History of the Jews: A Lecture by the late Rev. J. R. Anderson, of Kirkfield Parish Church, 1838. Glasgow: Pickering & Inglis. Price Sixpence.
Delivered seventy years ago, this lecture by an honoured divine is full of interest and solemn instruction for the present day. The Jew is a standing miracle. His history in the Bible stands out as a warning beacon to the nations of the earth, but a memorial of Divine goodness and mercy. At different times the Hebrews seemed ready to disappear from the page of history, and yet they experienced a national resurrection. The lecture brings vividly before us their varied experiences from “Moses to the Captivity in Babylon” running “parallel with the stream of Divine prophecy.” Plague after plague crushes the power of Pharaoh. The gods of Egypt are “utterly impotent to save themselves or their worshippers.” By the memorable transactions at Sinai the Israelites are nationally recognised as the people of God. In the fourth generation, as foretold to Abraham, they enter Canaan when “the iniquity of the Amorites” is full. The sword of Israel is used to destroy the notoriously guilty nations, and the scoffings of infidelity are shown to be unreasonable in overlooking the crimes that necessitated such condign punishment. What national woes followed the neglect to carry out completely the Divine Commission!
The second period of Israel’s history extends from the settlement in Canaan to the building of Solomon’s temple. For centuries they are compassed about with songs of mercy or of judgment. In the elevation of David to the throne of the kingdom “we see a fulfilment of the prophecy that the tribe of Judah should have the dominion.” In the prosperity, power, and dominion which followed there is “a lively picture of the greatness which should belong to the spiritual reign of Messiah, the Prince.” Many prophecies become history in the reign of Solomon over the kingdoms from the Euphrates unto the border of Egypt.
The third period ends in the Babylonish Captivity. Idolatry, the clinging curse of centuries, brings about the ruin of Church and State. Interesting paragraphs in the lecture refer to the “seeds of future calamity” sown in the sin of Solomon; to the separation of the tribe of Judah and God’s faithfulness “in preserving the family of David on the throne of Judah,” and in raising up from time to time reforming kings and faithful prophets in contrast with the constant changes in the succession to the Crown of the Ten Tribes and their continued apostasy. Our author winds up with an appeal to his audience “to extend to the House of Israel our compassionate regard, and to pray and labour for their conversion and future restoration, when Jerusalem shall no longer be “trodden down of the Gentiles.” God hath not “cast away His people.” It seems reasonable to believe that after the ingathering of “the dispersed of Israel,” Jewish converts may be the foremost missionaries of the world, and that the wealth of Jewish bankers may be employed for the extension of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
The Editor of this new edition supplies an excellent introduction of three pages, bringing out forcibly how full of instruction the history of Israel is to the Britain of to-day. “We, like Israel of old, were once a people in covenant with God—we are not so now. . . . The course of defections which led up to the passing of the (R.) Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, has continued in increasing volume and force since that time. The carved work of our noble Constitution in Church and State has been quite broken down.” Interesting remarks follow in regard to the varied and deplorable activities of Romanism, and the down grade in our Protestant Churches. The lecture deserves a wide circulation, and is calculated to deepen the interest of devout readers in the Hebrew Church as the Mother Church of Christendom.
Resolis.
R. M’D.