THE CONTENTS OF "ZECHARIAH"
9-14
FROM the number of conflicting opinions which
prevail upon the subject, we have seen how impossible it is to
decide upon a scheme of division for "Zechariah" 9-14. These
chapters consist of a number of separate oracles, which their
language and general conceptions lead us on the whole to believe
were put together by one hand, and which, with the possible
exception of some older fragments, reflect the troubled times in
Palestine that followed on the invasion of Alexander the Great. But
though the most of them are probably due to one date and possibly
come from the same author, these oracles do not always exhibit a
connection, and indeed sometimes show no relevance to each other. It
will therefore be simplest to take them piece by piece, and; before
giving the translation of each, to explain the difficulties in it
and indicate the ruling ideas.
1. THE COMING OF THE GREEKS
Zec 9:1-8
This passage runs exactly in the style of the
early prophets. It figures the progress of war from the north of
Syria southwards by the valley of the Orontes to Damascus, and then
along the coasts of Phoenicia and the Philistines. All these shall
be devastated, but Jehovah will camp about His own House and it
shall be inviolate. This is exactly how Amos or Isaiah might have
pictured an Assyrian campaign, or Zephaniah a Scythian. It is not
surprising, therefore, that even some of those who take the bulk of
"Zechariah" 9-14, as post-exilic should regard Zec 9:1-5 as earlier
even than Amos, with post-exilic additions only in Zec 9:6-8. This
is possible. Zec 9:6-8 are certainly post-exilic, because of their
mention of the half-breeds, and their intimation that Jehovah will
take unclean food out of the mouth of the heathen; but the allusions
in Zec 9:1-5 suit an early date. They equally suit, however, a date
in the Greek period. The progress of war from the Orontes valley by
Damascus and thence down the coast of Palestine follows the line of
Alexander’s campaign in 332, which must also have been the line of
Demetrius in 315 and of Antigonus in 311. The evidence of language
is mostly in favor of a late date. If Ptolemy I took Jerusalem in
320, then the promise, no assailant shall return (Zec 9:8), is
probably later than that.
In face, then, of Alexander’s invasion of Palestine, or of another
campaign on the same line, this oracle repeats the ancient
confidence of Isaiah (Zec 9:1). God rules: His providence is awake
alike for the heathen and for Israel. "Jehovah hath an eye for
mankind, and all the tribes of Israel." The heathen shall be
destroyed, but Jerusalem rest secure; and the remnant of the heathen
be converted, according to the Levitical notion, by having unclean
foods taken out of their mouths.
Oracle
"The Word of Jehovah is on the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its
goal-for Jehovah hath an eye upon the heathen, and all the tribes of
Israel-and on Hamath, which borders upon it, Tyre and Sidon, for
they were very wise. And Tyre built her a fortress, and heaped up
silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. Lo, the
Lord will dispossess her, and strike her rampart, into the sea, and
she shall be consumed in fire. Ashklon shall see and shall fear, and
Gaza writhe in anguish, and Ekron, for her confidence is abashed,
and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon lie uninhabited.
Half-breeds shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut down the pride of
the Philistines. Ana I will take their blood from their mouth and
their abominations from between their teeth, and even they shall be
left for our God, and shall become like a clan in Judah, and Ekron
shall be as the Jebusite. And I shall encamp for a guard to My
House, so that none pass by or return, and no assailant again pass
upon them, for now do I regard it with Mine eyes."
2. THE PRINCE OF PEACE
Zec 9:9-12
This beautiful picture, applied by the Evangelist
with such fitness to our Lord upon His entry to Jerusalem, must also
be of post-exilic date. It contrasts with the warlike portraits of
the Messiah drawn in pre-exilic times, for it clothes Him with
humility and with peace. The coming King of Israel has the
attributes already imputed to the Servant of Jehovah by the prophet
of the Babylonian captivity. The next verses also imply the Exile as
already a fact. On the whole, too, the language is of a late rather
than of an early date. Nothing in the passage betrays the exact
point of its origin after the Exile.
The epithets applied to the Messiah are of very great interest. He
does not bring victory or salvation, but is the passive recipient of
it. This determines the meaning of the preceding adjective,
"righteous," which has not the moral sense of "justice," but rather
that of "vindication," in which "righteousness" and "righteous" are
so frequently used in Isaiah 40-55. He is "lowly," like the Servant
of Jehovah; and comes riding not the horse, an animal for war,
because the next verse says that horses and chariots are to be
removed from Israel, but the ass, the animal not of lowliness, as
some have interpreted, but of peace. To this day in the East asses
are used, as they are represented in the Song of Deborah, by great
officials, but only when these are upon civil, and not upon
military, duty.
It is possible that this oracles closes with Zec 9:10, and that we
should take Zec 9:11-12, on the deliverance from exile, with the
next.
"Rejoice mightily, daughter of Zion! shout aloud, daughter of
Jerusalem! Lo, thy King cometh to thee, vindicated and victorious,
meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt the she-ass’ foal. And I
will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem,
and the war-bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace to the
nations, and His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river
even to the ends of the earth. Thou, too, - by thy covenant-blood, I
have set free thy prisoners from the Return to the fortress, ye
prisoners of hope; even today do I proclaim: Double will I return to
thee." {Isa 61:7}
3. THE SLAUGHTER OF THE GREEKS
Zec 9:13-17
The next oracle seems singularly out of keeping
with the spirit of the last, which declared the arrival of the
Messianic peace, while this represents Jehovah as using Israel for
His weapons in the slaughter of the Greeks and heathens, in whose
blood they shall revel. But Stade has pointed out how often in
chapters 9-14 a result is first stated and then the oracle goes on
to describe the process by which it is achieved. Accordingly we have
no ground for affirming Zec 9:13-17 to be by another hand than Zec
9:9-12. The apocalyptic character of the means by which the heathen
are to be overthrown, and the exultation displayed in their
slaughter, as in a great sacrifice (Zec 9:15), betray Israel in a
state of absolute political weakness, and therefore suit a date
after Alexander’s campaigns, which is also made sure by the
reference to the "sons of Javan," as if Israel were now in immediate
contact with them. Kirkpatrick’s note should be read, in which he
seeks to prove "the sons of Javan" a late gloss; but his reasons do
not appear conclusive. The language bears several traces of
lateness.
"For I have drawn Judah for My bow, I have charged it with Ephraim;
and I will urge thy sons, O Zion, against the sons of Javan, and
make thee like the sword of a hero. Then will Jehovah appear above
them, and His shaft shall go forth like lightning; and the Lord
Jehovah shall blow a blast on the trumpet, and travel in the storms
of the south. Jehovah will protect them, and they shall devour(?)
and trample; and they shall drink their blood like wine, and be
drenched with it, like a bowl and like the corners of the altar. And
Jehovah their God will give them victory in that day How good it is,
and how beautiful! Corn shall make the young men flourish and new
wine the maidens."
4. AGAINST THE TERAPHIM AND SORCERERS
Zec 10:1-2
This little piece is connected with the previous
one only through the latter’s conclusion upon the fertility of the
land, while this opens with rain, the requisite of fertility. It is
connected with the piece that follows only by its mention of the
shepherdless state of the people, the piece that follows being
against the false shepherds. These connections are extremely slight.
Perhaps the piece is an independent one. The subject of it gives no
clue to the date. Sorcerers are condemned both by the earlier
prophets, and by the later. Stade points out that this is the only
passage of the Old Testament in which the Teraphim are said to
speak. The language has one symptom of a late period.
After emphasizing the futility of images, enchantments, and dreams,
this little oracle says, therefore the people wander like sheep:
they have no shepherd. Shepherd in this connection cannot mean civil
ruler, but must be religious director.
"Ask from Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain. Jehovah is
the maker of the lightning-flashes, and the winter rain He gives to
them-to every man herbage in the field. But the Teraphim speak
nothingness, and the sorcerers see lies, and dreams discourse
vanity, and they comfort in vain. Wherefore they wander(?) like a
flock of sheep, and flee about, for there is no shepherd."
5. AGAINST EVIL SHEPHERDS
Zec 10:3-12
The unity of this section is more apparent than
its connection with the preceding, which had spoken of the want of a
shepherd, or religious director, of Israel, while this is directed
against their shepherds and leaders, meaning their foreign tyrants.
The figure is taken from Jer 23:1 ff., where, besides, "to visit
upon" is used in a sense of punishment, but the simple "visit" in
the sense of to look after, just as within Zec 10:3 of this tenth
chapter. Who these foreign tyrants are is not explicitly stated, but
the reference to Egypt and Assyria as lands whence the Jewish
captives shall be brought home, while at the same time there is a
Jewish nation in Judah, suits only the Greek period, after Ptolemy
had taken so many Jews to Egypt, and there were numbers still
scattered throughout the other great empire in the north, to which,
as we have already seen, the Jews applied the name of Assyria. The
reference can hardly suit the years after Seleucus and Ptolemy
granted to the Jews in their territories the rights of citizens. The
captive Jews are to be brought back to Gilead and Lebanon Why
exactly these are mentioned, and neither Samaria nor Galilee, forms
a difficulty, to whatever age we assign the chapter.
The language of Zec 10:3-12 has several late features. Joseph or
Ephraim, here and elsewhere in these chapters, is used of the
portion of Israel still in captivity, in contrast to Judah, the
returned community.
The passage predicts that Jehovah will change His poor leaderless
sheep, the Jews, into war-horses, and give them strong chiefs and
weapons of war. They shall overthrow the heathen, and Jehovah will
bring back His exiles. The passage is therefore one with chapter 9.
"My wrath is hot against the shepherds, and I will make visitation
on the he-goats: yea, Jehovah of Hosts will visit His flock, the
house of Judah, and will make them like His splendid war horses.
From Him the corner-stone, from Him the stay, from Him the war-bow,
from Him the oppressor-shall go forth together. And in battle shall
they trample on heroes as on the dirt of the streets, and fight, for
Jehovah is with them, and the riders on horses shall be abashed. And
the house of Judah will I make strong and work salvation for the
house of Joseph, and bring them back, for I have pity for them, and
they shall be as though I had not put them away, for I am Jehovah
their God and I will hold converse with them. And Ephraim shall be
as heroes, and their heart shall be glad as with wine, and their
children shall behold and be glad: their heart shall rejoice in
Jehovah. I will whistle for them and gather them in, for I have
redeemed them, and they shall be as many as they once were. I
scattered them among the nations, but among the faraway they think
of Me, and they will bring up their children, and come back. And I
will fetch them home from the land of Misraim, and from Asshur will
I gather them, and to the land of Gilead and Lebanon will I bring
them in, though these be not found sufficient for them. And they
shall pass through the sea of Egypt, and He shall smite the sea of
breakers, and all the deeps of the Nile shall be dried, and the
pride of Assyria brought down, and the scepter of Egypt swept aside.
And their strength shall be in Jehovah, and in His Name shall they
boast themselves-oracle of Jehovah."
6. WAR UPON THE SYRIAN TYRANTS
Zec 9:1-3
This is taken by some with the previous chapter,
by others with the passage following. Either connection seems
precarious. No conclusion as to date can be drawn from the language.
But the localities threatened were on the southward front of the
Seleucid kingdom. "Open, Lebanon, thy doors" suits the Egyptian
invasions of that kingdom. To which of these the passage refers
cannot of course be determined. The shepherds are the rulers.
"Open, Lebanon, thy doors, that the fire may devour in thy cedars.
Wail, O pine-tree, for the cedar is fallen; wail, O oaks of Bashan,
for fallen is the impenetrable wood. Hark to the wailing of the
shepherds! for their glory is destroyed. Hark how the lions roar!
for blasted is the pride of Jordan."
7. THE REJECTION AND MURDER OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Zec 11:4-17; Zec 13:7-9
There follows now, in the rest of chapter 11, a
longer oracle, to which Ewald and most critics after him have
suitably attached Zec 13:7-9. This passage appears to rise from
circumstances similar to those of the preceding and from the same
circle of ideas. Jehovah’s people are His flock and have suffered.
Their rulers are their shepherds; and the rulers of other peoples
are their shepherds. A true shepherd is sought for Israel in place
of the evil ones which have distressed them. The language shows
traces of a late date. No historical allusion is obvious in the
passage. The "buyers" and "sellers" of God’s sheep might reflect the
Seleucids and Ptolemies between whom Israel were exchanged for many
years, but probably mean their native leaders The "three shepherds
cut off in a month" were interpreted by the supporters of the
pre-exilic date of the chapters as Zechariah and Shallum, {2Ki
15:8-13} and another whom these critics assume to have followed them
to death, but of him the history has no trace. The supporters of a
Maccabean date for the prophecy recall the quick succession of high
priests before the Maccabean rising. The "one month" probably means
nothing more than a very short time.
The allegory which our passage unfolds is given, like so many more
in Hebrew prophecy, to the prophet himself to enact. It recalls the
pictures in Jeremiah and Ezekiel of the overthrow of the false
shepherds of Israel, and the appointment of a true shepherd. Jehovah
commissions the prophet to become shepherd to His sheep that have
been so cruelly abused by their guides and rulers. Like the
shepherds of Palestine, the prophet took two staves to herd his
flock He called one "Grace," the other "Union." In a month he cut
off three shepherds-both "month" and "three" are probably formal
terms. But he did not get on well with his charge They were willful
and quarrelsome. So he broke his staff Grace, in token that his
engagement was dissolved. The dealers of the sheep saw that he acted
for God. He asked for his wage, if they cared to give it. They gave
him thirty pieces of silver, the price of an injured slave, {Exo
21:32} which by God’s command he cast into the treasury of the
Temple, as if in token that it was God Himself whom they paid with
so wretched a sum. And then, he broke his other staff, to signify
that the brotherhood between Judah and Israel was broken. Then, to
show the people that by their rejection of the good shepherd they
must fall a prey to an evil one, the prophet assumed the character
of the latter. But another judgment follows. In Zec 13:7-9 the good
shepherd is smitten and the flock dispersed.
The spiritual principles which underlie this allegory are obvious.
God’s own sheep, persecuted and helpless though they be, are yet
obstinate, and their obstinacy not only renders God’s good will to
them futile, but causes the death of the one man who could have done
them good. The guilty sacrifice the innocent, but in this execute
their own doom. That is a summary of the history of Israel. But had
the writer of this allegory any special part of that history in
view? Who were the "dealers of the flock?"
"Thus saith Jehovah my God: Shepherd the flock of slaughter, whose
purchasers slaughter them impenitently, and whose sellers Say,
Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich!-and their shepherds do not spare
them. [For I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land-oracle
of Jehovah; but lo! I am about to give mankind over, each into the
hand of his shepherd, and into the hand of his king; and they shall
destroy the land, and I will not secure it from their hands.] And I
shepherded the flock of slaughter for the sheep merchants, and I
took to me two staves-the one I called Grace, and the other I called
Union-and so I shepherded the sheep. And I destroyed the three
shepherds in one month. Then was my soul vexed with them, and they
on their part were displeased with me. And I said: I will not
shepherd you: what is dead, let it die; and what is destroyed, let
it be destroyed; and those that survive, let them devour one
another’s flesh! And I took my staff Grace, and I brake it so as to
annul my covenant which I made with all the peoples. And in that day
it was annulled, and the dealers of the sheep, who watched me, knew
that it was Jehovah’s word. And I said to them, If it be good in
your sight, give me my wage, and if it be not good, let it go! And
they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver. Then said Jehovah
to me, Throw it into the treasury (the precious wage at which I had
been valued of them). So I took the thirty pieces of silver, and
cast them to the House of Jehovah, to the treasury. And I brake my
second staff, Union, so as to dissolve the brotherhood between Judah
and Israel. And Jehovah said to me: Take again to thee the
implements of a worthless shepherd: for lo! I am about to appoint a
shepherd over the land; the destroyed he will not visit, the he will
not seek out, the wounded he will not heal, he will not cherish, but
he will devour the flesh of the fat."
"Woe to My worthless shepherd, that deserts the flock! The sword be
upon his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither, and his right
eye be blinded."
Upon this follows the section Zec 13:7-9, which develops the tragedy
of the nation to its climax in the murder of the good shepherd.
"Up, Sword, against My shepherd and the man My compatriot-oracle of
Jehovah of Hosts. Smite the shepherd, that the sheep may be
scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones. And it
shall come to pass in all the land-oracle of Jehovah-that two-thirds
shall be cut off in it, and perish, but a third shall be left in it.
And I shall bring the third into the fire, and smelt it as men smelt
silver and try it as men try gold. It shall call upon My Name, and I
will answer it. And I will say, It is My people, and it will say,
Jehovah my God!"
8. JUDAH VERSUS JERUSALEM
Zec 12:1-7
A title, though probably of later date than the
text, introduces with the beginning of chapter 12 an oracle plainly
from circumstances different from those of the preceding chapters.
The nations, not particularized as they have been, gather to the
siege of Jerusalem, and, very singularly, Judah is gathered with
them against her own capital. But God makes the city like one of
those great boulders, deeply embedded, which husbandmen try to pull
up from their fields, but it tears and wounds the hands of those who
would remove it. Moreover God strikes with panic all the besiegers,
save only Judah, who, her eyes being opened, perceives that God is
with Jerusalem and turns to her help. Jerusalem remains in her
place; but the glory of the victory is first Judah’s, so that the
house of David may not have too much fame nor boast over the country
districts. The writer doubtless alludes to some temporary schism
between the capital and country caused by the arrogance of the
former. But we have no means of knowing when this took place. It
must often have been imminent in the days both before and especially
after the Exile, when Jerusalem had absorbed all the religious
privilege and influence of the nation. The language is undoubtedly
late.
The figure of Jerusalem as a boulder, deeply bedded in the soil,
which tears the hands that seek to remove it, is a most true and
expressive summary of the history of heathen assaults upon her. Till
she herself was rent by internal dissensions, and the Romans at last
succeeded in tearing her loose, she remained planted on her own
site. This was very true of all the Greek period. Seleucids and
Ptolemies alike wounded themselves upon her. But at what period did
either of them induce Judah to take part against her? Not in the
Maccabean.
Oracle of the Word of Jehovah upon Israel.
"Oracle of Jehovah, who stretched out the heavens and founded the
earth, and formed the spirit of man within him: Lo, I am about to
make Jerusalem a cup of reeling for all the surrounding peoples, and
even Judah shall be at the siege of Jerusalem. And it shall come to
pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone to be lifted by
all the peoples-all who lift it do indeed wound themselves-and there
are gathered against it all nations of the earth. In that day-oracle
of Jehovah-I will smite every horse with panic, and their riders
with madness; but as for the house of Judah, I will open its eyes,
though every horse of the peoples I smite with blindness. Then shall
the chiefs of Judah say in their hearts the inhabitants of Jerusalem
through Jehovah of Hosts their God. In that day will I make the
districts of Judah like a pan of fire among timber and like a torch
among sheaves, so that they devour right and left all the peoples
round about, but Jerusalem shall still abide on its own site. And
Jehovah shall first give victory to the tents of Judah, so that the
fame of the house of David and the fame of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem be not too great in contrast to Judah."
9. FOUR RESULTS OF JERUSALEM’S DELIVERANCE
Zec 12:8-14; Zec 13:1-6
Upon the deliverance of Jerusalem, by the help of
the converted Judah, there follow four results, each introduced by
the words that it happened "in that day". {Zec 12:8-9; Zec 13:1-2}
First, the people of Jerusalem shall themselves be strengthened.
Second, the hostile heathen shall be destroyed, but on the house of
David and all Jerusalem the spirit of penitence shall be poured, and
they will lament for the good shepherd whom they slew. Third, a
fountain of sin and uncleanness shall be opened. Fourth, the idols,
the unclean spirit, and prophecy, now so degraded, shall all be
abolished. The connection of these oracles with the preceding is
obvious, as well as with the oracle describing the murder of the
good shepherd. {Zec 13:7-9} When we see ‘how this is presupposed by
Zec 12:9 ff., we feel more than ever that its right place is between
chapters 11 and 12. There are no historical allusions. But again the
language gives evidence of a late date. And throughout the passage
there is a repetition of formal phrases which recalls the Priestly
Code and the general style of the post-exilic age. Notice that no
king is mentioned, although there are several points at which, had
he existed, he must have been introduced.
1. The first of the four effects of Jerusalem's deliverance from the
heathen is the promotion of her weaklings to the strength of her
heroes, and of her heroes to divine rank. {Zec 12:8} In that day
Jehovah will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the lame
among them shall in that day be like David himself, and the house of
David like God, like the Angel of Jehovah before them.
2. The second paragraph of this series very remarkably emphasizes
that upon her deliverance Jerusalem shall not give way to rejoicing,
but to penitent lamentation for the murder of him whom she has
pierced-the good shepherd whom her people have rejected and slain.
This is one of the few ethical strains which run through these
apocalyptic chapters. It forms their highest interest for us.
Jerusalem’s mourning is compared to that for "Hadad-Rimmon in the
valley" or "plain of Megiddo." This is the classic "battlefield of
the land," and the theatre upon which Apocalypse has placed the last
contest between the hosts of God and the hosts of evil. In Israel’s
history it had been the ground not only of triumph but of tears. The
greatest tragedy of that history, the defeat and death of the
righteous Josiah, took place there; {2Ch 35:22 ff.} and since the
earliest Jewish interpreters the "mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the
valley of Megiddo" has been referred to the mourning for Josiah.
Jerome identifies Hadad-Rimmon with Rummani, a village on the plain
still extant, close to Megiddo. But the lamentation for Josiah was
at Jerusalem; and it cannot be proved that Hadad-Rimmon is a
place-name. It may rather be the name of the object of the mourning,
and as Hadad was a divine name among Phoenicians and Arameans, and
Rimmon the pomegranate was a sacred tree, a number of critics have
supposed this to be a title of Adonis, and the mourning like that
excessive grief which Ezekiel tells us was yearly celebrated for
Tammuz. {Eze 8:14} This, however, is not fully proved. Observe,
further, that while the reading Hadad-Rimmon is by no means past
doubt, the sanguine blossoms and fruit of the pomegranate, "red-ripe
at the heart," would naturally lead to its association with the
slaughtered Adonis.
"And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy
all the nations who have come in upon Jerusalem. And I will pour
upon the house of David and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look to whom
they have pierced; and they shall lament for him, as with
lamentation for an only son, and bitterly grieve for him, as with
grief for a first-born In that day lamentation shall be as great in
Jerusalem as the lamentation for Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of
Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the
family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by
themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their
wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and
their wives by themselves; the family of Shime’i by itself, and
their wives by themselves; all the families who are left, every
family by itself, and their wives by themselves."
3. The third result of Jerusalem’s deliverance from the heathen
shall be the opening of a fountain of cleansing. This purging of her
sin follows fitly upon her penitence just described.
"In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David, and
for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." {Cf.
Eze 36:25; Eze 47:1}
4. The fourth consequence is the removal of idolatry, of the unclean
spirit, and of the degraded prophets from her midst. The last is
especially remarkable: for it is not merely false prophets, as
distinguished from true, who shall be removed; but prophecy in
general. If is singular that in almost its latest passage the
prophecy of Israel should return to the line of| its earliest
representative, Amos, who refused to call himself prophet. As in his
day, the prophets had become mere professional and mercenary
oracle-mongers, abjured to the point of death by their own ashamed
and wearied relatives.
"And it shall be in that day-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-I will cut
off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall not be
remembered any more. And also the prophets and the unclean spirit
will I expel from the land. And it shall come to pass, if any man
prophesy again, then shall his father and mother who begat him say
to him, Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest falsehood in the name
of Jehovah; and his father and mother who begat him shall stab him
for his prophesying. And it shall be in that day that the prophets
shall be ashamed of their visions when they prophesy, and shall not
wear the leather cloak in order to lie. And he will say, No prophet
am I! A tiller of the ground I am, for the ground is my possession
from my youth up. And they shall say to him, What are these wounds
in thy hands? and he shall say, What I was wounded with in the house
of my lovers!"
10. JUDGMENT OF THE HEATHEN AND SANCTIFICATION OF
JERUSALEM
(Zechariah 14)
In another apocalyptic vision the prophet beholds
Jerusalem again beset by the heathen. But Jehovah Himself
intervenes, appearing in person, and an earthquake breaks out at His
feet. The heathen are smitten, as they stand, into moldering
corpses. The remnant of them shall be converted to Jehovah and take
part in the annual Feast of Booths. If any refuse they shall be
punished with drought. But Jerusalem shall abide in security and
holiness: every detail of her equipment shall be consecrate. The
passage has many resemblances to the preceding oracles. The language
is undoubtedly late, and the figures are borrowed from other
prophets, chiefly Ezekiel. It is a characteristic specimen of the
Jewish Apocalypse. The destruction of the heathen is described in
verses of terrible grimness: there is no tenderness nor hope
exhibited for them. And even in the picture of Jerusalem’s holiness
we have no really ethical elements, but the details are purely
ceremonial.
"Lo! a day is coming for Jehovah, when thy spoil will be divided in
thy midst. And I will gather all the nations to besiege Jerusalem,
and the city will be taken and the houses plundered and the women
ravished, and the half of the city shall go into captivity, but the
rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And Jehovah
shall go forth and do battle with those nations, as in the day when
He fought in the day of contest. And His feet shall stand in that
day on the Mount of Olives which is over against Jerusalem on the
east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split into halves from east
to west by a very great ravine, and half of the Mount will slide
northwards and half southwards for the ravine of mountains shall
extend to ‘Asal, and ye shall flee as ye fled from before the
earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, {Amo 1:1} and
Jehovah my God will come and all the holy ones with Him. And in that
day there shall not be light congeal. And it shall be one day-it is
known to Jehovah-neither day nor night; and it shall come to pass
that at evening time there shall be light. And it shall be in that
day that living waters shall flow forth from Jerusalem, half of them
to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea: both in
summer and in winter shall it be. And Jehovah shall be King over all
the earth: in that day Jehovah will be One and His Name One. All the
land shall be changed to plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of
Jerusalem; but she shall be high and abide in her place from the
Gate of Benjamin up to the place of the First Gate, up to the Corner
Gate, and from the Tower of Hanan’el as far as the King’s
Winepresses. And they shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more
and Jerusalem shall abide in security. And this shall be the stroke
with which Jehovah will smite all the peoples who have warred
against Jerusalem: He will make their flesh molder while they still
stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall molder in their sockets,
and their tongue shall molder in their mouth."
"And it shall come to pass in that day, there shall be a great
confusion from Jehovah among them, and they shall grasp every man
the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall be lifted against the
hand of his neighbor. {Eze 38:21} And even Judah shall fight against
Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be
swept up, gold and silver and garments, in a very great mass." These
two verses, Zec 14:13 and Zec 14:14, obviously disturb the
connection, which Zec 14:15 as obviously resumes with Zec 14:12.
They are, therefore, generally regarded as an intrusion. But why
they have been inserted is not clear. Zec 14:14 is a curious echo of
the strife between Judah and Jerusalem described in chapter 12. They
may be not a mere intrusion, but simply out of their proper place;
yet, if so, where this proper place lies in these oracles is
impossible to determine.
"And even so shall be the plague upon the horses, mules, camels, and
asses, and all the beasts which are in those camps-just like this
plague. And it shall come to pass that all that survive of all the
nations who have come up against Jerusalem, shall come up from year
to year to do obeisance to King Jehovah of Hosts, and to keep the
Feast of Booths. And it shall come to pass that whosoever of all the
races of the earth will not come up to Jerusalem to do obeisance to
King Jehovah of Hosts, upon them there shall be no rain. And if the
race of Egypt go not up nor come in, upon them also shall come the
plague, with which Jehovah shall strike the nations that go not up
to keep the Feast of Booths. Such shall be the punishment of Egypt,
and the punishment of all nations who do not come up to keep the
Feast of Booths."
The Feast of Booths was specially one of thanksgiving for the
harvest; that is why the neglect of it is punished by the
withholding of the rain which brings the harvest. But such a
punishment for such a neglect shows how completely prophecy has
become subject to the Law. One is tempted to think what Amos or
Jeremiah or even "Malachi" would have thought of this. Verily all
the writers of the prophetical books do not stand upon the same
level of religion. The writer remembers that the curse of no rain
cannot affect the Egyptians, the fertility of whose rainless land is
secured by the annual floods of her river. So he has to insert a
special verse for Egypt. She also will be plagued by Jehovah, yet he
does not tell us in what fashion her plague will come.
The book closes with a little oracle of the most ceremonial
description, connected not only in temper but even by subject with
what has gone before. The very horses, which hitherto have been
regarded as too foreign, {Hos 14:3} or-as even in this group of
oracles (Zec 9:10)-as too warlike, to exist in Jerusalem, shall be
consecrated to Jehovah. And so vast shall be the multitudes who
throng from all the earth to the annual feasts and sacrifices at the
Temple, that the pots of the latter shall be as large as the great
altar-bowls, and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be
consecrated for use in the ritual. This hallowing of the horses
raises the question, whether the passage can be from the same hand
as wrote the prediction of the disappearance of all horses from
Jerusalem (Zec 9:10).
"In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness
unto Jehovah. And the very pots in the House of Jehovah shall be as
the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah
shall be holy to Jehovah of Hosts, and all who sacrifice shall come
and take of them and cook in them. And there shall be no more any
pedlar in the House of Jehovah of Hosts in that day."
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