(2.) The end of the Mosaic law being the preparation of the Israelitish people, and through them the world, for Christ’s advent, it was not the purpose of God that it should be hidden as a dead letter beside the ark in the inner sanctuary.  It was a code for practice, not for theory.  It contained the constitution of the state, civil as well as religious; and God’s almighty power and faithfulness were pledged that it should accomplish in a thorough way the office assigned to it.  The theocracy must therefore have a history; and with the record of this the historical books are occupied.

(3.) God did not leave the development of this history to itself.  He watched over it from the beginning, and directed its course, interposing from time to time, not only in a providential way, but also by direct revelation.  Sometimes, for specific ends, he revealed himself immediately to particular individuals, as to Gideon, and Manoah and his wife.  But more commonly his revelations were made to the rulers or people at large through persons selected as the organs of his Spirit; that is, through prophets.  The prophet held his commission immediately from God.  Since God is the author, not of confusion, but of order, he came to the people under the Law, not above it; and his messages were to be tried by the Law.  Deut. 13:1-5.  No prophet after Moses enjoyed the same fulness of access to God which was vouchsafed to him, or received the same extent of revelation.  Numb. 12:6-8; Deut. 34:10-12.  Nevertheless, the prophet came to rulers and people, like Moses, with an authority derived immediately from God, introducing his messages with the words:  “Thus saith the Lord.”  In God’s name he rebuked the people for their sins; explained to them the true cause of the calamities that befell them; recalled them to God’s service as ordained in the Law, unfolding to them at the same time its true nature as consisting in the spirit, and not in the letter only—­1 Sam. 15:22; Isa. 1:11-20; 57:15; 66:2; Jer. 4:4; Ezek. 18:31; Hosea 10:12; 14:2; Joel 2:12, 13; Amos 5:  21-24; Micah 6:  6-8—­denounced upon them the awful judgments of God as the punishment of continued disobedience; and promised them the restoration of his favor upon condition of hearty repentance.  In the decline of the Theocracy, it was the special province of the prophets to comfort the pious remnant of God’s people by unfolding to them the future glory of Zion—­the true “Israel of God,” and her dominion over all the earth.  From about the reign of Uzziah and onward, as already remarked (ch. 15. 12), the prophets began, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to reduce their prophecies to writing, and thus arose the series of prophetical books that form a prominent part of the Old Testament canon.  Their office is at once recognized by every reader as distinct from that of either the Pentateuch or the historical books; although these latter were, as a general rule, written by prophets also.