"There is nowhere, as yet, the slightest allusion to the Assyrians," says _Ewald_. But neither is any such found in Amos, nor in the first part of Hosea. An irruption, however, such as former times had not known,--an overflowing, as it were, by the heathen, such as could by no means proceed from the small neighbouring nations, but from extensive kingdoms only, is here also brought into view. Joel is, in this respect, in strict agreement with Amos, who embodies his prophecy concerning this event, in chap. vi. 14, in these words: "For, behold, I raise up against you, O house of Israel, Gentile people, saith the Lord, the God of hosts, and they shall afflict you from Hamath unto the river of the wilderness." "There breathes here still the unbroken warlike spirit of the times of Deborah and David," _Ewald_ further remarks. But is there in the fourth (third) chapter any trace of self-help on the part of the people? Judgment upon the Gentiles is executed without any human instrumentality, by God,--not by His earthly, but by His heavenly "heroes," who are sent down [Pg 295]from heaven to earth, and who make short work with these fancied earthly heroes. Compare chap. iv. (iii.) 11-13, where the address is directed to the heavenly ministers of God, at the head of whom the Angel of the Covenant must be supposed to be: Ps. ciii. 20; Rev. xix. 14. _Such_ a victory of the kingdom of God, all the prophets announce,--not only Isaiah and Micah, but also Ezekiel, _e.g._, in chap. xxxviii. and xxxix.