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Arduino Robotic Projects 1st Edition Grimmett Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Grimmett, Richard
ISBN(s): 9781783989829, 1783989823
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 13.16 MB
Year: 2014
Language: english
www.allitebooks.com
Arduino Robotic Projects

Build awesome and complex robots with the

power of Arduino

Richard Grimmett

BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI

www.allitebooks.com
Arduino Robotic Projects

Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written
permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in
critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy
of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is
sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt
Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages
caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the
companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals.
However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: August 2014

Production reference: 1070814

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78398-982-9

www.packtpub.com

Cover image by Maria Cristina Caggiani (mariacristinacaggiani@virgilio.it)

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 Credits
Author Project Coordinators
Richard Grimmett Mary Alex
Akash Poojary
Reviewers
Jimmy Hedman Proofreaders
Pradumn Joshi Maria Gould
Sudar Muthu Paul Hindle
Karan Thakkar
Indexers
Commissioning Editor Hemangini Bari
Julian Ursell Mehreen Deshmukh
Rekha Nair
Acquisition Editor Tejal Soni
Sam Wood

Graphics
Content Development Editor Sheetal Aute
Akshay Nair
Ronak Dhruv
Disha Haria
Technical Editors
Abhinash Sahu
Manal Pednekar
Ankita Thakur
Production Coordinator
Alwin Roy
Copy Editors
Alisha Aranha
Cover Work
Roshni Banerjee
Alwin Roy
Gladson Monteiro
Karuna Narayanan
Adithi Shetty

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 About the Author

Richard Grimmett has always been fascinated by computers and electronics from
his very first programming project that used FORTRAN on punch cards. He has a
Bachelor's and Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Leadership
Studies. He also has 26 years of experience in the Radar and Telecommunications
industries and even has one of the original brick phones. He now teaches Computer
Science and Electrical Engineering at Brigham Young University-Idaho, where his
office is filled with his many robotic projects. He has authored two books, BeagleBone
Robotic Projects and Raspberry Pi Robotic Projects, for Packt Publishing.

I would certainly like to thank my wife, Jeanne, and my family

for providing me with a wonderful, supportive environment that
encourages me to take on projects like this one. I would also like
to thank my students; they show me that amazing things can be
accomplished by those who are unaware of all the barriers.

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 About the Reviewers

Jimmy Hedman is a professional high performance computing (HPC) geek

who works with large systems where size is measured in number of racks and cores.
In his spare time, he goes in the opposite direction and focuses on smaller things,
such as BeagleBone Blacks and Arduinos. He is currently employed by South Pole
AB, the biggest computer server manufacturer in Sweden, where he is a Linux
consultant with HPC as his main focus. This is the first book Jimmy has worked on,
but hopefully not the last.

I would like to thank my understanding wife who lets me go on with

my hobbies like I do. I would also like to thank Packt Publishing
for letting me have this much fun with interesting stuff to read and
review, and not to forget, Stockholm Robotförening (Stockholm
Robot Club), which opened my eyes to how easy it is to actually
build a robot.

Pradumn Joshi is currently pursuing his Bachelor's degree in Electrical

Engineering from NIT, Surat. He is an avid elocutionist, tinkerer, and debate
enthusiast. He is also interested in economics, freelance writing, and western
music. His area of technical interest lies in open source hardware development
and embedded systems.

I would like to thank my best friends and brothers, Rahul

and Parikshit.

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Sudar Muthu builds robots as a hobby, and Arduino is his playground. He
discovered the joy of hardware programming through Arduino around 4 years back,
and since then, he has been using it for his various pet projects. He has created a lot
of libraries for Arduino and also currently maintains a Makefile for Arduino that
helps you do professional Arduino development.

He conducts workshops about Arduino and robotics and has given talks
at various conferences about hardware programming. He blogs about his
experience in hardware programming and also about his various projects at
http://hardwarefun.com.

I would like to dedicate this book to my parents, who gave me life,

to my wife, who made it happier, and to my son, Arul, who made it
worth living.

Karan Thakkar is a hybrid mobile developer at Tata Consultancy Services

Ltd., with experience in a variety of enterprise projects based on cross-platform
frameworks/libraries such as EnyoJS, Sencha Touch, Backbone.js, and PhoneGap.
He graduated from Shivaji University with a degree in Electronics and
Telecommunication. His blog can be found at http://karanjthakkar.wordpress.
com/blog/. He has written a couple of interesting and highly viewed articles on
OpenCV and Arduino. Being a robotics enthusiast, he rarely stops boasting about
how he had the chance to tinker with the humanoid robot, Aldebaran Nao, during
an internship.

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www.allitebooks.com
 Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Powering on Arduino 7
Selecting the right Arduino board 7
A brief history of Arduino 7
Introducing the different versions of Arduino 8
Arduino Uno R3 9
Arduino Mega 2560 R3 10
Choosing the Arduino Mega 10
Arduino Due 11
Arduino Micro 11
Adafruit FLORA 12
Adafruit Gemma 13
Adafruit Trinket 14
Other options with Arduino 14
Powering up Arduino 15
Unveiling your Arduino 15
Connecting to Arduino 16
Installing the FLORA IDE 17
Summary 17
Chapter 2: Getting Started with the Arduino IDE 19
Using a Windows machine to develop with Arduino 19
Running the IDE for Uno 20
Setting the IDE to your board 22
Selecting the proper COM port 23
Opening and uploading a file to Arduino 23
Running the IDE for Mega 26
Running the IDE for the Adafruit FLORA 27
Installing the Adafruit drivers 28
Selecting the Adafruit boards 30

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Table of Contents

Selecting the COM port 30

Coding an LED flash on the FLORA 31
Using a Mac to develop using Arduino 33
Summary 34
Chapter 3: Simple Programming Concepts Using the
Arduino IDE 35
Creating, editing, and saving files on Arduino 36
Basic C programming on Arduino 40
Basic programming constructs on Arduino 47
The if statement 48
The for statement 50
Summary 52
Chapter 4: Accessing the GPIO Pins 53
The GPIO capability of Arduino 53
The first external hardware connection 57
The Arduino IDE and LED code 60
Summary 64
Chapter 5: Working with Displays 65
A simple serial display 65
Enabling the serial display in the IDE 67
Connecting a display using the SPI interface 72
Enabling the SPI display in the IDE 74
An LCD shield 77
Enabling the LCD display in the IDE 78
Summary 81
Chapter 6: Controlling DC Motors 83
The basics of DC motor 83
Connecting a DC motor directly to Arduino 84
Using Arduino code to control the speed of the DC motor 86
Connecting a DC motor using an H-bridge and Arduino 87
Using Arduino code to control the direction of the DC motor 89
Controlling the DC motor using a shield 90
The Arduino code for the DC motor shield 94
Summary 96
Chapter 7: Controlling Servos with Arduino 97
The basics of a servo motor 97
Connecting a servo motor directly to Arduino 98
Controlling the servos with a program 100

[ ii ]
 Table of Contents

Connecting a servo motor shield to Arduino 102

Controlling the servo motor shield with a program 102
Summary 110
Chapter 8: Avoiding Obstacles Using Sensors 111
An overview of the sensors 111
Sonar sensors 112
Infrared sensors 113
Connecting a sonar sensor to Arduino 114
Accessing the sonar sensor from the Arduino IDE 114
Connecting an IR sensor to Arduino 117
Accessing the IR sensor from the Arduino IDE 118
Creating a scanning sensor platform 120
Summary 122
Chapter 9: Even More Useful Sensors 123
Connecting a digital compass to Arduino 123
Accessing the compass from the Arduino IDE 125
Connecting an accelerometer/gyro to Arduino 127
Accessing the accelerometer from the Arduino IDE 129
Connecting an altimeter/pressure sensor to Arduino 132
Accessing the altimeter/pressure sensor from the Arduino IDE 133
Summary 135
Chapter 10: Going Truly Mobile – the Remote Control
of Your Robot 137
Connecting a simple RF interface to Arduino 138
Enabling a simple RF interface in the Arduino IDE 140
Connecting an XBee interface to Arduino 144
Enabling an XBee interface in the Arduino IDE 150
Connecting a Bluetooth shield to Arduino 153
Connecting a Wi-Fi shield to Arduino 154
Enabling the Wi-Fi shield in the Arduino IDE 154
Connecting a GSM/GPRS shield to Arduino 156
Summary 156
Chapter 11: Using a GPS Device with Arduino 157
GPS tutorial 157
Connecting a GPS device directly to Arduino 160
Accessing the GPS device from the Arduino IDE 161
Connecting a GPS shield to Arduino 163
Accessing the GPS shield from the Arduino IDE 164
Summary 166

[ iii ]
Table of Contents

Chapter 12: Taking Your Robot to Sea 167

Building an automated sailing platform 167
Building an Arduino-powered underwater ROV 171
Building an ROV 171
Controlling brushless DC motors with Arduino 172
Connecting a LAN shield to Arduino 176
Accessing a camera for your project 185
Summary 187
Chapter 13: Robots That Can Fly 189
Building an Arduino-operated plane 189
Building a quadcopter platform 196
Summary 201
Chapter 14: Small Projects with Arduino 203
Small robots and Arduino 203
Wearable Arduino projects 211
Summary 218
Index 219

[ iv ]
 Preface
We live in a wonderful time where we have access to marvelous chunks of
technology that inspire our creativity. The personal computer, smart phone, web
cam—all of these make our lives easier, but more importantly, more creative. These
new inventions invite us to not only become users, but also developers and creators,
adding our own adaptions to the wide range of applications available.

This ability for the average person to become a developer is also true in the robotics
world. One of the tools that makes this available is Arduino, a processor board that
was built to allow almost anyone to create amazing projects with little cost and even
less technical expertise. This small, inexpensive, powerful board has been used in a
wide range of projects. With its success, has come an entire community of developers
who not only provide help in the area of software development, but also provide
hardware add-ons and even new form factors for the processor board itself.

It can, however, still be a bit intimidating to start using Arduino in your projects.
This book is designed to help anyone, even those with no programming background
or experience, be successful in building both simple but also quite complex robotic
projects. The book is designed to lead you through the process step by step so that
your robotic designs can come to life.

Hopefully, this book will inspire those with the imagination and creative spirit to
build those wildly inventive designs that are swirling around in their heads. One
day, robots will be as pervasive as cell phones are today. So, start creating!

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Powering on Arduino, covers the selection of the right Arduino board for
your project and how to be successful the first time you add power.

Chapter 2, Getting Started with the Arduino IDE, shows you how to download, install,
and use the environment for your specific Arduino.
Preface

Chapter 3, Simple Programming Concepts Using the Arduino IDE, introduces basic
programming constructs and how to use them within the Arduino IDE.

Chapter 4, Accessing the GPIO Pins, shows you the details of how to both send
information to as well as get information from the outside world through the
available GPIO capabilities.

Chapter 5, Working with Displays, shows you several different types and sizes of
displays and also details how to add them to your project.

Chapter 6, Controlling DC Motors, shows you how to connect DC motors for robots
that use wheels or tracks to move.

Chapter 7, Controlling Servos with Arduino, shows you how to control servos to build
walking robots.

Chapter 8, Avoiding Obstacles Using Sensors, shows you how to add sensors to avoid
or, perhaps, find objects.

Chapter 9, Even More Useful Sensors, shows you how to add different types of sensors
to your project.

Chapter 10, Going Truly Mobile – the Remote Control of Your Robot, covers how to
communicate with your robot wirelessly.

Chapter 11, Using a GPS Device with Arduino, shows you how to add a GPS device so
that you always know where your robot is. This is important because if your robot
gets truly mobile, it might get lost.

Chapter 12, Taking Your Robot to Sea, shows you some robots that can sail and explore
under water.

Chapter 13, Robots That Can Fly, introduces you to robots that can fly.

Chapter 14, Small Projects with Arduino, shows you how to adapt other toy robots
using Arduino or add a bit of flash to your current robotic projects using LEDs.

What you need for this book

The most important piece of software required for this book is the Arduino IDE,
which is available at http://www.arduino.cc/. The only other software that will be
required is the software drivers associated with the hardware that you might add to
your project; these will be detailed in the individual chapters themselves.

[2]
 Preface

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone with a little programming interest, a bit of imagination, and
the desire to create their own amazing robotic projects. The book is designed to start
by teaching beginners the basics of Arduino and programming. You'll tackle more
and more challenging projects until you have the know-how to build your own
complex robots that can sail, swim, and fly.

Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between
different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an
explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions,
pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows:
"Arduino will then move to the loop() function and begin executing the
statements there."

A block of code is set as follows:

// Pin D7 has an LED connected on FLORA.
// give it a name:
int led = 7;
// the setup routine runs once when you press RESET:
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
}
// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
digitalWrite(led, HIGH); // turn the LED on
delay(100); // wait for a second
digitalWrite(led, LOW); // turn the LED off
delay(1000); // wait for a second
}

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the
screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Select
the TFTDisplayText example by navigating to Examples | TFT | Arduino |
TFTDisplayText."

[3]
Preface

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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[4]
 Preface

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[5]
 Powering on Arduino
Welcome to the wonderful world of Arduino! This small but powerful processor
board has become a staple with the robotic hobbyist community, and many have
provided open source software to enhance its capabilities. Unfortunately, many,
especially those new to embedded systems and programming, can end up so
discouraged that the processor board can end up on the shelf gathering dust. The
purpose of this first chapter is to help you decide which of the many different
Arduinos is right for your application. Then, you'll walk through the steps to get
your Arduino powered up and working so that you can begin working on all those
amazing robotic projects you've always wanted to create.

Selecting the right Arduino board

Before we connect power and start programming, you'll need to decide which of the
different Arduinos is right for your project.

A brief history of Arduino

First, let's understand a little history and a few definitions. Arduino began in
2005 with a few brave folks at a school in Italy deciding that providing a simple,
inexpensive, easy-to-work-with hardware (HW) and software (SW) platform would
be a wonderful endeavor so that their students could work on their own embedded
systems projects. They started with the Atmel series of processors and then added
four key elements.

First, they provided an easy-to-use hardware connection to the processor so that

users didn't need to purchase expensive and difficult-to-use additional HW for this
task. Initially, this connection was done via a serial port; now, it is almost universally
done through USB.

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Powering on Arduino

Second, they provided a boot program (the program that runs when the processor
powers on) that would configure the hardware and get the entire system to a known
state so that users would have a standard set of hardware with which they can work.
This also enables the contribution of the third key, which is the Arduino integrated
development environment (IDE). It is a piece of SW that runs on a host computer
and allows developers to develop their projects and then upload them easily to the
target Arduino development board. The program can then be run, debugged, and
modified through the IDE. Then, when the program is completed, you disconnect
Arduino from the host system and it will run without any connection to the
development system.

The last contribution is a set of Input/Output (I/O) pins in a standard configuration.

This makes documentation easy, but more importantly, it has allowed for an entire
set of additional capability to be provided by what are called shields. These shields
fit on top of Arduino, plug directly into the pins, and are supported by a code library
that allows the user to easily access the increased functionality.

Introducing the different versions of Arduino

Initially, there was only a single board, which made selection easy. However, as
the community of Arduino users has grown, so have the many different needs for
different sizes, capabilities, and form factors. There are now many different Arduino
versions and even Arduino clones. There are also chips that allow you to create your
very own Arduino-like systems. There are many well-known and popular versions
of Arduino for you to consider for your project. However, they are too many to be
listed and discussed here.

There are some that are very powerful but also have a much larger form factor and
are more expensive. There are some that are extremely small and inexpensive, but
they are somewhat limited in the size of programs and interfaces. Here are some of
the most popular versions of Arduino.

[8]
 Chapter 1

Arduino Uno R3
Perhaps the current most popular version of Arduino is the Arduino Uno R3 (or
Rev3). The following is an image of the unit:

Choosing the Arduino Uno R3

This is a standard choice for many Arduino projects. It has 32 KB of space for
programs, which is a relatively adequate amount for most small-to medium-size
programs. It has an ATmega328 processor running at 16 MHz and the standard
Arduino set of I/O pins, 14 digital I/O pins, six analog inputs, and one serial
communication port. It takes a USB A Male to B Male cable, as shown in the
following image:

[9]
Powering on Arduino

Arduino Mega 2560 R3

Another popular choice, especially when additional program space and
programming power is needed, is the Arduino Mega 2560 R3. The following
is an image of this Arduino:

Choosing the Arduino Mega

The Arduino Mega is Arduino of choice for larger projects that require more
programming space, a more powerful processor, more I/O, or all of these. It uses an
ATmega2560 processor, which runs programs faster than the ATmega328 processor.
The biggest difference, perhaps, is the larger program size. It has a total of 256 KB of
memory, which can store much larger programs than the standard Arduino Uno. It
also has more analog and digital I/O pins.

The add-on shields are boards that can fit on top of Arduino to add more
functionalities. However, it is important to note that they are made to fit
the Arduino Uno may not fit the Arduino Mega. For each shield you are
considering, make sure it will work with your particular Arduino.

Spotting a counterfeit or clone

There is one more thing to note here. Where it says Mega, you'll notice that there
is no Arduino trademark on the board. The Arduino team restricts the usage of its
trademark for manufacturers that pay a license fee and work with the team to ensure
quality. In this case, this board is almost assuredly not an official Arduino Mega.
Go to http://arduino.cc/en/Products/Counterfeit#.UxkWsfldVHI to find out
more about how to spot a counterfeit.

[ 10 ]
 Chapter 1

As the hardware for Arduino is also open source, some manufacturers take this
design and provide new and different designs form factors. These are considered
Arduino clones. You will need to rely on the quality of the manufacturers of these
clones, so consider that before purchasing.

Arduino Due
If you need even more processing speed, the most powerful of all the Arduino lines
is the Arduino Due. The following is an image of this product:

Choosing the Arduino Due

The Arduino Due is truly at the top of the line as far as processing power is
concerned. This unit uses the AT91SAM3X8E7 processor, which is an ARM Cortex
processor. It is the same type of processor that many cell phones use. It also offers
512 KB of memory and lots of analog and digital I/O pins. Shields that are made to
fit the Arduino Mega or Uno often will fit the Arduino Due, but it is always good
to check before purchase. For most starter projects, you'll not need the power of the
Arduino Due.

Arduino Micro
If you need to go smaller, the Arduino line also offers opportunities with much
smaller packages in a number of different form factors. One of the more popular
units is the Arduino Micro. The Micro is a very small form factor; yet, it has a
processor with the appropriate boot parameters so that you can run the Arduino
IDE, the USB connector, and the exposed I/O pins, even though they are much fewer
than those found in the Arduino Uno.

[ 11 ]
Powering on Arduino

The following is an image of this unit:

Choosing the Arduino Micro

This unit comes with an ATmega328 processor, the same processor that comes with
the Arduino Uno, but runs at half the clock rate. It comes with the same 32 KB of
memory as the Uno but with much fewer I/O pins. For this unit, and the others
that I will present here, you'll need to use a mini-USB B cable, as shown in the
following image:

Adafruit FLORA
As noted earlier, as Arduino designs and parts are openly available, some companies
have taken the standard Arduino and given it a different look. If you are looking for
a much different form factor, you can try the Adafruit FLORA, offered by Adafruit at
www.adafruit.com. The following is an image of this unit:

[ 12 ]
 Chapter 1

Choosing the Adafruit FLORA

The Adafruit FLORA is part of a wearable line of Arduino clone processors. It is 1.75
inches in diameter, but still has the USB connection, connectivity to the Arduino
IDE, and exposed pins, but much fewer than any of the other Arduinos we have
discussed. It uses the Atmega32u4 processor and also uses a mini-USB B cable.

Adafruit Gemma
If you like the FLORA form factor but want something even smaller, you can
purchase the Gemma from Adafruit. In the following image, this unit is on the
right-hand side of the FLORA:

[ 13 ]
Powering on Arduino

Choosing the Adafruit Gemma

Amazingly, the Adafruit Gemma still has the USB connector, uses the same Arduino
IDE, and has some I/O pins still available. As it has an ATtiny85 processor running
at 8 MHz, only 8 KB of memory, and far fewer I/O pins, it can only be used in
limited applications. However, it is an interesting form factor.

Adafruit Trinket
Finally, another small form factor Arduino from Adafruit is the Trinket. The
following is an image of it with the FLORA and Gemma in the background:

Choosing the Adafruit Trinket

The trinket is very similar in performance with the Gemma, with the same processor,
memory, and I/O.

Other options with Arduino

There are also other possible Arduino configurations. As you can purchase a chip
that has the Arduino processor and Boot ROM configuration, you can build a custom
Arduino configuration. The http://www.instructables.com/id/Paperduino-20-
with-Circuit-Scribe/ website even shows you how to print your own Arduino
circuit on paper.

[ 14 ]
 Chapter 1

Powering up Arduino
There is nothing as exciting as ordering and finally receiving a new piece of
hardware; yet, things can go poorly even in the first few minutes. This chapter will
hopefully help you avoid the pitfalls that normally accompany unpacking and
configuring your Arduino. We'll step through the process, answer many of the
different questions you might have, and help you understand what is going on. If
you don't get through this chapter, you'll not be successful at any of the others, and
your HW will go unused, which would be a real tragedy. So, let's get started.

One of the most challenging aspects of writing this guide is to decide to what level I
should describe each step. Some of you are beginners, others may have some limited
experience, and others will know significantly more in some of these areas. I'll try to
be brief but still detail the steps to take in order to be successful.

The items you'll need for this chapter's projects are as follows:

• An Arduino
• A USB cable to go between your Arduino and the host computer
• A host computer running a Windows, Mac, or Linux operating system

Unveiling your Arduino

Before plugging anything in, inspect the board for any issues that might have
occurred during shipping. This is normally not a problem, but it is always good to
do a quick visual inspection. You should also acquaint yourself with the different
connections on the board. In the following image, the connections on the board are
labelled for your information:

[ 15 ]
Powering on Arduino

The Arduino Mega is very similar; it just has more I/O pins. However, the FLORA is
a bit different. The following image shows the connections:

Connecting to Arduino
Before you connect the board, download the appropriate SW for your computer
(Windows, Mac, or Linux from http://arduino.cc/en/main/software#.UxoUA_
ldUvs). Install the SW by following the instructions for your board and operating
system. This will also install the drivers for the board. Then, connect the board to the
computer. To do this, you'll need to go through the USB-client connection. This is
achieved by performing the following steps:

1. Connect the USB connector end of the cable to the board.

2. Connect the other end of the USB connector to the USB port of the PC.

When you plug the board in, the PWR LED should constantly be green. The
following image shows the location of the LED so that you're certain which
one to look for:

[ 16 ]
 Chapter 1

The Arduino Uno is also preloaded with a simple blink program; the yellow LED
should also be turning on and off every second. The Mega will look very similar to
the Arduino Uno.

Installing the FLORA IDE

If you are using the FLORA Arduino, you should get your Arduino IDE from
http://learn.adafruit.com/getting-started-with-flora/download-
software. Unzip the file and place it in a directory where you can get to it later.
Then, use the USB cable to connect the device to the computer. When the device is
connected, it should look like the following image when powered on:

Don't worry yet about the blinking red LED; I'll explain this in Chapter 2, Getting
Started with the Arduino IDE.

Summary
Congratulations! You've completed the first stage of your journey. If you haven't
purchased your Arduino yet, feel free to go out and start your Arduino experience.
If you have, you should have your Arduino up and working. No gathering dust in
the bin for this piece of hardware. It is now ready to start connecting to all sorts of
interesting devices in all sorts of interesting ways.

Your system has lots of capabilities. Your next step will be learning how to bring
up the Arduino IDE so that you can start doing all sorts of amazing things with
your Arduino.

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www.allitebooks.com
 Getting Started with the
Arduino IDE
Now that you have Arduino connected to power, you are ready to start the IDE. In
this chapter, I'll start by covering how to use the IDE in Windows. Then, I'll cover
any specific change you might need to make if you are using a Mac.

For this chapter, the objectives are as follows:

• Load and configure the Arduino IDE

• Download and run a simple example program

As discussed previously, Arduino comes in many flavors and there are too many to
include an example for each one. Sometimes, individual boards will need a special
version of the IDE. This book will focus primarily on Uno, perhaps the most popular
of Arduino variants. Here and there I'll also throw in an example or two from Mega
and one of the small Arduino form factors, FLORA. There are two versions of the
IDE: 1.0.x and 1.5.x. Most of your work will be done with 1.0.x, but I'll show you
when to use 1.5.x for some newer versions of Arduino. You don't need a board to
experiment with the IDE, but it will make much more sense if you have one.

Using a Windows machine to develop

with Arduino
If you are using a newer version of Microsoft Windows and the Arduino Uno, when
you plug Arduino into the system, it will automatically try to install the drivers.
If the device fails to install, you may have to tell it where the drivers are. You will
know when this happens—you will be prompted with an error message saying
Device driver software was not successfully installed. If you get this error, follow
the directions at http://Arduino.cc/en/Guide/Windows#.UxoWXPldUvt.
Getting Started with the Arduino IDE

When your drivers are installed, you should see the following device when you
navigate to Start Menu | Devices and Printers:

In this case, the device is connected to COM port 23. Note down the COM port
Arduino is connected to as you'll need that in a minute. If you are using an Apple
Mac or Linux machine, follow the instructions at arduino.cc/en/Guide/MacOSX for
Mac and playground.arduino.cc/Learning/Linux for Linux on how to determine
your USB port connection.

Running the IDE for Uno

Now that the device is installed, you can run the IDE. Select the IDE icon that should
have been installed on the desktop as shown in the following screenshot:

[ 20 ]
 Chapter 2

When you select this icon, the IDE should start and you should see something like
the following screenshot:

This is the environment you will use to develop your applications. The IDE will then
make it easy to compile the code, upload it to the device, and run it.

[ 21 ]
Getting Started with the Arduino IDE

Setting the IDE to your board

First, you'll need to set the IDE to create code for the proper processor because
different Arduino boards have slightly different hardware configurations.
Fortunately, the IDE lets you set that by choosing the correct board. To do this,
navigate to Tools | Board | Arduino Uno as shown in the following screenshot:

[ 22 ]
 Chapter 2

Selecting the proper COM port

The next step is to select the proper COM port. To do this, navigate to Tools | Serial
Port | COM23 (the port you noted earlier), as shown in the following screenshot:

The IDE should now indicate that you are using the Arduino Uno on COM23 in the
lower-right corner of the IDE, as seen in the preceding screenshot.

Opening and uploading a file to Arduino

Now you can open and upload a simple example file. It is called the Blink
application. It has already been written for you, so you won't need to do any coding.

[ 23 ]
Getting Started with the Arduino IDE

To get a Blink application, perform the following steps:

1. Navigate to File | Examples | 01.Basics | Blink as shown in the

following screenshot:

2. You should then see the Blink code in the IDE window:

[ 24 ]
 Chapter 2

3. Select the Upload button as shown in the following screenshot:

4. Once you have uploaded the file, it will give you an indication in the
lower-left corner of the IDE display that the file has been uploaded:

[ 25 ]
Getting Started with the Arduino IDE

5. When the program is uploaded, it will automatically start running and the
orange LED on the Arduino Uno will blink:

You have now successfully uploaded your first code to your Arduino!

Running the IDE for Mega

If you are using Mega, it will be very similar. Connecting the unit via USB and then
navigating to Start Menu | Devices and Printers will show the following device:

Note that in this case, Mega is connected to COM port 24. The port that Arduino will
be connected to is selected by the computer and is not the same for all Arduinos. The
only difference between the instructions for using Mega and Uno is that you will
need to set the correct board type for Mega. To do this, navigate to Tools | Board |
Arduino Mega 2560 or Mega ADK as shown in the following screenshot:

[ 26 ]
 Chapter 2

If you have a different COM port number, make sure you set that by navigating to
Tools | Serial Port. You can now upload the Blink code, and the orange LED should
be blinking on Mega.

Running the IDE for the Adafruit FLORA

When connecting the FLORA device, you'll need to have the Adafruit version of
the IDE installed. You can download this from learn.adafruit.com/getting-
started-with-flora/download-software. Follow the directions on this site to
download and install the IDE. Since the FLORA device is not standard Arduino,
this will add another selection to the Board type for the Arduino IDE.

[ 27 ]

www.allitebooks.com
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
expressly for those scholars who, whilst firmly adhering to the
inherited faith, had been trained in the study of philosophy, and
were unwilling to abandon either. Maimonides shows the way how to
explain Biblical passages implying statements contrary to
philosophical teachings, and how to reconcile theology and
philosophy. A similar task was undertaken in modern times by Moses
Mendelssohn in his “Jerusalem” and “Morgenstunden,” in order to
show that strict adherence to the Jewish religion is quite compatible
with the teaching of philosophy. The various systems of philosophy
in Alexandria, in the Mohammedan countries in the Middle Ages, and
in Germany in the last century, which threatened to endanger our
religion, have lived their time and have gone to their fathers, giving
way to new systems and new ideas, whilst the authority of the Word
of God [36]has maintained its place. This having been the case in
former days, there is no reason why we should not in the present
conflict assume, primâ facie, that the scientific and philosophical
dogmas now in favour, alike with Jews and non-Jews, will have their
time, and will ultimately give way to other theories, and the present
conflict will then likewise terminate, dying a natural death. This
reflection should put us on our guard lest we be persuaded by the
plausibility of the modern philosophical and scientific dogmas, and
throw aside our religious faith and traditions. We ought to bear in
mind that, however correct the conclusions of modern science may
appear that can be tested by our senses, theories which are not
subject to such tests are in reality nothing but hypotheses to which a
greater or lesser degree of probability attaches.

Suppose now—always bearing in mind the imperfect character of our

powers of observation—we were to observe that certain plants or
species of animals developed by training and circumstances into new
species, or to see plants being transformed into animals, or even to
notice literally “the foal of a wild ass born a man,” what would all
this prove? That the Creator endowed the species of plants and
animals with such properties as would enable them to transform into
new species, or into any other of the species already in existence;
but it does not follow that the Creator must have adopted the same
method in the act of creation. He created as many species as His
wisdom determined, although they might all have been able to
develop from one single species. Suppose the problem which the
Alchymists of the Middle Ages proposed [37]to themselves, viz., to
produce an animal being by mere chemical combination, had
actually been solved, would any one have believed that all animals
had been produced in that way? Or does the success of artificial
hatching of eggs convince any person that all birds have sprung
from artificially hatched eggs? The same argument applies to the
geological formation of the earth. We notice changes brought about
through natural forces, and mark the amount of change effected in a
certain period; we are then able to calculate what time would be
required for such or such a change—provided that only those laws
be in force which we have noticed in our calculation. Is it reasonable
or logical to apply to the act of creation the laws which have been
brought into force through this very act? “He said, and it was: He
commanded, and they were created” (Ps. xxxiii. 9). The word of God
produced in a moment what the natural forces established by the
Creator would effect by gradual development in millions of years.

It is true that the earth is one of the most insignificant bodies in the
universe, and man is a small portion of the creatures on earth, and
yet it is neither impossible nor unreasonable to believe that the
benefits which man derives from the various parts of the creation,
from the sun, the moon, and the stars, were essential elements in
the scheme of the All-wise Creator.

Attempts have frequently been made to interpret the Biblical account

of the creation in such a manner as to reconcile it with the scientific
theories of the time. Thus it has been argued that the period
between the [38]creation of “heaven and earth” and the creation of
“the light” is not described in the Bible, and may have been millions
of millions of years. It has likewise been suggested that the term
“day” is to be understood in the sense of “period.” It has further
been pointed out that the account of the creation of animals
indicates a process of development rather than a creatio ex nihilo;
for it says, “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly
living beings,” &c. (Gen. i. 20). “Let the earth bring forth living
beings,” &c. (Ibid. 24). These interpretations may be true, and may
suffice temporarily to check sceptical ideas that rise in our mind; but
without the firm belief in the Word of God, and the consciousness of
the insufficiency of human reason thoroughly to understand the
plans and ways of God, our faith can never be safe. Supported by
this belief we shall always be able to brave the ever-recurring billows
of scepticism.

2. The next principle contained in our Creed concerning God is the

Unity of God.

“I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out from the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage: thou shalt have no other gods
before me” (Exod. xx. 2–3). This is the first lesson the Israelites
were taught when God revealed Himself to them on Mount Sinai.
The words, “Hear, O Israel; the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”
(Deut. vi. 4), are proclaimed by us thrice every day; we recite them
when we rise; keep them in memory during the day, and repeat
them in the evening before we go to rest; they form our watchword
throughout our life, and with these [39]words upon our lips we end
our earthly existence. The Unity of God is the doctrine that
distinguishes the Jews from other religious sects, in so far as the
Jews were the first nation of Monotheists. From them Monotheism
has spread among other peoples, who, however, did not always
receive or preserve it in its original purity. We not only proclaim God
as One, refusing to recognise as divine any power beside Him, but
refrain also from attributing to God anything that might directly or
indirectly involve any notion contrary to the Unity of God.

For this reason certain Jewish philosophers considered it unlawful to

assign to God any positive attribute. They feared this might lead to
dualism, to believe in God and in His attribute as two distinct beings,
because attributes are so easily personified and addressed as
separate deities. Some theologians even were of opinion that the
admission of God’s attributes is itself a form of dualism which must
be excluded from our faith. Nevertheless, attributes are assigned to
God both in the Scriptures and in our Prayers. We must not,
however, forget that such attributes do not describe anything
inherent in the Divine Being, but only God’s relation to man and His
actions in such terms as are intelligible to human beings. Most of the
attributes are interpreted as being of a negative character, indicating
what we must not say of God. When we speak of the Will, Wisdom,
and Spirit of God, we do not speak of anything separate from the
Divine Being, but of the Divine Being Himself. The Jewish doctrine of
the Unity of God does not admit any kind of dualism in the Divine
Being, and therefore rejects [40]the existence of Divine Attributes as
distinct from God Himself. He is One, simple and indivisible. Even
this property of being One seemed to some theologians to be
contrary to strict unity, and we are therefore taught that we must
not understand it in the sense of a numerical unit, in which sense
the term is used when applied to created beings. The second article
therefore declares: “The Creator is One, and there is no Oneness like
His in any way.”

The Unity of God is the creed which the Jews have always
proclaimed by word of mouth, to which they have given expression
throughout their literature, and for which they have willingly
sacrificed their lives as martyrs. When persecuted by Mohammedans
or Christians the Jews were frequently forced to break the Sabbath,
to ignore the dietary laws, and to neglect Divine worship. They bore
all this patiently when under pressure of persecution, but when they
were asked to renounce the belief in God’s Unity they did not doubt
for a moment as to what their duty was; they adhered firmly to ‫‏יחוד‬
‫השם‬‎“the belief in God’s Unity,” and sacrificed their lives for ‫‏קדוש‬
‫השם‬‎“the sanctification of God’s name.”

The Jews have been victorious. In spite of persecution and

oppression they have maintained their faith. The doctrine of the
Unity of God, for which they had to suffer so much in past centuries,
is now admitted as true by most of their former persecutors.

In order to make clear what we mean by unity, and to express that

God could not be conceived as existing at any time in a double form,
we add the words: “And [41]He alone was, is, and will be our God.”
The second article runs therefore as follows:—

“I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, is One; that
there is no Oneness like His, in any way, and that He alone was, is,
and will be our God.”

3. The strict Unity of God, in the sense explained above, implies His
Incorporeality, which forms the subject of the third article.
Corporeality implies substance and form, a dualism which must be
rigidly excluded from God. It would not have been necessary to
formulate a special article for the exclusion of corporeality from the
idea of God but for the fact that many erroneous notions have been
entertained on the subject. Besides the fact that the corporeality of
God was assumed by certain religious sects, there have been
scholars among the Jews who defended the literal sense of
anthropomorphic phrases in the Scriptures.
In the Bible anthropomorphic expressions are employed in order to
illustrate the different acts of Divine Providence in such a way as to
render them more intelligible to us human beings. We consist of
body and soul, and we produce an impression or exercise an
influence on others by means of our body and by the activity of our
bodily organs. How an incorporeal being acts upon the corporeal
world we are unable fully to comprehend, much less to describe. If
we desire to picture to ourselves or to others the fact that through
Divine Providence something has been produced on earth, we must
employ the same phrases which we use in describing human acts
which effect [42]a similar result. In reality, however, there is no
comparison or similarity between God and corporeal beings,
between His actions and ours.

When we therefore speak of the house of God we mean the house

which we devote to our prayers, in which we feel the omnipresence
of the Almighty more than in any other place. The heaven is called
the throne of God and the earth His footstool only to express the
idea that the majesty of God is far beyond comparison with that of
any earthly ruler, and that the house of God built by human hands is
not intended to satisfy the requirements of the Supreme Being but
those of man. We call Him our Father and He calls us His children,
because we love Him as we love our father, and He loves us as a
father loves his children. In the same sense the Psalmist (ii. 7)
repeats the words of God to him, “Thou art my son; I have this day
begotten thee.” Such expressions as these are anthropomorphic.

The Bible frequently exhorts us not to imagine or ascribe to God any

form or likeness. Comp. Deut. iv. 15, “Take ye therefore good heed
unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the
Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of fire.” In the same
sense the prophet asks in the name of God (Isa. xl. 18), “To whom
then will you liken God, or what likeness will you compare unto
Him?” “To whom then will you liken Me, that I should be equal to
Him? saith the Holy One” (Ibid. 25).

We declare therefore in the third article:—

“I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His [43]name, is not a

body, that corporeal relations do not apply to Him, and that there
exists nothing that is in any way similar to Him.”

4. The next property we declare of God in the Creed is the eternity

of God. As He is the cause of everything in existence, and requires
no cause for His existence, and as it is impossible to separate the
idea of existence from the idea of God, it follows that God is always
in existence, and that neither beginning nor end can be fixed to His
existence. Maimonides, in expressing his belief in the eternity of
God, lays stress only on God being without a beginning, and in this
sense he interprets the phrase Dip ‫‏אלהי קדם‬‎(Deut. xxxiii. 27), “the
eternal God” who is without a beginning. That God is without end is
equally true, but Maimonides did not desire to introduce this idea
into the fourth article as a distinguishing characteristic, as it is not
necessary to believe that the universe will once come to an end. If it
please the Almighty to give the universe existence for ever, it will
continue for ever. Following, however, the example of the prophets,
who told us in the name of God, “I am the first, and I am the last,”
we express this idea in our Creed, and understand it thus: If, by the
will of the Almighty, the entire universe should come to an end,
God’s existence would still continue. Thus the Psalmist says, “Of old
hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the
work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all
of them shall wax old like a garment: as a vesture shalt Thou
change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou [44]art the same,
and Thy years shall have no end” (Ps. cii. 26–28).

The fourth article is:—

“I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, was the first,
and will be the last.”

6. After having declared our faith in God as the sole Ruler of the
universe, who is One, incorporeal and eternal, we proclaim Him as
our Supreme Master, who alone is capable of granting our petitions.
All existing things are under His control; all forces in nature only
work at His will and by His command. No other being possesses the
power and independence to fulfil our wishes of its own accord, if it
were approached by us with our prayers. It is, therefore, to Him
alone that we can reasonably address our petitions, and in doing so
we have confidence in the efficacy of our prayers, for “the Lord is
nigh to all those who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in
truth” (Ps. cxlv. 18).

This article, although expressly directed against idolatry, and

primarily against the worship of “the angels, the stars, and the
spheres,” implies our belief in God as the Omnipotent, who can do
everything, and can help us when we have not any prospect of relief.

We therefore declare in the fifth article:—

“I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, alone is

worthy of being worshipped, and that no other being is worthy of
our worship.”

The Omnipotence of God is also implied in the first article, which

declares Him the Creator and the Ruler of the universe. That
Maimonides does not directly [45]make omnipotence, like unity,
incorporeality, &c., the subject of a separate article has its good
reason, and is not “the result of mere chance.” Silly questions were
frequently asked; e.g., how far the omnipotence of God extended,
whether it implied the power of making twice two equal to three, or
the whole of a magnitude larger than the sum of its parts, and
similar logical impossibilities. To avoid misunderstanding,
Maimonides did not express our belief in the omnipotence of God in
a separate article, but the first and the fifth articles imply it.

We believe of God that He is immutable or unchangeable. It is,

however, not necessary to express this in a separate article. By
declaring the Unity of God we proclaim also His Immutability, since
unity, in the sense in which we conceive it, is incompatible with any
kind of change. Whatever the change might be that we assumed in
God, it would destroy the idea of His unity.

There are other qualities which we ascribe to God. We call Him

perfect, all-wise, good, kind, merciful, long-suffering, and the like; in
short, whatever we find in our own person good and noble we
believe to be present in God in a higher degree, in the most perfect
form. But these attributes approach very closely
anthropomorphisms, which Maimonides rigidly excludes from the
Creed. They express rather the impressions produced in our soul by
the different acts of God’s Providence, and do not describe God
Himself.

Of this class of attributes are the thirteen divine attributes, ‫‏שלש‬

‫עשרה מדות‬‎(Exod. xxxiv. 6). They [46]describe in thirteen terms the
goodness and mercy of God towards man in his various conditions of
innocence, guilt, and repentance. These are not distinctly mentioned
in our Creed, but when we declare that He is the only Being whom
we can address in our prayers, we are certainly conscious and
convinced that He, being good, kind, and merciful, listens to our
supplications.
[Contents]

2. Revelation, ‫‏תורה מן השמים‬‎.

The second group of principles refers to Revelation. The real process

of revelation, by what means and in what manner the infinite and
incorporeal Being makes His Will known to man, and how the latter
becomes conscious and convinced of the fact that a Divine
communication has been made to him, remains a mystery to all but
those privileged persons who have been actually addressed by the
Almighty. “As the blind man who had never possessed the sense of
sight is incapable of comprehending the actual process of seeing, so
are we, born without that wonderful prophetic eye, without the
prophetic faculty of the mind, incapable of comprehending and
depicting the process of inspiration that goes on within the mind of
the privileged” (Schmiedl, Studien, p. 183). God reveals Himself also
in nature, in the power and wisdom displayed in its phenomena. He
reveals Himself in the history of nations, and especially in the history
of Israel. He reveals Himself in the intelligence of man. In all these
cases the revelation is made to all alike. Those who have eyes may
see, those who have ears may hear, and [47]recognise, every one
according to his capacity, the presence of the Almighty in the
working of the laws of nature, in the development and fates of
nations, and in the life of every individual person. In all these cases
we can test and prove the revelation by ourselves, and need not
exclusively rely on authority. When, however, a Divine
communication is made to one privileged individual, through whom
it is made known to a whole community, or to mankind, there is no
other means of testing the correctness of the revelation than the
trustworthiness of the privileged individual.

The first lesson or proof given to the Israelites of the fact that such
revelation was not only possible, but had actually been vouchsafed
by the Almighty, was the revelation on Mount Sinai, the ‫‏מעמד הר‬
‫סיני‬‎, which became the foundation of the faith of Israel. “And the
Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the
people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee
for ever” (Exod. xix. 9). The trustworthiness of Moses having thus
been tested and established “for ever,” his teaching remained the
foundation of the teaching of all succeeding prophets, and the test
of their truthfulness and genuineness. A prophet who taught
anything opposed to the law of Moses could not be a true prophet,
although he supported his words by signs and miracles (Deut. xiii. 2,
sqq.). Besides, revelation of the Divine Being had taken place
before. God revealed Himself to the first man. Adam heard the voice
of God; he felt the presence of the Almighty, and learnt the amount
of evil man brings upon himself by disobeying the word of God. The
[48]consciousness of the existence of God, and of the fact that He
has revealed Himself to man, has been inherited by the descendants
of Adam. It has not been preserved in all men in the same strength
and purity. The notion of a Divine Being, and of His revelation to
man, became in course of time corrupt, and led to the corruption of
the human race, with the exception of Noah and his family. “Noah
was a righteous man; perfect he was in his generations: with God
did Noah walk” (Gen. vi. 9). The inherited consciousness of God’s
existence and of His rule over man was strengthened in him by
fresh, direct revolution of God. He was told that the wicked would be
destroyed by a flood, and that he with his family would be saved.
“The righteous man” witnessed the infliction which the wicked
brought upon themselves by evil deeds, and also that protection of
himself and his family which had been promised and granted by the
Almighty. After Noah had left the ark the word of God was again
communicated to him, promising that never again would a flood be
sent to destroy all living beings—a promise which succeeding
generations up to the present have seen fulfilled. In the midst of rain
the “sign of covenant,” the rainbow, reminds us still of His promise
and its fulfilment. Of the descendants of Noah the Semites alone
seem to have preserved the belief in God’s existence and His
revelation to man in its original purity; and of the Semites it was
Abraham who was chosen by Providence to be the founder of a
family of faithful believers in God, who formed, as it were, the centre
from which the true faith should spread in all directions over the
whole face of the earth. Abraham [49]received Divine
communications, and so also his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob.
Even when the children of Israel were in Egyptian slavery, and when
they did not hearken to Moses “because of anguish of spirit, and
because of cruel bondage,” the memory of these revelations was
never entirely extinguished in their minds; and when again
addressed by Moses and Aaron “the people believed; and when they
heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that He
had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and
worshipped” (Exod. iv. 31). Their faith was strengthened when they
witnessed the fulfilment of the Divine message which was brought to
them by Moses: “And they believed in the Lord, and in Moses His
servant” (Ibid. xiv. 31).

The foundation of the belief in the possibility of Divine revelation

having thus been laid, that belief was further strengthened through
the revelation on Mount Sinai, when every Israelite heard and
understood the words addressed to him by God, “who had brought
them out of Egypt, of the house of bondage;” they heard the very
words which Moses subsequently told them in the name of God, and
they were convinced of the truth of the words of Moses. He taught
them that there would be other persons chosen by God to bring
messages from Him to the children of Israel or to mankind, and at
the same time he laid down the rule by which the truth of such
messages could be tested.

A person favoured by Divine communications was called a prophet,

‫‏נביא‬‎. That which characterised a prophet and distinguished him from
the ordinary man [50]was the privilege of being chosen by Providence
to be ‫‏מלאך יי‬‎“the messenger of God” to man. This notion of the
characteristics of a prophet explains the circumstance that, although
Daniel was favoured with numerous prophetic visions, the book
called after his name was not placed among the Prophets, but
among the Hagiographa. It is on account of his addressing his
brethren and informing them of the Will of God that a person was
called a prophet. 2 By simply receiving a communication, without the
direction to impart the knowledge acquired to others, a person may
become a man of God, a man in whom there is the spirit of God, but
not a prophet.

It is our belief that God would not reveal Himself to any one that is
unworthy of such distinction. As a conditio sine quâ non it was
necessary that the prophets distinguished themselves in every kind
of virtue, that they set to their fellow-men an example of purity in
thought, loftiness in speech, and nobility in action. As regards
general knowledge and experience they were inferior to none of
their contemporaries. In the Talmud the saying occurs: ‫‏אין השכינה‬
‫שורה על אדם אלא אם כן היה חכם גבור ועשיר‬‎“The Divine spirit
does not rest on man, unless he is wise, strong, and rich” (Babyl.
Talm. Shabbath, 92a). This is certainly a true conception of the
character of a prophet, “strong” and “rich” being understood in a
figurative sense: “strong” in possessing mastery over his passions,
and “rich” in being contented with what he has (Aboth iv. 1). It was
a matter of indifference, however, whether the [51]prophet was
strong in body or weak, whether he had many earthly possessions or
none at all.

In spite of his distinction from his fellow-men in wisdom, moral

strength, and contentedness, the prophet remained a human being;
he was, like every other person, exposed to the temptation to sin
and liable to error. The sins and errors of prophets are recorded in
order to save us from despair when we are conscious of our
sinfulness, and to show us the way to repentance. This is illustrated
especially in the history of the prophet Jonah. The records of the
sins of prophets serve as a warning that we should not consider any
man as perfect or deify him.

Although the prophet is assumed to have been wise, surpassing his

fellow-men in knowledge and wisdom, it is by no means necessary
to believe that he was familiar with all sciences, or that he knew any
of the discoveries made in later times. The prophet had frequently to
inform his brethren of what would happen in future, to tell them of
things which no human eye could foresee. But he had in general no
greater knowledge of coming events than other men, except in
reference to those events concerning which he had received a
message from God for His people or for mankind.

Can a man be trained for the office of a prophet? Was there a school
or institution for this purpose? Every one could certainly be trained
in the primary conditions of a prophet, in the exercise of all human
virtues, and in the acquisition of all available knowledge; and it was
the duty and the aim of the prophets to encourage all their brethren
to such training by their own example. But the principal element in
prophecy [52]the Divine communication, depended solely on the Will
of God. “The sons of the prophets” are generally believed to be the
pupils of the prophets; they formed “the schools of the prophets.”
These schools, however, could not have been schools or colleges in
the ordinary sense of the word. The sons of the prophets were
instructed by the prophets, but not with the purpose of training
them as prophets. It seems that the sons of the prophets served as
agents for promulgating the inspired messages of their chief. Most
probably they led a simple, pious life, were God-fearing, and spent
their time when meeting together in music and song, repeating
hymns and lessons taught by their master.

An account of some of the messages and deeds of the prophets is

given in the Biblical books; some of their speeches also are
preserved, in the section of the Bible called “Latter Prophets,” ‫‏נביאים‬
‫אחרונים‬‎. The speeches of the prophets were in some cases prepared
and written down before they were spoken, in others delivered ex
tempore without preparation, and were written down afterwards
from memory, either by the prophet himself or by one of his hearers,
or were handed down vivâ voce from generation to generation
before they were committed to writing.

There is another kind of Divine revelation which did not find

expression in any message to the Israelites or to mankind, but in a
certain supernatural impulse given to the thought or will of a person
as regards his words and actions. Such an impulse is called
inspiration, and the inspired person is moved to speak or act by the
‫‏רוח יי‬‎“spirit of the Lord.” [53]

It was the spirit of the Lord that moved Samson to heroic deeds
against the enemies of his people; David likewise felt that Divine
impulse when pouring forth his heart before the Lord in his Psalms.
He says: “The spirit of the Lord spake in me, and His word was on
my tongue” (2 Sam. xxiii. 2). It was the spirit of the Lord that filled
the hearts of those who collected and sifted the Holy Writings
containing law, history, prophecies, and poetry, and gave them the
form in which we possess them now.
We are not quite certain as to the form of the letters in the original
copies of the Holy Writings; but from the way in which the
Pentateuch is written now in the Synagogue scrolls, we may infer
with certainty that the ancient copies of the Torah contained no
vowels or accents, and that these have come down to us by oral
tradition.

For the multiplication of copies, human copyists had to be employed.

It is by no means contrary to our faith in the Bible to assume that,
as far as the human work of these copyists is concerned, it must
have been subject to the fate of all human work, to error and
imperfection. And, in fact, there are many copies of the Bible that
abound in mistakes; there are passages in Scripture that vary in the
different manuscripts; hence the numerous variæ lectiones met with
in the critical editions of the Bible. But, on the other hand, it would
not be reasonable to assume that the holy literature and the national
treasure, very limited in size, should have been neglected by the
religious authorities of the time to such an extent that no reliable,
correct copy was kept, to be consulted in case [54]of doubt or
difference of opinion. This being the case with all Biblical books, it
applies with special force to the Torah or Pentateuch, which contains
the Divine commandments. The least alteration made by copyists—
unknowingly or knowingly—might involve a question of life and
death. Must it not have been the duty of the judicial authority to
keep a correct authorised copy in a safe place? It is certainly most
reasonable to assume that such a copy was kept, and that there
were in every generation among the priests or prophets men who
had a thorough knowledge of the Law, and could easily detect any
interference with the text. As the laws do not form a separate
section of the Bible, but are interwoven with a historical account of
important events from the Creation to the death of Moses, the entire
Pentateuch, composed of both laws and history, was preserved with
the same anxiety and watchfulness. That great care was taken in
copying the Law we learn from the fact mentioned in the Talmud,
that Ezra minutely examined the three scrolls he found in the
Temple, and in three passages noticed different readings, of which
he adopted the one found in two copies.

The other books of the Bible are of less importance, but the
exclusion of error on the part of the copyist, though it has not the
same, has yet a high degree of certainty, inasmuch as they too
formed part of the holy, national literature. If a mistake should be
clearly proved, it would not be contrary to our religious principles to
admit it. But we shall find, after thorough study and examination of
the impugned passages, that there is in each case far greater doubt
as to the correctness of any of the numerous emendations
suggested [55]than of the traditional and Massoretic text before us. It
may frequently occur that some emendations appear strikingly
correct, and yet after due reflection they are found more doubtful
than the original. It is therefore our duty thoroughly to examine
each proposed emendation, and to hesitate long before admitting
the incorrectness of the received text and the correctness of the
emendation.

One of the means of preserving the text of the Scriptures in its

integrity has been the Massorah. The notes which are found in the
margin of Biblical books form part of the Massorah. At first the
Massorah was part of the oral tradition; exceptional forms of letters,
punctuation, and words were probably taught vivâ voce, and learnt
by heart, especially by scribes, readers, and teachers. Where a
confounding with other and similar forms was apprehended,
attention was called to the fact, and by certain notes and rules it
was guarded against. The material for the Massorah increased in the
course of time, in the same degree as, with the multiplication of
copies of the Scriptures, the number of misreadings and
misinterpretations increased. Although these notes were arranged
and written down at a late period, they helped to preserve the
Biblical text in its integrity, and it is therefore stated in the Mishnah
(Aboth iii. 13): “Massorah (tradition) is a fence to the Law.”

As to the name of the author of each book or section, and the time
and place of its composition, we are guided by the headings where
such are extant; in the absence of these we are left to the resources
of our own judgment or fancy. There is no reason whatever [56]to
doubt the correctness of these headings, as the religious and
learned authorities of the time were trustworthy men, who would
not add a heading where none was handed down to them by
tradition. Several books and many psalms are therefore left without
a heading; there was no sure tradition about them. How far the
heading of a book or section extends, whether it was meant only for
the beginning or for the whole of it, is in some cases doubtful, and
must be decided by the nature and contents of the book. For
instance, the second part of Isaiah, from chap. xl. to the end, has no
heading of its own; it is therefore open to discussion whether the
heading in the first verse of the first chapter describes only the first
thirty-nine or all the sixty-six chapters of the book. It is possible that
Psalms, ascribed, according to their heading, to David, consist of two
or more parts, of which one only was composed by David. The
names of the books do not necessarily imply a reference to the
author. The Book of Joshua, e.g., may have received its name from
its contents, the history of the Israelites under Joshua being
contained in it. The two books of Samuel could not have been
written by Samuel, not even the whole of the first book, since the
death of Samuel is therein recorded; but they owe their name to the
fact that the first book commences with the history of Samuel.
[Contents]

The Books of the Bible, ‫‏תנ״ך‬‎

The collection of books known by these names are ‫‏ספרי קדש‬‎or

‫‏כתבי קדש‬‎“holy books” or “holy writings,” because the authors of
these books were holy men [57]their object is a holy one, viz., to
train man to holiness, and the contents of the books is holy, free
from all blemish and error. The books vary greatly in character, in
style, and in purpose, but truthfulness is common to all of them.
Whether they narrate events or proclaim God’s decrees, or instruct
or edify their hearers, what they say is true.

The name Bible is derived from the Greek βιβλιον, “book.” ‫‏תנ״ך‬‎
(pronounced tenach) has no meaning in itself, and is a word formed
of the initials of ‫‏תורה נביאים כתובים‬‎. Sometimes ‫‏אנ״ך‬‎(the initials of
the Chaldee ‫‏אוריתא נביאין כתיבין‬‎) is used instead of ‫‏תנ״ך‬‎. Another
name is ‫‏מקרא‬‎“text for reading,” as opposed to vivâ voce tradition.
A passage quoted from the Bible is called ‫‏קרא‬‎or ‫‏מקרא‬‎or ‫‏כתוב‬‎.
Christians call the books of the Hebrew Bible the Old Testament as
distinguished from the New Testament.

1. ‫‏תורה‬‎Law.

The Torah or Law is divided into five books, and is therefore called
‫‏חומש‬‎or Pentateuch (Fivefold or Five-book). The names of the five
books are: (1) ‫‏בראשית‬‎Genesis (Creation); (2) ‫‏שמות‬‎Exodus
(departure, scil., of the Israelites from Egypt); (3) ‫‏ויקרא‬‎Leviticus
(on the laws concerning the Levites or priests), also called ‫‏תורת‬
‫כהנים‬‎“law of the priests;” (4) ‫‏במדבר‬‎Numbers; (5) ‫‏דברים‬‎
Deuteronomy, a Greek term denoting “second-law” or “repetition of
the law,” a translation of the Hebrew ‫‏משנה תורה‬‎.

These names are derived from the beginnings of the books. The
Hebrew names are either the first word [58]of the book, as is the
case in the first and the third books (‫‏בראשית‬‎and ‫‏ויקרא‬‎), or the first
characteristic word, as is the case in the other three books (‫‏שמות‬‎
the second word, ‫‏במדבר‬‎the fifth, ‫‏דברים‬‎the second). The English
or Greek names describe the subject-matter of the first section of
the book. This applies also to the rest of the Biblical writings.

The contents of the five books are as follows:—

The first book (‫‏בראשית‬‎).—It begins with the important lesson, the
basis of all that is taught in the whole Bible: that God is the Creator
of the whole universe. Then follows an account of the Creation, the
history of the first man and the first woman, their transition from the
state of innocence and happiness to the state of sin and toil, their
descendants, the beginnings of industry and civilisation, the
deterioration of mankind, the flood, Noah, and the succeeding
generations to Abraham; the history of the patriarchs Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, or Israel; the immigration of Jacob with his family
into Egypt; and with the death of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the book
concludes.

The book contains principally history, but mention is made also of

some religious institutions. Reference is thus made to the institution
of marriage (ii. 23–25); Sabbath (ii. 1–3); the Covenant of Abraham
or the commandment of circumcision (xvii. 1–14); the prohibition of
eating flesh cut off from an animal while alive (ix. 4, ‫‏אבר מן החי‬‎), of
murder (ix. 5–6), and of eating “the sinew that shrank” (xxxii. 33,
‫‏גיד הנשה‬‎).

The second book (‫‏שמות‬‎).—The history of the family of Jacob, the

Israelites, is continued: their sojourn in [59]Egypt, the Exodus, the
journey to Mount Sinai, the Revelation, the erection of the
Tabernacle, and the events in the camp of the Israelites during their
stay in the wilderness of Sinai.

The Divine precepts take a more prominent place in this book. Chief
among these are the institution of the Jewish Calendar, appointing
the month of Abib—Nisan—to be the first month (xii. 2); the
Sacrifice of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (chap.
xii.); the Sabbath (xvi. 22–30); the Decalogue (chap. xx. 1–12); civil
legislation (xxi. to xxiii.); the year of release (xxiii. 10, 11); and the
‫‏שלש רגלים‬‎or festivals of pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Lord;
viz., Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (‫‏פסח‬‎, ‫‏שבועות‬‎and ‫‏סכות‬‎
xxiii. 14–17).

The third book (‫‏ויקרא‬‎) contains the laws revealed during the stay of
the Israelites near Mount Sinai. A few historical incidents are
mentioned in illustration of the Law. Leviticus contains the laws
concerning the sacrifices (i. to vii.); the initiation of Aaron and his
sons as priests (viii. to x.); dietary laws (xi.); laws about cleanness
and uncleanness (‫‏טהרה וטומאה‬‎) in man and woman (xii. to xv.);
the Day of Atonement (xvi.); prohibition of blood (xvii. 10–14);
marriage laws (xviii. and xx. 10–22); laws concerning the holiness of
man (xix.); laws concerning the priests (xxi., xxii. 16) and sacrifices
(xxii. 17–33); the Festivals of the Lord (xxiii.); the year of release
and the year of jubilee, and land-laws connected with these (xxv.);
laws concerning the transfer of property to the sanctuary and the
priests.
The fourth book records the departure of the Israelites [60]from
Mount Sinai, their journeyings until they came to the east of the
Jordan in the plains of Moab; the chief incidents during these travels,
viz., the consecration of the altar, and the instalment of the Levites
as assistants to the priests in the performance of the Divine Service;
the first appointment of a council of seventy elders; the punishment
of Miriam for slander; the spies; the rebellion of Korah; death of
Miriam; Moses and Aaron’s sin at Meribah, and their punishment;
death of Aaron; wars with Sihon and Og; the blessings of Bileam
instead of his intended cursings; the zeal and distinction of Phineas;
war against Midian; the appointment of Joshua as future leader of
Israel.

There is also in the book a list of all the stations where the Israelites
had encamped during their travels through the Arabian desert (chap.
xxxiii.), and a minute description of the boundaries of the land of
Canaan (chap. xxxiv.).

The following are the principal laws mentioned in Numbers: the laws
concerning Nazirites; concerning a woman suspected of faithlessness
against her husband; the second Passover (‫‏פסח שני‬‎) for those who
could not fulfil their duty on the 14th of Nisan; the law of fringes
(‫‏ציצת‬‎); the law of purification of persons who have become unclean
through contact with the dead body of any person (‫‏פרה אדומה‬‎
chap. xix.); the law of inheritance (xxvii.); the sacrifices for the
festivals (xxviii., xxix.); the laws of vows (xxx.); laws concerning
murder and cities of refuge (xxxv.).

The fifth book (‫‏דברים‬‎) contains speeches of Moses which he

addressed to the Israelites during the last year of his life, reminding
them of their repeated disobedience [61]to the Divine command, and
their want of confidence in Him, and exhorting them to be faithful to
God. He frequently emphasises the truth that blessing and happiness
can only be obtained through obedience, trouble and curses being
the certain result of sin and transgression. Chapter xxviii., called
‫‏תוכחה‬‎“exhortation” or “rebuke” (see also Lev. xxvi.), is especially
devoted to this principle. In the song ‫‏האזינו‬‎(chap, xxxii.), which all
the people were to learn by heart, Moses rebukes his brethren for
their ingratitude to God, and foretells them that, in the remote
future, similar conduct will be visited severely, and that after a
period of punishment God will show mercy to them, and again
restore them to a state of happiness and glory. Before his death he
gives a special blessing to each tribe. The book concludes with the
death of Moses, the succession of Joshua, and the praise of Moses
as the greatest of all prophets.

Many of the commandments are repeated in the course of the

exhortations: the Decalogue, the laws concerning the three
agricultural and national festivals (‫‏שלש רגלים‬‎), and such other laws
as Moses considered necessary to impress on the heart of the
Israelites before he departed from among them. The Israelites being
near Jordan, and about to take possession of the promised land,
their attention is called to such laws as would then come into
practice, e.g., those which refer to the political and judicial
arrangements of the country (xvi. to xviii.); and the solemn
declaration of allegiance to the Will of God (xxvii.).

The Pentateuch is divided into verses (‫‏פסוקים‬‎), paragraphs

(‫‏פסקות‬‎), and into sections called ‫‏סדרות‬‎or [62]“weekly portions.”
The division into chapters is of comparatively modern origin.

2. The Prophets
are divided into two groups: Earlier and Latter Prophets (‫‏נביאים‬
‫ראשונים ונביאים אחרונים‬‎).

The Earlier Prophets do not contain prophecies in the usual meaning

of the word. They contain the history of Israel from the accession of
Joshua to the leadership of Israel, to the capture of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. They are, nevertheless, called
“Prophets,” for two reasons:—

(1.) The history is written in a prophetic spirit, with the view of

illustrating the principle that obedience to the word of God was the
cause of Israel’s prosperity and success, disobedience the cause of
trouble and misery.

(2.) The Earlier Prophets include the history of Deborah, Samuel,

Nathan, Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, and a few anonymous prophets.

No collection of their speeches has been made or preserved in the

Scriptures, and they are thus distinguished from the latter prophets,
whose prophecies have been collected and form the contents of the
“Latter Prophets.”

The following books belong to the Earlier Prophets:—

1. The Book of Joshua (‫‏יהושע‬‎), containing the history of the

conquest and division of the land of Canaan by the Israelites, from
their crossing the Jordan to the death of Joshua.

Among the various incidents related in the book [63]the following are
noteworthy:—The circumcision of those who had been born during
the wandering of Israel in the wilderness; the celebration of the first
Passover in the Holy Land; the appearance of “the prince of the host
of the Lord” (v. 14), just before the war commenced, in order to
remind Joshua that “the place upon which he stood was holy;” 3 the
crossing of the Jordan; the taking of Jericho; the disastrous
consequences of Achan’s sin, as an illustration of the principle that
the whole community is made responsible for the crime of the
individual till the crime is discovered and punished; the battle at
Gibeon, famous through Joshua’s exclamation, “Sun, stand thou still
upon Gibeon; and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon!” (x. 12); and
the appointment of the cities of refuge.

2. The Book of Judges (‫‏שופטים‬‎) contains episodes of the history of

the Israelites from the death of Joshua to the days of the high-priest
Eli. The name “Judge” is identical with that of chief magistrate, or
simply chief or leader. The judges were persons chosen by God, and
inspired with an extraordinary spirit of courage and bravery, to be
the liberators of the country, or part of the country, from the tyranny
of oppressors. The virtues that were required in order to qualify
them for this mission were patriotism and courage. Some of them
may have continued in power after the restoration of peace and
order, but on the whole their mission as judges was fulfilled with the
cessation of [64]war. They were not the religious teachers of the
nation, nor are they set up as examples of piety.

During the period of the judges the tribes of Israel were not united
(song of Deborah, Judges v. 15–17). There was no common
government, or if there was one, it must have possessed little power
and influence. The people became degraded; many worshipped idols
and altogether ignored the Divine commandments. But the
conscience of the nation was roused when a shocking crime was
committed at Gibeah in the tribe of Benjamin, and all Israel united in
demanding the punishment of the evil-doers (chaps. xix. to xxi.).
The book contains two beautiful poetical passages, the song of
Deborah (v.) and the parable of Jotham (ix.).
3. The two books of Samuel (‫‏שמואל א׳ וב׳‬‎)—also called the first and
second books of Kings—contain the history of Israel during the time
of the high-priest Eli, the prophet Samuel, and Saul, the first king of
Israel (Book I.); and the reign of David (Book II.).

The following passages are noteworthy:—

ii. 6–7: “The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the
grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich; He
bringeth low and lifteth up.”

xii. 22: “The Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s
sake; because it hath pleased the Lord to make you His people.”

xv. 22–23: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For
rebellion is [65]as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as
iniquity and idolatry; because thou hast rejected the word of the
Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”

xvi. 7: “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

xxiv. 14: “Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked.”

II., xxiv. 14: “I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of
the Lord; for His mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand
of man.”

The following poetical passages of the book should also be marked:

—

The prayer of Hannah (ii. 1–10); David’s lament over Saul’s death
(II., i. 18–27); Parable of the prophet Nathan (xii. 1–6); Song of
thanksgiving by David (xxii.); David’s faith in God’s justice (xxiii. 1–
7).

4. The first and the second books of Kings (‫‏מלכים א׳ וב׳‬‎), also called
the third and fourth books of Kings, contain the history of Israel
from the death of David to the Babylonian exile. The first book
describes the last days of King David, the reign of Solomon, the
division of the country into two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, the
history of the kingdom of Judah from Rehoboam to Jehoshaphat,
and the history of the kingdom of Israel from Jeroboam to Ahab.
The second book continues the history of the kingdom of Israel from
Ahab to the conquest of Samaria by Shalmanessar, king of Assyria,
and that of the kingdom of Judah from Abijam, son of Jehoshaphat,
to the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

I., ii. 2: “I go the way of all the earth; be thou strong therefore, and
show thyself a man.” [66]

xviii. 21: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be
God. follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.”

II., xiv. 9: “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that
was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and
there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trod down the
thistle.” 4

Note, besides, prayer of Solomon (I., viii. 12–61) and message of

Isaiah to King Hezekiah (II., xix. 21–31).

The ‫‏נביאים אחרונים‬‎Latter Prophets, contain the following books:—

I. Isaiah (‫‏ישעיהו‬‎).—Isaiah prophesied chiefly during the Assyrian
invasions in Palestine in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The book is divided into two main
sections, separated from each other by the narrative of
Sennacherib’s invasion and defeat, Hezekiah’s illness and recovery,
and the congratulatory message of the Babylonian king to Hezekiah
(chaps, xxxvi. to xxxix.). The first section is divided into five parts
with separate headings:—

(1.) Chap. i.—This prophecy was probably repeated by Isaiah many

times from the beginning to the end of his prophetic mission. The
Israelites in Jerusalem and Judah are rebuked for their rebellion
against God, which has brought a series of misfortunes upon the
nation; God does not accept their sacrifices unless they return to
Him and improve their conduct. They will be punished, but the
punishment is only the means [67]for their purification. When this
effect is obtained their redemption will follow.

(2.) Chaps. ii. to v.—The fulfilment of the mission of the Israelites—

the Messianic period—is depicted, when the Israelites will be so
perfect in the knowledge and the worship of God, that all nations will
seek enlightenment and guidance in the house of the God of Jacob.
The prophet shows his brethren how they receded from that aim,
and, estranging themselves from the Almighty, trusted in things that
are powerless. But all these things, grand and high as they may
appear, will prove worthless, and the glory of God will in the end be
recognised. The prophet illustrates the conduct of the Israelites and
their punishment in the beautiful parable of the vineyard (v. 1–7). As
special sins are named: greediness, lust, mockery, and injustice. The
punishment threatened is the invasion of a cruel conqueror.

(3.) Chap. vi.—On the occasion of the death of King Uzziah, who had
presumed to approach God and to offer incense in the Holy of
Holies, contrary to the Law, and was punished with leprosy, Isaiah
had a vision in which he despairingly contrasted the infinite holiness
of the Almighty with his own sinfulness, living as he did among
people of unclean lips. He is reassured, and shown that his sin is
removed when his words are inflamed by the holy fire taken from
the altar of God. He must, nevertheless, not expect a speedy effect
from his words to the people; they will continue in disobedience and
bring upon themselves continued punishments, but ultimately, when
the leaves have fallen off, the stem will remain—a seed of holiness.
[68]

(4.) vii. to xii.—The invasion of Judah by Pekah, king of Israel, and

Rezin, king of Aram, brings to light the want of faith in God and His
word on the part of Ahaz, king of Judah. Isaiah, taking with him his
son Sh’ar-yashub (“A-remnant-will-return”), a reminder of
punishment and of redemption, rebukes Ahaz, and gives him a sign
(‫‏אות‬‎): “The young woman is with child, and will bear a son, and call
his name Immanuel” (‫‏עמנו אל‬‎“God-is-with-us”). “Cream and honey
shall he eat, when he will know to reject the evil and to choose the
good.” By this sign Ahaz is informed (1) that at the time of the birth
of the child Judah will be freed from the armies of the two kings,
and the name Immanuel was to be the expression of thanks for the
delivery; (2) another more serious invasion of the Assyrians will
come and devastate the country; and after their departure the
Israelites will not have any corn or bread; “cream and honey will
every one eat that is left in the midst of the land.”

The invasion of Syria and Palestine by the Assyrians is also foretold

in the very name of Isaiah’s own son, Maher-shalal-’hash-baz (“The
spoiler hastens to be quick with the spoil”). In spite of such dark
prospect the prophet sets forth the testimony and the lesson
(‫‏תעודה‬‎, ‫‏תורה‬‎): “Hope in the Lord, though He hides His face from
the house of Jacob. For often have people in affliction seen great
light.” “A child 5 has been born unto us, called The Almighty, the
[69]Eternal, the Prince of Peace, devises wonders, for the purpose of
increasing the dominion and establishing endless peace upon the
throne of David and his kingdom, to order it and support it by
judgment and righteousness from now even for ever” (ix. 5, 6). The
Assyrian invasion is a punishment for the sins of the Israelites, and
its success will continue so long as the Israelites refuse to repent
and to return to God. This, however, will ultimately come to pass,
and Ashur will then receive the penalty for his insolence and
presumptuousness. Israel will in the end be guided by a wise and
just ruler, who will spring forth from the roots of Jesse. The
Messianic times will then begin, and amidst universal peace all
mankind will join in the praises of God.

(5.) xiii. to xxxv.—This group of prophecies was probably delivered

during the Assyrian invasion. Isaiah takes a survey of the
neighbouring states, their conduct in times of success, and their
well-deserved punishment in the immediate or the remote future.
The prophecies are directed against Babylon, Plesheth, Moab,
Damascus, Egypt, Ashdod, Babylon, Dumah, Arab, the Assyrian
Shebnah, Tyre, Edom, and Ephraim. Great confusion will ensue,
amid which Judah will suffer much, but he will ultimately be
delivered through the Divine intervention, and will thus be
strengthened in his faith in God. Isaiah rebukes Judah for seeking
help from Egypt against Assyria, because such an act indicates want
of faith in God. It is only the Almighty that can help in times of
distress.

(6.) xxxvi. to xxxix.—The historical chapters which intervene between

the two large prophetical sections of [70]the book conclude with an
account of Hezekiah’s conduct towards the Babylonian ambassadors,
and the rebuke he received of Isaiah, who announced to the king
that the Babylonians would one day be conquerors of Jerusalem.
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