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day which was to dawn upon Israel deliverance was to be vouch- safed them (Zech. 9: 1 1 ; Isa. 42:7 ; 49:9; 61:1). This leads us to believe that through injustice and oppression the most of these unfortunates were incarcerated. Promises of deliverance would not have been made prisoners had not those who made them felt the need of the amelioration of the lot of such. Undoubtedly with another they could have spoken of the life of prisoners in Sheol, the sad and dank underground abode of the dead, as a relief from the life of woe they had known in the
flesh:
There the wicked cease from troubling ;
There the weary are at rest.
There the prisoners are at ease together ;
They hear not the voice of the task-master.
The small and great are there ;
And the slave is free from his master.
Job. 3:17-19-
We may say concerning all who were regarded inferiors the poor, including the widows and the fatherless, slaves and servants, strangers and prisoners that the emphasis of the prophets was upon justice rather than upon charity. In cases of extreme want or suffering the poor were to be relieved : they must be fed and clothed and furnished shelter. But the insist- ence was upon justice, apparently in the thought that such would ordinarily be able to eke out a livelihood, if they were not defrauded or injured. The prophets were not men who encour- aged the making of paupers or dependants. They evidently believed in self-help. If only their rights were secured them, they were sure the poor would in most instances get along toler- ably ; but justice must be tempered with mercy. The unfortu- nate must not be handled in a hard and loveless way (Hos. 12:6 ; Zach. 7:9, 10). The prophets went so far as to remind their hearers that it was justice and mercy in their dealing with such which would commend them to their God, rather than more frequent sacrifices.
"For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hos. 6:6), one of the prophets made his God to say. While another inquires :
