prayer was by the side of a river. Prayer is frequently represented as the first preliminary to being in the Spirit.

With the ordinary view of prophecy it is impossible to understand the reasons why, from the time of Abraham (Gen. xxii. 3) downwards, the night should have been selected as the time for prophetic communications. In Num. xxii. 8 we are told that Balaam waited till the night came, before he gave an answer to the messengers of the king of Moab. The Lord first revealed himself to Samuel, when he was lying upon his bed in the house of the Lord. In 2 Sam. vii., Nathan is said to have given David a general reply immediately; but the special revelations in relation to his question he did not receive till night. "And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan saying:" a fact, which is sufficient of itself to prove, that the state of the prophets was altogether an extraordinary one, and that the gift of prophecy did not abide in them in the same way as faith, hope, and charity. It was certainly not a mere accident, that Zechariah received the whole series of visions, recorded in the emblematical portion, during the night (chap. i. 8). The night, which draws a veil over all visible objects, facilitates that deep concentration of the soul, which is the pre-requisite of inspiration.1

The connection between the prophetic vision and a dream, which is mentioned on several occasions, also points to an ecstatic condition. Abraham the prophet (Gen. xx. 7), has first of all a vision (Gen. xv. 1), and then falls into a prophetic sleep (ver. 11). In Num. xii. 6 the Lord says to Aaron and Miriam, "If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." Accord

1 See Steinbeck, der Dichter ein Seher, p. 114: "It is but natural that during the bustle of the day, when our senses are constantly called into exercise from without, the dissipation of the mind should render it more difficult to collect our thoughts, than it is in the night, when the senses are at rest, and are seeking to gather fresh vigour from within;" and Tholuck, vermischte Schriften i. p. 59: "There are two different stages in the spirit's life, that of direct, undivided, and more potential consciousness, and that in which the consciousness is unfolded and divided, and has more of an actual character.

Just as the unfolded, conscious life is more closely connected with the day, in which every object stands out alone with distinct outlines, so has the involved genius-life greater affinity with the night, in which things all flow together. As genius, the spirit is most active in the night; as a conscious spirit, in the day."

VOL. IV.

2 c

བ

ing to the view held by the Fathers, there is no ground for this association. The bridge, which connects the vision and the dream, they have entirely broken down. In Joel iii. 1, it is predicted that "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams." In Dan. i. 17, Daniel is said to have "had understanding in all visions and dreams." According to chap. vii. he has in the night a prophetic dream. In the dream he receives the explanation of what he has previously seen. In chap. viii. he says, "In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar, a vision appeared unto me, like that which had appeared to me at the first." The allusion here is to a revelation received when he was awake (compare C. B. Michaelis and Hitzig). As a further proof of the intimate connexion between these two forms of revelation, they are both called by the same name. They have this in common, that in both the dream and the vision the external senses are at rest, and reflection is forced into the background by intuition, though in the case of the vision we are not to regard the former as absolutely quiescent. That the condition of the prophets was an extraordinary one, and entirely different from their common life, is evident from such passages as Ezek. i. 3,2" and the hand of the Lord was there upon him," Jarchi "praevaluit ipsi prophetia etiam invito," and iii. 14, "the hand of the Lord was strong upon me." We are led to

1 "Every deep sleep, it is true, so far as the soul is drawn away from its relation to the outer world into its relation to itself, and to the spirit, and through this to God, is an ekoraσis; but there is also naturally, even in our waking condition, a state of absorption resembling this, and spiritually, one produced expressly by God, for purposes of revelation. This is the state of ecstasy (from Koτnval, the opposite of owopoveîv, the clear sober discursive thought. 2 Cor. v. 13)."-Delitzsch bibl. Psychol.. p. 239.

2 Many of the passages, which are frequently adduced to prove that the natural life was forcibly suppressed by the influence of the spirit of God, are not conclusive. The illness of Daniel, which followed the vision according to chap. viii. 27, was not caused by the excitement attending the ecstatic state, but by what he saw, the visions of his head frightened him (chap. vii. 15). In Dan. x. 8-10, the utter exhaustion and prostration are caused by the glory of what he had witnessed, "and I saw this great vision (the appearance of Michael), and there remained no strength in me." Even upon those who did not see the vision there fell great terror, and they fled and hid themselves (ver. 7). The same objection applies to Gen. xv. 12; Ezek. i. 28, iii. 23, and xliii. 3; Rev. i. 17; (see my work on Balaam, p. 141, and my commentary on Rev. i. 17.)

the same conclusion by the words of Peter, "holy men of God spake as they were depóμevo by the Holy Ghost," with which Knapp, in his treatise on this passage, compares such expressions from profane authors as "karéxeo baι èx Oεoû," "corripi deo," κατέχεσθαι ἐκ θεοῦ,” "deum pati." Crusius (theol. proph. i. p. 94) justly regards the fact that the condition of the prophets at the time of prophesying was an unusual one, as explaining the phenomenon, that the formula "thus saith the Lord" is so constantly repeated in their case, whereas the apostles, whose divine illumination was continuous, very rarely employed it, and then only when they wished to distinguish their own counsels from the commands of the Lord, as in 1 Cor. vii. 10.

In the eyes of men of the world, the prophets were nothing but madmen. There must therefore have been a point of contact between the prophetic state and insanity. In 2 Kings ix. 11, when a prophet had been with Jehu, the courtiers said to him, "wherefore came this mad fellow ya unto thee?" "Every man that is mad and prophesies" (anı yavp): this is the way in which a false prophet speaks of the true in Jer. xxix. 26. Keil's opinion (in his notes on the passage) that the prophet is so described simply on account of his belief, “just as those who fearlessly profess their faith before the world in the present day, are derided by unbelievers as out of their mind," founders on the second passage, where the madness is placed in immediate connexion with the prophesying. But even when applied to the former passage alone, it is found to be unsuitable. The expression "is peace," and the behaviour of the people, when they heard what the prophet had said, shows that yn was a profane term, which was used not of a believer, but of an instrument of God. As they discerned such an instrument in the man who had arrived, they did not rest till they learned what he had said. The point of comparison can only be this, that the condition of the prophets was an abnormal one, just as much as that of the madman, if our ordinary consciousness be taken as the standard.2

1 Michaelis: "The prophets generally appeared as if they were not altogether sane.'

2 "From the ordinary stand-point of perception and feeling, the truly inspired man and the madman are insane, their actions are not determined by the senses as in our ordinary waking existence, they are in a certain sense out of their senses," Steinbeck p. 540.

"Ba

In Num. xxiv. Balaam introduces his prophecy thus, laam the son of Beor prophesied, and the man with closed eye prophesied (ver. 3.) The hearer of the words of God prophesieth, who seeth the vision of the Almighty, falling down and with opened eyes" (ver. 4). Balaam describes himself as the man with closed eye, with reference to the ecstacy, in which the closing of the outward senses kept pace with the opening of those within. "The greater the repose of the soul, and the more it is abstracted from the world, the clearer do the intuitions of the seer become, and the more intense and pure the poet's flame." (Steinbeck, p. 121 sqq.). In the case of those who had reached the highest stage of inward culture, inspiration might undoubtedly take place, without any outward closing of the senses; but with men like Balaam who were on the lowest stage of the inward life, and were simply raised above it for a moment by the influence of the Spirit, the closing of the eye formed the indispensable pre-requisite to the opening of the eye. But it is evident from the expression, "the man with closed eye," as a common description of the prophetic state, that the prophet durst not be drawn away by impressions from the outer world, that he must be at rest and abstracted from the world, and must be carried away into a higher region.'-A second condition requisite to the opening of the eye seems to have been falling down: "falling down and with his eye open." refers to the violence of the inspiration, which came upon the seer like an armed man, and threw him to the ground. But it was only in such cases as that of Balaam, where there was impurity before, that the inspiration assumed the violent character, and prostrated both body and soul. The more the ordinary consciousness was pervaded by the Spirit, the less necessity was there, for it to place itself in a hostile attitude

1 What Novalis (Schriften, Th. ii., p. 472), has said of poetic inspiration is to a certain extent applicable to prophetic inspiration: "the most arbitrary prejudice is to deny to man the power to be out of himself, and to preserve his consciousness apart from his senses. A man can at any moment become a supersensual being. It is true that it is very difficult to preserve one's presence of mind and self-consciousness in this state, since they are so constantly and necessarily bound up with the changes in our other modes of existence. But the more we are able to attain to a consciousness of this condition, so much the more lively, strong, and satisfactory does our consequent conviction become, namely, our faith in genuine revelations of the Spirit. It is neither seeing, hearing, nor feeling. It is a compound of all three, more than all three, a feeling of immediate certainty."

on the occasion of its extraordinary manifestations. But it is evident from the use of the term "falling down," as a general mark of the prophetic state, that so long as it lasted there was an unusual suppression of the natural life, of the sensuous perception and desires, and of worldly thoughts, a much more forcible suppression than takes place in prayer, which is to be regarded as the first stage in the ecstatic process.

That the prophetic state, even in its outward manifestations, was very different from the ordinary condition, is evident from the account contained in 1 Sam. x. Samuel says to Saul (ver. 6), "the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou wilt prophesy with them." And in ver. 11 we read that when Saul prophesied among the prophets, all who knew him said with amazement, "what is this that is come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?" There must have been something more in the appearance of Saul, than his merely taking part in the songs of the pupils of the prophets.

According to chap. xix. all the messengers, who are sent by Saul to take David, the first, the second, and the third company, as soon as they see the prophets prophesying, are overpowered by the Spirit of God, and begin to prophesy as well. At last Saul goes himself, and although everything divine is quite strange to him, yet even he cannot resist the overpowering influence, the Spirit of God comes upon him also and he prophesies. In ver. 24 we are told that "he stripped off his clothes also and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and fell down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say: Is Saul also among the prophets ?" That the condition of the prophets was an exalted one, one of ecstasy, is evident from the effect which it here produces upon rude minds, estranged from God. From internal heat Saul takes off his clothes-(y does not mean perfectly naked; compare Is. lviii. 7, Job xxiv. 7, 10),—and at the same time falls to the ground crushed down by the power of God. Of peculiar significance is the expression, "and he also," We must not regard the messengers as alone referred

גם הוא

1 The difficulty of reconciling the ordinary view of prophecy with such passages as these, is evident from the glosses of Michaelis, "exuit vestes consuetas et induit sacras, pauciores et leviores, ut David coram arca ;" and again on the words, he fell down, "humilis coram deo ut reliqui discipuli."