Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Later Prophets.
Indeed the whole book of Ezekiel is impregnated with the language of the Pentateuch, as has been proved long ago. It is especially remarkable for the use of the figures and language peculiar to the Pentateuch. Thus, the phrase, “Pine away in their iniquity,” Ezek. 4:17; 24:23, 33:1017That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. (Ezekiel 4:17), occurs only here and Lev. 26:3939And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. (Leviticus 26:39). Again, a favorite expression of Ezekiel's, “Mine eyes shall not spare,” Ezek. 5:11; 7:4, 9; 8:18; 9:5, 1011Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. (Ezekiel 5:11)
4And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 7:4)
9And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth. (Ezekiel 7:9)
18Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. (Ezekiel 8:18)
5And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: (Ezekiel 9:5)
10And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head. (Ezekiel 9:10), occurs in the Pentateuch, once in Gen. 45:2020Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. (Genesis 45:20) (margin), five times in Deuteronomy, and only once besides in the whole Bible, Isa. 13:1818Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. (Isaiah 13:18). Another phrase peculiar to Ezekiel and the Pentateuch is, “I will draw out a sword after them.” Compare Ex. 15:99The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. (Exodus 15:9), Lev. 26:3333And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. (Leviticus 26:33), with Ezek. 5:2, 12; 12:142Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. (Ezekiel 5:2)
12A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. (Ezekiel 5:12)
14And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. (Ezekiel 12:14), and observe in Lev. 26:3333And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. (Leviticus 26:33), and Ezek. 12:1414And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. (Ezekiel 12:14) that the threat of drawing the sword is in both cases accompanied with “the threat of dispersion,” expressed in the original in the very same words. Again, the phrase “Staff of bread,” occurring in our Prophet, 4:16, 5:16, 14:12, is found only in the Pentateuch, Lev. 26:2626And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. (Leviticus 26:26). In like manner, the expression “I will set my face,” employed several times by Ezekiel, is (excepting two passages in Jeremiah) found only in the Pentateuch.
There are many other similar points of agreement; but these are sufficient to identify the Law of which Ezekiel speaks with the Pentateuch which we now possess. And it is particularly to be observed, that his references to the Law necessarily imply that the priests, the prophets, and the people all knew the law to which he referred, and received it as an undoubtedly Divine authority, to which they were amenable, by which they were to be judged, and from which there was no appeal. We have therefore unexceptionable testimony that the Pentateuch existed in the captivity, and seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem.
JEREMIAH.
The testimony of Ezekiel is overlapped by that of Jeremiah, who was partly his contemporary and partly his predecessor, whose writings also, with a few exceptions to which it is not necessary now to refer, have stood the test of modern criticism. If Jeremiah knew a Divine law, it must be that known to Ezekiel, and therefore that known to us. That such a law was known to him is certain. He mentions it expressly, and often quotes it. Thus in 9:13 (12) the Lord says, “They have forsaken my law which I set before them;” and, 16:11, “They have not kept my law;” and, 6:19, “They have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but have rejected it;” and again, 32:22, the prophet says, “They have not obeyed thy voice, neither walked in thy law.” But some will perhaps say, as some have said, that of course the law was known to Jeremiah, as in his days the Book of the Law is said to have been found in the Temple; but that, before this book was found, it was unknown, and therefore fabricated by Hilkiah and his fellow-priests, and imposed upon Josiah. The reasoning upon which former skeptics arrived at this conclusion is absurd.
They argue thus: A book was found, or pretended to be found, by the priest, who said, “I have found the Book of the Law,” which never existed, and of course was unknown to the king and the people. And yet, though utterly unknown, it was instantly received by the king and all the people without suspicion or inquiry, and all submitted to the extirpation of the idolatries then practiced, and to the burdens which it imposed; and, according to this unknown book, reformed Church and State. And although they had never before heard of its enactments, they believed that it had been observed by their fathers from the days of Moses. This is plainly impossible. That the king and the court, and many of the people, might have been, and probably were, ignorant of the contents of the Law, is highly probable.
The two preceding reigns had been decidedly hostile to true religion. Manasseh was both a seducer and a persecutor. “He seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.” He reared up altars for Baal and Asherah, and worshipped all the host of heaven in the courts of the Lord's house, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.
Amon, his successor, walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served; and these kings were followed by priests, prophets, and people, as we find Jeremiah complaining, “The priests said not, Where is the Lord?... The pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal. . . The house of Israel is ashamed: they, their kings, their princes, their prophets, saying to a stock, Thou art my father, and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth” (Jer. 2:8, 268The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. (Jeremiah 2:8)
26As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, (Jeremiah 2:26)). Even of Jerusalem itself he says, “There is not one that seeketh the truth” (v. 1).
No wonder, then, that they who are so described permitted the Temple to go to ruin, and the copy of the Law, belonging to it—perhaps the very autograph of Moses—to be lost. No wonder if Josiah, with such a father and grandfather, such priests, and such a court, had been ignorant of the denunciations of the Law. Hilkiah, on the contrary, was not astonished He says, “I have found the Book of the Law.” He knew, therefore, that there was such a book, and says, “I have found it:” as Thenius, who is certainly no believer in inspiration, says in his commentary, “The expression, the Book of the Law, shows plainly that the question here is not about something that came to light for the first time, but something that was already known.“
It is true that this commentator does not believe that the book found was our present Pentateuch, but he believes that what was found was not something new, or something never heard of before, but a written law, previously known. He believes that such a written law had existed; just as Hitzig asserts, in his commentary on Jeremiah (p. 60), that a written law had always existed in Judah. But as the Law known to Ezekiel was our present Pentateuch, that known to Jeremiah, partly his contemporary, cannot be different. That it was known to Jeremiah before the finding of the book can be proved by his prophecies delivered at the beginning of his ministry. He began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah. The Book of the Law was not found until the eighteenth year of that king. Now even Hitzig admits that chapters 2:1-8:17 were written before the eighteenth year, and the second chapter probably in the thirteenth year of Josiah, that is, the first of Jeremiah's ministry.
Both testify the existence of the Law. In Jer. 2:88The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. (Jeremiah 2:8) it is said, “They that handle the law know me not;” and in 8:8, “How say ye, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?” Before the finding of the book, therefore, “The Law” existed and was called “The Law of the Lord.” These chapters also contain references and quotations which serve to identify it with the present Pentateuch. Thus, chap. 2:6: “Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof: but when ye entered, ye defiled my land and made mine heritage an abomination.” Here are allusions, either in sense or word, or both, to Deut. 8:1515Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; (Deuteronomy 8:15); Num. 14:7, 87And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 8If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. (Numbers 14:7‑8); Lev. 18:25-2825And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. 26Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: 27(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) 28That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. (Leviticus 18:25‑28); Num. 35:33, 3433So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. 34Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel. (Numbers 35:33‑34). In ver. 28 the prophet says, “Where are thy gods, that thou hast made thee? let them arise if they can save thee in the time of trouble,” evidently a quotation of Deut. 32:37, 3837And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, 38Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. (Deuteronomy 32:37‑38). Chapter 3:1 is an undoubted reference to Deut. 24:3, 43And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 24:3‑4). Chapter 3:16 refers to a number of places in the Pentateuch, and the chief features in the Mosaic worship: “In those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord; neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done any more.”
This tells us that there was a covenant, Ex. 24:7, 87And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. (Exodus 24:7‑8); Deut. 5:2, 32The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. (Deuteronomy 5:2‑3), that there was an “ark of the covenant of the Lord” —the very words found in Num. 10:3333And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them. (Numbers 10:33), and Deut. 31:2626Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. (Deuteronomy 31:26), that the Israelites used to visit it—words to be explained only by the commands, to go up three times in the year, Ex. 23:1717Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. (Exodus 23:17); Deut. 16:1616Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: (Deuteronomy 16:16). In the days of Jeremiah, before the finding of the book therefore, the whole history of the covenant (that is in fact, of the giving of the Law, all the directions about the ark, the three great feasts) is presupposed, and without the existence of the Pentateuch would be unintelligible. Chap. 4:4, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,” is a quotation from Deut. 10:1616Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. (Deuteronomy 10:16), and an allusion to Deut. 30:66And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. (Deuteronomy 30:6), and contains a figure found in no other sacred writer. Chap. 5:15, “Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God.... a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say,” is a quotation from Deut. 28:4949The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; (Deuteronomy 28:49); and ver. 17, “they shall eat up their harvest,” &c., from Lev. 26:1616I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. (Leviticus 26:16), and Deut. 28:3131Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. (Deuteronomy 28:31). Again, in chap. 7:6, “Oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: then will I cause you to dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers,” are unmistakable allusions to Ex. 22:2121Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 22:21); Deut. 19:10; 6:14, 15; 4:1010That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. (Deuteronomy 19:10)
14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; 15(For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 6:14‑15)
10Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. (Deuteronomy 4:10); Gen. 15:18; 17:8; 26:318In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: (Genesis 15:18)
8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:8)
3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; (Genesis 26:3) &c.
The prophecies written subsequently to the finding of the book also contain numerous undoubted allusions to, or quotations from, the Pentateuch. But those written before that time prove abundantly that Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, was well acquainted with the letter and the spirit of that law, which we now know as the Pentateuch. There can therefore be no doubt, that “The Law” of which he speaks as the Law of the Lord, existing at the same time as that known to Ezekiel, must be identical with it, and also with “The Book of the Law” found in the Temple. And thus the existence of the Pentateuch from the days of our Lord to the thirteenth year of Josiah is firmly established. But it was not then invented nor written for the first time; it was not anything new. Jeremiah had known it from his youth, for he was called at an early age. The people knew of it as well as the prophet; and therefore it could not have been invented any very short time preceding that in which Jeremiah began to prophesy. Neither could it have been invented in the days of Amon or Manasseh. Theirs were not days for trying to introduce a new religious system of laws, of which the great object was to extirpate idolatry. And therefore we must pursue our inquiry to the time of Hezekiah.
ISAIAH, MICAH, AMOS, HOSEA.
As “the Book of the Law” existed at the beginning of Josiah's reign, and could not have been forged in the days of Amon or Manasseh, it must have existed in the time of Hezekiah. But it is not necessary to depend on inference in this matter. There are four unimpeachable witnesses of the fact, the prophets Isaiah, Micah, Amos, Hosea, who bring us back beyond the days of Hezekiah to those of Uzziah and Jeroboam the Second. Three of these expressly mention “The Law of the Lord.” Two testify that it was written in a book. All cite the contents of that book sufficiently to identify it with that which we possess. Thus, in Isa. 5:2424Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 5:24) we read, “They have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts;” and again, 30:9 “Children that will not hear the law of the Lord.” Amos says (2:4), “They have despised the law of the Lord”; Hos. 4:66My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6), “Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God I will also forget thy children;” and again, 8:1, “They have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.”
These passages assuredly prove without just doubt that there was a law well known to the people, acknowledged as the Law of God, which it was a sin to transgress; and, as appears from the last passage, obligatory in the nature of a covenant. The title, also, appears to have been in these days, “The Law of the Lord,” as in Jer. 8:88How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. (Jeremiah 8:8). That it was written is testified by Hos. 8:1212I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. (Hosea 8:12), “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” And therefore Isaiah speaks of it as “The Book,” just as we speak of the Bible. In chap. 29:18, it is said, “In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book,” which even Gesenius interprets of the Law. His commentary on this verse is worth transcribing.” The deaf and the blind are the hardened and blinded free-thinkers (mentioned verse 9), who shall then leave the darkness in which they had been sitting, and turn to the light of the Law (comp. 2:5). Sepher, The Book, by pre-eminence, is the Book of the Law, like ‘the roll of the Book,' Psa. 40:88I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8), and ‘Books,' Dan. 9:22In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. (Daniel 9:2), the Holy Scriptures. The Arabs also use the expression, 'The Book,' pre-eminently of the Koran, though sometimes of the Holy Scripture of the Jews and Christians.”
Only one Book of the Law could have been called “The Book;” and, therefore, this Book, mentioned by Isaiah as so well-known as to require no further description, must be identical with “the Book of the Law” found in the time of Josiah. But, as we have shown that this Book was our present Pentateuch, it follows that the Pentateuch existed in the days of Hezekiah; indeed, the words of Hos. 8:1212I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. (Hosea 8:12) show that it was known in the days of Uzziah and Jeroboam the Second. Even if these prophets had quoted nothing from “The Book,” the identity stands fast; but they have references amply sufficient to satisfy all impartial minds, that they were well acquainted with the Pentateuch as known to us.
In the first place, it is plain that they are acquainted with the history. They know of the sin of Adam “Like Adam, they have transgressed the covenant” (Hos. 6:77But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. (Hosea 6:7)): they know of the sentence on the serpent, “They shall lick the dust like the serpent, they shall move out of their holes like creeping things of the earth,” Mic. 7:1717They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee. (Micah 7:17). But we have here, not only a reference to Gen. 3:1414And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: (Genesis 3:14), but a quotation of certain words found Deut. 32:2424They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. (Deuteronomy 32:24). The Hebrew word for “creeping things” occurs only here, in Deut. and in Job 32:66And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion. (Job 32:6). The references to Sodom and Gomorrah are frequent, Isa. 1:9, 10; 3:99Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. 10Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1:9‑10)
9The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. (Isaiah 3:9), Amos 4:1111I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. (Amos 4:11), and Hos. 11:88How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. (Hosea 11:8). The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are also referred to, Mic. 7:2020Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:20). Hosea refers to the history of Jacob. “He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed, he wept and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel.” Here are three allusions, to Gen. 25:26; 32:2426And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. (Genesis 25:26)
24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. (Genesis 32:24); and 28:11.
The bringing up out of Egypt, and the wandering in the wilderness, are spoken of in the very language of the Pentateuch; as Mic. 6:44For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. (Micah 6:4), “I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” Comp. 7:15. Hosea (2:15) says, “She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of Egypt,” referring both to Exodus, and to the song of Moses and Miriam; then again 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt:” alluding particularly to the language of Ex. 4:22; 2322And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: (Exodus 4:22), “Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn: and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me.” Amos (2:10) says, “Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.” Besides the Exodus, and the sojourn in the wilderness there is also a reference to Gen. 15:1616But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. (Genesis 15:16). Compare also Amos 3:11Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, (Amos 3:1), and 5:25. Micah (6:5) refers to the history of Balaam.