Here, it is by no means apparent that, by awak ing, the Psalmist referred to an awaking from the dead; and the context, in which he calls the season of his persecution the night,' and prays for speedy deliverance from his enemies,40 would naturally suggest another interpretation: when I awake from my present night of dejection and suffering, when the morning of my deliverance comes-I shall be satisfied with thy likeness; or more corectly, with the sight of thee.' Figurative expressions, of a similar character, frequently occur in the Psalms, with reference merely to temporal relief; and it is incredible that David, if acquainted with the doctrine of a resurrection, should have left a truth so important and interesting, to glimmer only in this indistinct manner, through a solitary passage. Indeed, so evident, from the general tenor of his writings, is his ignorance on this point, that some, who refer the text in question to an awakening from the dead, have concluded, from this very circumstance, that the Psalm cannot have been written by him, but by an author who lived subsequently to the Babylonish captivity. It scarcely need be mentioned, that Solomon makes no allusion whatsoever, to a resurection from the state of the dead. We may therefore conclude that it was, at this time, unknown and unthought of, among the Jews in general.

About 800 B. C.-720 B. C.-Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Micah, (whose works were

40 See ver. 3, 7, &c.

41 De Wette, Commentar aber die Psalmen, in loc.

composed about this time,) have left no indications that the views respecting the future state, changed materially, from the age of David and Solomon. On the contrary, with the exception of Micah, who has no allusion to the subject, they retain the same idea of Sheol, placing it in the depths of the earth, and recognize the same condition of the dead there. When Jonah was carried by the fish down to the bottoms of the mountains, and the earth with her bars was about him forever,' he represents himself by a figure, as being in the midst of Sheol: Out of the belly of Sheol, cried I unto thee, and thou heardest my voice ;'42 thus denoting the supposed situation of that world. When Amos, after predicting the entire dispersion of the Israelites, attempts to illustrate the impossibility of their escaping the hand of God, he uses this strong expression : though they dig into Sheol, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb into heaven, thence will I bring them down,' &c.;43 contrasting the depth of Sheol with the height of heaven. When Isaiah would represent that the Jewish nation had sunk to the very lowest degree of infamy, he says, 'Thou didst debase thyself even unto Sheol." So much with regard to its situation.

That this was the place to which the dead were supposed to descend, appears from the language of Hezekiah. In his song of thanksgiving for recovery from a dangerous sickness, he remembers his late apprehensions of immediate 43 Amos ix. 2,

42 Jonah ii. 2, comp, ver. 3, 6. 44 Isa. lvii. 9.

death: I said, in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of Sheol' 45 that is, I shall die. In another passage, Isaiah predicts a general extermination of the inhabitants of Judea, in which the Lord should stretch forth his hand against them, and smite them and leave their carcases torn in the midst of the streets. To represent this scene of slaughter, he introduces the following imagery: Therefore, Sheol hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.'46 On the death of the king of Babylon, and the final desolation of his kingdom, the prophet apostrophizing him, says, Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at: thy coming,' &c., and proceeds to represent the congregation of the dead as being there, among whom are the chief ones of the earth, and all the deceased kings of the nations. They were ghosts, or manes; for such, it is said, is the import of the Hebrew word which is frequently used to denote the inhabitants of Sheol.

With regard to their condition, the passage just referred to, though highly figurative, sug

45 Isa, xxxviii. 10.

48

46 Isa, v. 14, comp. whole chapter, particularly ver. 24-30. 47 Isa. xiv. 9-15.

48 The rhetorical figure of personification runs through the whole of this passage. Thus the fir-trees are said so rejoice at the fall of the monarch, and the cedars of Lebanon to address him. In the same strain, the dead in Sheol are represented as in great commotion at his coming. Some writers refer to this circumstance as showing that the passage meant literally to recognize the activity of the dead. But, did it also mean to reognize a similar activity of the fir-trees and cedars,

gests one particular which may probably be received as a literal expression of the popular views, at that time the dead say to the descending monarch, Art thou also become weak as we ?' They were supposed to be powerless. And that this impotence extended, in some degree, to thought, as well as to action, seems to be intimated by Hezekiah: Sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit, cannot hope for thy truth.'49 We may add, however, that there are allusions to a still existing pretence of consulting the dead.50 Such was their condition in Sheol. Isaiah says, 'death shall be swallowed up in victory';51 and Hosea speaks of a ransom from the power of Sheol, a redemption from death, and even a destruction of Sheol.52 But the context of these two passages show that the language is figurative, and that the prophets were treating of a temporal restoration of Judah and Israel, instead of a literal deliverance from the state of the dead. Of this event, they discover no knowledge nor expectation.

700 B. C.-600 B. C.-Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, Job, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, are the writers of this time; though, in order to embrace all the prophecies of the two last named, we must extend our limits nearly twenty years later, reaching so far into the Babylonish captivity. As they were brought up, however, in Judea, and had formed their views and habits of

49 Isa. xxxviii. 18. 51 Isa. xxv. 8.

50 Isa. xix. 3 ; xxix. 4,

52 Hosea xiii. 14,