a balance of power, though even then the day of retribution might have been expected at last, from friend, if not from foe : but when Palestine itself must inevitably be 'the cock- pit' of Asia and Africa, the one thing which sound policy indicated was, that it should, if possible, remain neutral. There was a moment of Israel's history (Ewald has finely remarked), when it seemed possible that David might have laid the foundations of an empire like that of Rome, as there was that Solomon might have led the way to the reign
of a philosophy as sovereign as that of Greece ; but the innate energy, the proper life of the nation, rejected these temptations to quit its ap- pointed place in universal history ; and like Rome and Greece, in their appointed spheres, and like every other nation worthy the name, it went resolutely forward, at whatever sacrifice of all its other and conflicting interests. Now, this appointed place and course was that of witnessing- in its institutions, history, and literature, for what Ewald calls 'true religion,' but which I prefer to call the fact that men stand in a real and actual relation to God, and that God is really and actually pre- sent with men to uphold that relation at all times, and to educate them through it to know him, and to show forth his image more and more.. If, then, the Jews in the time of Isaiah could not secure the inde- pendenoe and other political interests of their country without abandon- ing their right place in the world, they would have been bound in duty and reason to sacrifice these, and, as Isaiah taught, to cleave to Jehovah. at'all hazards, and leave the event to him. But, in fact, not only was. a political neutrality their only sound policy, but they really were very likely to have succeeded in maintaining it, if it had been based on a national faith and practical piety. It does not need a special miracle, at suspension of the ordinary laws of the universe, to make true religion; with its fruits of virtue and honesty, the best policy, whether for at nation or an individual. The very case is already provided for in those• laws as originally laid down. History and biography attest the fact sufficiently : though they show that the end is constantly effected through so many difficulties, or, as St. Paul would say, through so much weak- ness of the flesh, that nothing but the reality of the faith within could: have supplied the necessary courage for enduring till the end."
Here, again, is Sir Edward Strachey's illustration of the same crisis from modern history, in a note on the comparative willingness of Isaiah to pay tribute to Assyria, so long as no concession was: made to Assyrian godlessness or idolatry :— " As a modern writer has charged Jeremiah with treachery worthy of death, in preaching submission to Nebuchadnezzar, it is worth while• to see how his conduct looked to one who had opportunity, and was competent, to interpret it by the political experience of his own dew_ Niebuhr, writing, January 10, 1805, of the abortive desires of Stein and others to throw off the yoke of Napoleon, says, 'I told you' as I told every one, how indignant I felt at the senseless prating of those who. talked of desperate resolves as of a tragedy. Ever since the peace oft" Tilsit, my maxims have been those which Phocion preached to the. Athenians of his age ; and nowhere have I seen among the declaimers on the other side, a Demosthenes, or even a Hyperides, but many a Diana. To bear our fate with dignity and wisdom, that the yoke might be light- ened, was my doctrine, and I supported it with the advice of the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke and acted very wisely, living as he did under Sing Zedekiab, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, though he would have givers different counsel had he lived under Judas Maccabzeus, in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes : " Seek the peace of the city whither I have cause you to be carried away captives ; for in the peace thereof shall ye hava peace." '"—Niebuhr's Life, vol. L, p. 261.
We have, however, some fault to find with Sir Edward Strachey's somewhat vague definition of the nature of prophecy in relation to supernatural prediction. His discussion of the character of the prophetic faculty is not, to our minds, in itself satisfactory, and his application of his theory to the actual cases in which Isaiah's prophecies seem to have carried him in spirit into the future, is in individual cases still less so. Pro.- bably this may be partly due to the fact that this book is a. second edition, though much enlarged and revised, and that the author's views may have in some degree changed in the twenty years which have elapsed since it first appeared, without his having been able to recast completely the basis of his thought. However this may be, we cannot regard imagination' as the right word to express the insight which a true seer has into the purposes of God, though it is perfectly true that imagination may greatly help a true seer to render his knowledge of God's purposes intelligible, and more than intelligible, effectual, to his hearers. Sir Edward Strachey compares the faculty of Isaiah with that of Burke, Carlyle, and Mazzini, and interprets Isaiah's use of language, which most students of Scripture have regarded, and which appar- ently he himself regards, as implying some kind of supernatural vision of the future, as a phenomenon of the same kind as that presented, on a lower level, by the burning eloquence of a. writer or speaker carried by a sort of extasy of the imagination beyond the natural scope of his intended discussion. We should be the last to deny that such a faculty there is, and always has been, in the wisest and noblest men of the time. But we very much doubt whether it should in any sense be called imagination, though no doubt it is apt to take a strong hold of the popular mind only when it is possessed by imaginative men, just as the power of discerning human character is not properly imaginative, though it is not often a gift of great mark and influence, unless it is com- bined with imaginative qualities. It seems to us that not a few of the rugged and half-cultivated Hebrew prophets and teachers had this gift of discerning the mind of God and the mind of man, in connection with a very inadequate power of expression, or im- aginative eloquence, an inadequacy which greatly restricted the cir- cle of their influence. But we cannot doubt that this seer's gift, whatever it really consists in, was theirs, none the less for this striing inarticulateness of nature, and that it is not the gift. of
orator as orator, scarcely even of poet as poet, but consists in a receptive rather than a " creative " faculty, as Sir Edward Strachey in one place, somewhat unfortunately, we think, terms it, though no doubt that receptive faculty may be so combined with a power of imaginative expression, as it certainly was in Isaiah, as to produce far higher results than it would ever do in isolation.
Now it seems to us that Sir Edward Strachey has ignored this essentially passive element in prophecy, and by so doing has almost compelled himself to explain away some of the most re- markable elements in Isaiah's prophecy. But we must reserve our discussion of the natural or supernatural character of Isaiah's prophecy for another article.
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