certained parallels in the prophetic
announcement are not wanting for them.

The carrying away of the covenant-people into exile had been actually
prophesied by the fact, that the land had spued out its former
inhabitants on account of their sins. The threatening of the exile
pervades the whole Pentateuch from [Pg 190] beginning to end; compare
_Genuineness of the Pentateuch_, _p._ 270 _ff._ It is found in the
Decalogue also: "That thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord
thy God giveth thee." David shows a clear knowledge of the sufferings
impending over his family, and hence also over the people of God; comp.
my Commentary on Song of Sol. S. 243. Solomon points to the future
carrying away in his prayer at the consecration of the temple. Amos,
the predecessor of Isaiah, foresees with absolute clearness, that,
before the salvation comes, all that is glorious, not only in Israel,
but in Judah also, must be given over to destruction, compare Vol. i.
p. 357. In like manner, too, Hosea prophesies not only the destruction
of the kingdom of the ten tribes, but also that Judah shall be carried
away into exile, comp. Vol. i. p. 176. In Isaiah, the foreknowledge
of the entire devastation of the city and land, and the carrying away
into captivity of its inhabitants--a foreknowledge which stands in
close connection with the energy of the knowledge of sin with the
Prophets--meets us from the very beginning of his ministry, and also in
those prophecies, the genuineness of which no one ventures to assail,
as, _e.g._, in chap. i.-vi. After the severity of God had been
manifested before the bodily eyes of the Prophet in the carrying away
of the ten tribes, it could not, even from human considerations, be
doubtful to him, what was the fate in store for Judah.

The knowledge, that the impending carrying away of Judah would take
place by the Chaldeans, and that Babylon would be the place of their
banishment, was not destitute of a certain natural foundation. In the
germ, the Chaldean power actually existed even at that time. Decidedly
erroneous is the view of _Hitzig_, that a Chaldean power in Babylon
could be spoken of only since the time of Nabopolassar. This power, on
the contrary, was very old; compare the proofs in _Delitzsch's_
Commentary on Habakkuk, S. 21. The Assyrian power, although, when
outwardly considered, at its height, when more closely examined, began,
even at that time, already to sink. A weakening of the Assyr