with a fine description of the power and mercies of God.

MICAH.

MICAH was unquestionably the author of this book; and he speaks in that character, chap. iii. 1, 8. He calls himself a Morasthite, chap. i. 1; and is supposed to have been a native of Morasthi, a village situated near the city of Eleutheropolis, in the southern part of Judah; a place distinguished by St. Jerome from Mareshah, mentioned in this book, chap. i. 15, and in Joshua, chap. xv. 44.

Micah speaks only of the kings of Judah; and he prophesied in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, contemporary with whom were Pekah and Hoshea, the two last kings of Israel. Micah then began to prophesy soon after Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, and Amos; and he prophesied between the year of the world 3246, when Jotham began to reign, and the year of the world 3305, when Hezekiah died: but probably not during the whole of that period.

Micah, who received the Divine revelations by vision, was appointed to preach both against Israel and Judah; and executed his commission with great animation and zeal. One of his predictions is related to have saved the life of Jeremiah; who under the reign of Jehoiakim would have been put to death for prophesying the destruction of the temple, had it not appeared that Micah had foretold the same thing under Hezekiah about one hundred

L

years before, Mic. iii. 12. Micah is mentioned as a Prophet in the book of Jeremiah, chap. xxvi. 18, compared with Mic. iii. 12; and in the New Testament, Matt. ii. 5, and John vii. 42. He is imitated by succeeding Prophets, as he himself had borrowed the expressions of those who preceded, or flourished at the same time with him. Our Saviour himself, indeed, condescended to speak in the language of the Prophet.

The Prophet predicted in clear terms the invasions of Shalmaneser and Sennacherib, and their triumph over Israel and Judah; the captivities, dispersion, and deliverance of Israel; the cessation of prophecy; the destruction of Assyria and of Babylon, the representatives of the enemies of the Christian church; the birth of the Everlasting Ruler at Beth-lehem Ephratah; the establishment and exaltation of Christ's kingdom over all nations; the influence of the gospel; and the destruction of Jerusalem, chap. iii. 12.

NAHUM.

NAHUM describes himself as an Elkoshite; which some have considered as a patronymic expression, conceiving it to imply his being a descendant of Elkosha; but which is generally supposed to intimate that he was born at Elkosh, or Elkosha, a small village in Galilee, of which St. Jerome professes to have seen the ruins.

It may be concluded from chap. ii. 2, that Nahum prophesied after the captivity of the ten tribes.

Josephus places him in the reign of Jotham, and says, that his predictions came to pass one hundred and fifteen years afterwards. According to our best chronologers, this date would bring us to the year in which Samaria was taken.

The illustrious prophecy foretelling the future downfall of the Assyrian empire, remarkably accomplished in little more than a century after it was delivered, affords a signal evidence of the inspiration of Nahum; and a striking lesson of humility to human pride. It must have furnished much consolation to the tribes who were carried away captive by the king of Assyria, as well as to those of Benjamin and Judah; and all must have rejoiced with the hope, of deliverance, to hear that their conquerors should in time be conquered, their city levelled to the dust, and their empire overturned. The book in which these interesting prophecies are contained is justly considered by Bishop Lowth as a complete and perfect poem, of which the conduct and imagery are truly admirable.

The fire, spirit, and sublimity of Nahum, are unequalled. His scenes are painted with great variety and splendour. The opening of his work, in which he describes the attributes of God, is august; and the preparations for the attack, as well as the destruction of Nineveh, are represented with singular effect. The art with which the immediate destruction of the Assyrians under Sennacherib is intermingled with the future ruin of the empire, affords a very elegant specimen of the manner in which the Prophets delight to introduce present and distant events under one point of view.

The

allegorical pictures in this book are remarkably beautiful, chap. ii. 7, 11, 12.

HABAKKUK.

SOME writers, whose relations are probably founded on traditionary accounts, describe Habakkuk as a native of Bethzakar; and affirm, that he was of the tribe of Simeon. Some suppose him to have flourished in the reign of Manasseh; others in that of Josiah; and some have placed him so late as Zedekiah: but the most approved opinion is, that he prophesied under Jehoiakim, who ascended the throne in the year of the world 3395, and reigned over Judah eleven years.

As the Prophet makes no mention of the Assyrians, and speaks of the Chaldean invasions as near at hand, chap. i. 5; ii. 3; iii. 2, 16-19, he probably lived after the destruction of the Assyrian empire in the fall of Nineveh, in the year of the world 3392, and not long before the devastation of Judea by the victories of Nebuchadnezzar. Habakkuk was then nearly contemporary with, and predicted the same events as, Jeremiah; and he probably lived to witness the completion of that part of his prophecy which related to the afflictions of his country.

It should seem from the title prefixed, and from the intimation subjoined to the last verse of the prayer in the third chapter, as well as from the word Selah, which occurs three times in the chaper, that the prayer was set to music; and perhaps

performed in the service of the temple; and it was possibly delivered in a kind of measure. The style of the whole book is poetical; but more especially this beautiful and perfect ode, which is decorated with every kind of imagery and poetical embellishment. Habakkuk is imitated by succeeding Prophets, and is cited as an inspired person by the Evangelical writers, Heb. x. 37, 38; Rom. i. 17; Gal. iii. 11; Acts xiii. 41; compared with Hab. i. 5.

ZEPHANIAH.

THE Prophet Zephaniah informs us, that he was the son of Cushi; and that the word of the Lord came to him in the days of Josiah king of Judah. He is supposed to have been of the tribe of Simeon; and as he traces back his pedigree for four generations, he was doubtless of noble birth: though not of the royal family, as some have imagined from the resemblance between the names of Hezekiah and that of Hizkiah, from whom the Prophet professes himself to have been a descendant; the period which intervened between king Hezekiah and the time in which Zephaniah flourished, being scarce sufficient to admit of three intermediate an cestors to the Prophet.

Zephaniah begins with denouncing God's wrath against the remnant of Baal, and the name of the Chemarims:" against "them which worshipped the host of heaven, and swore by Malcham;" and therefore, probably, he addressed those idolatrous priests who were not yet extirpated by the religious