the cause of the foolish forgetfulness of God,
and hence form the transition to the subsequent announcement of
judgment. The prophecy is uttered at a time when Israel still enjoyed
the sparing divine forbearance, inasmuch as for time immemorial (since
they were in Egypt), no destructive catastrophe had fallen upon them.
It was in the Babylonish catastrophe only that the Egyptian received
its counterpart. But how does this suit the time of the Babylonish
exile, when the people were groaning under the severe judgments of God,
[Pg 179] and had not experienced His forbearance, but, on the contrary,
for almost 70 years, the full energy of His punitive justice? In ver.
13, it is said: "In thy crying, let thy hosts (thy whole Pantheon so
rich, and yet so miserable) help thee." "In thy crying, _i.e._, when
_thou_, in the judgment to be inflicted upon thee in future, wilt cry
for help." In chap. lxvi. the punishment appears as future; temple and
city as still existing; the Lord as yet enthroned in Zion. So specially
in ver. 6: "A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple,
the voice of the Lord that rendereth recompence to His enemies," A
controversy with the hypocrites who presumed upon the temple and their
sacrificial service, in vers. 1, 3, has, at the time of the exile, no
meaning at all, _Gesenius_, indeed, was of opinion that the Prophet
might judge of the worship of God in temples, and of the value of
sacrifices, although they were not offered at that time; but it must be
strongly denied that the Prophet could do so in such a context and
connection. For, the fact that the Prophet has in view a definite class
of men of his time, and that he does not bring forward at random a
_locus communis_ which, at his time, was no longer applicable--a thing
which, moreover, is not by any means his habit--appears from the close
of the verse, and from ver. 4, where divine judgment is threatened to
those men: "Because they choose their own ways, and their soul
delighteth in their abominations: I also will choose their derision,
and will bring their fears upon them." Even in ver. 20: "And they (the
Gentiles who are to be converted to the Lord), shall bring all your
brethren out of all nations for a meat-offering unto the Lord, upon
horses, &c., _just as the children of Israel are bringing_ ([Hebrew:
ibvav], expresses an habitual offering), _the meat-offering in a clean
vessel into the house of the Lord_," the house of God appears