Page:The spirit of the Hebrew poetry 1861.djvu/108

 Always with some high prospect in view, and most often when he had a message of rebuke to deliver, the Hebrew prophet drew many of his symbols from those meteorologic violences which, as we have said, are of frequent occurrence in Palestine. Thus it was that in predicting the overthrow of empires, the fall of tyrants, the destruction of cities, the scattering of nations—the messenger of God found, ready for his use, a figurative dialect which had a colloquial import among the people: besides these deluges of rain, and these awful thunderings and lightnings, and these cataracts of hail, the people had experience of the terrors of earthquake—if not of volcanic eruptions.

It was thus, therefore, that, within limits so narrow as those of the land occupied by the Hebrew people, provision had been made (may we not use this phrase?) at once for supplying to its Poets, in the greatest abundance and variety, the material imagery they would need; and for bringing within the daily experiences of the people every condition of the material world which could be made available for the purposes of a figurative literature. In these adjustments of the country to the people, and of both to the ulterior intention of, we need not hesitate to recognize the Divine Wisdom, making preparation, in a marked manner, for so great and peculiar a work. Other provisions, having the same meaning, will meet us as we go on. Yet at this point there is an infer-