YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

IRisbet's Gbeolosical Xibrar^

ZECHARIAH:

HIS VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

BY THE LATE
EEV. W. LINDSAY ALEXANDEE, D.D. LL.D. F.E.S.E.
EDINBURGH.

LONDON:
JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STEEET.

MDCCCLXXXV.

PREFACE.

The following papers on Zechariah were issued, first, in
the Homiletic Magazine (late Quarterly), and were scat
tered through seven volumes of that periodical. On the
decease of Dr. Lindsay Alexander they were collected,
and under arrangement with the Author's family are now
sent forth in a handy form, such as will be welcomed
by the many former students, hearers, and admirers of
the venerated author. As the various papers came fresh
to my hand I was delighted with them, and a careful
revision only impresses one with their scholarly and
suggestive character. They will make the study of one
of the minor prophets an increasing joy to many a
minister. It was intended to prefix to this volume a brief
biographical sketch of Dr. Alexander, but the intention

PREFACE.

has been abandoned, as it is hoped that a full biography
will soon be published of one who was such an able
theologian and brilliant man of letters, and who occupied
such a prominent position in the " Modern Athens."
FREDERICK HASTINGS.
London, May 1885.

CONTENTS.

I. THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE
II. THE HORNS AND THE WORKMEN .
III. THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE
IV. THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY
V. THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE-TREES
VI. THE DRIVEN PARCHMENT
VII. THE WOMAN AND THE MEASURE
VIII. THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS
IX. EVIL DENOUNCED .
X. ISRAEL CHEERED
XI. ENEMIES REBUKED .
XII. APPROACHING DELIVERANCE .
XIII. PRIVILEGES OFFERED
XIV. ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION
XV. THE FALLEN CEDAR
XVI. THE UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERD

PAGE I
17
2337 59
73 §7
94
111126 146162175 1S9
206213

vm CONTENTS.
PAGE
XVII. THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED  224
XVIII. THE EVIL SHEPHERD'S DOOM  24I
XIX. ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY  246
XX. PENITENCE AND GRACE  258
XXI. PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT . . . .271
XXII. THE FLOCK SCATTERED  286
XXIII. JERUSALEM ELEVATED  300
XXIV. THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM . . .320

ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

i.
THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE.
" Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which
is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of
the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the
prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a
red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the
bottom ; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.
Then said I, O my Lord, what are these ? And the angel that talked
with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man
that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they
whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the
myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth,
and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. Then the
angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long
wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah,
against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten
years ? And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with
good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed
with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saitli the Lord of
hosts ; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great
jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that
are at ease : for I was but a little displeased, and they helped
forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord ; I am returned
to Jerusalem with mercies : my house shall be built in it, saith
the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jeru-
A

2 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
salem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; My cities
through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad ; and the Lord shall yet
comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem." — Zech. i. 7-17.
God, who " in divers manners " as well as " in many
portions spake unto the fathers by the prophets," con
veyed to the prophets themselves His communications by
different means and through different channels. To Moses
alone, the first and greatest of the prophets, did God
speak mouth to mouth (Num. xii. 8 ; Deut. xxxiv. 1 o) ;
to those that followed He made Himself known and
communicated to them His message chiefly by dreams
and visions, when He did not address them audibly or
suggest to their minds by a Divine influence what He
would have them to convey to others. The dream seems
to have differed from the vision only in that it was sent
to the prophet by night, whilst his senses were sunk in
sleep ; whereas the vision came to him by day, when he
was physically awake, but when, being in an ecstacy or
trance, his perception of the outer world was suspended,
he was lifted above the sphere of his ordinary conscious
ness, and had presented to him a pictorial or scenic re
presentation, in which sometimes the prophet himself
appeared as an actor. Such, for instance, was the vision*
which Ezekiel saw as he sat in his house and the hand
of the Lord fell upon him (viii. 1-4) ; such was the
vision which Daniel saw when he was beside the oreat
river which is Hiddekel (x. 1-9); such was the vision
which Peter saw when about the sixth hour he'
fell into a trance on the housetop (Acts x. 9-18); and
such probably was that which Paul had when he was
caught up to the third heaven and heard unspeakable

THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE. 3
things which it is not for man to utter. From this
the prophetic dream did not essentially differ. It
was not an ordinary dream produced by physical
causes ; it was a state of entranced elevation divinely pro
duced in which the man, taken out of himself, saw and
heard things revealed to him by God. " The dream bore
the most vivid and varied development of new surprising
appearances, which passed before the eyes, so that the
dreamer himself often knew not immediately what they
were." * Hence they are called " visions of the night "
(Gen. xlvi. 2; Job iv. 13 ; Dan. ii. 19; vii. 7). Such
was the vision which Jacob had at. Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 1 o-
1 6) ; such the visions with which Daniel was repeatedly
favoured (ii. 19 ; vii. 1, ff, &c.) ; and such the vision which
Paul had when there appeared to him a man from Mace
donia, and prayed him, saying, Come over and help us
(Acts xvi. 9, 10), and when the Lord spake to him in
the house of Justus at Corinth (Acts xviii. 9, io).t
It was by means of such night visions that the Lord
communicated to Zechariah certain messages of conso
lation, direction, and encouragement which he had to
convey to the people of Israel. This prophet entered on
the public discharge of his office in the eighth month of
the second year of Darius Hystaspis, king of Babylonia.
The time at which he appeared was when after a long
cessation, during which Cambyses and the pseudo-Smerdis
had occupied the throne of Cyrus, the permission given
by that prince to the Jews to rebuild their temple at
Jerusalem was renewed by Darius (Ezra iv. 5, 24; v.
* Ewald, "Propheten des A. B.," iii. 189.
t See Wardlaw's "Lectures on Zechariah,'' p. 23, ff.

4 ZECHARIAWS VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
i ; vi. i). This work the Jews, who went up from
Babylon under the leadership of Zerubbabel or Shesh-
bazzar, had entered upon with ardour and enthusiastic
devotedness ; but in consequence of the troubles which
arose from the hostility of the Samaritans, the work had
been for some time abandoned, and the people had turned
to provide houses for themselves, and were wasting their
resources and energies in striving to adorn their dwellings
with costly decorations of carved work, such, probably,
as they had seen in the houses of the wealthy at Babylon.
It was at this juncture .that the prophets Haggai and
Zechariah were sent to them with words of reproof,
admonition, and encouragement, so as to stimulate them
to resume the work they had intermitted, and at the same
time to awaken in them a deeper spiritual interest, and
rouse them to the anticipation of those grander results
that were in store for them when the great spiritual
temple should be built and should be filled with the
glory of the Lord.
The message which Zechariah first bore to the people
was of a general character. It is a message chiefly of
warning. In it God, after reminding the Jews how He
had been displeased with their fathers, exhorts them to
take warning from their case, and by avoiding their evil
courses escape the indignation and penalty that had
fallen on them. God had sent to their fathers by the
former prophets, the prophets who had prophesied before
the captivity ; by them He had summoned the people to
repentance, calling on them to turn from their evil ways
and doings ; but the summons had been fruitless, the call
in vain, and so there had come on the nation the punish-

THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE. 5
ment which God had threatened. By this experience of
their fathers it would be their wisdom to profit. Men
might pass away, but God's word remains ; the prophet
might cease, but the words of the prophet abide ; and so,
though their fathers were not and the prophets lived not
for ever, the lesson which their fathers had been taught
by bitter experience was still there for them to learn and
lay to heart. If, profiting by this, they should not be as
their fathers, but should turn to the Lord, He would
turn to them and deal graciously with them (i. 1-6).
This first message which the prophet -carried to the
people may be regarded as the introduction to the series
of prophetic utterances which are collected in the book
of his prophecies ; and in it we have the germ of what
the prophet was specially commissioned to declare to the
people. The series of visions which are narrated in the
first six chapters of the book reiterate, expand, and illus
trate what in this introductory section is more curtly and
barely announced. In them we have, as has been justly
remarked, " a complete picture of the future fate of the
people of God." * They were all given in the same
njght,t the night between the 23d and 24th day of the
* Hengstenberg, " Christology," vol. iii. p. 304, Eng. trans.
+ In the Hebrew the definite article is prefixed to " night," rPJpn, " the
night." Some regard this as equivalent to "this night," and suppose that
some certain night is thereby indicated (Rosenmiiller, Pressel, &c. ). Others
take the word as the accusative of continuance, and understand by it
"throughout" or "during the night" (Keil, Lange, &c). The rendering,
however, in the Authorised Version is adequate, and sufficiently indicates
the time during which the visions were seen by the prophet. The month
Sebat or Shebat was the eleventh month in the Jewish calendar ; it ex
tended from the new moon in February to the new moon in March. It
was, consequently, about the middle of March 519 B.C. that this series of
visions was given.

6 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
eleventh month, which is the month JSebat, in the second
year of Darius.
I. The vision of the rider among the myrtle trees
(Zech. i. 7—17). To the eye of the entranced prophet was
presented the appearance of a man seated on a red horse,
standing among myrtle trees planted in a hollow or deep
valley ; and behind him were horses red, reddish or tawny-
coloured, and white, each with its rider ; for though only
the horses are mentioned in verse 8, it is evident from
verse 1 1 that- they had riders on them, who formed a
band of which this man on the red horse was chief.
There is some uncertainty as to the special colour of the
second of these horses. The word by which it is ex
pressed in the Hebrew (D"i?^fr) is used of the fruit of the
vine (Isa. xvi. 8, A. V., "principal plants"), and seems
to point to the reddish or purple colour of the grape.
The Lexicons describe it as " fox-coloured ; " as used of
a horse it probably indicates what is commonly called
bay, or, as it stands here between red and white, it may
be roan ; the ancient versions make it " vari-coloured."
These colours are symbolical : the red of war and blood
shed, the white of peace and joy, and the intermediate
^colour of a mixed or transition state between these.
There is no ground for the opinion that the colours here
indicate different kingdoms against which the riders were
sent, for they seem all to have gone in company ; nor do
they indicate the four quarters of the earth, for the fourth
is wanting, and we have no right to suppose an omission
in the text, as Ewald does, who would supply D'-JJDN,
" dark red," from vi. 3 to make up the four.

THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE. 7
The word rendered " bottom " in the A. V. is by the
LXX. taken as an adjective and rendered " shady," and
so also the Syriac ; and this some interpreters think is to
be preferred (" in loco umbroso," Maurer ; " loco uligi-
noso," Piscator ; " in the shade," Henderson). But to
speak of trees in a shady place seems absurd, seeing it is
the trees that make the shade. The Vulgate renders by
" in profundo," and this is preferred by most interpreters,
n?itp being taken as another form of it^'Q, " de'pth '' or
" abyss." Some recent interpreters (Hitzig, Ewald, Fiirst,
Bunsen) take n?l£D here in the sense of " tent," and
suppose the dwelling-place of Jehovah to be meant,
before which, among the myrtles that grew in the fore
court, the rider stopped. But this meaning rests on a
doubtful derivation of the word from the Arabic, and is
altogether too far-fetched to be accepted. As the myrtle
grovehere symbolises the people of Israel, it is in keep
ing with the representation of their depressed condition
that it should be planted in a low place. The LXX.
seem to have read O^*? " mountains," instead of Q'1?!^
" myrtles," for they render by ava/necrov twv 6pea>v twv
Karao-Kioov, and this some adopt as the true reading.
There is, however, no reason for departing from the
Massoretic text here. The prophet, seeing this group of
riders, says to some one, " My lord, what are these ? " To
whom is this addressed ? At first sight it might appear
that it is to the man who was standing among the myrtle
trees that the prophet here speaks. But it will be ob
served that as the prophet goes on with his description
two persons appear, distinct from each other (see especi
ally ii. 1—3), the one of whom he describes as the angel

8 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
that talked with him,* the other as the angel of the Lord.
Now the angel of the Lord is expressly said to be the
man who stood among the myrtle trees, and, as he is not
the same as the angel that talked with the prophet, it
follows that it was not the man among the myrtle trees
to whom the prophet addressed this question. The being
to whom he spoke was the angel that talked or communed
with him, the angel who was present with him through
out, and who acted the part of the angelus interpres to
him. It is no objection to this that no other person has
been mentioned as present than the angel of the Lord, the
man among the myrtle trees ; for in prophetic visions
" on account of their dramatic character persons are very
frequently introduced, either as speaking or as addressed
by others, without having been previously mentioned." t
It is true that the answer to the prophet's question was
made by the man among the myrtle trees (ver. I o), and
it may seem incongruous that his question should be ad
dressed to one person and the answer to it be given by
another. But it is to be observed that two answers were
addressed to the prophet, the one by the angel that
talked with him, the other by the man among the myrtle
trees. The former, as the TrapaickrjTos, the Helper and
Guide of the prophet, said to him in reply to his question,
* '? IrTt. The LXX, render this by 6 \a\wv iv i/wl, and the Vulg.
qui loquebatur in me. The Chaldee, on the contrary, has " with me " 0I3J?),
and this most interpreters adopt. There is a difference, however, between
"3 n3T and D V "1 or ty, which is not to be overlooked. The latter formula
simply intimates that something is spoken to a person who may or may not
attend to it ; the former intimates that words are put into the mind of the
hearer in order that they may be lodged there and abide. See Hengstenberg
" Christolcgy," vol. i. p. 192.
t " Hengstenberg," in toe.

THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE. 9
as immediately addressed to him, '" I will show thee what
these be ; " literally, " I will make thee to see," cause
thee to understand, " what these be," what they import ;
and then the latter proceeded to expound the vision.
The answer of the one had reference to the opening of the
prophet's eyes, the clarifying of his mental vision so that
he should perceive and understand what was about to be
set before him ; the answer of the other had reference to
the actual presentation of what he desired to see. We
may well conceive, therefore, that two different persons
are here introduced as speaking — the one the angel who
communed with the prophet, the other the angel of the
Lord who appeared as the man among the myrtle trees.*
To the prophet's question the man who stood among
the myrtle trees replies, " These are they whom the Lord
hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth *" (ver. 1 o) :
in obedience to the Divine command they had gone forth
as God's messengers to see what was doing on the earth,
and to report to Him. And the report which they
brought, and which in the hearing of the prophet they
now repeat to the angel of the Lord, was, " We have
walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the
earth sitteth still, and is at rest" (ver. 11). They had
been out on their mission, they had fulfilled it, and now
they appear before their chief and give in their report.
They had gone through the whole earth and found all
quiet ; the nations were at peace and the tumult of war
was stilled.
The fact that the nations were at peace while Judah")
was still exposed to unsettlement and disquiet seemed
* See Hengstenberg, " Christology," vol. iii. pp. 306-308. '

io ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
i to intimate that the wrath of God was still resting on
I His people. This moved the angel of the Lord, who
here appears on the side of Israel, to cry to Jehovah on
their behalf. " Then the angel of the Lord answered and
said, 0 Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have
mercy on [wilt Thou not pity] Jerusalem and the cities
of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these
threescore and ten years ? " (ver. 1 2). The prophet
Jeremiah had foretold that the captivity of the people in
Babylon should last for seventy years. If we compute
from the final destruction of the temple and city of
Jerusalem, in B.C. 588, there would be still nearly two
years of the seventy to run in the second year of Darius.
It would appear, however, that it is from an earlier
terminus that the seventy years are to be reckoned, viz.,
from the time of the deportation of the king of Judah
with the vessels of the temple to Babylon by Nebuchad
nezzar, for they terminated in the first year of Cyrus
(2 Chron. xxxvi. 21, 22 ; Ezra i. 1). They had expired,
then, some years before the time of Zechariah's visions ;
but the people were still in a depressed condition, the
temple was not rebuilt, and Jerusalem was not yet re
stored from its ruins ; so that it seemed as if the captivity
were still continued, and the promised period of release
had not come. The angel of the Lord, therefore, as the
intercessor for Israel, pleads with Jehovah that He would
compassionate His people and restore their fallen state.
To this appeal the Lord replies, addressing His reply*
to the angel that talked with the prophet, as the medium
of communication with the latter, and through him with
the people ; " Omnia ordine sunt : Deus angelo loquitur,

THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE.

angelus prophetse " [Groti'us]. " He answered with good
words and comfortable words " (ver. 13); lit. " good words,
words consolations " (D**artp DniPT) ; words designed to
inspire hope in the minds of the people, and to give them
comfort under trial, words that were themselves consola
tions. What the words were which the Lord spoke to
the angel is not mentioned, but their substance may be
gathered from what follows in the message which the
prophet was enjoined to convey to the people. "And
the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou,
saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ; I am jealous for
Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I
am very sore displeased with the heathen [the nations]
that are at ease : for I was but a little displeased, and
they helped forward the affliction." The prophet was to
certify to the people that God had not ceased to regard
His people, but, on the contrary, had towards them a
great and burning zeal. And as He was zealous for them,
so was He sore displeased with those who had oppressed
them. They had indeed been used by Him as His in
struments to chastise Israel, but they had exceeded their ^
commission, and for their own ends had helped forward
the calamity beyond what He willed. The prophet was
further commanded to assure the people that God would
again return to them and show them favour. " There
fore thus saith the Lord ; I am returned to Jerusalem
with mercies : My house shall be built in it, saith the
Lord of Hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over
Jerusalem ; " i.e. a measuring-line, such as builders use to
measure the space they design their edifice to occupy, so
that out of the ruins of the city fair buildings should

12 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
arise. Still further, the prophet was commanded to assure
the people that times of great prosperity and blessing
should come to them. " Cry yet [still further], Thus
saith the Lord of Hosts ; My cities through prosperity
shall yet be spread abroad ; * and the Lord shall yet
comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem " (vers. 1 4-
17). The blessing should be seen outwardly in the ex
tension and increase of the cities of Judah, and experienced
inwardly in the presence of God with His people, dwelling
amongst them, and comforting them (comp. Joel ii. 1 8, ff. ;
Jer. xxxiii. 1 2, ff). With the utterance of this message
the vision ended and its scenery passed away.
^__S,uch was the vision : what is its significance ?
The prophet saw a grove of myrtle trees in a hollow or
low place. By the myrtle grove all are agreed is signified
the covenant people, the nation of Israel; and by its
being in a low place is indicated their then depressed and
sad condition. The myrtle is a plant of unassuming
appearance, a modest plant with no majestic branches or
brilliant flowers, yet withal beautiful, and possessing the
quality of perennial freshness. The Jewish maiden whom
the Persians, who saw her in the brilliancy of her mature
beauty, called Esther or Star,t was by her parents, who
saw her first in the milder loveliness of infancy, called
Hadassah or Myrtle (Esth. ii. 7). In the Hebrew mind
the idea of modest beauty and freshness was associated
with the myrtle ; and hence we find this introduced as
symbolical of the Church under the reign of the Messiah,
* Or shall overflow with good, i.e. shall enjoy the greatest prosperity.
t "Esther is without doubt to be collated with stara, new-Persian
sitareh, don}/>, star. "— Bertheau, "Exeget. Handbuch zum A. T." in loc.

THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE. 13
when " instead of the briar " — the symbol of the world
under the curse — " shall come up the myrtle tree, and it
shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign
that shall not be cut off" (Isa. Iv. 13). A grove of
myrtles would, therefore, appropriately represent in symbol
to a Jew his nation, which was identical with the Church
of God ; and which, though at that time in a state of de
pression and affliction, was fair in the sight of God, was
destined to endure and flourish, and was ere long to be
visited by Him in mercy and restdred to prosperity.
This is specially indicated here by the standing among
the myrtle trees of the mounted rider. He, though in ap
pearance as a man, is described as the Angel of Jehovah.
By this appellation is designated in Scripture a being
who on various occasions appeared to men, and who,
though coming forth as the Angel or Messenger of
Jehovah, is at the same time represented as a Divine
being, having the power of God, receiving the honours
due only to God, and exercising the proper functions of
the Almighty (comp. Gen. xvi. 7-14; xxii. n-19;
xxxi. 11, ff.; xlviii. 15, 16; Exod. xiii. 2, ff; xxiii. 20,
21 ; Josh. v. 13-15, &c). A comparison of these pas
sages leads to the conclusion that the angel of Jehovah is
none other than God manifest in human form, the Being
who, as the Captain of the Lord's host, led up Israel to
Canaan, the Being who came forth to execute vengeance
on the enemies of the covenant people, and who was
known to Israel as their Protector and Advocate.*
* See Hengstenberg, " Christology," vol. i. p. 107, ff. ; Dr. Pye Smith's
" Scripture Testimony to the Messiah," vol. i. p. 296, ff., 4th edit. ; M'Caul's
" Translation of Kimchi on Zechariah," p. 9.

14 ZECHARIAH' S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
That this Being is the same who in the fulness of time
came to our world as the Angel of the covenant (Mai.
iii. i), who appeared in human nature made of a woman,
made under the law. for man's redemption, and who
now in that nature sits on the throne of heaven and
administers the affairs of the universe, the teachings of
the New Testament lead us confidently to believej Be
this, however, as it may, there can be no doubt that the
man among the myrtle trees whom the prophet saw was
a Divine apparition ; and that this was the understanding
of the ancient Jewish Church may be gathered from the
exposition in the Talmud : " This man is none other than
the Holy One, blessed be He ! for it is said, The Lord is a
man of war." * With this the tone of his prayer to Jehovah
is in keeping ; it has in it " something superhuman, and
reminds of the words, Father, L will " [Lange].
For the consolation and encouragement of the people,
therefore, the prophet had to tell them that, depressed as
was their condition, the Angel of the Lord, the Leader,
the Protector, the Eedeemer of Israel, was still in the
midst of them. He was there, standing still and motion
less, but ready to ride forth in their defence, and to send
judgments on their adversaries; which was indicated in
the vision by his being mounted on a red horse, the
symbol of war and bloodshed (comp. Isa. Ixiii. i, ff. ;
Eev. vi. 4). The other riders are His subordinates,
angels inferior to Him, and employed by Him as His
emissaries and agents. The horses on which they ride
are of different colours : red as the emblem of war white
* "Babyl. Talm. Sanhedrin," fol. 93, col. i., quoted by Henderson,
"Minor Prophets," p. 369.

THE RIDER IN THE MYRTLE GROVE. 15
as the emblem of peace, and a colour between these two
to indicate a transition state, or a state in which war and
peace alternate. In the vision these riders are repre
sented as giving in their report to their chief. They
report a state of general peace and quiet; which, how
ever, had been reached through war and change. Before
the white horse came the horse partly red and partly
white, and before it the horse wholly red. The repre
sentation corresponds with the actual history of the time.
After the death of Nebuchadnezzar the empire of Babylon
was plunged in war, and this continued until the capital
was taken and the throne seized by Cyrus. A season of
unsettlement and change succeeded; but in the second
year of Darius the nations were at rest, and through the
then known world peace reigned.
The Angel of the Lord is not only the Protector and
Vindicator of Israel, He is with them also as their Inter
cessor with God. Hence he appears in this vision as
making intercession for them, beseeching God to have
pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah ; and now that
the time of chastisement was at an end, that He would
be gracious to them, and grant them full restoration and
establishment in their own land. And through him also
came the comforting answer to the people. The invisible
God does not Himself speak. The speaker to men is the
Angel of Jehovah, by whom alone He, " whom no man
hath seen at any time, or can see," is manifested to men
or speaks to them.
In the vision the Angel of Jehovah speaks directly and
immediately to the invisible God ; but to the prophet He
speaks through the angel interpreter. So in the vision

16 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

which Daniel saw : it was not Michael, the Great Prince,
the Archangel, that spoke directly to him, but Gabriel,
whom the other commanded to make Daniel understand
the vision (Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21). The angel interpreter
represents the Spirit of God by whom the ancient pro
phets spoke and wrote.
In the words which were conveyed to the ears of the
prophet by the angel, God declares His zeal for His
people, His indignation against their enemies, and His
determination to do good unto His people and enrich them
with His bounty. He is not an indifferent spectator of
what happens to them. He watches over them with a
constant jealousy, solicitous for their well-being, and
ready to resent all attempts to injure them. Their
enemies God may use as instruments by which He chas
tises them when they have sinned against Him; but
when these enemies execute their commission without
any thought of God, and are impelled merely by their
own lust of conquest, of power, and of wealth, and in all
the wantonness of cruelty aggravate the affliction to the
utmost of their power, God will not hold them guiltless,
but will avenge the wrongs of His people by punishing
them (comp. Isa. x. 5-27).* His own He will never
forsake. When the deepest abyss of calamity seems to
be reached by them, when the darkest hour of their
sorrow throws its shadows over them, the Angel of the
Lord, He who ever encamps around them that fear Him,,
will suddenly appear on their side and will deliver them
from all their enemies.
* See Wardlaw's "Lectures on Zechariah," p. 35.

II.
THE HORNS AND THE WORKMEN.
"Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And
I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these ? And he
answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel,
and Jerusalem. And the Lord showed me four carpenters. Then said
I, What come these to do ? And he spake, saying, These are the horns
which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head : but
these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles,
which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it." —
Zech. i. 1 8-2 1 ; in the Hebrew text, ii. 1-4.
After a brief interval a second vision was presented to
the prophet. That at the close of this interval the pro
phet was roused from sleep is not to be supposed; the
phrase, " I lifted up mine eyes and saw " or " looked," is
a formula used in introducing prophetic visions (comp.
ii. 1 ; vi. 1 ; Ezek. viii. 5 ; Dan. x. 5), and implies
merely, that the attention of the seer was aroused to
what was presented to him. He saw "four horns."
Whether these were seen by themselves, or as borne by
animals, is not said ; but the latter may be presumed to
have been the case from the statement that they were
frightened away or discomfited (ver. 21), which implies
that the objects presented to the prophet's view were
creatures susceptible of fear, and which could be driven
away. As physical emblems of force, horns are in the
prophetic visions representative of earthly powers or
kingdoms (comp. Jer. xlviii. 25; Dan. viii. 3, 5-9, &c);

1 8 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the Chaldee Targum explains horns here as meaning
kingdoms (JIVD^D), 'and in answer to the prophet's ques
tions, "What be these?" the angel interpreter said,
"These are the horns — the earthly powers — that have
scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." The number
four, in its prophetic acceptation, is the signature of the
world, and is used here to indicate powers coming on every
side, or from all quarters. Many understand the four here
specifically, of certain four great powers that were hostile to
Judah ; according to some, the Assyrian, the Babylonian,
the Grecian, and the Eoman; according to others, the
Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Grecian, and the Persian.
But it is improbable that reference would be made thus
specially to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, which
were then virtually extinct ; or, to such powers as Greece
and Eome, with which the Jews did not become acquainted
till long afterwards ; and besides, neither the Grecian nor
the Persian power can be ^regarded as hostile to the Jews, 111
the sense at least of tyrannising over them, and destroy
ing them. As in the former vision the riders were repre
sented as having gone over the whole earth, and found
all quiet* so here, all tlie earthly powers hostile to the
people of God are, in general, indicated by the four horns.
In the answer to the prophet's question, " What be these ? "
the angel interpreter introduces Israel, between Judah and
Jerusalem^ That it is Judah alone that is in question,
is evident from ver. 21; but there is no reason to sup
pose, as some have suggested, that the words " Israel and
Jerusalem " are an interpolation. Jerusalem is expressly
named, " because it was the head of the whole kingdom,
and the seat of the sacred observances of the entire

THE HORNS AND THE WORKMEN. 19
nation " [Rosenm.]. (Comp. Joel iii. [4], 6.) Israel can
not here designate the ten tribes as a nation, and the
number of those, who from among these joined themselves
to the Jews, was too small to be co-ordinated with Judah
as a distinct body ; they were incorporated with the Jews,
and from the captivity ceased to have a separate existence.
Hitzig takes Judah as the designation of the whole of
which Israel and Jerusalem are parts, the former being
the people of the country, the latter the metropolis ; and
with this Pressel agrees, only he thinks that Israel is not
to be restricted to the country people. Lange suggests
that " not only a scattering of the nation as a whole and
externally may be intended, but also an internal scattering,
— Judah dispersed, Israel and Jerusalem torn asunder."
Ewald thinks that Israel is inserted between Judah and
Jerusalem simply for the sake of honour, just as Benjamin
is introduced along with Judah, in Ps. lxviii. 27 ; and
this is probably the correct view.
As the prophet continued to look, Jehovah — the same
who is called The Angel of Jehovah (ver. 12), and
Jehovah (ver. 1 3), — showed him — rather caused him to
see ('JN'V) — four workmen or artificers. In the A. V. it
is "four carpenters," but the Hebrew word means simply
a workman ; it is used of workers in stone and metal as
well as in wood (comp. 2 Sam. v. 1 1 ; Isa. xliv. 11, 12);
it is used frequently of one who works with the plough
(Deut. xxii. 10; Ps. cxxix. 3 ; Isa. xxviii 24, &c.) ; it
is even used to designate those who work destruction
(Ezek. xxi. 36) [A. V. 31," skilful to destroy "]. As the
horns which Zechariah saw were probably of iron (comp,
1 Kings xxii. 1 1 ; Micah iv. 1 3), the workmen in his

20 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

vision would be smiths ; and so Ewald renders the word
here.* In answer to the prophet's question, "What
come these to do ? " the Lord repeats the explanation of
the horns already given to the prophet by the angel that
talked with him, telling him that " these are the horns
which had scattered Judah, so that no man' did lift up
his head," an expression indicative of utter prostration
and hopeless misery, as of persons under a yoke (comp. Job
x. I 5 ; Micah ii. 3); and in the close, passing from the
symbol to the reality, he declares, that these are the horns
of the peoples who had lifted up the horn against (that is,
had proudly oppressed and tyrannised over) (Ps. Ixxv. 5,
6) the land, i.e. the people of Judah, to scatter it ; and
informed him that the workmen had come to frighten
away, or discomfit and cast down, these oppressors.
" These are come to fray them." In modern usage the
verb " fray " signifies to rub or file down, but in old
English it is used in the sense of terrify, or frighted
In this sense it occurs in the A. V. in Deut. xxviii. 26;
and in Jer. vii. 33, as well as here: elsewhere the
Hebrew word C'7'7'7 Hiph. of ~nn to tremble) is rendered
by make afraid, except in Judg. viii. 12, where it is
rendered by discomfited, with terrified in the margin.
" Fray " is retained in the A. V. from the earlier versions,
* " Perhaps plowers, in the sense in which the same Hebrew word is
used in Ps. cxxix. 3," Canon Drake in "Speaker's Commentary." But
what special relation have ploughmen to horns ?
t This verb is still in use in Scotland, and in some of the provinces of
England, where it is sometimes pronounced flay; it is the root from which
afraid, the participle .of the obsolete verb affray, comes. It and the noun
"fray" are probably connected with the root "frag," from which come
Lat. frango, fragor, fractura, and our fragment, fraction, &c. "Eray," to
rub, is from the Erench frayer.

THE HORNS AND THE WORKMEN.

the Genevan, Bishops' Bible, and Coverdale ; Wicliffe has
" to fere hem." Not only should they be frightened ; they
should also be cast down, flung down as a stone is from
the hand (comp. Lam. iii. 53, the only other passage
where the verb here used, occurs). The four workmen
do not symbolise four special powers by which the enemies
of Judah were to be discomfited and cast down ; as the
horns were four, so an equal number of workmen came
to indicate the completeness of the overthrow of the
enemies of Judah. Each horn has its destined destroyer.
This second vision may be regarded as supplementary |
of the first : there the restoration of Judah was indicated
generally ; here some of the means by which that was to
be effected are presented. Though enemies from all
quarters and on every side might assail the people of
God, the Lord, their Protector, would raise up for them
adequate defence, would bring into action powers sufficient
to discomfit and cast down all their oppressors, however
many or strong.
What was thus showed for the comfort of the people
of God in the old time is no less for the comfort and
encouragement of the Church in all ages and places.
"The sum of the whole is, though the Church may not be
exempt from many troubles, yet the Lord has in His hand
resources by which He can restrain all assaults of the
wicked, however impetuously and violently they may be
impelled against the Church." * The Angel of the Lord,
the Divine Redeemer, abides for ever with that Church
which He hath purchased with His blood. And exalted
as He is to the throne of His glory, and having all power
* Calvin, in loc.

22 ZECHARIAH'S- VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
in Heaven and on earth, He can send forth at any time
agencies by which the power of the Church's enemies
shall be broken, and all their forces routed. It behoves
the Church, then, to have faith in her exalted Head, and
patiently to wait for Him. In due time He will inter
pose on her behalf when she is afflicted ; He will scatter
and discomfit all her adversaries, and will "cause her
righteousness to, go forth as brightness, and her salvation
as a lamp that burnetii."

III.
THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE.
"I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a
measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou ? And
he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth
thereof, and what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that
talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,"
&c. — Zech. ii. 1-13 ; in the Hebrew text, ii. 5-17.
After another brief interval the prophet lifted up his
eyes and another vision was presented to him. He saw
a man with a measuring line in his hand. Whether the
man he saw was the same as the man among the myrtle
trees of the first vision, the Angel of Jehovah, or some
subordinate agent, is not said. Jerome, whom many
recent interpreters (Hengstenberg, Keil, Pusey, &c.)
follow, advocates the former view ; Jarchi, Eosenmiiller,
Maurer, &c, think it is the angel interpreter whom the
prophet saw ; but the former of these views has nothing
beyond a conjectural validity, and the latter seems
directly opposed by ver. 4, where the angel interpreter
is distinguished from the man seen in the vision. It is
best to regard the man presented to the view of the pro
phet as a figure introduced merely to carry out the sym
bolical representation of the vision ; it is needless to go
so far as to suppose, with Kliefoth and Lange, that " it
is the allegorical figure of the Israelitish idea concerning

ZECHARIAH' S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

the new building up of Jerusalem." In answer to the
prophet's question, " Whither goest thou ? " the man
replied, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the
breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof." The
measuring line in his hand was such as architects use to
define the boundaries of their work; it was not merely
to measure the extent of the city that he had it, but to
lay the city out in order and proportion (comp. Ezek.
xl.). The prophet's eager question was prompted, we
may suppose, by his remembrance of the " good and com
fortable words " of the first vision, in which, among other
things, he was assured that God's house should be built
and a line stretched forth on Jerusalem ; and by his hope
that now this was to be accomplished. In this he was
not disappointed. The man whom the prophet saw had
come to stretch out his line over the city, desolate and
in ruins as it still was, to measure it, that he might lay
out a plan as a necessary preliminary to its being rebuilt.
On this answer being given, the angel interpreter, who
apparently had remained by the side of the prophet,
stepped forward and advanced towards the man with the
measuring line ; or, it may be, simply went forward to
receive any message that was to be conveyed to the pro
phet. He was met immediately by another angel, who
may have been a subordinate angel commissioned by the
Angel of the Lord to deliver the message, but more pro
bably was the Angel of the Lord Himself, inasmuch as
in delivering the message he does not use the language
of one reporting the words of another, but speaks in his
own person, and speaks as no mere creature could with
out impropriety speak as from himself (comp. vers. 5-9).

THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE. 25

Seeing the angel interpreter coming forward, this other
angel arrests him by commanding him to carry with haste
a message : " Run," said he ; " speak to this young man "
(ver. 4). B3' the " young man " here, some understand
the man with the measuring line, whom the angel is
commanded to stop from measuring the city, seeing it was
in the Divine purpose much more extensive than any city
built on the basis of the ruined Jerusalem could be ;
while others think the " young man " is the prophet him
self, who was then probably a youth just entered on the
prophetic office. The latter seems the more probable
view, partly because it was the special office of the angel
interpreter to speak to the prophet, and partly because
as the message was one to be conveyed by the prophet
to the people, he, rather than the man with the measur
ing line, was the party to whom it was fitting that it
should be announced. As the prophet was waiting,
eager to know what this vision portended, and as the
message the angel had to carry was a gladdening one, he
is commanded to " run ; " the bearer of good tidings must
not delay or move with languid step.
The message conveyed had reference to the restoration
of the Jews, and the re-occupation of Jerusalem, and that
not within its ancient limits, but much beyond them :
" Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, for
the multitude of men and cattle therein." The general
meaning of this is obvious, but there is some uncertainty
as to the signification of particular words. The verb
rendered " shall be inhabited " properly signifies " shall
sit " or "lie " {^Pty, though instances are not wanting of
its bein" used with a passive acceptation (comp. Isa. xiii.

ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

20; Ezek. xxvi. 20, &c). The word rendered " towns
without walls " (J^??) derived from a root signifying
to spread abroad, means properly the outlying or open
country (comp. Esth. ix. 1 9, " towns of the country " ;
A. V. " un walled towns " ; Ezek. xxxviii. 11," the land of
open country " ; A. V. " the land of unwalled villages " ;
and Deut. iii. 5 ; and 1 Sam. vi. 1 8 ; where a cognate word
(*H3) is used). The passage may, therefore, be rendered
either by " Jerusalem shall be inhabited as open country,"
or " shall lie as open country," or (supposing an ellipsis
of ^V, towns), " shall lie as country towns." In any case
the meaning is, that because of the multitude of occupants
Jerusalem should not be confined within walls, but should
spread abroad into the open country. Commentators
compare with this Thucyd. i. 5, iroXecriv aTa^lo-Tois /cat
Kara aw/mas oiKov/u.evais, but the idea here seems to be not
so much the dwelling an villages, as the spreading of the
city over a wide space. " The new, better city should,
on account of the multitude of inhabitants, have no limits,
but (as is ever the case with all the great cities of the
earth) should, without walls or gates, spread itself out
indefinitely, hamlet-like" {Ewald).
The assurance thus given was ere long fully realised.
After the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah its
inhabitants rapidly increased, and soon the ancient limits
were passed, and large additions had to be made to the
area of occupation from the surrounding country. Jose
phus, in his description of Jerusalem, says (De Bell. Jud.
V. iv. 2), that King Agrippa built the third wall of the
city "around that part of it which had accrued to the
ancient city, which was before all unenclosed {jv/jlvi']) ; for

THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE. 27
overflowing with numbers the city had gradually crept
out beyond the walls ; and including within the city the
parts to the north of the temple on the ridge, [the people]
went out not a little beyond, and covered a fourth ridge
with buildings." This gradual increase of the population
and extension of the city went on until " Jerusalem rose
to a state of opulence, power, dignity, and splendour,
which she had not known since the division of Israel and
Judah " {Stonard).
What follows is in parallel lines after the manner of
Hebrew poetry. The language rises into a higher strain,
and the sentiment gradually ascends from the literal to
the spiritual, from what belongs to the national Israel,
to what appertains to that of which it was the type, the
Church of God, and that in the times of the Messiah.
5. And I * will be to her, saith Jehovah, a wall of lire around,
And for glory will I be in the midst of her.
How vivid and striking the imagery here employed !
As a city surrounded by a wall of fire would be utterly
inaccessible by any mortal foe, God would so surround
and protect Jerusalem that any attempt to assail her, by
whomsoever made, should not only prove* fruitless, but
involve those who made it in ruin. And as he would
defend and protect her from assault from without, so
would He dignify and glorify her within. The Targumist
explains this latter expression thus : " And with glory
will I place my Shekinah in the midst of her ; " and this
has led to the suggestion that the promise here refers to
* The "I" here is emphatic '•JKl. The Targum has for this nD'D My
Word, i.e. the 1'T XID'O Word of Jah, by which the Jews designated the
Divine Personality as having intercourse with men.

ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

the return to the temple of the visible manifestation of
the Divine Presence in the Holy of Holies. But on this
no stress can be laid, partly because the Eabbins use the
word Shekinah frequently where there is no reference to
the manifestation in the temple, and partly because there
is no certain evidence that in the second temple there
was, as in the first, the visible emblem of the Divine
presence.""" God Himself, in His glory and majesty, was
to be in the midst of His people. He had chosen Zion
for His rest, -and there would He dwell; and where He
dwells, His glory and majesty are displayed. This was
to be the crowning honour and supreme privilege of the
renovated City, and the restored State. (Comp. Isa. liv.
1 7 ; xxvi. i ; lx. 19; Zech. ix. 8.)
6. Ho ! ho ! [arise] and flee from the land of the North, saith
Jehovah ;
For, as the four winds of heaven, have I dispersed you, saith
Jehovah.
The mimetic interjection at the beginning of this
distich is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament,
though only here is it repeated. It is chiefly used with
a denunciatory signification = woe ! — also as an utterance
of grief = oh! alas. Here and in Isa. x. 5 ; lv. 1 ; Jer.
xlvii. 6, it is used hortatorily or keleusmatically. When
repeated, as here, it may be regarded as including in it
some such verb as "arise" or "hear," which will account
for the " and " following it. The repetition may be also
* The word Shekeena' W3SJ', comes from the verb pS^ to inhabit, to dwell,
and signifies primarily a dwelling-place. By the Rabbins it is used of the
Divine Presence wherever that is manifested or made known to men. See
Buxtorf, Lex. Chal. Tal. et Rabb. ; and Levy, Chald. Worterbuch, on the
word.

THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE.

regarded as indicating the urgency of the call. By " the
land of the north " Babylonia is intended. Strictly speak
ing, Babylon was to the north-east of Judea, but as tra
vellers from Judea to Babylon would turn northwards,
the Jews spoke of Babylonia as the land of the north or
the north country (comp. Jer. vi. 22; xvi. 15). The
meaning of the second part of the verse and its connec
tion with the first are not very apparent. What, it may
be asked, is meant by their being dispersed as the four
winds of heaven ? — and how could their being so dis
persed be a reason for their fleeing in particular from the
one quarter, the north ? A few MSS. have " by the four
winds " (W*1N4) instead of " as the," &c. 2 ; but even
were this reading better supported, it would not relieve
the difficulty, though it seems to have been a correction
with that view. The phrase, the four winds, is used
loosely to denote " all directions " (comp. Ezek. v. 1 o ;
xvii. 21; Matt. xxiv. 31); and as the Jews had been
carried not only to Babylon but to other places, and
many had fled in various directions, they might be said
to have been dispersed as the four winds, i.e. separated
from each other in all directions, as the four winds are
separated from each other. Some think that there is
rather an allusion here to the violence of their dispersion ;
they had been scattered as if the four winds had spent
their combined fury on them. But the text will not
bear this rendering, even though-^ be read instead of 2-
The call may be regarded as a call to return from all
parts to which they had been banished, and Babylon is
especially indicated, because that was the centre and
chief place of their exile. The use of the " for " in the

ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

second line of the verse presents a difficulty. The par
ticle might be rendered by though or although, as in Exod.
xiii. 17 ; Josh. xvii. 18 ; Jer. iv. 30, &c. ; a. d. " Though
I have dispersed you, yet I call you to return." But
this is a doubtful expedient. Better is it to suppose,
that there is a tacit reference to the fact that as it was
God who had dispersed them, so at His voice they might
without fear of failure flee, so as to escape- from their
dispersion ; q. d. As it was I who caused your dispersion,
so it is I who now summon you to return, wherefore, arise,
and flee, &c.
7. Ho ! Zion, deliver thyself,
Thou that art dwelling with the daughter of Babylon.
This shows that it is especially the Jews who are here
addressed, and not, as some have supposed, the ten tribes
who were located farther north than Babylon. The in
terjection at the beginning of this clause is the same as
that in the beginning of the sixth verse. " The daughter
of Babylon " is a periphrasis for Babylon itself, or it may
designate the population of that city (comp. " Daughter
of Tyre," Ps. xiv. 12 ; "Daughter of Zion," "Daughter of
Edom," Lam. iv. 22 ; "Daughter of Tarshish," Isa. xxiii.
10). The mass of the Jews were still at Babylon, and
there probably they were for the most part content to
remain. The Book of Esther shows how much the
people generally had degenerated in spirit and religious
feeling in the later years of the captivity ; and it is pro
bable, that for several reasons — indifference with some,
the love of worldly ease and pleasure with others, and
the possession of wealth and property in Babylon with
others — the majority were little inclined to return to the

THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE.

land of their fathers, and share in the toils, privations,
and perils of those who had availed themselves of the
permission of Cyrus to go thither. Such are here ad
dressed as dwelling with the daughter of Babylon, just as
in Jer. xlvi. 19, those in Egypt are said to be dwelling
with the daughter of Egypt (comp. also Jer. xlviii. 18,
" dwelling with the daughter of Dibon," i.e. dwelling in
Dibon). Whilst good days were coming on Jerusaleni,
the vengeance of God was about to fall on Babylon. The
Jews there are therefore summoned to make their escape
from thence, that they might not be involved in the im
pending calamity.
8. For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
After glory hath he sent me to the nations that have spoiled you,
For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye.
The speaker here is the Angel of Jehovah, sent by
Him to execute His will (comp. Isa. xlviii. 16): it can
not be, as some suppose, the prophet himself, for the
speaker in the 9th verse is the same as here, and the
prophet could not say of himself what the speaker there
says of himself. " After glory." Some take this as
meaning " to acquire," or " obtain glory " ; while by
others it is taken in a temporal sense as meaning after
the glory, i.e. after God had established His glory in the
midst of Jerusalem (ver. 5). It is an objection to this
latter view that there is no definite article in the original,
which would seem to be required if the reference were to
the glory specially announced before. We should expect
also in this case that the verb following would be in the
future and not the past tense — " will He send," not " hath
He sent " ; and, finally, if by the promise in ver. 5 we

32 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
are to understand the presence of Jehovah in glory and
majesty among His people, it could not be said that after
that, posterior to that, God would send forth His angel
to punish the nations, seeing the punishment of the
nations is throughout represented as conducing to the
manifestation of the Divine glory in the midst of Zion,
and therefore prior to this. The other view is accordingly
to be preferred. The preposition here pnN) is used
locally, as it often is after verbs of motion, and indicates
the scope or end of the mission announced. God had
sent forth His angel to get glory to Himself by taking
vengeance on the enemies of His people (comp. Exod. xiv.
1 8). The reason of this is announced in what follows :
" For he that toucheth you {i.e. with an evil intent so as
to injure you) toucheth the apple of His eye." By the
English phrase, "the apple of the eye," is designated the
pupil of the eye, the small aperture through which the
rays pass to the retina so as to excite vision. The
Hebrew word, which occurs only here (D32), may be
derived from the obsolete verb 2X3., to hollow (if there
was such a verb), and like the Chaldaic N22 may mean
gate or opening ; but it is more probably a mimetic word,
expressive of the little image one sees of oneself when
looking into the eye of another, or when looking on one
self in a mirror. The Hebrews delighted in varying their
expression of this. In Deut. xxxii. io and Prov. vii. 2,
the phrase used is, "the mannikin of the eye" (}^V liltf'N) ;
in Lam. ii. 1 8 it is, " the daughter of the eye " (VX D2) ;
and in Ps. xvii. 8, the two are combined, " the mannikin
of the daughter of the eye." Here it is probably " the
babe of the eye," which accords with our English phrase,

THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE. 33
" the pupil of the eye," i.e. the pupilla or little maiden of
the eye.* So the Greeks used Koprj, " a girl," for the
same object. The pupil of the eye is the most delicate
part of one of the most delicate organs of the human
frame, peculiarly sensitive to the touch, and hence
guarded with special care. By no figure, then, could
a more lively impression be conveyed of God's sensi
tively tender regard and care for His people than this.
9. For, behold, I wave my hand over them,
And they shall become a spoil to their own servants,
And ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me.
It needed but a wave of God's hand to overthrow
those mighty powers that had enslaved Israel, so that
they whom they had led into captivity should become
their masters, " the spoilers should become the spoiled,
and the oppressors the enslaved." And when this should
be done, evidence should be afforded that it was indeed
the Lord of hosts that had sent forth His messenger to
convey to Israel these comforting assurances. These
were glad- tidings for Zion ; therefore she is summoned to
rejoice in receiving them.
10-13. Shout and rejoice, O daughter of Zion,
For, behold, I come and dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah ;
And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day,
And shall be to Me for a people ;
And I will dwell in the midst of thee,
And thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me to thee.
For Jehovah shall take Judah as His portion in the holy land,
And shall yet choose Jerusalem.

* The Heb. Baba is of kin to a whole host of words in other languages
yr- ,\LL loio; Ar->
baban ; and our own babe.

Svr 1 ' ' bobo : At. " " bubu ; Lat. pupa ; ItaL bambino ; Welsh,

34 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

The daughter of Zion, the people of Jerusalem, is here
addressed as a part for the whole, the call being to the
entire Jewish nation to rejoice because God had returned
to dwell with them in Zion, the place He had chosen :
even in exile they had been His people, but now He
would return to His own chosen portion and dwell with
His people there (comp. Deut. xxxii. 8, 9). Nor should
they alone share the blessing of His presence; many
nations should be brought to join themselves to Him, and
become a people unto Him. This cannot refer merely
to an increase by means of proselytes to the Jewish
nation. It is not said that many out of or from among
the nations should come, but that many nations should
come and join themselves to Jehovah and be His people.
A promise like this cannot be held as being fulfilled by the
addition of a few hundreds or thousands of converts from
heathenism to Judaism during the progress of centuries.
Something more befitting the grandeur of the promise than
this must be intended, and this is confirmed by what follows,
13. Hush all flesh before Jehovah.
For He hath risen up out of His holy habitation.
The interjection at the beginning of this verse in the
Hebrew, DH hass, corresponds in sound and meaning to
our word hush ! The call for silence intimates that a
special manifestation of the Divine presence and majesty
is about to be made. In other parts of the prophetic
writings we find the same command in connection with
an announcement of the presence of God in His temple,
and exercising His power for the vindication and safety
of His people (comp. Hab. ii. 20 ; Zeph. i. 7 ; see also

THE MAN WITH THE MEASURING LINE. 35
Eev. viii. 1 ). The call here is a summons to all flesh to c
wait in silent reverence and awe what should come to c
pass when God should_arise as from sleep,'* and manifest ,
Himself from heaven, the habitation of His holiness
(Deut. xxvi. 1 5 ; Jer. xxv. 30).
In this vision God presented to the prophet, and through
him to the nation at large, the prospect and the assurance
of the restoration of Jerusalem, and the re-establishment
of the Jewish state as it had been before the captivity.
The city should not only be rebuilt but greatly extended :
the temple should be restored, and the worship of Jeho
vah resumed ; His Presence should be with His people,
and they should enjoy His protection ; and whilst they
were thus blessed judgment should come upon those
nations that had oppressed them, and they should have
supremacy over those by whom they had been enslaved.
All this was literally fulfilled. But even in these promises
there seems to be a reference to things of still higher
import and of spiritual significancy. The speaker here
is the Angel of Jehovah, and He, whilst He speaks of
Himself as Jehovah's messenger, at the same time uses
language which no mere created angel could use. In His
own name He threatens to punish the nations, and
that with a mere motion of His hand ; and to Israel
He promises for God that He would come and dwell
amonw them as their God, and inherit Judah as His por
tion. Who can such a speaker be but that Being who
in the fulness of time appeared in our world, uniting in
His one person the Divine nature and the human ; He
* The verb here used signifies properly, to be aroused from sleep or
awakened (comp. ch. iv. I ; Job xiv. 12). ,

36 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
who came and dwelt among men, and was Emmanuel,
God with us ? May we not say, then, that there is here
a promise of blessing to the Church through the advent
of the Eedeemer? Then certainly was glory brought to
the temple of the Lord ; then did God in a higher sense
than of old make Zion His chosen rest and Judah His
portion ; then was the tabernacle of God with men, and
men saw the glory of Him who tabernacled among them
as the glory of the only begotten of the Father; and
then was the season when the daughter of Zion, the true
Church of God, rejoiced and exulted with all her heart.
It is in accordance with the general strain of prophetic
announcement concerning the latter dispensation, when
the . speaker here announces that many nations should
be joined to the Lord, and become His people. The con
version of individuals might take place under the ancient
dispensation ; a few proselytes might from time to time
join themselves to the people of God ; but it was reserved
for the time of the Messiah for nations as such to be con
verted to the Lord. Only under Him on whose shoulder
the government is laid, and who shall reign from sea to
sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, shall
" the forces of the Gentiles " be brought into the Church,
and the world be converted to God.
The Church of God, therefore, under the latter dispen
sation, may take to herself as her own the comfort and
encouragement which those promises, given to the Church
in the old time, were intended to convey. Security, pro
tection, glory, grace, blessing, extension, and final triumph,
are all here assured to her by the promise of Him whose
Word cannot fail.

IV.
THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY.
"And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan ; even
the Lord that hath chosen Jerusaleni rebuke thee : is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire ? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy gar
ments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto
those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments
from him. And unto him he said, Behold^ I have caused thine
iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of
raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So
they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments.
And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord pro
tested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; If thou
wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou
shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will
give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Hear now, O
Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee : for
they are men wondered at : for, behold, I will bring forth my servant
the BRANCH. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua ;
upon one stone shall be seven eyes : behold, I will engrave the grav
ing thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of
that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye
call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree."
— Zech. iii. i-io.
This fourth vision seems to have been presented to the
view of the prophet immediately, without any interval,
after the preceding. The expression "he showed me"
points back to the person who was commanded by the
Angel of the Lord to speak to the prophet in the pre
ceding vision (ii. 4). This was the angel-interpreter,

38 ZECHARIAH 'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
whose it was to show to the prophet the visions, and to
convey to him their meaning and the message of the
Lord connected with each (i. 9, 13, 14, 19). Having
delivered the message with which he was charged, the
angel without pause showed to the prophet another
vision, closely connected in purport with that which had
just passed away. In the preceding vision the prophet
had been assured that the Lord would return to Israel,
would dwell again in His chosen heritage, and would
enrich His people with blessing. But would God dwell
with the unholy and impure ? Assuredly not. Israel,
indeed, had been guilty and vile, but their guilt and vile-
ness should be taken away ; and, purified and restored,
they should again rejoice in the presence with them of
their Eedeemer God. This is what this fourth vision
was especially designed to represent.
The prophet saw Joshua the high priest standing
before the Angel of Jehovah, not in the proper attire of
his office, the holy garments clean and white with which
he had to come into the presence of God, but clothed in
filthy garments. At his right hand stood the Adversary
— Satan is not here a proper name, as is shown by the
article being prefixed, ]t2^[7, " the Satan " — to act the part
of an adversary to him by resisting his plea. Nothing
is said as to the place in which the high priest was seen,
nor as to the purpose for which he stood before the Angel
of the Lord. " To stand before the Lord " does not
necessarily imply the performing of official service in the
sanctuary, as some have supposed. The phrase " to stand
before one " is used as well of the appearance of parties
before a judge (Num. xxvii. 2, xxxv. 1 2 ; Deut. xix. 1 7 ;

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 39
Josh. xx. 6 ; 1 Kings iii. 1 6) as of the appearance of an
inferior before a superior for the purpose of rendering
service ( I Kings x. 8 ; Dan. i. 1 9). There is nothing,
therefore, in the statement that Joshua was standing be
fore the Angel of the Lord to determine whether he was
seen in the temple engaged in official service, or appeared
as a culprit before the judge ; both of which views have
found advocates among interpreters. Neither of them,
however, is free from objection. In a vision the high
priest might be seen officiating in the temple, though at
the time the temple did not actually exist; but it is
inconceivable that he should be represented as " in filthy
garments" when so engaged. In such attire no priest
would have dared to appear before God in the temple;
and though in a natural dream nothing is too incongruous
to be imagined, we cannot suppose that in a vision pre
sented by God for instruction to His servant anything
would be introduced which would violate all probability
and savour of what to a Jew would appear the grossest
profanity. The appearance of Satan at the right hand of
Joshua has been regarded as conclusive in favour of the
view that Joshua was represented as under trial at the
bar of the judge, the position assigned to Satan being that
ordinarily occupied by the accuser at a trial (see Ps. cix.
6). But it was not at judicial trials only, or for the pur
pose of urging an accusation alone, that one might be
represented as at the right hand of another ; the formula
occurs where no such reference is intended. One may
be at the right hand of another as a helper, adviser, or
protector ; or he may be there as an unfriend, to hinder
or oppose. The context must in each particular case de-

40 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
termine in what sense the phrase is to be taken. In the
case before us it is undoubtedly as an enemy that the
Adversary stood at the right hand of the high priest ;
but he was there simply to resist and oppose him; there
is no intimation of any judicial process in which the
parties were engaged; nor does the Angel of the Lord
appear as seated on a throne of judgment. It may be
doubted, indeed, if such a representation could have been
given. The Angel of the Lord appears as the Messenger
of Jehovah, as the Friend, Protector, and Guide of His
people, and as the Destroyer of their enemies ; but He
nowhere is represented as acting the part of a Judge.
This was not His function, and to represent Him in this
capacity would have introduced into the vision a marked
incongruity. All that can be fairly gathered from the passage itself
is that in the vision Joshua was seen standing before the
Angel of the Lord, and the Adversary at his right hand
to act the part of an adversary to him* From the
relation in which the Angel of the Lord stood to Israel,
it may be inferred that Joshua appeared before Him to
plead for His interposition on behalf of Israel, to deliver
them from their enemies, and restore them to their former
estate of peace and felicity. Such a plea might well be
urged upon the Angel of the Lord, whose special function
in relation to Israel was to encompass them as with a
shield, and to deliver them. But if this was the special
function of the Angel of the Lord, it was no less the
function of the Adversary to resist such a plea, and, if he
* In the Hebrew the verb and the noun here are cognates : " And the
Adversary" (JDk'n, Has-Satan) "to oppose him" (UOfc^), I' Sitno).

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 41
might, to hinder the people from obtaining the protection
and help they sought. Accordingly, in the vision Satan
was seen at the right hand of the high priest, not as an
accuser before a judge, but as an adversary who sought
to divert from the petitioner the kind offices of a
friend. In presenting such a petition Joshua might appear in
other dress than that which properly belonged to his
office, seeing this was not an official act. But wherefore
" in filthy garments " ? To this a strange answer has
been given. "The splendid attire of the high priest,
studded with jewels, had been detained at Babylon, or at
least could not be worn without special permission of the
king ; and until the accusations had been cleared away
this became still more impossible." * Here is a series of
assertions, every one of which is a pure assumption,
without a shadow of evidence, historical or otherwise, to
rest on; an outflow from the too lively imagination of
Ewald, who evolved from his own inner consciousness
the hypothesis of an accusation lying against the high
priest at the Persian court which he had to meet, and
pending which he had to wear the garments of mourning
appropriate to one so accused — an hypothesis to which
his English follower has lent the attractions of his
pellucid and polished style. Ewald, it is true, appeals to
Ezra v. 5 and vi. 1 3 as authorising his assertions, and to
these Dean Stanley adds 1 Esdras iv. 54 ; but these pas
sages lend him no support whatever. In none of them
is there the least hint of any accusation being brought
against Joshua personally ; they simply intimate generally
* Stanley, "Lectures on the Jewish Church," iii. p. 103.

42 ZECHARIAHS VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
that a complaint was made against the Jews to King
Darius by their enemies ; and if any individual among
the Jews had specially to answer to the king, it was
Sheshbazzar, their political chief and prince, and not
Joshua, who should have been called to account. The
passage in Esdras merely tells us that Darius "wrote
concerning the charges " [-^op^ylav, the stipend of the
priests] " and the priests' vestments wherein they
minister;" and as it was in response to the, address of
Zorobabel that this order was given, it is he rather
than Joshua that comes into view here ; all about the
high priest's attire being detained in Babylon or withheld
from him till he should clear himself from the charge
brought against him is mere embellishment and fiction.
Besides, as it is before the Angel of the Lord that Joshua
was seen standing, how could this represent his standing
at the bar of Darius or any other earthly judge ?
The representation is symbolical, and must be so in
terpreted. Garments may be used to indicate the state
or condition of the party wearing them ; and in Scripture
numerous instances of this usage are to be found. White
garments were emblematical of joy, purity, and glory
(Eccles. ix. 8 ; Dan. vii. 9 ; Mark xvi. 5 : Eev. iii. 4) ;
beautiful, admirable, and costly garments, of exaltation
and triumph (Ps. xiv. 14 ; Isa. Iii. 1, lxi. 3 ; Dan. v. 29 ;
Esther viii. 1 5> 16); and mean, coarse, or defiled gar
ments, of sorrow, depression, or moral impurity and guilt
(2 Sam. xix. 24; Deut. xxi. 13; 2 Sam. iii. 31; Ps.
Ixix. 1 1 ; Lam. iv. 1 4, &c). Josephus says that among
the Jews persons who had to appear at the bar of a
judge as accused usually, on such occasions, were habited

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 43
in black garments. The garments, however, in which
Joshua was seen were not black, but filthy; they may
have been originally white or splendid, but they were
unclean, sordid, or befouled (Q'NiX, comp. the use of the
cognate word HNiS, Isa. iv. 4, xxviii. 8). Now, as
clean and white garments betokened purity and right
eousness, garments dirtied and defiled indicated the
opposite — a state of humiliation, impurity, and guilt.
The filthy garments, therefore, in which Joshua was
attired indicated his being in a state of moral impurity
and sinfulness. Unlike the worthy few in the Church
at Sardis " who had not defiled their garments," that is,
had kept themselves free and blameless, he had come
under sin, and appeared before the Angel of the Lord as
one encompassed with iniquity. It was not, however,
his own personal transgressions alone of which he bore
the guilt. As the high priest, he represented the nation
at large ; and in him the people of Israel appeared before
the Lord laden with iniquity. The question has been ^
raised as to what special sin of the people reference is ;
here made ; but such a question is irrelevant. It was
the sin of the nation, " the iniquity of the land " (ver. 9),
the accumulated guilt of the whole people, which had
brought on them God's displeasure, and led to their being
for a season subjected to captivity and suffering. This
the high priest bore as he stood before the Angel of the
Lord to implore His favour for Israel ; and of this the
Adversary took advantage when he endeavoured to
frustrate his plea, and prevent his obtaining what he
sought. In vain, however, was the Adversary's attempt.

44 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
" Jehovah said unto the Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, thou
Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke
thee : is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? "
The speaker here is the Angel of the Lord before
whom Joshua stood, and when He says " Jehovah rebuke
thee," there is the same distinction made between Him,
the manifested Jehovah, and the invisible Jehovah, that
we find made in the account given of the destruction of
the cities of the plain in Gen. xix. 24, where we read,
"And Jehovah" [i.e. the Angel of Jehovah who had
visited Lot] " rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven." There
is a distinction between the two, and yet the incommuni
cable name Jehovah belongs to both, and both are on an
equality in respect of attribute, power, and honour. The
language of the Lord here is not that of petition or desire;
it is that of performance. As " He rebuked the Red Sea
and it was dried up " (Ps. cvi. 9), so here He rebuked
the adversary, and he was silenced and rebuffed. Against
the mercy and benevolence of God, Satan's malice and his
pleading were in vain. The Lord had chosen Jerusalem,
and though for a season He had apparently cast off His
people, He had not forsaken them or forgotten them ;
they were still the people of Him " whose gifts and
calling are without repentance '' (Rom. xi. 29). And of
Joshua, as representing the people, the Lord said, " Is not
this a brand plucked from the fire ? " The same expres
sion occurs Amos iv. 11, where it is applied to the people
of Israel rescued by God from amidst the terrible judg
ments which had been sent upon them, and by which
they had been consumed as in a furnace. The expression

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 45
is probably proverbial, and was used to convey the idea
of unexpected deliverance from imminent calamity. Satan
would have had the brand kept in " the furnace of afflic
tion" (Isa. xlviii. 10) until it was utterly consumed;
but the Lord would not have it so ; His grace and power
had interposed to rescue His people from captivity, and
He would complete the deliverance He had begun. The
brand had been plucked from the burning, aud was not
again to be cast into the fire.
It is the opinion of some commentators that it is to
the scene here described that St. Jude refers when he
says (ver. 9) : " Yet Michael the archangel, when con
tending with the devil (he disputed about the body of
Moses), ventured not to bring against him a railing
accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." By " the
body of Moses," it is alleged, is intended the Jewish
Church or State, and by Michael the archangel the Angel
of the Lord who here speaks ; and it is supposed that
there was a contention between him and Satan which of
them should possess that body : whether Satan to destroy
it, or the angel to keep and preserve it. In support of
this may be urged (1) the fact that the archangel Michael
is undoubtedly the same being who appears here and
elsewhere as the Angel of Jehovah, there being but one
Angel of Jehovah and but one archangel mentioned in
Scripture, and the archangel Michael being represented as
having authority over other angels, and as the great
prince that standeth up for the people of Jehovah (Dan.
x. 13-xii. 1) ; and (2) the fact that the terms of re
primand used to Satan are the same in both cases : " The
Lord rebuke thee." But whilst these considerations can-

46 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
not be held as establishing the identity of the two, there
are serious difficulties in the way of that conclusion, (i)
Though the spiritual Church, including both Jew and
Gentile, is called the body of Christ (Eph. iv. 12, &c),
there is no instance of the Jewish Church being called
the body of Moses, and no authority for so calling it.
Nor are the two cases parallel. The Church is the body
of Christ because He is its living head, because all its
members live in Him, because they are from their union
to Him incorporated into one body. But in no sense
could this be said of Moses in relation to the Jewish
commonwealth, civil or sacred. He, as God's minister,
gave laws and ordinances for the establishment and order
ing of that body, but he was in no sense its head ; nor
was it in virtue of relationship to him that its members
became incorporated with it. There is no ground, there
fore, for the conclusion that by " the body of Moses " St.
Jude meant the Jewish Church or State. Then (2) St.
Jude represents Michael as contending with the devil for
the body of Moses. But in the vision of Zechariah it is
not the Angel of the Lord who is seen ' contending with
Satan ; the contention there is between the adversary and
Joshua the high priest, whom Satan attempts to hinder
in his suit. The Angel of the Lord takes no part in the
strife. He sits supreme, and utters His rebuke as arbiter
of the contest. Between the case here described, then,
and that adduced by St. Jude there is no real parallel.
The resemblance fails in the two essential points — the
disputants, and that about which the dispute was. It
may therefore be confidently concluded that it is not to
the scene here described that St. Jude alludes.

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 47
At the rebuke of the Lord the Adversary seems to
have retired abashed and discomfited. Joshua then stood
alone before the Lord ; in his filthy garments virtually
acknowledging the iniquity of Israel, but hoping in the
mercy of Him with whom is plenteous redemption, and
who will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. His
petition prevailed. " And He answered and spake unto
those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him." The speaker here is the Angel of
the Lord ; and when it is said " He answered," there is
tacitly intimated that some petition or request had been
preferred by the high priest, if not audibly, yet in his
heart, for favour and blessing ; in answer to which the
Lord gave the command to those that stood before him,
i.e. the attendant angels who waited to do His pleasure,*
to remove from Joshua the filthy garments in which he
had appeared. That this symbolised the remission of
sins, and the acceptance into favour of Joshua and the
people whom he represented, is seen from what follows.
Addressing Joshua, the Lbrd says, " Behold, I have caused
thine iniquity to pass from thee — I have taken it away,
and delivered thee from it — and I have clothed thee with
* Ewald understands the command as given to the priests in attendance
on Joshua, and he takes the 1'3D7 " before him " as referring to Joshua.
But (1) the ) in V3S7 can be referred with propriety only to the subject
of the preceding verb "IDK*1 ; and (2) as no mention whatever is made of
any priests as attendant on Joshua, it is gratuitous to bring such into the
scene. It is true no mention either is made of attendant angels, but such
are always considered to be waiting on the Lord, ready to do His will ;
and, as Hitzig remarks, when " one gives to servants a command, it is to
be presumed' that it is to his own servants, and not to those of another,"
that the command is given. That angels, however, were really seen to be
in attendance may be inferred from ver. 7.

48 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
change of raiment" (festive garments, or rich dress,
¦fl^C!?)- The Targum explains this as meaning, "I
have clothed thee with thy righteousness ; " and such
seems to be substantially the meaning.* The word used
occurs only here and in Isa. iii. 22, where it is rendered
in the A. V. by " changeable garments." This, however,
is not a happy rendering ; the idea of change is imported
into the word from its being a formation from the verb
V77» one °^ the meanings of which is to put off (a shoe,
for instance — Deut. xxv. 9) ; but the verb also means to
equip, to gird, and it is from this, rather than the other,
that the meaning of the noun is to be derived. In both
the passages where it occurs it is the putting on, not the
putting off, of a garment that comes into consideration,
and the kind of garment referred to is, from the connec
tion, shown to be one of costliness and beauty. That
this is the proper meaning of the word is further proved
by the use of the cognate word in the Arabic 4*!^. chal'aton,
pretiosa vestis ("vestimentum quo a principe aliquis
honoris causa donatur," Freytag). The word has no
specific reference to priestly attire, as the usage of it in
* Hitzig objects to the rendering of the Targum here, that the proper
symbol of innocence or guiltlessness is a white garment. But it is not so
much the whiteness of the garment as its cleanness, its freedom from stain
or smirch, that symbolises innocence ; and it may be presumed that the
garments put upon Joshua, whatever their colour, were without spot or
stain. It was not merely, however, the removal of moral defilement from
the high priest, as representing the people, but also his justification or
restoration to acceptance, honour, and privilege that had to be indicated,
and of this the rich and festive attire put on him was the fitting symbol.
This the Targumist richly expresses by the word lDf, which means not
moral purity so much as legal righteousness, acquittal, or establishment in
the rights and immunities of citizenship ; comp. Gen. xv. 6 ; Deut. vi. 25
&c.

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 49
Isa. iii. 2 2 shows ; so the use of it here affords no reason
for supposing that it was with his official garments that
Joshua was seen in the vision to be clothed. He was
clothed in rich and costly raiment to indicate his restora
tion to righteousness, and with that to favour.
Hitherto the prophet has been a mere beholder ; but
now, animated and excited by what he has seen, he can
no longer, as it were, contain himself, but must needs
take part in what he sees going on; just as St. John
describes himself as affected by the visions which he saw,
and as mingling in the action (Rev. v. 4, x. 9, xi. 1).
" Let them," he exclaims, " set a fair mitre on his head."
Some of the ancient versions in place of " I said " read
"he said," which would make this a command of the
Angel of the Lord ; and this Ewald would adopt as the
proper reading. But there is no sufficient reason for de
parting from the common reading ; and that it is the
prophet, and not the Angel of the Lord, who speaks here
is rendered almost certain by the change in the mood of
the verb from the imperative to the optative, ^^J, " let
them put," " would that they put." The word rendered
"mitre" — ^^ — means primarily something wrapped
round the head, and so a turban, which rendering had
better be adopted here ; for though the high priest's mitre
was a sort of turban, yet as it had a name specially
appropriate to it, -TIB^D, the rendering " mitre '' should
be reserved for that. The prophet's language is that of
request, and what he desired was that the high priest's
restoration should be shown to be complete, that the
whole symbolical representation should be crowned by
the putting of a fair, that is, a clean and comely, turban

50 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
on his head, so that he might stand forth, representing
his people, as wholly accepted of the Lord.
Whilst the change in the attire of Joshua was being
made, " the Angel of the Lord stood by," in silence, but
with complacency, contemplating what was taking place.
He then addressed the high priest, solemnly adjuring him
to walk in the ways of the Lord, and assuring him that
if he was faithful to his trust and charge, honour and
blessing would be his, whilst to the nation a blessing still
higher and more enduring should be secured.
" If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thoU wilt keep
My charge." The " charge " of God is, as He Himself ex
plained to Abraham (Gen. xxvi. 5), His commandments,
His statutes, and His laws ; and to keep this is to obey
the injunctions and observe the institutions He has ap
pointed. There is no real distinction between this and
the walking in God's ways also enjoined on the high
priest (comp. 1 Kings ii. 3). " Then thou shalt also
judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts." The
house of God and the courts of God here are synonymous,
and this seems to fix the reference to the temple then in
course of erection. It is not of the temple, however, as a
building that this is said, " but as the spiritual dwelling-
place of all Israel." God dwelt in the sanctuary as in the
midst of His people, who are His real temple and house
(Num. xii. 7 ; Jer. xii. 7 ; Hos. viii. 1 , ix. 8 ; 1 Tim.
iii. 15 ; Heb. iii. 2-6, x. 2 ; 1 Pet. iv. 7; Eph. ii. 22).
The allusion to judging shows that it is in this point of
view that it (the temple) comes into consideration here.
The keeping of the courts of the Lord refers to the obligation
which rested on the high priest to keep away every kind

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 51
of idolatry and ungodliness, first of all from the outward
temple (cf. 2 Chron. xix. 11, xxiii. 18; Jer. xxix. 26),
and then from the Church of God, of which the temple
was the central point. * This, which was binding on the
high priest as a duty, is here represented as a reward,
because it was an honour and a privilege to be intrusted
with such an office, and to be required to perform such
functions. " Activity in connection with the kingdom of
God is the highest honour and greatest favour which God
can confer on any mortal " {Hengst.). " And I will give
thee places to walk in among these that stand by." That
by " these that stand by " are intended the angels who as
ministering spirits stand ever before God, waiting His
behests and ready to do His will, all are agreed ; but re
garding the earlier part of the clause there is not the
same accordance among interpreters. It is not certain
whether the word (DObno) rendered " places to walk in,"
and " walks " in the margin, is to be taken as a noun or
as a verb. Those who take it as a verb suppose it is the
Chaldaised form of the Hiphil participle of the verb "^rt
for DOviD the ordinary form ; and they render it either
transitively by " leaders," " guides," or intransitively by
"walkers" (LXX avacrTpecpofievov?, Vulg. ambulantes).
Those who take the word as a noun suppose it is the
plural of "T?l!? or of an unused form "=!?'"'?, a walk
(Ezek. xlii. 4), a journey (Neh. ii. 6 ; Jonah iii. 3, 4). If
the word be taken as a verb, the causal force can alone
be retained, and the blessing promised to Joshua must be
taken to mean that the Lord would give him from among
the angels those who would cause him to go, i.e. would
* Hengstenberg, " Christology," iv. 327.

52 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
guide, direct, and help him in the discharge of his high
functions. If it be taken as a noun, the meaning will
be that God would give him walks or goings among the
angels. The former affords the simpler meaning, but on
philological grounds the latter must be preferred. No
such form of the Hiphil participle as that assumed is
anywhere to be found ; and the use of the preposition
" between " or " amidst " (V2) is decisive against the inter
pretation, which makes God promise that helpers or guides
from among the angels should be given him. The ren
dering in the margin of the A.V., " I will give thee
walks," &c, is to be preferred. But to what does this
refer ? The Targumist explains it as meaning that in
the resurrection Joshua should arise and walk amid the
angels, his place should be among them in the enjoyment
of heavenly life and in heavenly activity. It may be
doubted, however, if any such meaning is intended here.
As the other parts of the promise have reference to
what is to take place in this world, it is not probable
that the latter part should refer to what is to take place
in the future state. Taken in connection with what
precedes, this part of the promise may be understood to
mean that Joshua, as a servant of the Lord, should have
his sphere of activity among those who stand before Him
as His ministers, that is, should continue as the Lord's
high priest, to come before Him in the exercise of his
lofty functions ; the sin of Israel being forgiven, the in
stitute which God had given to His people " for an ordi
nance for ever throughout their generations" (Num. x.
8) was, after a temporary suspension, to be restored,
and to continue in perpetuity; the high priest should

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 53
have free access to Jehovah, should have an open way
into His presence to serve Him along with those holy
angels who stand continually before Him (comp. 2 Chron.
xxix. 3-1 1 ). This seems better than the suggestion that
God here promises to Joshua that he as high priest should
have the rank of angel and bear that name, a suggestion
which finds no real support from such usages as Hag. i.
1 3 ; Mai. ii. 7 ; Rev. ii. 1 , &c.
The priesthood was thus to be retained in its integrity,
and the succession in the family of Aaron to be preserved.
But after all this was but a shadowy and typical priest
hood ; the reality was yet to come. Hence while assur
ing to Joshua the blessing and honour here promised, the
Lord goes on to announce the advent of a far higher boon
to Israel. " Hear now, 0 Joshua the high priest, thou
and thy companions that sit before thee, for (or yea,
verily) men of portent are they ; for lo I am bringing
My servant Branch." The " now " here is the " now " of
entreaty, M, and adds intensity to the imperative. The
companions of Joshua are the priests who attended with
him in the service of the sanctuary ; the reference to
them does not necessarily imply that they were seen in
the vision, as then attendant on the high priest ; and as
no mention is made of them as appearing with the high
priest, it is to be presumed that he alone stood before the
Angel of the Lord. He and his companions are called
" men of portent " (J"l?iO, a wonder, something marvellous,
the fore-sign or portent of something to be; comp. Isa.
viii. 18, xx. 3 ; Ezek. xii. 6, 11, &c), because they were
signs portending something not yet revealed ; they were
types, divinely - appointed representations, prefiguring

54 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

better things to come. "For" — this is why they are
types or portents — " lo I am bringing forth My servant
Branch." The reason of the type is found " in the ap
pearance of the antitype ; for if this is not real the type
also falls away" (Eengst.). Two designations are here
given of the Person referred to: "My servant" and
'' Branch." Both are designations of the Messiah in the
prophetic Scriptures. The former occurs frequently in
Isaiah, and reference may be had especially to Isa. Iii.
1 3 -liii. 1 1, which is closely parallel to the passage here,
both having reference to the agency of the Messiah in
the taking away of sin (ver. 9). The word rendered
" Branch " (n02J from ^02, to sprout or grow up) primarily
means sprout. It is first used of the Messiah in Isa.
iv. 2, where He is called miT**1 TOS, " the Branch of
Jehovah ; " in xi. 1 of the same book words of synony
mous import — "l??n, rod or shoot, and "IS 2, sucker — are
applied to Him ; and in Jer. xxiii. 5 He is called " the
Righteous Branch," p*^? fTDS, which in xxxiii. 15 is
varied into "Branch of Righteousness," '"^"IS TIOS.
Zechariah uses the word as a proper name, both here and
in vi. 12, which would seem to indicate that it had by
his time come to be an appropriate ' and well-known
designation of the Messiah. Primarily, it indicates the
humility of His earthly origin ; but, like many such
designations, it gradually receded from its primary idea,
and became a name of honour and dignity; the Sprout
became the Branch.
The Messiah was the antitype of the ancient priesthood,
inasmuch as He was to do really what they did only
symbolically and typically. The proper priestly acts

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 55
were sacrifice and intercession, and by these they made
reconciliation and removed iniquity from the people as
subjects of the theocracy. But these priestly acts and
their effect merely shadowed forth and promised the
sacrifice and intercession by which alone sin, as a trans
gression of the Divine law, could be atoned for and re
moved. Hence the Lord goes on to say to Joshua,
" For " — here is the reason why the Lord will bring forth
His servant Branch — " behold the stone that I have laid
before Joshua ; upon one stone shall be seven eyes :
behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord
of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in
one day." It is not improbable that at this stage of the
vision the prophet saw a stone lying at the feet of Joshua ;
but whether he saw this or not is of no moment; the
important question is, What was the stone intended to
signify ? To this different answers have been given,
only two of which need be mentioned here. The one is
that the stone is the Messiah, the other is that it is the
nation and kingdom of God. In support of the former
such passages as Isa. xxviii. 16; Ps. cxviii. 2 2 ; Eph.
ii. 20, 21, where the Messiah is undoubtedly represented
under this designation, may be appealed to ; and in support
of the latter may be urged the representation in Dan. ii. of
the stone cut out without hands which grew to be a great
mountain and filled the whole earth, which is usually
understood to represent the Church or kingdom of God.
Both interpretations are thus seen to be allowable so far
as the word is concerned, nor is it easy to determine
which is to be preferred. On the whole, however, the
latter is that which seems most to commend itself. It is

56 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
a serious objection to the former that the stone is laid
before Joshua, which not only indicates something already
existing and done, but also that in some sense it is under
the superintendence and management of the high priest ;
neither of which will apply to the Messiah, who had not
then come, and who, when He came, was to rule in His
own house. It is difficult also on this supposition to
understand what is meant by the words, "I will engrave
the graving thereof." This means that God would grave
and polish the stone,* so that, no longer a rude block, it
should become beautiful and admirable ; and this can
hardly be understood of the Messiah, who, though in
Himself fairer than the children of men, was to be
wounded and bruised for man's iniquity and transgres
sion. Of the kingdom of God on earth this may be
readily understood ; small and mean to outward view in
its beginning, it should be so dealt with by God that in
due time it should appear worthy of all admiration ; He
would " make it a praise in the whole earth." Of it also
might it be fitly said that it was already laid, for it then
existed, and that it was laid before the high priest, for
on this functionary devolved the management and care of
it until He should come who is its proper Head and Lord.
" Upon one stone shall be seven eyes." This may mean
either that on the stone seven figures of eyes should be
engraved, or that seven real eyes should look on it, and,
in looking, as it were, rest on it. In the former case the
stone, like the wheels in Ezekiel's vision which were " full
of eyes round about," is represented as instinct with in-
* For this sense of the verb nflQ see I Kings vii. 36 ; 2 Chron. ii. 7,
iii. 7.

THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE ADVERSARY. 57
telligence and full of knowledge ; in the latter case it is
represented as the object of God's watchful care and
providential solicitude. Both of these will apply to either
of the interpretations of the stone above noted, for in
Scripture both the Messiah and the Church are repre
sented as endowed with intelligence, and as watched over
and cared for by God. From the reference, however, in
the next chapter to " the seven eyes of the Lord which
run to and fro through the whole earth," it would seem
that the latter interpretation and application are to be
preferred. On His Church God's watchful and all-seeing
eye would rest ; it should be ever under His providential
care. When God adorns His Church, it is with " the beauty
of holiness " that she is decorated. Therefore says He,
" I will remove the iniquity of the land in one day."
For " iniquity " some would read " punishment " here ;
but though the Hebrew word ]ty is sometimes found in
this sense, it properly means sin, crime, guilt, and has the
secondary meaning of punishment very rarely. " To take
away iniquity" is the proper counterpart of "to bear
iniquity ; " and as the latter means to be held guilty, the
former means to absolve from guilt, to pardon. God will
pardon, cleanse, and restore Israel (comp. Jer. xxxiii. 7,
8). "Jn one day." This is emphatic. " Year by year
came the day of atonement ; its yearly repetition showed
that nothing lasting was effected. On one day that re
moval should be which needed no renewal" [Pusey],
Comp. Heb. viii. 27, x. 10-14.
With pardon and cleansing God will send peace and
felicity. " In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye

58 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
call every man his neighbour, under the vine and under
the fig-tree." To sit under the vine and under the fig-
tree was a proverbial expression for a state of tranquillity
and happiness (comp. Micah iv. 4). So here the people
are represented as inviting each man his neighbour to
come and sit in peace and quiet, free from tumult, dis
cord, danger, or fear — a picture of peace and social enjoy
ment. So doth God cause peace to be upon Israel; a
blessing to be fully realised under the reign of Him who
is our Peace.
Pardon, acceptance, purity, blessedness: this is the
order of the kingdom of God both for the Church at large
and for each individual member of it.

V.
THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES.
" And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me,
as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What
seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all
of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon,
and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof :
And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the
other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the
angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord ? Then
the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest
thou not what these be ? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered
and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerub
babel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the
Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel
thou shalt become a plain : and he shall bring forth the head-stone
thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have
laid the foundation of this house ; his hands shall also finish it ; and
thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For
who hath despised the day of small things ? for they shall rejoice, and
shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven ;
they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole
earth. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive
trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side
thereof ? And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these
two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the
golden oil out of themselves ? And he answered me and said, Knowest
thou not what these be ? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he,
These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole
earth."— Zech. iv. 1-14.
It would appear that after the preceding vision the pro
phet had sunk into a sort of lethargic state, whether

60 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
overwhelmed by the vision he had just witnessed, or
depressed by a sense of the greatness of the difficulties
which lay in the way of a realisation of the issue to
which that vision seemed to point. Apparently, also,
Zerubbabel had yielded to despondency at this juncture,
and in consequence of the great opposition which he had
to encounter had begun to fear lest he should be com
pelled to relinquish altogether the work on which he had
entered. Under these circumstances the vision described
in this chapter was given ; the design of which is to rouse
the prophet and his friends from torpor and despondency,
and send them to their work with the energy and ear
nestness which the certainty of success is fitted to com
municate. The prophet tells us that the angel that spake with
him, the angel interpreter, came again and waked him as
a man that is wakened out of his sleep. It is supposed
by some that the prophet needed to be thus roused be
cause he was so intent on observing the vision that had
just been presented to him, and so utterly absorbed by
it, that he was not prepared to attend to anything else.
But the expression that the angel came again to him,
would indicate that for a season the angel had left him ;
and his being wakened as one is wakened out of sleep,
would seem to show that he had passed out of the state
of ecstatic quickening, in which he had seen the visions,
into a state of mental depression and torpor.* We are
* It is true that 2 ¦IB', " according to a common Hebrew idiom, when
used before another verb, merely indicates the repetition of the action
expressed by such verb " (Henderson, " Min. Proph.," p. 384). At the same
time there is always implied an interval, more or less extended, between
'the earlier act and the repetition of it (cf. Gen. xxvi. 18, xxx. 31, &c.).

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 61
to suppose, therefore, that a short interval elapsed after
the preceding vision had passed away, during which the
prophet was in a state of mental somnolency, the natural
result, probably, of a reaction from the state of abnormal
excitement into which he had been brought. That he
was not really asleep is evident from the form of the
expression in which he describes his wakening ; it was as
a man is wakened out of sleep that he was wakened by
the angel — like, but not the same. He was roused from
the torpor into which he had sunk, into a state in which
he could behold anew " the visions of the Lord."
In answer to the question of the angel — •" What seest
thou ? " the prophet describes what met his view. There
was presented to him a large candelabrum of gold, on the
top of which was a bowl or basin, whence proceeded
seven pipes through which oil flowed from the reservoir
at the top to supply the seven lamps of the candelabrum.
He saw also by the side of the candelabrum, and rising
above the basin at the top, two olive trees, one on the
right side of the basin and the other on the left, and from
these depended two fruit-bearing branches from which oil
passed through two channels or conductors into the bowl
(ver. 12).*
In the latter part of ver. 2 the A.V. follows the LXX
rather than the Hebrew. According to the latter the
passage reads thus : " And its seven lamps upon it, seven
and seven pipes to the lamps which are on its top." The
number of pipes is thus made to be fourteen in all, two
for each lamp. The LXX reads : " And seven lamps
* See this excellently explained and illustrated in Mr. Wright's recently
published " Bampton Lecture," p. 81, ff.

62 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
upon it, and seven conduits * for the lamps that are upon
it." This is probably the correct reading ; two pipes for
each lamp would seem to be superfluous ; and the first
seven in the Hebrew may be an interpolation through a
lapsus calami on the part of some transcriber.
The candelabrum seen by the prophet was, in its main
features, the same as that which Moses was directed to
make and place in the tabernacle; the only difference
being that the reservoir from which the lamps were sup
plied was in the tabernacle arrangement placed apart
from the candelabrum, whilst in what was seen by the
prophet it formed part of the candelabrum itself, and was
fed with oil by means of the branches of the two olive
trees, without the intervention of any human agency,
whereas the candelabrum in the tabernacle had to be
daily tended and supplied with oil by the priests. Being
thus in its main features identical with that with which
the prophet was familiar, he did not need to ask an expla
nation of its meaning. It was otherwise, however, with
the two olive trees; this was something novel, and he
inquired of the angel, " What are these, my lord ? "
Instead of directly answering this, the angel proceeded to
give him the message which the vision as a whole was
designed to shadow forth, and which the prophet was to
convey to Zerubbabel ; nor was it until the prophet had
repeated his question again and again, uttering it three
times in all, that the angel told him their significance.

* The word here, 'ewapvcrTplSe;, properly means pitchers or buckets, vessels
in which water is drawn up ; but it may also designate vessels by which a
fluid is conveyed, or from which it is poured out : Schleus. infusoria,
infundibula.

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 63
" These," he at length said, " are the two sons of oil that
stand by the Lord of the whole earth " (ver. 14).
Before examining the symbolic part of this vision it
will be of advantage to consider the purport of the mes
sage which the prophet was instructed to convey to
Zerubbabel. In this lies the key of the whole represen
tation; and hence when we have seen what it imports
we shall be the better fitted to inquire into the meaning
of the symbols by which it was presented to the view of
the prophet.
" This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, say
ing, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith
Jehovah of hosts " (ver. 6). This is a general assertion of
the utter inadequacy of mere human power and strength
to accomplish any great work such as that in which
Zerubbabel and his coadjutors were engaged, and the
necessity for Divine agency ere it can be accomplished.
The Spirit of God is the great Divine operator both in
the physical and in the moral world (cf. Gen. i. 2 ; Job
xxvi. 1 3, xxxiii. 4 ; Ps. li. 12; Exod. xxxi. 3 ; 1 Sam. x.
10; Neh. ix. 30; Ezek. i. 12, iii. 14, xi. 24; Matt. iii.
16, iv. 1 ; Rom. viii. 1 1, xv. 19; 1 Cor. ii. 10, vi. 1 1 ;
Eph. iii. 16; Rev. i. 10, iv. 2, &c); and whether it be
such work as Zerubbabel had then in hand in the build
ing of the temple at Jerusalem, or the higher work of
erecting the great spiritual temple of which that at Jeru
salem was but the type, it is only as the Spirit of the
Lord influences and energises in the work that it can
be successfully accomplished. Human agency must be
employed in the work ; human might and power must
be put forth on it, alike the might of thought and the

64 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
might of effort, the power of skill and the power of mate
rial resources ; but these will be exerted in vain unless
that might and power that come from above, the might
and power of the eternal and omnipotent Spirit, be put
forth to direct, sustain, effect, and crown the whole.
The work to which Zerubbabel was called was great
and arduous ; and there was much to discourage him not
only in the difficulties of the work itself, but also in the
temper and disposition of those by whose exertions it was
to be carried on, and in the watchful and uncompromising
hostility of the adversaries by whom he was surrounded.
Under the pressure of these influences his spirit seems
to have succumbed. It appeared to him as if a huge
mountain had risen up before him which he could neither
remove nor surmount. But God, by the prophet, bade
him not be discouraged, assuring him that the difficulties,
however great, should be made to disappear. " Who art
thou, 0 great mountain before Zerubbabel ? To a plain
down ! " (or, Be for a plain !) was the cheering utterance
which the prophet was commissioned to bear to his chief.
A mountain is a figure common among all peoples for an
accumulation of difficulties; and the removal of it, so
that the place it occupied shall become a plain, obviously
indicates the overcoming or the smoothing away of the
obstacles created by such difficulties. Thus our Lord
said to His disciples, " Verily I say unto you, If ye have
faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place ; and it shall
remove ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you "
(Matt. xvii. 20). Among the Jews an eloquent teacher
is called D^rr "ipy — one who tears up mountains. This

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 65
now Christ takes as a figure and example of any miracu
lously powerful effort of faith, when He immediately goes
on to say in general : " Mountains shall remove out of their
place if ye bid them, all things will be obedient to what
you say, nothing will be impossible to you, — to you even
as to God" (chap. xix. 26 ; Luke i. 37).* So also of our
Lord's advent it was said : " Every valley shall be
exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,"
and thereby a way be prepared for Him (Isa. xl. 3, 4 ;
cf. Matt. iii. 3 ; Mark i. 3 ; Luke iii. 4). Many and great
were the obstacles which lay in the way of the Messiah
when He came to get for Himself a kingdom on earth ;
but these were all to be overcome, a plain path should
be made along which He might travel, He should gain
His end, and all nations should behold His glory and
submit to His sway. In like manner the mountain of
difficulty that was before Zerubbabel should, at the Divine
command, sink down into a plain; and an open path
should be made for him by which to go on to the accom
plishment of his work. Let him, then, have faith in God
and not be discouraged.
The words, " to a plain," are to be taken as a command
(cf. for a similar construction 2 Kings iii. 23).
"And [yea] he hath brought forth (N^ni) the chief
stone with shoutings, Grace, grace be to it ! " (ver. 8).
The " he " here is by some understood of Jehovah, but
the following verse shows it is Zerubbabel who is intended;
all obstacles being surmounted, he should complete the
work he had begun ; as conductor of the building he had
already brought forth from his stores the stone on which
* Stier, " Words of Jesus," ii. p. 379, English translation. E

66 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the whole edifice should be made securely to rest. By
" head-stone," lit. the stone the head (fTCMirT l^NH), many
understand the top-stone, the stone which completes and
crowns the building. But it is impossible to determine
what is the top- stone of a building like the temple, for in
the uppermost course of masonry in such an edifice, no
stone is higher than another; the only edifice that can
have a top-stone is a pyramid. It is better, therefore, to
understand the phrase here as designating the chief stone,
that is, the corner-stone at the foundation by which the
walls of the building are bound together, and on which it
virtually rests ; what the Greeks called \i0os cucpoywviaiov,
the stone " which holds together the walls and founda
tions" (Chrysostom on Eph. ii. 20). The Hebrews and
"he ancients generally attached much importance to the
corner-stone (Job xxxviii. 6 ; Ps. cxviii. 2 2 ; Isa. xxviii.
1 6 ; Zech. x. 4) ; the name was applied to chiefs and
leaders as those on whom the rest depended (cf. Judges
xx. 2 ; Isa. xxix. 13); and in the New Testament this
is applied to Jesus Christ, inasmuch as He is the founda
tion on which the whole Church rests, and because
" through the one faith He binds together in a spiritual
oneness both peoples" {i.e., Jews and Gentiles; Cyrill.
Alex, on Isa. xxviii. 16) ; cf. Eph. ii. 20 ; 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7.
It is true the Hebrews had a special term by which to
denote the corner-stone (^33), but seeing they attached
so much importance to it, they might very well also
describe it as the stone the chief. This chief stone Zerub
babel, notwithstanding all difficulties and opposition, had
been privileged to lay ; and when it was laid the attend
ant multitude hailed the event with shoutings of " Grace,

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 67
grace be to it!" The reduplication here is for effect;
equivalent to abundant grace; comp. Isa. xxvi. 3, "per
fect peace," lit. peace, peace; Ivii. 19. The purport of
the exclamation may be either a petition that God's favour
may rest on the building, the chief stone of which had
been brought forth ; or an assertion that grace or favour
belongs to it ; that the temple, that is, is the place where
the Divine grace is specially and abundantly manifested.
It is difficult to say which of these interpretations is to
be preferred, for both are in accordance with the tenor of
exclamations of this sort in Scripture. " Hosannah to the
Son of David ! " is a prayer for salvation and blessing
(Matt. xxi. 9 ; cf. Ps. cxviii. 25) ; " Salvation to our God,
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb"
(Eev. vii. 1 o), is an ascription of honour to those to whom
it specially belongs. It is probable, however, in the cir
cumstances, that the exclamation of the multitude on the
laying of the chief stone of the temple, is to be regarded
as an expression of desire and hope, rather than as an
ascription of quality. It is the utterance of their earnest
wish that He, by whose favour the chief stone had been
laid, would so abundantly manifest his favour that the
whole building should ere long be, completed, and stand
for ever as a monument of His favour to His people (cf.
Ezra iii. 11).
In what follows the angel repeats explicitly what he
had, in a more figurative manner, already enunciated.
" The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of
this house ; his hands shall also finish it ; and thou shalt
know that the Lord of Hosts hath' sent me unto you "
(ver. 9). The speaker in this verse is most probably the

68 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.

angel of the Lord, who in the name of Jehovah promises
that as Zerubbabel had been privileged to lay the foun
dation of the temple, so should he, in spite of- all opposi
tion and of every difficulty, assuredly complete the work
he had thus begun. And by this should assurance be
given that He was indeed the angel of the Lord, sent
forth by Him, and commissioned to speak in His name.
By some the speaker, in the latter half of the verse, is
assumed to be the prophet himself, while the speaker in
the former part is the Lord ; but so sudden a change of
persons is hardly to be supposed. In any case the utter
ance is to be regarded as a message from Jehovah to be
conveyed to Zerubbabel and the people for their encou
ragement in the work of rebuilding the temple.
Something had been already done in respect of that
work, but it was little as compared with what yet re
mained to be done ere the whole should be accomplished.
It was not, however, on that account to be lightly thought
of. The people are cautioned against this : " Who hath
despised the day of small things ? " — who will regard with
contempt this small beginning as if it were not the pre
lude and pledge, under God's blessing, of a completed
work ? If any have so regarded it let them no longer do
so ; for they shall yet see the work finished, the temple
rebuilt, and the worship of God in it restored. And
whence came this certainty? It came from this, that
Jehovah had determined that the work should be done,
and would watch over, direct, and further it till it was
completed. " For these seven rejoice and see (= rejoic
ingly see) the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel ; the
eyes of Jehovah are these which range over the whole

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 69
earth" (ver. 10). This rendering IS according to the Maso
retic accentuation, which directs the words, " these seven,"
(n?N"n,lQtt>) to be taken as the subject of the verbs " see ''
and " rejoice." The A. V. follows the Vulgate and the
Targums in making the despisers of the day of small
things the subject ; but if we read, with the Vulgate, " et
laetabuntur et yidebunt lapidem stanneum in manu Zoro-
babel. Septem ipsi oculi sunt Domini qui discurrunt in
universam terrain," we disjoin the last clause wholly from
what precedes, and make it idle and irrelevant ; and if to
avoid this we join the words " these seven " to the pre
ceding clause, as in the A. V., we have to do this by add
ing to the text the preposition " with," for which there is
no authority. The meaning of the passage is, that in
contrast with those who might be despising the day of
small things the eyes of the Lord were beholding with joy
the beginning of the work in the hand of Zerubbabel.
By " the eyes of the Lord " is intended His omniscient
providence, by which, knowing all things, He orders all
events so as to accomplish what He designs ; a represen
tation more fully brought out by the addition in the close
of the verse (comp. Deut. xi. 1 2 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 9 ; Prov.
xv. 3 ; Jer. xvi. 17, xxxii. 19). From God's sight nothing
can be hid, so that whatever was needful for the success
of the work should be provided, and whatever might hin
der it would be detected and prevented. As " the eyes
of the Lord are upon the righteous " (Ps. xxxiv. 1 5), so
He beheld with complacency the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel, betokening the commencement of the work.
The rendering " plummet " has been called in question by
some, but it seems the only proper rendering of the ori-

70 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
ginal. The Hebrew is ^l^V? I?^*? ^t- ^e Si!ow*3» ^e *^m'
i.e., ifAe sfcme (the weight) made of tin (comp. Exod. xxxix.
17, the two wreaths, the gold = two wreaths of gold ;
2 Kings xvi. 14—17, the altar, the brass — the altar of
brass ; the oxen, the brass = the oxen of brass) ; and this
can only mean the plummet which was in the hand of
Zerubbabel, as director of the building.
Having received this explanation of the general import
of the symbolical vision presented to him, the prophet
repeats his request for a more special explanation of cer
tain parts of it. The significance of the candelabrum he,
as a priest familiar with the furniture of the Mosaic
tabernacle, did not need to be informed of ; and he would
also at once perceive the significance of the oil with which
it was fed and by which its light was sustained ; but the
meaning of the two olive trees beside it, and of the
branches that yielded the oil, he did not see. He there
fore " answered, i.e., resumed or continued the discourse,"
and said unto Him (the angel of the Lord), " What are
these two olive trees upon the right side of the candela
brum, and upon the left side thereof ? " To this inquiry
no answer was given by the angel, probably, as has been
suggested, " to invite closer attention and a more definite
question" (Pusey). The prophet, therefore, asks again,
indicating precisely the part of the vision he wished
explained, " What are these two ears (dependent things
or clusters like ears of corn; Y^ltf) of the olive trees,
which by means of two golden channels (or tubes) pour
out (or convey) from themselves the gold {i.e., the golden
oil, so called from its colour). The only word here re
garding which there is any dispute is that rendered

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 71
" channels " or " tubes " (niljRJS). This word occurs only
in this passage ; but there can be little doubt that it is
the same word which in the Chaldaic form T*"}-^? appears
in the Targum to II. Esther i. 2, and is allied to N"}^,
which in the sense of " channels " occurs in the Targum
on Eccl. i. 7, and to the Heb. "lfaS. •¦ an aqueduct " (2
Sam. v. 8) ; all being referable to the root "OS, to hold.
The LXX have here fiv^wrtjpes, noses, and the Vulgate
has rostra, beaks. Hengstenberg says the word must be
rendered " presses ; " but for this there is no good reason
or authority. The objects indicated were evidently con
duits of some sort, by which the oil was conveyed into
the pipes which fed the lamps on the candelabrum. Dr.
Pusey affirms that these conduits " were symbols of living
agents ;" but his only reason for this is that " Zechariah's
expression, in the hand of, or if so be, by the hand of, is
nowhere used except of a living agent, or of that which is
personified as such." That such was the primary and
proper usage of the phrase is unquestionable ; but as the
hand is the instrument or medium through which some
thing, is effected, the phrase, in the hand of, came to mean
generally, by means of, and so it is used frequently, chiefly
indeed of persons, but sometimes also of things, as e.g.,
Isa. lxiv. 7 [6] : " For thou consumest us (causest us to
pine away) by the hand of our iniquities," i.e., by means
of them ; where there is no personification. Nor is there
any personification in the passage before us.
Into these conduits the oil came from two branches of
the olive trees laden with fruit. These are called Shib-
bolim, ears of corn, probably, as Kimchi suggests, " because
they were full of olive-berries as the ears are full of grains

72 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
of wheat" (" Comment, on Zechariah," translated by
McCaul, p. 45); or it may be simply to indicate their
fruitfulness. They formed the reservoir whence oil was
supplied to the lamps on the candelabrum, and this source
was seen to be copious.
To the prophet's inquiry the angel replied, " These are
the two sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole
earth" (ver. 14). The phrase, " sons of oil," may mean
either " objects anointed with oil," or '•' objects possessing
oil," which they may minister to others. The idiom is
used in both ways; comp. Dfon ]2 son of smiting, deserv
ing to be smitten, Deut. xxv. 2 ; 7'Q ]2 son of might,
possessing might, a mighty man. I*t is in the latter of
these ways that the phrase is to be taken here-. (1) this
is the ordinary usage when a quality or property is predi
cated ; comp. Ben Belial, " son of wickedness," Ben 'avlah,
"son of iniquity," Ben Shamen, "son of oil" (Isa. v. 1,
A. V. " very fruitful ") ; (2) the word used here for " oil,"
"IHJPi designates the natural produce of the olive, and is
not the word generally used where anointing is predicated;
(3) in this vision it is as the instrument of light, and not
of anointing, that the oil appears. " Sons of oil," there
fore, we explain here as meaning " possessors of oil," oil-
bearers, channels through which the oil plentifully flowed.
The phrase, " that stand by," meaning that stand as
ministers or attendants (lit. " that stand over," or " above,"
the person waited on being supposed seated, and the
attendants standing near him so as to rise above him ;
comp. Exod. xviii. 13 ; Job ii 1 ; Isa. vi. 1, 2), indicates
that the objects here referred to are symbols of agents.
Who the agents intended are hardly admits of question,

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 73
though more than one conjectural answer has been sug
gested. Thus, some say they are Moses and Christ ;
others, they are the Old and New',Testaments ; others,
they are Haggai and Zechariah. But, as Hengstenberg
says, " We cannot be left to that species of conjecture in
which some indulge;" if we would interpret safely we
must look to the context and interpret according to it.
Now the whole purport of this vision is to assure the
accomplishment by the Divine power, through the agency
of God's appointed servant Zerubbabel, of the great work
in which the people were engaged. But Zerubbabel was
not alone; Joshua the high priest was associated with
him, was equally with him an instrument in God's hand
for the accomplishment of the work, and in the preceding
vision had been represented as standing before the Lord
as His accepted servant. From an early period, accord
ingly, these two have been regarded as symbolically repre
sented in this vision by the two conduits, the possessors
of oil, through which the oil flowed to the pipes of the
candelabrum ; and this interpretation, which is that of
Kinichi, has been generally accepted by commentators.
Zerubbabel and Joshua, however, were not mere indivi
dual agents ; they were representative men, the one of the
royal and the other of the priestly office in Israel. It is
the office, then, ratherjhan-ike individual, that is here
represented. "It is with justice," says Hengstenberg,!
" that it has been assumed that the two sons of oil denote/
the two offices of priest and king (or rather the sacer
dotal and civil authorities in general), which were princi
pally employed in the economy of the Old Testament as
instruments of the grace of God, and of which Joshua and

74 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Zerubbabel were the existing representatives " (" Christo-
logy," vol. iii. p. 340).
We* may now look at the whole symbolic representa
tion, and ask the meaning of it and its separate parts.
That by the candelabrum was symbolised the Israelitish
community, the nation of the old covenant, the people of
the theocracy, may be regarded as generally conceded.
But Israel was itself a symbol and type ; it was the visible
manifestation of that invisible spiritual community, the
Church of the living God, which embraces the faithful of
all ages and places. It is represented as made of the
most precious of metals, pure gold, to indicate the worth
and excellence of that which God hath chosen for Himself
as His special treasure ; and it is represented as having
seven lamps, to indicate that the Church is a luminous
body, having light in itself, and appearing as the luminary
from which proceeds light to the world. So our Lord said
to His disciples as representing His Church, " Ye are the
light of the world;" and comparing them to a candela
brum or lamp-stand (Av^w'a), on which the lighted lamp
is placed that it may give light to all who are in the
house, He exhorted them to let their light so shine before
men (Matt. v. 14, 16); so also in the Apocalypse our
Lord is represented as " walking in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks" (Kv-^vtuiv twv xpvcrwv), the New Tes
tament Churches over which He presides and for which
He cares (Rev. i. 13 ; ii. 1).
But the light which the Church possesses is not from
herself ; it is light communicated and sustained by in
fluences from above. Hence in the vision which Zecha
riah saw, the lamps were supplied with oil, not by human

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 75
ministration, but through channels and pipes from the
olive trees which stood beside and were over the cande
labrum. Oil is the proper symbol of the Holy Spirit's
influences. Hence under the ancient economy men were
consecrated to office by the anointing of oil, to indicate
not merely that they were Divinely appointed thereto, but
that Divine influences would rest on them and fit them
for the office to which they were appointed ; and so the
Messiah, the Priest and King of His Church, appears in
prophecy as saying, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek," &c. (Isa. lxi. 1); where the anointing is
identified with the resting on Him of the Spirit. This,
then, is the oil by which the Church is sustained, is made
to shine, and is enabled to accomplish the work she has
to do in the world. Apart from the Divine Spirit the
Church is dark and cold and feeble; but through the
visitation of the Spirit she is animated and invigorated,
becomes luminous and glorious, and is crowned with suc
cess as she labours to erect God's temple on earth. The
work which Israel had in hand in the time of Zechariah
was hard, and it had to be done amid reproach and in
spite of bitter opposition on the part of their enemies ;
but they were taught by this vision not to be discouraged,
for it was not by human might or power that the work
was to be done, but by the Spirit of the Lord. Through
His grace the light should be sustained in them ; their
hands should be strengthened for their work; and ere
long they should see the consummation of that which had
been so auspiciously begun.
God sustains His Church by His grace. But this grace

76 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
comes to men through certain appointed media. This was
symbolised in the vision by the fruit-bearing branches of
the olive trees and by the conduits and' the pipes through
which the oil was conveyed to the lamps. The branches,
as we have seen, represented the sacerdotal and civil
authorities in Israel. These were in the old time the
channels through which God conveyed His grace to His
Church on earth; and as they operated through means
of subordinate functionaries, the branches were repre
sented in the vision as emptying themselves into the
conduits and pipes by means of which the oil was con
veyed to the lamps.
The Israel of God, for whose encouragement and com-
¦ fort this vision was designed, no longer exists as a visible
community. But the Church of God of which it was the
envelope and the type still exists, and to her the same
lesson is conveyed by this vision as was conveyed by it
to the ancient Israel. Not indeed in the same outward
form does the Church exist now as it existed then. The
visible Church is no longer one great outward organisa
tion, but rather a number of separate organisations, all
holding the Head and all united by spiritual bonds, but no
longer appearing to the eye of man as one body -or state.
Accordingly, when the symbol was again exhibited, it was
not one candelabrum with seven lamps, but seven can
delabra each with its light or lights that appeared (Rev. i.
1 2). Nor were symbols of sacerdotal and royal authority
as channels of Divine grace then displayed. The Great
Head of the Church Himself, in proper person, then was
seen in the midst of the seven golden candelabra. Through
Him, as the great Priest and King, uniting in Himself

THE CANDELABRUM AND OLIVE TREES. 77
the two offices and discharging the functions of both to
His Church, " the oil of Divine grace is poured into the
.candlestick of the Church in infinitely greater abundance
than through any of the previous servants of God ." (Heng
stenberg). He is ever present with all the Churches of
the saints ; He walks amidst them ; He sees their condi
tion, knows their wants, and stands ready to supply their
needs. " Out of His fulness they all receive, and grace
for grace." Let the Church then strengthen herself in
the Lord, and go forth determinately and courageously to
do the work which the Lord hath given her to do.

VI.
THE DRIVEN PARCHMENT.
" Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold
a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I
answered, I see a flying roll ; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and
the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the
curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth : for every one
that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it ; and every
one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I
will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the
house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely hy
my name : and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall
consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." — Zech. v. 1-4.
The two visions contained in this chapter are closely
connected with each other, the latter being the fitting
sequel of the former. Both are of a character different
from those that preceded them. The design of these was
to encourage the people by the assurance of God's con
tinued regard for them, and of the favour He would show
them. But here the utterance is, in the first instance, at
least, one of warning and threatening, designed to deter
the people from sin, by showing God's abhorrence of it,
and the certainty of its being punished. God would
remind His people that it was not enough that they should
be restored to their own land, that the temple should be
rebuilt, and its worship re-established; there must also
be the careful observance of the moral precepts of His

THE DRIVEN PARCHMENT. 79
law, the neglect of which would bring down His judg
ments on the nation.
After a brief interval indicated by the phrase, " I
returned" (^itfNfl see on iv. 1, ante, p. 60), the prophet
lifted up his eyes and saw a roll of vast dimensions flying
through the air. In answer to the angel who asked him
what he saw, he describes the roll as 20 cubits in length,
and 10 cubits in breadth. Taking the cubit as = 18
inches, this would give a superficial area of 450 square
feet. Of what material this roll was composed the
prophet does not say ; but as the Jews used for literary
documents not only parchment, papyrus, and other more
fragile substances, but also leather prepared for the pur
pose, it is probable that the roll which the prophet saw
was of this material, as none of the others could be sup
posed capable of bearing the strain to which a roll of such
dimensions as those here given would, when distended:
and flying before the wind, be exposed.* The great size
of the roll has been supposed to indicate the number and
gravity of the curses which it contained. But something
more than this seems to be intended. It is to be observed
that the dimensions assigned to the roll are exactly those
of the porch of the temple (1 Kings vi. 3) ; and as there

* Aquila and Theodotion both give SupBlpa, prepared skin or leather,
as the rendering of H73D here. The LXX seem to have had another
reading, as they render by Sptiravov, hook or sickle ; probably reading ?JD
for !"P3Q. It has been suggested that the object seen by the prophet was
rather in the form of one of our books, and was composed of papyrus
leaves bound together, on which the curses were written. But whilst, on
the one hand, there is no evidence that books such as ours were known to
the Jews in the time of Zechariah, it is, on the other, certain that the
term il^D can only mean a roll.

80 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
must be a reason for a specific measurement being given,
when the prophet might have contented himself with
merely saying that the roll was of vast size, it is probable
that the dimensions specified were designed to correspond
with those of the temple porch. If so, the reason may
be sought in this, that as the temple was the place where
God held intercourse with His people, and whence He
sent forth His blessing or His curse, the people are
reminded that in rebuilding the temple they were not
necessarily securing to themselves blessing, but might
find a curse coming forth from it if they were rebellious,
disobedient, or ungodly. It has been suggested that as
the dimensions of the roll are also those of the sanctuary
in the tabernacle, what is signified is, that " the measure
by which this curse upon sinners will be meted out, will
be the measure of the holy place " {Kliefoth). If by this
is meant that the curse was to be measured, not by any
human standard, but by that of God, the suggestion is
futile ; for, though men may estimate sin, or measure their
own actions, by another standard than that of God, the
curse of God uttered against sin can be estimated only by
one standard, that of God Himself ; it is as He means it
to be, and can suffer no detraction, let men think of it as
they may. If, on the other hand, it means, as Keil has
it, " that with this measure would all sinners be mea
sured, that they might be cut off from the congregation
of the Lord which appeared before God in the holy place,"
one does not see how a roll containing a curse could be
in any sense a measure by which sinners should be mea
sured so as to be cut off from the congregation. The
essential thing is that the curse should be seen comino-

THE DRIVEN PARCHMENT.

forth from the temple ; that it should be seen to be a
Divine curse ; and this is indicated by the special size
and form of the roll, whether the measurement be that
of the porch of the temple or that of the sanctuary.
1 The prophet saw this roll open, by which was indicated
that the vision was not one that was to be sealed up or
kept undivulged (comp. Rev. x. 4), but was to be made
plain so as to be open to the knowledge of all (comp.
Hab. ii. 2) ; and he saw it " flying," to indicate that it
was general in its application ; that it did not relate to
one spot or locality alone, but had reference to all alike
(see ver. 2). The flying may also indicate " the velocity
with which the judgments denounced in the volume would
come upon the wicked" {Henderson).
When the prophet had in answer to the angel described
what he saw, the angel proceeded to give the explanation.
" This is the curse," i.e., the utterance of the Divine
denunciation of sin and the announcement of the penalty
that shall come on those by whom sin is committed,
" which goeth forth over the face of the whole land."
The roll is said to be the curse because the curse was
inscribed upon it ; a metonymy of frequent occurrence in
Scripture, where the thing containing is put for that
which it contains.* It may be also said that the utter
ance of the curse is the curse, for it comes from Him who
" saith and it is done, who commandeth and it standeth
fast." By the " land " here is intended the land of Israel,
* See Glassii Philol. Sac, p. 686. Henderson compares our Lord's
words, " This is my body," Matt. xxvi. 26, &c. But the metonymy there
is not the same as here ; there it is signatum pro signo, here it is continent
pro contento. F

82 ZECHARIAH' S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
over the whole of which the curse was to be imminent ;
not that it actually came on the people of that land in
any special calamity, as some suppose, — Hengstenberg,
for instance, who would understand it of " a new and
terrible judgment from God which was to fall upon Judsea,
when the ungodliness that already existed in the germ,
even in the time of the prophet, should have taken root,
and put forth branches," — but simply that it was sus
pended over the land, ready to take effect on any or all
who should incur it by their transgressions.
Two descriptions of crime are here denounced, stealing
and swearing ; that is, as is indicated by what follows in
ver. 4, false swearing or perjury. As these sins are
taken, the one from the first, the other from the second
table of the law, and as the command forbidding each is
the central command of the table to which it belongs, it
has been suggested that these are selected as examples of
the breach of any of the laws which God had given to
Israel in the Decalogue ; so that in fact it is the whole
of that code which the people are here warned against
transgressing. This is not improbable. At the same time
it is to be noted that the two crimes specified are pre
cisely those to which the Jews who had returned from
the Captivity were most liable to be enticed. In Babylon
they had, from the necessity of the case, become a race
of traffickers, and when they returned to their own land
they brought with them the habits and tendencies which
such pursuits are apt to engender. Against nothing,
therefore, did they more need to be warned than against
covetousness, dishonesty, and falsehood. One can easily
believe that these sins might cleave to the people whilst

THE DRIVEN PARCHMENT. 83
other breaches of the Decalogue were no longer common
among them. Since the Captivity the Jew has been noted
for his abhorrence of idolatry, for his observance of the
Sabbath, and for his regard for human life ; but he has
nowhere acquired a reputation for honesty and veracity,
however much individuals of the race have displayed
these virtues.
Against these sins God's curse goes forth. They that
commit them are to be cut off, and the land is to be
cleansed from them : " Every one that stealeth shall be
cleansed off hence according to it; and every one that
sweareth shall be cleansed off hence according to it." The
word rendered by " cut off " in the A. V. (t1j5J) is part of
a verb which signifies primarily to be pure or clean ; and
which in the form which occurs here has the general
meaning of being cleared, as e.g. by being freed from any
charge of guilt, or by being delivered from the bond of
an oath or obligation, or as when a city is rendered deso
late (Isa. iii. 26) by being cleared of its inhabitants. By
some, this meaning is retained here. Jarchi interprets
thus : Omnis fur ab hac poena immunis fuit. Luther has :
Alle Diebe werden fromm gesprochen, " All thieves shall
be pronounced innocent." Piscator has : Der da stielet
wird fur unschuldig gehalten, " He who steals shall be
held as blameless." By others the verb is taken with a
reflexive meaning, as in the margin of the A. V., " Every
one of this people that stealeth holdeth himself guiltless."
But it is not probable that this is the meaning here ; for
in this latter part of the verse it is evidently not the con
dition of the people as exempt from blame, nor the per
verse judgments they might form of themselves or of one

84 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
another, but the purport and direction of the curse that
is intended to be set forth. Among recent interpreters
there seems a general consent to take the verb with the
transferred sense of cleansing off, so that the meaning
here would be : " Every one that stealeth shall be cleared
away or purged out " ; i.e. shall be extirpated or destroyed.
The only objection to this is that no instance can be
adduced of the Hebrew verb being used in this sense.
But the analogy of other Hebrew verbs (^3 for instance,
by which Kimchi explains the word here, and which sig
nifies both to cut and to cut off, or extirpate) ; of the
Greek, eiacaOaipeiv (i Cor. v. 7); and of the Latin, pur-
gare, may be held to justify the assigning to H[3J of this
transferred signification here.
Another question arises as to the word rendered by
" on this side " and " on that side " in the A. V. Some
take this to indicate that the roll was written on both
sides, and that the two sides represented the two tables
of the Law against violations of which the curse was
denounced. That the word may be so rendered, and that
this may be the meaning of the statement, cannot be
questioned ; but had the prophet intended this, it is pre
sumed he would have arranged his words differently.
Instead of '7^? •~':}P — " on this side according to it,"
" and on that side according to it," — he would have
written i"HO HiE3 — " according to it on this side," &c. ;
in other words, he would have arranged his words so as
to connect the verb immediately with 7^? an(i n°t w^h
njp. It may be added, that whilst it is perfectly easy
to understand how a roll could be written on this side
and on that, it is not easy to understand how one sinner

THE DRIVEN PARCHMENT. 85

could be cut off on this side and another on that side,
according to the roll. It seems better, therefore, to take
n-tp here in the sense of hence, i.e. out of this land (comp.
Gen. xxxvii. 17, xlii. 15 ; Exod. xi. 1): so Targum, De
Wette, Maurer, Kohler, Drake," &c. HiOS — according to it,
as prescribed in it, the roll ; Vulg., sicut ibi scriptum est.
The verb is here the prophetic perfect.*
The curse thus denounced was to go forth from Jeho
vah; and God is represented as bringing it forth, and
causing it to go so as to enter into the house of the trans
gressor, there to abide. It should come, not as a passing
blast that might sweep over the house and be gone, but
as a visitant that comes to tarry ; it should lodge there
('"W ) an(^ ab"le until it had accomplished that for which
it was sent forth, until the house was utterly consumed,
the stones of it as well as the wood ; just as when the
fire of the Lord fell on the altar of the prophet, it con
sumed not only the sacrifice but also " the wood, and the
stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in
the trench" (1 Kings xviii. 38). So terrible should be the
curse of God on the transgressors of His law.
The prophet was thus furnished with a message of
warning to the people. They were reminded that God's
ancient law was still in force; that He was as jealous
over it as ever He was ; and that " every transgression
and disobedience should receive a just recompense of
reward." He whom none can elude, from whom none
* It is objected to this that the reduplication of nTO implies a contrast,
as in Exod. xxxii. 15 ; Num. xxii. 24 ; Ezek. xlvii. 7. But this is only
when this word is repeated in the same clause. Here the two are in dif
ferent clauses, and the word is required in both to complete the sense ; as
in Exod. xi. I, where the njQ is of necessity repeated.

86 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
can escape ; He " who seeth in secret," and " whose eyes
run to and fro through the whole earth ; " He who will
not suffer His law to be broken with impunity — would
be sure to detect the transgressor, and would be swift to
punish his transgression. " God will not endure the
practice of immorality in the midst of those that are His
people. The justified must also be sanctified. His people
must be righteous. He sits to purify and to refine the
house of Israel. Visibly or invisibly He ever separates
the chaff from the wheat, and executes judgment' in the
midst of his people." *
* Wright, " Zechariah and his Prophecies," p. no.

VII.
THE WOMAN AND THE MEASURE.
" Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me,
Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I
said, What is it ? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He
said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. And,
behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead : and this is a woman that
sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness.
And he cast it into the midst of the ephah ; and he cast the weight of
lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked,
and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their
wings ; for they had wings like the wings of a stork ; and they lifted
up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the
angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah ? And
he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar : and
it shall be established, and set there upon her own base." — Zech.
v. 5-1 1.
Ix is not enough that men should be deterred from sin
by fear of punishment, nor that those who sin should be
cast out ; sin itself, the principle of evil dwelling in man
(1 Sam. xxiv., 13), must be wholly banished from the
kingdom of God. To indicate this another vision was
brought before the eye of the prophet. The Angel-inter
preter, who had apparently retired for a little, came forth,
probably, as Rosenmiiller suggests, from the ranks of the
other angels, and roused the prophet to observation by
the summons : " Lift up thine eyes, and see what is this
that goeth forth " — that comes into view. " To this the
prophet — to whose vision, perhaps, the object was only

88 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
indistinctly presented — replied by asking, ' What is it ? '
Or his question may mean, What does this import ? The
reply of the Angel was : ' This is the ephah that is coming
forth.' The definite article stands before ephah, because
it is alone of its kind, is thereby determined, and by the
Angel who has knowledge is recognised " {Hitzig). The
ephah was one of the largest measures of quantity used
by the Hebrews ; it contained about an English bushel.
Having told the prophet what the object which he saw
was, the Angel goes on to tell what it meant : " This is
their eye in the whole land." Different explanations
have been offered of the word " eye " here. Jerome ex
plains it as " ostensio peccatorum," the exhibition or show
of the sinners — the spectacle, as it were, of them in their
sin and misery as a warning to others ; and this Rosen-
miiller, Ewald, and others follow. Others prefer taking
" eye " here in the sense of image or resemblance, as in
the Authorised Version. But though " eye " may be
used for that which the eye sees, the appearance (comp.
Lev. xiii. 5 5 ; Num. xi. 7 ; " colour," A. V.), or the
image of an object such as is formed in the eye, this can
hardly be the meaning here, for how could the sinners in
Israel be represented or imaged by the ephah or by
what it contained ? The LXX have aSucia here, from
which it is supposed they had in their copies D31J? " their
wickedness," instead of oyy " their eye ; " and this Hitzig
and some others regard as the true reading. It is not, how
ever, sanctioned by any adequate MS. authority ; nor does
the meaning thus brought out approve itself, for it is not
the ephah, but the woman in the ephah, that is " wicked
ness," as appears from verse 8. A preferable explanation

THE WOMAN AND THE MEASURE. 89
is that which Umbreit, Hengstenberg, and Pressel adopt,
viz. that by " eye " here is intended that to which the eye
is directed ; that which the eye regards ; that which, as is
commonly said, one has in his eye. The meaning would
thus be : " This is what they regard ; what they set their
eyes on ; the object of their affections and aim." The ephah
being the principal measure in use among the Hebrews,
has been regarded as standing here as a symbol of com
mercial transactions generally; and as it was to these
that the affection not only of thieves and perjurers but
of men of worldly minds and carnal inclinations generally
would be chiefly directed, these may be said to be what
they set their eye on. It may be doubted, however, if
this is what is intended here. It does not appear that
it is against any especial class of sinners that the curse
in the former vision is denounced ; and at any rate in
this latter vision it is wickedness in general, and not any
especial form of it, that is in view, as that which is to be
utterly cast out of God's kingdom on earth. It seems
better, therefore, to retain the general reference here, and
to suppose a metonymy in the phraseology : this is {i.e.
contains) what they have an eye to ; what they affect and
desire. As the prophet looked on the ephah " there was lifted
up a weight of lead, and there was one woman sitting
in the midst of the ephah." The word rendered " talent "
in the A. V. P9^) designates primarily something round
and flat, such as, e.g. a cake of bread (Exod. xxix. 23 ;
1 Sam. ii. 36 ; Prov. vi. 26) ; a tract of country appearing*
to the eye as a flat circle (Gen. xiii. 1 2) ; a talent of metal
round and flat. Here it means simply, as expressed in

90 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the margin of the A. V., " a weighty piece." This was of
lead, and lay apparently on the ephah as a covering or lid.
On its being lifted up a woman was seen sitting in the
ephah. The pronoun J"INT this, has here an adverbial
/orce, and is best represented in English by " there." As
an ephah was not large enough to contain a woman of
average size, the figure that the prophet saw must be
conceived of as a miniature resemblance of a woman, and
this for symbolical purposes would answer as well as one
of full size. " One " here (-nnX) is not for the indefinite
article, but is emphatic; sin is represented in the aggre
gate as one mass, " as a unity ; i.e. as one living person
ality, instead of forming an atomistic heap of individuals "
(Keil). The woman thus seen the Angel pronounced to
be " wickedness," i.e. the personified concentration of ini
quity ; just as Athaliah is called " The Wickedness "
(2 Chron. xxiv. 7, A. V. "that wicked woman"). As
the prophet saw the woman she was sitting up in the
ephah, or perhaps attempting to rise out of it : but pre
sently the angel thrust her down into the ephah, and
then cast the leaden weight upon the mouth of the ephah
so as to shut her in. Those who think that it is still to
thieves and perjurers specially that reference is had here
put a somewhat different interpretation on this part of the
vision. Taking 133 in the sense of talent as a measure
of weight, and regarding the talent and the ephah as
emblems of traffic, they suppose that the woman repre
sented wickedness in the form of dishonesty and false
swearing ; and that she was thrust down into the ephah,
and the talent was dashed upon her mouth ; that the
instruments with which she had plied her iniquitous

THE WOMAN AND THE MEASURE. 91
trade might become the instruments of her condign
punishment. But besides the objection already urged
that this latter vision has reference to wickedness as such
in the general, and not to any special forms of it, there
is also to be said : ( 1 ) that as the ephah and talent were
properly the instruments of honest traffic, there could be
no fitness in representing them as the instruments of
wickedness ; (2) that if the wickedness specially in view
was that of stealing and false-swearing, the ephah and
talent would not be the instruments of that ; men neither
steal nor swear by means of an ephah or a talent ; and
(3) it is not the condign punishment of wickedness that
is intended to be represented by this vision, but the utter
removal of it. If, in support of this interpretation, it be
urged that the pronominal suffix in IT? her mouth, being
feminine, is most naturally understood of the woman, it
may be replied that as nHPN also is feminine, the suffix
may with equal propriety be taken as referring to it. The
ephah being a well-known vessel, was presented in the
vision for the sake of precision and force, just as our Lord
specifies the bushel and the bed (Matt. v. 1 5) where He
might, but with less effect, have merely used the general
term " cover." The weight laid upon the ephah was of
lead, to indicate the security with which the woman was
shut up and imprisoned.
The woman being thus enclosed in the ephah, the pro
phet, as he continued to look, saw two women with out
spread wings as of a stork carried before the wind, who
came and lifted the ephah and bore it away through the
air. In answer to his inquiry, Whither do these bear the
ephah ? the Angel-interpreter told the prophet that these

92 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
were carrying away the ephah that there might be built
for it a house in the land of Shinar, where it should have
its permanent abode ; for when it (the house) should be
prepared, she should be set there upon her own base [or
place]. The two women with stork-like wings have been
supposed by some to represent the Assyrian and. Baby
lonian powers ; by others, to typify two evil powers,
allies of the woman, who come to deliver her, and carry
her to a place where for a season at least she should be
safe from the vengeance that would destroy her. But
the former of these suppositions is inconsistent with the
ideal character of this entire representation; and the
latter introduces an element foreign to the general idea
of the vision, which is not the rescuing of wickedness
from vengeance, but the deliverance of the kingdom of
God from wickedness. There does not appear to be any
special significance belonging to the two women ; they
are merely adjutatory parts of the representation : women,
because it was a woman that was to be carried ; two, be
cause the ephah was heavy, and required more than one
to carry it ; and both with wings like a stork, as emble
matical of the power and rapidity of their flight. The
ephah was to be carried with its content to the land of
Shinar or Babylon, the land of ungodliness, where was its
proper place, and where it should permanently abide.
" The picture is simply an ideal one. The land of Shinar
is an ideal land contrasted with the land of Israel. The
former was the land of unholiness, the latter was the
holy land (chap. ii. 1 2). The picture represents sin and
transgression as removed from the land of Israel, the land
of the people of God, driven to find its resting-place in

THE WOMAN AND THE MEASURE. 93
the land where Babylon had once been built, driven into
the land of the world-power, which was antagonistic to
God" {Wright, p. 118).
The main design of both these visions is to show the
utter incompatibility of iniquity with the kingdom of God.
All ungodliness, profanity, falsehood, and covetousness are
put under a ban ; and wickedness of every kind is to be
for ever banished from it. The people of the Lord are to be
all righteous, and only such shall inherit the land (Isa. x.
21). Wickedness is to be shut up and banished to its
own proper place, where it is to remain [comp. the re
presentation in Rev. xx. 1-3]. If the former of these
visions is one of threatening and warning, the latter has a
bright as well as a dark side. For when all wickedness
is banished from the congregation of the Lord, the beauty
of the Lord shall be upon it, and His people shall be glad,
and rejoice in His salvation.

VIII.
THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS.
" And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold,
there came four chariots out from between two mountains ; and the
mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red
horses ; and in the second chariot black horses. And in the third
chariot white horses ; and in the fourth chariot grisled and ba}r horses.
Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What
are these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me,
These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from stand
ing before the Lord of all the earth. The black horses which are
therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth, after
them ; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. And the
bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro
through the earth ; and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro
through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.
Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold these
that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north
country."— Zech. vi. 1-8.
This is the last of the series of visions with which the
prophet was favoured on the memorable night of the 24th
of the month Sebat in the second year of King Darius.
These visions were designed partly to animate and encour
age the Jews in the work of rebuilding the temple and
restoring the worship of Jehovah, partly to warn them
against transgression, and especially against rebelliousness
and apostasy from Him. As, however, all God's dealings
towards His ancient people bear an analogy to His deal
ings towards His spiritual Church, and especially as in

THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 95
these visions there is reference more or less immediate
to the Messiah, they convey instruction and counsel pro
fitable for the people of God as such in all ages. This
book of prophecy has, consequently, engaged much of the
attention of students of Scripture at all times in the
Christian Church. Luther says of it : " The Prophet
Zechariah is a paragon (Ausbund), to my thinking the
most excellent. For he appeared at a time when it was
supremely needful to comfort and encourage the people,
and along with that to keep them for the coming reign of
Christ and under training." — {Werke, vi. 3300.)
In the vision described in chap. v. the prophet saw
what was designed to convey warning to the people by
showing that God would not suffer wickedness among
them to pass unpunished, and that from His inheritance
all iniquity must be purged out and driven away. In
the vision which follows in the beginning of chap. vi.
reference is had to the judgments which God would bring
on the enemies of Israel, on the enemies of His Church.
The symbols in this vision are not difficult to explain ;
but over the special reference of the vision itself consi
derable obscurity hangs.
The prophet saw four chariots coming forth from be
tween two mountains of brass (rather of copper, neho-
sheth). That to the eye of the prophet were presented
two mountains apparently formed of copper need not be
supposed ; all that is intended by the description is that
the mountains were impregnable and undecaying, copper
or brass being to the Hebrews symbolical of strength and
durability ; hence such phrases as " gates of brass " (Ps.
cvii. 16; Isa. xiv. 2), "brazen wall" (Jer. i. 18, xv. 20),

96 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
and "hoofs of brass" (Mic. iv. 13). In the Hebrew the
definite article is prefixed, " the two mountains ; " and
this has led to the supposition that two well-known
mountains appeared to the view of the prophet. As to
what mountains are intended various conjectures have
been hazarded ; some suggesting Mount Zion and Mount
Moriah, others Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives.
But such a supposition is incompatible with the symbol
ical character of the representation; two actual, material,
localised, and well-known hills of no great magnitude
could not be described as mountains of hra.ss1 -^ft ether
that be understood literally o^^tropically^. More probable
is what Hengstenberg suggests, that by the mountains are
intended the mountains in general that were round about
Jerusalem, and which were constituted a symbol of the
Divine protection extended oVer Israel ; though in this
case one does not see why two mountains should be spe
cially mentioned. The adhibition of the article, however,
does not necessarily determine that two well-known
mountains are intended; for it may only be used to
specify the particular mountains that were before the
prophet in vision, q. d. " the two mountains that were
there ; " these mountains forming the background of the
picture, or, as Hitzig suggests, the side-scenes {coidissen)
of the representation. A recent expositor proposes " to
regard the mountains in the vision as referring to Mount
Zion and the Mount of Olives viewed as ideal moun
tains." * But how can actual well-known mountains be
viewed as " ideal mountains ? " What is an ideal moun
tain ? The prophet saw something : — was it the figure of
* Wright, "Zechariah and his Prophecies," p. 125.

THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 97
a mountain or the idea of a mountain ? and if the latter,
what did he see ?
It is certainly going to the opposite extreme to say
that " the two brazen mountains may be merely an orna
mental part of the vision " (Newcome). The older inter
pretation is to be preferred, viz., that " the two mountains
of brass denote the immovable decrees of God, His steady
execution of His counsels, and the insuperable restraints
that are upon all empires and counsels, which God keeps!
within the barriers of such impregnable mountains, that
not one can start till He open the way " (Cruden, " Con
cord." s. v. Brass ; comp. also Calvin in loc). This may be
too definitely expressed, but this seems to be unquestion-
ablyin the right direction. The prophet saw two mountains,
strong and impregnable ; these were symbols of Jehovah's
mighty containing and restraining power ; not any moun
tains in particular, but mountains simply as symbols of
strength, support, and defence. "The powers symbolised
by the four chariots are pictured as closed in on either
side by these mountains, strong as brass, unsurmountable,
undecaying, ' that they should not go forth to other lands
to conquer until the time should come, fixed by the
counsels of God, when the gates should be opened for
their going forth' (Rib.). The mountains of brass may
signify the height of the Divine wisdom ordering this,
and the sublimity of the power which putteth them in
operation: as the Psalmist says, Thy righteousnesses are
lilce the mountains of God" (Pusey).
From between these two mountains the prophet saw
the four chariots rushing forth. These were probably
war-chariots drawn, it may be, as Kimchi suggests, each
G

98 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
by four horses, more probably by two, though neither is
said. .The horses, whatever their number, were of the
saine colour for each chariot, but of different colours for
the different chariots ; of the first chariot the horses were
red, of the second black, of the third white, and of the
fourth grisled or piebald. The horses in the fourth cha
riot are in the A.V. described as also "bay." But the
same horses could not be both grisled or piebald, and bay.
In the margin, the rendering " strong " is proposed instead
of " bay ; " and this is undoubtedly to be preferred. The
Hebrew word means strong, active, powerful, (D^ON from
VP** to be alert, active, strong) ; and is added to the
description of the horses in the fourth chariot to indicate
that they were specially vigorous and powerful. Heng
stenberg, indeed, supposes that it applies to all the horses ;
however different in colour they were all strong and
active, and therefore fitted for the work they had to do ;
but whilst this is in itself improbable from the position
of the word in close apposition to the word rendered
" grisled," it is shown to be untenable by the considera
tion, as has been pointed out by Pressel, that had this
been intended the phrase would have been, " strong all
of them" (Q^3 D*!?**). It may be added that as a
wider sphere was to be occupied by the fourth chariot
(see ver. 7), and a harder service rendered consequently
by the horses by which it was drawn, it was fitting that
these should be especially signalised as " strong."
It will be seen that whilst there are points of resem
blance in this symbol to that of the first vision, there are
also marked points of difference. In both visions there
are horses of different colours, and in both there are red

THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 99
horses and white. Here the resemblance ends. In the
first vision there were only horses, with probably riders
on them ; here there are horses yoked to chariots : in the
former vision, the horses with their riders had been sent
forth to walk to and fro through the earth on an embassy
of inquiry ; in this the chariots are war-chariots sent forth
to execute God's judgments : in the former vision the
horses are red, speckled (roan ?), and white 1 in the latter
they are red, black, white, and grisled : and the order in
which the horses proceed is different in the two visions.
These differences sufficiently indicate that the two visions
are entirely distinct, and each is to be interpreted by itself
without reference to the other.
The colours of the horses must be regarded as symbo
lical. Hitzig throws doubt on this ; but if there be no
significance in the different colours, for what purpose are
they so carefully specified ? It can hardly be merely
" to distinguish one chariot from another." As four are
mentioned, it would have sufficed to distinguish them had
they been numbered first, second, third, and fourth, with-
out the colour of their horses being so expressly described.
Of the syn*ibols~in Scripturi'nonelTre more frequent' and
none more distinctively significant, than those which have
to do with colour ; * and in such a connection as that of
a prophetic vision, where all else is symbolical, congruity
seems to require that the colours specifically described
should be viewed also as symbolical. Bed, as the colour
of blood, is the symbol of war and bloodshed (comp.
2 Kings iii. 22 ; Isa. Ixiii. 2 ; Neh. ii. 3 ; Rev. vi. 4, xii.
3, 7) ; black is the symbol of desolation, sorrow, and
* See Biihr, "Symbolik des Mosaischen Cultus," i. 316.

ioo ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
mourning (comp. Isa. 1. 3 ; Jer. iv. 28, viii. 21, xiv. 2;
Ezek. xxxi. 15 ; Joel ii. 6; Rev. vi. 5, 12 ff.) ; white is
the symbol of victory and gladness (Eccles. ix. 8 ; Rev.
vi. 2, xix. 11). The significance of the fourth colour in
this vision is uncertain, as the word occurs only here and
in Gen. xxxi. 10, 12, where no symbolical meaning can
be supposed. That the colour was not simple but of a
mixed character seems to be generally admitted ; and this
being accepted we may safely conclude thus much, that
it symbolised a combined condition, or an infliction of a
twofold character. Hengstenberg takes the word as
meaning " literally hail-like," deriving it from T\3., hail,
and regards it as a figurative representation of the Divine
judgments which fall upon the ungodly, inasmuch as
" hail " is frequently so employed in Scripture. But even
if we admit his etymology, his explanation cannot be
accepted ; for it is not hail but a colour like hail (accord
ing to his rendering) that has to be explained ; and it by
no means follows that because hail is used in Scripture
as a figure of the Divine judgments, a colour like hail is
of the same significance. Keil regards the colour as indi
cating famine and pestilence ; and this seems better than
with Henderson to take it as indicating a mixed dispen
sation of joy and sorrow, or, with others, of peace and war.
In answer to the prophet's request the angel-interpreter
proceeds to explain the vision. " These," says he, " are
the four winds of heaven that are going forth from stand
ing before the Lord of all the earth." In the A.V. it is
the " four spirits of the heavens." But the only spirits
in heaven of whom Scripture knows anything are the
angels, and there are none of them who are by way of

THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 101
eminence "the four spirits of the heavens." The four
winds of heaven is a phrase frequently used, and used
with reference to the wind as an instrument to execute
God's will on the earth in the punishment of the wicked.
" Upon Elam," says God by the prophet Jeremiah (xlix.
3 6), " will I bring the four winds, from the four quarters
of heaven, and will scatter them towards all those winds."
In the vision which Daniel saw he beheld the four winds
of the heavens bursting forth on the great sea (vii. 2) ;
the emblem of the judgments to be executed by the great
conquerors whose advent the propbet foresaw. And in
Rev. vii. 1 St. John tells us he saw four angels " holding
the four winds of the earth that they should not blow on
the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree," restraining,
but ready to let loose when commanded, the judgments
of God upon the earth. With this symbol, then, the Jews,
it may be presumed, were familiar ; and accordingly here
this more familiar symbol is employed by the angel to
explain the less familiar and more obscure.
These four winds of heaven the angel describes as
" going forth from standing before the Lord of all the
earth." This is probably what led to the translation
" spirits " rather than " winds " in the preceding clause.
How, it may be asked, can winds be said to go forth from
standing before the Lord ? To this it may be replied —
1. That we read elsewhere of God sending out a wind
(Jonah i. 4), and of His bringing the wind out of His
treasuries (Ps. cxxxv. 7; Jer. x. 13, li. 16); from which
it may be inferred that the Hebrews conceived the wind
to be kept by God in His repositories, and sent forth as
from His presence when He saw meet ; and, 2. As we

A

102 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
read that God " maketh the winds His ministers," it is
only a carrying out of the same figure when these are
represented as standing before Him, His servants await
ing His behest. As in nature it is at God's command
that the wind ariseth, and as it is His word which the
stormy wind fulfils, so in this vision the mighty agencies
here symbolised are represented as standing before the
Lord, to indicate that they were entirely under His con
trol, and that they could act only as He willed and
appointed. The angel goes on to indicate to the prophet the desti
nation of these instruments of the Divine vengeance.
" That in which are the black horses [they] are going
forth to the land of the north ; and the white are gone
after them; and. the grisled are gone to the land of the
south." There are some peculiarities of construction in
this verse which have to be noted. In the first clause
there is an anacolouthon ; where we should expect a verb
in the singular agreeing with " that " p^N), we have a
participle in the plural agreeing with " horses " (D^*
D^DID) ; and whilst in the first clause we have a present
participle, in the other two the verb is in the perfect.
Ewald proposes to change the verb in both these clauses
from the perfect (-1**^) to the imperfect Q^), so as to
read " the white go," or " will go," &c. But the altera
tion is unnecessary. The angel passes from the present
to the perfect, because as the chariots were seen rushing
at full speed, the white horses and the grisled had already
passed and gone whilst he was describing the destination
of the chariot with the black horses.*
* Wright, p. 557.

THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 103
" The land of the north," to which the chariot with the
black horses was seen going, is undoubtedly Babylonia
(cf . ii. 1 o, 1 1 ). By this was indicated that on Babylon,
the bitter and cruel enemy of Israel, heavy judgments
were about to come. Following this chariot came that
with white horses hastening to the same destination ; to
indicate the complete triumph which was to be obtained
over the enemy that had ravaged the land and led captive |
the people of Israel. Instead of " after them " or " be
hind them " (p^~). Ol*"^), Ewald proposes to render " to ]
the back part " (nach hinter sich), i.e., to the west; but
to the west of what ? To the west of Palestine there are
no peoples, but only the Great Sea, the Mediterranean;
and besides, had the west been specified, we should have
expected the east to have been also mentioned, just as
the south is set over against the north. Pressel renders
the words by " farther behind," and understands them of
the region lying beyond Babylonia, the Medo-Persian ter
ritory. But this overlooks the pronominal suffix " them"
appended to the preposition, which indicates the black
horses in the second chariot as what the chariot with
the white horses followed ; and besides, as the phrase
'"ln^-?^ with verbs of motion properly means " after " in
the sense of following, it may be doubted if it may legiti
mately be translated "behind" in the sense of lying
beyond. The chariot with the grisled or piebald horses
was seen rushing to the land of the south, that is, towards
Egypt (Dan. ii. 5 ff), also the enemy of Israel. Inasmuch,
however, as Egypt had not oppressed and injured Israel
as Babylon had, only one of the judgment chariots was
seen going thither; but that carried famine and pesti-

104 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
lence as a scourge from the Lord on the inhabitants of
that land. Nor was the infliction confined to that land.
The strong horses that drew the fourth chariot impatient
of restraint sought a wider sphere through which to roam ;
and so were permitted to go thence and walk to and fro
through the earth. If by the colours of these horses be
symbolised famine and pestilence, their walking to and
fro through the earth agrees with the character of these
visitations as apt to occur at all times and in all countries,
and as coming unexpectedly and mysteriously (Ps. xci.
5, 6; Jer. xxxiv. 17, xlii. 17; Ezek. vii. 15, &c), as
arrows shot from the hand of God (Ezek. v. 16) on the
objects of His displeasure.
In this detail no mention is made of the chariot with
the red horses ; and this presents a difficulty which has
much exercised the ingenuity of interpreters. Were it
allowable to suppose that the word translated " bay," and
which is properly " strong," in ver. 3, had slipped into
that verse from the second, and was originally appended
as a further description of the horses in the first chariot ;
or if Hengstenberg's suggestion, that the epithet " strong "
is meant to apply to the horses in all the chariots, could
be accepted, the difficulty would be easily removed; for
we could then regard ver. 7 as giving the description of '
the destination of this first chariot, reserved to the last
because of its more general reference and wider field of
operation. But as neither of these expedients can be
adopted, the solution must be sought elsewhere. Ewald,
following Kimchi, suggests that for D^DN, " strong," in
ver. 7, we should read D^Brr, shining, bright, scarlet or
red, as a bright and sharply-defined colour. Gesenius

THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 105

pronounces this " omnino inconcinnum " (Thes. i. 5) ; but
as YI?N and Y?^ are fundamentally the same word, the
only difference being that the guttural in the one is less
pronounced than in the other (probably a dialectical pecu
liarity), there is nothing absurd or unbefitting in the
suggestion. But in usage the words have different mean
ings ; for starting alike from the primary idea of " sharp
ness," the one passes on to the secondary idea of fleetness,
vigour, strength, while the other passes on to the idea of
brightness and redness as a sharply-defined colour. It is
not probable, therefore, that the one word would be used
where the other would have been more appropriate ; nor
is there any reason to suppose an error of transcription
here. Saint Jerome suggests that the rest is passed over
because " when the prophet related this the Babylonian
empire had passed, and the power of the Medes possessed
all Asia." But this proceeds on the assumption that the
red was destined for Babylonia, whereas it is the black
which is expressly said to be so destined ; and besides, if .
the fact that the Babylonian empire had passed away was/
a reason for not mentioning the destination of the rec
this would have equally been a reason for not mentionir
the destination of the black. The truth is that no sati
factory solution of this difficulty has been advanced ; ai d
it is best, therefore, to leave it without any attempt o
remove it. Keil justly remarks, that in all the visioi is
there are things which are not expressly explained ; anil
where, consequently, the main purpose of the vision is
ascertained it is not necessary to insist on an explanation!
of all the accessory details. All, therefore, that can be'
safely said on the point in hand is, that for some reason

106 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
not specified, the chariot with the red horses was passed
over, and no account of its destination given by the
angel. From the time of Jerome there have been interpreters
who have maintained that by the horses in the chariots
are represented the four empires of Daniel, as instruments
of the Divine judgments. /But in the vision itself, as
explained by the angel, these empires, at least some of
them, are represented as the objects of the Divine judg
ments, which the chariots are represented as instrument-
ally bringing upon them[| and as the same thing cannot
represent both the object and the instrument of judgment,
to interpret these chariots and horses of the empires, to
which they were sent, is to introduce utter confusion into
the picture. Besides, as these chariots were seen by the
prophet as rushing forth simultaneously, they cannot repre
sent agencies that came into operation at intervals sepa
rated widely, in some instances by many generations.
And in fine, whilst there is no difficulty in the way of
understanding how Babylonia and Egypt, as the enemies
of Israel, should be the objects of the Divine vengeance,
and the whole earth should be visited with calamity be
cause of the sins of its inhabitants; it is not easy to
perceive in what sense Babylonia and Egypt were, after
this date, the instruments of the Divine judgments on
others ; while to represent the whole earth as such an
instrument is simply absurd.
The enemies of God's people are the enemies of God
Himself, and the wrongs done to them He regards as done
to Him. " He that toucheth you," he had already said
to Israel by this prophet, " toucheth the apple of his eye "

THE FQUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 107
(ii. 8). Hence He takes up the case of His people as His
own, and becomes the avenger of the wrongs done to His
Church. It is to this that the language in ver. 8 refers :
" Then cried He unto them and spake, saying, Behold,
these that go toward the north country have quieted my
Spirit in the north country." The speaker here is not
the angel who was by the side of the prophet and inter
preted to him the visions, but " the other angel,'* the
Angel of Jehovah, who in these visions appears speaking
and acting as God. Not being by the side of the prophet
He cried to him, called aloud to him, so as to arrest his
attention to what He was about to utter, as of importance.
The phrase, " have quieted My Spirit in the north coun
try," or, as the words may be rendered, " have caused My
Spirit to rest on the land of the north," has been variously
understood and explained. iKimchi takes it as meaning
that the black horses which went forth to Babylon to
destroy it had by destroying it caused a quieting of God's
Spirit ; and this is substantially adopted by Hengsten
berg— I" this Spirit of God is quieted in the north country
with regard to its operations and the manifestations of its
power, namely, the judgments which it executes there "
— by Hitzig and by Henderson, only these two take
" Spirit " in the sense of " wrath." Calvin explains it as
meaning that " God began to be quieted after that second
chariot had been sent forth, for then He showed that He
was reconciled to His chosen people ; forthwith redemp
tion followed." Ewald renders it, " they leave my Spirit
in the land of the north," and understands the meaning
to be that the people of Israel still in Babylon would
receive an accession of spirit and courage from the Spirit

io8 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
of the Lord. Not a few, among whom are Dr. Pusey
and Mr. Wright, taking " Spirit " in the sense of wrath
or anger, understand the utterance as declaring that the
wrath of God would rest, i.e., abide, on the land of the
north until the final execution of his judgments upon
that cruel enemy of Israel. Of these interpretations the
first and the last alone seem worthy of consideration. So
far as the language is concerned either interpretation may
be accepted ; only there is less certainty that rm means
anger than that it means Spirit, the latter being the
common meaning of the word, while the former is at least
doubtful.* It may be questioned also whether, had the
thing to be expressed been the abiding of God's wrath on
Babylon, another formula and one less ambiguous would
not have been employed, such e.g. as that in Ezek. xxiv.
13. On the other hand, it may be said that " the idiom
' to cause to rest upon ' a person involves that that person
is the object on whom it abides " (Pusey) ; but this is
not always the case, as may be seen from Ezek. xiv. 42 ;
indeed it might rather be said that where the verb is fol
lowed by the prep. 2 and not by by, the meaning con
veyed is that the subject of the verb finds satisfaction,
appeasement, and so rest and quiet in respect of the
object; comp. Ezek. v. 13, xxiv. 13; also Ezek. xxi. 22
[A.V. 17], and Isa. xxv. 10. On the whole, the inter
pretation of Kimchi is to be preferred. By the judgments
executed on the enemies and oppressors of His people
satisfaction was rendered to God, His just anger was
* The instances usually adduced of this meaning, viz., Judg. viii. 3 ;
Eccl. x. 4 ; Ps. xxv. 4, xxxiii. n, are by no means decisive, for in none
of them is it certain that ITll means wrath.

THE FOUR WAR-CHARIOTS. 109

appeased, and His Spirit roused against them was quieted.
The statement is in harmony with what He elsewhere
says, " Ah, I will ease Me of mine adversaries ; I will
avenge Me of mine enemies" (Isa. i. 24).
This vision had reference primarily to the judgments
with which God would visit those nations that had op
pressed and wronged Israel. But there are here involved
general truths which are for all times and for all places.
One thing plainly taught here is, that all agencies are
under the Divine control, and operate only as God directs
or permits. War, pestilence, and famine are His servants
that wait His bidding, and go forth only as He wills. It
may be possible to trace their outbreaks to secondary
causes ; wars may arise from human ambition, passion,
covetousness, or vanity ; famine may ensue on certain
atmospheric conditions, or as the consequence of some
misconduct or negligence on the part of man ; and pesti
lence or disease may ravage a country through neglect of
proper sanitary precautions on the part of its inhabitants.
But no event or effect is the result of any one isolated
cause ; and in the great chain of causes and effects on
which all events hang the ultimate link is ever in the
hand of Him " of whom, and to whom, and through
whom are all things." The forces and powers of nature,
and the influences that affect the condition or determine
the conduct of individuals and communities, are alike
under His control. Nothing can happen except as He
permits or appoints ; and " if He cut off, and shut up or
gather together, who can hinder Him ? " (Job xi. 1 o).
We are reminded here also of the deep interest, the
quick and living interest, which God takes in His people,

no ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
His care for them, and His intense displeasure with all
who injure and oppress them. Babylon and Egypt stand
in the prophetical Scriptures, both of the Old Testament
and the New, as the types and emblems of the enemies
of God's Church ; and both in the Old Testament and
the New, the Divine displeasure is emphatically expressed
against those who are thus hostile to that cause which is
dear to Him. Because of this trouble and calamity, deso
lation and ruin come upon peoples and upon dynasties.
If the inner history of nations could be deciphered — if
we could see all the minute relations of events as God
sees them — we should in many cases discover that cala
mities which have come upon countries and kingdoms,
and which the ordinary historian traces to this or that
secondary cause, were in reality the outcome of Divine
judgments on the oppressors or persecutors of God's
people. " Thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the
mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible
shall be delivered : for I will contend with him that con-
tendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. And I
will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh ;
and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with
sweet wine : and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am
thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob "
(Isa. xlix. 25, 26).

IX.
EVIL DENOUNCED.
" And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the
word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth
month, even in Chisleu ; when they had sent unto the house of God
Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the Lord,
and to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of
hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month,
separating myself, as I have done these so many years ? Then came
the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the
people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and
mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years,
did ye at all fast unto me, even to me ? And when ye did eat, and
when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for your
selves ? Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by
the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity,
and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south
and the plain ? And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, say
ing, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment,
and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother : and
oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor ;
and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But
they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped
their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts
as an arlamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words
which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets :
therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is
come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear ; so they
cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts : but I scattered
them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not :
thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through
nor returned ; for they laid the pleasant land desolate." — Zech. vii. 1-14.
The series of visions recorded in the preceding chapters
took place on the night between the 23d and 24th of

ii2 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the eleventh month, the month Tebat, in the second year
of king Darius. What is recorded in this 7th chapter
and the chapter following occurred about a year and
three quarters later, in the fourth year of Darius, on the
4th of the month Chisleu, the ninth month of. the Jewish
year. It is not to be supposed that during this interval
the prophet's work was suspended ; on the contrary, he
was doubtless actively engaged in encouraging and admo
nishing the people who were employed in the rebuilding
of the temple ; for it is in reference to this time that it
is said that " the elders of the Jews builded, and they
prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet
and Zechariah the son of Iddo " (Ezra vi. 1 4). But
during the interval no special vision or message from the
Lord was given to the prophet to communicate to the
people ; at least none that it seemed meet to the Holy
Spirit to cause to be committed to writing, and preserved
as part of the sacred canon.
According to the rendering of ver. 1 in the A.V., the
entire reckoning is of the time when the word of the
Lord came to the prophet, and this is as directed by the
Masoretic accentuation. It will be observed, however,
that here the date of the day and month is not, as in
previous instances, connected immediately with the date
of the year, but is separated from it by the words, " the
word of the Lord came unto Zechariah." This has led
to the suggestion that the last clause of the verse should
be read with ver. 2, thus : " On the fourth day of the
ninth month in Chisleu, then sent," &c, thus giving the
date of the mission here described, rather than that of the
giving of the word to the prophet. But the position of

EVIL DENOUNCED.

"3

the verb in ver. 2 with vau conversive (•n^lt,»l) seems to
preclude such a rendering; this is dependent grammati
cally on the iTil 0f ver. 1, and must be taken as
beginning a new clause. Notwithstanding, therefore, the
unusual arrangement of the clauses, the rendering given
in the A.V. is to be preferred. There is no need, how
ever, for rendering the verb as a pluperfect " had sent,"
for which there is no sufficient authority in the usage of
the language ; the 1 may be rendered by " for " or " now."
As to the further rendering of this second verse, and
as to its meaning, opinion is much divided among inter
preters. Four different renderings and explanations have
been proposed : 1 . " They sent unto the house of God
Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men," &c. (A.V.,
Vulg., Grotius, Rosenmiiller, &c); here the verb is re
garded as impersonal, and " the house of God " (Bethel)
is taken as an accusative local, and is understood of the
temple at Jerusalem then in course of being restored.
2. Bethel {i.e. the people of Bethel) sent Sharezer, &c.
(Keil, Henderson, Pusey, Drake, &c.) ; here Bethel is
taken as the subject of the verb, and Sharezer, &c, as its
object. 3. Bethel, that is Sharezer, Regem-melech, and
their men sent, &c. (Ewald, Hitzig, Wright) ; here Shar
ezer, &c, are viewed as the senders of the deputation and
their names as in apposition to Bethel. 4. The house
of God {i.e. the congregation of Israel, whether those still
in Babylon or those in Palestine) sent Sharezer, &c.
(Hengstenberg, Maurer) ; here Bethel is assumed as the
subject, the sender, and Sharezer, &c, as the object, the
parties sent. Of these renderings the second seems that
most naturally suggested by the words as they stand in
H

H4 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the text. It has, indeed, been said that for this there
must have been a preposition (JIN) before the noun in
the accusative ; but this by no means holds ; cf. Zech. i.
10, and many other places where the accusative follows
Tlbiti without the preposition. The third of these render
ings has in its favour the support of eminent scholars ;
but it is not in itself very probable ; for if the inhabi
tants of Bethel as a community were the senders, why
should two of their number with their attendants be
specially named ; and if these men were themselves the
senders, why should it be said that Bethel was the sender ?
It is altogether more probable that Bethel was the sender,
and that these men are named with their attendants
because they were the parties who, thus attended, came
forth as the deputation from the town ; and this is
strengthened bj*" the use of the singular " I " (ver. 3),
which, as not referring to any individual, points to a com
munity as collectively the sender of the deputation. The
first of these renderings, which is that of the A. V., is
objectionable on the ground that Bethel is nowhere used
as an appellation of the temple, which is properly desig
nated HiiT JT3, " the house of the Lord," as in ver. 3 ;
and 'that had the writer intended to represent Bethel as
the place to which the deputation was sent he would have
made this certain by prefixing /N to bit JT2 or putting
this name after that of the men. The last of the render
ings has not found much favour among interpreters, but
it has been rejected generally for a reason which does
not seem to have much weight, viz., that the appellation
" house of God " is nowhere in the Old Testament used
of the people of Israel. This is true; but at the same

EVIL DENOUNCED. 115
time, as this phrase appears in the New Testament as a
designation of the spiritual Israel (Heb. x. 2 1 ; 1 Pet.
iv. 17), and as such designations are usually transferred
by the New Testament writers from those in use among
the Jews for the national Israel, the probability is that
this was a well-known designation of the latter, though it
does not appear in the Old Testament. Moreover, though
this exact phrase does not elsewhere occur in the Old
Testament of the national Israel, the equivalent phrase
" My house," as used by God of that people, is found in
this book (ch. iii. 7). It is worthy of notice also, that
the answer which the prophet was directed to make is
addressed primarily to " the people of the land ; " from
which it seems fair to conclude that it was from the
people as such that the inquiry came, and not from a
single town, and that one of no prominent importance in
the nation. The view, therefore, that by " the house of
God " here is meant the Israelitish community, " the con
gregation of the Lord," is not to be rejected as wholly
improbable. The question was one for the nation at
large, and the parties who were sent to propound it to the
priests may with great probability be regarded as com
missioned by the whole community to represent what was
a national feeling and a national want.
Bethel, then, whether the people of that town or the
people of Israel generally, was the sender of the deputa
tion, and the parties sent were " Sharezer, Regem-melech,
and their men," i.e. the persons sent with them as their
attendants, their " suite," to use a modern phrase. The
former of these names is apparently Assyrian. Sharezer
was the name of one of the sons of Sennacherib (2 Kings

116 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
xix. 37 ; Isa. xxxvii. 38), and the name Nergal- Sharezer
appears as that borne by one of the princes of Nebuchad
nezzar (Jer. xxxix. 3, 13). It has been identified with
the Assyrian " Sar-usur, contracted from Asur (Bil, Nirgal)-
sar-usur, i.e., May Asur (Bel or Nergal, Assyrian gods)
protect the king. (See Schrader, ' Die Keilinschriften und
Das Alte Testament,' p. 206)." * Roediger regards the
name as Persian, a compound of Zend cara, prince, and
athar, fire ; while others think it may be a compound of
Heb. Sar, prince, and ecar, treasure.! Regem-melech is
explained by Gesenius and Furst as a Hebrew name
meaning " friend of the king." If Sharezer is Assyrian
or Persian it is probable that the person here named was
born in Babylonia during the exile. There is nothing,
however, in this to support the opinion of some of the
Jewish writers that the deputation was sent from the
Jews who were still in exile. |
The deputation was sent " to pray before the Lord "
(margin, to entreat the face of the Lord). The verb here
used signifies primarily to smooth by rubbing; but in
the Piel, in the phrase Q'JE) ilbn this primary significa
tion is lost in that of paying court to one (Job xi. 19;
Ps. xiv. 1 3 ; Prov. xix. 6), entreating or beseeching favour
of one (Exod. xxxii. 1 1 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 12; Ps. cxix. 5 8 ;
Dan. ix. 13 : Zech. viii. 21, 22, &c). When the phrase
is employed in reference to God, it is in the latter sense
invariably that it is used. Render here, " To entreat the
favour of Jehovah." Whether these men carried with
* Wright, " Zechariah," p. 168.
t In many MSS. the reading is Sarezer in place of Sharezer.
+ " The senders were the children of the captivity." — Kimchi.

EVIL DENOUNCED. 117
them gifts and offerings to present before the Lord does
not appear ; but as it was usual in such cases for this to
be done (Exod. xxxiv. 20; 1 Sam. ix. 7 ; 2 Sam. xxiv.
24; Jer. xli. 5), the probability is that the usage was
observed on this occasion also.
The priests and the prophets were the proper medium
through which the suppliant could approach Jehovah and
obtain an answer to his petition (2 Kings iii. 1 1 ff. ; Jer.
xviii. 18, xlii. 1 ff. ; Ezek. vii. 26; Hag. ii. 13; Mai. ii.
7, &c). The priests were the authorised expositors of the
law to the people, and the prophets were the medium
through which special messages were conveyed to them
from God. These men were accordingly sent to address
their request to the priests that were in the house of the
Lord, and to the prophets at Jerusalem, saying P'Q*V at
the beginning of ver. 3 is repeated in the next clause
because of the intervening words, as "IpNJ"! is 2 Sam. xiv.
4), " Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself,
as I have done these so many years ? " The body or
community by which the deputation was sent is here
introduced as speaking in the singular.
To understand the purport of this inquiry, we must
observe that during the exile the Jews seem to have set
apart certain days as seasons of fasting and mourning in
commemoration of calamities that had befallen their
nation. Here, in this third verse, only one of these is
mentioned, but in the next verse two are named, and in
ch. viii. 19 four are specified, viz., "The fast of the fourth
month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and
the fast of the. tenth month." No certain information is
attainable as to the origin of these institutions ; nor do

nS ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
we know for certain the occasion which each of these
fasts was designed to commemorate. They may have
been, and probably were, self-imposed ordinances adopted
by the Jews in their exile, as there is no evidence that
they were instituted by command from heaven. It has
been supposed that the events designed to be commemo
rated by them were — the breaking down of the wall of
Jerusalem by the fast of the fourth month, the burning
of the temple by that of the fifth month, the slaughter
of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam by that of the seventh,
and the beginning of the final siege of Jerusalem by that
of the tenth. This is probably correct, and it enables
us to find a reason why the fast of the fifth month alone
should have been the object of inquiry by the deputation
from Bethel. What they desired to know was, whether
the fast they had been in the habit of observing in the
fifth month should continue to be observed with mourn
ing and lamentation as formerly. Now, as the deputation
was sent in the ninth month it might have been expected
that it would have been as to the fast of the tenth month,
the one still remaining to be observed in that year, rather
than to one already observed and past, that inquiry would
be made. But if the fast of the fifth month was com
memorative of the destruction of the temple, there was
an obvious reason why it should specially be selected as
the object of inquiry, seeing as the temple was now in
course of being restored it might appear incongruous and
unseemly to keep up a mournful commemoration of its
former destruction. This fast also was the most import
ant of all, as commemorating what to the Jews was of all
the calamities that had befallen their nation the most con-

EVIL DENOUNCED. ng
spicuous and deplorable. A decision regarding it, therefore,
would be applicable to all the rest ; whereas a decision re
garding any one of them might not be held as reaching to it.
The people had, even after their return to their own
land, continued to observe these fasts. But now a diffi
culty had occurred to them in regard to this. Now that
the temple was nearly rebuilt, and the city to a great
extent restored, was it needful or desirable or fitting to
keep up those days of sorrowful remembrance ? Should
they continue to mourn and fast now that the cause of
their sorrowing had been removed by the restoration of
that the loss of which they had deplored ? With this
difficulty pressing on them they sent to God for counsel
and direction through His priests and prophets.
The direct answer to their inquiry was not immediately
given. The prophet was first instructed to denounce in
the name of the Lord the wrong and pernicious notions
which had crept into the minds of the people regarding
the use and meaning and value of such observances. As
the inquiry of the man of Bethel concerned not them
alone but the nation at large, the prophet was instructed
to address his message to " the people of the land and to
the priests." The message is in two parts ; the one (vii.
3-14) of rebuke and warning; the other (viii. 1-17) of
promise and encouragement, followed (18-23) hy an
answer to the inquiry regarding the fasts, and a predic
tion of the great number of proselytes that should be
drawn to the Jews by the manifestation of God's good
ness to them. The former of these parts is also sub
divided into two, each introduced by the formula : " Then
came the word of Jehovah of hosts unto me."

120 ZECHARJAH 'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
These people had observed these fasts during the
seventy years of the exile ; but God by the prophet calls
in question the spirit and motive of their observance.
" When ye fasted and mourned . . . did ye at all fast
unto Me, to Me ? " The Hebrew here is peculiarly
emphatic ; not only is the finite form of the verb used
after the infinitive, *in02t DilirT, fasting, fasted ye to Me,
but the nominative of the personal pronoun "'JN, is
appended to the suffix for the sake of greater emphasis
(cf. Gen. xxvii. 34 ; Hag. i. 4). As the suffix is appended
immediately to the verb, it has been maintained by Ewald
and others that the prophet here uses the intransitive
verb as a transitive to which its object is subjoined :
" When ye fasted . . . fasted ye Me ? " i.e. as they explain
it : " Did your fasts impose any constraint on Me, exert
any effect on Me, or in any way benefit Me ? " But this
surely is doing violence to the passage. How can an
intransitive verb like " fast " be construed as a transitive ?
and how can " fast me " be made to mean " constrain or
influence Me by your fast ? "' This is to put a forced
meaning on the words, not to bring out the meaning they
properly contain. The construction, it is admitted, is
somewhat peculiar ; but it is easily resolved by regarding
the possessive suffix as in the dative after the intransitive
verb (OfipS for v DJjipS), a not unusual construction (cf.
Job xxxi. 18 ; Isa. lxv. 5, xliv. 21 ; Gesenius, "Heb. Gr.,"
§ 119, 7th ed. ; Ewald, " Ausf. Lehrb.," § 305, 5th ed.).
By this question God denounces the self-righteousness of
the people. He neither condemns nor commends the
fasts themselves. But He censures the motive from
which, and the spirit in which, they were observed. It

EVIL DENOUNCED. 121
was not for the sake of serving and honouring God that
they fasted when they mourned and wept, it was not that
they really humbled themselves before Him, confessing
with contrite hearts the sins which had caused the cala
mities they deplored, and in the spirit of sincere devotion
and penitential sorrow seeking forgiveness and restoration
to favour. No ; it was not thus to God that they fasted and
mourned. It was wholly to themselves in a self-righteous
spirit and reliance upon their own good doings that they
acted. They had fasted and mourned in the belief that
by mortifying of the body they were accumulating merit
in the sight of God, by which they might, as it were, buy
back what had been lost through the sins of their fathers.
Their fasting and mourning had been, no less than their
feasting and rejoicing, wholly for themselves, to procure
advantage to themselves : " And when ye eat and when
ye drink, is it. not ye that eat and ye that drink ? " In
either case there was no respect to God in what they did.
Observed in this spirit and with this intent, their fastings
and mournings were utterly unmeaning and worthless ;
they were nothing to God, and profitless to themselves in
His regard.
God further reminds them that not now for the first
time had such admonitions been addressed to their nation.
" Should ye not hear the words ? " (or as in the margin
with the Vulgate and LXX, " Are not these the words ? "
or as Ewald and others propose, "Do ye not know the
words ? " 01-p':?;7 n$ being either an accusative following
a verb, or a nominative preceding a verb, the verb in
either case having to be supplied), " Are not these the
words which Jehovah proclaimed by the former prophets

122 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
when Jerusalem was inhabited and in serenity (ni7tt');
and her towns round about her, and the South country
(Negeb) and the Lowland (Shephelah) were inhabited ? "
This is a description of the whole land of Judah; the
towns round about Jerusalem being those in the moun
tain district of Judah surrounding Jerusalem as their
centre, and more or less dependent on it, and the Negeb
and the Shephelah comprehending the rural districts
which belonged to the kingdom of Judah. Whilst this
territory was as yet undisturbed by foreign invasion, God
had spoken to its inhabitants by the prophets, warning
them against self-righteousness and against trusting in
mere outward observances, in a mere empty ritualism, for
acceptance with Him. And as God thus spoke to their
fathers so did He speak now to them. Whether they
continued to observe these fasts or not mattered little ;
the all-important thing was that they should not regard
these as something done to God, whereby they secured a
title to His favour, whilst they were " omitting the
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith." In order further to enforce on the people this lesson,
the prophet was commissioned to convey to them an
additional message from the Lord, in which the substance
of what He had before spoken to their fathers is given ;
ver. 9 : " Thus spake Jehovah of hosts " (the verb here
is to be taken as a preterite, the reference being to what
the Lord had spoken to the people before the captivity),
" saying," &c. The message which God has thus sent by
the prophets sets forth what He would have His people
to be and to do, and by the being and doing of which

EVIL DENOUNCED. 123
they should approve themselves to Him far more than by
fastings and ritual observances. He enjoins the exe
cuting of true judgment — literally, judgment of truth
(mishpat'emeth) — a judgment which proceeds on a correct
apprehension of the actual facts of the case, and is in
accordance with rectitude ; the showing of loving-kind
ness {chesed) and compassions to one another, each man
to his brother; the avoiding of all injustice or violence
towards those who are poor and helpless, especially those
who belong to the classes which God has marked out as
specially the objects of His regard and care — the widow,
the fatherless, and the stranger. He forbids also the
indulgence of revengeful feelings or malignant and evil
purposes against others ; none was to imagine in his
heart evil against his brother ; literally, imagine evil of a
man, his brother, i.e., of any man. Injunctions to this
effect God had frequently given to Israel of old. They
are but an expansion of that which is the sum of the
whole law — Love.,
Thus God had by His prophets admonished their
fathers, commanding them to " do justly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly before Him," and giving them to
understand that this was more acceptable to Him than
any amount of fastings or sacrifices. They had, however,
refused to hearken to this admonitory voice ; had im
piously flung themselves free from the Divine control,
and had become obdurate in their rebellion (vers. 11,22).
The successive stages, so to speak, of their revolt are here
indicated; (1) they refused to listen, simply treating
with neglect God's voice to them ; (2) they pulled away
the shoulder — literally, they gave (exhibited) an intract-

124 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
able shoulder ; they refused to bear what was laid upon
them, or they fretfully and angrily freed themselves from
the grasp by which, as it were, God sought to hold them
and urge them to obedience (cf. Neh. ix. 29, where the
same phrase occurs) ; (3) they stopped their ears — lite
rally, they made their ears heavy that they should not
hear; they sought to rid themselves of God's urgent
entreaties by turning a deaf ear to all that He said.. (4)
As a natural consequence, they became utterly hardened
in their rebellion ; they made their hearts as an adamant
stone, as the diamond (TDttf), the paragon of hardness
(" duritia inenarrabilis est," Plin. " Nat. Hist.," xxxvii.
15), so that they became inaccessible to all entreaty, and
ceased to be under any right impression either of obliga
tion or of gratitude, and accordingly would no longer regard
either what was enjoined on them in the law, or the mes
sage God had sent to them by His Spirit through means
of His prophets. Thus, through their own obstinacy and
rebellion, all that God had done in the way of showing
them their duty proved fruitless, and they went on their
way to ruin in spite of all that had been done to save
them. Refusing to submit to an authority they were
bound to obey, and turning petulantly and insolently
away from a hand that sought to direct them for their
good, they drew down on them great wrath and righteous
retribution from Jehovah. As He had called, and they
had refused to listen, so when they in their distress
called on Him, He declared He would not hear them.
As they would not submit to His hand for guidance, they
were made to feel the weight of His hand in punishment.
" Therefore it came to pass that, as He cried and they

EVIL DENOUNCED. 125
did not hear, so they cried and I would not hear, said
Jehovah of hosts. And I scattered them with a whirl
wind (violently tossed them) among all the nations whom
they knew not (people foreign to them and strange), and
the land was desolate after them, so that no one passed
through nor returned " (so that there was no passing to
and fro ; no travelling through the land). The phrase
It^D1*) "Di?p lit. " from passing over and returning," occurs
again (ix. 8) ; it seems to have been proverbial, and to
refer to the going to and fro of persons for traffic or for
social intercourse (cf. Ezek. xxxv. 7). A land so utterly
forsaken that no one goes through it either on business
or for pleasure is indeed desolate. The concluding clause
is apparently the prophet's own remark : " And they
made that pleasant land to be a desolation." Or the verb
may be taken indeterminately, and, as it were, imperson
ally, and the phrase rendered, " So the pleasant land was
made desolate ; " thus Ewald and Maurer.
Thus while on the one hand the people were reproved
for their formalism, and taught the vanity of all mere
outward service, they were on the other warned against
neglecting God's word, refusing to obey Him, casting off
His control, and in sinful pride and self-willedness in
dulging their own tastes and passions, instead of following
those courses which God had commended to them by His
word.

x.
ISRAEL CHEERED.
"Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts ; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy,
and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord ; I
am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem :
and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth ; and the mountain of
the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts ;
There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jeru
salem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And
the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the
streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; If it be marvellous in
the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be
marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the
Lord of hosts ; Behold, I will save my people from the east country,
and from the west country ; and I will bring them, and they shall
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem : and they shall be my people, and I
will be tlieir God, in truth and in righteousness. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts ; Let your hands he strong, ye that hear in these days these
words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the
foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple
might be built. For before these days there was no hire for man, nor
any hire for beast ; neither was there any peace to him that went out
or came in because of the affliction : for I set all men every one
against his neighbour. But now I will not be unto the residue of this
people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts. For the seed
shall be prosperous ; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground
shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew ; and I
will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And
it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse, among the heathen, O
house of Judah, and house of Israel ; so will I save you, and ye shall
be a blessing : fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith
the Lord of hosfs ; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers
provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not : so
again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to

ISRAEL CHEERED. 127
the house of Judah : fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall
do ; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour ; execute the
judgment of truth and peace in your gates : and let none of you ima
gine evil in your hearts against his neighbour ; and love no false oath :
for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord. And the word of
the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts ;
The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of
the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house .of Judah
joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and
peace. Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; It shall yet come to pass, that
there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities : and the
inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily
to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts : I will go also.
Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of
hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts ; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take
hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the
skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you : for we have
heard that God is with you." — Zech. viii. 1-23. «
In this chapter we have the second part of the message
which the prophet was commissioned to bear to the
people, in answer to the application of the deputation
from Bethel for advice as to the observance of certain
fasts. In the former part the language is that of reproof
and warning ; in this it is that of consolation, exhortation,
and encouragement. Having rebuked the people for their
insincerity and formalism, and having reminded them of
the sad consequences of neglecting God's messages and
disobeying His commands, the prophet proceeds to depict
the blessed effects of obedience, and conveys to the people
God's gracious promise and assurance of a renewal of His
favour to them ; after which a direct answer is given to
the question, the putting of which had given occasion for
this message, and a prediction is uttered regarding the
future glory of the kingdom of God, and the eagerness
with which heathen nations should press into it. The

128 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
chapter thus falls into two main divisions, each introduced
by the phrase — " The word of Jehovah came to me ; " the
former extending from ver. I to ver. 17 inclusive, the
latter from ver. 1 8 to the end of the chapter. The former
is again, after the introductory clause, subdivided into
sections, each of which is marked by the words, " Thus
saith Jehovah of hosts." The repetition of this formula
at the beginning of each section is designed, doubtless,
to assure the people that the great things here promised
will surely come to pass, being certified to them by the
word of Him whose covenant shall stand, and who will
do all His pleasure.
The message begins by announcing the continued re
gard of the Lord for His chosen people, His return to
dwell among them, and their return to Him in truth and
purity. " Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I am zealous for
Zion with great zeal, and with great fury am I zealous
for her." The verb here (the root-signification of which
is apparently "to be red with heat") is used in Scripture
— 1. With an accusative of object, or with the preposi
tion -1, in the sense of being jealous of another, as of a
wife (Num. v. 14), or of a rival (Gen. xxx. 1), which
meaning easily passes into that of envying; 2. With b
in the sense of being ardently affected towards any object,
either from loving regard (Num. xxv. 11-13; 2 Sam.
xxi. 2; 2 Kings xix. 10), or in anger and displeasure
(Gen. xxvi. 14; Ps. cvi. 16). The construction here is
with b, and therefore it is better to render the verb by
" zealous " than by " jealous." Because of the apostasy and
iniquity of the people, God had suffered them to come
under the power of the enemy; but He had not utterly

ISRAEL CHEERED. 129

forsaken them; on the contrary, He still, as before, was
zealously affected towards them, and His zeal for Zion,
the place of His chosen habitation, was ardent and intense.
The verb is in the perfect, but is more properly rendered
in the present — " I am zealous," or with the force of tlie
Greek perfect — " I have been and still am zealous."
God's zeal for Zion was His intense affection for His
chosen people — His zeal for them and against their
enemies. This He had towards them even whilst chas
tising them for their sins; and this He now especially
showed in restoring them from captivity and returning
to dwell among them. The expression, " I was jealous
for her with great fury," as it is in the A. V., has been
pressed by some to support the view that it is zeal against
Zion that is here intimated, that wrath which the sins of
the nation had excited,' and which had brought on them
the severe chastisement under which they had suffered.
But the form of the phrase shows that it is zeal for Zion,
not zeal against her, that is here in view, and the fury
or wrath is that which God in His zeal for Zion directs
against her enemies.
Zion had been polluted by the sins of the nation, and
God had forsaken for a time His chosen place of rest.
Ezekiel had seen in prophetic vision " The glory of the
Lord depart from the temple, and from the midst of the
city, and rest upon the mountain which is on the east
side of the city" (Ezek. xi. 23), thereby indicating God's
removal from Zion. But this was only for a season,
and the end for which He had withdrawn having been
accomplished, He had again returned to Zion. "Thus
saith Jehovah : I am again returned unto Zion, and will

130 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem" (ver. 3). And as He had
returned to her, so should she be in sincerity and truth
turned to Him. " And Jerusalem shall be called a city of
truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy
mountain." In Scripture phraseology, " to be called " is
" to be." As God creates when He calls, and as He calls
only according to truth, so the name by which any thing
or person is designated by Him expresses what that thing
or person really is. Thus when it is said of the Messiah
that His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, &c,
the meaning is that He shall really be what these epithets
express ; and so of the name Emmanuel, by which both
the Prophet Isaiah and the Evangelist Matthew say the
child born of the Virgin should be called — a name which
our Lord never actually received, but which expresses
what He really is — ¦" God with us." Accordingly, when
here Jerusalem is said to be called the city of truth, the
meaning is that it shall really be the city of truth, that
is, the place where truth shall dwell, the city of which
truth shall be the characteristic. So elsewhere it is said
of Jerusalem that she should be called "the city of Je
hovah, the city of righteousness, the faithful city " (Isa.
i. 26, lx. 14), and "the throne of Jehovah" (Jer. iii. 17)
— appellations at no time really used of that city, but
which express what was to be her peculiar character and
dignity. As the city of truth, there should reign in her
" everything opposite to untruth ; faithfulness as opposed
to faithlessness ; sincerity as opposed to simulation ;
veracity as opposed to falsehood ; honesty as opposed to
untruth in act ; truth of religion or faith as opposed to
untrue doctrine " (Pusey). God is the God of truth, and

ISRAEL CHEERED. 13 r
the place where He dwells must be a place of truth. He
had departed from Zion because of the falsehood and
iniquity that had come to be there ; when now He
returned, it should be to a city in which truth should
reign, and where He should be served in sincerity and
truth. That such should be the character of the restored
people had been announced by an earlier prophet : " The
remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies ;
neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth "
(Zeph. iii. 13). And as God is the Holy One, so the
place where He dwells is a place of holiness. " The
mountain of the Lord" — the place where His temple
stands, Mount Moriah, "shall be called — shall be the
holy mountain." Such had ever been the appropriate
designation of " the mountain of the Lord's house " (see
Ps. ii. 6, iii. 4, xv. 1, xliii. 3, Ixxxvii. 1 ; Isa. xi. 9,
lvi. 7 ; Joel iii. 1 7, &c) ; and what it had thus been
called it should really be when Israel was restored. As
had been foretold, " Upon mount Zion there should be
holiness " (Obadiah 1 7), and when the Lord " had brought
again this captivity " they should " use this speech in the
land of Judah and in the cities thereof, The Lord shall
bless thee, 0 habitation of justice, and mountain of
holiness" (Jer. xxxi. 23). "Then should Jerusalem be
holy, and no strangers ('aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise,' un-
consecrated and unclean) should pass through her any
more " (Joel iii. 1 7 ; comp. Isa. xxxv. 8 ; Jer. li. 51;
Zech. xiv. 21 ; Eph. ii. 12-19; Rev. xxi. 27).
As consequent on restored sanctity and spiritual privi
lege, an accession of temporal blessings is promised (vers.

132 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
4-6). " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, There shall yet old
men and old women dwell [sit] in the streets of Jerusalem,
each man with his staff in his hand from very age (lit.
from multitude of days). And the streets of the city
shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets
thereof" (vers. 4, 5). These words graphically depict
a scene of peaceful serenity and happy enjoyment. Along
the sides of the streets — on the shady side if the sun be
hot, on the sunny side if the air be cool — sit the aged
engaged in pleasant talk or resting in quiet meditation ;
while the children fill the open space, and make the
street ring with their merry laugh or jubilant shouts.
The aged here are represented as very aged, so aged that
they cannot sit without leaning each on his staff; the
design of the representation being to heighten as much
as may be the picture of security which the scene pre
sents. In all countries longevity, when it is found
exceeding the ordinary average, may be regarded as
indicating a healthful climate and a peaceful and pros
perous state of society; and in Scripture longevity is
frequently included among the special blessings which
God promises to those who obey His law and keep His
covenant. It is in accordance with this that the prophet
here, in depicting the happy state of restored Jerusalem,
introduces the old men and the old women as sitting (the
verb is 2$), which means primarily to sit, only second
arily to dwell) in peace and quiet in the streets of the
city; while the children, in the exuberance of their
young life, pursue their sports without fear of interrup
tion or harm. The " playing " here is to be taken in this
sense, not as it has by some been interpreted, as a playing

ISRAEL CHEERED. 133

upon instruments in religious worship ("Targ. Jon.").
This is not childlike, it is not true to nature ; it intro
duces an uncongenial element into the picture, which is
that of social serenity and joyousness, not that of religious
service. The sports of childhood are the native and
spontaneous outcome of the young, fresh life that is
buoyant in those who have not yet felt the burden of
life's cares, or been depressed by life's sorrows ; and as
St. Jerome remarks, "When cities are in security and
profound peace, it is wont to happen that this sportive
age celebrates the gladness of communities by plays and
dances." A serene old age and a happy, joyous youth
alike attest the goodness of God to men ; " The tottering
limbs of the very old and the elastic, perpetual motion of
childhood are alike far distant chords of a diapason of the
Creator's love " (Pusey).
When God promises blessing to His people they are
entitled and bound confidently to expect a rich effusion
of favour when He shall see meet to bestow what He has
promised. But their highest anticipations are apt to
come far short of what actually is brought to pass ; so
that to those who witness it the doing of the Lord is
marvellous, and fills them with surprise. So God here
says, " If it shall be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant
of this people in those days, shall it be marvellous in My
eyes ? saith Jehovah of hosts " (ver. 6). By " the rem
nant of the people " is meant those who should be alive
and remain at the time when this promise should be ful
filled, the time referred to as " those days " (Dili! ONpjJl,
not as in A. V., " in these days " ; cf. Gen. vi. 4 ; Ex. ii.
1 1, &c.) To them the blessing received would appear so

134 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
great as to excite their surprise ; they would be ready to
say, " We never expected it to be like this ; we are like
them that dream ; the Lord hath done great things for us,
whereof we are glad." But what should be thus won
derful in their eyes would be no marvel to God. To
infinite wisdom and knowledge nothing can be strange ;
to infinite power nothing impossible or difficult. To Him
who saith and it is done all things are easy ; and what
ever He purposes comes to pass as a matter of course in
His own time. Events which fill men with wonder are
to Him but the commonplaces of His omnipotence.
By some the latter part of this verse is taken not in
terrogatively, but as an assertion. Hitzig, who says that
to construe this as a question is a mistake, interprets the
whole thus : " If then when ye see it actually done it
will appear to you still impossible, I also will hold it for
impossible." But it is hardly possible to attach any
tenable meaning to this. We cannot suppose that God
means to say that if His work shall appear wonderful to
men, it will also appear wonderful to Him, for to Him
to whom all things are possible nothing can be wonder
ful; and however He may astonish men by what He
does, His doings can never astonish Himself, being only
what He has ever purposed to do. Nor can the meaning
be, As it is impossible for Me to wonder at My own acts,
so when this comes to pass it will be also impossible for
those who witness it to wonder at it; for this is too
insipid, not to say absurd, to be accepted. The interro
gative rendering is the only one that gives a tolerable
meaning ; and though the sign of interrogation is wanting
in the Hebrew, this is not of moment, for though inter-

ISRAEL CHEERED. 135
rogations are usually introduced by the particle i], this is
not indispensable;* and in one other passage (1 Sam.
xxii. 7) we have DJ in place of DJH in an interrogation.
Still further to assure the minds of the people, God
reiterates His promise that He would restore the nation
from their exile : " Behold Me ! I am saving My people
from the land of the rising, and from the land of the
going down of the sun ; and I will bring them, and they
shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem : and they shall be
to Me a people, and I shall be to them a God, in truth
and righteousness " (vers. 7, 8). As yet only a small
portion of the people had returned from their state of
exile. Zechariah prophesied in the earlier years of the
return, and at least a century elapsed before the great
body of the nation was brought back. God had showed
His grace to them in that He had brought back those
who were then engaged in repairing Jerusalem and re
building the temple ; but this was not all that He would
do for the nation. He was still carrying on the work of
recovery, — this seems to be the force of the participle
here after "behold," ^iD rJJH, behold me saving, — and
in due time He would complete it ; the nation should be
restored, and Jerusalem inhabited as of old. There is no
reference here, as some have supposed, to a restoration of
the Jews to Palestine from their present dispersion. The
phrase, " from the land of the rising of the sun to the
land of his going down," is a poetical expression for
" from every place " (cf. Ps. 1. 1 ; cxiii. 3). Wherever
* "Interrogative sentences require no interrogative particles specially to
distinguish them" (MuUer, "Outlines of Heb. Syntax," translated by
Professor Robertson, 1882, p. 97).

136 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the people had gone in their exile, thence should they be
gathered and brought back to their own land. This pro
mise was fulfilled when the mass of the nation came back
from Babylonia and reoccupied the places from which
their fathers had been driven — a people purified by trial,
never again to apostatise from Jehovah. When Israel
was subdued and carried captive to a strange land, and
made to endure long years of exile and bondage, it might
seem as if God had utterly cast them off and dissolved
for ever the relation between Him and them as His chosen
people. But when He should bring them back, it would
be seen that this relation still subsisted : " They shall be
to Me a people, and I will be to them a God, in truth
and righteousness." These concluding words are to be
connected with both parts of the preceding clause, and
are meant to apply to both sides of the relation. On
both sides there should be reality and sincerity. God is
the God of truth and righteousness, and in relation to
those whom He chooses to be His people He ever acts
in truth and righteousness ; and they on their part are
required to be faithful to all their obligations to Him,
and to be to Him in reality all that they profess to be.
Before the exile they had as a nation sadly failed in this ;
God upbraids them by the prophet as a people that
" swore by the name of the Lord and made mention of
the God of Israel, but riot in truth nor in righteousness "
(Isa. xlviii. i). But when they should be restored it
would not be so. As He would be to them all that He
engaged to be as their God, so should they be to Him a
true and faithful people, serving Him in righteousness
and truth.

ISRAEL CHEERED. I37
In the verses that follow the prophet continues the
strain of encouragement by reminding the people how
God had already dealt graciously by them, and had ful
filled the promises He had given them by the prophets.
" Thus saith the Lord of hosts : Let your" hands be strong,
ye that hear in these days these words from the mouths
of the prophets, who were in the day of the founding of
the house of Jehovah of hosts, the temple, that it might
be built" (ver. 9). The prophets here referred to are
Zechariah himself and Haggai, both of whom had spoken
to the- people words of admonition and encouragement
at the time referred to, viz., the time when, after a
pause and a season of inactive despondency, the work
was resumed and the building of the temple from the
new foundation was vigorously prosecuted. The words
of these prophets the people whom Zechariah now
addressed were hearing. Haggai, indeed, was now dead,
but his words lived and were still sounding in their ears,
and they were substantially the same as those which
Zechariah now spoke (as may be seen by comparing
Haggai i. 7 ff, ii. IS ff, with Zech. vii. 8 ff). Both
declared to the people that so long as they neglected the
work of the Lord nothing prospered with them; but
when they cast off indolence and ceased to care only for
themselves, and applied themselves to the work to which
they were called, all went well with them, and they
prospered even in their material interests. While they
allowed the temple to lie waste God did not smile upon
them or bless them. " There was no hire for man nor
any hire for beast ; " their fields produced so little that
neither man nor beast was hired to gather it in. They

138 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
were so beset and encompassed with enemies that no
one could with safety pass, for either business or pleasure,
from one part to another ; " there was no peace to him
who went out or came in because of the adversary"
("litrT). They were torn also by internal dissension and
strife ; God had set all men every one against his neigh
bour. So it had been, but now it was different. " Now,"
says God by the prophet, " I will not be to the residue
(the remnant, /V~|N10) of this people as in the former
days." Now there should be the seed of peace, i.e., not
as the Chaldee paraphrast gives it, "the seed shall be
safe," shall suffer no damage from any noxious influence ;
but that that from which peace springs should be sown
in their land, so that peace (according to Hebrew concep
tion the complex of all good) should be there not casually
or transiently, but permanently, and not as an exotic
brought in from without, but as the native product of the
land; in contrast to the state of things in the former
days, when there was no peace to him that came in or
that went out because of the adversary. By most recent
interpreters the phrase, " the seed of peace," is read in
apposition with what follows — "the seed of peace, the
vine," &c. But how can the vine be the seed of peace ?
Is it not rather the fruit of peace, seeing it is only in
times of peace that its culture is attended to? If it
be said, " This is precisely what the phrase means : the
vine is the seed of peace because it is only in times of
peace that it is sown," the reply is obvious : The vine is
not raised from seed, but is propagated from suckers, or
by cuttings, and therefore cannot even by metonymy be
described as a seed. It is best to take the words,

ISRAEL CHEERED. 139
" There shall be the seed of peace," as an independent
clause, and what follows as illustrative of the condition
thus affirmed. Seeing peace should be radically estab
lished in the land, the vine should give her fruit, and the
ground should give its increase, &c. Now that the people
were heartily engaged in the work of the Lord, the time
to favour Zion had arrived; God would now give pros
perity to the nation, and the remnant of the people
should possess all the riches of that "goodly land" to
which they had been restored.
Still further to encourage the people, God declares by
the prophet that whereas the house of Judah and the
house of Israel had been a curse among the heathen, they
should be delivered and made a blessing (ver. 13). The
house of Judah and the house of Israel are here joined
together as partakers in common alike of the curse and
of the blessing. As both had been carried into exile,
and thus had been united in calamity, so both should be
united in the restoration and be made to partake together
of the blessing. One good effect of the captivity was
that it reunited the severed portions of the chosen
nation. They were no longer two peoples, but one.
Many belonging to the ten tribes from time to time
returned to Palestine from Babylon, and were amal
gamated with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin as one
nation. Thus united, as they had been a curse among
the heathen, so were they to be a blessing. This does
not mean , that they had been a curse to the nations
among whom they had been dispersed, for as they were
commanded to seek the peace of the place whither they
had been carried captive (Jer. xxix. 7), their residence

Ho ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
among the heathen had been a source of advantage to
the latter rather than the opposite ; but the meaning is,
that in the eyes of the heathen so miserable seemed the
condition of the captive Hebrews that when imprecating
evil upon any they were wont to wish that it might be
with them as it was with the Hebrews. This is the
force of the phrase, " to be a curse," or " to be taken up
as a curse," as elsewhere used in Scripture (cf. 2 Kings
xxii. 19; Isa. lxv. 15; Jer. xxiv. 9, xxvi. 6, xxix.
22, xlix. 13). So, on the other hand, their being a
blessing among the heathen is to be understood not of
their being a source of blessing to the nations, but of
their becoming the norm or paradigm according to which
blessing should be invoked (cf. Gen. xlviii. 20): they
should be so prospered that it would become a common
imprecation among the nations, May you be happy as
these Jews are!
The assurance that God would deliver His people and
give them prosperity and peace was well fitted to en
courage those to whom it was addressed to persevere in
the work to which they were called, notwithstanding the
difficulties they had to encounter and the hostility of the
adversaries by whom they were surrounded. To impress
upon them more deeply this effect, the Lord by the
prophet adds : "As I thought (purposed) to do evil to
you [the nation as such (cf. Haggai ii. 5)], when your
fathers provoked Me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts,
and I repented not : so again have I thought in these
days to do good unto Jerusalem and to the house of
Judah; fear ye not" (vers. 14, 15). Because of the
sins of their fathers God had brought calamity upon the

ISRAEL CHEERED. 141

nation as He had purposed and threatened. To this
purpose He had adhered ; " He repented not." He had
not retired or turned back from what He had purposed
(cf. Jer. iv. 28); and they had been made to feel that
His threatenings were not mere empty words of menace,
but that He would certainly do what He had threatened.
But no less certainly would His promise of blessing be
fulfilled now that He had purposed to do them good. As
He had threatened punishment and had punished, so
now that He had promised blessing He would bless. Let
them then take courage and fear not. With God as
their Benefactor and Helper, they could not fail of suc
cess if they courageously and diligently prosecuted their
work. This assurance, however, like all similar promises, was
conditioned by the people's being obedient and acting
as God required. "These," says God, "are the things
that ye shall do;" these are the things which, as
to your fathers of old (see ch. vii. 9 ff), so now to
you I command. " The demonstrative nfit intimates
that what the prophet now proposes are instead of those
fasts which of their own accord the Jews had appointed "
(Rosenmiiller). What is here supremely inculcated is
truth — truth in the general in all their intercourse with
each other, truth specially in judicial proceedings.
Every man is to speak truth to his neighbour, both in
common conversation and in their commercial transac
tions they are to say to each other exactly what is
accordant with fact. And in the administration of
justice, perfect equity is to regulate their decisions;
those who act as judges in the gates of the cities where

142 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
justice was wont to be administered are in all their
proceedings to have regard to truth, and to seek to pro
mote peace, striving to bring together those who are at
variance, discouraging all merely litigious strifes, repress
ing all vexatious suits, and doing even-handed justice to
all. They are enjoined also to bear no malice to others,
and not to plan evil in their hearts to others, to make
conscience of an oath, under no temptation to swear
falsely, but to abhor all false oaths. It is noticeable
how often at this time the prophet was commissioned to
inculcate on the people a regard to the claims of truth
and equity in their dealings with each other (cf. chap. i.
2-6, v. 2-4, vii. 8-13). These are the things that God
requires, and the opposite of which He hates.
The prophet has now finished the message of reproof,
warning, and encouragement which he was commissioned
to bear to the people. He proceeds to answer the ques
tion about the fasts, the putting of which had been the
occasion of this message. The answer he had to give is
substantially that these fasts should not be any longer
observed, but should rather be turned into occasions of
rejoicing and thanksgiving; the fast should become a
festival, the day of mourning a day of gladness, and
the painful reminiscences of the past be exchanged for
joyful recognition of blessing in the present, and anti
cipation of still higher blessing in the future. (For
the fasts themselves, see chap, ix., pp. 117, 11 8.)
Occasion is taken at the same time to press on the
people still further attention to the Divine require
ments, alike from a sense of obligation for good already
received, and from a regard to their own welfare, inas-

ISRAEL CHEERED. 143
much as only as they sought truth and peace could they
hope to secure enjoyment of the Divine favour and
blessing. The prophet goes on to assure them that thus
continuing in obedience they should receive so rich a
blessing that surrounding nations should earnestly desire
to participate in their felicity. Notwithstanding the
desolation that had come on Jerusalem, and the low
estate to which the people had been reduced, there
should yet ("fy emphatic) be seen many of other nations
hastening to join in the observance of those sacred festi
vals that had come in the place of the fasts they had
kept during the season of calamity. The inhabitants of
one city should be found saying to those of another,
" We will go indeed (' omnes uno et magno studio,' Ros.)
to entreat the Lord (cf. chap. vii. 2), and to seek the
Lord; and in response another will say, I also will go."
Ten — i.e., many (cf. Gen. xxxi. 7 ; Lev. xxvi. 26; Num.
xiv. 22) — men of all languages of the nations (from all
parts of the world) should take hold of the skirt of one
that is a Jew, one who was going up to the feast, and to
worship, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard
that God is with you. " As one who desires to go with
another, and will not allow himself to be easily put off,
is wont to seize hold of the garment of that other, so
also men of all nations should determine to be associated
with the Jews" (Ros., cf. 1 Sam. xv. 27 ; Haggai ii. 12
for the figure).
That this refers in the first instance to the fact that
proselytes should come from all parts to join themselves
to the people of God, and to worship at Jerusalem,
hardly admits of a doubt. But it is only in gospel

144 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
times, and under the reign of the Messiah, that this
prediction in its full import can be fulfilled. As the
Prophet Isaiah had foretold that " the mountain of the
Lord's house should be established on the top of the
mountains, and all nations should flow into it " (Jer.
ii. 2 ; cf. chap. Ixvi. 20 ff.) ; and as Micah had foretold
that " many nations should come and say, Come, let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of
the God of Jacob, and He will teach us of His ways, and
we will walk in His paths " (Mic. iv. 2) ; so here the
prophet represents the nations as eagerly seeking admis
sion into that kingdom of God, and men of every nation
as stimulating each other to the pious quest, and eagerly
laying hold of the Jew, that along with him and by his
help they may obtain the blessing of God's favour. " The
literal fulfilment of such passages," it has been justly
remarked, "is a sheer impossibility."* During the
centuries succeeding the restoration of the Jews to their
own land, there were indeed multitudes of proselytes who
came out of heathendom and joined themselves to the
God of Israel ; but nothing corresponding to the descrip
tions of these prophets ever happened so long as the
Jewish state lasted. Nor is any literal fulfilment of these
predictions to be desired. What the prophets teach us
to desire and expect is the conversion of the nations by
a spiritual turning unto the Lord, through the proclama
tion among them of the glad tidings of salvation. Then
in the one possible sense shall men of all nations lay
hold of the Jew (" for salvation is of the Jews "), and
then shall the nations be gathered with the ancient
* Wright, "Zechariah and his Prophecies," p. 194.

ISRAEL CHEERED. 145
people of God into one fold under one Shepherd. It is
but an idle conceit of St. Jerome that by the Jew here,
on whom many were to lay hold, is meant the Lord
Jesus Christ, who, when He appeared here on earth, was
of the seed of Abraham. Our Lord, it is true, was in
outward relations a Jew ; but it was not as a Jew, but as
the Man, who " forasmuch as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, also himself likewise took part of the
same," that Jesus, Incarnate God, being lifted up, is to
draw all men unto Him. "He is our peace," the Shiloh
of the race, and to " him shall the gathering of the
nations be."

XI.

ENEMIES REBUKED.
" The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and
Damascus shall be the rest thereof : when the eyes of man, as of all
the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord. And Hamath also
shall border thereby ; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise. And
Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the
dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will
cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea ; and she shall be
devoured with fire. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear ; Gaza also shall
see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron ; for her expectation shall be
ashamed ; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall
not be inhabited. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will
cut off the pride of the Philistines. And I will take away his blood
out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth : but
he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a
governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. And I will encamp
about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth
by, and because of him that returneth : and no oppressor shall pass
through them any more ; for now have I seen with mine eyes."
— ZECH. ix. 1-8.
With this ninth chapter begins the second part of the
book, or, as some (reckoning chapters vii. and viii. as
forming a separate prophecy) regard it, the third part.
This differs so Widely not only as respects subject-matter,
but also in regard to language, style, and general contour
and method from the earlier portion of the book, that to
many it has appeared impossible to regard the two as
productions of the same writer. Into this question, how
ever, it is not necessary to enter here, as the interpreta-

ENEMIES REBUKED. 147
tion of what is written does not depend on our ascertain
ing by whom it was written.
This latter part of the book, as it stands in the Canon,
is divisible into four sections — the first containing ch. ix.
and ch. x. ; the second, ch. xi. ; the third, ch. xii. and ch.
xiii. ; and the fourth, ch. xiv.
In the first eight verses of ch. ix. the overthrow of the
nations and tribes hostile to Israel is threatened, while
the people of God are assured of His protection and care.
Zion and Jerusalem are then summoned to hail with
exultation the advent of the Great King, who shall not
only deliver His people from all hostile assault, but shall
also raise them to the highest pitch of felicity, glory, and
power, so that all their enemies shall fear before them
(vers. 9— 1 7). The general purport of the prophetic utter
ance is clear, though considerable obscurity attaches to
some of the expressions used.
" The burden of the word of Jehovah in the land of
Hadrach " (ver. 1 ). The phrase, " the burden of Jeho
vah," like the phrase the burden of or concerning some
place or people which so frequently occurs as the title of
the Divine utterances by the prophets, implies that the
utterance is a weighty word, a word that is not empty
and vain, but full of import, and that coming forth from
the Lord, " shall not return unto Him void, but shall
accomplish that whereto He hath sent it," and shall rest
as a burden on those against whom it is directed. The
word rendered by " burden " (N^P, massd) is derived from
a verb which signifies to lift up {$&}), and may be used
of anything that is lifted up or carried. Thus it is used
of the lifting up of the voice in song (1 Chron. xv. 22, 27) ;

148 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
and of instructions or counsels laid upon one to be borne
by him (Prov. xxx. i, xxxi. i). Generally, however, it
is used for load or burden laid on one, and so of a pro
phetic utterance of a minatory character; for as this
comes forth as something sent upon those against whom
it is directed, it is properly a burden which they have to
bear. It has, indeed, been contended that the word is
used of utterances which are not minatory, and from this
it has been concluded that it means nothing more than
" utterance " simply. But the only instances adduced; of
its being used of a favourable utterance are Zech. xii. i
and Mai. i. I, neither of which is conclusive. It is a
mistake, indeed, to regard the utterance in MaL i. as other
than minatory, and that in Zech. xii. i, though in its
ultimate aspect favourable to Israel, nevertheless comes
on Israel as a burden from the Lord, inasmuch as it reprer
sents Israel as itself suffering and in danger of being
involved in the destruction of the people in its vicinity,
and the house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem as
returning to the Lord from whom they had apostatised
with deep mourning and bitter sorrow. The word massa
is never used of those purely joyful messages which
the prophets sometimes had to bring to the people of
Israel. The object of this burden is the land of Hadrach and
Damascus, on (3) the former of which the burden falls,
and on the latter it rests. The term Hadrach occurs
only here in Scripture, and many conjectural explanations
have been offered of it. It has been suggested that it is
a compound of f n, sharp, and "•j-j, tender, delicate, and is
descriptive of this prophetic utterance which is " severe to

ENEMIES REBUKED. 149
the Gentiles and tender to Israel " (" R. Judah ben Elai," *
cited by Pusey), or is a symbolical designation of an
object in which these two qualities are united, which in
one relation is " sharp " and in another " soft " — a symbol
according to some of the Persians, who were at once
fierce and voluptuous (Hengstenberg, " Christology," III.
379), and whose empire Alexander the Great was engaged
in subverting at the time to which this prophecy relates.
Some of the Jewish expositors understand it of the
Messiah, " who is to guide (THin**?) all who come into
the world by repentance before God " (" Midrash Shir
Hasshirim," cited by Pusey). Gesenius, Bleek, and others
regard it as the name of some Syrian king reigning at
Damascus ; and others as the name of some idol deity
worshipped in that region. To all these explanations
serious objections have been urged, and they are now
universally renounced. The words of the text as they
stand naturally suggest that Hadrach is the name of a
place, and this, which Kimchi tells us was at an early
period asserted by R. Jose, " the son of a Damascus
woman," and has been reiterated by subsequent Jewish
expositors, and which some of the early Christian fathers.
also maintained, has now been established as the true expla
nation. In the Assyrian inscriptions mention frequently
occurs of a city and region in the vicinity of Damascus
called Ha-ta-ri-ka, to which expeditions were sent (Smith,
"Assyrian Discoveries," p. 276; "Records of the Past,"
vol. v. pp. 46, 51 ; Pusey, "Min. Proph.," p. 5 5°); and
this there can be no doubt is the Hadrach of this passage.
* A disciple of R. Akiba, Wolf, " Bibl. Heb." I. p. 411 (not It. 690, as
given by Pusey).

150 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
The oldest explanation has thus in this case, as not infre
quently in others, turned out to be the true one.
While the burden was to light upon Hadrach, its
resting-place was to be Damascus. The meaning of this
is that the Divine wrath, of which this oracle was the
missive, should come down in heavy judgments on that
city. Most commonly the term rest, or resting-place
(nJTOp), is used of quiet, peaceful resting, as that of " the
ark of the covenant of the Lord " after its many removals
( I Chron. xxviii. 2), and that given by God to His people
(cf. Deut. xii. 9; Ps. xxiii. 2, xcv. 11 ; Isa. xxviii. 12,
xxxii. 1 8 ; Micah ii. 1 o, &c.) ; and so the Targumist
takes it here : " And Damascus shall be turned so as to
be of the land of the house of His majesty," i.e., part of
the land in which is the temple, the house of Jehovah.
But with this the general tenor of the prophecy does
not accord ; it is not a message of blessing, but of judg
ment; and consequently the resting of the oracle on
Damascus must indicate that as the place on which the
judgment is to fall and abide. So in Ezek. v. 13 God
says in reference to the judgment He was about to send
on Jerusalem : " I will cause My fury to rest upon them."
Not that on Damascus alone was the judgment to fall,
but in that course of judgments which this prophecy
announces Damascus and its surroundings should be the
first to suffer.
In the words that follow a reason is assigned why on
Damascus and the land of Hadrach the Divine judgment
was to fall. Literally, the words are : " Because to
Jehovah [is] the eye of man and all the tribes of Israel."
This may mean either, as the A. V. has it, that the eyes

ENEMIES REBUKED. 151
of men generally, as well as of the tribes of Israel, are
directed to Jehovah, or that Jehovah has an eye which
is upon or over all men, as well as on or over the tribes
of Israel. The former of these is what the words, as
they stand, most readily suggest; but though grammati
cally justifiable, it seems to be excluded by the context,
for the fact that all men look to the Lord can be no
reason why judgment should come on any particular por
tion of mankind. The notion of some Jewish interpreter,
that this refers to the conversion of the Gentiles and
their union with the Jews in the worship of Jehovah,
though apparently adopted by Pusey, is wholly foreign to
the general strain of this context, and has had few sup
porters. The latter rendering is that generally adopted
by interpreters. The Lord has an eye not only on the
tribes of Israel, but also on men universally ; He not only
watches over Israel for good, but He watches the doings
and the ways of the heathen that He may deal with
them as is meet ; He sees all their perversity, ungodli
ness, and wickedness ; and consequently, when fitting
occasion comes, sends His judgments upon them. So He
had observed Damascus and the other places referred
to in this oracle ; and as the time of their visitation
had come, His " burden " came forth and rested upon
them. With Damascus and the land of Hadrach is joined
Hamath: "And Hamath also shall border thereby;"
rather, " And Hamath also which borders thereon," i.e.,
the burden rests not only on Damascus, but also on
Hamath, which is conterminous with it. Hamath is a
name of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament. It

152 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
is the name of a city, the capital of a district lying to the
north of Damascus. This city may be regarded as one
of the oldest in the world ; mention is made of it repeat
edly as on the northern border of Canaan at the time the
Israelites entered to take possession of that land (Num.
xiii. 21, xxxiv. 8; Josh. xiii. 5, &c.) ; and from Gen. x.
1 8 it would appear it was founded by the youngest son
of Canaan, the son of Noah. By the Greeks it was called
Epiphaneia, in honour of Antiochus Epiphanes ; but, like
many other places in that country, it resumed its ancient
appellation, and still subsists under the name of Hamah.
Coupled with Damascus and the land of Hadrach, here it
forms a group which may be regarded as representing
Syria. From Syria the oracle passes to Phoenicia, the two
principal cities of which, Tyre and Sidon, are especially
mentioned. Though Sidon was the older city of the two,
it had become so entirely subordinate to Tyre that it is
not only named after it, but appears as a mere appendage
to it (cf. Ezek. xxvii. 8). This may account for the use
of the singular pronoun here in the concluding clause,
" Tyre and Sidon, though she be very wise." Tyre
boasted her wisdom, i.e. her knowledge and skill — not the
higher wisdom, the wisdom of moral goodness, but worldly
wisdom, the wisdom to gather wealth and excel in mate
rial resources, to acquire power and surpass in fame.
Such wisdom Tyre largely had. As the prophet goes on
here to say, " Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and
heaped up silver as dust, and fine gold as mire of the
streets" (ver. 3). To the same effect Ezekiel says of
Tyre (ch. xxviii. 4, 5)—" By thy wisdom and thine under-

ENEMIES REBUKED. 153
standing thou hast acquired power, and filled thy treasures
with gold and silver; by thy great wisdom in thy com
merce hast thou obtained great power, and thy heart has
exalted itself because of thy power " (comp. also ver. 1 2
and ver. 17).
Tyre had " built for herself a stronghold," or fortifi
cation. The word here used by the prophet is mdtsor
(Ti2Jp), which signifies a mound or bulwark, a fortress or
fortification, but also distress, siege. It may have been
with reference to this secondary meaning of the word that
it was chosen here; but more probably it was only
because of its assonance with Tyre that it was selected :
" Tsdr built for herself mdtsor." This refers to the new
walls with which the Tyrians had surrounded their city
after the withdrawal of the Babylonians, by whom the
former walls had been thrown down, and especially to the
defences of the new city which they had built on an
adjacent island, and which they had surrounded with a-
wall of extraordinary strength. These fortifications Tyre
had constructed " for herself " ; the n? here is emphatic ;
it was solely for herself, for the protection of her inhabi
tants and the security of her treasures, that she erected
these fortifications. And as it was by the skill and
energy of her own people that these vast defences were
constructed, she was proud of them, and boasted of them,
and confided in them. Her internal resources also were
immense : " She heaped up silver as dust, and fine gold
as mire of the streets ; " by her widely-extended com
merce, which not only visited both shores of the Medi
terranean, but sent her ships into the most distant seas,
from India to Britain, she drew to herself the riches of

154 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the world.* Thus strong without and within, she thought
herself secure, and proudly defied assault. But her ruin
was already at hand ; and here the prophet announces,
as Isaiah, Amos, and Ezekiel had done before him (Isa.
xxiii. i ff. ; Amos i. 9; Ezek. xxvii. 26 ff.), her impend
ing downfall. " Behold, the Lord shall cast her out,"
shall dispossess her — the word used is the same as is
used in reference to the casting out of the Canaanites
from before Israel (Ex. xxxiv. 24; Num. xxxii. 21;
Deut. iv. 38, &c.) ; it conveys primarily the idea of oust
ing from a possession so as to make way for its passing
to the occupancy of another; but it is also used in the
sense of simply depriving, as in 1 Sam. ii. 5, where it
means " impoverish," and some have so taken it here —
"The Lord shall impoverish thee," as if it were said,
Notwithstanding thine immense wealth thou shalt be
made poor. " And He will smite her power in the sea ; "
that is, either will strike down her fortifications and cast
them into the sea, or will, even in the sea to which she
trusted for security, destroy her defences and scatter her
wealth. The latter seems the preferable interpretation.
Tyre thought herself safe because of her insular position,
and scorned the attempt of the Macedonian conqueror to
take her, asking " if he thought to prevail against Nep
tune '' ; but even in the sea God would smite her strength :
' The scene of her pride was to be that of her overthrow ;
the waves which girt her round should bury her ruins
and wash over her site " (Pusey). Her fortress and her
wealth should be cast into the sea, and she herself should
" be devoured with fire."
* See Kenrick's "Phoenicia," chap. vi. ; comp. Ezek. xxvii.

ENEMIES REBUKED. 155
Passing along the coast of the Mediterranean south
wards, the prophet comes next to Philistia with its
principal cities, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod.
So long as Tyre continued in strength and power the
people of these cities thought themselves safe. Tyre
was, as it were, a bulwark for them against the invader.
But when Tyre fell they were at the mercy of the enemy.
Then their confidence vanished and their hope was lost.
Ashkelon should see and fear — tayray, wetira', the seeing
and the fear would be simultaneous ; Gaza should see
it and quake exceedingly, writhing like a woman in
travail; Ekron also should see and be afraid, for her
hope, her expectation of protection and security, shall be
put to shame ; from Gaza the king should perish, Gaza
should no more have a king ; Ashkelon should cease to
be inhabited; a mongrel race ("^PP, one spurious, a
bastard, the child of parents not lawfully connected, or of
a mixed marriage, as of an Israelite with a heathen),
a foreign and impure race, "a rabble" (Hengstenberg),
should dwell in Ashdod ; and the pride of the Philistines
should be cut off; with the destruction of their power,
the overthrow of their strong cities, and the rooting out
of their nationality, all on which their pride as a nation
was based, should be taken away, and their pride itself
should be forever at an end. Their religion also should
be abolished. Personifying the Philistian nation, God
says of it by the prophet, " I will take away his blood
out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his
teeth," i.e., will take away from them their idolatry and
put an end -to their idolatrous rites and usages. The
" abominations " here referred to (D'JHjSttf) are the sacri-

156 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
fices which they oflered to their idols, and in connection
with these the " blood " must be understood of the blood
of the sacrifices which the heathen were wont to drink
mingled with wine (cf. Ps. xvi. 4), or which they ate with
the flesh of the sacrificial victim. The taking away of
these implies the abolition of the religion of which they
were the symbols and expression. Not utterly, however,
should the Philistines be destroyed ; of them as well as
of Israel a remnant should be left, and that remnant
should be turned to the Lord, should become His, and be
incorporated with His people : " But he that remaineth,
even he shall be for our God," rather, " And he also shall
remain for our God," — of the Philistines as well as of
Israel there should be a remnant which should belong to
the God of. Israel ; " and he," the people viewed as one
man, " shall be as a governor," a chiliarch, a captain of a
thousand, " in Judah, and Ekron shall be as a Jebusite."
Philistia was the ancient and inveterate enemy of Israel,
and the persistent upholder of idolatry in the immediate
vicinity of the nation among whom Jehovah had set His
name: and all the earlier prophets down to the time of
the return from Babylon utter only denunciations of
wrath and ruin against the Philistines. But God here
declares that in Philistia also, though its people were to
be subjugated and its cities destroyed, there should be a
remnant which should be for God, should renounce
idolatry, and become worshippers of the God of Israel.
Thus turned to the Lord, the remnant of the Phili
stines should be merged in Judah, and become as one
of the tribes of Israel (the chiliarch here being not
the chief alone as an individual, but the chief with

ENEMIES REBUKED. 157
his tribe) ; aud Ekron should be as a Jebusite, i.e. just
as of old when Israel took possession of the promised
land, the Jebusites were not extirpated with the rest of
the Canaanitish peoples, but continued to " dwell with
the children of Judah at Jerusalem," the very heart and
centre of the Israelitish community, so should the Ekron-
ites, as representing the Philistian remnant, dwell in the
midst of Judah, incorporated with its people and united
with them in the worship of Jehovah. The force, more
over, of the " also " here must not be overlooked ; it
implies that what is here affirmed of Philistia applies no
less to Syria and Phoenicia, the lands and places pre
viously mentioned ; they too should be merged in Judaea,
and the remnant of their peoples should be turned to
the Lord.
That this prophecy, in the first instance, relates to
the judgments which fell upon Syria, Phoenicia, and
Philistia in the march of Alexander the Great from
Asia Minor to Egypt hardly admits of a doubt. "The
selection of the places, and of the whole line of country,
corresponds very exactly to the march of Alexander after
the battle of Issus, when the capture of Damascus, which
Darius had chosen as the strong depository of his wealth,
of Persian women of rank, confidential officers and en
voys* opened Ccele-Syria, Zidon surrendered ; Tyre was
taken with great effort after a seven months' siege ;t
Gaza, too, resisted for five months, was taken, and, it is
said, plucked up. . . . History gives no other explana
tion of Zechariah's prophecy than this conquest by
* Grote's "History of Greece," xii. 173-4.
t Diod. Sic, xvii., 40-45.

158 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Alexander; that conquest agrees minutely with the
prophecy. No other event in history does."* Nor is it
only in the general that this prophecy has been ful
filled; in several minute particulars the event corre
sponds to the prediction. Damascus was subjugated, but
not destroyed ; Tyre was utterly overthrown, its strong
hold cast into the sea, and the city consumed by fire ;
Gaza was taken by storm, and left without a king ;
Ashkelon was thrown into ruins, and ceased to be
inhabited ; and in Ashdod a mongrel race grew up, and a
rabble from different peoples occupied it (Neh. xiii. 24,
25). The historical fulfilment of the latter part of the
prophecy is not so obvious ; when, how, or to what extent
the people of these districts became merged in the nation
of the Jews we have no means of precisely determining.
We know, however, (1) That many proselytes to Judaism
were made from among these peoples, especially those of
Philistia (Joseph. " Antiq.," xiii. 15. 4) ; (2) That after
the return from Babylonia many of the Jews settled in
Philistia, intermarriages took place between the Jews
and the Philistines, and the two peoples gradually assimi
lated in manners and religion; (3) That in the time of
our Lord the Philistines were no longer known as a
separate nation, but what remained of them was mixed
up with the Jews, or formed part of the undistinguishable
population of the country; and (4) That the name
Philistia, originally the designation only of the country
of the Philistines, came to be accepted, under the form of
Palestina, as the name of the whole land, which could
not have been done had the district of Philistia remained
* Pusey, " Daniel the Prophet," p. 277-8.

ENEMIES REBUKED. 159

the territory of a separate and heathen race hostile to the
Jews. In this part of the prophecy, therefore, we have
a prediction of what actually came to pass in later times
as exact as (to use the words of Hengstenberg*) is con
sistent with the permanent distinction between prophecy
and history.
But whilst calamity was thus impending on the cities
of the heathen, the people of God are assured that under
His protection they should be safe : " And I will encamp
for My house from an army, from him that passeth
through and him that returneth ; and no oppressor shall
pass over them any more ; for now have I seen with My
eyes " (ver. 8). By the house of Jehovah here is to be
understood not the temple, but the people, the nation of
Israel, the house of Israel, which was also the house of
the Lord (cf. Num. xii. 7 ; Jer. xii. 7 ; Hos. viii. 1, ix.
15). For this, for its good and protection {dat. commodi),
God would pitch a camp from an army (H2U the same
as N22J), i.e., either on account of, or, taking the verb in
a pregnant sense, encamp so as to protect from an army.
The phrase, "him that passeth through, and him that
returneth," has reference to going to and fro in a country
for any purpose whatever (Ezek. xxxv. 7 ; Zech. vii. 1 4) ;
here it refers to the passing and repassing of an armed
force. Not only should Israel be protected against this
invasion, but no longer should an oppressor have dominion
over them ; Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and now Persia had
oppressed Israel, but henceforward they were to be free
from such tyranny. " For now have I seen," says God,

* " Christology," iii. 369.

160 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
" with My eyes." The " now " here refers to the time
when God should interpose for His people. " This may
be explained from the general character of prophecy, in
which the future is regarded as present; so that where
definite announcements are made, it is not the actual, but
the ideal, present which is intended." * God is said to
see when He comes forth to act ; His eyes are ever " in
every place, beholding the evil and the good " (Prov. xv.
3) ; but it is only when He actively interferes in the
affairs of men that His inspection of them is made mani
fest to men (cf. Jer. vii. 11).
The army against which God would protect His people
is the army that should overrun and subjugate the pro
vinces of Syria, Phoenicia, and Philistia — that of the
Macedonian invader. In pursuing this route Alexander
" passed by " Judea in the first instance without' attack
ing it ; but after the fall of Gaza he turned and advanced
to Jerusalem, intending to inflict severe chastisement on
it for the refusal of his demand of aid from the Jews
against Tyre, and the transfer of their allegiance from the
Persian monarch to him. From this purpose he was
turned by the submission of the Jews, who, headed by
their high priest, went forth in procession to meet and
salute the conqueror. Alexander advanced alone to meet
the procession, and respectfully saluted the high priest.
The result was, that not only did he leave the city un
touched, but he entered into relations of amity with the
Jews, relieved them from the Persian oppressor, and took
them under his protection. Thus remarkably was this
* Hengstenberg, " Christology, " iii. 395.

ENEMIES REBUKED. 161

prediction fulfilled — a prediction given by the prophet
for the encouragement of the people to whom he delivered
it, and the fulfilment of which affords one amongst the
many evidences which the Old Testament prophecies
supply of the Divine mission of the ancient prophets of
Israel.

XII.
APPROACHING DELIVERANCE.
" Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion ; shout, 0 daughter of Jeru
salem : behold, thy King cometh unto thee : he is just, and having
salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of
an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse
from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow shall be cut off: and he shall
speak peace unto the heathen : and his dominion shall be from sea
even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth."
— Zech. ix. 9, 10.
It is not unusual in the utterances of the prophets to
find predictions, of calamity and woe followed by an
nouncements of special triumph and felicity in connection
with the people of God, and especially with the realisa
tion of "the hope of Israel," the advent and kingdom- of
the Messiah. As it was in Him that all the blessings
promised to Israel as a nation were secured; as all they
had to expect of blessing rested on the fact that they
were the people among whom the promised Deliverer
was to appear, He was never far from the thoughts of the
prophets when they had to speak of the future of Israel
or of the world at large as the sphere of that kingdom
which He as the King of Israel was to establish. "It
was usual," as Calvin observes (Comment, in Jas. vii.
14-16), "with the prophets, in order to confirm special
promises, to lay this as the foundation — that God would
send a Redeemer. On this general prop God everywhere
rests whatever He specially promises to His people.

APPROACHING DELIVERANCE. 163

Hence, as often as mention is made of famine, pestilence,
or war, it is by placing the Messiah before their eyes that
He seeks to inspire in them the hope of relief." So here.
The prophet, after announcing the overthrow of the
heathen cities and the turning of the remnant of the
heathen to the Lord, conveys to the people of God the
comforting assurance that He will protect His house
against the advancing destroyer, and will deliver them
from the oppressor ; and then summons them to hail the
advent of the Great King who is coming to Jerusalem,
and who will establish His reign of peace and blessing all
over the world.
Rapt into the future, the prophet sees the King whose
advent he announces approaching, and he calls upon the
daughter of Zion, the daughter of Jerusalem, to come
forth with bounding exultation and shouts of triumph to
behold and welcome her King. The daughter of Zion,
the daughter of Jerusalem, are poetical expressions for
the people of the covenant, the people of Jehovah, whose
dwelling-place is Zion, and whose throne is in Jerusalem,
the mother city of which the inhabitants, viewed collec
tively, are regarded as the child. Their joy on this
occasion is to be expressed alike by gestures of delight
(^il, to leap for joy) and acclamations of triumph {VT}\},
to make a loud noise, to shout for joy).
The person whose advent the daughter of Zion is
summoned thus exultingly to hail is described as empha
tically her King — "Behold thy King cometh unto thee"
— He who alone stands to thee in that relation, whom
alone thou art to reverence and obey, and from whom
alone blessing ,can come to thee. The foreign prince

1 64 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
whose assault she had dreaded had proved a friend, and
had brought her deliverance ; but he was not her king ;
he and his army had passed away ; now her own proper
King was coming and bringing with Him permanent
deliverance and blessing. His character also is such as
to command esteem and procure for Him welcome. He
is described as "Just," that is, Righteous (P^?). This
refers to His personal character as well as to His official
conduct ; nor, indeed, can the one be separated from the
other, for when a ruler is not himself righteous, it is not
to be expected that righteousness will characterise his
administration. The King of Zion is first of all "the
Righteous One." Righteousness is the primary attribute
of His person, and righteousness characterises His ad
ministration, which is conducted on principles of the
purest and most unbending rectitude. He is described
further as " saved." This is the only legitimate render
ing of the word which in the A. V. is rendered by
" having salvation," a rendering which, though in accord
ance with that of the ancient versions (LXX, crwXwv,
Vulg. salvator, Chald. P^3, Syr. poriqo), is precluded alike
by the form of the word (J"^, the niph'al participle) and
the usage of the word elsewhere in the Old Testament.
The participle only occurs in two other passages besides
this ; but the preterite and imperfect of the same form
frequently occur, and always with the passive significa
tion proper to that form. The two passages in which
the participle is found are Deut. xxx. 29 — " 0 people
saved by the Lord," and Ps. xxxiii. 1 6 — " There is no
king saved by the multitude of an host." In both these
passages the word is used in a modified sense, and this

APPROACHING DELIVERANCE. 165
may guide to the explanation of it here. When it is
said, " a king is not saved by the multitude of an host,"
the meaning can only be that he is not thereby delivered
from defeat ; in other words, it is not by this that he is
secure of victory. So when it is said of Israel that it is
" a people saved by the Lord," the saving predicated is
that of deliverance from evil, protection against assault,
sustenance in vigour and prosperity. In either of these
modifications the word may be taken here : either we
may read, " Thy King cometh unto thee righteous and
victorious ; " or we may read, " Thy King cometh unto
thee righteous and protected, or sustained." In the former
case the meaning is that the King here announced should
not only be righteous in His claims and in the internal
administration of His kingdom, but also victorious over all
His adversaries, and so able to protect and save His people.
In the latter case the meaning is, that being righteous
in His claims and administration, He should be protected
and sustained by God, so as to be fully able to hold His
throne and to maintain order and peace among His sub
jects. The latter interpretation is on the whole to be
preferred because in keeping with other prophetic repre
sentations in which the great King of Zion is represented
as helped and sustained by Jehovah.*
Not, however, in pomp and with the apparatus of
warlike force should He appear. When He came it
would be as one humble and depressed, and riding upon
* It is, however, not to be overlooked that not only do the ancient
versions take the verb as having an active signification, but many of the
Jewish interpreters give it this meaning, and it is possible from the analogy
of other words that it may have this meaning. Compare f)D33, Gen. xxxi
30; Ps. Ixxxiv. 3, JOt^i, to swear, lit. to be sevened.

j 66 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
an ass. " Lowly " in the A. V. hardly expresses the
force of the original. The LXX, indeed, render by
7Tjoaw, meek, mild, gentle, but the Hebrew word ""W has
reference to condition rather than to character or dispo
sition. It denotes lowliness in the sense of depression,
poverty, or affliction. Elsewhere in the A. V. it is
almost invariably rendered by " poor " or " afflicted." In
keeping with this is the representation that He should
come "riding on an ass even" (or, to wit; the 1 here is
not the mere copula, but is exegetical, as in Gen. xiii.
15; I Sam. xvii. 40), " on a colt the foal of an ass," i.e.
not one carefully trained, but one as yet rough and un
broken. Time was when to ride on an ass was deemed
not incompatible with the dignity of a chief (cf. Gen.
xxii. 3 ; Judges v. 1 o, x. 4) ; and in the East at the
present day the ass is held in much higher estimation
than with us, and is, because of its sure-footedness and
the ease of its paces, still used even by men of the
highest rank. Not, however, on occasions of state is the
ass used by persons of eminence ; on such occasions the
humblest pasha would consider himself degraded if he
appeared otherwise than on horseback. The same feeling
doubtless prevailed in Judaea in the time of Zechariah,
for after Solomon had made the keeping of a stud of
horses an appanage of royalty, the horse became in Judaea
the animal not only of war, but of state and dignity (cf.
Jer. xvii. 25); and it is worthy of note that in the
account of those who returned from Babylon to Judaea
with Zerubbabel and Joshua, it is mentioned that they
had horses with them to the number of 736 (Ezra ii.
66; Neh. vii. 68). The coming of the King, then, to

APPROACHING DELIVERANCE. 167
Zion on an ass's colt betokened His humble condition,
and the state of poverty in which He was to appear.
There is, however, something more than this indicated.
The horse was the animal of war, the ass was the animal
of peace. In coming therefore on the latter rather than
the former, it is indicated that the King would come to
Zion as a peaceful one — one who should win, and keep,
and administer His Kingdom, not by physical force or the
power of the sword, but by means of a wholly different
character. And that this is what the representation was
designed most prominently to suggest appears probable
from what follows : " And I will cut off the chariot
from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the
battle' bow shall be cut off; and He shall speak peace unto
the heathen, and His dominion shall be from sea even
unto sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth"
(ver. 10). By some the first part of this verse is re
garded as a prediction of the downfall of the Jewish state
through the overthrow of its warlike power. But this is
not what the words in this connection naturally suggest.
Rather do they intimate, in accordance with the symbo
lical character of the whole representation, the repu
diation for the King here announced of all physical force
for the maintenance and administration of His kingdom.
The chariot, the horse, the battle bow are all implements
of war or defence, and symbols of outward force (Ps. xx.
7, xxxiii. 17, xliv. 6; Hosea ii. 18; Micah v. 10); and
the elimination of these from a kingdom indicates the
entire absence from it of any such means and methods of
defence or administration. God would remove from
Ephraim and Jerusalem — that is, from the entire united

168 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Israel, over which the King here announced was to reign
— all emblems and instruments of outward force, so that
by other means than these should the King maintain His
authority and sustain His empire. Nor was it only
within His kingdom that peace should reign : " to the
heathen," to the nations at large, should the King " speak
peace." This means not that He should authoritatively
command the nations to be at peace, or practically enforce
on them the peace of "the ideal theocratic king, as
Hitzig and others suppose, but that He should propose to
the nations peace, composing their mutual discords and
reconciling them to His own dominion (cf. for the mean
ing of the phrase " to speak peace," Ps. xxviii 2, xxxv.
20, Ixxxv. 8 ; Esther x. 3). Thus should His empire
be extended until it became world-wide ; " His dominion
should be from sea to sea," i.e. from the one sea to the
other, from the sea on the east, the Dead Sea, to the sea
on the west, the Mediterranean, " and from the river,"
the river by way of eminence, the Euphrates, "to the
ends of the earth " — phrases which, originally limitedly
definitive, as applicable to the land promised by God to
Abraham and his seed (Gen. xv. 1 8 ; Deut. i. 7, 8),
came latterly to have an indefinite significance, and were
used to designate the world at large (cf. Ps. lxxii. 8 ;
Amos viii. 1 2 ; Micah vii. 1 2). The meaning here,
therefore, is that this King should reign over the whole
world : " dominabitur quam late patet orbis terrarum ''
(Rosenmiiller). There is an almost unanimous consent among the
Jewish expositors that this prophecy relates to the
Messiah, and such seems to have been the belief of the

APPROACHING DELIVERANCE. 169

Jews generally from the earliest times.* In this the
great majority of Christian interpreters concur. Nor is
any other conclusion possible except on the assumption
that no Messianic predictions are to be found in the
Jewish Scriptures, and that the expectation of a Messiah
by the Jewish people was a mere phantasy and delusion.
What is here said of this king corresponds in every par
ticular with what is said of the Messiah in other passages,
and is applicable to no other of whom the sacred writers
speak. Of the Messiah it was announced that He should
be King in Zion (Ps. ii. 7 ff, xiv. I, 6, 7, lxxii. 1 ff. ;
Isa. xxxii. 1; Jer. xxiii. 5); that He should be righteous
both in His personal character and in His royal claims
and administration (Ps. lxxii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ; Isa. xi. 2-4,
xxxii. 1 ; Jer. xxiii. 5,6); that He should be protected
and delivered by God (Ps. xviii. 50, xiv. 2, 6, ex. 1, 2, 5 ;
Isa. xlii. 1, xlix. 1, 6, liii. 2, 12); that He should be
depressed, poor, and afflicted (Ps. xxii. 6 ; Isa. liii. 3,7);
that He should be peaceful, and a peace-bringer to the
nations (Ps. lxxii. 7 ; Isa. ii. 4, ix. 6, 7), and that His
dominion should be world-wide and everlasting (Ps. ii. 8,
lxxii. 8, 9, 17; Dan. vii. 13, 14). The King here,
therefore, can be none other than that great Deliverer
whom all the prophets announce, and whom the people
of Israel expected as the promised Messiah.
The fulfilment of this prediction in Jesus Christ con
clusively establishes this as the proper reference of this
prophetic announcement. He came to get to Himself a
kingdom, and He claimed to be a King ; but His king-
* A copious collection of testimonies to this effect is given by Dr. Pusey
in his note on this passage, "Minor Prophets," p. 557.

170 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
dom was not an earthly monarchy, to be upheld by force,
and defended by the sword ; it was a kingdom " not of
this world," the rule of truth and equity over those who,
being of the truth, should hear the voice of Him who
came into the world. to bear witness to the truth (Luke
xvii. 21; John xviii. 27; Rom. xiv. 17). He was
emphatically the Righteous One, the Holy One, and the
Just (Acts iii. 14, xxii. 14 ; Rev. xix. 11). He appeared
in a humble condition, and was the object of contempt
and hostility to those to whom He came ; but He was
authorised by God, by Him sustained and protected
(Mark i. 1 1 ; Rom. i. 4) ; and though allowed to fall
under the power of His enemies, and to suffer death at
the hands of His persecutors, He was eventually saved by
" the working of God's mighty power, which He wrought
in Him when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him
at His own right hand in the heavenly places," &c. (Eph.
i. 20, 21 ; cf. Acts ii. 24; Matt, xxviii. 18; Rev. xvii.
14, xix. 16). And being thus delivered from the power
of the enemy, and highly exalted, He speaks peace to the
nations, drawing men to Him by the attractive power of
His Cross, reconciling men unto God, sending forth His
servants to " preach the gospel of peace," and, " having
by His Cross slain the enmity," uniting man to man and
nation to nation in a holy and blessed harmony. As
yet, indeed, " we see not all things put under Him," but
we see Him on the throne, and already " a multitude
which no man can number " has been gathered to Him ;
every day His reign is extending in the world ; and His
servants confidently anticipate that ere long His kingdom
on earth shall be commensurate with the race, and all

APPROACHING DELIVERANCE. 171

nations shall own His sway, and be blessed in Him.
That our Lord Himself regarded this prophecy as pre
dictive of Him is placed beyond doubt by what the
Evangelists record regarding His triumphal entry into
Jerusalem (Matt. xxi. 1 ff. ; Luke xix. 29 ff. ; John xii.
1 2 ff.). By the course which He adopted on that
occasion, our Lord practically avowed His consciousness
that this prophecy related to Him, and aimed at manifest
ing this to the people. There was no necessity for His
riding on this occasion ; He had often before traversed
the road from Bethany to Jerusalem on foot, and He
could have done so again had He seen meet. But His
choice of an ass as the vehicle of transport ; His special
instruction that the animal on which He was to ride
should be a colt on which never before had man sat, an
untrained animal therefore, and should be accompanied
by its dam ; and His entry into Jerusalem in this fashion
showed that He meant to apply this prophecy to Himself,
and wished the people to see this, and accept Him as the
Messiah in the condition symbolically indicated by the
prophet, and exemplified by Him as He then appeared.
By the Evangelists it is expressly declared that all " this
was done that there might be fulfilled " what this pro
phecy had predicted; and we can account for the
triumphant acclamations with which He was received
by the multitude only by supposing that they, for the
moment at least, recognised in Him who thus came to
them the long-expected King of Israel, whose advent the
prophet had described.
It is of the Messiah, then, that this prophetic oracle
is to be understood. Indeed, if it do not refer to Him it

172 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
is an utterance without meaning. After the time of
Zechariah no king came to Jerusalem to whom any of
the qualities here specified belonged, and certainly none
of whom it could be said, even in a restricted sense, that
his dominion was from sea to sea, and from the river to
the ends of the earth. If this prophecy, then, does not
refer to the Messiah, to the historical Christ, there is no
one to whom it refers ; it is a mere empty utterance,
vox et prceterea nihil.
Thus far in this chapter there is presented in striking
contrast the advent of two mighty powers : the one
proud, impetuous, destructive, the other humble, gentle,
suffering, and beneficent ; the one bringing war and deso
lation on the peoples, the other proclaiming peace to the
nations, and diffusing its blessings far and wide ; the one
an instrument in the hand of God to punish the enemies
of His people, the other sustained and supported by God
that He might bless His people ; the one victorious and
powerful through his military prowess and resources, the
other wholly renouncing all such methods; and proving
successful through the might of truth and goodness ; the
one sweeping like a hurricane over the countries he
invaded to establish only a limited and transient empire
after all, the other quietly but surely carrying forward
His enterprise until the world shall be subject to His
sway and His dominion shall be everlasting. The pri
mary purport of the representation was to assure the Jews
that, while on the one hand God would preserve them
from the ravages of the invader, encamping around that
house which was His -own, and delivering His people
from foreign oppression, He would, on the other hand,

APPROACHING DELIVERANCE. 173

fulfil to them the promise given to their race, and in
due time would bring to them their proper King, the
promised Messiah, who should sit on the throne of His
father David, and sway the sceptre of a kingdom which
should stretch to the very ends of the earth. How
much of what this prophecy enfolds was perceived by
those among whom it was first uttered it is impossible to
say ; but if we may form a conjecture as to this from
the way in which later Jewish interpreters, whilst
admitting that it refers to the Messiah, are puzzled to
account for some parts of the description, and show their
unwillingness to accept it in its plain and obvious mean
ing, we may believe it was to the Jews of the earlier
times a " dark saying," of the meaning of which they
had only a vague and misty conception. Even our
Lord's own disciples and most devoted followers did not
understand it fully until He had finished His work here,
and passed from the humiliation and suffering of earth to
the throne of His glory in Heaven (John xii. 1 6) ; and
probably even to the prophet himself the prediction was
obscure, and was one of the things regarding which he
and the other prophets " who prophesied of the grace ''
that should come under the new dispensation " inquired
and searched diligently, searching what or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ that was in them did signify,
when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow" (1 Pet. i. 10, 11). To us
who read this prophecy in the light of its fulfilment in
the advent and work and glory of Christ, all is plain and
clear. Not so much by our Lord's particular act in
ridin«* into Jerusalem on the occasion, and in the manner

174 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
described by the evangelists, as by that which by this
act was symbolised and indicated, namely, His advent to
empire, His coming to get for Himself a kingdom, His
appearing as the Saviour and King of His Church, and
His gathering to Himself a people from among the
nations, has this prediction been fulfilled. He came in
poverty and humiliation to lay the foundation of His
kingdom in obedience and sacrifice. It was from the
field of sorrow and of suffering that He ascended to the
throne. The crown came after the cross; the humilia
tion preceded the glory. All things have been put
under His feet, all power and authority have been given
Him in heaven and on earth, in the universe He reigns
supreme. But it is because He was " obedient to death "
that He has been thus " highly exalted." His kingdom
rests on His propitiatory work ; and it is in view of this,
though then perhaps but dimly seen, that the prophet
here calls upon Zion to behold and hail her King. And
now that He hath ascended to the throne of His glory,
the " glad tidings of the Kingdom " are to be proclaimed
to all nations, and men of every tongue and clime are to
be invited to behold their King, and submit to His
righteous and benignant sway.
" Joy to the world ! the Lord is come !
Let earth receive her King ;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
The wonders of His love.''

XIII.
PRIVILEGES OFFERED.
" As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth
thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the
strong hold, ye prisoners of hope : even to-day do I declare that I
will render double unto thee ; when I have bent Judah for me, filled
the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy
sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. And
the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the
lightning : and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go
with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them ;
and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones ; and they shall
drink, and make a noise as through wine ; and they shall be filled like
bowls, and as the corners of the altar. And the Lord their God shall
save them in that day as the flock of his people ; for they shall be as
the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. For how
great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty ! corn shall make
the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids." — Zech. ix. 11-17.
The prophet having declared God's purpose to defend
and protect His people, and celebrated the advent of the
Great King whose throne in Zion should be established
for ever, and whose dominion should be world-wide, turns
now to address the people of the covenant, and invite
them to avail themselves of the advantage and privilege
thus secured. " As for thee also, by the blood of thy
covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein is no water " (ver. 11). The words at the be
ginning of this verse are literally, "Also thou." The

176 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
" thou " (-HM) is the nominative absolute, and is properly
resolved into " as for thee," — " ad te quod attinet "
(Rosenm.) ; the " also " presents a difficulty. To what
does it refer ? To what goes before or to what follows ?
Does the prophet say, " As for thee as well as the heathen
(the goyim, the nations)," &c. ? or does he say, " As for
thee . . . also thy prisoners have I sent forth ? " or is
" also " here in the sense of " even," q.d., " even for thee,
apparently helpless and hopeless as thou art, a prisoner
in a pit without water, there is deliverance ; I have sent
forth," &c. ? All of these explanations have found favour
with interpreters, but none of them is quite satisfactory.
The first assumes a contrast or comparison between Israel
and the heathen which does not lie in the passage, where
" the heathen " have no prominent place, but are intro
duced merely incidentally to indicate the wide extent of
the dominion of the advenient King ; the second requires
undue emphasis to be laid on the " thy," as if the pri
soners of Zion were placed in contrast with the prisoners
of some other nation ; and the third proceeds on the
assumption of a depressed and afflicted condition of Zion
which is not in keeping with the assurance just given of
protection by God to His house, and the summons to
triumphant exultation, because of the advent to her of
her own peace-bringing King, which the prophet has just
addressed to the -daughter of Zion. It may be suggested
that as the concept of " also " runs very readily into that
of " further " or " moreover," and as D3 is rendered else
where by " moreover" (Gen. xxxii. 20 ; 1 Chron. xi. 2 ;
cf. also Eccl. iv. 11; A. V., " again "), that rendering
may be fitly adopted here : " Moreover, as for thee, by

PRIVILEGES OFFERED. 177
the blood of thy covenant, I have sent," &c. That it is
" the daughter of Zion," the united people of Israel, that
is here addressed seems indubitable. Some, indeed, have
supposed that it is the King, the Messiah, who is the
object of this "address, and that the passage has reference
to the spiritual deliverances which He is to accomplish
for His people from spiritual evils. But as the pronoun
here is in the feminine it obviously cannot be understood
of the King ; and the allusion in ver. 1 3 to Javan or
Greece as the enemy to be overcome by Zion, shows that
the utterance has a historical reference, and refers to
events earlier than the time of the Messiah's advent. The
feminine pronoun evidently points to the daughter of
Zion as the party here addressed, and it is to her prisoners
that deliverance is here promised. This was to be " by
the blood of her covenant." The covenant here referred
to is the Sinaitic covenant, the covenant which God made
with Israel when He brought His people out of Egypt ;
and it is here called their covenant, because it was with
them as a nation and for their behoof that the covenant
was made. This covenant, like all ancient covenants, had
been ratified and sealed by blood. When the covenant
was established at Sinai, " Moses (we read) took the blood
and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood
of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you "
(Exod. xxiv. 8 ; cf. Ps. 1. 5). Into this covenant the
people were thus brought, and the blood which was
sprinkled on them was the token of their reconciliation
to God, and the pledge to them of God's protection. This
covenant was still in force ; the blood still rested on the
covenant people ; they still had the promise of deliver-
M

178 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
ance out of all trouble ; and so they might rest assured
that what yet remained for their entire deliverance from
captivity and oppression should be accomplished. The
verb here, "'R^bp, being in the perfect, the passage is
regarded by some as referring to the past, to God's inter
positions on behalf of His people in earlier periods of
their history, or to the deliverance from the Babylonish
captivity of those who had already returned to their own
land. But it is more probable that the verb is here to
be taken as the prophetic perfect, and as consequently
referring to the future, to something which God was yet
to do for the covenant nation, and which, being in the
purpose of Him whose counsel shall stand, was as certain
as if it had been already done. By the words " thy pri
soners " are not to be understood persons held by Zion in
bondage, but those belonging to her, her own children
who were still in captivity in Babylon; and they are
described as " prisoners in a pit in which is no water," to
indicate that they were, though really in bondage, yet
not hopelessly doomed to destruction ; they were in the
pit, but it was a pit without water, so that they might be
brought out of it alive, just as Joseph was out of the pit
into which his brethren had cast him (Gen. xxxvii. 24 ;
cf. Isa. li. 1 4). Or it may be that, without special refer
ence to those still in Babylon and in captivity, the
description applies to the people generally as at that time
under restraint and difficulty because of their enemies ;
the being in a pit or dungeon being a formula expressive
of distress and oppression (Ps. xxxv. 7, xl. 2, lxxxviii. 6 ;
Isa. xxiv. 17 ; Lam. iv. 20). It was God's purpose that
the covenant people, whether still in bondage in Babylon,

PRIVILEGES OFFERED. 179
or straitened and distressed by the enemy in their own
land, should be wholly delivered, and this being in His
purpose was already as good as done.
Their case was, therefore, not hopeless ; on the con
trary, being in the blood of the covenant, they had good
ground for expecting deliverance. Hence they are here
addressed as " prisoners of hope," and are invited to
return and take refuge where they should be safe from
all persecution of the enemy. " Prisoners of hope " the
Targum explains as equivalent to " captives who hope for
deliverance." The stronghold or fortress to which they
are invited to return is by Kimchi said to be " God, for
He is a stronghold and tower of strength ; " and this
explanation others adopt. To regard God as a tower or
fortress to which men may betake themselves for refuge
and protection is quite in accordance with scriptural
representation; comp. Ps. xxvii. 1, xxxi. 3, 5, xxxvii.
39, xliii. 2, Iii. 9, lxi. 3 ; Prov. xviii. 10; Joel iii. 16;
Nah. i. 7. It is rather, however, to the place which God
protects and defends, as contrasted with the pit in which
the exiles were sunk, than to God Himself that they
are here invited to return. In their own land, a place
cut off from access, like an impregnable fortress, round
which Jehovah should encamp* they should find peace
and security. In the language of prophecy, the exhorta
tion to turn is equivalent to a declaration or assurance
that they should turn ; it is as if it were said, Though
your condition may appear desperate, nevertheless you
* *|Y*lSa from 1V3 to cut off, a place either by natural position or by
circumvailation cut off from without, and so a place of safety. The word
occurs only here.

180 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
shall surely return to a state of safety. Further, God by
the prophet promises to give them prosperity greatly be
yond the measure of the evils they had endured : " also
(or even) to-day do I declare that I will render double
unto thee " — a measure, that is, of blessing, the double
of the sufferings to which they had been subjected ; comp.
Isa. lxi. 7.
And how was this to be accomplished ? Not imme
diately by God, not by any miraculous or sudden effusion
of Divine power, but by the raising up of agencies among
themselves by which their deliverance should be achieved
and their prosperity secured. " For I have bent Judah
for myself, I have filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised
up thy sons, 0 Zion, against thy sons, 0 Javan, and made
thee as the sword of a mighty man " (ver. 1 3). By a
bold figure the prophet represents God as a warrior who
bends a mighty bow and fits to it a strong arrow where
with to vanquish the adversary. The bow He wields is
Judah, and the arrow with which He fills it is Ephraim.
So far as the meaning is concerned, it matters not whether
with the Massorites we join .Hltfp with '-H^P / have filled,
or with ^?TT / have bent or stretched, as the LXX, Tar
gum, and Vulgate have it ; the latter is to be preferred
only " because with the many meanings that *?T~1"TT possesses
the expression iTTirp 1JTT needs a more precise definition ;
whereas there is no difficulty in supplying in thought the
n0un qesheth, which has been mentioned just before, to
the verb VlN*!>n " (Keil). The phrase to fill a bow with
an arrow means to fit an arrow on the string of the bow
when it is fully stretched, so as to discharge it against
an object. What is intimated here is that the deliver-

PRIVILEGES OFFERED.

ance and recompense assured to Israel should be of God,
but that Judah and Ephraim, the united people, should
be themselves the instruments by which this should be
achieved. They were to secure liberty with the attendant
blessings of peace and prosperity, by fighting for it against
those who sought to enslave and oppress them. As bows
and arrows are effective only as a strong arm stretches
the bow on which the arrow has been fixed, so should
the people of Israel, the Jews, be successful only through
God ; they were the bow and the arrow in the hand of
Him who alone is great in might. But being in His
hand, the bow having been bent by Him, and the arrow
fitted on it by Him, the result could not be uncertain ;
when He comes forth to act, that which He intends shall
surely come to pass, however feeble in themselves, how
ever unworthy, the instruments He employs may be.
The enemy against which God would raise up the sons
of Zion and make them as a sword in the hand of a
mighty man, is described as " the sons of Javan," that is,
Ionia or Greece. By some this is supposed to refer to an
insurrection of Jews, who had been sold as slaves to the
Greeks, against their masters at a period much earlier
than the time of Zechariah. That Jews were sold to
the Greeks as slaves is testified' by the prophet Joel
(iii. 6) ; but that it is to an insurrection on the part of
these against those who had purchased them that the
prophet here refers is altogether improbable. Nothing is
known of the condition of these enslaved Jews beyond
the fact that they were sold to Greeks; there is no
evidence that they were cruelly dealt with so as to
provoke an insurrection, or to call forth the Divine ven-

1 82 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
geance upon their masters ; no such insurrection, so far as
is known, ever took place ; and a mere uprising of a few
captive Jews against their masters would never have been
described as a raising up of the sons of Zion against the
sons of Greece, terms which indicate nothing less than a
general conflict of nation against nation. There can be
no doubt that what is here referred to is the memorable
uprising of the Jews against the tyranny of Antiochus
Epiphanes in the time of the Maccabees, when they were
brought into long and deadly conflict with the Greeks of
the Syrian dynasty. Roused to cast off the yoke of their
oppressor, and to resist his persistent efforts to subdue
them, they proved under God " as a sword in the hand
of a mighty man." Few in numbers as compared with
the host of their enemy, and often in great straits and at
the point of being utterly overthrown, they were never
theless not only enabled to keep their ground through
a series of conflicts, but ultimately to drive out their
oppressor and secure their independence ; " out of weak
ness they were made strong, waxed valiant in fight,
turned to flight the armies of the aliens" (Heb. xi. 34).
It is impossible to regard this in any other light than
as a real and very remarkable prediction. At the time
it was uttered not only none of the things here intimated
had any existence, but there was nothing that could
suggest the probability of their happening. The Jews
were still subject to the Persian rule, and many, perhaps
the most, of them were still in exile. No Grecian force
had been seen in Syria, nor Tiad the invasion of Greece
by Xerxes which led to the retaliatory invasion of the
East by the Greeks been so much as purposed. No

PRIVILEGES OFFERED. 183
one could then form any conjecture as to what the pro
phet referred to when he spoke of the sons of Zion coming
into conflict with the sons of Javan ; certainly no one
could then have dreamt of a Greek kingdom being set up
in Syria which should be the cruel oppressor of the Jews ;
and as for the Maccabees and their gallant followers, who
were the bow and arrow in the hand of God in effecting
the destruction of the enemies of Israel and the deliver
ance of the sons of Zion from their oppressors, neither
their family nor the place whence they sprung had as yet
any historical existence. The only hypothesis on which
such an utterance can be rationally accounted for is that
which St. Peter supplies when he says that the ancient
prophets, " holy men spake from God as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost" (2 Pet. i. 21). What man could
not have conjectured, what no human sagacity could have
anticipated, the Omniscient clearly foresaw ; and directed
by Him the prophet foretold these things in language
which could be fully understood only after the fulfilment
had made His meaning clear.
Surrounded by powerful and hostile nations, Israel
could hope for security only as it was protected and
defended by God. To cheer and animate the people,
therefore, the prophet goes on to convey assurance of the
continued presence of God's power with the nation.
This is the general drift of the verses that follow ; but
the thought is presented in varied details which are
striking and full of interest. " The Lord shall be seen
above them" (ver. 14) ; He should not only be with His
people, but He should make His presence with them
manifest by such tokens that they should, as it were, see

1 84 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Him hovering over them to care for them and protect
them. " And His arrow shall go forth as the lightning."
The arrows of God are the judgments which He inflicts
upon the wicked, or those whom He would chastise or
destroy, such as famine, pestilence, fever, war, &c. (comp.
Deut. xxxii. 23 ff., 43; Ps. vii. 13, xxxviii. 2, &c).
These come forth with sudden force like the lightning,
which is also God's arrow (Ps. xviii. 14, lxxvii. 17, 18,
cxliv. 6; Hab. iii. 11). "The Lord God will blow the
trumpet and shall go with whirlwinds of the south," lit.
" shall walk in storms of the south." The blowing of a
trumpet was not only the signal of battle but also the
note of impending calamity and destruction (comp. Num.
x. 9 ; Ezek. vii. 1 4 ; Hosea v. 8, viii. 1 ; Joel ii. 1 ;
Amos iii. 6 ; Zeph. i. 1 6). " Storms of the south " were
the most violent known to the Hebrews ; coming from
the Arabian desert, lying to the south of Palestine, they
swept with resistless fury over the Holy Land (Isa. xxi.
1 ; Joel i. 1 9, xxxvii. 9) ; even so suddenly and terribly
should God come upon the enemy and sweep them to
destruction (comp. Ps. xviii. 1 o, 1. 3 ; Isa. xxviii. 2 ;
Nahum i. 3; Ezek. xiii. 13). But whilst God should
thus destroy the enemy, to His own people He would
extend protection, and ultimately give them the victory
over all that pppose them or would oppress them. " The
Lord of hosts shall defend them [shall . cover them over,
shall protect them] ; and they shall devour, and subdue
with sling-stones" (ver. 15), or, as it is in the margin,
¦' shall subdue the stones of the sling." In the former
of these renderings the A. V. follows the LXX and the
Vulgate ; the latter is that of Kimchi, and is adopted by

PRIVILEGES OFFERED. 185
Hengstenberg, Keil, Hitzig, and others. It is no valid
objection to the rendering in the text that it introduces a
preposition which is not in the Hebrew, for the noun
here may be the adverbial accusative, and so describe the
instrument by which the action of the verb is effected.
But the meaning thus brought out is jejune and feeble ;
the mention of the instrument of subjugation adds nothing
to the force of the statement that the enemy should
be subdued, but rather detracts from it. The rendering
in the margin of the A. V. takes the noun as the imme
diate object of the verb ; the enemy should be subdued
like stones from a sling which had missed their mark
and were contemptuously trodden under foot ; or without
any figure, the stones which the enemy should in battle
cast against the people of God, instead of injuring them,
should fall innocuously to the ground and be trodden
under foot. This last, which is the exegesis of Gesenius
and Ewald, is to be preferred. The sling was an import
ant implement of assault in the warfare with which the
Jews were familiar; and to subdue or tread under foot
the stones cast from a sling would convey to them a lively
representation of the entire impotency of their assailants.
But not only should they be unharmed by their enemies,
they should utterly destroy them and triumph over them ;
they should " devour," " and should drink, and make a
noise as through wine," like men exhilarated with wine,
" and become full like bowls, and be as the corners of the
altar." The object of their devouring and drinking is
not stated; but as elsewhere this figure of eating or
devouring, as a lion consumes his prey, is used to denote
the destruction of an enemy (Num. xxiii. 24 ; Micah v.

1 86 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
8 ; comp. Deut. vii. 1 6 ; Ezek. xxxix. 17, 1 9), it is
supposed there is an allusion to this here, and Israel is
represented as, like a wild beast, eating the flesh and
drinking the blood of their enemies. But as the lion is
not mentioned here, and as the eating of flesh and drink
ing of blood " apart from the image of the wild beast
would be intolerable to Israel, to whom the use of blood,
even of animals, was so strictly forbidden " {Pusey), it is
probable that nothing more is intended here than that
Israel should slay and utterly destroy their enemies, just
as elsewhere it is said of the sword that it shall " devour
and be made drunk with blood " (Jer. xlvi. 1 o), where
all that is meant is that the sword as the instrument of
slaughter shall utterly destroy. In the words that follow
it is supposed by some that there is intimated the conse
cration of Israel to God as the instrument in His hand
of effecting His purpose ; that they should " be hallowed
like the bowls of the temple from which the sacrificial
blood is sprinkled on His altar, or as the corners of the
altar which receive it " {Pusey): But this is far-fetched ;
and it is more probable that the prophet here simply
carries on the representation of the preceding words, and
describes Israel as a body of warriors drunk with the
blood of their enemies, and filled therewith as the sacri
ficial bowls were filled with the blood of the victims
which was caught by the priests and sprinkled, over the
sides of the altar (Lev. i. 5, 11, &c). It is the tumultu
ous joy of triumph that is here set forth.
Victorious over their enemies, Israel should also in that
day be saved by the Lord " as a flock, as His people ; "
whilst the enemy should be trodden down and destroyed,

PRIVILEGES OFFERED. 187
Israel should be rescued, and as the people of God whom
He had chosen for Himself and the sheep of His pasture,
should be enriched with blessing ; the Lord would tend
and care for them as a shepherd does for his flock (ver.
16). Precious in His sight, they should be exalted to
honour; as stones in a diadem should they shine in His
land. Great also should be their felicity and prosperity :
" For how great is His goodness, and how great is His
beauty ! Corn shall make young men to grow, and new
wine maidens1' (ver. 17). It is a question whether the
first part of this verse refers to Israel or to Jehovah. If
to the latter, the meaning must be, How great is the good
ness He bestows, and the beauty He confers ! If the
former, the meaning is, How great is the goodness, and
how great the beauty which he [Israel] enjoys ! Some,
indeed, take the exclamation as referring to the personal
attributes of Jehovah as supremely good and lovely. But
though goodness is predicated of God in Scripture, no
where is beauty C?') ascribed to Him; and even if it
were, " it would still be " (as Keil remarks) " unsuitable
here." On the whole it seems best to understand this of
Israel, whose goodness (not moral goodness, but temporal
prosperity) and beauty (comp. Ezek. xvi. 14, xxvii. 3, &c.)
are celebrated. " Corn and tirosh " (which is perhaps the
freshly-expressed juice of the grape rather than must or
new wine) are in Scripture the standing expression for
that by which life is nourished and sustained ; and where
abundance of this is given there population naturally
increases. So here the bestowal of abundance of this
upon Israel is represented as marked by such an increase
(comp. Ps. lxxvii. 1 6). The verb translated in the A. V.

1 88 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
" make cheerful " properly means to cause to sprout, to
produce. In Ps. xcii. 15 [14] the Qal is used of the
producing of fruit. " To thrive " is the rendering of
Blayney and Henderson here.
From an early period a disposition has shown itself
among Christian interpreters to allegorise or (to use St.
Jerome's word) to tropologise this passage, and to use it
as referring to deliverance from the tyranny and evil of
sin, and the consequent enjoyment of spiritual blessings
through the redemption which is in Christ* To this use
the passage readily lends itself, for there is an obvious
and recognised analogy between the redemption of Israel
from captivity, their deliverance from their oppressors,
and their enjoyment of peace and plenty in their own
land, and the redemption of men from the bondage of
evil, their deliverance from spiritual tyranny, and their
establishment in the peace and blessedness of the heavenly
kingdom ; and so long as the literal interpretation of the
passage is not denied or ignored, this use of it cannot be
denounced as illegitimate, while for homiletical purposes
it may be very advantageous.!
* See Augustine, "De Oivit. Dei," 1. xviii. c. 35; Cyril. Alex.,
Theodoret, and Theophylact on the place ; also the notes of Calovius and
Thomas Scott.
+ See the excellent homily on the passage in Wardlaw's " Lectures on
the Prophecies of Zechariah," p. 209, ff.

XIV.
ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION.
" Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain ; so the Lord
shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one
grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners
have seen a lie, and have told false dreams ; they comfort in vain :
therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because
there was no shepherd. Mine anger was kindled against the shep
herds, and I punished the goats : for the Lord of hosts hath visited his
flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in
the battle. Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out
of him the battle-bow, out of him every oppressor together. And they
shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire
of the streets in the battle : and they shall fight, because the Lord is
with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. And I will
strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph,
and I will bring them again to place them ; for I have mercy upon
them : and they shall be as though I had not cast them off : for I am the
Lord their God, and will hear them. And they of Ephraim shall be
like a mighty man, and their hearts shall rejoice as through wine :
yea, their children shall see it, and be glad ; their hearts shall rejoice
in the Lord. I will hiss for them, and gather them ; for I have re
deemed them : and they shall increase as they have increased. And
I will show them among the people : and they shall remember me in
far countries ; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them
out of Assyria ; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and
Lebanon, and place shall not be found for them. And he shall pass
through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea,
and all the deeps of the river shall dry up : and the pride of Assyria
shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
And I will strengthen them in the Lord ; and they shall walk up and
down in his name, saith the Lord."— ZECH. x. 1-12.
In this chapter there is no new oracle, but only a con
tinuance of the prophetic utterance in the preceding

190 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
section. The prophet here sets forth an expansion of the
blessing promised to restored Israel, ending in the an
nouncement of the final and full salvation of the people
of God. The first two verses are neither to be connected
with what precedes as a conclusion, nor with what follows
as the commencement of a new turn in the address ; they
form rather the connecting link of the two sections — the
channel through which the stream of continuous thought
flows. The promise of abundance of the fruits of the field
(ix. 1 7) suggests the supply of the moisture necessary for
the growth of the herbage (x. 1), and the abundance of
grass in the field suggests the flocks that are to be sus
tained by it, and the shepherds by whom these may be
tended (verse 2).
The prophet calls on those whom he addresses to " ask
of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain." The
rainfall in Palestine is normally periodical; occasional
showers and even storms of rain may occur at any season,
but as a rule it is at the time of the autumnal and that
of the vernal equinox that the rain for the year falls.
These two periodic seasons of rain the Hebrews spoke of
as the early and the latter rain ; and on the occurrence
of them the fruitfulness of the field and the return of
harvest depended. In other passages, both the former
and the latter rain are referred to as indispensable to this.
At an early period God promised to Israel that He would
" give the rain of their land in due season, the first rain
and the latter rain, that they might gather in their corn
and their wine {tirosh) and their oil " (Deut. xi. 1 4) ; and
by the prophets the sending of rain, the former and the
latter rain in their season, is represented as the manifes-

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION. 191
tation of special regard for His people by Jehovah (comp.
Hos. vi. 3 ; Joel ii. 23 ; Isa. xxx. 23 ; Jer. v. 24). The
latter rain only is mentioned here, probably because this
was the more important for the fructification of the grain ;
and possibly also, because, being this, it might be regarded
as including or representing temporal blessing generally.
This the prophet here exhorts the people to ask of the
Lord " at the time of the latter rain," i.e., at the season
when it was due; though God had promised it to His
people, it was fitting and needful that they should pray to
Him for it at the time when it was required. This
" direction to ask " does not " simply express the readiness
of God to grant their request " (Hengstenberg) ; it does
this, for when God enjoins on men the asking for blessing,
He implicitly engages to give the blessing asked for ; but
besides this, and even more than this, there is intimated
here that the obtaining of promised blessing is conditioned,
by its being specially asked of God in the season of need.
God's promises are given not to supersede prayer, but
rather to encourage and stimulate to prayer.
The latter part of this first verse does not, as in the
A. V,, express a consequence that will result from the
asking, but rather assigns a reason why they should
ask. Let them ask for rain from the Lord, for " it is the
Lord who maketh lightnings, and showers of rain will
He give them, to every one grass in the field ; " as God
alone can so move and combine the atmospheric influences
as to cause rain to descend on the earth, as it is to Him that
prayer for rain is to be directed, and as it is He who gives
the showers that come with fructifying efficacy on the
field, so is each one who desires to see his field covered

192 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
with herbage to ask of God the rain without which vege
tation will not advance. The word rendered by " grass "
includes here, as in other passages (comp. Gen. i. 29 ; Ex.
x. 15; Ps. civ. 14; Am. vii. 2), all vegetable products
that are for food to man and cattle. Lightnings are in
troduced as frequent harbingers of rain * (comp. Ps. cxxxv.
7; Jer. x. 13; Job xxviii. 26); the rendering in the
A. V., " bright clouds," is singularly infelicitous here, there
being no connection between bright clouds and rain, but
rather the opposite.t
The heathen were accustomed to apply to their idol
gods for the supply of what was needed for sustenance
and prosperity, and Israel had been too much tempted to
look to the same source for help and aid. But this was
vain as well as impious : " The Teraphim have spoken
vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and dreams of
deceit have they spoken ; they comfort in vain ; therefore
they wandered about as a flock, they are distressed be
cause there is no shepherd " (verse 2). The Teraphim
were domestic idols, household gods, corresponding to the
Penates of the Romans ; they were supposed to have the
power of giving responses in respect of things hidden or
uncertain, and were regarded with veneration as the givers
or procurers of temporal blessings (Gen. xxxi. 19, 30;
Judges xvii. 5, xviii. 24; Ez. xxi. 21; Hos. iii. 4).
* "  Grato a i caldi giorni e il tuono che speranza di pioggia al
mondo apporte." — Tasso, Ger. Lib. I., 71.
t The rendering, " bright clouds," is retained from the Bishops' Bible.
Coverdale has, " So shall the Lorde make clouds and give you rayne enough. "
The Geneva Bible has " white clouds." The word in the Hebrew is not
the proper word for lightning (baraq), but a word signifying primarily darts
or arrows (Hazizim, pi. of Eaziz, from a verb signifying to pierce) ; but the
use of the word, Job xxviii. 26, xxxviii. 25, determines it to mean lightning.

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION. 193
Their oracles are here declared to be mere vanity ; and
the diviners, or soothsayers, who also were sought to as
capable of divulging the unknown and predicting the
future, are denounced as deceivers and misleaders of the
people, who utter to them delusive dreams and comfort
them in vain. Unhappily, Israel had confided in these
idols and diviners, and the consequence was that they had
wandered into exile, and were as sheep without a shep
herd ; the prospect of peace and prosperity that had been
held out to them had proved but an idle and deceitful
dream, and in its stead dispersion, oppression, and distress
had come upon them. The verb rendered in the A. V. by
" they went their way " {W}), means primarily to pull up,
thence to break up a camp or settlement by pulling up the
tent-pegs, and so to remove, to journey, to migrate; in Jer.
xxxi. 24, it is used of the wanderings of nomades with
their flocks, and here of the wanderings of the flock itself.
Israel was as a flock without a shepherd, having, in the
overthrow of their state, lost their proper rulers, whose it
was, as shepherds, to go out and in before them, to lead
them, guard and provide for them (Num. xxvii. 1 7 ', Jer.
xxiii. 4, 1. 6 ; Ez. xxxiv. 2 ff).
In the third clause of the verse it is doubtful whether
the word rendered by " dreams " is to be taken as the
subject or as the object of the verb " speak," — whether
the clause should be translated " they (the diviners) speak
dreams of deceit," or " dreams speak deceit." The latter
is the construction approved of by the LXX, and by
Hengstenberg, Ewald, and others, and it is that which
the accentuation slightly favours. The former is adopted
by the Vulgate, and is followed by Keil, Henderson, N"

194 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Lange, and others. It is, on the whole, to be preferred,
because (i) in the three parallel clauses it is more prob
able that the subject should be the same throughout,
than that in the middle clause a different subject should
be introduced; (2) soothsayers may speak dreams of
deceit, but it is strange to say that dreams speak deceit;
(3) if "dreams" were the subject it should have the
article " the dreams," the same as " the diviners," for it is
not all dreams that are pronounced false, but only those
declared by these diviners.
When Israel lost their own proper shepherds, they
came under the power of foreign and evil shepherds, the
heathen rulers who oppressed them (comp. Jer. vi. 3, 4,
xlix. 19; Isa. xliv. 28). Against these, though the
instruments of inflicting on the - people of God the
chastisement which He saw meet' they should receive,
His wrath was kindled because of the cruelty and oppres
sion to which, in the carrying out of their own evil
designs, they had subjected Israel. "My wrath is
kindled against the shepherds, and the he-goats will I
punish" (ver. 3). There is no material difference
between the shepherds and the he-goats, both words
designate the heathen -rulers who oppressed Israel; or, if
there be a distinction, it may be that the former desig
nates the supreme, and the latter the subordinate gover
nors ; comp. Isa. xiv. 9, where the word rendered by
" he-goats " here {dttudim) is rendered by " chief ones of
the earth." These evil shepherds God would punish, for,
says He, " Jehovah of hosts visiteth His flock, the house
of Judah, and maketh it as the horse of His state in the
battle." The house of Judah is mentioned here, not as

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION. 195
exclusive of Ephraim, but " as the stem and kernel of the
covenant nation, with which Ephraim is to be united
once more" (Keil), and which is to give its name to the
whole united people. This, His flock, God, " visits ; "' the
verb is in the perfect, but it is the prophetic perfect,
which indicates not so much what has been done as what
God purposes to do and ever will do for His people. He
visits them ; the verb here is the same as in the preced
ing clause, but with a different preposition ; the shepherds
He will visit upon (by ~Ip3), i.e., will punish, but His flock
He will visit (.TIN ~fp3), i.e., will assume the care of and
provide for. (Comp. Jer. ix. 25, xliv. 13, with Gen. 1.
24; Exod. iii. 16; I Sam. xvii. 18 ; see both construc
tions in Jeremiah xxiii. 2.) Not only would God visit
His people to care for them and deliver them from the
oppressor, He would also use them to tread down the
enemy ; they should be as His stately war-horse in the
day of battle ; just as before He had said that He would
make Judah His bow and Ephraim His arrow against
the sons of Javan (ix 13). Israel should not only be
delivered ; Judah and Ephraim, reunited as one people,
should triumph over those who had enslaved and cruelly
treated them.
The representation of warlike reprisal to be made by
Israel on their heathen oppressors is continued in the
following verses. "From him corner, from him nail,
from him battle -bow, from him goeth forth every
oppressor together " (ver. 4). The figurative expressions
in the beginning of the verse are taken from the con
struction and furnishings of a house. The " corner " is
the corner-stone, as in Isa. xxviii. 16, on which the

T56 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
whole building rests ; the " nail," or " peg " O-0?)> is the
pin let into the wall on which household utensils may be
suspended (Isa. xxii. 23, 24; see Lowth's note on this
passage ; Ez. xv. 3) ; the " battle-bow " stands synecdochi-
cally for implements of war in general, as in ix. 10. By
the first of these figures is indicated the firmness with
which the restored state should be established under some
strong ruler ; by the second the upholding or sustaining
of the power and wealth of the state by the constituted
authorities ; and by the third the warlike powers by
which the state should be defended and protected against
foreign assailants. The last expression, " every oppres
sion," is less easy of explanation. It must be considered
in connection with the " from him," for its meaning will
depend on whether the reference of this is to Israel or to
Jehovah. If to Israel, the meaning will be that from
him comes the ruler or taskmaster of the subjected
peoples ; over them Israel shall rule. If to Jehovah, the
meaning will be that from Him, as the supreme disposer
of all, comes the oppressor whom He permits to tyrannise
over those whom He sees meet to chastise. Between
these two constructions interpreters are much divided.
On the whole, the former seems the one to be preferred.
The prophet is describing the change that is to take
place in the relation of Israel to the heathen nations by
whom they had been oppressed ; from being subjected to
oppression they should become conquerors, and by war
like prowess subjugate those who had ruled over them.
With such a theme it is more in keeping that he should
introduce a representation of Israel as sustained by its
own chiefs and heroes (cf. Jer. xxx. 21), and as sending

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION. 197

forth rulers to dominate the nations, than that he should
introduce a new subject, viz., the agency of Jehovah, alike
as the source of blessing to His people, and the appointer
of instruments by which they may be afflicted when He
sees meet that chastisement for their sins should come
upon them. Further, though God may choose and ap
point wicked men and nations to be the instruments of
punishing His people, it is not in accordance with Scrip
ture phraseology or representation to describe these as
going forth from Him ; such language implies that before
being sent these were with God, which is a representation
wholly foreign to the Bible. Besides, how can every
oppressor be said to come forth from God, even in the
sense of being chosen and used by Him as instruments ?
There are rulers so utterly wicked, cruel and diabolical,
that though their actings may be overruled by God for
His own ends, they themselves can only be regarded as
proceeding from Satan, not from God ; as saith the pro
verb of the ancients, " Wickedness proceedeth from the
wicked" (1 Sam. xxiv. 13). All rulers, however, are
not of this sort, even though set to exercise rule over sub
jugated nations. Such a ruler is of necessity regarded by
those over whom he is set as noges, a taskmaster, an
exactor, and so an oppressor ; but he may nevertheless
be both righteous and clement in his administration. It
is in this sense that a noges is here said to come forth
from Israel. Delivered from foreign rule, so that "no
noges should pass through them any more" (ix. 13),
Israel should send forth those who should subjugate and
govern foreign nations.

198 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Thus furnished and endowed, Israel should be mighty
in conflict and should overcome all their enemies : " And
they shall be as mighty men [heroes, gibborim] treading
down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle ;
and they shall fight, for Jehovah is with them, and the
riders on horses shall be ashamed" (5). The participle in
the first clause (Q"P^) may be taken intransitively, and the
clause be rendered "as heroes treading upon the mire of
the streets ; " in which case " the mire of the streets " is
to be regarded " as a figurative expression for the enemy,
and the phrase ' treading upon street-mire,' as a bold figure
denoting the trampling down of the enemy in the mire of
the streets, analogous to their treading down sling-stones "
(ix. 15), (Keil). But the verb D121 is properly transitive,
and is followed by its object in the accusative, and there
is no reason why it should not be so taken here, for
though the accusative is not actually given, it can be
readily supplied from the context, as in the A. V., " their
enemies," or " the enemy." The rendering of the Vulgate,
" conculcantes lutum viarum in praelio," overlooks the
preposition 2 before EPtp (mire) ; and is, besides, objec
tionable, as it makes the treading of mire a special char
acteristic of a hero. Fitted for this conflict and helped
of Jehovah, Israel should vanquish the enemy, though he
should come against them with a heavy force of cavalry ;
before the infantry of Israel the proud cavalry of the
enemy should be put to shame. " The scene is a vivid
picture of the Maccabean times, in which the Jews met
with remarkable success, ' turning to flight the armies of
the aliens,' though they were strong in cavalry, which

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION. 199

formed the most powerful portion of the armies of the
Greeks." (See 1 Mace. iii. 39 ; iv. 7, 31 ; vi. 30, 35 ;
ix. 4, 11; x. 73, 77 ; xv. 13, etc.) (Wright.)
In this conflict not Judah alone should be engaged and
prove victorious ; Ephraim also, should share alike in the
struggle and the victory: "And I will strengthen the
house of Judah, and will save the house of Joseph, and
shall place them (or shall bring them back) ; for I have
compassion on them ; and they shall be as if I had not
cast them off ; for I am Jehovah their God, and will hear
them " (verse 6). The house of Joseph, Ephraim, should
receive the same salvation as the house of Judah ; both
should be delivered and restored. The verb in the third
clause DYliQIiMn is abnormal in form, and it is disputed
whether it is to be referred to the root 2)11} to turn, to
return ; hiphil, to cause to return, to bring back, or to 32^,
to sit down, to dwell ; hiphil, to cause to dwell, to place.
The latter is to be preferred because — 1, " to bring back "
affirms too little here, it does not furnish a sufficient
counterpoise to the "cast off" in the appended clause;
and 2, this is the less comprehensive phrase, for whilst
their being placed necessarily involved their being first
brought back, their being brought back did not necessarily
imply their being replaced in their former estate. The
A. V. makes a compromise by giving both renderings,
" will bring them again to place them ; " but this cannot
be justified. Thus restored and replaced Ephraim should,
no less than Judah, be heard of God when he cried to
Him for blessing, for Jehovah was their God also ; and
Ephraim as well as Judah should become as a mighty
man, and their hearts should rejoice as through wine, i.e.,

20o ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
should exultingly hasten to the battle " like a mighty
man that shouteth by reason of wine" (Ps. Ixxviii. 65,
66) ; and this their children should see and rejoice with
them, so that the exultations should be universal and
continuous. " Their joy should be joy in the Lord ; " He
would be with them and be their God ; and " because He
had been their help, therefore in the shadow of His wings
should they rejoice " (Ps. Ixiii. 7).
Still further to assure them of protection and blessing,
the deliverance of Ephraim is more fully dwelt upon : " I
will hiss to them and gather them ; for I have redeemed
them; and they shall increase as they have increased"
(verse 8). The allusion in the beginning of the verse is
either to the practice of those who, to entice bees to settle
in a desired locality, make a hissing or tinkling noise,*
or to the use of the pipe in summoning people to congre
gate ; more probably the former (comp. Isa. vii. 1 8, v.
26). God would allure Ephraim and draw him to' his
resting-place and home ; and then the nation should
multiply and increase even as it had increased in former
times, even during the exile. Though many were still in
captivity, the nation was already virtually redeemed, for
God's purpose could not fail of effect ; and by a succession
of startling events, such as the disasters which had come
upon Babylon, and subsequently the overthrow of the
Persian empire, He had been effectually calling and would
still call His people out of captivity to return to their own
land. Meanwhile they should spread and prosper even
in the countries whither they had been carried. " And I
* Comp. Virgil, Georg. iv. 64 : " Tinnitusque cie, et Matris quate cym-
bala circum : Ipsae consident," etc.

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION.

will sow them among the peoples : and they shall re
member me in the far-off lands ; and they shall live with
their sons and shall return " (verse 9). By some the verb
in the beginning of this verse is understood, in a bad
sense, as describing banishment or dispersion by way of
punishment. The word, however, is always elsewhere
used in a good sense, and in reference to persons, express
their increase. (Comp. Hos. ii. 25; Jer. xxxi. 2 7 ; Ezek.
xxxvi. 9, 1 o.) Even in the land of their exile God would
multiply them ; and as there, when far away from their
own land, they should remember and turn unto the Lord,
He would give life to them and their sons, and cause
them ultimately to return to their former habitations.
They should be brought back from every place whither
they, had been scattered: "And I will bring them back
out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Asshur,
and bring them into the land of Gilead and of Lebanon ;
and room shall not be found for them " (verse 1 o). Egypt
and Assyria are specified as the places whence the Israel
ites should be gathered so as to be restored to their own
land. There is a difficulty connected with the mention
of both these places here. Why should Assyria be named
as the country from which they were to be delivered, see
ing it was from Babylonia that they had to be brought ?
And why should Egypt be mentioned, seeing it was not
thither that the people of Ephraim had been carried
captive ? To the former of these questions it seems a
sufficient answer to say that as it was by the Assyrians,
under Tiglath-pileser, that the territory of Ephraim was
invaded, and into Assyria that the captives of the northern
tribes were carried (2 Kings xv. 29, xvii. 6, 23), it was

202 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
fitting that their return should be spoken of as from that
country and nation rather than from Babylonia, though
Assyria no longer existed as an independent kingdom. It
is also to be observed that as Assyria had been subjected to
Babylon and formed an important part of the kingdom of
Babylonia, the king of Babylon is, in the latter books of
the Jews, sometimes called the king of Assyria (Ezra vi.
22; 2 Kings xxiii. 29 ; Judith i. 7, ii. 1 ; comp. 3 Ezra
vii. 15, where the Persian monarch is called "king of
Assyria ").
The other question is not so easy to answer satisfac
torily. It is probable, however, that at the time of
the Assyrian invasion numbers from among the nor
thern tribes had fled into Egypt, where they remained
while their brethren were carried into Assyria, and that
it is to their return, or rather that of their descendants,
that reference is here made. It is certain that a large
number fled from Judea into Egypt at the time of Nebu
chadnezzar's invasion; and it may be supposed that a
similar secession took place from the northern kingdom
at an earlier period. Some, indeed, have supposed that
Egypt and Assyria, as the two countries in which the
Israelites, as a nation, had been in bondage at different
periods of their history, are here introduced typically as
representing places of bondage generally ; but as Assyria
was really the place whence the tribes were to return, only
Egypt would be used here with a typical significance, and
there would thus be such a combination of the real and
the typical as is wholly unexampled and inadmissible.
But though not types of lands of bondage in the general,
Assyria and Egypt, as the two extremes, may be specified

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION. 203
as including all the places whither the people of Israel
had been exiled. From all they were to be brought back ;
and they would return to the land of Gilead and Lebanon,
to the territory their nation had formerly occupied, here
described by its south-eastern and north-western extremi
ties. And as during their exile they had not been di
minished, but had been sown among the nations so as
greatly to increase, they should return in such numbers
that their former place should be too strait for them,
room should not be found for them.
When Israel of old escaped from the land of bondage
in Egypt, the Lord "led them through the deep as a
horse in the wilderness, and brought them up out of the
sea with the shepherd of His flock ; " even so would He
deliver them from the Assyrian bondage and bring them
through that sea of affliction in which they were then
immersed, so as to settle them again in their own land :
" And He will pass through the sea of affliction, and will
smite the sea of waves, and dried up shall be all the
depths of the river; and the pride of Asshur shall be
brought down, and the staff of Egypt shall depart " (ver.
1 1). The subject here is Jehovah, the " Saviour of Israel
in the time of trouble " (Jer. xiv. 8). The words " sea "
and " affliction " are in apposition (iTO D^, sea, affliction).
They have been variously interpreted. The LXX take ms
as an adjective, and render by ev QaKacrari, aTevr) ;
Kimchi supposes that ~)2~l is to be understood before TO,
as if it were "a thing of adversity ( = adversity) shall
pass over them like a sea." Ibn Ezra supplies IT)"! before
HIS, q.d., " there shall pass through the sea a wind of
affliction or adversity." But TO, which is feminine, can-

204 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
not qualify as an adjective W, which is masculine; nor,
for the same reason, can it be construed with the verb
~)2y. There is no need, however, for supplying or under
standing anything here. Of two substantives in apposi
tion the latter may indicate the material of which the
former is composed, or that by which it is characterised ;
so that ydm tsdrdh here means not " the strait or narrow
sea," as the LXX give it, but the sea of which affliction is
the characteristic (like V? i 0^0 waters, affliction, Isa. xxx.
20 ; D^fprTJ D^-D-*} words, comforts, Zech. i. 13), equivalent
to Shakespeare's phrase, " a sea of troubles." The " river "
here ("N^l) is the Nile, the drying up of which is expres
sive of the casting down of the hostile power by which
Israel had been enslaved. The pride of Asshur and the
staff or rod of Egypt are specified because pride was
specially characteristic of the Assyrian oppressor (Is. x.
7, cf.), and the rod of the taskmaster was specially the
instrument of Egyptian tyranny. Whilst the enemy and
oppressor should be brought low, Israel should be exalted
and fortified : " I will strengthen them in Jehovah, and
in His Name shall they walk, saith Jehovah" (ver. 13).
The Name of Jehovah is God Himself as revealed, and to
walk therein is to live and act in constant dependence on
Him, and trusting to Him for needed help and sustenance.
Thus walking Israel should be strengthened of the Lord.
He, " the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,"
would build them up, endow them with might, and give
them help according to their need. " Strong in the Lord,
and by the power of His might," the house of Joseph, no
less than Judah, should be saved (ver. 6) and walk on in
the light of the Lord (Isa. ii. 5).

ISRAEL'S FULL SALVATION. 205
The opinion of Kimchi that this prophecy relates to
events still in the future, and specially to the restoration
of Israel from their present dispersion among the nations,
has found favour with many Christian expositors. There
is nothing, however, in the prophecy itself that points
decidedly to such an interpretation, and Kimchi admits
that by the ancient Jews, " the commentators of the
second temple," it was not so interpreted. It is the final
restoration of Israel from the Babylonish captivity that is
here immediately set forth, and what is specially an
nounced is the salvation of entire Israel by the reunion
of the tribes, and the prosperity and increase of the nation
thus restored to its original integrity. At the same time
it may be that, as Keil observes, " the principal fulfilment
is of a spiritual kind, and was effected through the gather
ing of the Jews into the kingdom of Christ, which com
menced in the times of the Apostles, and will continue
till the remnant of Israel is converted to Christ its
Saviour." Comp. Rom. xi. 26 ff.

XV.
THE FALLEN CEDAR.
"Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Howl, fir-tree ; for the cedar is fallen ; because the mighty are spoiled :
howl, O ye oaks of Bashan ; for the forest of the vintage is come
down." — Zech. xi. i, 2.
In this chapter there is an announcement of the judg
ment that was to come on the Jewish state and nation
because of their ungodliness, and specially their contemp
tuous rejection of Him whom God sent to be their
Shepherd. The prophecy here is not in any way con
nected with that in the preceding chapters, except as it
may be regarded as continuing the account of God's
dealings with Israel, and their behaviour towards Him
consequent on the events predicted in these chapters.
Hitherto the prophet has been the bearer of good tidings
to Zion, tidings of deliverance from oppressors, and
restoration to former privilege and felicity. But there
was a dark side to the picture as well as a bright one.
All trouble and conflict had not ceased with their
restoration to their own land ; nor was their tendency to
rebellion and apostasy from Jehovah, their Shepherd and
King, finally subdued. Treating Him with contempt, His
favour should be withdrawn from them, and the bonds
that united them as a people should be broken. The iron

THE FALLEN CEDAR. 207
hand of foreign oppression should again be laid heavily
upon them, and the ruin of their state and desolation of
their land should mark the greatness of their sin by the
severity of the penalty it had entailed.
The prophecy begins with a picture of ruin and deso
lation overspreading the land, and then the process is
detailed by which this was brought about, and the cause
of it indicated. The chapter thus divides itself into
three parts, viz., the judgment that should come upon
the land (verses 1-3); the action of the good Shepherd
and the sin of the people in their contemptuous treat
ment of Him (verses 4-14); and the action of the evil
shepherd in destroying the flock after the good Shepherd
had been rejected with his doom (verses 1 5—17).
The description of the judgment commences dramatic
ally. Lebanon is summoned to open her doors, that the
fire may enter to consume her cedars ; the cypress is
admonished to howl or wail because the cedar is fallen,
because the noble and glorious trees are destroyed ; the
oaks of Bashan are called upon to join in the wail, for
the inaccessible forest is laid low. Of the trees of Pales
tine the noblest and most valuable were the cedar, which
grew to its greatest height and strength on Lebanon;
and the oak, which had its principal site to the east of
the Jordan, on the fertile steppes of Bashan; comp.
Isaiah ii. 13, "The cedars of Lebanon that are high and
lifted up, and the oaks of Bashan." Next to them in
importance was the berosh, a species of the cypress (the
Cupressus sempervirens), the wood of which being close-
grained and durable, and also fragrant, was much used
by the Hebrews for a variety of purposes, especially for

208 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
rafters and floors of buildings. The cypress is here called
to lament for the fall of the cedar of Lebanon, the glory of
the forest, not as deploring that calamity so much as an
ticipating for itself a like fate. " The mighty " (rather the
noble, splendid, or glorious ones, addirim) are the cedars,
the noblest of the trees ; and over their destruction the
oaks of Bashan are called to wail because the forest, here
described as difficult of access piM, part. pass, of 120
to cut off, to render difficult of access, comp. the use of the
word, Deut. i. 28, iii. 5 ; Isaiah ii. 1 5), is laid low (literally,
hath descended). For TUG the Keri reads "VM, a noun
signifying the act of cutting off, especially the cutting
off of grapes, and this the A. V. hag followed; hence
the rendering there, " forest of vintage." But this gives
no good sense here, gives a sense, indeed, wholly inappro
priate, for the forests of Lebanon and Bashan had nothing
to do with vines ; and the correction, made probably for
reasons of grammar, is not at all required, for though in
general the article is not prefixed to an adjective when
the substantive with which it agrees is anarthrous, this
rule is not invariably observed, and is transgressed espe
cially where the adjective is a participle (Ges. Ch\, § 1 1 1,
2, a). The Vulgate rendering is " saltus munitus," which
is followed by the A. V. in the margin, "defenced
forest ; " but it is not the fortified or defended condition
of the forest, but rather its inaccessibility or impervious-
ness that is here indicated. " The mighty " or " excel
lent " are not heroes or eminent persons, but the noblest
among the trees, the cedars and cypresses here referred
to; comp. Ezek. xvii. 8, 23, where the cognate addareth
is used of the vine and the cedar; and Isa. xxxiii. 21,

THE FALLEN CEDAR. 209
where addir is used of a ship. The same is the applica
tion in verse 3 of the expression " their glory " {addar-
tam), which is not, as Keil interprets, the pasture where
the shepherds fed their flocks, but the trees under whose
glorious shadow the flocks found shelter. The destruc
tion of these was a calamity to the shepherds, and hence
they are represented as bewailing it : "a voice of the
howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled," or,
as it might be rendered, " Hark ! a howling of the shep
herds," &c. (bip has sometimes the effect of "hark;"
thus Gen. iv. 10, — -"Hark! thy brother's bloods are
crying to me;" Jer. x. 22, — "Hark!, a rumour! lo, it
cometh," &c. ; xxv. 36, &c.) As the trees were to the
flocks so was "' the pride of Jordan," that is, the thickets
and brushwood that clothed the banks of the Jordan, to
the wild beasts to which it furnished a covert ; comp.
Jer. xii. 5, where the land of peace is contrasted with
the pride of Jordan, because of the dangers to which the
wild beasts that frequented the banks of the Jordan
exposed the passer-by ; and xlix. 1 9, where the invader
of Edom is represented as coming up like a lion from the
pride of Jordan ; comp. also the use of the phrase the
pride [A. V., excellency] of Jacob (Ps. xlvii. 5 ; Amos
vi. 8) for the Holy Land. This too should be destroyed,
and over it the young lions, driven from their lair, should
lament and howl (verse 3).
That this description is to be taken literally cannot be
supposed; the language is too forcible and the picture
too vivid to be understood merely of the destruction by
fire of a few trees, even though these were the finest of
their kind. On the other hand, there seems no sufficient 0

210 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
reason for regarding this description as symbolical and
wholly figurative. This is the view most commonly
given by commentators; but the diversity of opinion
which prevails among them as to the meaning and appli
cation of these supposed symbols suggests grave doubts
as to the soundness of this view. Among the Jews some
understand by the trees here mentioned the kings and
princes of the nations inimical to the Hebrews ; while
others contend that by the cedar of Lebanon is meant the
temple at Jerusalem, in the construction of which this
wood was so largely employed. Of more recent inter
preters some understand by the trees the later kings of
Israel, and others the rulers of the Jews in still later
times ; while some have even specified the Pharisees and
the Sadducees as the powers here prefigured. All this
seems to be mere conjecture. Instances, indeed, may be
adduced in which individuals are compared to cedars
(see Ezek. xvii. 22 ff; xxxi. 3) ; but this does not prove
that the cedar of Lebanon or the oak of Bashan was a
recognised symbol of a ruler, whether heathen or Hebrew.
Besides, if the cedars and oaks are here to be taken as
symbols, how is " the pride of Jordan " to be taken ? Is
that also a symbol ? and if so, of what ? And what of
the lions which had their lair in the thicket that consti
tuted the pride of Jordan, and which are represented as
howling over the spoiling of it ? If they also are rulers
and tyrants, the bushes and underwood which supplied
them with covert must be something else ; but what else
who shall say ? Then, as to the shepherds and the lions,
if these are symbols, and the former be understood of the
princes of Israel, as is most natural, of what are the latter

THE FALLEN CEDAR.

symbols ? Not also of great men of Israel, for the lion
is of necessity not the guardian or defender, but the
enemy aud destroyer of the flock; not of foreign hostile
powers, for such had not their native abode by the Jordan,
nor would such bewail the destruction of the pride of
Jordan, of which they themselves were probably the
instruments. In short, the allegory cannot be carried
out consistently ; and for this as well as because of the
diversity of opinions as to the meaning of the symbols
among those who adopt the view that the passage is sym
bolical, this view must be rejected. The more simple
and tenable view is that which Calvin has advocated, viz. :
that by the places here mentioned is intended " per synec-
dochen " the whole land of Judea, the desolation of which
is predicted by the prophet by this graphic description
of the. destruction of its " loca insigniora." " Summa est,"
Calvin concludes, " neque Judseam neque terram decern
Tribuum immunem fore a Dei vindicta." This view is
adopted by Rosenmuller, Keil, Chambers, and Wright. It
is that also of Bleek (Einleit, s. 558) and Pressel, who, in
accordance with their opinion as to the date of the second
part of Zechariah, regard this passage as relating to the
devastation of the land by the Assyrians under Tiglath-
Pileser. In other passages the devastation of the land is
described by the destroying of the cedars and cypresses
and forests of the country; comp. 2 Kings xix. 23 ; Isa.
xxxvii. 24, xiv. 7, 8 ; Hab. ii. 16, 17.
The catastrophe thus depicted was brought about by
the misconduct of the people, and especially their shep
herds or rulers, towards the Great Shepherd of Israel,
whom God sent forth to feed and tend the flock. This

213 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
is described in what follows, where the prophet is repre
sented as acting as the representative of another, and as
such is addressed. It cannot be supposed that the person
addressed is the Angel of Jehovah or the Messiah, as
some have suggested, for the person addressed in ver. 4
is evidently the same as the person addressed in ver. 15,
and what is there said does not in any way apply to the
Angel of Jehovah or the Messiah. Nor can it be sup
posed that the prophet is here addressed in his own
person, for as it was no part of the prophetic office to act
as a shepherd of Israel, it could not be to the prophet as
such that the command here given was addressed. The
only supposition that can be tenably made is that what
is here narrated passed as a vision before the inner sense
of the prophet, in which he saw himself as the represen
tative of another, first of the good shepherd who is sent
to feed the flock, and then of the evil shepherd by whom
the flock was neglected, and who should be destroyed for
his iniquity.

XVI.
THE UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERD.
" There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds : for their glory
is spoiled : a voice of the roaring of young lions ; for the pride of
Jordan is spoiled. Thus saith the Lord my God ; Feed the flock of
the slaughter ; whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not
guilty : and they that sell them, say, Blessed be the Lord ; for I am
rich : and their own shepherds pity them not. For I will no more
pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord : but, lo, I will deliver
the men every oUe into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his
king : and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not
deliver them. And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O
poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves ; the one I called
Beauty, and the other I called Bands ; and I fed the flock. Three
shepherds also I cut off in one month ; and my soul loathed them, and
their soul also abhorred me. Then said I, I will not feed you : that
that dieth, let it die ; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off ;
and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another." — Zech. xi. 3-9.
The prophet, as representing the good shepherd, is com
manded by God to feed the flock : " Thus said Jehovah,
my God, Feed the flock of the slaughter, whose buyers
slay them and are not held guilty, and their sellers say,
Blessed be Jehovah ! I am becoming rich ; and their
shepherds spare them not" (verses 4, 5). The flock here
is the flock of God, the chosen people, the flock of His
pasture (Ezek. xxxiv. 3 1), the flock of His heritage (Micah
vii. 14), the flock of His people (Zech. ix. 16), His flock,
the house of Judah (x. 3). They are described as "the
flock of the slaughter," because under the tyranny of their

214 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
foreign masters they were given over to destruction.*
This flock the prophet is commanded to feed. He who
feeds Israel is Jehovah Himself, and He here commissions
the prophet, in His name and as His representative, to do
this. That the prophet does not appear here as acting
in his own name, or as representing the prophetic office,
is evident from verses 8, 12 and 13, where actions are
ascribed to him which no prophet ever did or could do ;
and from verse 10, where he is identified with God, who
alone can make a covenant with all peoples. God visits
and provides for His people in the person of the prophet
His representative. "The distinction between the pro
phet and Jehovah cannot be adduced as an argument
against this ; for it really belongs to the symbolical re
presentation of the matter, according to which God com
missions the prophet to do what He Himself intends to
do, and will surely accomplish." (Keil.) The flock was
given over to slaughter by those who claimed to be its
owners by purchase, and who did this with impunity, not
being held guilty or condemned to any penalty because of,
their cruelty. The rendering in the A. V., "hold them
selves not guilty," though pleaded for by some, is not in
accordance with the usage of the Hebrew. The verb
D$N signifies to be guilty, or to bear guilt, i.e., to suffer
the penalty of transgression ; so that lOTtfN] itb here can
* Keil renders by "flock of strangling," alleging that "hdrag does not
mean to slay, but to strangle." A rash statement. Harag occurs many
times in Scripture, but never in the sense of strangling. Where the mode
of slaying is specified, it is by the sword or by stoning that the deed is done.
The word is even used of the destruction of life by the bite of a viper (Job
xx. 16), and of vines by hail (Psalm Ixxviii. 47). For the most part the
word is used quite generally of killing. For the phrase " flock of slaughter,"
comp. Psalm xliv. 23.

THE UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERD. 215
only mean " are not guilty " or " do not bear guilt," —
are not condemned and made to expiate their offence by
enduring the penalty. On the contrary, they continue in
prosperity and power, and regarding the flock as their
absolute property, they use it for their own advantage,
slaughtering or buying and selling the sheep as they
please ; and, as if they were making lawful gain, blessing
the Lord because they were becoming rich. Meanwhile
the shepherds of the flock, those who should have cared
for and protected it, looked on with indifference, not pity
ing or sparing the flock. These shepherds, as distinguished
from the buyers or possessors of the flock, can only mean
the native rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, of the nation,
who instead of protecting those of whom they had charge,
left them to the mercy of their foreign oppressors. The
verbs here are in the imperfect, by which is indicated
that the treatment of the flock here described was what
was customary and usual at the time.
To this state of things an end must be put ; Jehovah
will feed and protect His flock, and deliver it from those
who were thus harassing and destroying it : " For I will
no longer spare the dwellers on the earth, saith Jehovah "
(ver. 6). " The dwellers " here are not the people of the
land of Israel, but the people of the earth generally, or
specially the world-powers by which the people of God
were oppressed. The people of Israel cannot be here
intended, for they were the flock of slaughter, and as
distinguished from this the inhabitants of the earth can
only be other nations or powers. The words, indeed,
2J~)Sn ¦"OW may mean "inhabitants of the land," and
mi°*ht be used to designate the people of Israel ; and so

216 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
they are taken by some. But the flock was to be fed,
which can only mean that they were to be tended, pro
tected and cared for, whereas these inhabitants were not
to be spared, but to be destroyed. The "for" at the
beginning of ver. 6 thus connects this with ver. 4 :
Jehovah would now feed the flock, for at length He
would unsparingly punish their oppressors. " Israel was
given up by Jehovah into the hands of the nations of the
world, or the imperial powers, to punish it for its sin.
But as these nations abused the power, the Lord takes
charge of His people as their shepherd, because He will
no longer spare the nations of the world, i.e., will not
any longer let them deal with His people at pleasure with
out being punished." (Keil.) These enemies of Israel
God would punish by giving them up to civil dissension
and to the tyranny of their own kings : " And behold, I
am causing the men to fall each into the hand of his neigh
bour, and into the hand of his king, and they shall smite
the earth, and out of their hand I will not deliver." By
" the men " here (D"*wn) are intended the people of the
world collectively — the inhabitants of the earth before
mentioned. Them God would cause to fall into the hand
of each other, i.e., would give up to mutual dissension,
oppression and conflict, and into the hand each of his
own king, to be dealt with as he should please in the
exercise of absolute power. By the simultaneous action
of the people against each other, and of the kings against
the people, the earth should be smitten ; intestine conflict
and tyrannical oppression would bring ruin on the
nations ; nor would God interpose to save them from
this deplorable issue of their own misconduct.

THE UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERD. 217
As commissioned of God and representing Him, the
prophet fed the flock : " And I fed the flock of slaughter,
verily the wretched ones of the flock, and I took to me
two staves, the one I called Grace, the other I called
Bands, and so I fed the flock" (ver. 7). The second
clause of this verse has been variously rendered and
interpreted. The phrase I^C l'-?^ cannot be taken as
directly equivalent to " wretched " or " miserable sheep,"
as the construction requires the rendering " the wretched
of the sheep," i.e., however, not the most wretched of
sheep, but the wretched among the sheep, like l&Sn ^i-'^,
"the least of the sheep" (Jer. xlix. 20), and this comes
to much the same as " the wretched sheep." The prin
cipal difficulty is with the ttb. This some regard as
the second personal pronoun feminine (with Tsere in
place of Segol under the 2 ), and render by " you, 0 miser
able (or poor) of the flock " (A.V.) ; others take lachen as
an adverb, in the sense of " therefore " or " therewith ; "
others give it the meaning of " truly," " yea, truly," or
" actually ; " and others take it as a preposition, " on
account of." The word occurs very frequently in the
prophets, and has generally the causal sense of " there
fore," introducing something as the consequence of what
is mentioned before. The peculiarity here lies in its
being used in the middle of the sentence, and not, as
elsewhere, at the beginning (as e. g. in Isa. v. 24).
Thus placed it must be held as indicating that what
follows in the clause is consequent on or involved in
what precedes. It may therefore be fitly translated by
" therewith," which is Keil's rendering, or " at the same
time." The whole clause may be thus rendered : — " And

21.8 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
I fed the flock of slaughter therewith the wretched
among the sheep." In order to feed the flock the pro
phet takes two staves or shepherds' crooks ; the one of
which he names Favour or Grace, Oyh pleasantness, or
loveliness, but also favour, Ps. xc. 17; the other Bands
or Binders, E\?J"1, part, of ?'rT} to bind = binding ones.
Two staves are taken, not because the flock consists of
two portions, but in order to indicate that a double
benefit is to be conferred on the flock, or that two
distinct effects of the shepherd's care are to come to it.
What these are the names given to the staves are de
signed to express ; the one, Grace, as the symbol of that
covenant of peace under which favour was showed by
God to His people ; the other, Bands, to indicate the
uniting of the sheep in one body, more especially the
union of the house of Judah and the house of Ephraim
as one nation. Other interpretations of these symbols
have been suggested, but the above seems that which the
prophet's own words in the subsequent context plainly
instruct us to adopt; see verse 10 and verse 14. The
staff of the covenant was Grace because it was a covenant
of favour, and God was now about to show favour to His
people ; the staff of the union was Bands, because the
shepherd who bore it was to gather into one body and
bind with firm ties the dispersed of Israel.
Israel, the flock of God, had been in the hands and
under the tyranny of the heathen, who had assumed the
place of shepherds over them only to distress and make
gain of the sheep. Against these evil shepherds the
wrath of God, the true Shepherd of Israel, was directed,
and He would punish them for their cruelty : " And

THE UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERD. 219

I cut off [destroyed] three shepherds in one month"
(ver. 8). As no three shepherds in particular have been
mentioned, the A. V. has rendered the clause indefinitely
"three shepherds," that is, any three. Others render
" three of the shepherds," which comes to much the same
thing. These renderings are allowable ; but properly the
phrase is definite, " the three shepherds," and must be
understood as pointing to some three shepherds in parti
cular, presumed to be well known.* These three shep
herds the prophet, representing Jehovah in the vision,
destroyed. What is intended here is very uncertain.
How obscure, the passage is may be inferred from the
multitude of conflicting interpretations which have been
offered of it ; not fewer, it has been said, than forty. Of
these, however, the greater part are purely conjectural,
and need not to be noticed.
It may be presumed that in a symbolical vision it is
symbols rather than persons or natural objects that are
represented. We may therefore start by assuming that
by the shepherds here are not intended certain historical
individuals ; it may be that powers or dynasties or offices
are thus represented, but not persons. On the same
grounds a month cannot be taken literally as a calendar
month of thirty days or thereabouts, but must be under
stood indefinitely as the sign of a period neither very
short nor very long; just as in iii. 9 the phrase "one
* As a rule when a numeral is combined with a substantive, having the
article (as is the case here), it is the numeral that is thereby made
definite ; but this rule does not hold invariably, as may be seen from
Exod. xxvi. 3, 9 ; I Sam. xx. 20, and other passages, where the article
appears as qualifying the substantive — "five of the curtains," "three of
the arrows." (Gesen. Gr., §111, note.)

220 ZECHARIAHS VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
day " is the sign of a brief period. It is evident also
that the cutting off of the shepherds represents not their
natural decease but their judicial excision, and that by
violent means ; comp. the use of the verb in Exod. xxiii.
23 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 21 ; 1 Kings xiii. 34, and in verse
9 of this chapter. It is evident also that it was for the
deliverance of the flock from external (foreign) oppres
sion that these shepherds were to be cut off, so that it is
not in any powers or offices within the Jewish state that
we are to seek for that which the shepherds symbolise.
These considerations enable us to set aside at once such
suggestions as that the three shepherds are the three
kings of Israel, — Zechariah, Shallum, and Menahem
(which is the hypothesis of those who ascribe the second
part of the book of Zechariah to a pre-exilian prophet) ;
for though these three kings were cut off within a
comparatively short time, it was not literally within a
month that they were cut off, and though as kings they
might be regarded as shepherds of Israel, their being cut
off was in no respect a deliverance of Israel from foreign
oppression, to say nothing of the incongruity of repre
senting the cutting off of kings of Israel, when it was
separate from and hostile to Judah, as a benefit to the
conjoined body of Judah and Ephraim at a far later
period. We may also discount the opinion that by the
three shepherds are intended the three orders by which
the nation was ruled, the civil authorities, the priests
and the prophets (or in later times, when the order of
prophets had ceased, the scribes), for of these the first
alone were regarded as pastors or shepherds (comp. Jer.
ii. 8 ; Ez. xxxvii. 24), nor could the cutting off of these

THE UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERD.

from the midst of the nation be a deliverance of it from
foreign oppression; and besides, it was not till after the good
shepherd had relinquished his work that these were in any
sense cut off, so that it could not be by him that they were
destroyed. More probable is the suggestion that by the
three shepherds are intended the three kings of the Syro-
Macedonian dynasty, Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus
Eupator, and Demetrius I., who successively invaded Judea
and were in turn cut off; and that the one month within
which they were cut off is a symbolical month, in which
each day stands for a year, and so a period of thirty years
or thereabouts, a period which would synchronise with
that "from 172 B.C., when Antiochus Epiphanes made
his terrible attack on the holy city, and desecrated the
sacred temple, up to the year 141 B.C., when the three
evil alien shepherds of the Jewish nation were cut off,
and the last trace of Syrian supremacy was removed by
the expulsion of the Syrian garrison from its fortress in
Jerusalem." * But plausible as this appears, it rests upon
too dubious a basis to be accepted as satisfactory. There
is no evidence that Zechariah used designations of time
symbolically ; nor does it appear that " day " or " month "
was used by the Hebrews as the symbol of a year. On
one occasion, indeed, Ezekiel was commanded to observe
a certain posture for so many days, each day being ap
pointed to represent a year (iv. 4-6) ; but "this is no
proof that a day was a commonly received symbol of a
year ; on the contrary, the care which is taken to explain
the usage in that particular instance shows plainly that
the usage was not common, and required to be explained
* Wright, "Zechariah and his Prophecies," p. 317.

222 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
before it could be understood. Then, how could the
three princes named be designated shepherds of Israel ?
Antiochus Epiphanes, indeed, held for a time supreme
power over Judea, and so might be entitled to this ap
pellation; but his successors never attained to this, and
instead of being in any sense shepherds, can only be re
garded as thieves and robbers, who sought to enter the
fold not by the door, but by climbing up some other way.
Besides, as it is probable that dynasties and not indi
viduals are represented by the symbol of shepherds, these
three princes belonging to one and the same dynasty
would constitute only one shepherd, not three. That dy
nasties are here represented may be "regarded as accepted
by the majority of recent interpreters ; and no opinion
seems better supported than that of Ebrard, Kliefoth,
Kohler, Keil, von Hoffmann, and others, that the three
dynasties which successively held Israel in possession, the
Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, and the Macedonian, are
here adumbrated. These were emphatically the three
shepherds from whose tyrannical despotism God delivered
His people when He came forth to feed His flock of
slaughter, and these were all cut off, were made to dis
appear (as the word literally means) in a comparatively
short time. It was not in one day, not immediately,
simultaneously and by one fell swoop that they were cut
off; one after the other they were made to disappear, and
that within a period comparatively short, yet long enough
to admit of successive dynastic catastrophes. A more
special explanation of the phrase " in one month " is given
by Keil, following Kohler and Kliefoth. Assuming a
month as consisting of thirty days, they divide the month

THE UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERD. 223
into three parts of ten days each, and taking each ten
days as the time employed in the destruction of a shep
herd, they conclude that by this is indicated, " On the one
hand, that the destruction of each of these shepherds
followed directly upon that of the other ; and on the other
hand, that this took place after the full time allotted for
his rule had passed away, ten being the number of the
completion or the perfection of any earthly act or occur
rence." It is no valid objection to this that it is fanciful,
for in interpreting symbols fancy has its legitimate place.
But it seems unnecessary. It is enough if the phrase be
understood as an indefinite expression of a period neither
short nor long, as compared with the whole period of the
nation's existence.
The latter part of verse 8 is connected with what fol
lows and begins a new paragraph, in which the activity
of the shepherd, with the conduct towards him of the
flock, is described.

XVII.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED.
" And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might
break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was
broken in that day : and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me
knew that it was the word of the Lord. And I said unto them, If ye
think good, give me my price ; and if not, forbear. So they weighed
for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me,
Cast it unto the potter : a goodly price that I was prized at of them.
And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in
the house of the Lord. Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even
Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and
Israel." — Zech. xi. 10-14.
The cutting off of the three shepherds or world-powers by
which Israel had been oppressed and harassed was for the
benefit of the flock, thereby delivered from those who
were wrongfully misusing it. But unhappily the flock
was not sensible of the kindness which had thus been
shown to it by God ; on the contrary, it resented His
interference and refused His guidance ; and so there came
to be alienation and discord between them : " And my
soul loathed them [rather — became weary of them, lost
patience with them], and their soul also abhorred me "
(ver. 8). The phrase " my soul," " their soul," is often
used as a substitute for the personal pronoun, equivalent
to " I myself," " they themselves ; " but here it is used
properly to express the intensity of the emotion felt.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 225

The verb in the first clause means primarily to be
shortened or cut short, and with "soul" ('tMlJ) it ex
presses the idea of weariness, impatience, or vexation,
the cutting short of one's power of endurance; comp.
Judges xvi. 1 6 ; Job xxi. 4 ; Micah ii. 7. The verb in
the latter clause occurs only here and in Prov. xx.
2 1 ; in the latter passage it conveys the idea of greedy
eagerness (•H7r*Q ilbny) : " An inheritance greedily ac
quired ; " here it is used in the sense of loathing or
abhorrence* By some this latter part of the verse is
understood of the three shepherds mentioned in the
earlier part, and it is supposed that God here declares
the reason of His cutting them off; it was because
mutual loathing and abhorrence had arisen between them
and Him. But though at first sight the pronoun " them "
may seem naturally to refer to the shepherds in the
immediately preceding clause, the construction of the
larger context points to " the flock " in verse 7 as that
here referred to. The verbs are all in the imperfect with
vaw conversive, and must be translated in the same tense,
the perfect ; but if the latter part of the verse is under
stood of the shepherds, the verbs there must be taken as
pluperfects (for God's impatience with the shepherds, and
their abhorring of Him, must have preceded their being
cut off, which would be incongruous, even if legitimate.!
* It may be doubted if the verb occurs anywhere but here ; in Prov. xx.
21 the K'ri has J*l*?i"QJ3 (mbhlth) "hastily gotten," and as all the ancient
versions follow this reading, it may be regarded as the true one. 71*12
(behl) is thus hapaxlegomenon, and is best explained from the Syriac bhilo,
" to have nausea." The meaning " to be greedy " is derived from the verb
from the Arabaic bahala "avarus fuit."
t " It is a moot and delicate question how far the imperfect with -1 denotes
P

226 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Further, from verse 9 it is evident that it was with the
flock, and not with the shepherds, that God by the pro
phet became impatient, so that He relinquished the care
of it, and left it to its fate. It is -best, therefore, to
regard the first part of verse 8 as a parenthetical clause,
or as ampliative of the assertion " and I fed the flock,"
in verse 7 (the cutting off of the shepherds being part of
what He did for the tending of the flock) ; and to under
stand the latter part of verse 8 as indicative of what led
to the catastrophe described in the following verses.
The good shepherd had come to tend and protect the
flock, but utter alienation and antagonism • had arisen
between them and him. Refusing to acknowledge him
or to receive his care, they even returned abhorrence for
his kindness; and he, despised and rejected by them,
could no longer bear with them, his patience was ex
hausted, and so, after long effort, he was constrained to
turn from them and leave them to their fate: "Then
said I, I will not feed you ; let that which dieth die, and
let that which is cut off be cut off; and let those that
remain eat each the flesh of another" (ver. 9). The
flock was to be left, some to perish, and the rest to
devour and destroy one another ; the shepherd would no
longer interpose to succour or protect them. The verbs
a pluperfect. There is, of course, no doubt that it may express the con
tinuance of a pluperfect, . . . but can the imperfect with 1 introduce it ?
Can it, instead of conducting us as usual to a succeeding act, lead us back
to one which is chronologically anterior? . . . The imperfect with -1 is, in
the first place, certainly not the usual idiom chosen by the Hebrew writers
for the purpose of expressing a pluperfect. . . . And, in the second place,
the instances in which jl is even supposed to introduce a pluperfect are
extremely rare ; and the supposition rests upon a most precarious basis.''
— Driver, Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, p. 92.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 227
here are not jussive, but simply permissive or concessive,
as the form JVlQ.n shows ; the participles nriDH and
¦T^nD2il are used here as presents; the feminine forms
in this verse are to be accounted for from the words
being collectives and neuters. (Ges. § 107, 3, d; Miiller,
pp. 46, 47.) The language in verse 9 "is most affecting.
It is the language of one whose patience was exhausted ;
who was weary of repenting; who heaves the sigh of
mingled pity and indignation, and throws up his charge
in hopelessness " (Wardlaw). Hengstenberg remarks that
" There are three kinds of destruction referred to here, as
a comparison of the parallel passages will show : plague,
such as usually breaks out in besieged cities ; violent death
.from foreign foes; and a terrible strife among the citizens
themselves, in consequence of existing distress." Comp.
Jer. xv. 1, 2, xxxiv. 17 ; Ezek. vi. 12 ; Isa. ix. 19.
In the verses that follow there is a symbolical action
described with its meaning. "And I took my staff
'Grace and cut it asunder, to frustrate (or abrogate) my
covenant which I made with all peoples" (ver. 10). The
covenant here referred to is not, as has been suggested,
God's covenant with Noah as the father of the nations
after the flood (Kliefoth), nor a covenant made by God
with the nations, under which " they received good, in
that the shepherd appointed by Jehovah ever and anon
removed the shepherds that successively arose and
destroyed the flock" (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis II., 2, p.
607) ; but an engagement in virtue of which the Lord
put a restraint on the nations, so as to prevent their
disturbing the peace of Israel. The restraining of any
power from violence is elsewhere in Scripture described

228 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
as a making of a covenant with that power ; comp. Job
v. 2, " With the stones of the field shall be thy cove
nant;" Hosea ii. 20 [18], "In that day will I make a
covenant for them with the beast of the field," etc. ; Ezek.
xxxiv. 25, "I will make for them a covenant of peace,
and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land,"
etc.; Isa. xxviii. 18, "We have made a covenant with
death," etc.* As a covenant was made with the beast
of the field, with the stones and with death, so as to
restrain them from doing hurt to those for whose benefit
the covenant was made, so God had covenanted with the
nations, thereby to restrain them from doing injury to
His flock. This was a covenant of grace for Israel ; but
no longer would the good shepherd thus care for the
safety of the flock. His patience was exhausted by
their obduracy, and the covenant He had made for their
behoof should be dissolved. In token of this the shep
herd cut in pieces his crook Grace. The covenant was
abrogated just as the staff was destroyed; the thing
signified was simultaneous with the symbol. The con
sequence was that Israel was harassed by violence from
without, the nations being no longer restrained from
attacking it ; and so there was a fulfilment of the doom
announced in the preceding verse. From this the pious
part of the nation learned that this was indeed the word
of the Lord : " And it [the covenant] was broken in that
day ; and so the wretched of the flock that observed me
* In Ecclus. xiv. 12 the phrase "covenant of Hades," 5.a0i}mj didov,
occurs, but there in a different sense. " Hades is personified. The cove
nant of Hades, that which Hades has made with thee, and which naturally
includes the determining of thy death."— 0. F. Fritzsche, Ex. Hdb. den
Apocr. p. 70. ,

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 229
knew that it was the word of Jehovah" (ver. 11).
Though rejected by the flock as a whole, there were
some who had regard to the shepherd, and heard his
voice and followed him. These are described as the
wretched or miserable among the flock, i.e. without a
figure, the poor and humble and suffering among the
people. By them he was observed, regarded, that is, with
respect and esteem, and heed was given to his words ;
comp. for this use of "l»# Ps. xxxi. 7 [6 "regard"];
Prov. xxvii. 1 8 ; Hosea iv. 1 o ; 2 Chron. vi. 1 6. Hence,
when the restraint which had been put upon the nations
was removed, and the covenant people were exposed to
the assault of their enemies, these right-minded people,
though the poor and despised of the community, recog
nised in the message which the shepherd had brought the
word of Jehovah. When the prophet says, " They that
regarded or gave heed to me," he speaks as the represen
tative of the Lord, the good shepherd who came to feed
the flock. " In that day," the day when he broke his
staff and withdrew his protection from the flock. " So "
(]2), from this fact, "the prophet speaks of the event
as past, because in the vision which passed before his
mind the things described had actually occurred"
(Hengstenberg). The breaking of the staff Grace intimated the with
drawal of the shepherd's care from the flock. But before
finally leaving them he demanded of them a return for
his service to them : " And I said unto them, If it be good
in your eyes, give me my wage ; but if not, let it alone.
And they weighed as my wage thirty silverlings " (verse
1 2). The speaker here is still the prophet, as represent-

230 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
ing the good shepherd. Those from whom he demands
his wage are not, as some suppose, the shepherds of the
flock (that is, the rulers of Israel), nor are they the poor
of the flock, but the flock itself viewed as a whole ; the
apparent incongruity of the shepherd demanding his wage
from the flock being obviated by the consideration that
the flock, in this case, are rational beings — men. The
shepherds, as the leaders of the nation, are, of course, in
cluded among those of whom the demand is made ; but
as it was not specially as their servant that the shepherd
had acted, it was not from them that he could seek his
wage. It was the flock that he came to minister to and to
help, and it was, therefore, from them properly that he asked
a return for his service. But what return could the flock
give to him ? The only return that a flock can render to
its shepherd is that they should, as a whole, or in part,
become his for his use. This was probably the way in
which shepherds were paid for their work. " Who feedeth
a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock ? " asks the
Apostle, regarding this apparently as a matter of course
(i Cor. ix. 7). The wage which Jacob required for keep
ing the flock of Laban was that a portion of the flock
should be allotted to him as his property ; and had Jacob
been the proper owner of the flock, he might have justly
required that the whole should ultimately have been re
covered by him. So here, the return which God, as the
shepherd and proprietor of Israel, demanded of them as
His flock was themselves. He sought nothing else, and
with nothing else would He be satisfied. His reward for
the care He had bestowed upon them was that they should
return from all their wanderings and apostacy, and, with

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 231
a true repentance and a sincere devotion, yield themselves
unto Him, to be wholly and for ever His. Repentance,
faith, obedience, loving trust and grateful piety, these are
the only return which man can render to God for His
beneficence, and these alone are such as He will accept.
To secure these was the end of His coming, and these He
demanded of the flock as His right. He left it, however,
with themselves whether they would give or refuse what
He claimed. He is no hireling, who needs to have His
wage made over to Him, or will enforce the payment of
it. It was not for His own sake that the demand was
made, but for the sake of the sheep themselves, that an
opportunity might be given them to acknowledge His
goodness and submit anew to His guidance and care.
Instead of this, however, what they actually displayed
was their alienation from Him, and their contempt of His
services ; in lieu of what was His due, they weighed to
Him as His " wage thirty pieces of silver," a paltry and
contemptible sum, the price at which a female slave might
be obtained (Hosea iii. 2), the compensation which the
law appointed for the killing of a slave (Ex. xxi. 33).
This was not only a foul insult, but also suggested an
intention to compass His death. They despised His good
ness, they would none of His service, they sought to cut
Him off, and they were ready to pay the penalty which
the law prescribed for the murder of one of so mean a
condition. Hitherto the prophet, as representing Jehovah, has
been the speaker, but now the Lord Himself appears and
speaks. Recognising the insult offered to His represen
tative as an insult to Himself, He says to the prophet,

232 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
" Cast it unto the potter — the splendid price at which I
have been valued by them! "(verse 13). This is the
language of bitter irony and contempt. A blank refusal
would have been less offensive than the offering of such a
wage. God, therefore, commands His representative to
cast it away in scorn, to fling it out as carrion might be
flung to dogs, or as a dead body might be cast away un-
buried (compare Ex. xxii. 30 [31]; Jer. xxvi. 23, xxxvi.
30, where the same verb is used as here). The phrase
" cast to the potter " is probably " a proverbial expression
for contemptuous treatment, although we have no means
of tracing the origin of the phrase satisfactorily " (Keil).
Such modes of expression are in all languages ; as the
Greeks said e? icopaicas, and the Latins in malam rem, so
we say. "to the dogs," and the Germans zum Schinder,
"to the Flayer" or "Knacker."* The origin of these
phrases we may be able to trace, but our inability to do
this in the case of the Hebrew phrase does not preclude
our recognising it as analogous to them. Other interpre
tations of the phrase as here used have been given.
Some of the ancient versions for " potter " have treasury
(Syr.) or treasurer (Targ.) ; and this Ewald, Hitzig, Ge
senius, and others among recent interpreters approve,
some regarding IStf1 as an Aramaism for "l^iN, storehouse
or treasury, or as another form of that word, or of "l2tfN,
treasurer. This is possible; but the supposition that
the sacred treasury, or so high an officer as the Temple
* Bt£\\ h KSpanas, Arist. Nub. 133. I hinc in malam rem cum ista
magnificentia. Ter. Phorm. V. 7, 37.J
Had Colepepper's whole wealth been hops and hogs,
Could he himself have sent it to the dogs ?
— Pope, Mor. Ess. III., 65.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 233
treasurer, is here intended, is irreconcilable with the con
temptuous form in which the command is conveyed.
Grotius suggests that " potter " is here equivalent to
" pottery," and that as there was a place near the Temple
where the fragments of broken vessels that had been used
in the Temple were thrown out, and where was probably
a receptacle for rubbish of all sorts, the casting of any
thing to the potter means the treating it as a thing of no
value, not more to be esteemed than the fragments of a
potter's vessel. But there is no evidence that there was
any such place near the Temple into which rubbish was
thrown, and if there was it would hardly be known as the
pottery, for a pottery is a place where vessels are made,
not a place where the fragments of vessels are cast out.
Hengstenberg endeavours to show that the Temple
potter, — whom he supposes to be here indicated by the
prefixing of the definite article, " for we cannot imagine
there was only one potter in Jerusalem," — had his work
place in the valley of Hinnom, and as this was regarded
with disgust and abhorrence as an unclean place, the
phrase " cast it to the potter " is equivalent to " Throw
it into an unclean place." But the article here is simply
generic ; it indicates not an individual, but a class ; nor
is there any evidence that the potter who made vessels
for the Temple had his workplace in the valley of Hinnom ;
on the contrary, not only is it in itself improbable that
one whose business it was to prepare vessels for the
Temple should have his manufactory in a place pro
verbially unclean, but in one of the passages cited by
Hengstenberg to prove his point, the very opposite
seems to be clearly taught, viz. : Jer. xix. 2, where we

234 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
read, " Go forth into the valley of the son of Hinnom,
which is at the entrance of the pottery gate," etc., from
which it would appear that the pottery was not ou^ in
the valley, but inside the gate of the city by which that
valley was approached ; besides, if " the potter " is here
an actual person, it appears from the following clause
that it was in the Temple itself, and not outside the city,
that he was to be found.
Another explanation is, that the sum being just enough
to pay for a set of pots, purchased from the potter, the
command to cast it to the potter is equivalent to " expend
it on what is worthless : " just as we are accustomed to
say of one who spends his money foolishly, that he
throws it away ; but earthenware pots are not altogether
worthless, and if the purchaser got pots, the exchangeable
value of which was equal to what he paid for them, he
could not be said to have thrown away his money ; not
to mention that when money is paid to an artificer for
his goods it is not flung to him contemptuously, but is
put into his hand, or is told out before him deliberately.
On the whole, no explanation seems so tenable as that
above given from Keil.
In obedience to the Divine command, the prophet in
vision cast away the thirty silverlings in the Temple:
" And so I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast it in
the house of Jehovah to the potter " (ver. 136). This
does not mean as Hengstenberg, to bring it into accord
ance with his explanation of the potter, has it, " I cast it
into the house of Jehovah that it might be carried to the
potter ; " this is to put a meaning on the passage, not to
interpret it ; the meaning is simply what the words

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 235
express, that the casting of the money, the wage (in& it),
to the potter was done in the Temple. The significance
of this is that as the Temple was the place where God
met with the people, and as this money was what they
offered to Him as a return for His care of them as their
shepherd, it was fitting that His indignant rejection of it
should be shown in the place where it was customary for
them to present their offerings, and where, when they
gave to Him the return He required, He accepted their
offering and gave them blessing in return.
The rejection by the shepherd of the offered wage was
virtually the rejection of the flock by whicli it was
offered, as, on the other hand, the offering of such a
wage was virtually the rejection on their part of him as
their shepherd. The relation between them was thus at
an end; and in token of this the shepherd broke his
other staff, and so left them to their fate : " And I broke
asunder my second staff Bands, to annul the brotherhood
between Judah and Israel." The union of Judah and
Israel after the captivity was the restoration of the nation
to its original integrity ; the dissolving of this was the
«iving up of the nation to internal discord and strife. To
this fate the nation was left when no longer guarded and
tended by the good shepherd ; and the breaking up of
the nation into parties bitterly opposed to each other,
hastened its ruin by making it an easy prey to the
invader. Thus by this symbolical vision the prophet intimated
to his contemporaries the ultimate rejection of Israel by
God, and the overthrow of their state in consequence of
their wicked rejection of Him as their shepherd, in the

236 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
person of His commissioned representative. Beyond this,
however, there lies in this prophecy a prediction, the pur
port of which can be discovered only from its fulfilment.
From the New Testament we learn that it is to the
conduct of the Jews towards Jesus, the circumstances
connected with their final rejection of Him, and the con
sequences to them as a nation of this, that the prophecy
relates. Our Lord Himself claimed to be "the good
shepherd," One with the Father, who had come to care for
the sheep, and who was recognised as such by those who
were truly His (John x. 14). For this the Jews sought
to stone Him, accusing Him of blasphemy because He
thus made Himself equal with God (verse 3 1 ff), a charge
which they persistently urged against Him, and on which
He was ultimately adjudged to death. They thus requited
Christ's fidelity as a shepherd with base ingratitude and
cruel hatred, rejecting His pretensions, despising His
person, condemning His services, and subjecting Him to
shameful and barbarous treatment. The value at which
they esteemed Him was measured by the price they were
willing to pay for His capture, thirty pieces of 3ilver, the
value of a slave's life. This was paid to His betrayer,
but was by Him afterwards offered back to those from
whom he received it, and being refused by them, was
flung down in the Temple, whence it was taken and ex
pended on the purchase of a piece of ground know as
"the potter's field" (Matt, xxvii. 3-8). There is thus a
close correspondence between the prophet's description and
the facts in our Lord's history in relation to the Jews,
their treatment of Him and the circumstances attendant
on His death ; and in these the Evangelist finds the ful-

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 237
filment of what is here spoken by the prophet (Matt.
xxvii. 9, 10).
That it is this prophecy which the Evangelist says was
thus fulfilled appears unquestionable ; not only in the
general, but in the main details, the narrative of the
Evangelist corresponds so closely to the description of the
prophet, that it cannot be doubted that it is to this he
refers when he says, " Then was fulfilled that which was
spoken by the prophet." There are, however, some diffi
culties in the way of this conclusion. The chief of these
arises from the fact that the Evangelist ascribes the words
he cites to Jeremiah and not to Zechariah. That this is
a mistake appears certain. There was only one Jeremiah,
the prophet known to the Jews, the prophet whose writ
ings are extant in the Old Testament Canon ; and among
these there is no passage which corresponds to that cited
by the Evangelist. How the mistake occurred it is
impossible to say. That it is to be traced to the
Evangelist himself can hardly be credited; for even
supposing that in the haste of composition he had made
the mistake, is it conceivable that he should have
neglected to correct it before sending forth his writing to
the world ? More probable is it that it originated with
the first or an early transcriber of the Evangelist's
manuscript; and there is great probability in the sug
gestion that as St. Matthew, in citing from the prophets,
usually does so without naming the prophet from whom
he cites, he wrote here simply, " thus was fulfilled that
which was spoken by the prophet," and the name Jere
miah was interpolated by the transcriber. At the same
time it is not easy to see what motive any copyist could

238 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
have had to make such an addition to the text ; or if he
made it by mistake, why it was not immediately corrected.
It has, indeed, been suggested that St. Matthew, writing
his Gospel in Hebrew, wrote NUJin T2 and that the trans
lator reading "V2 instead of TO took this as a contraction
for liTD'TQ, and so boldly wrote it, in full, in Greek Sia
'lepe/uLiov; but this, besides assuming what is not, certain
— that the first Gospel was originally written in Hebrew
— is only too ingenious to be accepted as probable. It
has also been suggested that as the name of Jeremiah
stood in the beginning of the volume which was in the
transcriber's hands, and that as when references were
made to a collection of writings it was usual to quote the
name given in the general inscription, the name of Jere
miah was inserted here, not as that of the author of the
prophecy, but as the title of the book in which the pro
phecy is found. Of this all that can be said is that it is
possible ; but as no other instance can be produced in
which the prophecies are cited by the New Testament
writers in this way, it is not probable that in this solitary
case this has been done. It is best to confess that we
cannot account for the copyist making such a mistake ;
but nevertheless it may yet remain probable, that it is by
him that the mistake has been made.
Between the passage as cited by the Evangelist, and
as it appears in the language of the prophet there are
some marked discrepancies, and this occasions a difficulty
in the way of regarding this as the prediction said to be
fulfilled by the facts narrated by the Evangelist. The
difficulty, however, is not insurmountable. The Evangel
ist, it is evident, does not cite the prophecy directly either

THE GOOD SHEPHERD REJECTED. 239
from the Hebrew or from the LXX, and may be therefore
regarded as not having intended to do more than simply
to note generally the purport of the prophet's represen
tation, without exactly translating his words. Accord
ingly the clause, " the price of Him that was valued whom
they of the children of Israel did value," may be viewed
as a free rendering, or an exposition, from the Evangelist's
point of view, of the exclamation in the prophecy, "a
splendid price at which I was valued by them ! " So in
respect of the payment of the money and the ultimate
appropriation of it, the difference between the two state
ments is merely a difference in point of form, not of sub
stance ; the price is the same in both ; in both that price
measures the value set upon the services of Him who was
thus prized, and indicates the contempt with which He
was regarded by those whom He came to serve ; in both
the money is represented as flung down in the Temple
and appropriated ultimately to the potter ; and in both
this is represented as done in obedience to the Divine
appointment, the words, " as the Lord appointed me," in
the Gospel being parallel to the words, " and the Lord
said to me," of the prophecy. That it was Judas and
not Christ Himself to whom the thirty pieces of silver
were given; that they were paid by the high priests and
elders as the representatives' of the nation, and not by the
people themselves ; that the money was cast away, not in
scorn of the vileness of the price, but from remorse and
horror on the part of him who had accepted it as the price of
betraying innocent blood ; and that it was expended on the
purchase of the potter's field instead of being cast away
to the potter, — what are these but simply the forms by

240 ZECH A RIA H'S VISIONS A ND WA RNINGS.
means of which the vague and dim symbols of the pro
phecy came to be translated into actual historical fact ?
Therefore " however indirect and obscure the prefiguration
might be, we are not to regard the reference by Matthew
as a mere accommodation. There was in what befell the
prophet a designed foreshadowing of what in the future
should befall the prophet's Lord " (Wardlaw).

XVIII.
THE EVIL SHEPHERD'S DOOM.
' ' And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments
of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land,
which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the
young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth
still : but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in
pieces. Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock ! the sword
shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye : his arm shall be clean
dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." — Zech. xi. 15-17.
The flock having contemptuously rejected the shepherd
who had come to feed them, and he on his part having
indignantly repudiated them and left them to their fate,
his place was taken by a shepherd of another kind, by
whom the flock was neglected or harassed. As the pro
phet had represented the good shepherd in the former
vision, he is summoned to personate the evil shepherd
in this : " And Jehovah said to me, Take unto thee yet
again the implements of a foolish shepherd" (ver. 15).
The "yet again" 0^) connects this new symbolical
action with the preceding one, for it implies that pre
viously the prophet had taken the implements of a
shepherd in his hand. The implements of a shepherd
are the things he uses in the feeding and tending of his
flock, especially the staff, or crook, and the taking of these
Q

242 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
is emblematical of his actually engaging in the work of a
shepherd. In this case it was a foolish shepherd that
the prophet was to represent; one, that is, not only
unwise, imprudent, and unskilled, but also ill-disposed ;
one whose action towards the flock would be to the
injury and destruction of that which he professed to tend
and keep. That by the shepherd here is intended not a
succession of native rulers of the Jewish nation (as
Hengstenberg supposes), but some one dominant power
by which the nation was to be subdued and oppressed,
appears evident from the contrast of this evil shepherd
with the good shepherd, who was Jehovah Himself, the
King and Shepherd of Israel. It is doubtless, as Keil
remarks, " the possessor of the imperial power into whose
hand the nation was given up after the rejection of the
good shepherd sent to it in Christ, i.e., the Roman empire
which destroyed the Jewish state," that is here* repre
sented. Whilst the good shepherd tended the flock carefully
and kindly, the evil shepherd had no regard to it except
as he might violently rend it for his own uses : " For lo,
I raise up a shepherd in the land ; those that be cut off
he will not visit, the dispersed he will not seek, the
wounded he will not heal, neither will he sustain that
which is strong ; but the flesh of the fat he will eat, and
their claws (hoofs) he will tear off" (ver. 16).
The "for" introduces the reason why the prophet was
to act symbolically the part of the evil shepherd ; it was
because God had determined to let Israel fall under the
power of a shepherd who should not merely neglect the
flock, but harass and destroy it. " The cut off" (cf. verse

THE EVIL SHEPHERD'S DOOM. 243
9) are not those actually destroyed (for such there could
be no possibility of visiting), but such as are cut off or
separated from the flock, so that they cease to belong to it
or disappear from it (LXX, to eickenrov eK\iju.irdvov,Yiilg.
dcrelicta; in Job xv. 21, the verb is used of cities for
saken or deserted). Rosenmuller explains it by "gravis-
sime aegrotantes," and the reference probably is to such
as were separated from the flock because of some disease,
and which were, therefore, proper objects for the shepherd
to visit. For " the dispersed " the A. V. has " the young,"
taking TW here in the sense in which it commonly ap
pears, that of "young man," and so of the young of
animals generally, in this case of sheep. But na'ar is
nowhere else used of the young of the lower animals, and
it seems incongruous to think of lambs in this connection,
for, as Bochart remarks, " A lamb seldom needs to be
sought, for it hardly ever strays from the flock, but is
wont to abide by its dam" {Hierozoic. p. 489). It is
better to regard the word as a formation from "1W to shake,
in Piel, to shake out, to scatter or disperse. Hence a casting
out, a dispersion, and, the abstract for the concr., cast out,
scattered, dispersed ; so the LXX here to ea-Kopiru7fj.ivov, the
Vulg. dispersum, Targ. d'ittaltalu, "who have been dis
persed," or " have wandered." " The wounded," lit. " the
broken," those injured through the fracture of a limb ;
opposed to which are " they that stand " (H^n) that is,
are firm on their limbs, whole and strong (LXX oXoicXypov).
Besides thus neglecting the flock, the evil shepherd
should devour and destroy it, not only consuming the
flesh of the fat ones, but even tearing asunder the cloven
hoof of the animal, that nothing might escape his devour-

244 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
ing greed. Thus Israel should be destroyed of the de
stroyer. God had, before this, punished His people for
their apostacy, by delivering them up to harsh and ra
pacious rulers (comp. Jer. xxiii. i, 2 ; Ez. xxxiv. 2—4);
but as their rebellion against Him had now culminated
in their rejection and maltreatment of the shepherd He
had sent to theni, the penalty had at length come upon
them to the uttermost, and they should be wholly con
sumed of the enemy.
But whilst the evil shepherd should thus be the in
strument of punishing Israel for their apostacy, he him
self should be in turn the object of the Divine vengeance,
because of his iniquity : " Woe to the worthless shepherd
who leaveth the flock ! The sword shall be upon his
arm and upon his right eye ; his arm shall wither away,
and his right eye shall become utterly dim " (verse 1 7).
The shepherd who neglects his flock is of nought as a
shepherd ; he is worthless, and being such deserves to be
punished. And as he neglected to use his arm and his
eye, the organs properly required for the tending and
watching of the flock, his fitting punishment is the de
priving him of the use of these. " The sword " is here
simply the emblem of a destructive power. There is no
reference here to the sword as that which is to hew off the
arm and pierce out the eye, as is evident from the addition
that the arm is to wither and the eye to become dim;
the two descriptions simply express strongly the certainty
and severity of the punishment that should come upon
the worthless shepherd ; he should be utterly deprived of
that power which he had so badly used. In the A. V.
the shepherd is described as the " idol shepherd ; " but

THE EVIL SHEPHERD'S DOOM. 245
though, from the fact that idols were counted as things
of nought (ovSev elScoXov ev KO<r/j.u>, 1 Cor. viii. 4), the
epithet, " the nought, the worthless," is applied to them in
Scripture, there is no reason for introducing the word
" idol " here. " With this threat, the threatening word
concerning the imperial power of the world (chapters ix-
xi.) is very appropriately brought to a close, inasmuch
as the prophecy thereby returns to its starting-point."
(Keil.)

XIX.
ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY.
" The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which
stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth,
and f ormeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jeru
salem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they
shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all
people : all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces,
though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In
that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment,
and his rider with madness ; and I will open mine eyes upon the
house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blind
ness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, the
inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts
their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an
hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf ; and
they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on
the left : and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place,
even in Jerusalem. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first,
that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day
shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; and he that is
feeble among them at that day shall be as David ; and the house of
David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them." — Zech.
xii. 1-8.
With this chapter commences a new section of the
prophetic utterances concerning Israel, extending to the
end of chapter xiv. It comprises two distinct but closely
allied prophecies ; the one relating to the conflict of
Israel with the nations — the victory and ultimate sancti-

ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY. 247
fication of the covenant people (xii. 1 —xiii. 6) ; the
other setting forth the judgment by which Israel should
be wholly refined, and with that the final glory of Jeru
salem (xiii. 7, xiv. 21). In the former of these there are
four sections, viz., xii. 1—4, the conflict with the nations
and their destruction ;' 5-9, the endowment of the princes
of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem with strength to
overcome all their foes ; 10—14, the pouring out on them
of the spirit of grace, so that they shall bitterly repent
their maltreatment of the Divine Shepherd ; and xiii. 1-
6, the cleansing of Israel and their entire restoration from
all apostacy. The inscription, " The burden of the Word
of Jehovah," is the title of the entire prophecy.
" The burden of the Word of Jehovah over (or con
cerning) Israel." This title corresponds to that inscribed
on the preceding prophecy, chapter ix. 1. Massa has
here, as there, its proper meaning of burden ; but as the
prophecy is not directed immediately against Israel, but
rather against the enemies of Israel, though, at the same
time, intimating that it was through affliction and trial
that Israel was to pass to victory and blessing, the burden
is not said to be on (3), but rather over or concerning
(by) Israel. There is a difference also in the reason by
which the oracle is enforced; in the former it is the
omniscience of God, whose eye is upon all men, that is
referred to ; here it is the Divine omnipotence to which
appeal is implicitly made. This oracle is the saying of
Him "who stretcheth out the heavens and layeth the
foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man
within him" (ver. 1). As God upholds and directs all
the material universe by the word of His power, and as

248 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
He moulds and regulates each man's inner nature as He
sees meet, there can be no uncertainty as to the accom
plishment of all that He predicts. It is not so much to
the original creation of all things material and spiritual
by God that reference is here made, as to the continual
agency of God in maintaining and ordering the universe
He has formed in all its parts. He implanted in man a
spirit, an intelligent nature, at first, and He fashions
("IIT, moulds as a potter) each man's spirit not only in
its original constitution, but also in its dispositions, ten
dencies and actings (cf. Prov. xxi. I ; Jer. xix. I ff. ;
Rom. ix. 21 ; Phil. ii. 13). He who stretched forth the
heavens like a curtain and settled the earth on its basis,
has power over that which He has thus framed, to order
it as He wills (cf. Ps. civ. 2 ff). The resources of the
universe are at His disposal ; " He doth according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth ; and none can stay His hand or say unto
Him, What doest Thou ? " (Dan. iv. 35.) With perfect
confidence, then, may His people rest assured that what
He has promised He will perform, what He has said He
will bring to pass.
The enemy hovering over Jerusalem should make an
attack upon it, but only to be himself thrown back and
made to stagger to ruin like a drunken man : " Lo, I will
make Jerusalem a bowl of reeling to all the peoples
around, and also upon Judah shall it be in the siege
against Jerusalem " (ver. 2). " The bowl of reeling '' is
a goblet filled with intoxicating drink, of which those
who partake are maddened and destroyed. The figure is
often employed in Scripture to denote the judgment

ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY. 249
which God inflicts upon transgressors for their punish
ment (cf. Isa. li. 17 ; Jer. xxv. 15 ff., xlix. 12 ; Ezek.
xxiii. 31 ff. ; Hab. ii. 1 6). As those who drain the
intoxicating cup are sickened or frenzied thereby, lose all
power of self-direction and ultimately fall helplessly to
the ground, so are those upon whom the judgment of
God falls paralysed, cast down and destroyed. Such a
source of misery and ruin should Jerusalem be to those
hostile powers by which it was assailed ; " Ita enim eos
inebriabit ut vertigine correpti ruant, atque ad mortem
soporentur " (Rosenm.). The latter part of this verse is
obscure, and has been variously explained. According
to the Authorised Version, the statement is as to the time
or occasion when Jerusalem shall prove a bowl of reeling
to the nations around it; but this interpretation is
obtained at the expense of an entire misrendering of the
words of the passage. St. Jerome's explanation is that
" Judah, during the siege of Jerusalem, being captured
by the nations, and passing into alliance with them, is
compelled to join in the siege of its own metropolis,"
which is substantially the explanation of the Targum and
Jewish interpreters, as well as of Rosenmuller, Ewald,
and others, among those of more recent times. In
support of this it is urged that the phrase by iTiT in
volves the idea of obligation resting upon the party who
is the object of it, so that to be upon Judah here means
that obligation is laid on Judah. But, thus construed,
the sentence is incomplete, for, to make sense, we must
supply some such phrase as " to be " or " to act," and
read the clause thus : " And on Judah it shall be laid to
be in the siege," etc. But this is to make a meaning for

250 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the passage, not to bring out the meaning of the passage
as it stands. Besides, " There is not the slightest indi
cation in what follows of any participation on the part of
Judah in the siege of Jerusalem ; on the contrary, Judah
is represented as the ally of Jerusalem, by whose vic
tories, obtained through the help of the Lord, Jerusalem
is to be delivered" (Hengstenberg). The statement in
xiv. 1 4 that " Judah shall fight also against Jerusalem,"
relates to a later epoch and a different condition of
affairs from this. In the Geneva Version the clause is
rendered, " And also with Judah will she be in the siege
against Jerusalem," with the explanatory note " Jerusa
lem shall be defended against all her enemies ; so shall
God defend all Judah also ; " and this rendering is re
tained in the margin of the Authorised Version. To the
rendering, as such, no objection can be taken; but as
the Lord is the speaker here, it is obviously improper to
regard Him as the subject of the clause. It is better,
therefore, to render " also against Judah shall it be in
the siege against Jerusalem." This, however, leaves the
subject of the clause undetermined. Various suggestions
have been offered as to this. Hengstenberg says, " The
subject to nTP is to be obtained in part from N&Q,
burden, in part also from the previous clause." Pusey
adopts this in the main, affirming that massa " is the
only natural subject," and explaining the purport of the
clause to be, that " the burden of the word of the Lord
which was on Jerusalem should be also on Judah, i.e.,
upon all, small and great ; " and with this Keil also is
substantially in accordance. " The best course," he says,
" is probably to take it [the subject] from the previous

ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY. 251
clause, ' that which passes over Jerusalem.' " Adopting
this, the purport of the clause is, that the country at
large should be involved in the same kind of calamity
as the capital ; as Jerusalem should be besieged, Judah
should be at the same time invaded by the peoples round
about. To those who assailed Jerusalem she should be a bowl
of reeling ; to those who sought to remove and carry her
away she should prove a burden that would only injure
those who attempted to bear it : " And it shall be in that
day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all
the peoples ; all who lift it shall surely be lacerated, and
all the nations of the earth shall be gathered against
her" (ver. 3). Jerome supposes that allusion is here
made to a custom in the towns of Palestine, which pre
vailed even in his day, of placing large round stones of
great weight, with which the youths exercised themselves
by attempting to lift them ; and he gives the sense of the
passage as, " I will place Jerusalem to all nations as a
heavy stone to be lifted ; lift it indeed they will, and
according to their power will devastate it ; but of neces
sity through the effort to raise so heavy a weight the
stone will inflict a certain rent or wound on those who
lift it." But as the case supposed here is not that of exer
cise for amusement or for display of strength, but that of
hostile attack and capture, it is better to understand the
figure of the raising of a stone for the purpose of carry
ing it away, or of using it in building or otherwise. The
stone would be found not only heavy and burdensome,
but would positively injure the bearer by lacerating his
hands or dislocating his sinews ; even so Jerusalem

252 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
would prove, to those who sought to take her and use
her for their own ends, not only a heavy burden, but a
cause of injury and distress. As the statement is quite
general, there is no need for inquiring what special end
it is to which those who lift up Jerusalem may intend to
adapt her — such, for instance, as that suggested by Dr.
Wright, the " fitting of the stone of Jerusalem into any
of the political structures which they might seek to
erect ; " it is enough to accept the general declaration
that they who would seize on Jerusalem and make her
subserve their own ends shall find her a burden, which,
too heavy for them, will overtask their strength, and
recoil with disastrous effect upon themselves. And this
shall happen not once only, or with one nation only;
time after, time, and with the world powers generally,
will this take place : " All the nations of the earth shall
be gathered against her ; " " The prophet marshals them
all against Jerusalem only to say how they should perish
before it " (Pusey) (cf. Joel iii. 2 [Heb. iv. 2]).
In what follows, the entire overthrow of those who
would oppress and suppress Israel is announced : " In
that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with
consternation, and its rider with madness ; but upon the
house of Judah will I open my eyes, and every horse of
the peoples will I smite with blindness " (ver. 4). The
three plagues, consternation, madness, and blindness, are
those which God threatened to send upon the Israelites
in case of their disobedience (Deut. xxviii. 28); these
He now declares He would inflict on the enemies of Israel.
In Scripture, " the horse and his rider " is a phrase
characteristic of warlike strength and power, and is spe-

ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY. 253
cially used of the power of the heathen (cf . Ex. xv. 1 , 2 1 ;
Job xxxix. 1 8 ; Jer. li. 2 1 ; Hag. ii. 22) ; and the smiting
of these here indicates that God would utterly paralyse
the enemies of Jerusalem, so that though the whole
world conspired against her, He would thwart all their
efforts, repel their assault, frustrate their designs, and
ultimately destroy them. Struck with consternation,
utterly infatuated and blinded with terror, they should
rush on their own ruin ; confusion would reign through
their ranks ; and they should " come down every one by
the sword of his brother" (Hag. ii. 22; cf. Judges vii.
22; 1 Sam. xiv. 20; Zech. xiv.). But whilst destruc
tion thus awaited the assailants of Jerusalem, the Lord
would open His eyes on Judah. The eyes of the Lord
are upon the righteous (Ps. xxxiv. 15); and of the land
of Israel it was said by Moses, ages before this, " It is a
land which Jehovah thy God careth for; the eyes of
Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning
of the year even unto the end thereof" (Deut. xi. 12).
This secures for Israel the protection and care of the
Almighty (cf. 1 Kings viii. 29; Neh. i. 6; Jer. xxiv. 6).
" The house of Judah " is here the covenant nation as a
whole. In the next verse the governors or chiefs of Judah are
represented as reposing with confidence in the strength
of the capital and the valour of its inhabitants under
God : " And the princes of Judah will say in their hearts,
' Strength to me are the dwellers in Jerusalem, by
Jehovah of hosts their God ' " (ver. 5). " The princes of
Judah " are the leaders of the people in war, and the
confidence which they feel is that with which the entire

254 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
nation is inspired. To " say in their hearts " is to have
a firm, settled conviction — not a loud, boastful profession,
but a quiet, serene, heartfelt assurance. The singular
" to me " expresses the individuality of the conviction ;
each individual in the host had it as for himself. This
assurance which they had in the inhabitants of Jerusalem
rested not on anything in them, but because Jehovah of
hosts was with them and would help them. From Him
would come united counsels, wise plans, ready co-opera
tion, as well as courage and might, to both rulers and
people; and so they would be made strong against all
their adversaries (cf. i. 17, ii. 12, iii. 2, x. 12). The
effect of this would be that they should overcome and
destroy their enemies : " In that day will I make the
princes of Judah as a pan of fire among sticks, and as a
flaming torch in a sheaf; and they shall consume on the
right hand and on the left all the people round about ;
and Jerusalem shall dwell in her place, in Jerusalem,
continuously " (ver. 6). Strengthened and sustained by
God, the princes of Judah should as readily vanquish
their enemies as a pan of fire cast among dry faggots
would consume them, or a torch placed under a sheaf of
corn would reduce it to ashes. As a consequence, Jeru
salem, personified here as a female, should continue to sit
in her own place, in Jerusalem her city. And not only
should the capital, the strong city, abide in safety ; the
country at large, even the outlying villages and the
dwellers in huts, should share in the security : " The
Lord also will succour the tents of Judah first (or,
according to another reading, supported by the LXX,
Syriac and Vulgate, as in former days), in order that the

ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY. 255
splendour of the house of David and the splendour of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem may _ not exalt itself over
Judah " (ver. 7). By " the tents of Judah " are desig
nated the inhabitants of the land generally ; not, as has
been suggested, those dwelling in " huts which cannot
afford any protection to their inhabitants " (Calvin), but
the country at large, with its inhabitants, as distinguished
from Jerusalem, with its princes and people. It is not
of much moment which of the two readings above noted
is followed, as in either case it is the deliverance of
Judah as preceding that of Jerusalem that is intimated.
This should be in order to preclude any exaltation of
itself by the capital or its princes over the nation at large.
" The splendour (J"*"nNB.n, beauty, magnificence, glory, not
boasting here) of the house of David," is the glory and
honour which God should put upon Zerubbabel, in whom
the royal line was continued (cf. Hag. ii. 20-23 ; Zech.
iv. 6-10, 14); and "the splendour of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem " is the dignity and honour which rested on
that city because of God's habitation there, and the glory
that should come upon it from this (cf. i. 16, ii. 8-13).
The general purport of this announcement is that the
whole covenant nation should participate in the salvation
of the Lord alike, and that this should be brought about
by the country at large being delivered sooner than the
metropolis, so that the latter should have no vocation to
lift itself up above the former, but both should rejoice
together in that salvation which the Lord had brought.
Through the assault of the heathen powers Jerusalem
was plunged in conflict ; but, endowed with marvellous
strength, she should be able to resist all their efforts and

256 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
ultimately to overcome and destroy them. " In that
day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of Jeru
salem ; and he that is feeble among them in that day
shall be as David ; and the house of David shall be as
God, as the angel of Jehovah before them" (ver. 8).
Jerusalem was the city of God, the place of His habita
tion, and over it He would watch with constant care to
protect it from all harm (cf. 2 Kings xix. 34, xx. 6;
Isa. xxxi. 5, xxxvii. 35, &c). In it there were some
who were weak ; some who through weakness could not
stand steady on their feet, but stumbled {hannikshal) (1
Sam. ii. 4). These, when God came to protect the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, should be as David, strong and
brave and potent as was He, the great hero of their
nation (cf . 1 Sam. xvi. 18; 2 Sam. xvii. 1 8 ; 1 Chron.
xiv. 17). And whilst the weak should thus be made
strong, they that were already strong and powerful, " the
house of David," the chiefs and leaders of the people,
should be endowed with supernatural might ; they should
be as God, mighty as the angel of Jehovah who went up
with Israel out of Egypt, discomfited their enemies and
led them through the wilderness to the promised land
(Ex. xxiii. 20 ff. ; Josh. v. 13 ff. ; Ps. cvi. 9, 10). "The
general meaning is that the Lord God will strengthen the
weakest and give additional elevation, honour, and influ
ence to the highest, and add divinely to the might of the
mightiest, so that no opposing power shall ever stand
before them, any more than when that Divine angel of
the covenant was commissioned to be their conductor
and guardian, of whom Jehovah said, My Name is in
Him" (Wardlaw). And whilst God thus endows His

ISRAEL'S CONFLICT AND VICTORY. 257
people with strength, He will come forth against their
enemies and seek to destroy them (ver. 9). God here
speaks after the manner of men. He says that He will
seek to destroy the enemies of Jerusalem, to indicate that
this was His determined purpose, that on which He was
bent and whicli He certainly would effect.

XX.
PENITENCE AND GRACE.
" And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy
all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon
the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit
of grace and of supplications : and they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourn
ing in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of
Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart ; the family
of the house of David apart, and their wives apart ; the family of the
house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart ; the family of the
house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei
apart, and their wives apart ; all the families that remain, every
family apart, and their wives apart." — Zech. xii. 9-14.
Still more than- all previous kindnesses would God do
for His people ; not only should their enemies be dis
comfited and destroyed, they themselves should be resus
citated and restored. This should be effected by the
pouring out upon them of the spirit of grace and suppli
cation, so that they should come to a knowledge of their
sin and a sincere and genuine repentance : " And I will
pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabi
tants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications :
and they will look upon me whom they have pierced, and
will mourn over Him like the mourning for an only son,
and will bitterly lament like the bitter lamenting for a
firstborn" (ver. 10). Though in the preceding context

PENITENCE AND GRACE. 259
the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are
distinguished from the people of Judea, they seem here
to stand synecdochically for the people as a whole, since
the effect of the outpouring is described as extending to
every family of the nation (12-14) : °n the nation at
large God would pour forth the spirit of grace and sup
plications. This is often explained as meaning the spirit
which is gracious, whose working is of grace, which is
also the spirit of prayer, as that which produces, leads to,
and directs prayer. But there is a manifest incongruity in
this interpretation ; the two genitives, which are evidently
analogous, being treated as different ; the one the genitive
of subject, the other of object. It is better to take both
as objective ; the spirit of grace as that which produces or
bestows grace, the spirit of supplications as that which
leads to prayer and teaches to pray. Properly, indeed,
grace is the favour felt and shown by a benefactor to the
object of his regard; but in Scripture, according to a
figure of speech frequently used, grace often means, not
the favour which produces certain effects in men, but the
effects themselves thereby produced (cf. Ps. xiv. 2 [3],
Ixxxiv. 11 [12]; Prov. iii. 34; Zech. iv. 7; Rom. i. 5,
v. 2 ; 1 Cor. xv. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 15, viii. 6, 7; Eph. iv.
29; Phil. i. 7; 2 Pet. iii. 18). Here accordingly
" grace " may be taken as equivalent to " grace-gift," and
as signifying that disposition or condition of mind, or
that state of privilege and blessing which comes from
God's favour, and makes the recipient of it gracious and
blessed. Of this the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is
the author, and hence He is here called " The Spirit of
Grace," not, as some have suggested, because He draws

260 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
forth the Divine grace to men (which is not a biblical
representation), but because He is Himself the author of
grace and blessing to men (cf. Heb. x. 29). Some would
render here by " a spirit," but though rfl~) is without the
article, yet being in the construct state it may be regarded
as definite (Miiller, Heb. Syn., § 66). He is also " The
Spirit of Supplications," because it is by Him that men
are prompted and taught to pray. The word here used,
D\3!0n,n> is derived from the verb ]Jn, which, in the
hithpahel from which the noun is formed, signifies to
implore favour, to ask for grace (Deut. iii. 23 ; Esth. iv.
8 ; Job xix. 16 ; Ps. xxx. 8 [9] ; Hos. xii. 4 [5] ) ; it is
used for the most part where a cry to God for favour or
blessing is intended ; here probably also with allusion to
in "grace" in the conjoined clause. This spirit God
would pour out on all classes, great and small, rich and
poor, governor and subject (cf. Joel ii. 28, 29 [iii. 1, 2]);
and consequent on this should be a general penitential
mourning and bitter sorrow throughout the nation.
" They shall look " (habitu), shall look earnestly, look
with interest and feeling (cf. Num. xxi. 9 ; Isa. Ixiii. 5),
" upon me whom they have pierced." The speaker here
is Jehovah ; and here lies the difficulty of the passage.
How, it may be asked, can it in any sense be said that
God is pierced ? The difficulty has been felt from the
earliest times, and various expedients have been resorted
to in order to surmount or evade it. In several MSS.
the reading vbit on Him is substituted in place of ^N on
me; but this is evidently an arbitrary correction sug
gested by the rby in the following clause ; the textual^
reading is that of the. majority of MSS., includino- the

PENITENCE AND GRACE. 261 •
best, and is supported by all the ancient versions. The
other reading derives no support from John xix. 37, for
the Evangelist is not there quoting the passage in the
words of the prophet, but rather giving the purport of it
as from his own point of view ; nor is there any force in
the objection that the textual reading is at variance with
the vby of the next clause, for in the poetical and pro
phetical books a change of one person for another in the
same context is not uncommon. It is probable that here
the introduction of the clause "l^N JIN may have had the
effect of inducing the change. These words Kimchi takes
as equivalent to V} TQ^l in the sense of " because of Him
whom," and this interpretation other Jews adopt ; but it
cannot be shown that 'eth 'asher can have this meaning.
The rendering in the LXX is avS" 3>v KaTwpx^avro pro
eo quod insultaverunt, because "that they insulted or
derided. This rendering Jerome suggests that they
adopted from reading npT in place of TlpT, but more
probably they designedly adopted this in order to soften
the expression, understanding " pierce " metaphorically as
equivalent to piercing with words, assailing with cutting
reproaches, just as 3pj to bore is used in the sense of
blaspheme, curse. All the other ancient Greek versions,
however, have e^eKevrrja-av ; and though Calvin, Rosen-
miiller, Gesenius, and other interpreters of eminence take
the verb metaphorically (" confixio pro continua irrita-
tione," Calv. ; " probris lacessiverunt," Eos.), it is un
doubtedly to be taken here in its proper sense. For (1)
this verb which occurs in ten other places is nowhere
used except in the literal acceptation of piercing or
stabbing, and generally to the effect of slaying (cf. Num.

262 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
xxv. 8 ; Judges ix. 54 ; 1 Sam. xxxi. 4 ; 1 Chron. x. 4 ;
Isa. xiii. 1 5 ; Jer. xxxvii. 1 o, li. 4 ; Lam. iv. 9) ; and
(2), as Hitzig remarks, the connection requires the verb
to be understood literally, otherwise how could the
lamenting be described by the verb 13D, which, followed
by by of the person, properly expresses mourning for the
dead ? Keil proposes to get over the difficulty by regard
ing the Maleach Jehovah, the Angel of Jehovah, as the
object of the piercing ; but this leaves the difficulty as
great as ever, for as the angel of Jehovah is identified
with Jehovah Himself, so that (as Keil himself remarks)
"the slaying of the Maleach" might be described "as
the slaying of Jehovah," the one representation is as hard
to conceive as the other. Not a few interpreters think
the difficulty solved by a reference to the two natures,
the Divine and the human, united in the Person of the
Messiah ; but even if we regard this as a direct Messianic
prediction, the twofold constitution of Christ's person
will ,not help to account for the language here used,
inasmuch as it was only the human body of our Lord,
and not His Divine nature, that was pierced. The
explanation suggested by Hitzig is by much the best:
" The passage is explained simply from the identification
of the Sender with the Sent (comp. Barachoth, v. 5, iiOrQ
D-JN bf Smbti); Mark ix. 37 ; Luke x. 1 6), Jehovah with
the prophet. By this, as we have seen, the words which
L had made, &c, in the mouth of the prophet — xi. 1 o —
are to be explained ; and as there the paying off of him
is that of Jehovah, ver. 1 3, so here the slaying of the
prophet is viewed as if it had been that of Jehovah."
The Good Shepherd is still present in the prophet's

PENITENCE AND GRACE. 263
vision ; and in the piercing of him, as Jehovah's repre
sentative, there is symbolically shadowed forth what took
place in fact when the real representative of Jehovah,
the Good Shepherd Himself, after being contumeliously
treated, was pierced and put to death by those He had
come to feed. Beholding Him whom they had pierced,
and, as they beheld, awakened to a sense of the greatness
of their sin, they should be filled with penitential sorrow,
and would bitterly deplore their misconduct ; they should
mourn for Him (not as Iarchi proposes for it, i.e., the
crime of which they had been guilty ; the comparison of
this mourning to that over an only son and a firstborn
shows that it is a person and not a deed that is here
referred to). Keil thinks that " the transition from the
first person {"ha) to the third {vby) points to the fact
that the person slain, though essentially one with
Jehovah, is personally distinct from the Supreme God ; "
but for this there seems no good ground ; the change is
purely arbitrary, and is merely one of phraseology. The
mourning should be like that for an only son or a first
born, proverbially the deepest and bitterest lamentation
(cf. Jer. vi. 26; Amos viii. 10). The rendering in the
Authorised Version " be in bitterness " is not an exact
rendering, but it gives excellently well the meaning of
the Hebrew; the verb being taken intransitively, and
the inf. abs. being construed as the finite verb (Ges., §
131, 4 a; Miiller, § 106). As the firstborn son was
especially esteemed (Gen. xlix. 3; Exod. iv. 22; Deut.
xxi. 17; Micah vi. 7), the death of such was most
bitterly deplored.
The mourning was to be not only deep and poignant,

264 ZECHARIAHS VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
but also universal. The prophet compares it to "the
mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo "
(ver. 1 1 ), that is, the mourning occasioned by what took
place there. The mourning referred to is that of the
nation over King Josiah, who was slain in battle with
Pharaohnecho at Megiddo, and whose death was deeply
and widely lamented throughout the nation (2 Kings
xxiii. 29, 30; 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24). Hadad-rimmon
was a place, Jerome tells us, in the plain of Megiddo,
near to Jezreel, and known in his day by the name of
Maximianopolis ; it has recently been identified with a
place called Rummaneh, where there are the remains of
a town or village at the south-western part of the plain
of el-But-tauf, not far from Lejjun, the supposed site of
Megiddo.* The death of King Josiah was a signal
calamity to the Jewish nation ; with it " the last gleam
of the sunset of Judah faded into night " (Pusey) ; and
the shadow of that calamity rested on the nation for
generations afterwards. For him Jeremiah wrote a
lamentation. Dirges for him were preserved in the
national archives, and were periodically recited by the
minstrels of the nation; and thus to lament for him
in dirges became an ordinance in Israel which survived
the captivity (2 Chron. xxxv. 25). No lamentation in
Judah equalled this for King Josiah ; and so it came to
be associated in the minds of the people with the highest
degree of sorrow and mourning. Hence the allusion to
it here ; even to the height of this hitherto unequalled
sorrow, should the mourning of Israel over their great sin
* This identification, however, is called in question by some eminent
explorers and critics. See " Survey of Western Palestine," Vol. II., p. 90.

PENITENCE AND GRACE. 265
rise. The notion of Hitzig that the mourning of Hadad-
rimmon is to be understood of the mourning for Adonis
is simply preposterous. There is no, evidence that Adonis
ever was known by the name of Hadad-rimmon, or that
this was the name of any idol in Phoenicia or elsewhere ;
the mourning referred to by the prophet is a mourning
for the lost dead ; but the " weeping for Thammuz "
(Adonis) was only the prelude to a burst of joyous
exultation over his resuscitation ; * and especially how
can it be believed that the mourning of Israel over their
sins would be compared by a prophet of Israel to the
"cultus abominabilis " of a heathen idol? The word
Hadad-rimmon, it is true, contains the name of one
Syrian idol — Rimmon (see 2 Kings v. 1 8), and probably
that of another — Hadad (comp. Ben-hadad, Hadad-Ezer,
like Ben-hanan, Eliezer); but this name was probably
given to the place because both idols had their worship
specially celebrated there ; though Hadad may be only an
appellation appended to the proper name.t
Not in Jerusalem alone, but throughout the land
should this mourning extend : " And the land shall mourn,
every family apart ; the family of the house of David
apart, and their wives apart ; the family of the house of
Nathan apart, and their wives apart ; the family of the
house of Levi apart, and their wives apart ; the family of
* " Mulieres gemitus et lamenta ob amissum Adonim et jam denuo re-
pertum in sacra commutabant gaudia, miraque laetitia quod reliquum erat
festi, Deum excipientes, peragebant." Selden, De Dis Syris, c. I r.
+ In two inscriptions of Shalmaneser the name Rimmon-hidri occurs as
that of the Ben-hadad of the Bible, whose personal name Professor Sayce
concludes was Kimmon-adar ("Records of the Past," iii. 99; v. 34).
Hadad should probably be read Hadar, both when alone and when joined
with another word.

266 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the Shimeite apart, and their wives apart ; all the rest of
the families, every family apart, and their wives apart "
(ver. 12-14). The mourning was to be universal; the
whole land should mourn ; through all the families of the
nation should the lamentation extend. And the sorrow
should be individual ; not only should each family mourn
apart, but each person should mourn as for his or her
own particular grief, the husband apart from the wife,
the wife from the husband. Four families are specially
mentioned. Two of these, the house of David and the
house of Levi, are easily discernible ; the former the
descendants of David the King of Israel, the latter the
posterity of the patriarch Levi. As to the other two,
there is less certainty. By the Jewish interpreters,
Nathan is taken to be the well-known prophet of that
name ; and the family of the Shimeites is understood of
the tribe of Simeon, which they say furnished teachers to
the nation. Thus, according to them, there are repre
sented here the regal, the prophetical, the priestly, and
the didactic orders of the nation. But this view is open
to serious objections : (1) Nathan, though a prophet, was
not the head of any order, and therefore could not stand
as the representative of the order of prophets; (2) there
is no evidence that from the tribe of Simeon teachers
were especially supplied to the nation; and (3) the
patronymic of Simeon is Shimeoni (Num. xxv. 14 ; Josh.
xxi. 4 ; 1 Chron. xxvii. 1 6), not Shimei, which is the
word here used. The more probable view is that the
Nathan of this passage is Nathan the son of David, from
whom Zerubbabel was descended, and that the family of
the Shimeite is that descended from Shimei, the son of

PENITENCE AND GRACE. 267
Gershon, the son of Levi (Num. iii. 17), of whom it is
recorded, " came the family of the Shimeite " (ver. 2 1 ).
According to this view the prophet here " of two tribes
mentions one leading family and one subordinate branch,
to show that not only are all the families of Israel in
general seized with the same grief, but all the separate
branches of those families " (Keil). This is the view
now generally entertained. " The rest of the families,"
or the remaining families (hammishpachoth hannish'-
aroth), are not the survivors of some that had become
extinct (Henderson), nor the less renowned as compared
,with those mentioned (Kohler), but simply the family
remaining after these. The mourning was to be uni
versal ; all classes and conditions, families and indivi
duals, men and women alike, were to be the subjects of
this deep penitential sorrow and bitter lamentation.
We have now to inquire to what this prophecy refers,
and to what we are to look for its fulfilment.
» We may dismiss at once the opinion that it is to the
time of the Maccabees and to the restoration of the
Jewish state at that crisis in its history that this pro
phecy refers. Not only is there no traceable correspon
dence between the description of the prophet and the
facts or events of the Maccabean struggle, but the whole
cast and tenor of the prophet's utterances point to some
thing far more solemn and spiritual than is involved in
the circumstances and issue of a nation's struggle for
independence. The penitential and believing look which
is here described as turned by the people to Him, the
representative of the Shepherd of Israel, whom they had
rejected, maltreated, and pierced to death, points to the

268 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Messianic age as the time when this prophecy finds its
fulfilment. From the connection of this prophecy with
that in the preceding chapter, where the rejection of the
Messiah by the Jews, and what came consequent on that,
are described, we seem shut up to the conclusion that it
is to the death of the Christ and the effect of that on the
people that this prophecy refers.
This prophecy began to be fulfilled when our Lord was
crucified. The Evangelist saw an express fulfilment of
the prediction that the Messiah should be pierced, in the
piercing of the side of Christ by the spear of a soldier, as
He was hanging on the cross (John xix. 37). It is not
meant by this that the solitary act of the infliction of
such a wound is all that is intended by the prophet, or
all that the Evangelist regarded as fulfilled on that
occasion, but that by this act was conspicuously consum
mated that career of obloquy and suffering which the
Messiah was to endure, and through which Jesus the
Christ actually passed. " The, so to speak, literal fulfil
ment in the outward circumstances only served to make
the internal concatenation of the prophecy, with its
historical realisation, so clear that even unbelievers
could not successfully deny it" (Keil). A literal ful
filment, also, of the looking with penitential lamen
tation on the pierced one, was seen when " all the people
that came together to this sight, when they saw the
things that were done, returned smiting their breasts"
(Luke xxiii. 48) ; thus giving expression to their mourn
ing and sorrow. " The crowds who but a short time
before had cried out, ' Crucify Him,' now smite their
breasts, overpowered by the proofs of the superhuman

PENITENCE AND GRACE. 269
dignity of Jesus, and mourn for the deceased and their
own sin" (Hengstenberg). In this, however, there was
but the commencement of the fulfilling of this prophecy.
With this began "a powerful movement, which brought
large bodies of penitent Jews to the Christian Church."
On the day of Pentecost this movement came to a height.
When St. Peter, in his address to the multitude that had
come together of " Jews, devout men out of every nation
under heaven," charged upon them the guilt of killing
" the Prince of life," they " were pricked in their hearts,"
and cried out to Peter and the other Apostles of Christ,
" Men and brethren, what shall we do ? " and when, in
answer to this appeal, they were summoned to repent
ance, multitudes obeyed the call ; and as the work went
on, " believers were the more added to the Lord, multi
tudes both of men and women ; " so that ere long there
were many thousands of believing Jews numbered among
the Christians (Acts ii. 36, 37, 38, iii. 14, 19, v. 14,
xxi. 20). Among these were some doubtless of the
family of David ; at least we may safely conclude that
the brethren of our Lord, who before His crucifixion did
not believe on Him, but were afterwards devoted
adherents to His cause, were among those whom His
death awakened to repentance, contrition, and faith ;
and they were, as He was, " of the house and lineage of
David." Nor was the family of Levi without its repre
sentatives in this great national mourning, for among
those who at the beginning of the gospel were obedient
to the faith of the Crucified, was " a great company of
the priests " (Acts vi. 7). This, however, was still but
the beginning of the fulfilment. We err when we

270 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS,
assume that prophecy is fulfilled all at once, or by any
one act, or at any precise time. The interpretation of
prophecies must (as Bacon, with his wonted sagacity,
teaches) " allow that latitude which is agreeable and
familiar unto Divine prophecy, being of the nature of tbe
Author, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and
therefore are not fulfilled punctually and at once, but
have springing and germinant accomplishments through
out many ages, though the height or fulness thereof may
refer to some one age." * For the complete fulfilment of
the prophecy here announced we have to look on through
the whole period of the Messiah's reign. The converts
on the day of Pentecost formed but the nucleus of a
larger body, which all through the ages shall be ever
expanding, " until the fulness of the Gentiles shall be
come in, and so all Israel shall be saved " (Rom. xi.
25, 26). * "Advancement of Learning,'' Book II., chap. n.

XXI.
PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT.
" In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David,
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. And
it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will
cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more
be remembered ; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean
spirit to pass out of the land. And it shall come to pass, that when
any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him
shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live ; for thou speakest lies in the
name of the Lord : and his father and his mother that begat him shall
thrust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision,
when he hath prophesied ; neither shall they wear a rough garment
to deceive : But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman ;
for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say
unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall
answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
—Zech. xiii. 1-6.
This passage is closely connected with what goes before
in the preceding chapter. There the prophet represents
Israel as overwhelmed with penitential sorrow for the sin
they had committed in their rejection and maltreatment
of the good shepherd, the emissary and representative of
Jehovah. Shall this penitence be in vain? By no
means. God, who Himself had brought about this state
of mind in the people, by pouring out on them the spirit
of grace and supplication, the spirit that awakens to a
sense of the evil of sin and leads to a sincere, contrition

272 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
and penitence because of it, would meet them in their
deep sorrow with His redeeming grace, and would supply
to them that absolution and cleansing for which He had
taught them to cry. " In that day shall a fountain be
opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness " (verse i). The
expression " in that day " carries us back to the same ex
pression as used in the preceding chapter, where it indi
cates the time when the great mourning of the people,
because of their sin in rejecting and putting to death the
Messiah, should break forth ; the provision for their
absolution and cleansing should be contemporaneous with
their mourning. A fountain or water-source should then
be opened ; a passage should be made for the waters so
long hidden to burst forth and come to manifestation so
as to be for use (cf. Isaiah xli. 1 8). The fountain should
be for cleansing ; the water that flowed from it should be
for " the sprinkling of the unclean " that they might be
freed from their impurity. In the words " for sin and for
uncleanness " there is apparently an allusion in the former
to the water used in the purification of the Levites at their
consecration, which is called DX^n ND-, water of sin, i.e.,
water of purification from sin (Num. viii. 7), and in the
latter to the water for the purifying of the congregation
of Israel, prepared from mixing the ashes of the red heifer
slain as a sacrifice with water, and which was, from the
use to which it was applied, called i"ffi2 'D, water of
cleansing (Num. xix. 9, " water of separation," Authorised
Version). As water applied to the person removes outward
defilement, it becomes a fitting emblem of that which re
moves from the inner man moral defilement (cf. Ps. li. 2,

PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT. 273
7; Is. i. 16; Ez. xxxvi. 25). Here the reference is to
the cleansing energy which He who pours on men the
spirit of grace and supplication bestows on all who truly
repent, and which comes to men through the sacrificial
death of Christ, whose " blood cleanseth from all sin " (1
John i. 7). Under the Law, " without shedding of blood
there was no remission" of sin or cleansing from moral
defilement (Heb. ix. 22). Hence a Jew's entire con
ception of salvation from sin was folded up in these two
— remission of guilt through sacrifice, and moral purifi
cation through Divine grace, consequent on remission.
Accordingly here the removal of moral defilement is con
nected with the removal of guilt, and both fall back on
what is said in the preceding chapter regarding the pierc
ing of the Shepherd, and the looking of the penitent
people to Him whom they had pierced.
The fountain opened, its cleansing waters are free to
all, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem as well as to the
house of David. As the sin was universal and as the
spirit of grace was poured on the people promiscuously,
so should the cleansing be for all alike. The grace of
salvation is free to all without respect of persons.
True repentance will show itself on the part of those
who are subjects of it, in the relinquishment of all former
objects of evil attachment, and the entering upon a new
life of godliness and holy service. So should it be with
the covenant people after the great mourning and the
attendant cleansing : " And it shall come to pass in that
day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I will cut off the names
of the idols out of the land, and they shall not be re
membered any more; and the prophets also and the

274 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
spirit of uncleanness will I remove out of the land "
(verse 2). As the sins to which Israel was most prone,
and which brought on the nation the Divine judgments,
were idolatry and false prophecy, so the restoration of the
people to a new life of godliness and righteousness is de
picted by the extermination of idols and false prophets
irom the land. The names of the idols should be cut off;
they should so utterly be abolished that their very names
should perish and be forgotten (cf. Hosea ii. 19). That
by " the prophets " here are intended the false prophets,
that is, those who pretended to speak in the name of God
but had not been sent by Him, and who, consequently,
uttered as from God what was only their own thought or
device, is evident from their being associated with idols,
of which "lying vanities" the false prophets were the
principal advocates ; and with the " spirit of uncleanness,"
that is, the evil spirit, the diabolic spirit, the seducing
spirit, the Satan, adversary and antagonist of the spirit of
grace, to whose malign influence and working " all deceiv-
ableness of unrighteousness," and all lying divinations are
to be traced (comp. 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10; 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2;
Eev. xvi. 14; Ez. xiii. 6; 2 Kings xxii. 22, 23). That
the restoration to a state of genuine godliness, and the
prevalence of true spiritual religion in the Messianic age
should be represented by the extermination of idols and
false prophets, at a time when idolatry and false pro
phesying were no longer known in Israel, is to be
accounted for by the fact that the ancient prophets were
in the habit of using the forms of the past in predicting
the future. In the earlier ages of the nation, idolatry, with
its accompaniment false prophecy, was the form in which

PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT. 275

ungodliness most manifested itself, and even in the time
of Zechariah tendencies to this among the people were
not wanting (see Neh. vi. 10-14, xiii- 23; Ezra ix. 2
ff.). How, then, could the prophet more vividly present
the conception of a return to sincere godliness than by
announcing the utter abolition of idolatry and the exter
mination of its advocates and promoters ? In the days of
our Lord, moreover, when He came to His own heritage,
and they that were His own received Him not, there
were false teachers among the people who were now
leading them away from God ; and though idolatry in its
grosser forms was unknown among them, in the more
subtle form of ritualism and self-righteousness it pre
dominated throughout the community. All evil of this
sort God should make to pass away P^N transire
faciam) from His people. A reign of righteousness and
truth should be inaugurated, into which " the righteous
nation that keepeth the truth " should enter, and where
only " they that are of the truth " should find a place.
So entire should be the deliverance of the people from
idolatry and the influence of false prophets, that not only
would there be no toleration of these in the land, but,
should any such appear, their nearest and dearest friends,
even their parents themselves, should rise up against
them and destroy them: "And it shall come to pass,
that should a man yet prophesy, his father and his
mother, his parents, will say unto him, Thou shalt not
live ; for thou hast spoken falsehood in the name of
Jehovah: and his father and his mother, his parents,
shall pierce him through because of his prophesying"
(verse 3). According to the law of Moses any one who

276 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
sought to persuade to idolatry, or who presumed to speak
in the name of God what God had not commanded him
to speak, or should speak in the name of other gods, was
to be put to death (Deut. xiii. 6-1 1, xviii. 20). It does
not appear that this law was ever put in force during the
continuance of the Israelitish state, for though false pro
phets who instigated the people to idolatry were not
wanting, no instance is recorded of their being put to
death by those whom they sought to seduce. In the
case supposed by the prophet, however, this law would
be revived in all its stringency, and not only so, but, in
their newly awakened zeal, the people should go be
yond the law and inflict the penalty without using those
precautions which the law prescribed. For the law evi
dently enacts that it is only by a judicial procedure after
due investigation, and in the presence of the people, that the
penalty of death by stoning is to be inflicted on the false
prophet ; whereas in the case described by the prophet, it
is instantly, and by a vengeful stroke, that the offender is
to be punished. The representation is intended to depict
vividly the utter recoil of the nation from idolatry ahd
false prophets, and their determination to put down and
extirpate all who by false teaching would seduce and
mislead the people. His parents C^- 1U^ eum peper-
cerunt), even they, the authors of his being, instead of pro
tecting him, or seeking to conceal or palliate his offence,
should be the first to denounce him and inflict on him
the penalty of death P?^ to thrust through, to pierce, to
put to death, cf . xii. 1 o). This should be simply " because
of his prophesying." This rests on the assumption that
God, ere this, had ceased to speak to His people by His

PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT. 277
prophets ; consequently, should any one still (ity) after
this pretend to speak as a prophet, he would, ipso facto,
be convicted of having spoken falsehood in the name of
Jehovah. So entirely discredited should be the prophetic
function, and so strong the reaction in the public mind
against it, that the false prophets, though not wholly
silenced, should be ashamed to come forth openly to
utter their pretended oracles, should anxiously seek to
obliterate the remembrance of their former pretensions,
and should use all means to avoid the imputation to them
of a profession so repugnant to popular feeling and con
viction : " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when
he hath prophesied ; neither shall he wear a garment of
hair to deceive '' (ver. 4). The " garment of hair," the
Addereth se'ir, was a large mantle or cloak made of goat's
or camel's hair, much like the 'Abba now commonly worn
by the peasantry in Palestine ; it was the usual costume
of the prophets, and was distinctive of them (1 Kings
xix. 13, 19; 2 Kings i. 8; Matt. iii. 1) ; so that to
assume it was pro tanto to pretend to be a prophet. This
the false prophets used to do ; but, ashamed of the pre
tensions they had made, and fearing to encounter the
popular abhorrence of such pretensions, they would divest
themselves of every outward mark of this. They would
now assume a less offensive appearance, and give them
selves out for farm labourers, who from their youth had
been the bond-servants of others : " And he shall say, I
am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground ; for a man
had possession of me from my youth" (ver. 5). The
" he " here is the " every one " (t^N) of verse 4 ; nD"lN

278 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
I3y one who labours the soil, cultivates land, a tiller of
the ground (as in Gen. iv. 2) ; HJprr hiph. of H^, to get,
to possess, appears here with the same signification as the
kal (perhaps to cause oneself to get, to possess), or it may
be a denominative from HppD, a possession, signifying to
make a possession, to cause to become a possession, and
so to have in possession ; the rendering in the Authorised
Version " man taught me to keep cattle " is that of
Kimchi, but it is not easy to see how this can be got
out of the words in the Hebrew. The false prophet thus
pleads the impossibility of his having been a prophet at
all, seeing he had from his youth been engaged in servile
pursuits in the fields ; just as Amos confirms the asser
tion that he was no prophet by declaring that he was "a
herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit " (vii. 1 4). In
bar of this plea those who are taking him to task demand
an explanation of certain marks of freshly inflicted
wounds which are seen on his person : " Then shall one
say to him, What are these wounds in thine hands ? "
(ver. 6). The word used here for " wounds " primarily
means a blow or stroke (Prov. xx. 30, Authorised
Version, " stripes " ; Isa. xiv. 6), then the effect of a
stroke, a wound ; it cannot be understood here of the
cicatrices of old wounds which had been healed, but had
left their mark. These wounds were " between (Y3.) the
hands," which may mean that they were upon the breast
or arms (cf. " between his arms,'/ 2 Kings ix. 24) ; but
more probably Y2- is used here for 2 as in Prov. xxvi. 1 3,
" in the streets "), and the hands must be regarded as the
site of the wounds. Seeing these wounds still fresh on
the hands of the accused, his examiner implicitly sug-

PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT. 279
gests that they are such as idolaters were wont to inflict
upon themselves in the worship of their false gods, or
when waiting for the afflatus by which they were sup
posed to be enabled to utter oracles from the Deity ; and
the accused is asked to say how, if he had been a simple
farm-servant from his youth, he came to have these marks
of idolatrous rites in his hands. To this his reply is that
these wounds are not self-inflicted wounds, such as the
prophets of Baal inflicted on themselves, but wounds
which were received by him in private society : " Then
he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the
house of those who love me " (ver. 6). Kimchi under
stands by this, wounds which the false prophet says- he ,
received in the Beth Hammid-rash (house of study) when
his relations (parents or guardians) beat him because he
neglected his work in the fields that he might pursue
learning. In this case, however, it could only have been
the mark of stripes or blows received long before that
were seen, not fresh wounds such as the word here used
denotes. That the wounds were not self-inflicted is ren
dered evident by the form of the verb, which is passive
{hukkeythi, I was wounded) ; and this sets aside the sug
gestion that the wounds were such as persons inflicted
on themselves in mourning for the dead, as well as the
supposition that the accused here confesses his guilt in
that he had followed those idolatrous rites in which per
sons wounded themselves when invoking the Deity. It
seems certain that the man intends, by what he says, to
obviate the suspicions of his accuser by assigning another
cause of the wounds than that which his accuser had
insinuated ; and as his words are quite indefinite it seems

280 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
needless to attempt to assign to them a special and pre
cise meaning. " It may be possible that he meant simply
to suggest that the fresh wounds which were so suspicious
had been accidentally inflicted when with his friends, or
he may have suggested that these wounds were received
by him on the occasion of some carousal with boon com
panions " (Wright).
The recovery of the Israel of God from apostacy, and
the banishment from it of all forms of ungodliness and
all false teaching, is what this prophecy is intended to set
forth. It is not to be restricted to any particular period
or historical standpoint ; " the day " is not any point in
time, but is that " day of the Lord," that day which He
" makes," and which, beginning at a point in time,
stretches through the ages to the end of time, and during
the lapse of which the prediction of the prophet is often
fulfilled, and in many different ways. It is not merely
or even specially idolatry and false divinations that are
to be extirpated ; these are here but typical instances,
introduced to represent all forms of ungodliness and false
hood by which true religion may be corrupted, and men
be led astray from the truth and from God. The open
ing of the fountain for sin and for uncleanness was the
unveiling of " the mystery which had been hid from ages
and from generations, but was at length made manifest
to those to whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ;
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. i. 26, 27).
It is not to the advent of a person or to the occurrence
of any historical event that the prophecy in the begin
ning of this section refers; what is announced is the

PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT. 281
establishment of the economy of grace, the bringing in of
the kingdom of God, free access to which should be given
to all, small and great, the revelation and manifestation
of the " mystery which had been before made known by
the scriptures of the prophets, according to the command
ment of the everlasting God" (Rom. xvi. 26). Then was
provision made for the cleansing from sin and unclean
ness of all without respect of persons ; the Jew first, but
also the Greek. The manifestation of this was by the
appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who came to take
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself ; but it is the thing
done rather than the doer of it that is here announced.
It is for the house of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem that this fountain is said to be opened. They
seem to err grievously, however, who infer from this that
this prophecy refers to the final conversion of the Jewish
people. The prophets are wont to describe the new dis
pensation in language borrowed from the condition and
usages of the old ; and we interpret them aright when,
keeping this in view, we understand their descriptions,
not as representations of simple historical facts, but as
serving as the copy and shadow of the heavenly things,
and as finding their fulfilment in crises and conditions of
the kingdom of heaven on earth. They go upon the pre
sumption that the Israel of God was never to be abo
lished, that its continuity was never to be interrupted,
that though the outward national Israel might be cast off
because of their rejection of the Good Shepherd, the true
Israel, the reality of which the other was but the symbol,
the Israel that was really Israel (" for they are not all
Israel that are of Israel "), should continue for ever. This

282 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
idea our Lord and His Apostles adopted, and in their teach
ing and administrations carried out. With them there,
was no such thing as the termination and abolition of the
ancient church, and the formation in its place of a new one.
Their thought was that the one church which had been
from the beginning should continue on — that Judaism
should expand into evangelism; the church of a nation
into the church of the world ; and that this should come
to pass by Jews first embracing Christ, and then receiv
ing into their society Gentiles, by whom also He had
been embraced. So it was in point of fact. The kingdom
of the Christ at first included only Jews or proselytes to
Judaism. The church had become a comparatively large
body before a single convert from among the Gentiles
was made, or the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles.
The commission which our Lord gave to His Apostles
bound them to preach the glad tidings to the nations,
but it no less bound them to " begin at Jerusalem.''
When their commission was opened on the Day of Pente
cost, it was to Jews only that their message was addressed ;
and the order in which they proceeded in fulfilling their
ministry was the order of the promise itself they were
sent forth to announce. " The promise," said St. Peter,
in his opening address, " is to you and your children,
and to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord shall
call" (Acts ii. 39). In accordance with this St. Paul
teaches that the new dispensation was not the planting
of another tree; the one olive-tree remained with its
roots fixed ineradicably in the soil ; the only change made
was that decayed and worthless branches were cut off,
and fresh branches were grafted in. Addressing Gentile

PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT. 283

converts, St. Paul tells them that though in their former
state they were " aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenant of promise," they, by
receiving Christ, by becoming Christians, had ceased to
be strangers and foreigners, and had become " fellow-
citizens with the saints (' Israelis,' ver. 1 2, Bengel *) and
of the household of God" (Eph. ii. 12, 19). In accord
ance with this, the Church of which believers in Christ
are members, is described as "the Jerusalem which is
above" (Gal. iv. 26); and Christians are said to have
" come to Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem ... to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn" (Heb. xii. 22, 23). That
in this building up of the church, by the bringing into it
of Gentile converts to Christ, the Apostles saw the fulfil
ment of the promises in the prophetic writings concerning
the perpetuity of Israel and the establishment of the house
and throne of David, appears most distinctly from the
utterance of St. James in the assembly at Jerusalem, in
reference to the conversion of the Gentiles. " To this,"
said he, " agree the words of the prophets ; as it is
written, After this will I return, and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is fallen down ; and will
build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up ; that
the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the
Gentiles, upon whom my-*hame is called, saith the Lord,
* "Fellow-citizens with the saints, i.e., with Christians as citizens of the
Theocracy begun under the Old Testament, completed under the New Tes
tament (comp. Rom. xi. 16, &c.) ; or with the true Israel (Gal. vi. 16) ;
not, however, with Jews [as such], nor with Jews and Gentile Christians,
for the antithesis with verse 12 must be maintained." De Wette, on the
place.

284 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
who maketh these things known from the beginning of
the world" (Acts xv. 15-18, Revised Version). Here it
is explicitly stated that the opening of the church, pre
viously composed only of Jews, freely to the Gentiles, is
what the prophet intended when he announced that in
" the day of the Lord " God would raise up the tabernacle
of David, which had fallen down, and raise up the ruins
thereof, and build it as in the days of old (Amos ix. 1 1 ).
As St. James spoke on this occasion by the Holy Ghost,
his words not only convey to us a just explanation of the
prophecy cited by him, but also furnish us with a canon
of interpretation for the Old Testament declarations con
cerning the restoration and final establishment of Israel.
" Christianity is Judaism continued under an ex
panded form. It is the polity of the New Jerusalem,
the ' city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God.' There still exists a body of men,
insulated from the world by peculiar institutions, and
dedicated to God, — though no longer conspicuous as a
temporal state, or outwardly eminent above the nations
of the world, — but a spiritual community — the citizens
and freemen of heaven. When the Lord called Abraham
and promised to make him a great nation with the
particular promise, He joined the evangelical declaration
that all families of the earth should be blessed in the
Patriarch. Into the temporal and partial character of
the religion subsequently instituted a perpetuity and an
universality were also introduced. It was declared that
the institution of providential government then begun
should never cease. Judaism, accordingly, has both
ceased and not ceased. It has evidently ceased in cer-

PURIFICATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT. 285
tain respects. ' The sceptre ' is departed ' from Judah,'
and 'the lawgiver from between his feet.' The Temple
has scattered its ruins in the dust. The Holy Land is
desecrated with the steps of strangers ; and the posterity
of Abraham are themselves strangers in the land which
the Lord gave them for a possession. But there are
living possessors of the evangelical promise — the heirs of
the faith of Abraham — a spiritual Israel — a people who
date their origin as a chosen race from one of the seed
of Abraham, and who are the actual depositaries of the
Divine blessing, announced at his call. ' For ye are
all,' says the Apostle to the Galatians (iii. 26 ff), 'the
children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. . . . And if
ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise.' In Christianity, therefore, we
behold the perpetual duration of Judaism. In Chris
tianity all the promises of everlasting continuance
attached to the religion of the Law find their completion.
' Jerusalem ' that was ' is in bondage with her children ; '
but 'Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the
mother of us all' (Gal. iv. 25, 26). Judaism, therefore,
as Judaism, is dead ; but as Christianity it lives and will
live for ever."* Exception may be taken to one or two
of the expressions in this extract, but as a whole it must
be commended as exhibiting in clear and precise state
ment the proper method of interpreting the prophecies
to which it relates.
* Bishop Hampden, " Parochial Sermons," pp. 281-3. Second edition.

XXII.
THE FLOCK SCATTERED.
"Awake, 0 sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that
is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts : smite the shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered ; and I will turn mine hand upon the little
ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord,
two parts therein shall be cut off and die ; but the third shall be left
therein. And I will bring the third part through ,the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried :
they shall call on my name, arid I will hear them : I will say, It is my
people ; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." — Zech. xiii. 7-9.
The prophecy contained in this section appears at first
sight to have no connection with that in the preceding
part of the chapter ; it seems rather to stand in relation
with the oracle in chapter xi., where the cutting off of
the shepherd is announced. This has led some to suppose
that this section has been displaced and that it ought to
be relegated to its proper place after the eleventh chapter.
For this, however, there is no sufficient reason. A fresh
start, it is true, is taken at verse seven of this chapter,
and the prophecy receives a new turn, but the line of con
tinuity is not broken with what precedes nor with what fol
lows. The main theme of the whole prophetic utterance
is the deliverance of Israel from all evil, and its ultimate
complete development, after its proper type, as a people
holy unto the Lord. From all outward oppression Israel
should be freed, and power should be given to resist and

THE FLOCK SCATTERED. 287
overcome the world-powers that aim at assailing and
subjugating it ; the spirit of grace and supplication should
be poured out upon the people, so that they should repent
of their apostacy and especially of their great sin in
rejecting and putting to death the Shepherd of Israel
whom God had sent to them, and there should be a
general turning unto the Lord, and an earnest petitioning
for forgiveness and restoration. This should not be in
vain; provision should be made for their cleansing, and
they should be recovered from all apostacy and delivered
from the influence of all false teaching. In pursuance of
this, however, it was needful that there should be a
severance of the ungodly from the righteous, and to effect
this, judgment must come upon Jerusalem whereby the
true should be separated from the false, and the latter be
exterminated, while the former should be purified and
refined. It is to this final purgation by trial that the
section beginning with verse 7 of chapter xiii. refers ; and
in this section we have a summary of what is set forth
more in detail in the following chapter. It is evident,
therefore, that this section is in its proper place both in
relation to what goes before and in relation to what
comes after.
The passage commences with an address to the sword,
which is personified and summoned, as if it were a living
aoent, to do execution : " Awake, 0 sword, against my
Shepherd, and against a man my fellow, saith Jehovah
of hosts; smite the Shepherd, and let the sheep be
scattered; and I will bring back my hand over the
humble ones " (ver. 7). The speaker here is Jehovah ;
and His call on the sword to awake intimates that it is

288 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
as His instrument that it is to operate. A similar
personification of the sword occurs in Jer. xlvii. 6.
" Sword " is in both passages as well as elsewhere the
symbol of any means of destroying life or inflicting
severe penalties ; cf. Ex. v. 2 1 ; 2 Sam. xii. g ; Jer. xii.
1 2 ; Rom. xiii. 4, &c. And it may be understood here
of any agency the Lord may employ or overrule for the
accomplishment of His purpose.* As a sword in its
sheath is inoperative and, as it were, dormant, so the
agency here thus indicated had up to this time remained
inactive, but is now summoned to awake, to come into
action against the object designated.
That object is described by the speaker as "His Shep
herd ; " the Shepherd, therefore, of Jehovah. In chapter
xi. two shepherds are specially noted, the good Shepherd
by whom the poor of the flock are fed, and the foolish
shepherd by whom the flock is neglected and wasted;
and to both the appellation " of Jehovah " may be applied,
as both are raised up and sent forth by Him. To one
or other of these the reference here must be ; but to
which is a question. From the piercing of the shepherd
with the sword it has been concluded by some that it
cannot be the good Shepherd that is intended ; but this
does not necessarily follow. For not against His enemies,
the wicked or the foolish alone, may the sword of
Jehovah be directed; even on one whom He sends forth
as His approved representative to do His work, may the
* The anomaly in the construction here of a masculine form of the verb
CnD) with a feminine substantive (3^n) is to be accounted for by the
personification of the "sword;" just as in Gen. iv. 7, sin (nNtSn fern.)
being personified as a wild beast is construed as if it were masculine.

THE FLOCK SCATTERED.

stroke of His sword fall ; as in the case of His " right
eous Servant," whom He is represented as wounding and
bruising and putting to grief even to the death, though
"He had done no violence, neither was deceit in His
mouth" (Isa. liii. 9, 10). That it is the good Shepherd
that is here intended is certified by the epithet by which
he is described, " a man, my fellow," for on no fair inter
pretation of this expression can it be supposed applicable
to any but a good and worthy person. Of the various
explanations which have been given of this phrase, none
seems better than that of the Authorised Version, " fellow"
being taken in its proper sense as indicating one in a
relation of equality or companionship to another.* The
word so rendered rv&y occurs only here and in Leviticus,
where it is used several times in chap. xix. and chap.
xxv., in every case as a concrete noun expressive of close
personal and friendly connection, and in chap. xxv. 1 5
as equivalent to "brother" or a member of the same
family (cf. verses 10, 15). Intimacy of relation if not
equality of condition the word always implies ; it could
not be used of a mere servile or official relation. " No
owner of a flock or lord of a flock would call a hired
servant or purchased shepherd his ' amith'" (Keil).
When God, then, here calls the person against whom He
summons His sword to awake, His " amith" His fellow,
there is intimated not that He stood to God in the rela
tion of a servant or representative merely, but that He

* " To be your fellow
You may deny me ; but I'll be your servant
Whether you will or no." Tempest, act iii., sc. I.

290 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND .WARNINGS.
was in near relation to God personally, in some sense, if
not on a par with the Almighty, the nearest to Him in
nature and position. It is also noticeable that the word
rendered " man " is not Ish or Adam, the terms commonly
used with this designation, but geber, an emphatic word,
conveying the idea of man in the higher sense, the
designation of one in whom any of the attributes of
manhood appear in pre-eminence. He, therefore, who is
described as A Man, the Fellow of Jehovah, must be one
pre-eminently human and yet in essence and estate closely
related to God ; " therefore no other than the Messiah,
who is also identified with Jehovah in chap. xii. I o ; or
the good Shepherd, who says of Himself, ' I and My
Father are one,'" John x. 30 (Keil), and whom one sent
forth by Him to make known His Name calls " the Man
Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. ii. 5).
The sword of Jehovah is summoned to smite the Shep
herd, and as a consequence of this the sheep must be
dispersed. Deprived of the Shepherd's care, exposed to
manifold hostilities and trials, and in themselves helpless
and ever ready to flee at the approach of danger, it can
not be but that the flock should be scattered when the
Shepherd is smitten and falls. All, however, are not to
be lost. God will not suffer the dispersion to be entire
and final. "I will," says He, "bring back my hand
upon or over the humble ones." His hand, stretched
forth to smite and disperse, shall be drawn back so as to
cover and protect a portion of the flock. The phrase,
" to bring back the hand over (by) any person," is used to
express the making of that person again the object of
care and action either in wrath or in mercy, either for

THE FLOCK SCATTERED. 291
judgment or for benefit. In the former reference it is
used iu Ps. lxxxi. 14 [15]: "I should have subdued
their enemies, and upon their adversaries have brought
back my hand." Am. i. 8 : " And I will turn my hand
upon Ekron." In the other reference it is found, Isa. i.
25:" And I will bring back my hand upon thee, and
thoroughly purge away thy dross, and take away all thy
tin." And in the general sense of recovering possession,
it is used in 2 Sam. viii. 3, where David is said to have
defeated Hadadezer, King of Zobah, as he was going to
bring his hand back at the river, i.e., to recover possession
of the territory which had been taken from the kings of
Zobah by Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 47).* That the phrase is
used here in the good sense is certified by what follows,
where it is distinctly stated that while judgment shall
come upon the nation as a whole, a portion shall be
rescued and brought through in safety, see vers. 8, 9,
which " add the real explanation of the bringing back of
the hand over the small ones " (Keil). As to the mean
ing of this last expression, rendered in the Authorised
Version by " the little ones," there is some uncertainty.
The word in the Hebrew, DH^lS, occurs only here. It
is apparently the present participle in Kal of "U^, to be
little or small; and being so it cannot be taken as
synonymous with TJ/X or ")$? (Jer. xiv. 3, xlviii. 4),
"the small ones," in a figurative sense, the miserable
ones, those that are called the poor of the flock, in chap.
xi! 7, as Keil suggests ; it is rather to be taken in an
active sense, "making [themselves] little," the humble
* The phrase is used in this passage without the ?J?, because the object
on which the hand was to be brought back is not specified.

292 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
ones, the lowly, patient, and meek. Over such the Lord
would extend His protecting hand, so that though in
volved in the general calamity, they should not be
allowed to perish, but would be sustained amid trial, and
ultimately brought wholly through in safety and peace.
This scattering of the flock as a whole, and the rescuing
and protecting of a portion of it, is more specifically set
forth in the following verses : " And it shall come to pass
in the whole land, saith Jehovah, that two parts in it
shall be cut off and expire, and the third part shall
remain therein. And I will bring the third part through
the fire, and will smelt them as silver is smelted, and
will refine them as gold is refined ; it [they] shall call
on my name and I will answer it [them] ; I shall say,
My people is it, and it shall say, Jehovah is my God "
(ver. 8, 9). " The whole land " is the land of Israel, as
in xii. 12, and xiv. 9, 10, not the whole earth. "Two
parts," lit. a mouth, i.e., a portion, of two (^P *%), a
phrase taken from Deut. xxi. 17, where it denotes the
double portion inherited by the firstborn (comp. also 2
Kings ii. 9) ; that the phrase is used here in the sense
of two-thirds is evident from there being a third part
left. These two-thirds are to be destroyed by death;
the " expire " is added to the " cut-off," to show that it is
by death and not by mere excision from the community
that they are to be punished. That these two terms
indicate different modes of destruction, the cutting off
being by the sword, and the expiring by pestilence or
some other kind of disease (which is the opinion of
Vatablus and Drusius), is a needless refinement, and
besides is not supported by the usage of the verb y^,

THE FLOCK SCATTERED. 293
which is not limited to death by disease, but is used also
of death by violence, as in Gen. vii. 21 by drowning,
and Josh. xxii. 20 by stoning. The two-thirds were to
perish by death, by whatever means inflicted. "The
whole Jewish people appears here as one heritage left by
the slain Shepherd, which is divided into three portions,
of which death, claiming the right of the firstborn, seizes
two, while one is assigned to life ; a division analogous to
that made by David with the Moabites, 2 Sam. viii. 2 "
(Hengstenberg). There is a striking resemblance between
what is here announced and what is declared by Ezekiel
concerning the judgment that was to come upon the
Jewish people for their apostacy (Ezek. v. 12). There is
no difference of any moment between the two representa
tions ; in both the whole is represented as divided into
three portions, of which two are wholly to be destroyed,
and one to be delivered through trial and suffering. The
only difference is that in Ezekiel the instruments of
destruction and trial are specified, while in Zechariah this
is omitted, and only general terms are employed. In
regard to the third part, Zechariah describes it as to be
brought through the fire and subjected to a severe process
of purgation and refining, but by what means this is to
be effected is not declared ; in Ezekiel this is said to be
by their being dispersed and persecuted by enemies.
The effect of this disciplinary treatment shall be bene
ficial; those subjected to it shall be wholly delivered
from apostacy and confirmed in allegiance to Jehovah,
who on His part will hear them when they call on Him,
and will acknowledge them as His people.
Having thus explained the passage as it stands, we

294 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
have now to attend to its reference and application.
And I, of the Person here represented as smitten by the
sword of Divine justice. This, "as already intimated, is
none other than the Messiah, the Christ. To Him alone
can the language here used to describe the object of the
smiting apply. No other being but He is at once man
and the fellow of Jehovah the Lord of hosts ; and He
alone is the Shepherd whom God promised to set over
His people Israel to feed them as a flock (Ezek. xxxiv.
23; Isa. xl. 11). Both these our Lord asserted for
Himself. "I am," said He, "the Good Shepherd, and
know my sheep and am known of mine " (John x. 14);
and in relation to God He said, " I and my Father are
one ; " and when adjured by the High Priest to say
whether He was the Christ, the Son of God, He responded
to the charge, thereby, as the Jews rightly concluded,
"making Himself equal with God" (Matt. xxvi. 63, 64,
xxvii. 43; John xix. 7, v. 18). Without doubt, there-'
fore, it is of Him that the prophet here speaks, for to
Him alone can the words of the prophecy apply. None
but Him did God set over Israel as their Shepherd ; none
but Him could Jehovah call " a man my fellow."
2. The stroke inflicted on Him. This, as we have
seen, was the deadly stroke of Divine justice. The
sword had long slept in its scabbard, but when the
fitting time arrived God summoned the sword to awake
and do execution on the appointed victim. As there is
but one being to whom the description of the prophet
can refer, so there is but one event to which the command
here given can be understood as pointing — the slaying of
Him who, as the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for

THE FLOCK SCATTERED. 295
the sheep. His death was perpetrated by the " wicked
hands " of men, but they were in this only the instruments
by which God fulfilled His own purpose and counsel.
The Jews had power to take Jesus and give Him to be
" crucified and slain," because He was " delivered up by
the determinate counsel, and foreknowledge of God "
(Acts ii. 23). He was a willing victim; He laid down
His life of Himself (John x. 18); but He at the same time
recognised the hand of God in the infliction, and held it
as a fulfilment of the prediction here recorded. Speak
ing by anticipation of His death as near at hand, He said
to His disciples, " All ye shall be offended because of Me
this night, for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd,
and the sheep shall be scattered" (Matt. xxvi. 31)
And at an earlier season He said to them, with evident
allusion to this passage, " Behold the hour cometh, yea is
now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave Me alone " (John xvi. 3 2). And
when thus left alone, the sword which at the Divine call
had sprung from its sheath, smote Him with a deadly
stroke. And wherefore was He thus smitten ? He had
done no evil ; He had neglected no duty ; He was abso
lutely blameless, perfectly good. Why then was He
thus dealt with, " smitten of God and afflicted" ? Because,
though Himself sinless, He bore the sins of others. He
was wounded for their transgressions, He was bruised for
their iniquities, the chastisement of their peace was upon
Him (Isa. liii. 5). The flock had gone astray and in
curred the penalty of apostacy, and He, the Shepherd,
had come to give His life for theirs. He stood before
God bearing their sins in His own body (1 Peter ii. 24) ;

296 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
and on Him the stroke of Divine justice fell. In Him,
therefore, was this ancient prediction fulfilled.
3. The consequence to the flock of this smiting of the
Shepherd. It was twofold. The sheep were to be scat
tered, but God was to turn back His hand over the
humble and meek ones of the flock. The former of
these, as we have seen, our Lord applied to the dispersion
of His disciples as consequent on His crucifixion ; when
the sword smote the Shepherd, those who had followed
Him, and been guided by Him, and had waited on His
teaching were scattered abroad, and had to hide them
selves and meet in secret " for fear of the Jews " (John
xx. 19). The other consequence was realised when the
Lord, having been raised from the dead, showed Himself
to individuals and to groups of them, and especially
when having, according to His promise given before His
death, gone before them into Galilee (Matt. xxvi. 3 2), He
met them there as a body to the number of about five
hundred, and there showed Himself unto them alive
from the dead, and received their worship as Lord of all.
Then was the hand of God turned in mercy and love on
these humble and trembling ones ; then was the cloud
that had settled over them and threatened to quench all
the hopes they had cherished that their Lord was He
who should restore the kingdom to Israel, dispelled;
" then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord,"
and from that meeting they went forth "to be His
witnesses to the people," and to proclaim His Gospel to
all nations, emboldened by His gracious assurance that
He to whom all power in heaven and on earth had been
given would be with them always, to guide, sustain, and

THE FLOCK SCATTERED. 297
prosper them. Another dispersion of the flock ensued
when the disciples that were in Jerusalem were scattered
abroad upon the tribulations which arose about Stephen
(Acts viii. 1, xi. 19); but then, also, God turned back
His hand over the humble ones, for wherever they went
" the hand of the Lord was with them," and " the Lord
gave testimony to the word of His grace," which they
preached, " and a great number believed and turned to
the Lord" (Acts viii. 1, xi. 19, 21, xiv. 3). But though
the prophecy had a fulfilment in these experiences of the
disciples of our Lord after His crucifixion, it cannot be
supposed that the whole meaning of the prophecy is
thereby exhausted. The disciples were not the whole
flock, they were only a part of it. The flock was the
house of Israel, and the dispersion of the disciples was
but the prelude and type of that greater and more terrible
dispersion, when the community of Israel was broken up
and the people were trodden under foot of the oppressor,
and the few that escaped the sword were scattered to the
four winds. But whilst the nation was thus broken up
and scattered, there was a remnant over whom the Lord
turned back His hand. Though the mass of the Jewish
people, with their rulers, rejected the Shepherd which
God had sent to them, and put Him to death, there were
some who received Him and acknowledged His claims.
They formed but a " little flock," but to Him they were
very dear — these " little ones that believed in Him " —
and it was not the will of their Father which is in
heaven that one of these little ones should perish. It
was the Father's good pleasure that to this little flock
should be given' the kingdom ; on them had devolved the

298 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
inheritance of Israel; being Christ's they were heirs
according to the promise. Therefore were they marvel
lously preserved amid the destruction of the Jewish state.
When the ancient institute fell into ruins the common
wealth of Israel survived in them. The hand of the
Lord was upon them for good; and whilst to death was
allotted the eldest son's portion, life had that of the
younger son, and God blessed the inheritance of His
saints so that it hath increased a thousandfold.
4. But though preserved and rescued this little flock
would not escape all trouble and suffering. God would
bring them through the fire and refine and purify them
in the furnace of affliction ; and the result of this disci
pline would be their recovery from all apostacy and their
final establishment in the Divine favour and their full
union to Jehovah as His people. This may refer to the
trials, persecutions, and manifold afflictions to which the
early Church of Christ was exposed, and to the effect
which these had in confirming the faith of the Christians
and establishing the Church in " deeper devotedness and
closer union to God." But the representation has a
wider reference and application than this. It sets forth
God's method of dealing with His people for their good.
It has been ever so. The Church has ever had this
experience. Her language of old was, " Thou, 0 God,
hast proved us, Thou hast tried us as silver is tried.
Thou broughtest us into the net ; Thou laidest affliction
upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our
heads ; we went through fire and through water ; but
Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place " (Ps. Ixvi.
10-12). Our Lord told His disciples that in the world

THE FLOCK SCATTERED. 299
they should have tribulation (John xvi. 33); but He
bade them be of good cheer, for He had overcome the
world and so would secure to them also the victory.
And His servants, when they exhorted their converts to
continue in the faith, reminded them that it must needs
be " through much tribulation " that any can enter into
the kingdom of God (Acts xiv. 22). Such discipline is
needful for the purging out of all that stands in the way
of the entire union of the soul to God. Only when the
heart is weaned from the world will the love of the
Father reign in the soul ; only when self is subdued will
men seek their all in God ; and to this nothing conduces
more than the discipline of affliction. No path leads
more surely to the sublimer heights of the spiritual
world than the path of trial and sorrow. " Blessed is
the man that endureth trial, for when he hath been
approved he shall receive the crown of life which the
Lord hath promised to them that love Him" (James i.
1.2).

XXIII.
JERUSALEM ELEVATED.
" Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall he divided
in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem
to battle ; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the
women ravished ; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity,
and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then
shall the Lord go forth, and fight , against those nations, as when He
fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day
upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and
the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east
and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley : and half
of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it towards
the south. ' And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains ; for the
valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal : yea, ye shall flee, like
as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of
Judah ; and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with
thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not
be clear nor dark : but it shall be one day which shall be known
to the Lord, nor day, nor night : but it shall come to pass, that at
evening time it shall be light. And it shall he in that day, that
living waters shall go out from Jerusalem ; half of them toward the
former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea : in summer and
in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall he King over all the earth :
in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. All the land
shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem :
and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's
gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from
the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine-presses. And men shall
dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction ; but Jeru
salem shall be safely inhabited." — Zech. xiv. i-ii.
The prophecy in this chapter is closely connected with
that in the close of the preceding ; or rather, it is the

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 301
same in an expanded form with fuller details. Here,
as there, the dispersion of the flock, the deliverance of a
portion of it, the bestowal of blessing on the rescued
remnant, and the final establishment of the kingdom all
over the earth by the reception into it of men of all
nations, are set forth. There is a difference, indeed, in the
point of view from which the prophet speaks ; in chap. xiii.
7-9 it is Israel as a nation that is in the prophet's view,
in this chapter it is more specially Jerusalem as the holy
city, the metropolis and head of Israel, and the centre
from which salvation and blessing were to flow forth to
the world, that is the object contemplated; but this
difference is of no essential moment, for as Jerusalem
was the head of the nation, and the centre of its religious
life, in its fate that of the nation was involved.
The prophet begins by announcing the judgment that
is to come upon Jerusalem, against which the nations are
to be gathered, who are to take her, despoil her, and
disperse her inhabitants : " Behold, a day for Jehovah
cometh, and thy spoil is divided in the midst of thee "
(ver. 1). "A day for Jehovah" is a day appropriated
by Jehovah, a day selected and taken by Him for the
manifestation of His power, and the accomplishing of
His purposes ; not as in the Authorised Version, " The
day of the Lord," which would point back to some great
occasion in the past when God came forth to do battle
for His people, and against their enemies, or forward to
that august occasion which is described elsewhere as
" The great day of the Lord " ; the phrase is purposely
indefinite (miT1? DV, not mrP DV * comp. Isa. ii. 1 2) ;
*See Gesenius, Heb. Gr. § 115, 2; Ewald, Intro. Heb. Gr. § 292;

302 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
and simply indicates the occasion on which God will
bring to pass what is here announced. " Thy spoil : "
Jerusalem is here addressed, though not formally men
tioned ; her spoil is not, as the Targum of Jonathan
suggests, the booty she has taken from the heathen, but
the booty she contains, and which is taken from her by
the invading foe. This is to be divided by the enemy in
the midst of her, not carried off to some distant place of
security, but divided in the midst of the city as wholly
under the power of the conqueror.
At the outset the attention is arrested by a vivid
announcement of the main fact ; the details involved in
it are given in what follows : " And I will gather all
nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be
taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished;
and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, but the
remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city "
(ver. 2). The " and " at the beginning of this verse is
not a mere copulative, it has also an explicative force,
and might be rendered " for " (yaw explicativum). God
is said to gather the nations against Jerusalem because
they are the instruments by which His' purposes are
accomplished, and He so orders their ways that they, in
pursuit of their own ends, gather themselves to do what
He has purposed shall be done. The expression " all
nations " is not to be explained away as meaning " soldiers
from all the different nations forming the Roman empire "
(Henderson) ; nor is it to be taken literally as meaning
Miiller, Outlines of Hebrew Syntax, % 83. Rosenmuller says : " 7 hie notat
auctorem " ; but this does not necessarily follow : the *? may merely indi
cate the appropriating of the day by God for His own purpose.

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 303
all the peoples on the earth at any given time ; it is a
phrase of general import for the peoples outside the
commonwealth of Israel.* To them the city shall be
given up to be captured and plundered, and, as is usual
when a ruthless soldiery take possession of a place they
have besieged, the inhabitants are to be treated with the
utmost barbarity, their houses rifled and the women
ravished (cf. Isa. xiii. 16; Lam. v. 1 1 ff. ; Amos vii. 7).
One half of the people should be carried into exile, but a
portion — not necessarily the other half, for many would
perish in the sack of the city — should be preserved and
remain in the city. In this respect a difference would
emerge between this and the former overthrow of Jeru
salem and the Jewish state by the Chaldeans ; then all
the people who were not killed were hurried into cap
tivity, and even the miserable remnant at first left in
the city were ultimately transported thence (2 Kings
xxv. 22—26) ; whereas on this occasion a portion should
be left which should not be cut off out of the city but
should abide there. Thus left to remain in the city
they might rest in peace, for though the heathen were
gathered around them, and had captured the city, they
had an Almighty protector who should appear for their
defence : " And Jehovah will go forth and fight against
those nations as in a day of His fighting, in a day of
slaughter." The phrase " to go forth " is that generally
used in Scripture of military expeditions (cf. Num. i. 3 ;
2 Sam. ii. 11; Ps. cviii. 1 1, &c.) ; and when used of
* Comp. Psalm cxviii. 10; Isa. ii. 2 ; Joel iii. 2, and our Lord's words
to His disciples, "Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake,"
Matt. xxiv. 9.

304 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Jehovah, it designates His agency in the infliction of
punishment on His enemies, and for the deliverance of
His people. Thus, " Behold, Jehovah goeth out of His
place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their
iniquity" (Isa. xxvi. 21); "the Lord shall go forth as a
mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy as a man of war.
. . . He shall prevail against His enemies "' (xlii. 1 3) ;
" For behold, Jehovah goeth forth out of His place, and
will come down and tread upon the high places of the
earth " (Mic. i. 3) ; " Thou wentest forth for the salva
tion of Thy people. . . . Thou woundest the head out of
the house of the wicked " (Hab. iii. 1 3). So here, though
these nations were the instruments in His hands of
afflicting Israel, so as to drive out of it the unworthy and
apostate, yet as they were the enemies of Israel only for
their own evil ends, and had assailed it only in obedience
to their own wicked passions, God would come forth as
a man of war to fight against them, so that His people
who were faithful to Him should escape. "A day of
His fighting," not " the day," as if some special occasion
were referred to when Jehovah fought against His enemies
and for His people, as e.g., His overthrow of Pharaoh and
his host at the Red Sea (Jerome, Hengstenberg, &c.) ; the
reference is rather to God's general way of acting in such
cases as shown in many former instances (cf. Exod. xiv.
14, xv. 3 ; Josh. x. 10, xiv. 12, xxiii. 3 ; Judges iv. 15 ;
I Sam. vii. 10; 2 Chron. xx. 15). The words "in a
day of slaughter," are added " for the purpose of strength
ening the expression " (Keil). The Lord would on this
occasion do as He had been wont to do on former
occasions, the day should be a day of battle and of

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 305
slaughter, and He would go forth and fight against the
enemy and for His people. In appearing for this end,
the Lord would take His stand on Olivet, which at His
touch should be cleft asunder : " And His feet shall stand
in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before
Jerusalem eastwards, and the Mount of Olives shall be
cleft in its midst, eastward and westward, a very great
valley ; and half of the mountain shall recede to the
north and its (other) half to the south " (ver. 4). When
the Lord descended on Mount Sinai " the whole Mount
quaked greatly" (Exod. xix. 18); at the presence of the
Lord the earth trembleth and the mountains flow down
and quake (Ps. lxviii. 8, cxiv. 7 ; Isa. lxiv. 1 ; Mic. i.
4; Nah. i. 5). So here, as the feet of the Lord touched
the Mount of Olives, there should be an earthquake, and
the effect of this should be to open a great valley through
the heart of the mountain, from west to east. Olivet is
described as "before Jerusalem," not for the sake of
determining its geographical position, which was too well
known to require to be pointed out, but as indicating the
direction in which the line of escape from, the captured
city was to be opened for those whom God would deliver.
That was right through the centre of the mountain, the
great chasm running from the side next Jerusalem east
ward. Into this the people were to flee : " And ye shall
flee to the valley of my mountains ; and the valley of
the mountains shall reach to Azal ; and ye shall flee as
ye fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king
of Judah. And Jehovah my God shall come, and all
the saints with Thee" (ver. 5)- The valley formed by
the cleaving asunder of the hill, is called by God " the
u

306 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
valley of my mountains," because on each side of it was
an elevation produced by the power of God, at whose
touch the Mount of Olives had been rent in the midst.
This valley should reach unto Azal or Atsal (?XN~7N).
Some interpreters take the words el Atzal in an appella
tive sense, as meaning " to very near," or " to close at
hand," and understand the expression as intimating that
the valley was to extend to near to where the fugitives
were, that is, to Jerusalem. This is the rendering of
the Vulgate, " usque ad proximum ; " and of Symmachus,
7!-jOo? to irapaKel/xevov. The Syriac has ^ \.\^)1 which
in the London Polyglot is rendered by ad angustum locum,
but which is probably rather a substitute for the Hebrew
blJN. (See Payne Smith, Thes. Syr. Fasc. I. Col. 2 20.)
By most ancient interpreters, Atsal is taken as a proper
name, the designation of some place on the east side of
Olivet, to which the valley was to reach, and where the
fugitives should find an asylum, a view most recent
expositors have adopted. * It may probably be the Beth-
ezel (^NPT JT2) Beth Ha-etsal of Mic. i. 1 1, the Beth
being omitted, as it not unfrequently is, from proper
names, formed with it (as, for instance, Nimrah and
Beth-Nimrah, Num. xxxii. 3, 36; Azmaveth and Beth
Azmaveth, Neh. xii. 29, vii. 28; Beth-Ha-Gilgal, Neh.
xii. 29, elsewhere Gilgal, &c), and atsal being read for
atsel because of the pause (comp. 1 Chron. viii. 38, 39).
To this place the remnant should flee as the people " fled
from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of
Judah." The earthquake here referred to is not recorded
in the Historical Books, but the prophet Amos refers to
it (Amos i. 1) in a way which shows it was sufficiently

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 307
memorable to furnish a date from which other events
might be calculated. Great terror, apparently, was
caused by it, so that the people fled before it. In like
manner should they flee when God's hand should be
stretched forth to smite the nations by whom Jerusalem
should be taken and sacked, but on this occasion not so
much in terror as in haste to escape to a place of safety.
This coming of the Lord to smite His enemies and deliver
His people should be with all His holy ones — " and all
Thy saints with Thee." The prophet, as it were, sees Him
approach, hails Him as his God, the protector of His
people, and suddenly passing from the third person to
the second, addresses Jehovah as actually present, attended
by all the heavenly host, the holy angels (comp. Deut.
xxxiii. 2, 3; Dan. vii. 9; Matt. xxv. 31). God, when
He comes forth to act, comes attended by these ministers
of His that delight to do His will and accomplish His
pleasure. As God should come not merely to smite His enemies,
but more especially to deliver His people, the prophet
goes on to depict the full salvation of such, as consequent
on the coming of the Lord. He begins with a statement
which is very obscure and which has been differently
interpreted. The first part of the verse is plain enough,
" and it shall come to pass in that day that there will
not be light"; as to this all are agreed; it is in the
closing words pNSp*' imp'' that the difficulty lies. There
is here a feminine nominative followed by a masculine
verb, and though this may be got over by the suggestion
that the feminine is here as a neuter, still it is not easy
to make sense of the words. ">£ occurs in this book (xi.

308 ZECHARIAHS VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
1 3) in the sense of price, and the feminine form from it
may mean precious, and in the plural precious ones or
things. The verb is the third person plural of the imper
fect niphal of N3p to fold or draw together, to thicken, to con
geal. The words would thus mean " The precious things
will be congealed." Or imp. may be the plural feminine
of ~\p\ bright, splendid, and the phrase may be rendered
by " The bright or shining ones shall be drawn together,
shall be contracted," i.e., as Gesenius explains it (Thes. II.
621), "the bright stars shall contract their lustre, that is,
shall cease to shine." This gives a very good sense in
connection with what goes before, but it is objected that
the explanation goes beyond what the words express, for
to be drawn together or contracted is not equivalent to
withdraw or cease, and yeqamoth is nowhere used of the
stars. These objections, however, may be obviated : the
former by taking the verb in its primary meaning of
folding together, so that the contracting is the huddling
together in a confused heap of the objects designated by
yeqamoth ; the latter by referring to Job xxxi. 26, where
the moon is said to walk brightly or in brightness "Ip*1,
which shows that brightness was regarded by the Hebrews
as by other peoples as the special characteristic of the
heavenly bodies. The whole passage then will run thus:
— "There will not be light, the bright ones shall be
heaped together " : and the meaning will be that the
stars or the heavenly bodies generally, instead of abiding
in their courses shall be confusedly thrown together, the
effect of which will be that they will no longer give
light to the earth.
A very different interpretation has been suggested by

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 309

the K'ri on this passage, where for 1-1N3|3? is read 1-lNBp?,
from which the reading TiNSp] Fhlpl "both chills and
frost " has been devised. This all the ancient versions sup
port ; the Seventy has km -vj^os kol irayo?, the Vulgate,
sed frigus et gelu, and the Targum and Syriac the same,
" cold and ice." The Targum, indeed, has " booty " >"\y
in place of " cold," by which Rosenmiiller supposes the
Targumist intended " res pretioras direptas ; " but probably
for iiy should be read ny, like the Syriac (see Levy,
"Chald. Worterb," II., page 204).
This reading is adopted by Hitzig, De Wette, Rosen
miiller, Maurer, and others ; who understand the passage
as predicting a day of darkness and full of horror
("horroris plenus ille dies erit." Maur.) Others, how
ever, among whom are Hengstenberg and Keil, object, the
latter of whom says that " the insertion of nTT" without
a negation for the purpose of obtaining an antithesis" is
" intolerably harsh."
But there does not seem to be much weight in this,
for though in strict grammatical accuracy such insertion
is not allowable, yet in ordinary speech and writing it is
not found to be intolerable ; at any rate it must have
been regarded as allowable by the Targumist, the Seventy,
and the Syriac Translator, else they would not have ren
dered here as they have done. Keil's own rendering and
explanation far more deserve to be thus stigmatised.
Understanding yeqamoth of the stars, and reading the verb
as the imperfect kal, IWBp? he renders thus, " the glorious
ones shall melt away," and says, " the words describe the
passing away or vanishing of the brightness of the shin-
ino' stars." But allowing that the stars are here intended

310 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
by yeqamoth, by what legitimate process can a verb which,
as Keil himself tells us, " signifies to congeal or curdle,"
be brought to signify " to melt away " or " vanish " ?
What is congealed may, it is true, be afterwards melted ;
but the congealing and the melting are antagonistic pro
cesses, and could never come to be designated by the
same word. Ewald, Bunsen, and Umbreit adopt this
reading which Keil so indignantly rejects, but instead of
regarding the passage as minatory, they regard it as being
rather of a comforting and cheering aspect, comparing it
with Isaiah lx. 19, 20, and Rev. xxi. 23. Ewald renders
by, " there shall be no sunshine with cold and ice," and
Bunsen, " there will not be light : storminess and freez
ing ; " and the latter explains the meaning to be that
" the heretofore interchange of summer and winter, of
light and darkness, shall cease, and ever henceforward
there shall be sunshine." But, as Henderson remarks,
" whatever connection there may be between the absence
of light and the production of cold in winter, the contrast
is not so natural as that between light and darkness."
Had the prophet intended to convey the idea of "pure
and perennial sunshine " he would have said, " there will
be light without darkness," or something equivalent to
this. As for Bunsen's explanation, one can only say of
it, as Maurer says of that of Gesenius, " elegans quidem
sensus modo certior esset ! " Much the same must be
said of the explanation adopted by Henderson from Dr.
Lee (Heb. Lex., p. 5 3 3), who " reads •Hil^ ")iN in con
struction," and renders by " there shall not be the light
of the precious orbs, but condensed darkness " — a plausible
conjecture if it only could be certified.

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 31 1
But though at first there should be gloom and calamity,
this should not be lasting. This is intimated in what
follows : " And it shall be one day, it shall be known to
Jehovah, not day and not night ; and it shall come to
pass at evening time that there shall be light " (ver. 7).
The phrase " one day " is often used in the sense of " a
short time '' (cf. Ezra x. 1 3 ; Isa. ix. 1, Ixvi. 8 ; Zech. iii.
9, &c.) ; and so it is understood here by some (Cocceius,
tempus non longum ; Hengstenberg, " a relatively short
time "), who suppose that " the allusion is to the transient
character of the visitations of God," as in Psalm xxx. 5,
" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the
morning ; " and Isaiah xxvi. 20, " Hide thyself as it were
for a little moment until the indignation be overpast."
But though this in itself gives a very good sense, the
words that follow, " It shall be known to the Lord," would
seem to indicate that it is the peculiarity of the season
rather than its brevity that is here expressed ; the day
shall be one of its kind, known to Jehovah, as it really
is, and by implication to none else ; inN has here very
much the sense of unique or special, as in Ezek. vii. 5,
" a special evil," one entirely sui generis, Cant. vi. 9, and
verse 9 of this chapter. As respects outward appearance,
it will be "not day and not night." This may mean
either, It shall not be day and night, that is, there shall
be no such distinction between day and night as that it
could be said, This is day and this is night, for the hea
venly luminaries being extinguished, there would be no
means of determining this ; or, It shall be neither day
nor night, but a turbid mixture of light and darkness, a
mysterious twilight, like that produced by an eclipse of

312 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the sun. In support of the latter it has been urged that
" there is a gradation through three distinct stages : first,
utter darkness; then a dim twilight like that of an
eclipse; and at the close, when you might expect dark
ness soon to cover the earth, lo, the effulgence of a full
and glorious day ! " * But the former is what the words
of the prophet more naturally suggest. And this strange
day, unlike all other days, should no less strangely close :
" At evening time there shall be light ; " the natural order
of things shall be reversed; in the evening, when dark
ness is expected to settle down on the earth, a bright
light should break forth. This light is not to be regarded
as the return of the natural light of day, for the heavenly
bodies are supposed to be hidden or extinguished ; it is a
new, supernatural light that shall arise, a Divine lustre
that shall brea'k forth on the darkened world. An illus
tration may be obtained from Eev. xxi. 2 3 ff., though the
object there referred to may not be the same as that
presented here : it is the glory of the Lord that shall
illuminate the earth: comp. also Isa. xxiv. 23, lx. 19,
xl. 5). With this illumination shall come a season of
prosperity and joy : " And it shall be on that day that
living waters shall go forth from Jerusalem, the half of
them towards the eastern sea and the half of them towards
the western sea : in summer and winter it shall be "
(ver. 8). " Living waters," that is, water fresh, pure, and
salubrious, springing from a perennial source (cf. Gen.
xxvi. 19; Cant. iv. 15; Jer. ii. 13). These shall flow
forth from Jerusalem, the centre of the kingdom of God
* Cowles' "Minor Prophets,'' page 374, cited by Chambers, "Schaaf-
Lange Commentary," in toe.

i *,

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 313

(cf. Ezek. xlvii. 1 ff. ; Joel iii. 1 8,. where the waters are
said to issue from the Temple), and shall spread over the
whole land, carrying fertility and abundance with them.
The eastern sea (the sea in front ^B"7(?) is the Asphaltite
Lake or Dead Sea, and the western sea (the sea behind
Tnni<) is the Mediterranean, so named, because to one
looking from Jerusalem, the centre to the east, " the
primary point of the horizon with the Orientals," the Dead
Sea is before him and the Mediterranean behind him (cf.
Joel ii. 20; Ezek. xlvii. 18, 20). These streams should
be perennial ; in summer and winter they should flow,
neither bound by frost in winter nor dried up by heat in
summer. That the representation is wholly figurative is
evident from the fact that natural waters could not flow
in all directions at once from the same point. Elsewhere,
as here, the flowing forth of waters over the land is
figurative of the diffusion of blessing, temporal and spiri
tual ; cf. Joel iii. 18; Ezek. xlvii. 1— 12. Over the land
thus inundated with blessing Jehovah should reign, and
His name should alone be revered and invoked : " And
Jehovah will be King over all the land ; in that day will
Jehovah be one and His name one" (ver. 9). ^n^il ?5
is here not " the whole earth " (A. V.), but " all the land,"
the land of which the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean
are extreme boundaries, the land of Israel, the sphere of
the ancient kingdom of God on earth. At the same time,
as Canaan was the type of that spiritual kingdom which
is in the latter day to extend over the whole earth, it is
in substance, and virtually, the whole earth that is here
intended. Of this kingdom, " the field is the world," and
over this (when " the kingdom of the world " has become

314 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
" the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ ") Jehovah
shall be King, " the blessed and only Potentate, King of
kings, and Lord of lords." The expression " Jehovah
will be one and His name one," intimates that Jehovah
shall thus be acknowledged universally as the one and
only God, that men everywhere shall be " turned to God
from idols to serve the living and true God," and that
" the Name which is above every name " shall be the
only name on which men shall call all over the earth
(comp. Ps. lxxii. 8— ii ; Dan. ii. 44; Zech. ix. 10).
Consequent on the exaltation of Jehovah as King shall
be the exaltation of Jerusalem, the city of the great
King, over all the land ; " And the whole land shall turn
to [become as] the Plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of
Jerusalem, and she shall be high, and shall dwell in her
place, from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the first
gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel
to the wine presses of the king" (ver. 10). Geba was
situated on a rocky ridge overlooking the eastern slopes
of the mountains of Benjamin, about six miles to the
north of Jerusalem {Hod. Jeba) ; Rimmon was a city on
the southern border of the territory originally assigned to
Judah (Josh. xv. 21, 32), here described as to the south
of Jerusalem, to distinguish it from the Rimmon in Gali
lee, to the north of Nazareth and the Rock Rimmon
(Judges xx. 45), probably represented now by the ruins
of Um-er-Rummanim, four hours north of Beersheba.
These places marked the northern and southern extre
mities of the territory of Judah ; and the phrase " from
Geba to Rimmon," equivalent to " from Geba to Beer
sheba" (2 Kings xxiii. 8), describes the whole land of

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 315
Judah. This is for the most part a hilly region ; but
this whole district should become like the Arabah (Deut.
i. 7 ; Josh xii. 1, 3, 8, &c), the Great Plain (to Meya
ireSiov KaXetrai, Jos. de Bell. Jud. iv. 8, 2) extending
from the Sea of Tiberias to the Elanitic Gulf. Thus
a way would be made for the waters to flow from
Jerusalem, and the city itself should become relatively
elevated, so as to tower over the whole land, — " a figura
tive representation of the spiritual elevation and glory
which it is to receive " (Keil). It should also dwell in
its own place, that is, shall occupy to the full extent its
proper site, shall be restored to its former dimensions
from the ruin caused by its capture and sack (ver. 1).
The boundaries of the city, as here given, cannot in
every particular be determined. The gate of Benjamin is
undoubtedly the northern gate opening on the road to the
land of Benjamin, called elsewhere " the gate of Ephraim"
(2 King xiv. 13; Neh. viii. 16), the same road leading
both to Benjamin and Ephraim. The tower of Hananeel
was near to the sheep-gate on the eastern side of the city
(Neh. iii. 1, xii. 37, 39). Between it and the Benjamin
gate was probably " the place of the first gate," i.e., the
place occupied by the first gate, as the city was before it
was everted by the Chaldeans. What is here called the
'" first gate " is probably the same as " the gate of the old
town," 1}^ POttf n (gate of the old one (fern.), Jerusalem
being personified, like cities generally, as a woman)
mentioned Neh. iii. 6, xii. 39, here called "the first"
because in a part of the city first built. This gate was
probably at the north-eastern end of the wall. " The
gate of the corner " was on the other side of the gate of

316 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
Benjamin or Ephraim, to the west, about 400 cubits
distant from that gate (2 Kings xiv. 13); in Jer. xxxi.
3 8, it is mentioned as opposite to the tower of Hananeel,
to indicate the whole extent of the city. A fresh
departure is taken from the tower of Hananeel, and
a line is drawn thence to "the king's presses." These
were in all probability in the king's gardens, which
were on the south side of the city (Neh. iii. 15). The
limits of the city are thus given to the four points of the
compass. In the city thus restored and exalted peace
and blessedness should reign : " And they shall dwell in
her, and there shall be no more curse, and Jerusalem
shall dwell in security " (ver. 11). The dwelling here is
in contrast to the going out from the city as captives or
fugitives, in ver. 2 and ver.. 5. The expression "there
shall no more be a curse," has reference to the cherem or
ban which came upon those who were idolaters, or who
rebelled against Jehovah, or violated certain laws of the
Theocracy, and which entailed on the transgressor con
dign punishment, either by death or by confiscation of
goods and excision from the community (Exod. xxii 20,;
Deut. vii. 26, xiii. 12 ff. ; Ezra x. 8; Isa. xliii., 28;
Mai. iv. 6). As the infliction of such a curse implied
the existence of sin on the part of those on whom it was
sent, the removal of the curse implied the remission of
guilt to the transgressor ; and, in accordance with this,
the declaration, " there shall be no more curse," is equiva
lent to a declaration of the abolition of sin, and the
cessation finally of all ungodliness and transgression.
What is here intimated, then, is that the city shall be
inhabited by a people wholly the Lord's, a holy nation,

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. , 317
devoted to God, at peace with Him, " righteous before Him,
and walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
the Lord, blameless." The city and its inhabitants will,
consequently, be in perfect security, there being no
occasion any more for chastisement to come upon them
at the hand of the enemy (comp. Isa. lxv. 17 ff. ; Joel
iii. 17-21; Jer. xxxi. 38-40; Eev. xxi. 2-5, xxii.
3 ff-)- At this point we may conveniently pause to inquire
into the meaning and intent of the oracle, the significa
tion of the language of which we have been engaged in
investigating. As it is an expansion with fuller details
of the prophecy in the close of the preceding chapter, we
must start from the assumption that what is referred to
here is not any one great historical event, or any series
of events, but the kingdom of God in its experience and
development and ultimate triumph, in the world. The
highly figurative description of the prophet, couched in
language which does not admit of a literal interpreta
tion, of itself necessitates our resorting to a spiritual
application of his utterance. The appearance of Jehovah
on Mount Olivet, the sudden cleaving of that mountain
by an earthquake, so as to cause a valley to stretch
through its centre, the extinguishing of the heavenly
luminaries, causing a darkness that might be felt to over
spread the land, the breaking forth of light at evening
when, according to natural law, darkness should begin to
assume the sway, the sending forth of streams from one
point in diametrically opposite directions, the making of
the whole hilly region round Jerusalem into a plain like
the Arabah, so as that Jerusalem should come to be

318 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
elevated over the whole land — all that is so conspicu
ously figurative that a literal interpretation of it has
never been seriously proposed by any one except some of
the Rabbins. Figurative also is the representation of a
gathering of all nations against Jerusalem ; this at no
time has been realised, nor could it be so at any time.
But if all this be figurative, it cannot be of Jerusalem as
the actual metropolis of Judea that the prophet here
speaks ; it must be to Jerusalem as to the centre of the
kingdom of heaven upon earth, and as representing that
kingdom that the oracle relates. Hence in the over
throw and ruin of Jerusalem here described we are to
find the abolition of the ancient economy, the decaying
and vanishing away of the former under which the king
dom had been established of old, an event which was
brought about by the assault of the hostile heathen
powers of the world. The kingdom itself, however, was
not thereby averted; amid the general ruin a remnant
was preserved, and that not by flight from the city but
in it, there permanently to abide. Around this, the
nucleus of the renovated kingdom, the protecting care of
the Omnipotent should be vouchsafed; on the enemy
His judgments should fall, and lest His people should be
involved in these, a way of escape should be made for
them, and they should flee and be in safety. Seasons of
darkness and calamity might come, and amid the ominous
gloom the face of heaven might be obscured, and it might
seem as if God's favour was withdrawn ; but this should
be only for a season ; the dark day would in due time
decline, and at the evening there should be light. Ways
should be made by which the kingdom, as it expanded,

JERUSALEM ELEVATED. 319
might extend over the earth — a path should be cut
through the most obdurate obstacles, obstructions should
be removed, and streams of blessing should flow in all
directions over the earth. Then should Jehovah be
recognised as King over all the earth, and be worshipped
as the one and only God. Then should Jerusalem, " the
new," " the heavenly Jerusalem," " Jerusalem the free,"
which is the mother of all the people of Christ (Rev. iii.
12, xxi. 2; Heb. xii. 22; Gal. iv. 26; comp. Phil. iii.
20), "the Church of the living God" (1 Tim. iii. 1 5), be
exalted, and be filled with inhabitants to the full extent
of her proper boundaries. Then shall the saints inherit
the earth ; then shall the true people of God, being all
righteous, be free from all calamity, injury or assault ;
perfect security shall be enjoyed and the calm of a great
peace shall settle down on the world, so long troubled
and vexed by the storms of evil. The ban which has
rested on the race because of sin since the first transgres
sion, shall then be for ever taken off; there will be no
need to make men acknowledge God's supremacy by the
judgments which He executes ; a willing obedience shall
be rendered to Him by all; His servants shall serve
Him, they shall see His face, and His name shall be on
their foreheads.

XXIV.
THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM.
"And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all
the people that have fought against Jerusalem : their flesh shall con
sume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall
consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in
their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great
tumult from the Lord shall he among them ; and they shall lay hold
eveiy one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up
against the hand of his neighbour. And Judah also shall fight at
Jerusalem : and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be
gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel,
and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as
this plague. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left
of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up
from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep
the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come
up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the
King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the
family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain ; there
shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that
come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the
punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not
up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon
the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD ; and the
pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowis before the altar. Yea,
eveiy pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord
of hosts ; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and
seethe therein : and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite
in the house of the Lord of hosts." — Zech. xiv. 12-21.
The oracle in this section is best regarded not as another
and distinct from that which precedes, nor as a mere

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. 321

continuation of it, but rather as a resume" or repetition of
it in which the same things are depicted as in the former,
but more explicitly and in language less figurative and
symbolical. As in the former the prophet here begins
by a reference to the overthrow of the peoples that had
fought against Jerusalem (verses 12-15), an<i then pro
ceeds to describe the conversion of the residue of the
peoples, and the diffusion of a universal reign of holiness
and godliness all over the earth (verses 16-21); just as
in the preceding section he had described the levelling
of the whole land so as to become a plain, over which
the living and life-giving waters of salvation are to flow
to the ends of the earth, and the reign of peace and god
liness and blessedness under Jehovah, as King and only
Lord over all the earth, shall be inaugurated.
In the preceding oracle it is declared that the Lord
shall go forth and fight against the nations that had cap
tured and plundered Jerusalem (verse 3). How this is
to be done is now described. " And (or Now) this shall
be the smiting wherewith Jehovah shall smite all the
peoples which have warred against Jerusalem. He causes
to waste the flesh of each whilst standing on its feet, and
the eyes of each shall be wasted away in their sockets,
and the tongue of each shall be wasted in their mouth. "
The smiting (magephah) ; the word is used generally of
an infliction sent by God, such as a pestilence or epidemic,
disease or slaughter, which He has purposed or ordained ;
comp. Ex. ix. 15 ; Num. xiv. 37 ; 1 Sam. vi. 4; and the
use of the cognate verb in Ex. xii. 23 ; Judges xx. 3 5 ; Is.
xix. 22. That magephah, however, "always denotes a
plague or punishment sent by God" (Keil) cannot be
x

322 . ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
maintained in the face of such usages of the noun and verb
as in I Sam. iv. 17 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 9, xviii. 7 ; Ex. xxi. 22,
35 ; Prov. iii. 23. The flesh of each, etc., lit, his flesh, his
eyes, his tongue ; " sc. unius cujusque " (Ros.) ; the sin
gular suffixes are to be taken distributively. In the close
of the clause the singular passes into the plural. Causeth
to waste away : P^H, inf. abs. hiph., causing to waste,
used for the finite verb. Jehovah makes the flesh of the
enemy to waste or rot whilst he stands on his feet, i.e.,
whilst he is still alive. The wasting of the eyes in their
sockets and of the tongue in the mouth is specially men
tioned, not only to give greater emphasis to the denun
ciation, but because it was by these organs that the enemy
had most conspicuously offended ; their eyes were evil
against the city of God and searching out Jerusalem for
plunder, and their tongue crying out for its destruction,
saying, " Raze it, raze it even to the foundations thereof "
(Ps. cxxxvii. 7 ; cf. Mic. iv. 11). Besides this judgment
from God, destruction should come upon them from
among themselves : " And it shall come to pass in that
day that there shall be a mighty confusion from Jehovah
among them, and each shall grip the hand of his neigh
bour, and his hand [the hand of each] shall rise up
against his neighbour ; and also Judah shall fight against
Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the nations round about
shall be gathered together, gold and silver and apparel in
much abundance" (verses 13, 14). Confusion from (lit.,
of, i.e., caused by, gen. of cause) Jehovah. The Lord
should cause a panic to fall upon the host of the enemy,
by which they should be thrown into confusion, and
should turn their weapons against each other so as to

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. 323
complete their destruction ; just as He had done on for
mer occasions to the enemies of Israel (cf. Judges vii.
22 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 20 ; 2 Chron. xx. 23 ; comp. Is. xxii. 5,
yom mehumah, and Deut. vii. 23). Mighty, HS"*], is vast,
widespread, rather than great ; a confusion spreading
through the entire host. Grip, p^nr*!, to lay hold of, to
fasten on, with T, either to take the hand to assist (Gen.
xix. 1 6, xxi. 1 8 ; Is. xlii. 6), or to grasp it with a hostile
intent as here. Each should seize the hand of his neigh
bour to hold him, that he might smite him ; and so a hand-
to-hand fight between neighbours should ensue (cf. xi. 6).
The scene of this internecine conflict should be Jerusalem,
which the enemy had besieged and taken ; but the city
having been sacked, and its inhabitants either slain or
utterly cowed and put to flight, no advantage could be
taken by them of the confusion and disaster into which
their assailants had been thrown. From the nation at
large, however, a force should come which, falling upon
the disordered and struggling host, should complete their
destruction. Judah also shall mingle in the fray. Instead
of " at Jerusalem," some (Eosenmiiller, Maurer, etc.), with
the Targumist, Jerome, Jarchi and other Jewish interpreters,
read " against Jerusalem," and understand the meaning to
be that the people of Judah, compelled by force (coacti),
had joined the heathen in their attack upon Jerusalem.
In support of this it is urged that the preposition 2,
following a verb of fighting, and prefixed to the names of
persons or places, is to be taken adversatively, as in
. Jud°-es ix. 45; 1 Sam. xxiii. 1. But this is not conclusive,
for though generally the preposition in such a collocation
denotes the object of attack, it is also used to point to the

324 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
place of the fighting ; cf. Ex. xvii. 8 ; I Kings xx. 2 5 ;
2 Chron. xxxv. 22. The rendering "at" or "in Jeru
salem" is therefore legitimate, and the meaning thus
obtained is much more apt than the other. There is no
indication in the passage of any hostility between Jeru
salem and Judah ; and the supposition of an enforced
service of Judah by the heathen against the metropolis
of their own land is wholly gratuitous as well as impro
bable. Besides, such an announcement as that Judah
should fight against Jerusalem would be altogether out
of place and incongruous here, in the midst of a passage
describing the overthrow and rout of the assailants of
Jerusalem ; whereas the coming of Judah to fight at
Jerusalem against its assailants, comes in naturally as an
adjunct to the previously announced means by which the
invading host are to be destroyed. This assault by Judah *
should complete the rout of the heathen ; the wealth
which they had accumulated should be gathered together
to be carried away by the victors, and 'all the rich booty,
gold and silver and apparel, which they had taken from
Jerusalem, should become the spoil of the victors. Even
the beasts of burden and the cattle which they had with
them in the tents should be destroyed ; the same plague
as had come on their owners should fall upon them.
" And as this plague, so shall be the plague of the horse,
of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the
cattle that are in these tents [in this encampment, in cas-
tris Hits]" (verse 15). To the ]2 at the beginning of the ¦
verse responds the 3 in the last clause ; more usually the
order of these particles is the reverse. When nations or
individuals came under the Divine curse, not only they

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. 325
but their possessions and dependents along with them
were exposed to destruction ; cf. Joshua vii. 24. This
was the doom threatened to Israel through Moses in case
of rebellion and apostacy, Deut. xxviii. 1 8 ff.
From this infliction only a remnant of those who had
come up against Jerusalem and had plundered it, should
escape ; but this remnant should be spared only to
become subject to the kingdom of which Jerusalem is
the metropolis and centre : " And it shall come to pass
the whole that is left of all the nations which came
against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to
worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to observe the
Feast of Tabernacles " (verse 1 6). The heathen came up
to Jerusalem to destroy it ; but now after the judgment
by which they were themselves overwhelmed and ruined,
the remnant that should be spared should be converted
to the Lord, acknowledge Him as King, and come up to
Jerusalem as the city of the Great King to offer worship
and observe His ordinances. That this is not to be taken
literally, as it is by the Jews, is evident as well from the
general tenor of the whole prophecy as from the nature
of the case ; for as on the one hand a gathering every
year from all the nations of the earth at Jerusalem to
observe a religious festival is a simple impossibility, so
on the other such a gathering would be incongruous with
the character and purpose of that spiritual reign which
the prophet is here announcing. In accordance with
what goes before and what follows in this prophetic
utterance, the coming of all nations to worship at Jeru
salem can only be understood of the conversion of the
heathen to God under the reign of the Messiah, an event

326 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
which is here presented under forms borrowed from the
ordinances and usages of the ancient dispensation ; " the
representation is founded upon the manner in which the
fear of God and connection with His kingdom manifested
themselves under the Old Covenant, and the prophet
employs this as a type of the higher form in which they
would be manifested in the Messianic times" (Hengstenb.) ;
cf. Isa. Ixvi. 23, ii. 2, 3. The phrase rtitfn TOtf nn
is rightly rendered by " from year to year," as in 1 Sam.
vii. 16; 2 Chron. xxiv. 5; Isa. Ixvi. 23. Why the
Feast of Tabernacles is specified by the prophet is to be
accounted for not because it was the most important of
the three great festivals of the Jews, for in this respect
it was inferior to the Passover, which had the highest
place in the esteem of the nation, nor because it was
held in the autumn, the time most convenient for travel
ling (Theodoret, Grotius, Rosenmiiller), nor because it was
the Feast of the Ingathering of the Harvest (Kohler),
nor because such a festival may be observed without any
compromise of the principles of the New Dispensation
(Henderson) ; but because, from its original intention and
its internal spiritual significance, it was the fittest to form
an element in the prophet's representation here. The
Feast of Tabernacles (ITiSDrT jrj festival of booths) was
not only a feast of the ingathering, when the people
appeared before the Lord with " fruits of goodly trees "
(said to be the citron, but perhaps also the vine), branches
of palm and other trees, to rejoice and give thanks for
the bounteous produce of the year, but also a festival of
remembrance, when the people, by dwelling for a season
in booths, commemorated the journeyings of the Israelites

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. 327

through the wilderness when they dwelt in booths (Ex.
xxiii. 16 ; Lev. xxiii. 40—43). It was a season of great
festivity, and was celebrated by the Jews with special
solemnity and jubilation. See also Plutarch, Symposiai,
Book IV., qu. 6. One of Plutarch's interlocutors describ
ing this festival of the Hebrews, says that from the time
and manner of its celebration it was evidently a festival
to Dionusos, whose cultus he represents the Jews as
following. Tacitus has been charged with making the
same misrepresentation (Home's Introduction, Vol. III.,
p. 3 16, 8 th ed.) ; but this is a mistake. Tacitus refers to
this as an opinion (" quidam arbitrati sunt "), but declares
it to be untenable — " nequaquam congruentibus institutis"
(Hist. V. 5). In the opinion of the haughty Roman, the
usage of the Jews was too " absurd," " gloomy " and
" sordid," to be compared with the mirthful rites of
Bacchus. (eopTtj cr(p6§pa -rapa. to?? 'E/3jOa/o£? ayuoraTri
Kal fjLeyla-Tri.) Joseph. Ant. Jud. viii. 4, 1. Fittingly,
therefore, is it introduced by the prophet here as symbolic
of that season of joy and worship in the kingdom of
heaven, when the heathen, gathered from wandering in
the wilderness, shall enter with songs and everlasting
joy into the kingdom of God, when the fulness of the
Gentiles shall be brought in, and so all Israel shall be
saved. In keeping with this symbolical representation is the
description of the punishment that should come on those
of the heathen who should refuse or neglect to join in
this procession to the Holy City to observe the Feast :
" And it shall be that whoso will not come up of the
families of the earth to Jerusalem to worship the King,

328 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
the Lord of hosts, on them shall be no rain" (verse 17).
As without rain the land which God had given to Israel
for an inheritance would have ceased to be the goodly
land, the land flowing with milk and honey He had pro
mised, He assured them by Moses that His care for the
land should be manifested by His giving them the rain
of the land in its season, so long as they continued to
hearken diligently to His commandments to do them ;
and, on the other hand, should they become rebellious
and disobedient, He would mark His displeasure by with
holding rain from the land, so that it should become arid
and barren (Deut. xi. 13-17). Eain thus became to the
Hebrews the type of blessing, of temporal blessing first
and then also of spiritual blessing, or both included (cf. Isa.
xiv. 8, xxx. 23 ; Hos. vi. 28 ; Joel ii. 23, iii. 18 ; Amos
ix. 13). There being no rain, therefore, on those who
came not up to the Feast, implies the withholding from
them of the Divine blessing, their being left to the emp
tiness and vanity of a world that is at enmity with God,
their dwelling "in parched places in. the wilderness, in a
salt land " (Jer. xvii. 6). " The meaning of the threat is
that those families which do not come to worship the Lord
will be punished by Him with the withdrawal of the
blessings of His grace " (Keil). Such are regarded as
enemies of the kingdom of God. This is implied in the
special allusion to the family of Egypt as not coming up
to the Feast : " And if the family of Egypt go not up,
and come not, there shall be on them no [rain] ; there
shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah shall plague the
nations [the heathen] that go not up to observe the Feast
of Tabernacles. This shall be the guilt [the penalty] of

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM., 329
Egypt, and the guilt [the penalty] of all the nations that
go not up to observe the Feast of Tabernacles " (verses
18, 19). The words, 0*7 :?# *^1 an<^ noi on t^em> in verse
1 8, present a difficulty. What shall not be on them ?
The sentence is incomplete, and something must be sup
plied to complete it. In the Authorised Version a sup
plement is taken from the preceding clause, " rain is not
to them "=" they have no rain." This is the most natural
supplement ; but the form in which the clause is thus
presented is unfortunate, for it is made to assert what is
not the fact, seeing the Egyptians are not wholly without
rain, and what if it were a fact, would be irrelevant
here in a description where.it is not the natural history
of Egypt that is described, but the punishment that
should come on the family of Egypt, along with others
of the heathen who came not to the Feast. As Egypt,
however, is not so dependent for its fertility on rain as
other lands, but has an abundant source of irrigation in
the annual overflow of the Nile, it has been suggested
that it is the withdrawal of this that is here threatened,
as what would be equivalent in effect to the Egyptians
with the withholding of rain to the inhabitants of other
lands. The Targumist accordingly thus paraphrases the
clause : DI^O pV V^b tib not to them shall rise the Nile.
But had the prophet intended to convey any such mean-
in" he would have intimated it in some way, and not
have left in his text words which do not even suggest
this as a conjecture. Besides, there would thus be inti
mated that on the Egyptians would come a calamity dif
ferent from that threatened to other nations, which is
incompatible with what is stated in verse 19, that the

330 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
penalty of Egypt ahd the penalty of all nations should
be the same. The LXX ignore the negative and connect
this clause with what follows, thus : kcu eiri tovtovs
ecrTai q 7TTa><Ti$ r\v Trara^ei Kvpios iravra to. eOvij k.t.X.
And on them shall be the infliction with which the Lord
shall smite all the nations, &c.
But the neglect of the negative vitiates this render
ing and forbids its acceptance. To escape this objection
Hitzig proposes to read the clause interrogatively : And
if . . . shall there not be on them the plague wherewith,
etc. ; and this Bunsen adopts, and Lange commends it
as not only doing justice to the prophet's language but
also setting forth his thought. It has been questioned,
however, whether such a construction of the clause be
grammatically admissible ; as it is considered doubtful if
the apodosis in the form of a question to a conditional
clause can begin with tib"). But for such doubt there
seems no sufficient reason, as the same construction may
be found elsewhere ; comp. i Sam. xx. 9, " If I knew
. . . should I not (N*?l) tell it thee ?" Jer. xxiii. 24,
" If a man hide himself . . . shall I not {tibi) see him ? "
Amos iii. 6, " If a trumpet be blown in the city shall
not {itbi) the people be afraid ? " &c. On the whole,
however, it seems best to adopt the simple expedient of
taking ^/y N7") as the apodosis to the conditional
clause introduced by DN, and supplying D^il iTi*!**1 from
verse 17 to complete the sentence. There is thus no
allusion to the climatic peculiarity of Egypt (which would
be strangely out of place here), but only a declaration
that if the family of Egypt came not up to the Feast,
from them should be withheld the blessing which should

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. 331
be bestowed on all that came up to worship at the Feast.
This has been adopted by Hengstenberg, Keil, Henderson,
and others, and seems to be that intended by the Vulgate,
non super eos erit [sc. imber.] sed erit ruina. Egypt, it
may be presumed, is specially referred to because it was
the type of hostility to the people of God, and thus is
indicated that refusal to come up to the Feast was
prompted by enmity to Jehovah, the King over all the
earth, and was not the result of mere ignorance or
inability. In verse 1 9 the whole is wound up by general
affirmation : " This," i.e., there being no rain, will be the
guilt (nSSIT), the judicial penalty (cf. Lam. iv. 6 and
H®r] iii. 39), of Egypt and of all the nations that persist
in opposition to Jehovah and His kingdom. Within that
kingdom there shall be nothing that is profane, abomin
able, or idolatrous (Rev. xxi. 27, "anything that is
common or that maketh an abomination and a lie ").
But not only shall there be the absence of all that is
unholy and vile, there shall also be the presence of entire
and absolute holiness and consecration to God : " In that
day there shall be on the bells of the horses Holiness to
Jehovah, and the pots in the house of Jehovah shall be
as the sacrificial bowls before the altar" (verse 20).
Among many nations of antiquity it was customary to
hang bells on horses and mules partly for ornament,
partly for use, as is still the practice in many places in
modern times ; and it is probable this usage prevailed
also among the Jews in Palestine. As the tinkling of
these bells announces the presence of the animal on
which they are suspended, they may be held as represent
ing the animal itself ; and thus the inscription upon them

332 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS AND WARNINGS.
of Holiness to Jehovah would imply that they, though
only belonging to the lower part of creation and in no
wise connected specially with religious worship, should
be consecrated to the Lord. There is manifestly an
allusion to the golden plate on the tiara of the High
Priest on which were engraven the words ^0- ^l1 >
Holy or Holiness to Jehovah : and as this was not a pro
fession put forth by the High Priest, but was an ascrip
tion put upon him to indicate his entire consecration to
the Lord, so the putting of this on the bells of the horses
signifies that they, though mere outward objects, should
be as entirely consecrated to God as were the most holy
objects in the service of the sanctuary. Involved in this
as a necessary conclusion is the abolition of the cere
monial distinction between the common and the holy ; for
if even beasts of burden were to be as much holy to
Jehovah as was the High Priest there was an end of
that distinction for ever, not by sinking the holy in the
profane, but by stamping on everything, even the most
common, the character of holiness by consecration to God.
Involved also in this is the abolition of gradations of
sanctity, as is explicitly indicated in the following clause,
where it is said that the vessels the least esteemed for
holiness, the pots in which the meat of the sacrifices was
boiled, should be as holy as the sacred basins into which
the blood of the animals was poured that it might be
sprinkled upon the altar. And as this consummation
was uniform so it should be universal : " And every pot
in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy unto Jehovah
of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come and take
of them and boil therein ; and in that day there shall be

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. 333
no more the Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of hosts "
(verse 21). Not only the pots in the Temple but all the
pots, those in common use in Jerusalem and Judah, shall
be consecrated to Jehovah and be used as well as those
in the Temple for sacrificial purposes. " In this priestly-
levitical drapery the thought is expressed that in the
perfected kingdom of God not only will everything with
out exception be holy, but all will be equally holy"
(Keil). No element of evil or ungodliness shall remain
within the pale of that perfected kingdom ; its " people
shall be all righteous " (Isa. lx. 2 1) ; " the Canaanite shall
no more be in the house of the Lord of hosts." The
Canaanites were a people defiled, accursed and utterly
estranged from the commonwealth of Israel (Lev. xviii.
24 ff.; Deut. vii. 2, ix. 4, xviii. 12). Hence in the
mind of the Jews a Canaanite was the type of the ungodly
and profane, and the name might be applied to anyone
whether Jew or Gentile who was of this character ; just
as Daniel is represented as addressing to the wicked
elder whom he had come to judge, the epithet, " Thou
seed of Canaan and not of Judah " (Hist, of Susannah,
verse 56) ; or, as Isaiah calls the princes and people of
Judah, " rulers of Sodom " and " people of Gomorrah " (i.
10). When the prophet, then, says here, " The Canaanite
shall no more be in the house of Jehovah of hosts," the
meaning is that though in the congregation of Israel there
had been often those who were not true Israelites in
heart, persons ungodly and profane, in the perfected
kingdom it should not be so. Into that hallowed Temple
none should come but the holy and the pure.
The prophet thus follows to its glorious consummation

334 ZECHARIAH'S VISIONS ANDf WARNINGS.
the development of that heavenly kingdom which was to
rise upon the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Israel, and
was to be the reality of which that was the type and
shadow. The picture he presents is vested in the drapery
of the ancient institute, but it is not of Israel after the
flesh that the prophet speaks. The abolition of the
ancient system, with its " carnal ordinances," is referred
to, but it is as these should be superseded by passing
into that great spiritual system of universal consecration
to God of which it was the type. Nor is it the Church
as a visible institute that is the object of the prophet's
delineations ; the fates and fortunes of that institute
which history may relate it is not the object of prophecy
to delineate. The kingdom whose development amidst
mundane conditions and circumstances the prophets of
the old economy describe, is that kingdom of God which
cometh not with observation (Luke xvii. 20), which
is not in word but in power (1 Cor. iv. 20); that
kingdom which was set up when God raised His Son
from the dead and set Him as His King on His holy hill
of Zion. Of the progress of this kingdom through
varied scenes of trial and of triumph the prophet had a
vision which he has here unfolded. With the final
triumph and the glorious consummation, when all hos
tility shall have been quelled and the whole world shall
have been turned to the Lord, the prophet's vision closes.
Through the ages, ever since the Christ took His seat on
the throne, " crowned with glory and with honour," His
prediction has been and is being fulfilled. In degree as
the kingdom extends and its influence is felt, the curse is
lifted from the race, and Holiness to the Lord becomes

THE PERFECT AND SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. 335
inscribed on those who have been in arms against Him,
enemies by a mind in evil works. The end is not yet ;
we see not yet all things put under Him. But we see
the kingdom advancing, and in due time the mystery of
God "shall be finished, as He hath declared to His servants
the prophets (Rev. x. 7) — that mystery which is also
" the mystery of the Christ," that the Gentiles (ra. edvij,
those outside the Israel of God) are fellow-heirs [with
Israel] and of the same body, and partakers of the promise
in Christ by the Gospel (Eph. iii. 3-6). This mystery,
which was kept secret since the world began, but is
manifested now in this latter time, it was given to
Zechariah, as to other prophets of the former dispensa
tion, to make known.

the end.

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