well as feared. As the acorn contains the
sturdy oak in embryo, so the revelation through Moses was the germ
which developed into the message of Israel to humanity."[32]

Isaiah, though losing some of the sublimest passages in the book, is
still the king among the prophets. In the words of Ewald, a pronounced
advocate of the conclusions of modern criticism: "Of the other prophets
all the more celebrated ones were distinguished by some special
excellence and peculiar power, whether of speech or of deed; in Isaiah
all the powers and all the beauties {104} of prophetic speech and deed
combine to form a symmetrical whole; he is distinguished less by any
special excellence than by the symmetry and perfection of all his
parts. There are rarely combined in one individual the profoundest
prophetic emotion and purest feeling, the most unwearied, successful,
and consistent activity amid all the confusions and changes of life;
and, lastly, true poetic genius and beauty of style, combined with
force and irresistible power; yet this triad of powers we find realized
in Isaiah as in no other prophet."[33]

David, indeed, loses some of his halo, if many of the most beautiful
psalms are taken from him, yet he remains the man after God's own
heart. "According to his light, he served the Jehovah whom he knew
with marvelous fidelity and constancy.... He ruled over the united
Hebrew tribes as Jehovah's representative. In his name he fought the
battles against Israel's foes, whom he regarded as Jehovah's also....
From the spoils which he won in his wars he provided the means
wherewith to build a fitting dwelling place for the God of his nation.
The priests found in him a generous patron, and prophets like Nathan
were among his most trusted counselors. To do the will of Jehovah as
it was revealed to him was the dominating principle of his life. More
cannot be said of any one."[34]

{105}

A splendid summary of the bearing of modern evangelical criticism upon
the Christian view of the Old Testament is given by Canon Driver: "It
is not the case that critical conclusions are in conflict either with
the Christian creeds or with the articles of the Christian faith.
Those conclusions affect not the _fact_ of revelation but only its
_form_. They help to determine the stages through which it passed, the
different phases which it assumed, and the process by which the record
of it was built up. They do not touch either the authority or th