Zidon, yet more West. Southward lay Aegypt, the Red Sea, Ethiopia, Edom and Midian, of which Aegypt declined more West. And for the un∣derstanding of the Prophecie the better, he greatly commends the know∣ledge and remembrance of the Histories set forth, 2 King. and 2 Chron. because it is adaptated to them. For excellency of this Prophecie, it is gene∣rally preferred before any other, as containing in it all Rhetorick, Ethicks and Theology, as Jerom saith. And whereas some make a question, whe∣ther the Prophets understood their own Prophecies, he derides them, be∣cause the holy Prophets were most wise men, being called Seers, and there∣fore were not used as instruments only to utter the secrets of God, but also to understand them, and to apply them to others. And to prove this further, he alledgeth that 1 Cor. 14. The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets.
Now although Isaiah be placed first of all the Prophets, yet it is to be un∣derstood, that Hosea was contemporary with him, because he uttered also his Prophecy in the time of Ʋzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah: yet be∣cause, Hos. 1. 2. it is said, The Lord spake first to Hosea; some gather, that he began before all the rest. Under the same King Ʋzziah also was Amos, and as Expositors agree, Joel, although his time be not noted, because as Junius saith, he is placed between Hosea and Amos, and there is nothing to intimate a different time, but the same, the matter agreeing so well to the time of Ʋz∣ziah. The next three Obadiah, Jonah and Micha, are by some also made con∣temporanean with the former, but Junius proves Jonah to have been more ancient then any of them, because he prophesied in the time of Amaziah, fa∣ther of Ʋzziah, or before, seeing he is said to have fore-told, what victories Jeroboam should obtain, who began to reign over Israel, an. 15. of Amaziah, as is commemorated, 2 King. 14. 24. But whereas he placeth Obadiah long af∣ter as contemporary with Jeremy and Ezekiel; it is more probable, that he prophesied also in the time of Amaziah, before Jonah, because of the destru∣ction of Edom, which was by Amaziah, before his overthrow received at the hands of Jehoahaz King of Israel. Micha prophesied in the time of Jo∣tham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Nahum, as Junius thinks most probable, by the arguments somewhat before the Captivity of Israel by Tiglath Pileser King of Assyria, because he fore-tels the destruction of Nineveh, the chief City of Assyria for the comfort of the faithful in Israel against their miseries suffered at the Assyrians hands, but in Tiglath Pileser there is a mistaking, for it was by Salmanasar in the 12th of Ahaz. Habakkuk prophesies about the same time, threatning, as Jeremiah, the coming of the Caldees, and lamenting it, or at the least at the end of Josiah his reign. Zephany in the dayes of Josiah. Haggai and Zechary after the return of the Jews from their Captivity in the time of Darius; And Malachi after the Temple built last of all others, reproving the abuses committed about the Temple and service of God. Eze∣kiel was of the same time with Jeremiah. And Daniel in the time of the Ca∣ptivity unto the end of those seventy years. To take the Prophets therefore according to their times, 1. was Obadiah. 2. Jonah. 3. Hosea. 4. Isaiah. 5. Joel. 6. Amos. 7. Micha. 8. Nahum. 9. Habakkuk. 10. Jeremy. 11. Ezekiel. 12. Zephany. 13. Daniel. 14. Haggai. 15. Zechary. 16. Ma∣lachi. And the consideration of each ones time availeth not a little to the understanding of their Prophecies.
But to say somewhat more of Isaiah in particular. He was the son of A∣mos, brother to Amaziah, the father of Azariah, according to the Hebrews tradition, and Manasseh, as they say, was his daughters son, so that he was his grand-father, being at the time of his Martyrdom by Manasseh an hun∣dred twenty six years old. And his Martyrdom as is generally held by all Ex∣positors was by sawing asunder, whereunto that Heb. 11. 37. Some were cut asunder, is applied. Some have held Isaiah to be the son of Amos the Prophet, as Epiphanius and Clemens Alexandrinus, but that Amos is written with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for the first letter, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for the last, this with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Amoz. And his man∣ner