£ibrar^ of l:he theological ^minavy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 Part of the Addison Alexander 
 Library, which was presented 
 by Messrs. R.L. and A. Stuart 
 
 3Sl5t>D 
 .Mft24 
 
THE PROPHETS OF THE RESTORATION, 
 
 OR, 
 
 HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, 
 
 AND MALACHI: 
 
 $ '$t^ translation, M\ 'gaits. 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 NEW YOEK: 
 EGBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 
 
 285 BROADWAY. 
 1856. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
 EGBERT CAKTEE & BEOTHEES, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
 District of New York. 
 
 lili&jarti ©. iltnkina, i9rint£r anS 5tfrtotjiptr, 
 No. 26 Franltforl ?trpet. N. Y. 
 
A FEW words of explanation may not be improper in 
 presenting this work to the public, for the sake of those 
 who are willing to read a Preface. 
 
 The title, and some of the most valuable thoughts 
 of the Introduction, were suggested to me by one 
 whose aid I acknowledge with a gratitude that ex- 
 tends backward to the time when I had the rare pri- 
 vilege of listening to words of instruction both from his 
 lips, and from those of his honored father, whose me- 
 mory is cherished by all his pupils with the fondness of 
 a child's affection for a beloved parent. I re-fer to the 
 Rev. J. A. Alexander, D.D., to whom the church may 
 hereafter be as largely indebted in the department of 
 ecclesiastical history, if his life be spared, as it is now 
 in that of exegesis. 
 
 I have in each successive revision of my studies used 
 honestly every aid v/ithin my reach ; and although, in the 
 absorbing cares and duties of a large pastoral charge, I 
 have not been able to bestow as much care on minute 
 points as I might have done otherwise, I have endea- 
 vored to give every matter that had any important bear- 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 ing on the meaning of the text a full and impartial 
 consideration, and aimed to set forth simply and clearly 
 the mind of the Spirit. 
 
 I have given first my own translation, which is pre- 
 sented, like that of Newcome, Henderson, Calvin, and 
 others, in a metrical form, according to the parallelisms. 
 In the Exposition, I have repeated this translation in the 
 notes, that it might be more readily compared with the 
 English version that is given at the top of the page. I 
 have as much as possible avoided the introduction of He- 
 brew words into the notes, but it could not be avoided 
 at times without an awkward, if not unintelligible, peri- 
 phrasis. I have endeavored to avoid all unnecessary 
 expansion of such points as are purely homiletic 
 and practical, whilst I have endeavored to suggest 
 them in a way that may readily be followed out by those 
 who desire to pursue these themes at greater length. 
 My object has been to furnish such an exposition 
 of the meaning of the text as would be intelligible 
 to any thinking layman who wished to understand 
 the Scriptures thoroughly, and also to aid my bre- 
 thren in the ministry, whose circumstances or studies 
 had not led them to any special investigation of these 
 portions of God's Word. If I have not fully succeeded 
 in combining these two things, those who understand 
 most of this subject will best understand the difficulty 
 of the task. But I can say in all sincerity, as the good 
 Bishop Home did, in sending forth his Commentary on 
 the Psalms, that the work has been its own reward, 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 and that if any one shall experience half the pleasure in 
 reading it that I did in writing it, my labor has not been 
 misapplied. But I send it forth with the hope that God 
 may bless this feeble effort to turn attention to His 
 Holy Word, and induce other and abler hands to engage 
 in the same blessed and self-rewarding employment. 
 And if a Dedication were in good taste in such a work, 
 I would respectfully and humbly dedicate it to that body 
 of men, who are doing more for the world, and for 
 whom the world is doing less in return, than any other 
 class of workers in society — my Brethren in the Christian 
 Ministry. 
 
 Richmond, Ya., Jan. 1, 1856. 
 
IJSTTKODUCTION. 
 
 The title "Prophets of the Restoration," requires for 
 its full comprehension the presentation of some thoughts 
 concerning tlie nature of prophecy, the position of the 
 prophetic office in the Old Testament economy, and the 
 organic connection between prophecy and history in the 
 development of the great work of redemption. This 
 discussion is the more necessary, because of the narrow 
 view that is commonly taken of the whole subject of 
 prophecy. The general notion of prophecy is simply, 
 that it is the prediction of future events ; and the proph- 
 et is regarded as merely the predicter, whose words 
 are left on record as a proof of the divine origin of the 
 Bible plan of salvation. These are, however, but nar- 
 row views of the prophetic function, and views which 
 must often materially affect the attempt to expound the 
 prophetic writings. This is especially true of Haggai, 
 Zechariah and Malachi, in whom the distinctive charac- 
 ter of the prophetic office is very clearly marked, and 
 to understand whose writings it is absolutely necessary 
 to comprehend the relation of the prophetic office to the 
 Old Testament history. 
 1 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 § 1. The Nature of the PRoniETic Gift. 
 
 We must distinguish at the outset between the pro- 
 phetic gift and the prophetic office. The prophetic gift 
 was that Divine influence which quaUfied a man to be- 
 come a prophet. This gift was bestowed long before 
 the prophetic office was instituted in the Church. The 
 prophetic office was that particular mode of exercising 
 this gift which was connected with the Hebrew com- 
 monwealth, after its form had been established by Moses. 
 The prophetic gift was one of the earliest bestowals of 
 Grod after the fall. Enoch is recorded to have been a 
 prophet, Jude 17 ; Abraham is called a prophet, Gen. 
 20 : 7 ; the patriarchs are called prophets, Ps. 105 : 15 ; 
 and the prophecies of Jacob, Balaam and Moses are re- 
 corded in the book of Genesis. The prophetic office 
 was instituted under the Mosaic economy, but even then 
 the prophetic gift was not always connected with the 
 prophetic office. Thus Daniel was largely endowed 
 with the prophetic gift but was never called to the pro- 
 phetic office, because he lived in exile, and could not 
 therefore exercise this office. Hence his works were 
 placed by the Jews not among the prophets, but in the 
 third division among the Hagiographa. David also pos- 
 sessed the prophetic gift, and is called a prophet. Matt. 
 13:35, 27:35, but he never exercised the prophetic 
 office, and hence his prophetic writings are also placed 
 among the Hagiographa. The prophetic office ceased 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 with the comins; of Christ and the termination of the 
 Old Testament economy, hnt the prophetic gift con- 
 tinued among the charisms of the Xew Testament 
 Church, at least as long as any miraculous gifts were 
 enjoyed. Hence it is important for us to discriminate 
 at the outset between the wide prophetic gift which was 
 enjoyed during the Patriarchal, Mosaic and Christian 
 dispensations, and the prophetic office which was limited 
 to the Mosaic, and even then to but a portion of those 
 who enjoyed the prophetic gift. 
 
 What, then, is the nature of this prophetic gift ? Or 
 in the widest sense, what is a prophet ? We derive the 
 word prophet directly from the Greek TrpccpTiTrjg. This 
 is a derivative from the verb 7Tp6(i)}]iu, which properly 
 means to speak for another, ?". e. in his place, the -rpo 
 being here originally a particle of place and not of time. 
 This was most clearly the meaning of the Hebrew ^''??, 
 a prophet. It is derived from if^-'-P, to boil up or gush 
 out like a fountain, and hence to pour forth a stream of 
 words. That its primary meaning was simply one who 
 spoke for another as his mouth-piece or interpreter, is 
 clear from Ex. 7:1, where God declares to Moses, " See, 
 I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy 
 brother shall be thy prophet." Here it is obvious that 
 a prophet means simply one who speaks for another, 
 whether his words relate to past, present or future 
 events, to facts, doctrines or promises. The prophetic 
 gift was, therefore, something bestowed by God on any 
 one, by virtue of w^iicli he was qualified and authorized 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to speak aiitlioritativel}^ for him. There is another term 
 appUecl to prophets more anciently, which indicates the 
 manner in which tliis qnahfication was usually received. 
 It is the term "?"i, or seer, which implies that the sub- 
 stance of the prophetic message was usually presented 
 m the form of a vision, or trance, w^iether the body was 
 sleeping, waking, or in some intermediate condition. 
 Hence Balaam speaks of himself (Numb. 24 : 3) as the 
 man whose e3'es were opened, i. e. who was enabled to 
 perceive these prophetic visions. But as the word "ij'i 
 is not confmed to the act of seeing, but is applied to 
 mental impressions made in other ways, as e. g. by the 
 sense of hearing (Gen. 2 : 19, 42 : 1 ; Ex. 20 : 19, &c.), 
 the sense of taste (Gen. 3 : G), the sense of touch 
 (Isa. 44 : 16), and also other more purely mental sources 
 (Ecc. 1 : 16, &c.), we must not restrict the mode of re- 
 ceiving the prophetic gift to purely visual impressions, 
 or visions properly so called. The main idea contained 
 in the word is, that the communication was something 
 presented to the seer ab extra, and not something which 
 he originated in his own mind. According to 1 Sam. 
 9:9, this term describing the mental state of the proph- 
 et, was gradually supplanted by the other term which 
 indicated his authority, as one speaking in the place of 
 God. 
 
 Combining the facts suggested by these two terms, 
 we reach a sufficiently distinct notion of the prophetic 
 gift. It was a direct communication of God to the soul, 
 either by visual, audible, or purely mental impressions, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 authorizing and requiring the person thus acted upon 
 to speak authoritatively, in the name of God, the things 
 thus communicated. What was the exact mental con- 
 dition of the prophet, it is useless for us to inquire. To 
 say that it was always an ecstasy, with some modern 
 writers, is to say more than the facts warrant, and to 
 suggest a want of the controlling power of the will, 
 which we know from the case of Jonah, and the Xew 
 Testament prophets (1 Cor. 14 : 32), did not exist. It is 
 useless for us to speculate on this point, for in this as in 
 the ordinary operations of the Spirit, "the wind blow- 
 eth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, 
 but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it go- 
 eth." It is sufficient for us to know that to be a seer or 
 prophet, it w^as needful to be inspired of God ; and that 
 the message should be reliably authoritative, this inspi- 
 ration must be plenary, and sufficient, extending to the 
 words of the message in such a manner as to secure the 
 faithful and accurate statement of the will of God. 
 Sometimes a vision was presented, sometimes words 
 were heard, sometimes mental impressions were made, 
 and sometimes the impulse was to acts rather than 
 words, and to a course of conduct rather than a single 
 specific act. All these modes of receiving the prophetic 
 gift we shall find illustrated in the prophecies of Haggai, 
 Zechariah and Malachi. 
 
 In Rev. 19 :10, we have the remarkable declaration 
 that "the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of proph- 
 ecy ;" and in 1 Pet. 1 : 12, we have the inspiring 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 agent of the prophets called the " Spn-it of Christ. '^ 
 Combining the teaching of these two passages, we have 
 the great fact developed, that the prophetic gift was 
 Christ speaking by the agency of the Holy Ghost npon 
 the minds of the prophets, and declaring God's will to 
 n.ien. Christ was the only prophet, as he is the only 
 priest, and the prophetic gift is simply that portion of 
 his great work as Revealer, which he, through the 
 agency of the Hoh' Ghost, grants to those whom he 
 selects as his instruments. 
 
 § 2. The Nature of the Prophetic Office, and its 
 Relation to the Old Testament History. 
 
 The history of the Church is the history of God's 
 revelations of himself to man. In the proper sense of 
 prophecy then, as an utterance of God through man, it 
 has obviously an organic connection with history. It 
 is indeed a necessary function of historj^ to secure its 
 proper interpretation. Prophec}^ in some form, must 
 coexist with all historj^, that God's will may be known 
 and performed by man. Hence we find it existing in 
 some form in every stage of the history of Redemption. 
 There are three great divisions of this histor}^ that are 
 obvious on its surface, in wdiich we will find the form of 
 God's revelation of himself to vary with each successive 
 stage. These divisions are the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, 
 and the Christian dispensations, or developments of th3 
 covenant of grace. Each of these is characterized by 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 a distinct and different mode of God's manifestation, or, 
 in other words, by a distinct form and relation of tlie 
 prophetic gift. The Patriarchal dispensation may be 
 characterized as tlieoplianic, i. e. God revealed himself 
 immediately, by visible appearances, or theophaiiies ; 
 the Mosaic as theojmeustic^ i. e. God revealed himself 
 mediate^, by inspired men {deoTrvevaroi)-^ and the Chris- 
 tian as tJieologic, i. e. God reveals himself permanently, 
 by inspired writings (Oeov Xoyca. 1 Pet. 4 : 11). As the 
 dispensations overlap and make the transition gradually 
 from one to the other, so also do these characteristics. 
 But the several dispensations have obviously these 
 characteristics, and hence a form of the prophetic gift 
 peculiar to each. 
 
 The Patriarchal dispensation was theophanic, i. e. was 
 characterized by direct appearances of God, {theopha- 
 nies,) either in bodily form or by immediate visions. It 
 is a striking fact that we find no miracles wrought by 
 men in the Patriarchal era. All the miracles are 
 wrought by God, directly, without any human interven- 
 tion, and the communications made by God were made 
 by direct utterance, usually. This fact is a remarkable 
 proof of the divine character of the hist(5ry. All other 
 primeval histories are full of wonders, but they are 
 mostly wonders wrought by 7nen, such as we find 
 belonging to a later age. It is in the Old Testament 
 history alone that we find the primitive age purely tlieo- 
 plianic^ an attribute which we would infer, beforehand, 
 it ought to possess, as the infantile period of the race. 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Hence the absurdity of classing the Old Testament his- 
 tory of the patriarchs with the mythical history of other 
 nations, when a difference so striking exists, and a dif- 
 ference which dates the origin of this mythical litera- 
 ture in the second great era, that in which God wrought 
 through the instrumentality of inspired men. The 
 theojjhanic character of the Patriarchal dispensation 
 would make the prophetic gift of rarer occurrence than 
 in the second era, because God would usually speak 
 directly to those whom he would address, and not 
 use the intervention of prophetic men. Hence we 
 do not find the name prophet occurring in the whole 
 history of the patriarchal dispensation, except in a single 
 case, Gen. 20 : 7, which is only an apparent exception. 
 It is used again in the passage already quoted from, 
 Ex. 7:1, where it is employed in its primitive sense, 
 of an interlocutor, or interpreter. We do not find the 
 word used in the sense of a speaker /or God, until after 
 the commencement of the Mosaic dispensation. Hence 
 the form of the bestowal of the prophetic gift under the 
 Patriarchal dispensation corresponded with the theopha- 
 nic character of that dispensation, was rarely bestowed, 
 and then by direct vision, and was never attached to a 
 prophetic office. 
 
 The character of the Mosaic dispensation was thcop- 
 7i€iistic, i. e. a revelation of God by inspired men. Here 
 we first find God begin to withdraw himself from direct 
 communication with man, and manifest himself through 
 livinsf human instrumentalities. He now works mira- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 cles, not so much by direct exertions of power as 
 through the agency of Moses, Joshua, and other 
 inspired men. He speaks not directly, but at the 
 request of the people themselves, through the lips of 
 Moses and his successors. A theocracy is erected, 
 of which men are to be the administrators, and hence 
 there is needed a new form of the prophetic gift. It 
 must now be embodied in inspired men [theojmeustic)^ 
 who shall speak and act for (xod. Hence the prophetic 
 gift is connected with the prophetic office^ which is 
 created as a necessary adjunct to the Theocracy. 
 Hence, also, the majority of these prophets are not 
 ivriting prophets, but acting prophets. The writing 
 prophets belong to the later ages of this dispensation 
 when it was preparing to pass into the third great form 
 of development. The earlier prophets were mainly and 
 characteristically ^ro/?/ie^5 of action. Moses was a legis- 
 lative prophet ; Joshua, the Judges and Samuel, execu- 
 tive or ruling prophets ; David and Solomon, devotional 
 prophets, whilst the other prophets of the first half of 
 the Mosaic dispensation w^ere mainly prophets of action. 
 It was not until about one-half of this dispensation had 
 passed that the prophets began to write their prophe- 
 cies, and thus prepare the wa}^ for the third great form 
 of the covenant of grace — and, even then, the first duty 
 of the prophet was not so much to write as to speak 
 and act. His writing was a secondary duty having ref- 
 erence, as we are expressl}^ told in the New Testament, 
 not to their own age, but to the age that should follow 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 them, " unto whom it was revealed, that not unto them- 
 selves, but unto us they did minister the things which 
 are now reported to you." 1 Pet. 1 : 12. Hence, even 
 in the writing prophets, we see the great characteristic 
 of the Mosaic dispensation, that it Avas theopneustic, i. e. 
 a revelation of God by inspired men. 
 
 The Christian dispensation, however, is theologic, i. e. 
 a revelation of God by inspired or divine writings. 
 AoytaOeov, 1 Pet. 4 : 11. This is expressly asserted by 
 the apostle Peter to l)e the great characteristic of the 
 New Testament dispensation, 2 Pet. 1 : 16-21. He 
 states that whilst in " the old time " or former age. 
 ' ' holy men of God spake as they were moved by the 
 Holy Ghost," it is the peculiarity of our time that we 
 have •' a more sure tvord of prophecy " to which we 
 must take heed, and not look for such appearances of 
 God as were granted in former times. Hence the will 
 of God is made known in the Christian dispensation, not 
 by direct appearances {theophanies), not by inspired 
 men, but by divine writings, or the living word, that 
 livetli and abideth forever. It is in this form that 
 prophecy meets us now, not the prophetic gift, nor the 
 prophetic oj/ice, but the prophetic word, that is as a 
 light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn and 
 the day-star arise in our hearts. See, also, 1 Pet. 1 : 
 23, 4 : 11 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 2, 10, &q., where this peculiar 
 feature of the Christian dispensation is set forth. This 
 characteristic of the Christian dispensation furnishes a 
 complete reply to the cavil of the new Infidel school 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 that is rising, about Bibliolatrv. The fact which they 
 charge on tlic Christian world is the very fact that 
 ought to characterize it in view of this feature of the 
 dispensation. To leave the word and fall back on the 
 revelations of the Spirit, supposed to be granted to 
 inspired men, would be to reproduce the essential char- 
 acteristic of the Mosaic dispensation. Hence this pre- 
 tended advance of Infidelity in putting the Spirit above 
 the letter, as they term it, or the inspired man above 
 the inspired word, if such man-inspiration were con- 
 ceded, would be a retrogression rather than a progres- 
 sion. The present form of prophetic utterance is the 
 onl}^ one that can be really universal, and therefore the 
 only one adapted to the final form of the covenant of 
 grace. The next great form shall be the completion of 
 the great circle, the return of the tlieoplwMic develop- 
 ment, when the pure in heart shall see God, and the 
 ransomed race after its weary pilgrimage from the 
 presence of God granted in the Paradise on Earth shall 
 be admitted to that jDresence of Grod that is formed in 
 the Paradise in Heaven. 
 
 The prophetic office belongs to the Mosaic dispensa- 
 tion, in virtue of the existence of the Theocracy. Let 
 us trace its development, and briefly examine its histor- 
 ical relations. 
 
 The promise of such an office seems to be made in 
 Deut. 18 : 15-22 : "The Lord thy God will raise up 
 unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy 
 brethren, like unto me : unto him ye shall hearken. 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God 
 in Horeb in the day of assembly, Saying, Let me not 
 
 hear again the voice of the Lord my God And 
 
 it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken 
 unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will 
 require it of him. But the prophet which shall pre- 
 sume to speak a word in my name which I have not 
 commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the 
 name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And 
 if thou say in thy heart. How shall we know the word 
 which the Lord hath not spoken ? When a prophet 
 speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow 
 not, nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord 
 hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it pre- 
 sumptuously." 
 
 This passage would perhaps universally have been 
 referred to the prophetic order, had it not been for the 
 use made of it in the I^ew Testament by the apostle 
 Peter, Acts 3 : 22. God promises them what they 
 asked at Horeb, and that was not the Messiah, in his 
 entire character, but some men who should stand 
 between them and God, as interpreters of his will. 
 Such men were the prophets. The tests given in regard 
 to the words of the prophets are tests that do not apply 
 to Christ at all, but do apply to the prophetic order. 
 The greater part of the passage cannot possibly be 
 restricted to Christ, but most obviously refers to the 
 prophetic order. It is, therefore, wrong to restrict the 
 .15ih and 18th verses, unless we are compelled to do so 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 by the authority of the New Testament, or the terms of 
 the texts themselves. Tlie terms of the texts do not 
 require this restriction, for the promise of " a prophet'" 
 does not restrict us to a single individual. It may be 
 as readily the promise of an office or an order, as of an 
 individual. And, indeed, when we afterwards see a 
 test to discriminate between different individuals under 
 this general promise, we see that the term must be 
 taken in this sense. Nor are we constrained to adopt 
 this restricted signification by the use of the passage in 
 the speech of Peter. Christ was the great, and in its 
 higher sense, the only true prophet. All the prophets 
 are but types of him, the great prophet, as were also 
 all the priests types of him, the great priest. Hence 
 this promise received its highest fulfilment only in him, 
 who was the head of the prophetic order. Every 
 prophet who arose after Moses was a forerunner of 
 Christ, and fulfilled this promise in part, but its perfect 
 fulfilment was only reached in him who alone declares 
 the Father to the world, in the highest and fullest 
 sense. This principle of interpretation must frequently 
 he applied to other Messianic prophecies, and is fully 
 applicable here. Hence, whilst it is a prediction of 
 Christ, the great Prophet, it is also a prediction of that 
 order of men who would be raised up to declare Grod's 
 will, and who would herald the approach of him, who, 
 coming from the bosom of the Father, was to declare 
 him to the world. 
 
 The prophetic office was created as a necessary ad- 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 jimct to the Theocracy. It was to be the direct represent- 
 ative of God in carrying forward the Theocratic admin- 
 istration, in preserving the original Mosaic institutes 
 in their purity, and in preparing the people for the 
 work assigned to them as a chosen seed, from which 
 was to spring the Messiah. Hence we find the develop- 
 ment of the office to vary with the development of the 
 Theocracy. 
 
 There are two great epochs that divide the his- 
 tory of the prophetic office into three eras. The first 
 era ends with the age of Samuel, in which vv^e find the 
 office but rarely filled, because of the purely theocratic 
 character of this period. God ruled the people without 
 the intervention of a hereditary executive, and hence 
 there v/as but little need for a succession of prophets. 
 But with the age of Samuel a second era begins which 
 extends to the age of Uzziah, about b. c. 800. This 
 is the era of the p'rophets of action. Samuel united 
 in his own person the three great elements of the theoc- 
 racy, being a judge, a priest and a prophet. It is true 
 that he was not a hereditary priest, but he performed 
 sacerdotal functions in virtue of his extraordinary call. 
 It was in his age that the executive power became, 
 eliminated and vested in a king, by the demand of the 
 people. The creation of the regal office made it neces- 
 sary to embody more formally the prophetic office, that 
 the one might act as a balance to the other. Hence the 
 age of the kings is the age of the prophets. But the 
 prophets of this era were mainly busy with the present, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 26 
 
 and hence they left but few writmgs behind them. 
 Toward the close of this era, the devotional form of 
 prophecy, including the Messianic element, began to ap- 
 pear in David and Solomon, to prepare the way for the 
 era that was to follow. The fJiird era began about the 
 age of Uzziah, b. c. 800, and was the era of written 
 prophecy. Then the prophets began to turn away from 
 the present and look more to the future, and the Messi- 
 anic element began to grow more distinct and pervad- 
 ing. This era from b. c. 800 to b. c. 400, contains most 
 of our written prophecies, and is to us the flowering age 
 of prophec}^ the period when it put forth the richest 
 and choicest bloom. These three eras, then, stand in a 
 relation of obviously progressive development. We 
 also see reproduced in these three eras the grand char- 
 acteristics of the three dispensations already noticed. 
 The flrst era is theophanic, marked by appearances of 
 God ; the second theopneustic, marked by inspired men ; 
 and the third theologic, marked by inspired writings. 
 Thus the prophetic office beautifully unfolds itself in 
 the very phases that we find the prophetic gift to 
 assume in the largest form of its development, just as 
 we see the great organic laws of the world reappear in 
 smaller departments, the law of the tree developing 
 itself in miniature forms in the structure and growth of 
 the leaf, the curve of the planet's orbit reappearing in 
 the line traced by the projected cannon-ball, or the 
 pebble. 
 
 It is with the second and third of these eras that we 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 have mainly to do in tracing the development of the 
 prophetic office. Samuel is the great head of the pro- 
 phetic order, and doubtless enacted rules regarding it 
 that gave it a permanent form. It is in his time that 
 we first find "schools of the prophets." The meaning 
 and necessity of these schools can only be perceived by 
 rightly understanding the prophetic office. Had the 
 prophet been a mere foreteller of future events, such 
 schools would have been useless and unmeaning. But 
 he was much more than this. He was God's represent- 
 ative in maintaining the purity of the Mosaic institu- 
 tions, and hence must study these institutions carefully. 
 It was to affi)rd an opportunity for such study that these 
 schools were formed. The prophet must use all possi- 
 ble means of human culture if he would receive the 
 divine gift in the plenaiy form. From those who were 
 trained at these schools, God usually selected such as 
 were to be sent on special prophetic errands. But that 
 he did not confine himself to them is proved by the case 
 of Amos, who informs us that he had no connection 
 with these normal institutes for training prophets, Amos 
 7:14, and the case of Elisha, who was called directly 
 from the plough, 1 Kings 19 : 19. The humblest man 
 might be endued with the prophetic office, and hence it 
 acted as a standing check on the aristocratic tendencies of 
 a hereditary royalty, and a powerful stimulus to the people 
 to seek the spiritual qualifications needful for so august 
 a calling. Toward the close of this era we find the ap- 
 pearance of a prophetic literature in the Messianic 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 Psalms. "These Psalms, indeed, contain the germs of 
 all that follows. They prepared the way for the era 
 that was to succeed, and form the transition between 
 the prophets of action, and the prophets of loord, the 
 men who were busy only with the present, and the men 
 who looked out from the present into the glorious 
 future. The second era, then, was the era in which the 
 prophetic office was fully developed, as a potential ele- 
 ment of the Theocracy. The schools of the prophets at 
 Bethel, Gilgal, Ramah and Jericho, all within a short 
 distance of each other, and in the tribe of Benjamin, 
 trained a set of men who were prepared to be called 
 forth by God at the proper time to do a prophet's 
 work. 
 
 The third era, from Uzziah, to the time of Malachi, 
 is the era of written prophecy, and presents several 
 marked divisions, in each of which we find a group of 
 prophets. In this era the grand division is made by the 
 two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. We have resulting 
 from this division three classes of prophets : (1). Projjh- 
 ets of the Ten Tribes; (2). Prophets of the Gentiles ; and 
 (3). Prophets of Judah. 
 
 (1). Prophets of the Ten Tribes. These are iTosm and 
 Amos, who although a resident of Judah was called 
 to prophesy in Israel. We find but few of the writing 
 prophets belonging to Israel, for they naturally clustered 
 around the seat of the Theocracy in Judah. Most of 
 the Ten Tribe prophets were prophets of action. 
 
 (2). Prophets of the Gentiles. These were Jonah, Na- 
 2 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 hum, and Obadiah, whose prophecies were directed 
 towards the Gentiles rather than the Jews, and who are 
 therefore the witnesses for Grod's universal government, 
 as well as for his Theocratical authority. Jonah and 
 ISTahum directed their prophecies against Nineveh, and 
 probably stand at the beginning and close of an era in 
 the Ninevite history. Obadiah directs his prophecy 
 mainly against Edom, and hence may be classed with 
 the prophets of the Gentiles. 
 
 (3). Prophets of Judah. These constitute the most 
 important division of the writing prophets, and are 
 found in distinct groups, each marked by a distinct tone 
 and style. They differ from the other two classes in 
 having a wider scope, and often a more joyful tone. 
 The prophets of Israel, q^iid of the Gentiles, dealt mainl}^ 
 in rebuke, and awful warning, those of Judah in visions 
 of hope, and future glory. The pillar of fire that 
 lighted up the future still hung above the ark and the 
 tabernacle in the holy city. 
 
 This portion of the history of the kingdom of Judah 
 has five distinct periods, each of which has its own pe- 
 culiar prophecies. We have (1). The Culminating pe- 
 riod. It is true that the kingdom of Judah never 
 reached the same height of splendid prosperity after the 
 dissolution of the Union, that it did before under David 
 and Solomon. But the century between Uzziah and 
 Hezekiah, about b. c. 800 — b. c. 700, was, compared 
 with the centuries preceding and following it, a century 
 of prosperity, and the highest prosperity ever reached 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 by the kingdom of Judah. The prophets of this period 
 are Isaiah, Joel, and Micah. Their tone is more cheer- 
 ing than that of the hiter prophets. The hght of the fu- 
 ture seems to rest on their pages, and they are all char- 
 acteristically Messianic. (2). The Dedining 2')eriod. This 
 extends from Manassah to Zedekiah, a little more than 
 a century. To this period belong Zephaniah and Hah- 
 akkiik, on whose pages there rest the shadows of the 
 setting sun. (3). The Captivity. To this mournful era 
 belongs the mournful prophet, Jeremiah. (4). The Exile. 
 To this period, when nothing was left but hope of the 
 future, belong the prophets of the future, Ezekiel and 
 Daniel. (5). The Restoration. To this period belong 
 the three last recipients of the prophetic gift during the 
 Old Testament dispensation, Haggai, Zechariah, and 
 Malachi. 
 
 It will be found on a close examination that the 
 tone and contents of each prophet are determined by 
 his historical position, and that it is impossible to under- 
 stand the general drift of the prophecy without consid- 
 ering the period of its utterance. This is especially 
 true of the prophets of the Restoration. The design of 
 the Captivity was to destroy the idolatrous proclivities 
 of the Jewish people, and thus to restore the Theocratic 
 spirit, that acknowledges God as the only ruler, and to 
 reinstate the Mosaic institutions. But whilst these in- 
 stitutions were to be restored, it was only to be for a 
 time, and in a form that would prepare for the coming 
 of the Messiah. Hence the mission of these j)ropliets 
 
28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of the Restoration was peculiar, and required a peculiar 
 tone. They had to sift the people in order to extract 
 the better elements contained in them, to arouse the the- 
 ocratic spirit, to incite to the work before them, and to 
 correct evils that were peculiar to that period. The 
 historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the neces- 
 sary counterparts of the prophecies of the Restoration, 
 and they shed mutual light on each other. The specific 
 facts and features of this period will appear more fully 
 in the details of the exposition. It will, however, be 
 seen very clearly from this brief investigation, that the 
 title " Prophets of the Restoration," is not an arbitrary 
 one, but one created by their historical position, and 
 that the connection thus intimated between the history 
 and the prophecy of the Restoration is not peculiar to 
 that period, but belongs to the entire development of 
 the prophetic office. » 
 
 § 3. The Historic Features of the Restoration. 
 
 It is necessary before proceeding to the exposition, to 
 notice some of the historic features of the Restoration 
 era, in order to have a clearer notion of the three proph- 
 ets belonging to it. This era extends through a num- 
 ber of years, and we find two of the prophets at the 
 beginning of it, and the third at the close, the tone of 
 whose prophecies vary with their historical position. 
 The exile was not one great deportation of the people 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 into captivity, but a series of removals that extended 
 through a number of years. So was it, also, in the res- 
 toration. The successive removals of the people extend 
 through nearly a century and a half, and their successive 
 returns through nearly a century. Hence we must dis- 
 tinguish between the different remigrations of the exiles, 
 in order to understand the difference between the tone of 
 Haggai and Zechariah, in the early part of this period, 
 and Malachi at its close. A brief glance at these suc- 
 cessive periods, will prepare us for the prophecies. 
 
 The first return took place in the first year of Cyrus, 
 B. c. 536, and corresponded with the first deportation 
 of Judah, under Nebuchadnezzar. This consisted of 
 42,360 persons (Ezra 2 : 64), under the leadership of 
 Sheshbazzar, or Zerubbabel, and Joshua. They built 
 an altar, and laid the foundations of the temple. They 
 were soon arrested in their work by the malicious rep- 
 resentations of the Samaritans, and it lay untouched 
 for sixteen years. At the expiration of this time, the 
 death of Smerdis gave an opportunity for the renewal 
 of the work, about seventy years after the destruction 
 of the first temple. Then Haggai and Zechariah came 
 forth, the first to incite to the immediate work of build- 
 ing the temple, and thus restoring the Mosaic institu- 
 tions, the second, not only to aid in this work, but also 
 to unfold the great future of the Theocracy, as her mo- 
 tive to labor in the present. 
 
 The features of this period were such as would natu- 
 rally grow out of the circumstances of the people. For 
 
30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 more than half a century they had been m exile, where 
 the Mosaic ritual could not be observed. This gene- 
 rated in the minds of the younger portion of the peo- 
 ple an indifference to this ritual that was anti-Theocratic 
 in its spirit and tendency, and needed correction. They 
 had also been so long in the habit of gazing on the 
 gorgeous palaces and temjDles of Babylon, and the glit- 
 tering pomp of the Chaldean worship, that they were 
 disposed to undervalue the humbler externalities that 
 belonged to their religious institutions at that time. It 
 was needful to correct this feeling by unfolding to them 
 the true glory of these Theocratic institutions, which is 
 done partly by Haggai, but mainly by Zechariah. 
 
 We have but little knowledge of the internal history 
 of the people after this period, for nearly a century, 
 and can only infer it from the facts which we find ex- 
 isting at the next great epoch of the Restoration. This 
 was the return of Ezra, b. c. 458, nearly eighty years 
 after the first expedition under Zerubbabel. Thirteen 
 years after the coming of Ezra, b. c. 445, Nehemiah 
 came to aid Ezra in the work of reformation. It was 
 at this period that Malachi arose to second these efforts, 
 more than three-fourths of a century after Haggai and 
 Zechariah. His work was different from theirs. It 
 was the work of a Reformer. During the long inter- 
 val from the completion of the temple, poverty had 
 pressed many of the people so that their estates were 
 mortgaged to the rich. Discouragement had led them 
 into a complaining and sceptical spirit in regard to the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 service of God. They had therefore grossly neglected 
 the temple worship, and intermarried extensively with 
 the heathen, to the insult and wrong of their Jewish 
 wives, as well as in disobedience to God. Everything, 
 civil and religious, was in a state of disorganization and 
 depression. Hence the people needed rebuke, instruc- 
 tion, and excitement to duty, all of which were fur- 
 nished by Malachi. Nehemiah took hold of the civil 
 abuses, reformed them, and rebuilt the city wall, thus 
 infusing a more courageous spirit into the people. Ezra 
 reformed the ecclesiastical abuses, established syna- 
 gogues and houses of prayer, where regular instruction 
 in the law could be received ; restored the observance 
 of the Sabbath and the Passover ; gave dignity and in- 
 fluence to the priesthood, and generated a reverence 
 for the written law that at last became a superstition. It 
 was to aid in this work of Reformation that Malachi 
 prophesied. And the thoroughness with which the 
 work was done is seen in the subsequent history of the 
 people. We find a total change in many resj)ects. 
 Before the captivity they were continually sliding into 
 idolatry, afterwards they hated it with a fanatical ha- 
 tred. Before, they hankered after kingly rule, after- 
 wards, they became, contrary to the usual course of 
 history, submissive to priestly authority. Before, they 
 neglected the written Word, afterwards, they regarded 
 it with a superstitious reverence that was well nigh 
 idolatrous. Before, they were continually forming al- 
 liances with foreign nations, afterwards, they regarded 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 all other nation with a contemptuous abhorrence. Be- 
 fore, they were eminently an agricultural people, after- 
 wards, they became what they still are, a trading people. 
 In a word, before, they seemed to be like fused metal, 
 ever ready to run into any mould presented to them, 
 afterwards, they present a firm, hard, unchanging form of 
 character, which indurated into bigotry and fanaticism. 
 It will thus be seen that the Restoration period of 
 Jewish history is one of great importance, in its in- 
 fluence on later events. It developed the national 
 character more than any previous period since the 
 restoration from Egypt. Indeed, it seems to have 
 obliterated the distinction between Judah and Israel, 
 for the ten tribes now disappear from history. It 
 would seem probable that they became gradually 
 blended with the Theocracy, until all distinction was 
 lost. In the New Testament (James 1:1, Acts 24 : 7), 
 we meet the twelve tribes as distinct from the heathen, 
 and find no trace of the former division. It is probable 
 that this re -union was gradually brought about by the 
 growing Theocratic spirit that was generated after the 
 time of Malachi, and which naturally drew all the Jew- 
 ish people, without distinction, around the seat of the 
 Theocracy, and the great metropolis of the true religion. 
 The tendency to this fusion of the divided elements 
 into their original unity may be traced not obscurely in 
 Malachi, whose prophecy, althougli uttered to the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem, is called the word of the Lord 
 to Israel. Mai. 1:1. 
 
INTRODUCTION. OO 
 
 This brief glance at the historic features of the Resto- 
 ration will completely justify the selection of the proph- 
 ets belonging to it, for distinct consideration. It is a 
 period pregnant with the elements of future changes, 
 many of which may still be traced in the Jewish charac- 
 ter. At the commencement of the period we see Hag- 
 gai and Zechariah, the Restoring prophets, whose work 
 was to rear the Mosaic institutions from the ashes of the 
 exile, and set them again in operation after the seventy 
 years Sabbath. At the close, we find Malachi, the Re- 
 forming prophet, correcting the abuses, the scepticism, 
 and the discouragement which eighty years of depression 
 had generated, and endeavoring to breathe a more vig- 
 orous life into the sickly institutions of the Theocracy. 
 How this work was done, will appear more fully when 
 we come to the exposition, but that it was done vigor- 
 ously and successfully, all subsequent history testifies. 
 These brief hints, which might greatly be enlarged, will 
 serve to explain and to vindicate the phrase, " Proph- 
 ets of the Restoration." 
 
 § 4. Literature of Haggai, Zechariah, and 
 Malachi. 
 
 A full discussion of the bibliography of these books will 
 not be expected in such a work as this, but a few hints 
 may be useful to those who desire to extend their 
 studies beyond the more ordinary aids. 
 
 Among the older aids in the study of these books an 
 
34 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 important place must be assigned to the early versions. 
 The Septuagint will he found to throw valuable hght on 
 some portions, whilst in others the translators have 
 been evidently misled. The Targum, or Chaldee para- 
 phrase of Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Prophets, is use- 
 ful in verifying the Masoretic text, and establishing its 
 general accuracy. The Talmud is useful mainly for the 
 same purpose, and has been explored by Dr. Gill and 
 some others, with occasional good effect, especially in 
 showing the opinions of the Jews on particular texts 
 before their controversies with the Christians forced 
 them to other interpretations. The Vulgate will also 
 be found useful in ascertaining the meaning of doubtful 
 words. Other ancient versions have been found of but 
 little utility in elucidating points of difficulty. 
 
 The Jewish interpreters, such as Abarbanel, Kimchi, 
 Jarchi, Manasseh ben Israel, Abenezra, &c.; have been 
 used a good deal by some writers, but rather for po- 
 lemical than exegetical purposes. 
 
 Among the Christian fathers, Jerome among the 
 Latins, and Theodoret and Cyril among the Greeks, are 
 the most important. Jerome's knowledge of the 
 Hebrew makes some of his remarks of considerable 
 value, especially in matters of geography and arch- 
 reolog}^ Of Cyril, Hengstenberg remarks, that " among 
 a crowd of allegorical interpretations are found many 
 fme remarks." 
 
 Among the Reformers, Luther (Wittemburg, 1528) 
 and Melancthon (1553) wrote on Zechariah, but not 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 much that was of value. The first expositor of real 
 value was Calvin. His commentaries on the Minor 
 Prophets were delivered in the form of expository lec- 
 tures in a daily exercise, and extend through one hun- 
 dred and eighty-two lectures, wdiich were delivered 
 extempore, and taken down as they were spoken. 
 There is probably nothing that he has left behind him 
 which gives a more distinct notion of the man and the 
 times than these lectures. That a congregation could 
 be formed who would take so deep an interest in such 
 expositions admits us to the heart of the Reformation, 
 and lays bare to us the secret of its life, which Vvas, a 
 living grasp of the Word of God. The style of these 
 lectures, the allusions to passing events, and the occa- 
 sional abrupt ending of a lecture with the remark, " v/e 
 stop here until to-morrow," gives a life-like vividness, 
 and actual presence to these daily exercises, that invest 
 them with unusual interest. Each lecture also ends 
 with a prayer, and these prayers for condensed energy 
 and fervor, grasp of thought, and concentration of the 
 whole spirit of the preceding lecture into devotional 
 forms, are even more remarkable than the lectures 
 themselves. The prodigious intellect of that remarka- 
 ble man is felt in these prayers more intensely by a 
 careful reader than in almost anything else he has left 
 behind him. But the lectures are very remarkable pro- 
 ductions. Calvin had probably one of the finest exe- 
 getical minds that God has ever granted to his Church 
 in modern times. He had a direct looking into the 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 heart of tlie passage, a fine sympathy with the mind of 
 the writer, a freedom from all that is fanciful and fool- 
 ish, and a justness of thinking that leads him almost 
 instinctively to the correct view of the passage. To 
 some, this may seem to be extravagant laudation, but 
 not to those who have carefully studied his commenta- 
 ries. Their great merits have extorted tributes of the 
 highest character from those whom nothing could move 
 to give such tributes but the most unquestioned excel- 
 lence. One of the most remarkable of these is from the 
 pen of the man whose name has been embalmed in 
 theological antagonism to his, the celebrated, acute, and 
 learned Arminius. He says, ' ' Next to the reading of 
 Scripture, which I strongly recommend, I advise you to 
 read the commentaries of Calvin, on whom I bestow 
 higher eulogies than Helmichius did, for I consider that 
 he is incomparable in interpreting Scripture, and that 
 his Commentaries are of more value than all that the 
 library of the Fathers transmits to us ; so that I con- 
 cede to him even a spirit of prophecy superior to that 
 of most, yea, of all others." The learned Scaliger said 
 " that no commentator had better hit the sense of the 
 prophets than Calvin ;" and Bishop Horseley, who was 
 not warped by hyper-Calvinism, says, " I hold the 
 memory of Calvin in high estimation, his works have a 
 place in my library, and in the study of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures he is one of the Commentators whom I most fre- 
 quently consult." Other testimonies to the same effect 
 might be cited from Poole, Rosenmiiller, J. J. Cony- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 beare, and otliers. Those who wish to see a full discus- 
 sion of his critical abilities will find it in Tholuck's Essay 
 on " The merits of Calvin as an interpreter of the Holy 
 Scriptures," translated for the Biblical Repository for 
 1832, p. 54. He sums up his merits under the heads 
 of (1) Doctrinal impartiality ; (2) Exegetical tact ; (3) 
 Various learning ; and (4) Deep Christian piety. All 
 these characteristics will be found in his lectures on the 
 Minor Prophets. It is true that immense advances have 
 been made in some departments of critical investigation 
 since the time of Calvin, but it is surprising how little 
 change is needful in his philological views. As far, 
 however, as this deficiency exists, it is made up in the 
 English translation of Calvin's works, issued by the 
 Calvin Translation Society, by the valuable labors of the 
 learned editor, Rev. John Owen. He has given in 
 foot-notes the results of the latest criticism, with some 
 important suggestions of his own. But the diffuseness 
 that, even in such an intellect as that of Calvin, is inci- 
 dent to expository lectures delivered extempore, and 
 taken down from the lips ; the fact that they cannot be 
 obtained apart from all his works ; and the high price 
 at which they must necessarily be furnished, prevent 
 them from being such a work on these prophets as the 
 necessities of the Church demand. 
 
 Next to Calvin in merit, and almost in date, is the 
 Biblia Hebraica of J. H. Michaelis, the notes on Zecha- 
 riah in which are by C. B. Michaelis. The Commentary 
 on Zechariah is a work of great judgment and learning, 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and like the other parts of the same work, is very rich 
 in parallel passages. But it is so condensed in its style, 
 and printed in such very small and indistinct type, as 
 greatly to diminish its value. As a work for occasional 
 consultation its worth may be estimated from the fact 
 that Rosenmiiller has transcribed almost literally, with- 
 out any acknowledgment, most of the notes on Zecha- 
 riah, except where they embodied Trinitarian and evan- 
 gelical opinions. But it lacks that depth and sweep of 
 exegetical vision that is so noticeable in the eagle gaze 
 of Calvin. 
 
 Cocceius (Comm. Proph, Minores, 0pp. t. 3) is often 
 referred to by Michaelis, though his fanciful judgment, 
 and erroneous theories of interpretation, greatly dimin- 
 ish the value of his labors. His antipode, Grotius, is 
 often referred to still, in some points of criticism. Yit- 
 ringa began a Commentary on Zechariah, but was only 
 able to write his Prolegomena, notes on the first two 
 chapters, and the vision of the golden candlestick, when 
 God called him to his rest. Had he been allowed to 
 finish this work, it would doubtless have taken rank 
 with his valuable commentary on Isaiah. Venema also 
 published expository lectures on Zechariah, now rare, 
 and but little quoted. Mark on the Minor Prophets 
 (Amsterdam, 1696 — 1701, 4 vols. 4to), is pronounced 
 by Hengstenberg to be the most important work still, 
 on these prophets, in furnishing a complete exegetical 
 apparatus, and a collection of the opinions of previous 
 interpreters. He says, also, that it is diffuse, tedious, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 and tame. In the massive accumulations of the Critici 
 Sacri (Amsterdam, 1698, 12 vols, fol.) ; and its abridg- 
 ment, Poole's Synopsis (London, 1609 — 1674, 5 vols., 
 folio), will also be found enumerated the labors of the 
 most eminent critics of previous times. Calmet (Paris, 
 1719—1726, 9 vols, folio) ; Houbigant (Frankfort on 
 Main, 1777, 2 vols, quarto), and Dathe (Halle, 1773 — 
 1789, 6 vols. 8vo), are still referred to with interest by 
 some modern expositors. 
 
 Among the more recent critics belonging to a later 
 period of Hebrew philology, is RosenmiiUer, whose 
 " Scholia in Y. T. Compend." contains much that is 
 valuable on questions of grammar, but is, as to all 
 spirituality, a dry and fleshless skeleton. A dreary ra- 
 tionalist, who disbelieved in the possibility of prophecy 
 in its strict and plenary sense, he is like a blind man 
 writing a critique on the Parthenon. Of the same 
 general character is the Grammatico-Critical Com- 
 mentary of Maurer, (Leipsic, 1835-1847, 4 vols. 8vo.) 
 This furnishes the latest researches of German philology, 
 and discusses the views of Hitzig, Gesenius, Ewald, and 
 others, often with great acuteness and force. Acker- 
 niann on the Minor Prophets, (Yienna, 1830, 8vo,) al- 
 though written by a Roman Catholic, who avows in his 
 preface that he has presented nothing contrary to the 
 opinions of the Holy Mother Church, is a work of some 
 value. Whilst it is impossible for any expositor to ex- 
 amine with an untrammelled mind the words of scrip- 
 ture, who believes in a foregone and authoritative expo- 
 
40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sition of the Church, still his Commentary is valuable 
 in its copious quotations from the older interpreters, and 
 its illustration of the Hebrew forms from cognate dia- 
 lects. But beyond all comparison, the most valuable 
 Grerman interpreter on these prophets of our day is 
 Hengstenberg, who in his Christology of the Old Testa- 
 ment, has given a most thorough and elaborate exposi- 
 tion of the greater part of Zechariah and Malachi, and 
 chap. 2 : 6-9 of Haggai. He combines the German 
 philological depth, wdth the evangelical views of truth, so 
 as to make him one of the great champions of ortho- 
 doxy against rationalism. Whatever may be his possi- 
 ble aberrations in the future, the Church owes him a 
 debt of lasting gratitude for the service he has already 
 done. But his work is too diffuse, and too much over- 
 loaded with details, to be generally interesting or useful. 
 The general staple of his exposition must be admitted 
 by every one who holds evangelical views, although 
 there are a number of minor points in which there will 
 be found room for diversit}^ of opinion. 
 
 Among the English Commentators on.these prophets 
 separately, one of the earliest v/as Dr. Bla3mey, whose 
 translation of Zechariah with notes (London, 1797, 4to), 
 took for a long time a high rank as a work of learning. 
 Newcome, on the Minor Prophets (Ponte fract, 1809, 
 8vo), is a work of considerable merit, but the notes are 
 very meagre in many cases, and the 8vo edition very 
 badly printed. The most valuable, by far, of the Eng- 
 lish expositors, is Dr. Henderson, whose truly learned 
 
INTRODUCTION. 41 
 
 and able work will be found frequently referred to in 
 the following pages. Dr. H. is a sound and thorough 
 Hebrew scholar, and has spared no pains to ascertain 
 the true text, and the true meaning of the text thus as- 
 certained. His notes are mainly philological, but occa- 
 sionally expand into a rich view of thought and feeling. 
 His theory of interpretation is the same that underlies 
 his Commentary on Isaiah, which will be found dis- 
 cussed with characteristic ability and learning by Dr. J. 
 A. Alexander, -in his Commentary on the Later Prophe- 
 cies of Isaiah. It will be found in the following pages, 
 that many of his views are liable to serious objection, 
 but as a whole, his Commentary is the best that England 
 has ever furnished on these prophets. But it is unsuit- 
 ed for popular use, and will be found often too meagre 
 on points of great interest, whilst it is diffuse on ques- 
 tions of minute criticism. 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell on the ordinary Commen- 
 taries in popular use, as they are sufficiently well known. 
 Lowth is learned, but unsatisfactory, Henry is always 
 rich in spiritual unction, Scott in strong common sense 
 and sterling piety, Clarke in somewhat undigested learn- 
 ing ; but whilst each possesses its own pecidiar excel- 
 lence, none of them go thoroughly into the real diffi- 
 culties of the text, as their object was to furnish purely 
 a popular exposition. 
 
 Among other works of various shades of value that 
 have not been named, are, Koester, whose Meletemata 
 Critica (Gottingen, 1818, 8vo), contains an elaborate 
 3 
 
42 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 discussion of tlie authenticity of the latter part of Zecha- 
 riah ; Stonard on Zechariah (London, 1824, 8vo) ; 
 Kimchi on Zechariah, translated by Dr, McCaul, the 
 eminent Rabbinical scholar (London, 1837, 8vo) ; Stock 
 on Malachi (London, 1641, foL), greatly esteemed in 
 its day ; Sclater on Malachi (London, 1650, 4to), de- 
 livered in expository lectures ; Van Til on Malachi 
 (Lug. Bat.. 1701, 4to) ; Yenema on Malachi (Leovard, 
 1759, 4to.) ; Bahrdt on Malachi (Leipsic, 1768, 4to) ; 
 and others whose names need not be recorded to swell 
 this list. 
 
 It will be seen from this enumeration, that whilst 
 much has been written on these prophets in quantity, 
 the value of the exposition is not in the direct ratio of 
 the quantity, and that there is still room for a commentary 
 that shall present fairly the results of the latest criticism, 
 that shall vindicate where it is susceptible of such vindica- 
 tion, the general belief of the Church, and evolve some- 
 what more distinctly the practical bearings of these 
 prophecies, than is done in the critical commentaries. 
 Whether this is successfully accomplished in the work 
 now offered, the readers must judge. If it is not, it 
 may stimulate some abler hand to the work, and thus 
 accomplish the end at which it aims. 
 
HAGGAI 
 
 NEW TRANSLATION. 
 
 Prophecy I. — Summons to Labor. 
 
 1 . In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth montli, 
 
 on the first day of the month, was the word of Jehovah in 
 the hand of Haggai the prophet, to Zerubbabel, son of 
 Shealtiel, prefect of Judah, and to Josliua, son of Jozedck 
 the high priest, saying : 
 
 2. Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying : 
 
 ' This people ! they say the time has not come. 
 The time for the house of Jehovah to be built.' 
 
 3. And the word of Jehovali was in the hand of Haggai the 
 
 prophet, saj'ing : 
 
 4. ' Is it the time for j-ou, you! to dwell in covered houses, 
 And this house to lie desolate V 
 
 5. And now, saith Jehovah of hosts : 
 ' Direct your hearts to your ways. 
 
 6. Ye have sown much and been bringing in but little ; 
 Ye have been eating, but not to being satisfied ; 
 
 Ye have been drinking, but not to being filled ; 
 
 Ye have been putting on clothes, but not to being warmed ; 
 
 And he who gathers wages, gathers wages into a purse 
 with holes.' 
 1. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts : 
 
 ' Direct your hearts to your ways. 
 8. Go up to the mountain, 
 
 And bring timber, and build the house, 
 
 And I will delight in it, 
 
 And I will be honored, saith Jehovah.' 
 
44 H A G G A I . 
 
 9. ' Ye looked for much, and behold (it came) to little. 
 And ye brought it home, and I blew upon it, 
 Wherefore ?' saith Jehovah of hosts, 
 ' Because of my house which is desolate, 
 And ye are running' every man to his own house, 
 
 10. Whereupon the heavens above you refrain from dew, 
 And the earth refrained its increase. 
 
 11. And I called for drought 
 
 Upon the earth and upon the mountains. 
 
 And upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, 
 
 And i;pon whatever the earth brings forth, 
 
 And upon man and upon beast, 
 
 And upon every work of the hands.' 
 
 12. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son 
 
 Jozedek the high priest, and all the remainder of the peo- 
 ple, obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God, and the words 
 of Haggai the prophet, because Jehovah their God had sent 
 
 13. him, and the people feared before the face of Jehovah. And 
 Haggai the messenger of Jehovah, spake in the message 
 of Jehovah to the people, saying, ' I am with you, saith 
 
 14. Jehovah.' And Jehovah aroused the spirit of Zerubbabel 
 the son of Shealtiel, prefect of Judah, and the spirit of 
 Joshua the son of Jozedek, the high priest, and the spirit 
 of all the remainder of the people, and they came and did 
 
 15. work in the house of Jehovah of hosts their God ; on 
 the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second 
 year of Darius the king. 
 
 Prophecy II. — Encouragement to Labor. 
 
 1. In the seventh {month), on the twenty-first day of the 
 
 2. month, was the word of Jehovah in the hand of Haggai 
 the prophet, saying, ' Speak, I pray you, to Zerubbabel 
 the son of Shealtiel, prefect of Judah, and to Joshua the 
 
 3. son of Jozedek, the high priest, and to the remainder of 
 the people, saying, 
 
 Who is remaining among you, 
 
 Who saw this house in its former splendor ? 
 
 And what do you see it now ? 
 
n A G G A I . 45 
 
 Is not such (a house) as nothing in your eyes ? 
 
 4. And now be strong, Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah, 
 
 And be strong, Joshua, son of Jozedek, the high priest, 
 And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, 
 And work, for I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts. 
 
 5. (Tfds is) the word that I covenanted with you. 
 In your coming forth out of Egypt, 
 
 And my spirit remains among you, fear not ! 
 
 6. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts. 
 
 It is yet only a little while and I will be shaking 
 
 The heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. 
 
 7. And I am about to shake all the nations, 
 And the beauty of all the nations shall come. 
 
 And I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts, 
 
 8. Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold, saith Jehovah of 
 
 hosts. 
 
 9. Great shall be the glor}'- of this latter house, 
 Above the former (house), saith Jehovah of hosts. 
 
 And in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts. 
 
 Prophecy III. — Instruction and Encouragement. 
 
 10. On the twenty-fourth {da^j) of the ninth {month), in the 
 
 second year of Darius, was the word of Jehovah in the 
 
 11. hand of Haggai the prophet, saying : thus saith Jehovah 
 
 12. of hosts, ' ask, I pray jovl, the priests concerning the 
 law, saying. If a man carry holy flesh in the skirt of his 
 garment, and touches with his skirt bread, or pottage, or 
 
 13. wine, or oil, or any food, shall it be holy ? And the priests 
 answered and said " No !" And Haggai said, if one 
 polluted by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be 
 {thereby) polluted ? And the priests answered and said. 
 "it shall be polluted."' 
 
 14. And Haggai answered and said, 
 'Thus is this nation. 
 
 And thus is this people before me, saith Jehovah, 
 And thus is every work of their hand, 
 And whatever they offer them is polluted. 
 
 15. And now, I pray you, lay it to heart from this day and 
 
 backward. 
 
46 H A G G A I . 
 
 Before the placing of stone upon stone, in the temple of 
 Jehovah. 
 16. From the times when one came to a pile of twenty 
 (^measures) 
 And there were ten : 
 (Or) came to a wine-vat to draw fifty {measures from) the 
 
 press, 
 And there were twenty, 
 n. I smote you with blight, and with withering, and with hail. 
 Even all the works of your hands, 
 And ye {turned) not to me, saith Jehovah. 
 
 18. Lay it to heart, I pray you, from this day and upwards, 
 From the twenty-fourth day of the ninth {month) 
 
 To the day in which the temple was founded. 
 Lay it to heart. 
 
 1 9. Is the crop yet in the granary ? 
 
 The vine, the fig-tree, the pomegranate and the olive have 
 
 not borne ; 
 From this day I will bless.' 
 
 Prophecy IV. — The Safety of God's People amidst the coming com- 
 motions. 
 
 2 : 20. And the word of Jehovah was again to Haggai on the 
 twenty-fourth {day) of the ninth {month), saying : 
 
 21. Speak to Zerubbabel, prefect of Judah, saying, 
 
 ' I {ivill soon he) shaking the heavens and the earth, 
 
 22. And I will overturn the throne of kingdoms ; 
 
 And I will destroy the power of the kingdoms of the 
 
 nations ; 
 And I will overturn the chariot and the riders in it ; 
 And there shall fall the horses and their riders ; 
 A man by the sword of his brother. 
 
 23. In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, 
 
 I will take thee, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, my servant. 
 
 saith Jehovah, 
 And I will make thee as a signet, 
 For thee have I chosen, saith Jehovah of hosts. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO HAGGAI. 
 
 Haggai is the first of the trio of prophets that 
 appeared after the Babylonish captivity. Most of the 
 prophets had been raised up before the exile. A few, 
 such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk and Oba- 
 diah, flourished near or during the captivity, but it v^as 
 left to Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, to close up the 
 solemn utterances of inspiration to the ancient Church, 
 and give us the Apocalypse of the Old Testament. This 
 rearward position in the prophetic ranks, invests these 
 prophets with peculiar interest, and leads us to listen to 
 their words with peculiar attention. The last words of 
 any one are usually listened to with deep interest, but 
 the last words of Grod to the Church before the Incarna- 
 tion, ought surely have a peculiar interest to that 
 Church in every period of its subsequent history. And 
 3^et, for some reasons, the interest that really belongs to 
 them has not attracted to them the amount of study 
 and attention that we would have anticipated. It is to 
 aid in awakening, if possible, some fresh interest in 
 these parting words of the spirit of prophecy, that we 
 invite attention to an effort to unfold some of their 
 meaning. 
 
 Of Haggai personally we know but little. The name 
 
48 H A G G A I . 
 
 means literally, my feast, and throws no light on his 
 personal history, unless we suppose with Cocceius, that 
 it was given in anticipation of the speedy return of the 
 people from their long exile. The Jews have, as usual, 
 a number of fabulous traditions concerning him, that he 
 was an eminent scholar, an assessor in the great syna- 
 gogue under Ezra that restored the temple worship, and 
 settled the canon of the Old Testament, &c. ; but the 
 tradition that has received the most credence is tliat 
 recorded by Epiphanius, that he was born in Babylon 
 during the captivity, and came to Jerusalem when 
 Cyrus (b. c. 536) permitted a portion of the Jews to 
 return under Zerubbabel, 2 Chron. 36 : 23 ; Ezra 1 : 
 1 ; 2:1. The same writer also states that he was 
 buried at Jerusalem among the priests, from which it is 
 affirmed that he was of the family of Aaron. There is, 
 however, no certain knowledge of any of these facts. 
 We know only that he was a servant of God, and more 
 than this is not needful to us, or it would have been 
 revealed. 
 
 The prophecy itself, however, compared with the his- 
 torical books, furnishes us sufficient data for its inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 Sixteen years before the first public appearance of 
 the prophet, the earliest movement toward a return to 
 Palestine was made among the exiles in Babylon. Cyrus 
 in the first year of his exile, b. c. 536, issued an edict 
 summoning the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild 
 the temple ; Ezra 1:1. Accordingly a number of the 
 
H A G G A I . 49 
 
 children of Judali, Benjamin, and Levi, went up to the 
 city of their fathers under the leadership of Zerubbabel 
 and Joshua, the civil and ecclesiastical heads of the 
 people. The work of rebuilding the temple was begun 
 in the second year after their arrival, when the founda- 
 tions were laid amidst the shoutings of the young men 
 and the tears of the old ; Ezra 3 : 10 — 13, The work 
 had proceeded but a little distance when the Samaritans 
 began to interfere, and their offers of assistance being 
 declined, they began to throw obstacles in the way and 
 seek to arrest the work. During the life of Cyrus these 
 efforts were unavailing, for his noble heart never 
 swerved in its affection for the people whose sacred 
 writings contained so wonderful a prediction of him ; 
 Isa. 44 : 28 ; 45 : 1, &c. But as his days were cut 
 short on the field of battle, these efforts were renewed 
 under his successor, Cambyses (called Ahasuerus in 
 Ezra 4 : 6), and obtained a suspension of the work. 
 On the ascension of Smerdis the Magian, (called Arta- 
 xerxes in Ezra 4 : 7 — 23,) it was an easy task to obtain 
 from so suspicious a usurper an edict prohibiting the 
 further prosecution of the work of rebuilding the 
 temple and city. Thus the work lay for nearly four- 
 teen years. 
 
 Meanwhile, the first zeal of the people had grown 
 cold. They found the land impoverished by the exile, 
 and the task of rebuilding the temple, for which they 
 had mainly returned, suddenly arrested by the schem- 
 ings of their enemies. Discouragement and suspicion 
 
50 HAGGAI. 
 
 began to creep over tlieir hearts. Scepticism gradually 
 grew up in their minds, and as a matter of course, 
 worldliness apd avarice soon became the predominant 
 traits of their character. Having no heart for the work 
 of God, they easily interpreted the obstacles in their 
 way as so many divine intimations that they were not 
 to engage in it, and turned to the greedy advancement 
 X of their own private affairs. Such was their condition 
 at the death of Smerdis, and the ascension to the throne 
 of Darius Hystaspis, b. .c 520. As the force of the 
 prohibitory decree of Smerdis ceased with his death, an 
 effort was instantly made by Haggai, Zerubbabel and 
 Joshua to induce the Jews to resume the building of 
 the temple. Opposition to this effort, by their old ene- 
 mies, brought forth a decree from Darius, in the second 
 year of his reign, formally re-affirming the original 
 edict of Cyrus, and commanding the energetic prosecu- 
 tion of the work, which was accordingly done, and the 
 temple completed and dedicated in the sixth year of 
 / Darius, b. c. 516. 
 
 It was to urge the people to this work that Haggai 
 came forward as a prophet of God, and co-operated 
 with Zerubbabel, the civil leader, Joshua, the ecclesias- 
 tical, and Zechariah, his fellow-prophet, who came for- 
 ward, two months after him, to engage in the same 
 great work. 
 
 The prophecies of Haggai are dated with an unusual 
 accuracy. The first was delivered on the first day of 
 the sixth month of the second year of Darius, b. c. 
 
IIAGGAI. 51 
 
 520, and the last, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth 
 month, thus extendmg through a period of not quite 
 four months. Jerome, in his preface to this book, notes 
 the fact that the prophet was cotemporary with Tar- 
 quin the Proud, the seventh and last king of Rome. 
 The book contains four distinct prophecies. I. (Ch. 1) 
 was delivered on the first day of the sixth month, 
 and reproved the people for their apathy in allowing 
 the temple to lie in ruins. This call to duty was effec- 
 tual, for, in twenty-four days afterwards, we find the 
 people commencing the work of rebuilding under 
 Zerubbabel. II. (Ch. 2 : 1—9) was delivered on the 
 twenty-first day of the seventh month, and designed to 
 correct the feelings of depreciation and discouragement 
 that some of the people had in comparing the humble 
 structure then going up with the magnificent fane of 
 Solomon. As Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel had pre- 
 dicted for the second temple a greater glory than the 
 first, some were doubting whether it was not wrong to 
 proceed with a house that was so much inferior. To 
 remove this reason or pretext, whichever it might be, 
 he showed them wherein this greater glory v/ould con- 
 sist. III. (Ch. 2 : 10—19) was delivered on the 
 twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, and removes an 
 error under which they had been laboring in regard to 
 the efficacy of outward observances, and promises them 
 a blessing if the}^ engage heartily in the work of 
 rebuilding the temple. lY. (Ch. 2 : 20 — 23) was de- 
 livered on the same day with the preceding, and 
 
52 HAGGAI. 
 
 addressed to Zerubbabel, as the representative of the 
 theocratic people. 
 
 The style of Haggai is adapted to the nature of his 
 various messages. When he exhorts, it is with pathos 
 and sometimes with tenderness ; when he reproves, it 
 is with burning severity ; and when he looks forward to 
 the magnificent future, he kindles into a poetic fervor. 
 An intensely theocratic spirit seems to have glowed 
 within him ; a spirit which combining all that is purest 
 of patriotism, and all that is most powerful of piety, 
 produced an earnestness of character as deep as 
 could be developed in our nature before the coming of 
 " God manifest in the flesh."' 
 
ANALYSIS. 
 
 Prophecy I. — Chapter I. 
 
 The Summons lo Labor. 
 
 I. The date of the prophecy, and the parties concerned in its 
 utterance and reception, (v. 1.) 
 
 II. The cavil of the people in justification of their neglect of 
 the temple, viz. : that the time had not come to engage in a work 
 requiring so large an outlay of time and money, (v. 2.) 
 
 III. The emptiness of this cavil. If they had really been too 
 poor to build the temple, they would also have been too poor to 
 build such costly houses for themselves, (v. 3.) 
 
 IV. The call to a retrospection of their conduct, and the results 
 of that conduct, as a reason for changing it, and engaging in the 
 work of building the temple. 
 
 (1.) Their neglect of God's work had issued in evil to them- 
 selves, (v. 6.) 
 
 (2.) Engaging in it would delight and honor God, (v. 1, 8.) 
 (3.) Persisting in their neglect of it, the past would re-appear 
 in the future, and the curse of God rest tipon all their possessions, 
 (v. 9-11.) 
 
 V. The penitence of the.people for their past neglect, and their 
 determination to repair it by instantly beginning to prepare for 
 building, (v. 12.) 
 
 VI. The gracious assurance of God tliat he was with them now 
 in their returning obedience, (v. 13.) 
 
 VII. The actual resumption of the work by the people, after 
 making the necessary preparation of materials, &c., three weeks 
 after the first call of the prophet, (v. 13, 14.) 
 
COMMENTARY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 In the second year of Darius the day of the month, came [the word 
 king, in the sixth mouth, in the first of the Lord by Haggai the prophet 
 
 1 : 1. — " In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth 
 month, in the first day of the month, was the word of Jehovah in 
 the hand of Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubhabel, son of Shealtiel, 
 prefect of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jozcdck, the high priest, 
 saying :" — 
 
 The propliecy is dated from the reign of Darius the 
 king of Persia, because the overthrow of the Babylonish 
 empire, by Cyrus, had made the Medo-Persian power 
 predominant, and as the Jews had no king of their own 
 to date from, the}^ used the chronological notation of 
 the power under which they were then in subjection. 
 The Darius here spoken of is generally agreed by schol- 
 ars to have been Darius Hystaspis. Darius being a 
 common name to the rulers of Persia, as Pharaoh was 
 to those of Egypt, and Ceesar to those of Pvome, other 
 kings have been suggested as the one here alluded to, 
 but the overwhelming preponderance of authority is on 
 the side of the opinion above stated. The month here 
 named is not the month of the king's reign, as might be 
 supposed from the adoption of that date, but the month 
 
HAGGAI. — CHAPTER I. 55 
 
 unto Zerubbabol the son of Shcalticl, son of Josedcch, the high priest, say- 
 g-overnor of Judah, and to Joshua the ing — 
 
 of the Hebrew year. We have retained the name Je- 
 hovali, instead of rendering it Lord, because the sacred 
 writers make a marked distinction between this name 
 of God and every other, and a distinction that ought 
 not to be concealed in the translation. It is his cove- 
 nant title, embodying in its structure the unchangeable- 
 ness of his existence as the guarantee of his faithfulness 
 to his people. See Exodus 6 : 3. — "In the hand" is a 
 Hebraism for "by," which we have retained as marking 
 the purely ministerial character of the prophet in de- 
 livering the message given to him. It appears in the 
 New Testament in Acts 7 : 35 ; Gal. 3 : 19. Zerub- 
 babel in Ezra 1 : 8 ; 5 : 14, &c., is called Sheshbazzar, as 
 appears from Ezra 5:16, where the same work is re- 
 ferred to Sheshbazzar that in chap. 3 : 8 is ascribed to 
 to Zerubbabel. Sheshbazzar was probably his Chaldean 
 name, just as Daniel was called Belteshazzar, (Dan. 1 : 7.) 
 The etymology of his Hebrew name is probably " One 
 born in Bab3don." He is called here and elsewhere the 
 son of Shealtiel, but from 1 Chron. 3 : 18, 19, it appears 
 that he was the son of Pediah, and that Shealtiel (or 
 Salathiel, as he is there called) was his uncle. The proba- 
 bility is, that owing to the death of his father, or for some 
 other reason, he was adopted by his uncle, and com- 
 monly known in after life by the name of his adopted, 
 rather than of his natural, father. Hence he is reckoned 
 in the genealogies of the New Testament as the son of 
 
56 HAGGAI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 2 Tims spcaketh the Loed of hosts, not come, The time that the Lord's 
 saying, This people say, The time is house should be built. 
 
 Salathiel or Shealtiel, (Matt. 1:12; Luke 3 : 27.) The 
 LXX, instead of " the prefect of Judah," have " of the 
 tribe of Judah," not only here, but where the same 
 phrase occurs in v. 14, and 2 : 22. Joshua (Heb. Je- 
 hoshua) is called Jeshua in Ezra 2 : 2, kc. ; and Jozedek, 
 is called Jehozadak in 1 Chron. 6 : 15, (5 : 41,) where 
 it appears that he was one of those caried into exile by 
 Nebuchadnezzar. The two leaders of the people are 
 addressed as the organs and representatives of the peo- 
 ple themselves. 
 
 V. 2. "Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying : 'This people! 
 they say, the time has not come, the time for the house of Jeho- 
 vah to be built.' " 
 
 The name " Jehovah of hosts" indica,tes universal do- 
 minion of God, over all ranks of being in heaven and 
 earth. There is something contemptuous in the abrupt 
 expression, " this people !" The demonstrative pronoun 
 here seems to have the force of the Greek ovrog and the 
 Latin iste, as it has in Ex. 32 : 1, &c., and gives a most 
 emphatic exordium to the indignant reproof that was 
 about to follow. There is a grammatical difficulty here 
 in the construction of the verb "come," which is an 
 infinitive. It may be taken here as the emphatic infini- 
 tive, with the finite form omitted, as we have in the in- 
 finitives of V. 6. The general sense is plain. It is the 
 plea of the people for neglecting the temple, because 
 this work of rebuilding had been arrested. But this 
 
HAGGAI. CHAPTER I. 67 
 
 3 Tlien came the word of the Lord in your ceiled liouses, and this liouse 
 by Haggai tlie prophet, saying, lie waste ? 
 
 4 Is it time for you, ye, to dwell 
 
 plea was indefensible. The edict of Smerdis had not 
 formally prohibited the erection of the temple, but only 
 of the walls of the city. (Ezra 4 : 12—21.) It is true 
 that the temple was a part of the wall ; and on this 
 pretext the enemies of the Jews had arrested the work ; 
 but it was a perversion of the terms of the edict, which 
 forbade fortifications and not buildings for sacred pur- 
 poses. But as these enemies had the power, they used 
 it to accomplish their own ends, and as the zeal of the 
 people began to cool there was no persevering disposi- 
 tion to resist this interpretation of the edict. But after 
 the death of Smerdis, the edict ceased to be binding, 
 and it was the duty of the people to begin the work 
 that had been so long suspended. It would seem that 
 the propriety of doing so had been mooted, but the 
 people, who had grown cold in the service of Grod, were 
 disposed to put it off to a more convenient season. And 
 as is usual in such cases they sought to bolster up this 
 suggestion of avarice and unbelief by magnifying the 
 difficulties in the way. As this work was a very great 
 one, requiring large means, and they were compara- 
 tively poor, they pretended that then was not the time 
 to begin such a work ; they must wait until their ability to 
 do it properly was increased. They could thus veil their 
 apathy in the service of God under the pretext of great 
 respect for the work to which they were summoned, and 
 
58 HAGGAI. — CHAPTER I. 
 
 5 Now therefore, thus saith the Lord 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in 
 of hosts ; Consider your ways. little ; ye eat, but ye have not enough; 
 
 SO establish, for a time, a sort of truce between con- 
 science and covetousness. But this truce was soon 
 broken, and this veil torn off by the unsparing hands of 
 the stern prophet. 
 
 V. 3, 4. "And the word of Jehovah was in the hand of Haggai 
 the prophet, saying : 'Is it the time for you, you! to dwell in 
 covered houses, and this house to lie desolate ?' " 
 
 This is the answer to the plea that it was not the time 
 to begin God's house, because they were so poor. If they 
 were too poor to build God's house, they were too poor 
 to build their own. But as they had not been prevent- 
 ed by this plea from building for themselves, it was no 
 justification of their refusal to build for God. Hence 
 the prophet sweeps aw^ay this pretext with an indignant 
 outburst of vehement interrogation. " If it is not the time 
 for God's work to be done, is it the time for yours ? If 
 you are so poor as to be unable to build his house, are 
 you not too poor to build your own ? Does not your 
 lavish expenditure on your own dwellings brand this pre- 
 text with hypocrisy and falsehood ?" The repetition of 
 " yoz/," is taken vocatively in our English version. The 
 LXX and Vulgate do not notice it. We have taken it 
 simply as an emphatic repetition of the pronoun, which 
 is the common significance of this grammatical form. 
 (See Nordheimer, § 865, 3, a, for other examples of this 
 •construction.) The repetition is simply designed to 
 make more emphatic the antithesis between the people 
 
HAGGAI. — CHAPTER I. 69 
 
 }'e drink, but yc are not filled with warm; and he that earneth wages oarn- 
 drink ; ye clothe you, but there is none cth wagcsi (o put il into a bag with holes. 
 
 and God ; and, therefore, more atrocious the preference 
 that they gave to themselves, and also to express some- 
 thing of indignant scorn. We have rendered fi^^a^BO^ cov- 
 ered^ rather than ceiled^ because it seems to refer to dif- 
 ferent kinds of ornamental and useful work about a 
 house on the walls as well as on the roof, making it not 
 only comfortable but also elegant, and placing these 
 stately mansions in disgraceful contrast with the un- 
 roofed, unwalled foundations of that house that ought to 
 have been the noblest in the city. The LXX has it 
 '^ vaulted-roofed^^'' the Vulgate ''panel-ceiled,^'' and the 
 Chaldee, "covered with cedar boards." Henderson 
 translates it "wainscoted." The general ideals that of 
 a house covered in, and finished in an elegant manner, 
 with covered wainscots, walls and ceilings. 
 
 V. 5, 6. " And now, saith Jehovah of hosts, 'Direct your hearts to 
 your ways: ye have sown much, and been bringing- in but little; 
 ye have been eating, but not to being satisfied^ ye have been 
 drinking, but not to being filled; ye have been putting on clothes, 
 but not to being warmed; and he who gathers wages, gathers 
 wages into a purse with holes.' " 
 
 " To direct the heart," is to ponder earnestly. The 
 general meaning of the passage is, " examine and see 
 whether you have gained any thing by trying to over- 
 reach God, in this way. Have you not lost? You 
 have labored, but with little result ; j'our food and 
 drink have not been sufficient to satisfy hunger 
 and thirst ; your clothes not sufficient to warm you ; 
 
60 HAGGAI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 7 ^ Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; wood, and build the house ; and I will 
 Consider your ways. take pleasure in it, and I will be glori- 
 
 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring fied, saith the Lord. 
 
 and 3^oiir wages consumed so rapidly for the necessaries 
 ■of life, that in the words of the proverb, they have been 
 put in a purse with holes." The verbs here used are in- 
 finitives, and have a finite form of the verb understood. 
 The use of the infinitive indicates that the action had 
 been going on for some time. (Nordheimer, § 1020, 1, a.) 
 The finite verb is omitted in Ezek. 1 :14, where the 
 idea of continuance also is conveyed. The general idea 
 is that a careful examination of the past would show, 
 that instead of cheating God, they had only been cheat- 
 ing themselves. 
 
 V. 1, 8. " Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, ' Du'ect your hearts to 
 your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring timber, and build 
 the house, and I will be honored, saith Jehovah.' " 
 
 Some think the mountain here meant was Moriah, 
 but this would be an unusual mode of expressing it, and 
 moreover the reason given is inconsistent with this view ; 
 there was no timber growing on Moriah. Most inter- 
 preters understand by the mountain, Lebanon, from 
 which the cedar for the first temple was brought, and 
 indeed the cedar for this temple. But it seems un- 
 necessary to restrict the phrase to one mountain, any 
 more than to restrict the material they were to collect 
 to the one kind mentioned, i. e. timber. As it was a 
 general command to collect material of all kinds, so " to 
 go to the mountain" seems rather to be an indefinite 
 
HAGGAI. CHAPTER I. 61 
 
 9 Ye looked for much, and lo, it the Lokd of hosts. Because of mine 
 came to little ; and when ye brought it house that is waste, and ye run every 
 liome, I did blow upon it. Why ? saitli man unto his own house. 
 
 phrase, like " going to the forest ;" meaning not any- 
 particular mountain, but any mountain where timber 
 was to be obtained, and is probably a collective singular, 
 referring to mountains indefinitely. It is very likely 
 that after the seventy years' captivity the mountains 
 would be covered with a very dense growth of trees, 
 making it easy to obtain wood for building purposes. 
 ■'It" refers to the temple, and not to the act of obe- 
 dience in building it. That is referred to partly in the 
 words " (thus acting), I will be honored," i. e. my name 
 glorified. The prophet thus sets forth the duty of obe- 
 dience, and the results of that obedience as motives to 
 it, viz. : that thereby God would be pleased, and his 
 great name glorified ; the highest motives that can ac- 
 tuate a pious heart. He then suggests additional mo- 
 tives from the results of disobedience, in the next verse. 
 
 V. 9. " ' Ye looked for mucli, and behold {it came) to little, and 
 ye brought it home, and I blew upon it. Wherefore ?' saith Je- 
 •hovah of hosts. ' Because of my house which is desolate, and ye 
 are running every man to his own house.' " 
 
 The verb ™? with i» means properly to turn toward 
 anything for the purpose of looking at it, and the in- 
 finitive is here used for the same reason that it is used 
 in V. 6 (which see), to indicate a continued action. (For 
 the syntax of the preposition "l" see Nordheimer, 
 § 1042, II. 2.) The same idiom appears in the New 
 Testament in the phrase " to one flesh" (Matt. 19 : 5 ; 
 
62 HAGGAI. — CHAPTER I. 
 
 10 Tlierefore, the hecaven over you is upon the corn, and upon the new wine, 
 stayed from dew, and the earth is stay- and upon the oil, and upon that which 
 ed/roOT her fruit. the ground bringeth forth, and upon 
 
 11 And I called for a drought upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the 
 the land, and upon the mountains, and labour of the hands. 
 
 Eph. 5 : 31). It designates that into which any thing is 
 converted. To blow on a thing, is to scatter it and car- 
 ry it away. To run to their own houses, is an idiomatic 
 expression for devoting attention to them. The same 
 idiom appears in Prov. 1:16; Ps. 119 : 32. Indeed, we 
 have it substantially in our own language, when we 
 speak of people running after any person or thing. 
 The general meaning is, that their previous adversity 
 was the result of their neglect of God's work, and if 
 they would avoid the adversity, they must cease to be 
 guilty of the neglect. This was then an additional mo- 
 tive to enforce the summons to labor. 
 
 V. 10. " ' Wherefore the heavens above you refrained from deAv, 
 and the earth refrained its increase.' " 
 
 By a bold personification, the heavens and the earth 
 
 are here represented as refusing to grant their grateful 
 
 gifts to a people so forgetful of the hand that made them 
 
 both. It is as if they, all inanimate as they are, were 
 
 more mindful of Jehovah than his own favored people. 
 
 V. 11. " ' And I called for drought upon the earth, and upon the 
 mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon 
 the oil, and upon whatever the earth brings forth, and upon man 
 and upon beast, and upon every work of the hands.' " 
 
 This verse enumerates, in detail, the curse that is 
 mentioned in v. 10, and brings to view the hand of God 
 above and behind the material agents. The blind idola- 
 
H A G G A I . CHAPTER 1 . 63 
 
 12 ^ Tlien Zcriibbiibel the son of nant of the people, obeyed the voice of 
 Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jose- the Loud their God, and the words of 
 dech, the high priest, witli all the rem- Haggai the prophet, as the Loud their 
 
 try of nature that now prevails, and the worship of laws, 
 that has so much supplanted the worship of the law- 
 giver, was wholly unknown to the sacred writers. Be- 
 hind the mighty organism they recognized the mightier 
 hand that created and wields it at his will. And the 
 poetry of the thought, in verse 10, is retained, whilst 
 its piety is exalted. God is represented as calling 
 for these material agencies, and they as running swiftly 
 to do his bidding, and writing in withered fields and 
 blackened forests those words of warning that were 
 uttered before by the mouth of his prophets. There is 
 also a fine and striking contrast between the prompt and 
 perfect obedience of these material agencies, and the 
 sloth and disobedience of those into whom God had 
 breathed a living soul. There is an alliteration in the 
 original that we cannot transfer. The crime of the 
 people was that they left the house of God desolate 
 i^^K^), their punishment was that their land was left to 
 drought (S'^n). 
 
 V. 12. " Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the 
 son of Jozedek, the high priest, and all the remainder of the peo- 
 ple, obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God, and the words oi' 
 Hag-gai the prophet, because Jehovah their God had sent him ; 
 and the people feared before the face of Jehovah." 
 
 This verse describes the good effect that this solemn 
 call to duty produced. They recognized the voice of 
 God in Haggai, listened to him as a messenger from Him, 
 
64 HAGGAI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 God head sent him, and the people did messenger, in the Lord's message im- 
 fcar before the Lord. to the people, saying, I am with you, 
 
 13 Then spake Haggai the Lord's saith the Lokd. 
 
 and moved by a holy fear, immediately resmned the 
 long suspended work of the temple. "The remainder 
 of the people" was not, as it would at first sight seem, 
 the remainder of the people after Zerubbabel and Joshua 
 were enumerated, but a general title for the whole 
 colony. (See Zech. 8:6.) 
 
 V. 13. "And Haggai the messenger of Jehovali, spake in the 
 message of Jehovah to the people, saying, ' I am with you, saith 
 Jehovah.' " 
 
 " In the message of Jehovah," means in his official 
 capacity as a messenger or ambassador of Jehovah, with 
 the authority of him in whose name he spake. There 
 is something very beautiful in the sudden change of tone 
 manifest in the message of God. The people had not 
 yet begun to work, but as soon as they showed a dispo- 
 sition to do so, the stern and reproving tone of God is 
 changed for one of the most exquisite tenderness. It 
 is as if he hastened to forget their former unfaithfulness, 
 and to assure them that, in spite of it all, he was not 
 only willing to be with them, but actually was with 
 them as soon as their hearts turned towards him. This 
 presence of God is regarded rightly as being the high- 
 est blessing that could be bestowed on them, and the 
 surest guarantee of success. They had the same jealous 
 enemies yet around them that had arrested the work 
 before, but God assures them that now he was with 
 
H A G G A I . C II A P T E R I . 65 
 
 14 And the Lord stirred up the ppir- Joshua the son of Josedoch, the hig^h 
 it of Zcrubbabel the son of Shealtiel, priest, and the spirit of all the reni- 
 governor of Juduh, and the spirit of uant of the people ; and they came 
 
 them, and nothing should be allowed again to hinder 
 the work. 
 
 V. 14, 15. " And Jehovah aroused the spirit of Zenibbabel the 
 son of Shealtiel, prefect of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son 
 of Jozedek,'the high priest, and the spirit of all the remainder of 
 the people, and they came and did work in the house of Jehovah of 
 hosts their God : in the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in 
 the second year of Darius the king." 
 
 It will be seen, by comparing this date with that of v. 
 1, that, three weeks after the first summons to work, the 
 people were actually engaged on the walls of the tem- 
 ple. This interval was probably spent in collecting 
 materials, clearing away rubbish, and preparing for the 
 vigorous prosecution of the work. TJie LXX, Yulgate, 
 and other authorities, connect v. 15 with ch. 2, but 
 with obvious impropriety. It is plainly designed to 
 give the date of the beginning of the building, and to 
 show the prompt obedience that the people gave to the 
 summons of the prophet. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Men are always prone to put religion off with 
 scraps and leavings, and serve God with what costs 
 them nothing. In the outward things of religion they 
 are much more disposed to work for themselves than 
 for Grod ; and if they have time that cannot be other- 
 wise used, or funds that are not very current, to give 
 them to the treasury of the Lord, and if any larger ex- 
 
66 HAGGAI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 find did work in the house of the Lord the sixth month, in the second year of 
 of hosts, their God, Dcarius the king. 
 
 15 In the four and twentietli day of 
 
 pencliture of either is urged, to plead that "the time 
 has not come" to do this work. In the inward things 
 of rehgion the same spirit is shown. The young, the 
 middle aged and the old, all alike procrastinate the 
 great work, on the plea that " the time is not come," 
 the convenient season that, like the horizon, recedes as 
 we advance, (v, 2.) 
 
 (2.) Our expenditures on ourselves, whilst we pretend 
 to have nothing for Grod, will bear emphatic and fearful 
 testimony against us. The carved ceilings and costly 
 ornaments will have a tongue in the day of judgment, 
 (v. 4.) 
 
 (3.) JS'o man ever gains anything by trying to cheat 
 God. He makes a fool's bargain, bartering a real good 
 for a perishing bauble, and losing at last ev^n what he 
 gained, (v. 6.) 
 
 (4.) A careful pondering of God's dealings with us, 
 will often indicate to us God's will regarding us. The 
 events of life are the hieroglyphics in which God records 
 his feelings toward us, the T^ey to which is found in the 
 Bible, (v. 6.) 
 
 (5.) Obedience to God is an advancement of his 
 glory, (v. 8.) 
 
 (6.) Disobedience to God will often, even in this life, 
 issue in disappointment and disaster, (v. 9, 10.) 
 
 (7.) God has not abandoned the universe to the 
 
HAGGAI. — CHAPTER I. 67 
 
 sightless action of general laws, but is so related to that 
 universe as to be able to direct its laws to the fulfilment 
 of his purposes, whether in rewarding the good, punish- 
 ing the evil, or answering prayer, without deranging or 
 destroying the normal action of those laws themselves, 
 
 (v. 11.) 
 
 (8.) True religion manifests itself in fearing the Lord 
 and in obeying the voice of his servant, (v. 12.) 
 
 (9.) The presence of God with a man is the best 
 blessing he can receive, for it includes everything else, 
 (v. 13.) 
 
 (10.) God is waiting to be gracious, and will meet 
 the returning wanderer, even before his hand has begun 
 the actual work of his service, (v. 13.) 
 
 (11.) Every good impulse, or reviving of religion in 
 the hearts of men, is produced by the direct power of 
 God, through the Holy Spirit, (v. 14.) 
 
 (12.) Obedience to the commands of God wdll always 
 end in a blessing, whilst disobedience wiU always end in 
 a curse, if not in time, surely in eternity. 
 
Prophecy II. — Chapter II : 1 — 9. 
 
 Encouragement to Labor. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. Date of the prophecy, and persons addressed, (v. 1, 2.) 
 
 II. Discouragement of some because of the inferiority of this 
 temple to that of Solomon, (v. 3.) 
 
 III. Encouragement to persevei'C in spite of this outward infe- 
 riority^, because (1) God was with them (v. 4) ; (2) his covenant 
 was yet in full force ; (3) his Spirit was still with them (v. 5) ; 
 (4) this house was to have a higher honor than its predecessor in 
 being connected with the magnificent unfoldings of the kingdom 
 of Messiah, the coming of which was to be attended with great 
 convulsions (v. 6) ; but the result of which should be the homage 
 of the heathen, and a richer adornment than gold and silver, 
 (which God could easily give it, did he think it needful, since it 
 all belongs to him, v. 8 ;) a glory above the glitter of all exter- 
 nal splendor, even a glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
 peace and good will to men (v. 9). Hence, as the glory of the 
 dispensation with which this temple was to be connected was not 
 a mere material splendor, but a far higlier and nobler majesty, 
 the absence of this material splendor now, should not discourage 
 them in the work of building. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 1 In the seventh month, m the one of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and 
 and twentieth daij of the month, came to Joshua the son of Josedech the high 
 tlie word of tlie Lord by tlie prophet priest, and to the residue of the people, 
 Haggai, saying, saying, 
 
 2 Spealv now to Zerubbahel the son 3 Wlio is left among you that saw 
 
 Ch. 2 : 1—3. — "In the seventh (month), in the twenty-first day 
 of the month, was the word of Jehovah in the hand of Haggai the 
 prophet, saying : Speak, I pray you, to Zerubbahel the son of 
 Shealtiel, prefect of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jozedek, the 
 high priest, and to the remainder of the people, saying, who is 
 remaining among you who saw this house in its former splendor? 
 And what do you see it nov^^ ? Is not such (a house) as nothing 
 in your eyes ?" 
 
 The Jews were accustomed to say that there were 
 five things in the first temple that were wanting in the 
 second : (1) the sacred fire ; (2) the shekinah ; (3) the 
 ark and cherubim ; (4) the urim and thummim ; (5) the 
 spirit of prophecy. Besides these things, it was greatly 
 inferior in external splendor. Hence when the old men, 
 who had seen that imperial structure in all its magnifi- 
 cence, saw the humble building that was to take its 
 place, thfey wept at the mournful contrast, and the 
 foundations of the new temple were greeted with 
 mingled sounds of joy and sorrow, (Ezra 3:12, 13.) 
 These old men, with the natural despondency of the 
 
70 H A G G A I . CHAPTER II. 
 
 this house in Iier first glory ? and how 4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, 
 do you see it now ? is it not in your eyes saith the Lor.n ; and be strong, 
 in comparison of it as nothing ? Josliua, son ofJosedech,theliigh priest ; 
 
 laudatores temporis acfi, would suggest their doubts and 
 fears to the younger and more ardent spirits that were 
 engaged in the work. They would say, " Did not Isaiah, 
 Jeremiah and Ezekiel declare that the new temple 
 would surpass the old in glory ? But is it not evident- 
 ly inferior to it? What does this mean? Ought we 
 thus to contradict the words of the prophets ? May 
 not we for our sins be forbidden to build this temple, as 
 David was to build the preceding one ? May not this 
 want of means to equal the first temple be an intima- 
 tion from God tliat we ought to wait for a worthier 
 generation to engage in this work ?" Such queries, sug- 
 gested by the aged, whose counsels were always respected 
 by the young, and whose inability to labor left them leisure 
 for such mournful musings, were well calculated to weak- 
 en and dishearten the laborers. Hence, about a month 
 after the work was begun, the prophet found it was ne- 
 cessary to counteract this discouraging feeling, and show 
 the people wherein the true glory of this temple was to 
 consist. Hence he comes forward to meet this feeling, 
 often silently entertained where it was not openl}^ ex- 
 pressed, and, as in the first prophecy, he begins by an- 
 nouncing to them their thoughts and words,, which he 
 meant to correct. 
 
 V. 4, 5. " And now be strong-, Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah, and 
 be strong-, Joshua, son of Jozedek, the high priest, and be 
 strong all ye people of tlie land, saith Jehovah, and work ; for I 
 
H A G G A I . CHAPTER II. 71 
 
 and be strong, all ye people of the land, nanted with you when yc came out of 
 
 saith the Lord, and work : for I am Egypt, so my Spirit remaincth among 
 
 with yoii, saith the Lord of hosts : you : fear ye not. 
 5 According to the word that I cove - 
 
 iim with you, saith Jehovah of hosts. {Thin is) the word that I 
 covenanted with you in your coming forth out of Egypt, and my 
 Spirit remains among j'ou ; fear not." 
 
 These verses contain the call to persevering energy in 
 working for God, and the reasons for it : (1) the cove- 
 nant that God had made with them, in the past, and 
 (2) the abiding of His Spirit with them in the present. 
 As this covenant had never been repealed, to despair of 
 God's blessing when obeying his command, was to give 
 God the lie. And as this Spirit was the source of all 
 strength, its continued abiding among them was a cer- 
 tain pledge of success. Y. 5 presents some grammatical 
 difficulty in determining the exact construction of "the 
 word." The most probable opinion is that ^^ here is 
 used as designating the object of the verb covenant 
 (Heb. cut.), and that the whole verse is an expansion 
 of the phrase, " I am with you." (See ]S"ordheiiner, 
 § 676 ; § 831f 5, a.) "I am with you, for I promised 
 to be with you at the exodus from Egypt, (Ex. 19 :5, 6 ; 
 34:10, 11,) and that promise has never been broken, 
 even in your times of adversity, for my Spirit is still 
 with you." Cocceius finds in this verse, the Trinity ; the 
 Father speaking of the Word and the Spirit ; but there 
 is no reason for believing that " the word," here means 
 anything more than the covenant formula by which God 
 declared the Jews to be his own peculiar people. 
 
72 HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 6 For thus saitli the Lord of hosts ; will shake the heavens and the earth, 
 Yet once, it is a little while, and I and the sea and the dry hmd ; 
 
 V. 6. " For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, it is yet only a little 
 while, and I will be shaking the heavens, and the earth, and the 
 sea, and the dry land." 
 
 The first question, as to this verse, is the meaning of 
 "yet only a httle while." The difficulty has been caused 
 by the translation of !ntii«! as " o^zce," and the use of it in 
 Heb. 12 :26 ; " Now this word ' yet once more,' " as if 
 it referred to a single shaking, and laid stress on the fact 
 that it was to be but once. That this is not the mean- 
 ing of the passage in Hebrews, we will presently show, 
 and that it is not the necessary force of the terms here, 
 is also true. ^D^ here qualifies "little," in a most nat- 
 ural and obvious manner. "It is yet one little," i.e. 
 but a single brief space of time, or as we have rendered 
 it " only a little," in which fin^ refers not to one act, as 
 compared with previous acts, but to one brief period, as 
 compared with many periods, or a protracted period of 
 time. It, therefore, predicts not a single act that was 
 soon to be done, but a series of acts th?it was soon to 
 begin, viz. : the shakings of the nations. This, also, re- 
 tains the normal significance of the participle ''^^^'^!'?, 
 which properly means not one shaking, but a continu- 
 ance of shakings. (See Nordheimer, § 1033; 2, a: 
 § 1034, 1, 3, a.) 
 
 But what are these shakings ? They have generally 
 been referred to the establishment of the New Testa- 
 ment dispensation, from the text in Hebrews. This 
 
HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 73 
 
 y And I will shake all nations, and and I will fill this house with glory 
 the Desire of all nations shall come : saith the Lord of hosts. 
 
 interpretation WO cannot receive because, (1) the desig- 
 nation of the interval before their commencement as 
 " yet only a little while," leads us to look for a nearer 
 future than five hundred years ; (2) the force of the 
 Hiphil participle here is properly to denote a continu- 
 ance of shakings for an indefinite time ; (3) the 
 same phrase in v. 22, 23 obviously refers to something 
 outside of the Messianic kingdom, and not inside of it, 
 as we shall there see ; (4) the usual meaning of this 
 symbolical act is that of a visitation of vengeance on the 
 enemies of God, and not an unfolding of his dipensa- 
 tions of mercy (see Isa. 13 : 13 ; Ps. 60 : 4, &c., &c.) ; 
 and (5) the future establishment of the Messiah's king- 
 dom would not be as directly comforting to them as the 
 nearer and more closely connected event to which the 
 prophet alluded. This event was a speedy shaking of 
 the social and political systems that were around and 
 above them, before and beneath which they were in 
 such dread as to hesitate about going forward in their 
 work. That this fact would be an encouragement to 
 them is obvious. They trembled before the consolidated 
 power of Persia, and the craft of Samaria that might 
 bring that power upon them again in restraint, if not in 
 vengeance. The prophet assures them that they need 
 not tremble, for in a little time, this stupendous fabric 
 would totter, and others be thrown up in its place. 
 These, also, would tremble before new convulsions, and 
 5 
 
74 HAGGAI. — CHAPTER II. 
 
 be shaken down in the mighty birth-throes of the future. 
 Persia would fall before Greece ; the four Alexandrian 
 dynasties fall before each other and before Rome ; 
 Rome herself before other powers ; and thus the scaf- 
 foldings of the spiritual temple would be cast down as 
 soon as their purposes were accomplished. Now, as 
 these powers were so soon to be prostrated, the people 
 of Grod need not fear before their enemies, that were so 
 soon to fall before them. This lays bare to us, then, 
 the key to all history. God will allow men to rear the 
 loftiest fabrics, as individuals and as nations, but he will 
 shake them down, that they may then seek for some 
 immovable basis on which to rest. 
 
 This is the meaning of Heb. 12 : 26. The writer had 
 been exhorting them to listen to the voice of Christ. 
 This he enforces by comparing the fate of those who 
 refused to obey under the Old Testament with that of 
 the disobedient under the New. Then (at the estab- 
 lishment of the Sinaitic dispensation) only the earth 
 was shaken to introduce it, but now heaven and earth, 
 all things, are to be shaken. Everything that rests not 
 on the rock, Christ Jesus, shall be overturned and 
 swept away. This, he adds (v. 27), is the meaning of 
 this prophecy, "yet once more," &c. It signifies the 
 removal of these shaken things, as mere created things, 
 in order that men may be induced to run to the uncre- 
 ated and immovable foundation that rests on a rock. 
 And this it becomes them to do speedily, for our God 
 is a consuming fire, and will destroy all that is not found 
 
HAGGAI. — CHAPTER II. 75 
 
 buildecl on this immovable foundation. Hence this pas- 
 sage is in exact harmony with the one before us. They 
 both declare that God will unsettle and shake every 
 earthly thing, private and public, that rests not on Him- 
 self, and is not identified with his kingdom on earth. 
 Now, as the temple was the seat of this earthly king- 
 dom of God, in spite of all its outward meanness, it 
 would stand unharmed, when all these proud dynasties 
 had been swept away, and hence those engaged in its 
 erection need not falter in their work. The force, then, 
 of this declaration, for the purposes of the prophet, is 
 very obvious, and confirms it as the true interpretation. 
 
 V. Y. "And I am about to shake all the nations, and the beauty 
 of all the nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, 
 saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 This verse declares the result of the shaking of the 
 nations, and thus indicates the reason for doing it. The 
 phrase i^'^Pi'-?? i^^lpO is rendered in our version "the 
 desire of all nations," and is referred usually to Christ. 
 This translation has been caused by that of the Vulgate, 
 which renders it desideratus cunctis gentibus, and has 
 become so canonized, in the language of the Church, 
 that it will not be laid aside without some rejDugnance. 
 But there are very serious objections to it : (1) fi!t^O 
 does not mean the thing desired, so much as the quality 
 making it desirable, i. e. beauty. (2) The verb " come" 
 is plural here, and can only be properly construed with 
 a noun in the singular, when it is a noun of multitude. 
 If i^^^O refers to the person of the Messiah, this con- 
 
76 HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 struction becomes inexplicable. (3) Christ, in point of 
 fact, is not the desire of all nations, but rather their 
 aversion. He is " a root out of a dry ground," having 
 "no beauty that we should desire him," (Isa. 53 : 2.) 
 Nor is it true that he was expected by all nations, even 
 if the word could bear the meaning of expectation, 
 which is not the fact. (4) The next verse will not co- 
 here with this one, if we refer it to the person of Christ. 
 If this verse predicts the coming of the riches and glory 
 of the nations to the church, the fact that all these be- 
 long to God, as stated in v. 8, is an obvious reason for 
 this prediction, and for expecting its fulfilment. But if 
 this is a prediction of the coming of Christ, the next 
 verse seems to have no relation to it. (5) The LXX, 
 and the older versions, know nothing of this interpreta- 
 tion. The LXX renders it "the choice things of all 
 nations," and the Syriac, "every most desirable thing 
 of all nations," with which agree Calvin, Kimchi, Dru- 
 sius, Vitringa and others. Hence we take the phrase 
 as referring to the good things of the nations, all that 
 was excellent among them, with especial reference to 
 their wealth, and as predicting the same thing that is 
 predicted in Isa. 60 : 5, (marg. trans.) "the wealth of 
 the Gentiles shall come unto thee ;" also, v. 11 ; Gl : 6, 
 &c. In these passages, as in this verse, it is predicted 
 that the heathen would come with all their choicest gifts 
 to the theocracy, or visible kingdom of God, of which 
 the temple was then the seat. This prediction was not 
 fulfilled until they were brought into that visible king- 
 
HAGGxil. — CHATTER II. 17 
 
 dom, but since that time thej have been bringing their 
 gifts continually. It is the gifts, the gold and the toil 
 of Gentiles, that are now advancing that kingdom of 
 God, which, although now extended far beyond Jeru- 
 salem, yet at the time of this prophecy had its visible 
 seat and symbol in the temple. Hence, the whole his- 
 tory of Christianity is but one magnificent fulfilment of 
 this prophecy. The temple is here identified with the 
 theocracy, as its visible symbol, and the future glory of 
 the one linked with the present existence of the other. 
 Hence the phrase, " I will fill this house with glory," is 
 to be explained in connection with the preceding clause. 
 The glory was not the coming of Christ to that temple 
 simply, but the coming of the " beauty of the heathen," 
 the conversion of the Gentiles to the kingdom of God, 
 with the necessary results of that conversion. The 
 temple is considered, not as a mere building, but as the 
 visible seat of the kingdom of God in its second great 
 form, w^hich w^as to be that of the Messiah. God de- 
 clares that to this new form of the kingdom he will 
 bring the best of all nations, and will give it a glory 
 such as never belonged to the gorgeous ritual that was 
 kept up in the temple of Solomon. This thought is 
 beautifully elaborated by Paul in 2 Cor. 3 : 6 — 18, which 
 is almost a comment on this passage. To confine these 
 predictions to the mere walls of the temple, is to cling 
 to the mere letter, and overlook the spirit. The temple 
 was only valuable as the seat of God's kingdom on earth, 
 and the new temple as the place from which the new 
 
78 HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 8 The silver is mine, and tlie gold is mine, saith the Lokd of hosts. 
 
 form of that kingdom should go forth on its glorious 
 mission of conquest. Hence it was the highest encour- 
 agement that could be given them to labor on these 
 walls, that thus they were laboring in the advancement 
 of the kingdom of the Messiah, which one day would 
 gather in all the choicest things of the nations of the earth. 
 This passage, therefore, is precisely similar to such pas- 
 sages as Zech. 7 : 9—17 ; 8 : 9, 20, 22, &c., where the tem- 
 ple is taken in like manner as the symbol of God's kingdom 
 on earth, just as Christ, looking at it from another point, 
 regarded it as a symbol of his body, when he said, "De- 
 stroy this temple, and in three days I will build it again." 
 "Whilst, therefore, we cannot refer this verse to the 
 person of the Messiah, we do not reject its Messianic 
 reference. It refers to Christ in a far wider and richer 
 sense than the mere literal appearance of his person in 
 the literal temple. To confine it to these literalities is 
 to cling to the letter, and neglect the spirit. Hence, we 
 adopt the conclusion of Calvin, " the more simple mean- 
 ing is that which I first stated — that the nations would 
 come, bringing with them all their riches, that they 
 might offer themselves and all their possessions as a sac- 
 rifice to God." He mentions the interpretation that con- 
 fines the prediction to the person of Christ, and prefers 
 the other, as simpler and really more deeply significant. 
 
 V. 8. " Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold, saith Jehovah 
 of hosts." 
 
 As gold and silver were to the Jews, with their Old 
 
HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 79 
 
 9 The glory of this hitter house shall Loed of hosts ; and in this place will 
 be greater than of the former, saith the I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. 
 
 Testament forms of thought, the representations of 
 God's blessing, God promised to bestow them upon this 
 temple when the beauty of the heathen was brought in. 
 This was simply a symbolical promise to bless his visible 
 kingdom with the choicest things, because those things 
 were his. It is therefore a reason for expecting them 
 in future, and not a reason for withholding them in the 
 present, as it is generally taken. They were, however, 
 not the mere metals, but all the most precious things, 
 the gold, silver, and precious stones of which Paul 
 speaks in 1 Cor. 3 : 12. 
 
 V. 9. " Great shall be the glory of this latter house above the 
 former (house,) saith Jehovah of hosts ; and in this place will 1 
 give peace, saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 The glory referred to in this verse was explained 
 above under v. 7. The pre-eminent glory of the second 
 temple was, that it was to be the starting point for the 
 New Testament form of the kingdom of God. The per- 
 sonal appearance of Christ was a part of that glory, but 
 only a part, for it stretches over the entire unfolding of 
 his glorious kingdom. " In this place will I give 
 peace," is that promise of peace connected with the 
 Messiah's kingdom which is elsewhere proclaimed by 
 the prophets. (See Isa. 9 : 7 ; G6 : 12 ; Ps. 72 : 17 ; 
 Luke 2 : 14, &c.) The seminal germ of this peace, is 
 the peace that exists in every believing heart, being 
 justified by faith ; and when all hearts on earth are thus 
 
80 HAGGAI. — CHAPTER II. 
 
 justified, tliere will be peace on earth and good will to 
 men. The beginning of this blessed peace was from 
 Jerusalem, and from that kingdom of God whose visible 
 seat and symbol was the temple. For a beautiful un- 
 folding of the greater glory of this latter form of the 
 kingdom of God, see Hebrews, chapters 9 and 10. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Men are prone to be deluded by externals, and 
 to suppose that the absence of outward splendor is indi- 
 cative of the absence of God's blessing, forgetting that 
 God often chooses the weak things of the earth to con- 
 found the mighty, that no flesh ma}^ glory in his pres- 
 ence, (v. 3.) 
 
 (2.) The presence of God with his people is sufficient 
 ground for encouragement to work in his service, what- 
 ever be the external difficulties, and sufficient comfort 
 in distress how great soever be the calamity, (v. 4.) 
 
 (3.) The covenant of God, and the Spirit of God, are 
 the great grounds of hope to his people, in engaging in 
 his service, and the promises made to the fathers may 
 be plead by the children, (v. 5.) 
 
 (4.) The kingdoms of the world are but the scaffi)ld- 
 ing for God's spiritual temple, to be thrown down when 
 their purpose is accomplished, (v. 6.) 
 
 (5.) The uncertainty and transitoriness of all that is 
 earthly, should lead men to seek repose in the everlast- 
 ing kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, (v. 7.) 
 
 (6.) The various changes of life in both individuals 
 
HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 81 
 
 and nations, are designed to lead them to bring their 
 choicest offerings and dedicate them to God, (v. 7.) 
 
 (7.) The glory of the New Testament dispensation is 
 the conversion of the Heathen, (v. 7.) 
 
 (8.) The comparative poverty of the Church is not 
 because God cannot bestow riches upon her, but be- 
 cause there are better blessings than wealth, that are 
 often incomjDatible with its possession, (v. 8.) 
 
 (9.) The New Testament in all its outward lowliness 
 has a glory in its possession of a completed salvation 
 through the atoning work of a crucified Saviour, far 
 above all the outward magnificence of the Mosaic dis- 
 pensation, (v. 9.) 
 
 (10.) The kingdom of Christ makes peace between 
 God and man, and in its ultimate results will make 
 peace between man and man, and destroy all that pro- 
 duces discord and confusion, war and bloodshed on the 
 earth, (v. 9.) 
 
 Prophecy III. — Chapter II : 10 — 19. 
 
 Instruction and Encouragement. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The date of the prophecy, (v. 10.) 
 
 II. An appeal to the priests, as the authorized expounders of 
 the law, to pronounce upon two general principles, embodied in 
 particular examples. 
 
 (1.) A sanctified garment could not confer sanctity on an un- 
 sanctified thing by contact with it, (v. 11, 12.) (2.) A polluted 
 thing, however, coidd confer its pollution by such contact, (v. 13.) 
 In other words, a sanctified thing cannot confer purity on a pol- 
 
82 HAGGAI. — CHAPTER II. 
 
 10 •{ In the four and twentieth day Ask now the priests concerning the law, 
 of the ninth month, iu the second year saying, 
 
 of Darius, came the word of the Lord 12 If one hear holy flesh in the skirt 
 by Haggai the prophet, saying, of his garment, and with his skirt do 
 
 11 Thus saith the Loed of hosts, touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or 
 
 luted thing, whilst the polluted thing could defile that which was 
 sanctified. 
 
 III. The application of these principles to the people. They, 
 with unsanctified hands, because, hands that neglected the tem- 
 ple, had offered sacrifices to God, thinking that the sacrifice 
 would sanctify them, which it could not by case 1st, whilst, by 
 case 2d, they polluted the sacrifice, so as to make it powerless to 
 avert the wrath of God, (v. 14.) 
 
 IV. But, as their conduct was now changed, and they had re- 
 turned to obedience, their pollution had ceased, and from the very 
 time that the work was begun God would bless them ; a fact that 
 they might rely upon, even though there was then no visible sign 
 of it, owing to the season of the year ; for, if they were faithful to 
 God, he would be faithful to them, (v. 15 — 19.) 
 
 V. 10, 11. " In the twenty-fourth {day) of the ninth (month,) in 
 the second year of Darius, was the word of Jehovah in the hand 
 of Haggai the prophet, saying, thus saith Jehovah of hosts, ask I 
 pray you the priests concerning the law, saying." 
 
 This prophecy was nearly two months after the pre- 
 ceding one, being the month Chisleu, or the moon of 
 November, December. The priests were the authorized 
 expounders of the law, (Lev. 10 : 11 ; Ezek. 44 : 23.) 
 
 The error of the Jews always had been, ascribing an 
 inherent efficacy to ordinances, like the opus operatum 
 doctrine of Popery. They thought that the sacrifices 
 they offered to God ought to have protected them be- 
 fore, and as they did not, they feared lest, even if they 
 continued to work on the temple, they might have no 
 efficacy now. The prophet designed to correct this 
 
HAGGAI. — CHAPTER II. 83 
 
 oil, or any meat, shall it be holy ? priests auswered and said, It shall be 
 
 And the priests answered and said. No. unclean. 
 
 13 Then said Haggai, If one tlutt is 14 Then answered Haggai, and said, 
 
 unclean by a dead body touch any of So is this people, and so is this nation 
 
 these, shall it be unclean ? And the before me, saith the Lord ; and so is 
 
 error, and, by showing the true reason for the faikire of 
 
 these ordinances to accomphsh what their performers 
 
 wished heretofore, to enable them to guard against such 
 
 a failure hereafter. 
 
 V. 12. "If a man carry holy flesh iu the skirt of his garment, 
 and toucli with his skirt bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any 
 food, shall it be holy ? And the priest answered and said, ' No.' " 
 
 "Holy flesh," was the flesh of a sacrifice. This an- 
 swer was correct, for although the garment was made 
 holy by the offering, it had no power to transmit that 
 sacredness any further. The principle is, that a holy 
 ordinance or form, (holy, because it .envelops divine 
 things, as a garment wraps the flesh of a sacrifice,) 
 cannot hallow an unsanctified person or thing, by any 
 inherent or ojms operatum ef&cacy of its own. 
 
 V. 13. " And Haggai said, if one polluted by a dead body touch 
 any of these, shall it be {thereby) polluted ? And the priests an- 
 swered and said, ' It shall be polluted.' " 
 
 This answer also was correct, (see Num. 19 : 22.) 
 In other words, a polluted person could confer his pol- 
 lution on a holy thing, while a holy thing could not 
 transmit its sacredness to a polluted person. Some 
 translate '^'^T^'^?'^ "polluted in soul," but improperly, 
 for the pollution was of the body, not of the soul, being 
 ceremonial, and ^'25, even without the preposition, 
 means a corpse, (Lev. 22 : 4.) 
 
84 HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 every work of their hands : and that a stone was laid upon a stone in the 
 
 which they offer there is unclean. temple of the Lord : 
 
 15 And now, I pray you, consider IG Since those days were, when (m£ 
 
 from this daj- and upward, from before came to an heap of twenty measures, 
 
 V. 14. " Andllaggai answered and said, thus is this nation, and 
 thus is this people before me, saith Jehovah, and thus is every 
 work of their hands, and whatever they offer there is polluted." 
 
 The prophet now apphes these principles. The peo- 
 ple thought that their outward observances ought so to 
 have hallowed them as to secure the protection and 
 blessing of God. He replies, no ; for by case 1st, they 
 have no such power ; for, on the contrarj^, by case 2d, 
 you polluted them, having become unholy by your neg- 
 lect of the theocratic work of building the temple. 
 Hence God cursed you because of your disobedience, in 
 spite of your offerings '^there,^^ (i. e. at the altar,) and 
 he will do so again, if that disobedience is renewed. 
 
 V. 15. "And now I pray you, lay it to heart, from this day and 
 backward, before the placing of stone upon stone, on the temple 
 of Jehovah." 
 
 The Hebrew idiom, " place your heart," is very nearly 
 analogous with our idiom, " lay to heart," both mean- 
 ing an earnest, careful pondering. The meaning is, 
 " call to mind your adverse condition before you began 
 to obey the word of God, and look at the result of your 
 neglect. You regarded them as mere blind misfortunes, 
 or as proofs that God was indifferent to his people and 
 his promise, (see Malachi,) whereas they prove the very 
 contrary. God was simply punishing you for your sin." 
 
 V. IG. "From the times when one came to a pile of twent}" 
 
HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 85 
 
 there -weie but ten : when one came to with miklew and with hail in all the 
 
 the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels labors of your hands ; yet ye turned 
 
 out of the press, there were but twenty, not to me, saith the Lord. 
 
 17 I smote you with blasting and 18 Consider now from this day and 
 
 {measures,) a,nd there were ten, {or) came to a wine-vat to draw 
 out fifty {measures from) the press, and there were twenty." 
 
 The disappointments of the husbandmen at that time 
 are ilhistrated by the two staples of the land, wheat and 
 wine, in both of which the ultimate yield was only about 
 half as much as might have been expected. The word 
 ''press," '^y\^ seems not to be in place here. We 
 would have expected "vat" from the word "draw 
 out." Hence some have taken it to mean a measure. 
 The LXX render it "measure," and the Vulgate "a 
 flagon." The word only occurs in one other passage, 
 (Isa. 63 : 3,) where it evidently means a wine-press, as 
 its etymology indicates, "I'^s, meaning to break or crush. 
 Hence, as we have no evidence of any such measure as 
 a purah among the Hebrews, we have retained its as- 
 certained meaning in the other passage. The vat was 
 probably considered only a part of the press. 
 
 V. n. "I smote you with -blight, and with withering, and with 
 liail, even all the works of your hands, and ye {turned) not to mo, 
 saith Jehovah."' 
 
 "Bhght" here means the blasting caused by a hot 
 wind from the desert, and " withering" the yellow ap- 
 pearance that sickly grain presents, when smitten 
 with disease. These external afflictions v/ere not con- 
 sidered as calls of God to repentance, until they were 
 explained by the prophet. 
 
86 HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 upward, from the four and twentieth as yet the vme, and the fig tree, and 
 
 day of the ninth month, even from the the pomegranate, and the olive tree, 
 
 day that the foundation of the Lord's hath not brought forth : from this day 
 
 temple was laid, consider it. 'will I bless you. 
 19 Is the seed yet in the barn ? yea, 
 
 V. 18, 19. "Lay it to heart, I pray you, from this day and up- 
 wards, from tlie twenty-fourth day of the ninth (month) to the day 
 in wliich the temple was founded, lay it to heart : Is the crop yet 
 in the granary ? The vine, the fig-tree, the pomegranate, and the 
 olive have not yet borne ; from this day I will bless." 
 
 The interval is here specified which he wishes them 
 to study, viz. : from that day, backward to the time when 
 the first work was done in the second year of Cyrus, 
 Ezra 3 :10, &c. We have rendered ^^} "to," (see Ex. 
 9:18; Deut. 4 : 32 ; 2 Sam. 7 : 11.)— T-^l, which usu- 
 ally means seed, also means the crop from which the 
 seed is taken. (See Job 39:12, (15); Isa. 23:3.) 
 The meaning of this allusion is, there is no present sign 
 of the bestowal of these blessings, it being the month of 
 October or November ; the harvest had not yet been 
 gathered in. the fruit-trees had not yet borne, so that 
 this prediction could not be founded on any appearances 
 of abundance. Indeed, appearances were aU in the 
 other direction. Yet in spite of all this, God would 
 bless them in their obedience, and they might trust him. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Ritualism is the natural religion of the unsancti- 
 fied heart, and the same tendencies to it that have cre- 
 ated Popery in the New Testament ages, existed also in 
 the Old, (v. 11—13.) 
 
IIAGGAI. — CHAPTER II. 87 
 
 (2.) Pollution is much more readily given and taken 
 than purity. One drop of filth will defile a vase of wa- 
 ter, many drops of water will not purify a vase of filth. 
 "Evil communications corrupt good manners," (v. 
 11—13.) 
 
 (3.) No tithings of mint, anise, and cummin, will com- 
 pensate for neglecting the weightier matters of the law. 
 Obedience is better than sacrifice. A pure hand is ne- 
 cessary to a pure offering, (v. 14.) 
 
 (4.) Men are prone to assign any other cause for 
 their sufferings than their sins, yet this is usually the 
 true cause, (v. 15.) 
 
 (5.) Disappointment of our hopes on earth should 
 make us lift our eyes to heaven to learn the reason, 
 (y. 16.) 
 
 (6.) Affliction will harden the heart if it is not re- 
 ferred to God as its author, (v. 17.) 
 
 (7.) Pondering the past is often the best way of pro- 
 viding for the future, (v. 18.) 
 
 (8.) We may and ought to trust God's promise to 
 bless us, even though we may see no visible appearance 
 of its fulfilment. " The vision will surely come and not 
 tarry," (v. 19:) 
 
88 HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 20 ^ And again the word of the 21 Speak to Zerubbahel, governor of 
 
 Lord carae unto Haggai in the four and Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens 
 twentieth daij of the month, saving, and the earth ; 
 
 Prophecy I Y.— Chapter II : 20—28. 
 
 The Safety of God's People ainuht the Coming Commotions. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The date, the same day with the preceding prophecy, (v. 20.) 
 
 II. Zerubbabel addressed as the representative of the theocratic 
 people, or the visible kingdom of God, (v. 21.) 
 
 III. Fearful political convulsions, with bloodshed, (v. 22.) 
 
 IV. The safety of the chosen people who were represented by 
 Zerubbabel, (v. 23.) 
 
 V. 20, 21. "And the word of Jehovah was again to Haggai, in 
 the twenty-fourth {day) of the ninth [month), saying : Speak to 
 Zerubbabel, prefect of Judah, saying, I {will soon be) shaking the 
 heavens and the earth." 
 
 During the interval that had elapsed since the predic- 
 tion of great political convulsions, in V. 6 — 9, some fears 
 had arisen in the minds of the people. They feared that 
 so feeble a nation as Israel would be crushed amid the 
 dashing and grinding of these floating and agitated 
 masses against each other. They might think that re- 
 ligion would still exist, as it had, to some extent, in 
 Pabylon, but they feared that all their political and na- 
 tional integrity would be destroyed. It was to assure 
 them that these fears were groundless that the prophet 
 
' HAGGAI. CHAPTERII. 89 
 
 22 And I will overthrow the throne ots, and those that ride in them ; and 
 
 of kingdoms, and I will destroy the the horses and their riders shall come 
 
 strength of the kingdoms of the hea- down, every one by the sword of his 
 
 then ; and I will overthrow the chari- brother. 
 
 now comes forward. Hence lie addresses Zeriibbabel 
 alone, andnot Joslma, he being the civil leader, and, there- 
 fore, the representative of the people in their civil ca- 
 pacity. Some consider Zerubbabel here as a type of 
 Christ, but this is only true in a secondary sense. The 
 theocratic people were, in a certain sense, a type of 
 Christ, and Zerubbabel was the representative of that 
 people. To suppose it merely a prediction of the Mes- 
 siah, under the name of Zerubbabel, would be greatly to 
 narrow its significance and cut off the link of consola- 
 tion that was necessary to adapt it to the time when it 
 was uttered. It involves Christ, but in a far wider 
 sense than simply his person. 
 
 Y. 22. " And I will overturn the throne of kingdoms, and I will 
 destroy the power of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will over- 
 turn the chariot and the riders in it, and then shall fall the horses 
 and their riders, a man by the sword of his brother." 
 
 This verse explains, in detail, these predicted shakings, 
 showing that they mean violent, and even bloody over- 
 turnings of the political organizations of the earth. The 
 chariot is the war chariot. What these convulsions 
 were, we have shown in considering v. 6 — 9, which see. 
 
 Y. 23. " In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, I will take thee, 
 Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, my servant, saith Jehovah, I will 
 make thee as a signet, for thee have I chosen, saith Jehovah of 
 hosts." 
 
 " In that day" is in the time of these convulsions. A 
 6 
 
90 HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 23 In that day, saith the Lord of the Lord, and will make thee as a sig- 
 hosts, will I take thee, Zerubbabel, net : for I have chosen thee, saith the 
 my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith Lord of hosts. 
 
 signet ring was guarded with special care by the an- 
 cients, for it was the legal representative of the man 
 himself. The prediction was, that amidst all these 
 shakings, the theocratic people would be safe, because 
 they were chosen by God to evolve his great purposes 
 of mercy to the world. Such was the fact, until Shi- 
 loh came. And even since, they have been kept intact 
 among all the changes, as if reserved for some great 
 destiny in the future, when they shall be brought in 
 with the fulness of the Gentiles. Hence, this prophecy 
 was an assurance to the Jewish people, that they need 
 not dread the extinction of their national life, amidst 
 the storms that were soon to rage over the earth. Like 
 the mysterious bush of Horeb, the theocratic people 
 would live on amidst the most consuming agencies, un- 
 consumed and unconsumable, for they would be guard- 
 ed by the eternal purpose of God. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Great political convulsions may be expected in 
 the future, as well as the past, because the same reason 
 exists for them ; the ungodly nature of existing politi- 
 cal forms, (v. 21.) 
 
 (2.) Wars, revolutions and tumults of nations, are all 
 working out God's designs of mercy to the world, by 
 means of his Church, (v. 22.) 
 
 (3.) Amidst all the convulsions of human history, the 
 
HAGGAI. CHAPTER II. 91 
 
 people of God are safe, the gates of hell can never pre- 
 vail agamst the Church. The past in this respect is 
 prophet of the future, (v. 23.) 
 
 (4.) The best protection for any nation, the surest 
 guarantee for its political existence, is a living, working 
 Church in its midst ; for as long as the stream of na- 
 tional life carries the vessel in which Christ is carried, 
 that stream shall flow on in safety. Sodom shall stand 
 as long as a righteous Lot is found in it, (v. 23.) 
 
 The general drift of this prophecy, and the partictdar 
 mission of the prophet, may now be clearly perceived. 
 His specific work was to urge the rebuilding of the tem- 
 ple. This work was important, because the temple was 
 the seat of the Theocracy, and the Theocracy was the 
 existing form of the great work of redemption. To 
 erect that, and thus prepare for the reinauguration of 
 the temple-worship, was the great work of the Church 
 of the Restoration. To urge them to this work, the 
 prophet tears away their subterfuges and excuses ; 
 shows them how they had already suffered by its neg- 
 lect ; develops to them the real greatness of the work, 
 in spite of its outward littleness, as a necessary link in 
 the great purposes of Redemption ; and guarantees the 
 safety of the Theocratic people amidst all the convulsions 
 that were to come on the earth. All these predictions 
 have been fulfilled to the letter, proving that Haggai 
 was what he claimed to be, a true prophet of Jehovah. 
 
ZECHAKIAH. 
 
ZECHARIAH. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Part I. — Introduction. 
 
 Chapter 1 : 1 — 6. 
 1: 1. In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the 
 word of Jehovah unto Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son 
 of Iddo, the Prophet, saying, 
 
 2. ' Angry hath Jehovah been toward your fathers with 
 
 (great) anger. 
 
 3. Therefore say thou unto them, 
 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 Eeturn ye unto me, 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 And I will return unto you, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 4. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets 
 
 cried saying. 
 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts ; 
 Eeturn, I beseech you, from your evil ways, 
 And from your evil doings ; 
 
 But they did not hear, they did not attend unto me, 
 Saith Jehovah. 
 
 5. Your fathers, where are they ? 
 
 And the prophets, do they live forever ? 
 (). But my words, and my statutes, 
 
 Which I commanded my servants, the prophets, 
 
 Have they not overtaken your fathers ? 
 
 And they returned and said ; {after this,) 
 
 Like as Jehovah of Hosts hath thought to do unto us, 
 
 According to our ways and according to our doings, 
 
 So hath he done unto us.' 
 
ZECHARIAH. 95 
 
 Part II. — The Visions. 
 
 Chapter 1 : 7 — Chapter 6. 
 
 Vision I. Ch. 1 : *! — 17. — The man among the myrtles. 
 
 1: 7. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is 
 the month of Sehat, (February/,) in the second year of 
 Darius, came the word of Jehovah to Zechariah, the son 
 
 8. of Berechiah, the sonof Iddo, the prophet, saying- : I saw 
 that night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and 
 he stood among the myrtles in the valley, and behind him 
 
 9. there were red, bay and white horses. And I said, ' M}- 
 lord, what are these V And the angel that talked with 
 
 10. me, said unto me, 'I will show thee what they are.' And 
 the man that stood among the myrtles answered and said, 
 ' These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk 
 
 11. throughout the earth.' And they answered the angel of 
 Jehovah that stood among the myrtles, ' We have walked 
 throughout the earth, and behold all the earth dwells and 
 
 12. is at rest.' Then the angel of Jehovah answered and said, 
 'Oh Jehovah of Hosts! 
 
 How long wilt thou not pity Jerusalem 
 
 And the cities of Judah, 
 
 Against which thou hast been angry these seventy years ?' 
 
 13. And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me good 
 
 words and consoling words. 
 
 14. And the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry, saying, 
 ' Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion,with great jealousy. 
 
 15. And I am inflamed with great anger against the secure na- 
 
 tions, 
 
 For I was but a little angry, {against Jerusaleni and Zion,) 
 
 But they aggravated the affliction. 
 IG. Therefore thus saith Jehovah, 
 
 I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies, 
 
 My house {temple) shall be built in it, 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 And a {measuring) line shall be stretched forth upon Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 ^.'- 
 
.>■' 
 
 96 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 1*1. Cry also, saying, 
 
 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 My cities shall also be extended by prosperity, 
 
 And Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, 
 
 And shall yet choose Jerusalem.' 
 
 Visiox II. Ch. 1: 18 — 21. — The four horns and four artificers. 
 
 18. And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. 
 
 19. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, 'What 
 
 are these ?' And he answered me, ' These are the horns 
 that have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.' 
 20, 21. And Jehovah showed me four artificers. And I said, 
 ' What do these come to do V And he replied, saying, 
 ' These are the horns that have scattered Judah, so that 
 a man could not lift up his head ; but those are come to 
 terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations which 
 lifted up the horn over the land of Judah to scatter it,' 
 
 Vision III. Ch. 2. — The man with the measuring line. 
 
 2 : 1. And I lifted up mine eyes, and looked and behold a man, 
 
 2. and in his hand a measuring line. And I said, ' Where 
 art thou going ?' And he said unto me, ' To measure Je- 
 rusalem, to see what is its breadth, and what is its length. 
 
 3. And behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, 
 
 4. and another angel came out to meet him. And said unto 
 him. Run, speak to this young man (Zechariah), saying, 
 Jerusalem shall inhabit villages. 
 
 For the multitude of men and cattle in her midst. 
 
 5. And I will be to her, saith Jehovah, 
 A wall of fire around. 
 
 And for a glory will I be in her midst. 
 
 6. Ho! Ho! fly then from the north country, saith Jehovah, 
 For as the four winds of heaven have I scattered you, saith 
 
 Jehovah. 
 t. Zion! deliver thyself, 
 
 Thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. 
 8. For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: 
 
 After the glory hath he sent me 
 
 To the nations that spoiled you, 
 
ZECHARIAH. 97 
 
 For he that touchetli you, 
 Touchcth the pupil of his own eye. 
 9. For, behokl, I will shake my hand {fist) over them, 
 And they shall be a spoil to their own servants; 
 And ye shall acknowledge 
 That Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me. 
 
 10. Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, 
 For behold I come; 
 
 And I wilT dwell in thy midst, 
 Saith Jehovah. 
 
 11. And many nations shall be joined to Jehovah in that day, 
 And shall be to me for a people. 
 
 And I will dw^ell in the midst of them. 
 
 And thou shalt know 
 
 That Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me unto thee. 
 
 12. And Jehovah shall inherit Judah, 
 His portion, in a land of holiness. 
 And shall choose again Jerusalem. 
 
 13. Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah, 
 
 Because he is arisen from the habitation of his holiness.' 
 
 Vision IV. Ch. 3. — Joshua the High Priest before the angel o/" Jehovah. 
 
 3:1. And he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before 
 the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right 
 
 2. hand to accuse him. And Jehovah said to Satan, 
 'Jehovah rebuke thee Satan! 
 
 Jehovah rebuke thee! he that chooses Jerusalem! 
 Is not this a brand plucked from the fire ?' 
 
 3. And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and stood be- 
 
 4. fore the angel. And he answered and spake to those who 
 stood before him, saying, ' Take the filthy garments away 
 from him;' and he said to him {Joshua), ' Behold I take 
 away from thee thy sins, and they shall clothe thee with 
 
 5. festal garments.' Then I said, ' Let them place a clean 
 tiara upon his head;' and they placed a clean tiara upon 
 his head, and they put garments upon him, and the angel 
 
 6. of Jehovah was {still) standing {there). And the angel 
 of Jehovah answered to Joshua, saying, 
 
 7. ' Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 If thou w^ilt walk in my ways, 
 
Sc 
 
 98 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 And if thou wilt keep my laws, 
 Thou shalt judge my house, 
 And also keep my courts. 
 
 And I will give thee guides among these that are standing 
 here. 
 
 8. Hear, I beseech thee Joshua, the high priest, 
 Thou and thy colleagues who sit before thee. 
 For men of omen are they; 
 
 For behold I bring my servant, Branch. ' 
 
 9. For behold the stone which I have laid before Joshua, 
 Upon this one stone shall there be seven eyes, 
 Behold, carving I will carve it, 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 And I will remove the sin of the land in one day. 
 10. In that day, saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 Ye shall call every man to his neighbor. 
 Under the vine and under the fig-tree.' 
 
 Vision V. Ch. 4. — The golden candlestick, and the two olive trees. 
 
 4:1. And the angel who spoke with me returned, and awaked me 
 
 2. as a man who is awaked from his sleep; and he said un- 
 to me, what seest thou ? And I said, I have looked and 
 behold a candlestick all of gold, and a bowl on the top of 
 it, and its seven lamps upon it, and seven tubes to each 
 
 3. lamp on the top of it: and two olive trees, one on the right 
 
 4. hand of the bowl, and one on the left hand. And I an- 
 swered and spake to the angel that talked with me, say- 
 ing, ' What are these, my lord V 
 
 .5. Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto 
 me, ' Dost thou not know what these are V And I said, no, 
 my lord. 
 (■6. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying. This is the 
 word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying. 
 Not by might, and not by power, 
 But by my spirit, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 '^. Who art thou, thou great mountain before Zerubbabel ? 
 Be a plain ! He shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings, 
 Grace! Grace unto it. 
 
ZECH ARI AH. 99 
 
 8, And the word of Jehovah came unto me saying, 
 
 9. The hands of Zerubbabel have founded this house, 
 And his hands shall finish it, 
 
 And thou shalt know 
 
 That Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me unto you. 
 
 10. For who will despise the day of small things ? 
 For they shall rejoice and see 
 
 The plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, 
 
 These seven eyes of Jehovah, 
 
 They run to and fro in the whole earth. 
 
 11. And I answered and said unto him, What are these two 
 
 olive trees on the right hand of the candlestick, and on 
 
 12. the left? And I answered again and said unto him, 
 What are the two olive branches which through the tubes 
 
 13. of gold pour out the golden oil from themselves ? And 
 he answered unto me, saying, Knowest thou not what 
 
 14. these are ? And I said, no, my lord. These are the two 
 sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. 
 
 Vision VI. G\\.b:\—U.— The flying roll. 
 
 : 1. Then I turned and raised my eyes, and looked, and behold 
 
 2. a flying roll. And he (the interpreting anffel) said unto me, 
 ' What dost thou see ?' And I said, ' I see a flying roll, 
 
 3. in length twenty cubits, and in breadth ten cubits.' Then 
 he said unto me, 
 
 ' This is the curse that goes forth before the face of the 
 
 whole land, 
 For every thief shall be cut off according to this side. 
 And ever}'- perjurer shall be cut off according to that side. 
 
 4. I have caused it to go forth, saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 And it shall go into the house of the thief. 
 
 And into the house of him that swears falsely by my name, 
 
 And it shall dwell in the midst of it, 
 
 And it consumes their house, and its wood and its stone.' 
 
 Vision VII. Ch. 5: 5 — 11. — The woman in the Ephah. 
 
 5. Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said 
 
 unto me, * Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and see 
 
'V^' 
 
 100 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 6. what this is that goeth forth.' And I said, ' What is 
 this ?' And he said, ' This is the ephah which goeth 
 forth/ and he said, ' This is their appearance in all the 
 
 1. land.' And behold a talent of lead was lifted up. But 
 this is a woman that is sitting in the midst of the ephah. 
 
 8. And he said, ' This is wickedness.' And he thrust her 
 down into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the 
 
 9. stone of lead upon its mouth. And I raised my eyes and 
 saw, and behold two women came out, and the wind in 
 their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a stork, 
 and they raised the ephah between earth and heaven. 
 
 10. And I said to the angel that talked with me, ' Where do 
 
 11. these carry the ephah?' And he said unto me, ' To build 
 for it a house in the land of Shinar: and it {the house) 
 shall be settled and fixed on its own base.' 
 
 Vision YIII. Ch. 6: IS.— The four chariots. 
 
 6:1. And I turned and lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold 
 four chariots came out from between two mountains, and 
 
 2. the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first 
 
 3. chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black 
 horses; and in the third chariot white horses; and the 
 
 4. fourth chariot piebald and fleet (or strong) horses. And 
 I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, 
 
 5. ' What are these, my lord ?' And the angel answered and 
 said unto me, ' These are the four winds of the heavens, 
 going forth from standing before the Lord of the whole 
 
 6. earth. That which has the black horses goes forth to the 
 north country, and the white go forth following them; 
 
 1. and the piebald go forth to the south country.' And the 
 fleet went forth, and they desired to go that they might 
 walk through the earth; and he said, ' Go walk through 
 
 8. the earth,' and they walked through the earth. And he 
 cried to me, and spake to me saying, ' Behold these that 
 go forth into the land of the north have quieted my spirit 
 in the land of the north.' 
 
 Vision IX. Ch. 6 : 9 — 15. — The crown on Joshua s head. 
 
 9, 10. And the word of Jehovah came unto me saying : ' Take of 
 {them of) the captivity of Heldai, of Tobijah, of Jedaiah, 
 
ZECHARIAH. 101 
 
 and go thou in that day, and go to tlie house of Josiah 
 the son of Zephaniah, who {all) have come from Babylon: 
 
 11. and take thou silver and gold, and make crowns, and 
 place them on the head of Joshua the son of Jozedek, 
 
 12. the high priest. And speak to him saying, Thus saith 
 Jehovah of Hosts : Behold a man whose name is Branch, 
 
 From his place shall he grow up. 
 
 And he shall build the temple of Jehovah. 
 
 13. And he shall build the temple of Jehovah, 
 And he shall bear majesty. 
 
 And he sits and reigns upon his throne, 
 
 And is a priest upon his throne, 
 
 And the council of peace shall be between them both.' 
 
 14. And the crowns shall be to Helem and to Tobijah, and to 
 
 Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial 
 
 15. in the temple of Jehovah. And the far-off shall come 
 and build in the temple of Jehovah, and ye shall know 
 that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me unto you, and it 
 shall be thus (to you) if ye will listen to the voice of 
 Jehovah your God. 
 
 Part III. — Didactic. 
 
 Chapters 7, 8. 
 
 The Query. 
 
 1:1. And it was so in the fourth year of Darius the king, that 
 the word of Jehovah was to Zechariah in the fourth (day) 
 
 2. of the ninth month, in Chisleu. And Bethel sent Shcre- 
 zer and Regem Melech, and their men, to pray before the 
 
 3. face of Jehovah ; and to speak to the priests which were 
 in the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and to the prophets, 
 saying : ' Ought I to weep in the fifth month, separating 
 myself, as I have done for so many years V 
 
102 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 The Reproof. 
 
 4. Then was the word of Jehovah of Hosts to me, saying : 
 
 5. ' Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, 
 
 saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and 
 seventh month, these seventy years, did ye fast unto me? 
 H. unto me ? And when ye ate, and when ye drank, was it 
 not to yourselves that ye were eating, and to yourselves 
 that ye were drinking V 
 
 7. Are not these the words which Jehovah cried by the hand 
 
 of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited 
 and in peace, and also her cities round about her, and 
 when the south and the plain was inhabited.' 
 
 8. And the word of Jehovah was to Zechariah saying : 
 
 9. ' Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts saying : 
 Judge the judgment of truth. 
 
 And work kindness and compassion, 
 Every man toward his neighbor : 
 
 10. And the widow, and the fatherless. 
 
 The stranger and the poor, do not oppress, 
 And do not devise evil in your hearts. 
 Any man against his neighbor. 
 
 11. But they {j/our fathers) refused to hear, 
 
 And presented a refractory shoulder {one that refused to wear 
 
 the yoke), 
 And made heavy their ears against hearing : 
 
 1 2. And their heart they made an adamant 
 Against hearing the law. 
 
 And the words which Jehovah of Hosts did send in his 
 
 spirit 
 By the hand of the former prophets. 
 Wherefore there was great wrath from Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 13. And it came to pass, 
 
 That as He cried and they did not hear. 
 So they cry and I hear not, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 14. And I scattered them to all nations whom they knew not, 
 And the land was desolate after them. 
 
 So that none went out or came in. 
 
 And they made the land of desire to be desolate.' 
 
ZECIIARIAH. 103 
 
 Promises. 
 : 1. 'And the word of Jehovah of Hosts was to me saying, 
 
 2. Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 I was jealous toward Zion with great jealousy, 
 And with great fury was I jealous toward her. 
 
 3. Thus saith Jehovah, I have returned to Zion, 
 And I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, 
 
 And Jerusalem shall be called " city of the truth," 
 And the mountain of Jehovah, " mountain of holiness." * 
 
 4. ' Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 There shall yet sit old men and old women, 
 In the streets of Jerusalem, 
 
 And the man whose staff is in his hand for multitude of 
 days. 
 
 5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls, 
 Playing in the streets of it.' 
 
 6. ' Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 If it is wonderful in the eyes of the remnant of this people 
 
 in these days. 
 Is it also wonderful in my eyes, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts ?' 
 
 7. ' Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 Behold, I am he saving my people. 
 
 From the land of the east, and from the land of the setting- 
 sun. 
 
 8. And I will lead them, (viz. /row these lands to Jerusalem,) 
 
 And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, 
 
 And they shall be my people. 
 
 And I will be their God, in truth and righteousness.' 
 
 9. ' Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 Strengthen your hands, ye that in these days hear these 
 
 words 
 By the mouth of the {same) prophets who {were) in that day. 
 When the house of Jehovah of Hosts was founded. 
 That the temple might be built. 
 10. For before these days there was no hire of a man. 
 And hire of a beast, there was also none. 
 And to him going out and coming in, {the traveller,) 
 There was no peace from the enemy. 
 And I stirred up all men, every man against his neighbor. 
 
104 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 11. But now,not as in the former days, {will) I {he) 
 To the remnant of this people, 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 12. For the seed shall be safe, {Heb. of peace,) 
 The vine shall give her fruit. 
 
 And the earth shall give her produce, 
 And the heavens shall give their dew, 
 And I will cause the remnant of this people 
 To inherit all these things. 
 
 13. And it shall be, that as ye have been a curse among the 
 
 nations, 
 Oh house of Judah, and house of Israel, 
 So I will save you, and ye shall be a blessing : 
 Fear not, {therefore,) strengthen your hands.' 
 
 14. ' For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 As I determined to punish you {the house of Israel) 
 When your fathers provoked me, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 And I repented not, 
 
 15. So, on the contrary, I have determined, in these days, 
 To do good to Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah, 
 Fear not. 
 
 16. These are the words which ye must do, {obey,) 
 Speak the truth, every man to his neighbor ; 
 
 Truth and the judgment of peace judge in your gates ; 
 It. Devise not evil in your hearts, 
 Each man against his neighbor, 
 And an oath of falsehood do not love. 
 For all these are the things which I hate, 
 Saith Jehovah.' 
 
 The Reply. 
 
 18. And the word of Jehovah of Hosts was to me, saying, 
 
 19. Thus saith Jehovah 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 for joy and gladness. 
 And for festal observances, 
 Therefore love the truth and peace.' 
 
ZECHARIAH. 105 
 
 Promises to the Church. 
 
 20. Thus saith Jeliovah of hosts, 
 
 * It shall yet be that peoples shall come, 
 And the inhabitants of many cities. 
 
 21. And they shall go, the inhabitants of one {city) to another, 
 Saying, ' Let us go to pray before Jehovah 
 
 And to seek Jehovah of Hosts.' 
 ' I will go also.' 
 
 22. And they shall come, many peoples and many nations, 
 To seek Jehovah of Hosts in Jerusalem, 
 
 And to pray before Jehovah. 
 
 23. Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 In those days {it shall be) that they shall seize {viz.:) 
 Ten men from all the tongues of the nations. 
 They shall seize the skirt of a man {that is) a Jew, 
 Saying, ' We will go with you, 
 For we have heard that God is with you.' 
 
 Part IV. — Prophetic. 
 
 Chapters 9 — 1 4 . 
 I. The Syrian Conquests of Alexander. 
 
 Ch. 9 : 1—8. 
 A Burdeu. 
 
 The word of Jehovah on the land of Hadracli, 
 And Damascus shall be its rest. 
 For to Jehovah is the sight of man, 
 And all the tribes of Israel. 
 Also Hamath shall border on it. 
 Tyre and Sidon because it is very wise. 
 And Tyre has built for herself a strong hold, 
 And has heaped up silver as dust, 
 And gold as the mire of the streets. 
 Behold the Lord will dispossess her. 
 And will cast into the sea her bulwark. 
 And she shall be consumed with fire. 
 
 7 
 
106 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 5. Aslikclon shall see it and fear, 
 
 Gaza {shall see it) and tremble greatly, 
 And Ekron, for her reliance is disg-raced, 
 And a King shall perish from Gaza, 
 And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 
 
 6. An alien shall dwell in Ashdod, 
 
 And I will destroy the pride of the Philistines. 
 
 7. And I will remove his blood from his mouth. 
 And his abominations from between his teeth. 
 And he that remains, even he, shall be for our God, 
 And he shall be as a prince in Judah, 
 
 And Ekron as the Jebusite. 
 
 8. And I will encamp around my house because of the army, 
 Because of the passer by, and because of the returner. 
 And the exactor shall no more pass through them, 
 
 For now I see with mine eyes. 
 
 II. The lowly King Messiah. 
 Ch. 9 : 9, 10. 
 
 9. Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, 
 Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem, 
 Behold ! thy King cometh unto thee, 
 Just, and endowed with salvation, is he. 
 Lowly and riding upon an ass. 
 
 And upon a foal, the son of she-asses. 
 
 10. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, 
 And the horse from Jerusalem, 
 
 And the bow of war shall be cut off, 
 And he shall speak peace to the nations, 
 And his dominion {he) from sea to sea, 
 And from the river to the ends of the earth. 
 
 III. The Maccahean Deliverance. 
 Ch. 9 : 11— n. 
 
 11. Also thou — in the blood of thy covenant 
 I have sent forth thy prisoners, 
 
 From the pit, and there is no water in it. 
 
ZECHARIAH. 107 
 
 12. Return to the strong hold, prisoners of hope ! 
 
 Even to-day {am I) declaring, I will render double to you. 
 
 13. For I have bent to me Judah, 
 
 The bow have I filled with Ephraim, 
 
 And I have raised up thy sons, Zion ! 
 
 Against thy sons, Javan ! 
 
 And have made thee as tlie sword of a mighty man. 
 
 14. And over them Jehovah will appear, 
 And his arrow goes forth like lightning, 
 
 And the Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet. 
 And he goes forth in the storms of the south. 
 
 15. Jehovah of hosts will protect them, 
 
 And they eat, and they trample under foot the sling-stones, 
 And they drink, and make a noise as from wine, 
 And they are full as the altar-bowls. 
 And as the corners of the altar. 
 
 16. And Jehovah their God will save them in that day, 
 As a flock {will he save) his people. 
 
 For as gems of a diadem are they lifted up in his land. 
 IT. For how great is his goodness ! 
 And how great his beauty ! 
 Corn makes the young men to grow, 
 And new wine the maidens. 
 
 IV. Prayer and Promise. 
 Ch. 10 : 1—5. 
 
 1. Ask of Jehovah rain. 
 
 In the time of the latter rain ; 
 Jehovah shall {then) cause lightnings, 
 And shall give abundant rain. 
 To every man grass in his field. 
 
 2. For the teraphim speak nothingness ; 
 And the soothsayers see falsehood ; 
 And the dreams speak vanity ; 
 They comfort falsely ; 
 Wherefore they wander as a flock. 
 
 They are troubled because there is no shepherd. 
 
 3. Against the shepherds my anger is kindled, 
 And the he-goats will I punish. 
 
108 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 For Jehovah of Hosts visits his flock, the house of Judah, 
 And makes them like a caparisoned horse in war, 
 
 4. From him (is) the corner-stone, and from him the pin, 
 From him the bow of battle. 
 
 From him comes forth every ruler together. 
 
 5, And they shall be as heroes. 
 
 Trampling on the mire of the streets in war, 
 And they fight, for Jehovah is with them, 
 And the riders on horses are put to shame. 
 
 V. The Restoration of the Jews. 
 Ch. 10 : 6—12. 
 
 6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, 
 And I will save the house of Joseph, 
 And I will again cause them to dwell, 
 For I have compassion upon them ; 
 
 And they shall be as though I had not cast them out, 
 For I am Jehovah their God, and I will hear them. 
 
 7. And Ephraim shall be as a mighty man. 
 Their heart shall rejoice as {with) wine, 
 And their sons shall see and rejoice, 
 Their heart shall rejoice in Jehovah. 
 
 8. I will hiss to them and collect them, 
 For I have redeemed them. 
 
 And they shall be many as they were before. 
 
 9. And I will sow them among the peoples. 
 And in distant lands they shall remember me. 
 And with their children they shall live and return. 
 
 10. And I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, 
 And from Assyria will I gather them. 
 
 And to the land of Gilead and Lebanon will I bring them, 
 And there shall not be room to contain them. 
 
 11. And he passes through the sea, the affliction, 
 And he smites in the sea the waves. 
 
 And all the deeps of the river are put to shame. 
 And the pride of Assyria is overthrown. 
 And the rod of Egypt shall give way. 
 
ZECHARIAH. 109 
 
 12. And I will strengthen tlicm in Jehovah, 
 And in his name shall they walk, 
 Saith Jehovah. 
 
 VI. The Mission of Messiah. 
 
 Chap. 11. 
 
 ( 1 . ) The storm 2)recedinr/ the coming of Christ. 
 
 Ch. 11 : 1—3. 
 
 1. Open, Lebanon, thy gates, 
 
 And let the fire consume thy cedars. 
 
 2. Howl, cypress, for the cedar falls, 
 For the lofty are laid waste, 
 Howl, yQ oaks of Bashan, 
 
 For the thick forest falls. 
 
 3. A voice of howling of the shepherds ! 
 For their glory is laid waste : 
 
 A voice of roaring of the lions ! 
 
 For the pride of Jordan is laid waste. 
 
 (2.) Christ assuming the pastoral care of the Theocratic 2'>Gople. 
 V. 4—14. 
 
 4. Thus saith Jehovah my God, 
 ' Feed the flock of slaughter. 
 
 5. Whose buyers slaughter them, 
 And do not become guilty : 
 And whose sellers say. 
 
 Blessed be Jehovah, for I am enriched. 
 And their shepherds spare them not. 
 
 6. For I will no longer spare the dwellers in this land, 
 Saith Jehovah, 
 
 And behold ! I will give up each man 
 
 To the hand of his neighbor, 
 
 And to the hand of his king. 
 
 And they lay waste the land, 
 
 And I will not deliver out of their hand.' 
 
 7. So I fed the flock of slaughter, 
 
 In order that {I might i^reserve) the humble of the flock. 
 
110 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 And I took to myself two staves, 
 The one I called Favor, 
 The other I called Union, 
 And I fed the flock. 
 
 8. And I destroyed three shepherds in one month, 
 And my soul was grieved with them. 
 
 And their soul abhorred me. 
 
 9. Then I said, I will not feed you, 
 The dying, let them die, 
 
 The cut off, let them be cut off. 
 
 The remaining, let them consume each the flesh of the other. 
 
 10. And I took my staff Favor and brake it ; 
 
 To abolish my covenant that I had made with all nations. 
 
 11. And it {the covenant) was abolished in that day. 
 And thus they knew (viz.) 
 
 The humble of the flock who clung to me. 
 That this is the word of Jehovah. 
 
 12. Then I said to them. 
 
 If it seem good in your eyes, give me my reward. 
 
 And if not, withhold it. 
 
 And they weighed my reward, thirty pieces of silver ! 
 
 13. And Jehovah said to me. 
 Cast it to the potter, 
 
 This magnificent price at which I was valued of them. 
 
 And I took the thirty pieces of silver. 
 
 And I cast it down in the house of Jehovah, 
 
 ( To be given thence) to the potter. 
 
 14. And I broke my second staff Union, 
 
 To destroy the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 
 
 (3.) The curse of evil rulers after the rejection of Christ. 
 Ch. 11 : 15— n. 
 
 15. And Jehovah said to me, 
 
 ' Again, take to thee the implements of a foolish shepherd. 
 
 16. For behold ! I raise up a shepherd in the laud. 
 The perishing will he not visit. 
 
 The straying will he not seek out, 
 The wounded will he not heal. 
 The feeble will he not nourish, 
 
ZECflARIAH. Ill 
 
 And the flesh of the fat ones will he eat 
 And their hoofs will he break off. 
 17. Wo to the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock ! 
 A sword upon his arm ! 
 And upon his right eye ! 
 His arm shall surely be withered, 
 And his right eye shall surely be blind.' 
 
 VII. Future blessings to Judah. 
 
 Ch. 12 : 1—9. 
 
 1 . A Burden. 
 
 ' The word of Jehovah upon Israel, 
 
 Saith Jehovah, who stretches the Heavens, 
 
 And establishes the earth, 
 
 And forms the spirit of man within him. 
 
 2. Behold ! I make Jerusalem a threshold of shaking 
 To all nations round about, 
 
 And also upon Judah shall it be. 
 In the siege against Jerusalem. 
 
 3. And it shall be in that day, 
 
 I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden to all the nations. 
 All who lift it up shall surely gash themselves, 
 And there shall be gathered against her all people of the 
 earth, 
 
 4. In that day, saith Jehovah, 
 
 I will smite every horse with affright, 
 
 And his rider with madness, 
 
 And upon the house of Judah will I open my eyes, 
 
 And every horse of the nations will I smite with blindness. 
 
 5. And the princes of Judah say in their hearts, 
 My strength (is) the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
 In Jehovah of Hosts, their God. 
 
 6. In that day I will make the princes of Judah 
 As a pan of fire among faggots, 
 
 And as a torch of fire in a sheaf. 
 
 And they shall consume on the right hand and on the left 
 All the nations round about. 
 
 And Jerusalem shall yet sit in her own place in Jerusa- 
 lem. 
 
112 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 7. And Jehovah shall help the tents of Judah first, 
 That the glory of the house of David, 
 
 And the glory of the inhabitant of Jerusalem, 
 May not be magnified over Judah. 
 
 8. In that day Jehovah will protect the dweller in Jerusalem, 
 And the feeble among them in that day shall be as David, 
 And the house of David as God, 
 
 As the angel of Jehovah before them. 
 
 9. And it shall be in that day 
 
 I will seek to destroy all nations 
 Who come up against Jerusalem.' 
 
 VIII. Future reijentance and hiessing to Jerusalem. 
 Ch. 12 : 10—14. 
 
 10. And I pour out upon the house of David, 
 And upon the inhabitants of Jei'usalem, 
 A spirit of grace and of supplication. 
 
 And they look upon me, whom they pierced, 
 
 And they lament for him, as the lamenting of an only child, 
 
 And they mourn for him, as the mourning of a first-born. 
 
 11. And in that day the mourning shall be great in Jerusalem, 
 As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the vale of Megiddo. 
 
 12. And the land mourns, family by 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, 
 
 13. The family of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart, 
 The family of the house of Shimei apart and their wives 
 
 apart, 
 
 14. All the remaining families. 
 
 Family by family apart, and their wives apart. 
 
 IX. Fruits of penitence. 
 
 Ch. 13 : 1—6. 
 
 1. 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. 
 
ZECHARIAH. 113 
 
 2. And it shall be in that day, saith 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 spirit of uncleanness 
 Will I remove from the land. 
 
 3. And it happens, if a man still prophesy. 
 
 His father and his mother who begat him say unto him, 
 
 ' Thou shalt not live. 
 
 Because thou hast spoken falsehood in the name of Jehovah,' 
 
 And his father and his mother who begat him, 
 
 Pierce him through in his prophesying. 
 
 4. And it happens in that day, the prophets are ashamed 
 From their vision in their prophesying. 
 
 And the}' shall no longer put on the mantle of hair to deceive. 
 
 5. And he says, ' I am not a prophet, I am a husbandman, 
 For a man has sold me from the time of my youth.' 
 
 6. And he {the former) says unto him, 
 
 ' What then are these wounds between thy hands V 
 And he replies : ' {they are the wounds) 
 Which I received in the house of my lovers.' 
 
 X. The sword awaking against the shepherd. 
 Ch. 13 : t— 9. 
 
 7. sword ! awake against my shepherd. 
 Against a man, my nearest kin, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 Smite the shepherd. 
 
 And the sheep shall be scattered. 
 
 And I will bring back my hand upon the little ones. 
 
 8. And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah, 
 Two portions shall be cut off" and die, 
 
 And the third portion shall remain in it. 
 
 9. And I bring the third part into the fire 
 And purify them as silver is purified, 
 And try them as gold is tried. 
 
 They shall call upon my name, 
 
 And I will hear them, 
 
 I will say they are my people, 
 
 And they shall say, Jehovah is my God. 
 
114 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 XI. Future glories of the Church. 
 Chap. 14. 
 
 1. Behold a day comes to Jehovah. 
 
 And thy spoil is divided in the midst of thee. 
 
 2. And I collect all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, 
 And the city is taken, and the houses plundered. 
 
 And the women dishonored, 
 And half the city go forth into captivity, 
 And the remnant of the city shall not be cut oif from the 
 city. 
 
 3. And Jehovah goes forth and fights against those heathen, 
 As in the day of his conflict, in the day of battle. 
 
 4. And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, 
 Which is before Jerusalem on the east, 
 
 And the mount of Olives is split in tlie midst 
 From east to west, a great valley 
 
 And half the mountain recedes to the north, and half to the 
 south. 
 
 5. And ye flee into my mountain valley, 
 
 For the mountain valley will extend to Azal, 
 
 And ye shall flee, as ye fled before the earthquake. 
 
 In the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, 
 
 And there comes Jehovah my God, all holy ones with thee. 
 
 6. And it shall be in that day. 
 
 It shall not be light, precious things are obscured. 
 1. And it shall be one day, it shall be known to Jehovah, 
 Not day, and not night. 
 And it shall be that in the evening time it shall be light. 
 
 8. And it shall be in that day. 
 
 Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, 
 Their half to the eastern sea. 
 And their half to the western sea. 
 In summer and winter it shall be. 
 
 9. And Jehovah shall bo king over the whole land. 
 
 In that day Jehovah shall be one, and his name one. 
 10. All the land shall be changed, 
 
 As the plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, 
 And she shall be exalted and sit in her place. 
 
ZECHARIAH. 115 
 
 From the gate of Benjamin to the place of the first gate, 
 
 To the gate of the corner, 
 
 And from the tower of Hananeel to the king's wine presses. 
 
 11. And they dwell in her, 
 
 And there shall be no more curse, 
 And Jerusalem sits in security. 
 
 12. And this shall be the plague, with which Jehovah shall 
 
 plague 
 All nations which warred against Jerusalem, 
 His flesh shall rot, and he standing on his feet, 
 And his eyes shall rot in their sockets, 
 And their tongue shall rot in their mouth. 
 
 13. And it shall be in that day. 
 
 There shall be among them a great confusion from Jehovah, 
 And they shall seize each man the hand of his neighbor, 
 And his hand shall rise against the hand of his neighbor. 
 
 14. And Judah also shall fight in Jerusalem, 
 
 And the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gath- 
 ered ; 
 Gold, and silver, and garments in great abundance. 
 
 15. And so shall be the plague of the horse, the mule, the camel, 
 
 and the ass. 
 Which shall be in these camps, as this plague. 
 
 16. And it shall be that the remnant of all the nations, 
 •Who came up against Jerusalem, 
 
 Shall go up from year to year, {to Jerusalem,) 
 To worship the king, Jehovah of Hosts, 
 And to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
 IT. And it shall be that whoever of the tribes of the earth, 
 
 Will not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, Jehovah 
 
 of Hosts, 
 Upon them there shall be no rain. 
 
 18. And if the family of Egypt will not go forth, and come up, 
 And there shall not be upon them {therefore any rain,) 
 There shall be the plague with which Jehovah shall plague 
 
 the nations, 
 That do not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles. , 
 
 19. And this will be the sin of Egypt and the sin of all nations, 
 That come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 
 
116 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 20. In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses 
 " Sacred to Jehovah." 
 
 And the vessels in the house of Jehovah shall be, 
 As the sacrificial bowls upon the altar, 
 
 21. And every vessel in Jerusalem and Judah shall be, 
 Sacked to Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 And all the sacrificers shall come, and take from them and 
 
 offer in them, 
 And there shall be no more a Canaanite 
 In the house of Jehovah of Hosts, in that day. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH. 
 
 The name Zechariah (remembrance of Jehovah^ or 
 one whom Jehovah rememhers) was common among the 
 Jews, as appears from the fact that four others be- 
 sides the prophet are mentioned in the Old Testament. 
 Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he was a priest as well as 
 a prophet. In the prophecy he is called the son of 
 Barachiah, the son of Iddo ; whilst in Ezra 5 : 1, 6 : 
 14, he is simply called the son of Iddo. From this fact 
 it has been inferred that he was not the grandson of 
 Iddo, but his son, and that Iddo and Barachiah are 
 names for the same person. But the fact probably is, 
 that his father died when he was very young, and 
 therefore in the priestly genealogy he was reckoned as 
 the son of his grandfather, a reckoning which the flexi- 
 bility of all terms of relationship among the Jews made 
 not uncommon. 
 
 Of his personal history we know but little, except 
 that he entered early on the discharge of his prophetic 
 duties, (ch. 2:4.) Some have supposed that our Lord 
 referred to him in Matt. 23 : 35, when he speaks of 
 Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, who perished between 
 the porch and the altar. But there is no evidence what- 
 ever that this prophet thus died. There is a Zechariah, 
 
118 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 who died in this way, mentioned in 2 Chron. 24 : 21, to 
 whom it is much more probable that the allusion is 
 made. He was, it is true, the son of Jehoia?da, but, 
 aside from the fact that double names are mentioned in 
 the same way elsewhere, as in the case of Hobab, the 
 more familiar name Barachiah might readily creep into 
 the text from the margin to take the place of the less 
 familiar Jehoiada, or to define the name Zechariah, that 
 was perhaps left without any patronymic. The reason 
 for referring to him is found in the arrangement of the 
 Hebrew Old Testament, by which 2 Chronicles is the 
 last book in the volume, thus making Zechariah the 
 last martyr of whom they would read, as Abel was the 
 first. 
 
 His family seems to have returned from Babylon with 
 the first expedition in the reign of Cyrus, and as this 
 was eighteen years before the date of the prophecy, in 
 which he is expressly called a young man, he must have 
 been very young at the time of his return. He had 
 seen the arresting of the erection of the temple by the 
 successful machinations of the Samaritans in the Persian 
 Court, and the depressed tone of the national character 
 during the time that followed this arrest. He had wit- 
 nessed the growth of that selfish greed for their own 
 individual interests, and their neglect of the interests of 
 religion, that was so mournful a characteristic of this 
 period. He had also seen the creeping feebleness with 
 which the work of rebuilding the temple was undertaken 
 and prosecuted, when the edict of permission was again 
 
ZECHARIAH. 119 
 
 issued, by Darius Hystaspis. Now, as the temple was 
 to them the grand symbol of revealed religion, indiffer- 
 ence to it was an undoubted symptom of backsliding 
 and spiritual declension. It was therefore necessary '' 
 that they should be stirred up to the discharge of their 
 duty as to the temple, and awakened to a proper esti- 
 mate of that great plan of mercy to the world, of which 
 the temple and the theocracy were but symbols, in order 
 that their zeal might have at once a right motive and a 
 right direction. Hence Haggai was first raised up to 
 rouse them to activity in building the temple, and two 
 months later Zechariah followed to take up the same 
 theme and unfold it yet more richly to the minds of the 
 people, by connecting the poor and passing present, with 
 the magnificent and enduring future. The scope of the i 
 prophecy then is to produce a genuine revival of religion 
 among the people, and thus encourage them in the ^ 
 right way to engage in the rebuilding of the temple. 
 
 The date of the prophecy is recorded very accurately, 
 and is identical with that of Haggai, the second year of 
 Darius Hystaspis, b. c. 520. 
 
 In regard to the literary characteristics of the proph- 
 ecy, Henderson remarks: — "In point of style, our 
 prophet varies, according to the nature of his subjects, 
 and the manner in which they were presented to his 
 mind. He now expresses himself in simple, conversa- 
 tional prose, now in poetry. At one time he abounds 
 in the language of symbols ; at another, in that of 
 direct prophetical announcement. His symbols are, for 
 
120 ZECHARIAH. 
 
 the most part, enigmatical, and require the explanations 
 which accompany them. His prose resembles most that 
 of Ezekiel ; it is diffuse, uniform, and repetitious. His 
 prophetic poetry possesses much of the elevation and 
 dignity to be found in the earlier prophets, with whose 
 writings he appears to have been familiar ; only his 
 rhythmus is sometimes harsh and unequal, while his 
 parallelisms are destitute of that symmetry and finish 
 which form some of the principal beauties of Hebrew 
 poetry." 
 
 The prophecy consists of four parts : I. Introductory, 
 ch. 1 : 1 — 6 ; II. Symbolical, ch. 1 : Y to the end of ch. 
 6, containing nine visions ; III. Didactic, chs. 7 and 8 ; 
 and, IV. Froplietic, ch. 9 to the end. 
 
 Part I. — Introductory. — Ch. 1 : 1 — 6. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The warning from the example of their fathers, who were dis- 
 obedient to the word of the Lord, and therefore punished, (v. 1, 2.) 
 
 II. The exhortation to avoid their sins, (v. 3, 4.) 
 
 III. The fate of their fathers pressed as a reason for listening 
 to his message, which he was then about to deliver, (v. 5, 6.) 
 
COMMENTARY 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1 In the eighth month, in the second 2 The Lord hath been sore dis- 
 
 yeai' of Darius, came the word of the pleased with your fathers. 
 
 Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Bara- 3 Therefore, say thou unto them, 
 
 chiah, the son of Iddo the prophet. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn 
 
 saying, ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 
 1 : 1 — 6. — " In the eighth month, in the second year of Da- 
 rius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah, son of Bara- 
 chiah, son of Iddo, the proj)het, saying. Angry hath Jehovah been 
 toward your fathers with {great) anger. Therefore say thou unto 
 them, thus saith Jehovah of hosts. Return ye unto me, saith Jeho- 
 vah of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. 
 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, 
 saying : Thus saith Jehovah of hosts ; return, I beseech you, from 
 your evil ways, and from your evil doings ; but they did not hear, 
 they did not attend unto mo, saith Jehovah. Your fathers, where 
 are they ? And the prophets, do they live forever ? But my 
 words, and my statutes, which I commanded my servants, the 
 prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers ? And they re- 
 turned and said ; {afier this,) like as Jehovah of hosts hath 
 thought to do unto us, accoi'ding to our ways, and according to 
 our doings, so hath he done unto us." 
 
 The general meaning of this exordium is, God ful- 
 filled all his threatenings to your fathers ; therefore be- 
 ware, lest, by disobeying my voice, as they did that of 
 
122 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER I. 
 
 and I will turn unto you, saith the whom the former prophets have cried, 
 
 Loud of hosts. saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 
 
 4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto Turn ye now from your evil ways, and 
 
 the earlier prophets, you suffer as did your fathers. It 
 was, therefore, a most suitable introduction to the dis- 
 charge of his prophetic functions. 
 
 The reference of the prophet is to the threatening of 
 conquest and captivity to their fathers, and to the ful- 
 filment of that threatening that was then before their 
 eyes. And how complete was that fulfilment ! The 
 land that once flowed with milk and honey was now 
 lying in widowed desolation and barrenness. The hills 
 on whose green terraces once hung the climbing vine 
 and the generous olive, were now bare and rugged. 
 The cities and villages once echoing to the busy hum of 
 a happy people, were now in ruins, and all over their 
 once beautiful land had God written Ichabod. Thus 
 far the meaning is plain. 
 
 The only difiiculty is in the logical coherence of v. 5, 
 with what precedes it. It seems to place the fathers 
 who sinned and the prophets who obeyed on the same 
 footing, as sharing the same fate. Hence some have 
 suppose the reference was to false prophets, a supposi- 
 tion that completely dislocates the whole passage and 
 overlooks the current of thought. 
 
 The object of the exordium is to show the unchanging 
 I permanence of God's word, by contrasting it with the 
 ^ transitory nature of their fathers and the prophets, and 
 it may thus be set forth more fully. 
 
ZECIIARIAn. — CnAPTER I. 123 
 
 from your evil doings ; but tliey did not 5 Tour fathers, where are they ? and 
 hear, nor hearlieu unto me, saith the the propliets, do they live for ever ? 
 Lord. 6 But my words and my statutes, 
 
 Let the fate of your fathers be a warning to you that 
 you avoid the disobedience to the word of Jehovah, which 
 brought upon them evils so desolating. For where are 
 they now ? Once they ruled and worshipped here as do 
 j'-ou. The song of the Levite rang through the arches 
 of the temple, the smoke of the victim ascended from 
 its altars, their banners waved over these hills, and 
 their armies struck terror into the hearts of their ene- 
 mies. But where are they now ? Some lie in slaugh- 
 tered heaps, when the banner of Judah was trampled 
 in the dust, and her bravest sons cut down like grass 
 before the mower's scythe, by the fierce cohorts of the 
 Assyrian. Some lie buried in the ruins of the holy city, 
 which they sought to defend from the spoiler. Some 
 are sleeping by the flashing waters of the Euphrates, far 
 from the graves of their fathers, after weeping out a 
 weary life beneath the willows that bend in the land of 
 the stranger. Whilst some in the feebleness of totter- 
 ing age have returned to lay their bones in the soil that 
 is hallowed by the memories and hopes of Israel. 
 
 And why has this been their mournful history ? Be- 
 cause they refused to listen to the warnings of the 
 prophets. Hence even the prophets themselves were 
 taken away. They warned, and wept, and prayed, but 
 met only with stoning, reviling and hate. They toiled 
 on to stay the coming judgments, but when their efforts 
 were disregarded by the people, God in mercy took 
 
124 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER I. 
 
 ■which I commanded my servants the to do nnto \\s, according to our ways, 
 
 prophets, did they not take hold of and according to our doings, so hath he 
 
 your fathers ; and they returned and dealt with us. 
 said, Like as the Loed of hosts thought 
 
 tliem away from the evil to come. Then the last bar- 
 rier was removed and the torrent of wrath came dire 
 and pitiless in its rush of fury, and swept them away in 
 its flood. Now as your fathers and the prophets alike 
 have passed away, according to my word ; as neither the 
 wickedness of the one, nor the piety of the other, could 
 arrest my threatened judgments, beware lest a like 
 evil come upon you, that your prophets being disre- 
 garded, be also withdrawn, and the judgments you are 
 daring come upon you for your disobedience. 
 
 This appropriate introduction was probably followed 
 with exhortations to build the temple and restore the 
 worship of God, that are not recorded, as their interest 
 was local and temporary, for its date is three months 
 anterior to the next portion of the prophecy, and we 
 cannot suppose all that time to have elapsed without 
 any prophetic teachings of the people. That there were 
 such instructions, and that they were obeyed by the 
 people, would seem probable from the consolatory char- 
 acter of the next divine utterance that is recorded by 
 the prophet in these visions. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Whilst God is love, and whilst the preachers 
 of the gospel must preach this glorious truth, they must 
 not conceal the fact that God is a consuming fire, and 
 angry with the wicked every day. It is a sign of a 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHATTER I. 125 
 
 7 % Upon the four and twentieth day unto Zechariah, the sou of Barachiah, 
 
 of the eleventh month, which is the the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 
 month Sehat, in the second year of 8 1 saw by night, and behold a man 
 
 Darius, came the word of the Lord riding upon a red horse, and he stood 
 
 sickly piety when men are willing to hear nothing of 
 the wrath of God against sin, (v. 1, 2.) 
 
 (2.) If men expect God to return to them in prosper- 
 ity, they must return to him in penitence. The flower 
 averted from the sun must turn toward it, to catch its 
 genial smile, (v. 3.) 
 
 (3.) What we have to do for God in hfe should be done 
 quickly, for life is rapidly passing ; to evil and good 
 there comes alike the swift shadows of the sunset, (v. 5.) 
 
 (4.) What a man sows he shall also reap, and the 
 seedingsof life on earth shall be harvested in heaven or 
 in hell, (v. 6.) 
 
 Part II. — The Visions. 
 
 Ch. 1 : T to end of Ch. 6. 
 VISION I. — Chapter 1: 1—1 1 . 
 The Man among the Myrtles. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The vision of a rider among the myrtles, surrounded with 
 other riders, who bring him reports of the state of the earth, (v. 
 7—13.) 
 
 II. ExpLanation of this vision to the comfort of the Jewish peo- 
 ple, and their encouragement in the work of rebuilding the city 
 and temple, (v. 14 — 17.) 
 
 V. 7—17. " On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, 
 which is the month of Sebat {February), in the second year 
 of Darius, came the word of Jehovah to Zechariah, the son 
 of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying : I saw 
 
126 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER I. 
 
 among the myrtle trees that were in these ? And the angel that talked with 
 
 the bottom ; and behind him icere there me said unto me, I -will show thee 
 
 red horses, speckled and white. what these be. 
 9 Then said I, my lord, what are 
 
 that nig-lit, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood 
 among the myrtles in the valley, and behind him there were red, 
 bay and white horses. And I said, ' My lord, what are these V 
 And the angel that talked with me, said unto me, ' I will show 
 thee what they are.' And the man that stood among the myrtles 
 answered and said, ' These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to 
 walk throughout the earth.' And they answered the angel of 
 Jehovah that stood among the myrtles, ' We have walked through- 
 out the earth, and behold all the earth dwells and is at rest.' Then 
 the angel of Jehovah answered and said, ' Oh Jehovah of Hosts ! 
 how long wilt thou not pity Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, 
 against which thou hast been angry these seventy years V And 
 Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me good words 
 and consoling words. And the angel that talked with me said 
 unto me. Cry, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, I am jealous 
 for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with great jealousy. And I am 
 inflamed with great anger against the secure nations. For I was 
 but a little angry, (ac/ainst Jerusalem and Zion,) but they aggra- 
 vated the affliction. Therefore thus saith Jehovah, I am returned 
 to Jerusalem with mercies, my house (temple) shall be built in it, 
 saith Jehovah of Hosts, and a (measuring) line shall be stretched 
 forth upon Jerusalem. Cry also, saying, thus saith Jehovah of 
 Hosts, My cities shall also be extended by prosperity, and Jehovah 
 shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem." 
 
 The object of this vision, or waking trance, is to com- 
 fort the disheartened people in their labor, by showing 
 them the fact that God was with them, although they 
 were very lowly and despised. This is done by exhibiting 
 a symbolical picture of the theocratic people, which is ex- 
 plained to the prophet by an interpreting angel, who is 
 not to be confounded with the angel of Jehovah, the 
 central figure of the group. 
 
ZECIIARIAH. — CHAPTER I. 127 
 
 10 And the man that stood among 11 And they answered the angel of 
 
 the myrtle trees answered and said, the Lord that stood among the myrtle 
 
 Tliese are they whom the Loud hath trees, and said. We have walked to and 
 
 sent to walk to and fro through the fro through the earth, and, behold, all 
 
 earth. the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. 
 
 He sees a grove of myrtles, a beautiful shrub, with 
 glossy, dark green leaves, and white, star-like clusters 
 of fragrant flowers, whose leaves exhaled their richest 
 odor only when bruised. This was a,, symbol of the 
 theocracy, the Jewish Church and nation. The Church 
 is not a cedar, in its queenly pride, or an oak in its i 
 giant strength, but a lowly myrtle, humble, unpretend- / 
 ing, and exhaling its sweetest graces when bruised by 
 the weight of affliction. Such was the existing state of 
 the theocracy, and hence the despondency of the people, / 
 who thought that so lowly a thing must be wholly over- 
 shadowed and destroyed by the proud and godless 
 powers of the world. 
 
 But in the midst of these myrtles he sees a man on a 
 red horse, whom we afterwards discover to be the angel 
 of Jehovah, that divine person whom we trace all along 
 the history of the Old Testament, in every manifestation 
 of G-od to man, in visible form, until in the New Testa- 
 ment we find him manifest in the flesh. It is the second 
 person of the mysterious Trinity, the great Head of the 
 Church. The fact is thus symbolized that he is in the 
 midst of the Church, unseen, and hence though seem- 
 ingly so feeble ai^d lowly, she has this inhabitation as 
 her glory and defence. The celerity and strength of 
 every agency connected with the Church, is set forth by 
 
:„./ 
 
 128 ZECUARIAH. CHAPTER I. 
 
 12 ^ Then the angel of the Lord an- riisalem and on the cities of Judab, 
 swered and said, Lord of hosts, how against which thou hast had indignation 
 long wilt thou not have mercy on Je- these thi-cescore and ten years ? 
 
 N the horses, the red color of which signified the, Jervor of 
 at once the zeal and the wrath of these agencies, as at 
 once sanguine and sanguinary ; the white color, their 
 triumphant strength, being the symbol of victory, and 
 the bay, a combination^of the two colors, showing the 
 connection between these things in the arrangements 
 made by God for the good of his Church. The sur- 
 rounding angels on horses set forth the fact that God 
 has provided every species of agency for the supply and 
 defence of his Church, making the very powers of the 
 world work to the promotion of her interests. 
 
 The attendant angels are sent to spy out the condi- 
 tion of the whole earth, and bring back the report (v. 11) 
 that all nations were in peace and prosperity. But 
 Judea was lying in desolation, Jerusalem in ruins, and 
 the temple but partially rebuilt. Here was a state of 
 facts that seemed to contradict the promises of God to 
 his people, and the threatenings of God to his enemies, 
 and hence that tended to depress the one with doubt 
 and inflate the other with pride. It was then time for 
 God to work, and hence the divine angel begins (v. 12) 
 to intercede for his people. Here, then, was an addi- 
 tional fact of great comfort. Not only does Christ 
 dwell in the midst of his people, and watch over all that 
 affects their condition, but he intercedes for them, and 
 his intercession is never in vain. This appears from 
 V. 13, where in answer to these intercessions God speaks 
 
ZECHARIAK. CHAPTER I. 129 
 
 13 And the Lord answered the angel me said unto me, Cry thou, sayinc:, 
 that talked with me with good words Thus saith the Loud of hosts ; 1 am 
 and comfortable words. jealous for Jerusalem and for Ziou with 
 
 14 So the angel that communed with a great jealousy. 
 
 comforting words to tlie angel, who was commissioned 
 to speak to the prophet. These words are there re- 
 corded b}^ the prophet in verses 14 — 17, and constitute 
 the poetic exposition of the vision, in eftect as follows : 
 
 Jerusalem and Zion are laid waste it is true, but not 
 in anger, so much as in chastising love. God still loves 
 them, and is jealous of any estrangement of their affec- 
 tions from him, and when estranged he chastises them 
 to bring them back. This was his object in using the 
 heathen as instruments of chastisement, but the spirit 
 in which they executed this office has provoked his 
 wrath. He designed only to inflict a slight chastisement, 
 but they rioted in the sufferings of his people with wan- 
 ton cruelty. They mocked their sorrows and taunted 
 them with their abandonment. Hence God will punish 
 these heathen, and will bestow mercy on his people, 
 cause the temple to be built, the city to be enlarged, 
 and prosperity to return to the land. 
 
 These predictions were not merely promises of tem- 
 poral prosperity, such as the theocratic people received 
 in the times of Ezra, jSTehemiah, and the Maccabees ; 
 but of that better prosperity which took place when the 
 spiritual temple was laid on the chief corner.^stone, and 
 its stately proportions, all garnished with prophets, apos- 
 tles and martyrs, went slowly up, preparing for its cul- 
 mination in the New Jerusalem that shall descend from 
 
130 ZECHARTAH. CHAPTER I. 
 
 15 And I am very sore displeased amreturnedto Jerusalem with mercies: 
 with the heathen that are at ease : for mine house shall be built in it, saith 
 I was but a little displeased, and they the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be 
 helped forward the affliction. stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 
 
 16 Tlierefore thus saith the Lord ; I 17 Cry yet, saying. Thus saith the 
 
 heaven as a bride prepared for her husband. Literally 
 they were fulfilled, but they have a wider fulfilment yet 
 in progress. The threatenings against God's enemies 
 have been fulfilled in like manner. It seemed as vain 
 a fulmination of displeasure for an obscure Jew, amid 
 the ruins of Jerusalem, to predict calamity to magnifi- 
 cent Babylon, as for some humble preacher in our moun- 
 tains to utter threats against London or Paris. Yet 
 this Jew uttered the word of Jehovah, and the elements 
 of ruin, in their remotest lurking-places, heard the sum- 
 mons, and came up each on its mission of destruction. 
 And now, all that remains of Babylon is a heap of deso- 
 lation, whilst the Church is lengthening her cords and 
 strengthening her stakes to fill the whole earth. Hence, 
 all that this vision predicted has thus far been fulfilled, 
 a guarantee of a yet ampler fulfilment in the future. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 As the Jewish people are usually regarded by the 
 prophet in their theocratic character, as the form in 
 which the Church then existed, the general doctrines of 
 these visions are applicable to the Church in every form 
 in which she exists. Some of these doctrines as set 
 forth in this vision are, — 
 
 (1.) The Church is externally an humble and lowly 
 thing, neglected, often despised by the gay and wicked 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER I. 131 
 
 Lord of hosts; My cities through pros- the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and 
 perity shall yet be spread abroad ; and shall yet choose Jerusalem. 
 
 world, a grove of myrtles, rather than the cedars of 
 Lebanon, (v. 8.) 
 
 (2.) She has, however, an unseen glory that the 
 world knows not of ; for Christ dwells in her midst, full 
 of love, invested with all power, sending his angel mes- 
 sengers to do his work, and preparing everything for her 
 final triumph, (v. 8, 9.) 
 
 (3.) The hour of darkest desolation to the Church, and 
 of haughtiest triumph to her enemies, is often the very 
 hour when God begins his work of judgment on the 
 one, and returning mercy on the other, (v. 11.) 
 
 (4.) Christ intercedes for his people, when they need it 
 most, and his intercession is always prevalent, (v. 12, 13.) 
 
 (5.) God will have all our hearts, for he is jealous of 
 sharing his glory with another, (v. 14.) 
 
 (6.) God often uses instruments to chastise his peo- 
 ple, which, when he has done with them, he breaks and 
 casts into the fire, (v. 15.) 
 
 (7.) The Church of God shaU yet triumph over every 
 obstacle, and vanquish every foe, (v. 16.) 
 
 (8.) The promises and threatenings of God, though 
 slow, are sure. They have eternity for the range of 
 their fulfilment, (v. 17.) 
 
 (9.) The head of the Church is at once human and 
 divine. He is called here "a man," v. 8, and the 
 "Angel of Jehovah," v. 12. But the Angel of Jeho- 
 vah is a Divine person, as appears from comparing Gen. 
 
132 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER I. 
 
 18 ^ Then lifted I up mine eyes, and he answered me, These are the horns 
 saw, and hehold four horns. which have scattered Judah, Israel, 
 
 19 And I said unto the angel that and Jerusalem, 
 talked with me. What he these ? and 
 
 16 : 7 with V. 13 ; Gen. 22 : 11 with v. 12, &c. Even 
 Gesenius admits this, and the Babylonish Talmud de- 
 clares that " this man is no other than the Holy One." 
 But if divine and human, he must be God and man in 
 one person. 
 
 Vision II. 
 
 Chapter 1:18 — 21. — The four horns and four artificers. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. Four horns appear, symboliziug the various enemies of God's 
 people, (v. 18, 19.) 
 
 II. Four artificers appear, symbolizing the fact that God had 
 provided a deliverance for every variety of threatening, (v. 20, 21.) 
 
 V. 18 — 21. "And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold 
 four horns. And I said unto the angel that' talked with me, ' What 
 are these V And he answered me, ' These are the horns that 
 have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.' And Jehovah 
 showed me four artificers. And I said, ' What do these come to 
 do V And he replied, saying, ' These are the horns that have 
 scattered Judah, so that a man could not lift up his head; but 
 these are come to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the 
 nations, v\^hich lifted up the horn over the land of Judah to scat- 
 ter it.' " 
 
 The meaning of this vision is by no means obscure. 
 Among the Orientals a horn was the symbol of power. 
 Being a pastoral people, and finding the strongest of 
 the herd always furnished with horns, the horn became 
 
Z E C H A R I A n . CHAPTER I . 133 
 
 20 And the Lord shewed mc four dah, so that no man did lift up his 
 carpenters. liead : but these arc come to fray them, 
 
 21 Then said I, 'Wliat come these to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, 
 to do ? And he spake, saying, These which lifted up their horn over the 
 are the horns wljich have scattered Ju- land of Judah to scatter it, 
 
 the natural symbol of power and pride. To lift up the 
 horn, was to be proud of conscious strength ; to have 
 horns coming out of the hands, was to have power in 
 the hands, &c. The number four has given, rise to many 
 fanciful conjectures, but undoubtedly refers to the four 
 cardinal points of the compass, which include every pos- 
 sible direction, and so represent all possible enemies. 
 Wherever the people of God turned, there was a power 
 to oppose them. Such was the condition of the Jews / 
 then, with the Ass3^rian, Chaldean and Samaritan on the 
 north, the Egyptian on the south, the Philistine on the 
 west, and the Ammonite and Moabite on the east, they; 
 were encircled with foes. 
 
 But there also appeared four artificers, whether car- 
 penters or smiths does not appear from the original, and 
 depends on whether the horns were wooden or metallic, 
 a fact not stated. But their office was to break the 
 horns in pieces. The gist of the vision lies in the 
 coincidence of the numbers of the artificers and horns. 
 For every horn there was a cleaving artificer to beat it 
 down ; for every enemy there was an antagonizing in- 
 strument to counteract it, already provided by God. 
 Hence, although on all sides there were enemies to op- 
 pose the erection of the temple, and the completion of 
 the city, there was provided by God a neutralizing and 
 counteracting power adequate to destroy them ah. 
 
134 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The event has verified the prediction. The temple 
 went up, and the city was builded, in spite of all the ef- 
 forts of opposing enemies, and now those enemies have 
 passed away, and their gorgeous cities are but heaps of 
 desolation. In its narrowest scope, therefore, the vision 
 has been verified, and the promise intended to encour- 
 age the lingering people in erecting the temple has been 
 fulfilled. But its sweep was much wider than the Jews, 
 considered in their national capacity. It referred to 
 them as the theocracy, and hence these promises are 
 made to the Church, and declare the great truth that the 
 gates of hell shall never prevail against her. Such has 
 been the fact thus far, and such will it ever be, for he 
 that is with her is more than they that are against her. 
 For every evil there is a remedy ; for every enemy a 
 deliverer. The evil will be allowed to come, and the 
 enemy to assail, but at the appointed hour, the fraying 
 artificer shall come forth to neutralize the one and van- 
 quish the other. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The Church of God has always been surrounded 
 with enemies, and will be until the last enemy is de- 
 stroyed by her head, (v. 18, 19.) 
 
 (2.) She can never perish, for more are they that are 
 with her, than they that are against her, (v. 20, 21.) 
 
: ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II, 135 
 
 i 
 
 1 I lifted up mine eyes again, and 3. And behold, the angel that talked 
 looked, and behold a man with ameas- with me went forth, and another angel 
 uring line in his hand. went out to meet him, 
 
 2 Tlien said I, Whither goest thou? 4. And said unto him, Run, speak to 
 And he said unto me. To measure Je- this young man, saying, Jerusalem 
 rusalem, to see what is the breadth shall be inhabited as towns without 
 thereof, and what is the length there- walls for the multitude of men and 
 of. cattle therein : 
 
 Vision III. 
 
 Chapter 2. — The man with the measuring line. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. A man is seen with a measuring line, symbolizing the fact 
 that the boundaries of the Church were then to be declared, 
 (y. 1-3.) 
 
 II. The future enlargement of the Church promised, under the 
 fact that Jerusalem would spread beyond her walls into the country, 
 (v. 4, 5.) 
 
 III. In view of this enlargement the exiles are called home, 
 (v. 6, 1;) Divine protection promised, (v. 8, 9;) and the conversion 
 of the world predicted as a consequence of God's dwelling in the 
 midst of his people, (v. 10 — 13.) 
 
 V. 1, 2. "And I lifted up mine eyes, and looked and behold a 
 man, and in his hand a measuring line. And I said, ' Whei'e art 
 thou going V And he said unto me, ' To measure Jerusalem, to 
 see what is its breadth, and what is its length.' " 
 
 The apparatus of this vision is very simple and easily 
 understood. A man is seen with a measuring line, as 
 in Ezek. 40 : 1 — 3, who is probably the angel of the 
 covenant, the Son of God, who goes forth to measure 
 Jerusalem. This indicates at once that the Church 
 should be enlarged, and that Christ was to be the author 
 and definer of this enlargement. The interpreting 
 
loG ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II. 
 
 5 For I, saith the Lor.D, will be unto 6 •] Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from 
 her a wall of fire round about, and will the land of the north, saith the Lord : 
 be the glory in the midst of her. for I have spread you abroad as the 
 
 angel having left him was met by another messenger 
 from the measuring angel, who directed him to run to 
 Zechariah, indicating thus the spirit with which God's 
 messengers serve him. Those who would do God's will 
 aright must neither crawl, nor walk, but run with eager 
 alacrity. Zechariah is called a young man, not onlj^ on 
 account of his age, but also in allusion to his subordi- 
 nate relation to the angels, as -naiq^ puer, gar<;o7i, and 
 boy, are used in their respective languages to indicate 
 relation rather than age, being applied often to servants 
 who have long passed the years of boyhood. The sub- 
 stance of this communication is that Jerusalem shall be 
 enlarged, and attain a high measure of prosperity, and 
 that her enemies shall be overthrown. 
 
 V. 3, 4. "And behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, 
 and another angel came otit to meet him, And said unto him, Run, 
 
 speak to this young man, {Zechariah,) saying, Jerusalem shall in- 
 habit villages. For the multitude of men and cattle in her midst." 
 
 Henderson and some of the recent German exposit- 
 ors, such as Hitzig, Maurer and Ewald, maintain that 
 " the young man " is the man with the measuring line ; 
 others think that it was the interpreting angel. But as 
 it was a communication intended for the prophet, we 
 prefer with most interpreters to take Zechariah as the 
 person described. 
 
 " Jerusalem shall inhabit villages," i. e. shall so spread 
 out as to extend beyond her narrow walls, and reach 
 
i 
 
 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II. 137 
 
 four wiads of the heaven, saith the 7 Deliver thyself, OZion, that dwell 
 Lord. est with the daughter of Babylon. 
 
 the adjacent villages : and her security shall be such 
 that she shall not need the protection of walls to guard 
 her from the incursion of enemies. Literally, this was 
 fulfilled in the subsequent great growth of the city. But 
 its reference was mainly to the Church of which Jerusa- 
 lem was but the theocratic symbol. The narrow walls 
 of the Mosaic forms were to be thrown down, and her 
 limits extended to those who were then beyond these 
 boundaries, and this with the most perfect safety and 
 advantage. It is at least a curious coincidence that 
 when this enlargement actually did take place, the 
 dwellers in villages (pagani) became synonymous with 
 those to whom heathenism had been driven gradually 
 from the centres of population, until at last having 
 reached and converted these very paganos (pagans), 
 Jerusalem in very deed inhabited the villages. 
 
 V. 5. "And I will be to her, saith Jehovah, a wall of fire around, 
 and for a glory will I be in her midst." 
 
 But is there not something unsafe in this unwalled 
 extension ? Is there not danger in simplifying the 
 forms of the spiritual Jerusalem, as well as in extending 
 beyond the walls of the literal Jerusalem ? The answer 
 is no! for (v. 5) Grod will be to her a wall without, and 
 a glory within, furnishing a security and a splendor far 
 more glorious than any external munitions. Hence 
 they might labor for that extension whether in the 
 narrower form of the work then before them, or the 
 9 
 
138 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II. 
 
 8 For thus saith the Lord of hosts : that toucheth you, toucheth the apple 
 After the glory hath he sent me uuto of his eye. 
 the nations which spoiled you : for he 9 For behold, I will shake my hand 
 
 wider form of that enlargement that was yet future, 
 with unwavering confidence and hope. 
 
 V. 6, 1. " Ho ! Ho ! fly then from the north country, saith Jeho- 
 vah, for as the four winds of heaven have I scattered you, saith 
 Jehovah. Zion ! deliver thyself, thou that dwellest with the 
 daughter of Babjdon." 
 
 As there were yet a number of Jews in Babylon, the 
 angel urges them to return, first, because of the judg- 
 ments to come on Babylon, ("the land of the North,") 
 and secondly, because of the blessings to come on Jeru- 
 salem. " As the four winds," &c., means, not that Grod 
 had scattered the Jews to the four winds, but as the 
 four winds scatter, i. e. violently and afar off. Zion 
 means the Jews yet remaining who are urged to leave 
 Babylon before the assault of Darius, that soon after- 
 wards occurred. " Daughter of Babylon " means 
 simply Babylon, see Isa. 1 : 8 ; Ps. 9 : 14 ; Ps. 137 : 8. 
 
 v. 8. " For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts : after the glory hath 
 he sent me to the nations that spoiled you, for he that toucheth 
 you, toucheth the pupil of his own eye." 
 
 The phrase "after the glory" has received several 
 expositions. Blayney, Newcome, Hitzig, Maurer, and 
 others, understand it to mean that God had sent the 
 speaker after the glory to obtain it, but "after" is 
 always used as an adverb of place or time, and not as a 
 preposition. Hence it is better with Calvin, Hender- 
 son, and others, to make it refer to the glory in v. 5, 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II. 139 
 
 iipon them, and they shall be a spoil to of Zion : for lo, I come, and I will 
 
 their servants : and yc shall know that dwell in the midst of thee, saith the 
 
 the IjOrd of hosts hath sent me. Loud. 
 10 ^ Sing and rejoice, daughter 
 
 and declare that after this glory, i. e. not only in point 
 of time, but in point of fact, besides this glory, God has 
 sent me to punish your enemies. In other words, I am 
 not only a glory to you, but also an avenger upon your 
 enemies. The speaker is the Divine angel, or the Son 
 of God. The image of the last clause is both expressive 
 and beautiful. Henderson refers the pronominal suffix 
 to God, representing the Jewish people as the apple of 
 his own eye, and Calvin favors that view. Most inter- 
 preters refer it to the enemy. 
 
 V. 9. " For, behold, I will shake my hand {fist) over them, and they 
 shall be a spoil to their own servants ; and ye shall acknowledge 
 that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me." 
 
 V. 9 repeats the threat of v. 8, using a gesture of 
 menace, and predicts that they should be a spoil to their 
 servants, which was literally fulfilled when the Persians 
 conquered Babylon, and ruled where they once served, 
 and shall yet be more widely fulfilled in God's subjuga- 
 tion of all his enemies. 
 
 V. 10. " Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold I come ; 
 and I will dwell in thy midst, saith Jehovah." 
 
 V. 10 predicts that coming of the covenant angel 
 that first took place in the incarnation, and shall be 
 more perfectly fulfilled only when he comes the second 
 time without sin to salvation. The language of this 
 verse is almost identical with that of ch. 9:9, that 
 
140 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II. 
 
 11 And many nations shall be join- be my people : and I will dwell in the 
 ed to the Lokd in that day, and shall midst of thee, and thou shalt know 
 
 unquestionably refers to the incarnation. Even Kimchi 
 refers this verse to the Messiah. 
 
 V. 11. " And many nations shall be joined to Jehovah in that 
 day, shall be to me for a people, and I will dwell in the midst of 
 them, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me 
 unto thee." 
 
 Y. 11 announces the conversion of the Gentiles, and 
 the general recognition that shall be made of Christ's 
 messianic character and divine mission. 
 
 V. 12. " And Jehovah shall inherit Judah his portion, in a land 
 of holiness, and shall choose again Jerusalem." 
 
 V. 12 proclaims the future restoration of the Jews to 
 their ancient relation to God. 
 
 V. 13. "Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah, because he is arisen 
 from the habitation of his holiness." 
 
 Y. 13 is a grand peroration, in which the prophet 
 loses sight of the present and addresses the distant fu- 
 ture, God seems to be slumbering and delaying his 
 judgments, and hence men are growing bold and impi- 
 ous. But see ! he arises like a giant refreshed with 
 slumber, and comes forth to do his strange and terrible 
 work. Be silent, therefore, all flesh, before this dread 
 apparition ! 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Although Zion has not yet lengthened her cords 
 and widened her stakes to her appointed limits, yet the 
 measuring line has gone forth that gives her bounds to be 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER II. 141 
 
 that the Lord of hosts hath sent me 13 Be silent, all flesh, before the 
 unto thee. Lord : for he is raised up out of his 
 
 12 And the Lord shall inherit Judah holy habitation, 
 his portion in the holy land, and shall 
 choose Jerusalem again. 
 
 the habitable earth. Hence, if this future extension was 
 a motive to the Jew, in his work of rearing the temple 
 of wood and stone, much more is it to us in our work of 
 erecting the great spiritual temple on the foundation, 
 Jesus Christ, (v. 1 — 4.) 
 
 (2.) "We learn here the true glory of the Church. It 
 is not in any external pomp or power, of any kind ; not 
 in frowning battlements, either of temporal or spiritual 
 pretensions ; not in rites and ceremonies, however moss- 
 grown and venerable ; not in splendid cathedrals and 
 gorgeous vestments, and the swell of music, and the 
 glitter of eloquence, but in the indwelling glory of the 
 invisible God. Her outward rites and ceremonies, 
 therefore, should only be like what the earth's atmos- 
 phere is to the rays of the sun, a pure, transparent me- 
 dium of transmission, (v. 5.) 
 
 (3.) The punishment of the wicked as truly declares 
 the glory of God as the salvation of the righteous, (v. 8.) 
 
 (4.) The wicked shall ultimate!}^ be the slaves of 
 their own lusts, those appetites and passions that were 
 designed to be merely their obedient servants, shall be- 
 come their tormenting and inexorable tyrants, (v. 9.) 
 
 (5.) The incarnation of Christ, and his indwelling in 
 the Church, are grounds of the highest joy, (v. 10.) 
 
 (6.) Christ is a divine Saviour. In v. 10, 11, we have 
 
142 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER II. 
 
 one Jehovah sending another, and the Jehovah sent is 
 identified with the angel of the covenant, who was to 
 come and dwell in the Church, whom we know to be 
 Christ. Hence, unless there are two distinct Jehovahs, 
 one divine and the other not, Christ, the Jehovah angel 
 of this passage is divine. 
 
 (7.) The Church of God shall cover the earth, and be- 
 come in fact what it is in right, the mightiest agency in 
 human histor3^ Though now feeble and despised, she 
 shall one day include many nations, and every knee 
 shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord 
 to the glory of God the Father, (v. 11.) 
 
 (8.) Delay of punishment is no proof of impunity. God 
 often seems to be asleep, but he is only awaiting the ap- 
 pointed time, but in the end, when all seems as it was 
 from the foundation of the world, the herald cry shall go 
 forth, be silent, earth, for Jehovah is aroused to his 
 terrible work, and the day of his wrath is come. Let 
 men kiss the Son whilst he is yet in the way, before his 
 anger is kindled but a little, and they perish before him 
 like stubble before the whirlwind of flames. 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER III. 143 
 
 1 And he shewed nic Joshua the of the Lord, and Satan standing at his 
 high priest standing before the angel right hand to resist him. 
 
 Vision IV. 
 
 Chap. 3. — Joshua the High Priest bi-fore the Angel of S-E.no'VKii. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. Joshua, in his representative character, stands before the Di- 
 vine angel in filthy garments, with Satan accusing him. The 
 filthy garments, symbolical of sin in the people, are removed, and 
 clean ones given in their place, symbolical of pardon, (v. 1 — 5.) 
 
 II. A charge and promise given to him in this capacity, (v. 6, T ;) 
 a promise of the Messiah, and a blessing to the Church as a con- 
 sequence of his coming, (v. 8 — 10.) 
 
 V. 1. "And he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing be- 
 fore the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand 
 to accuse him." 
 
 This vision is of less obvious interpretation than the 
 preceding, perhaps for the reason that its truth Ues 
 nearer the deepest throbbings of the human heart. A 
 sense of sin, and afeehng of hopeless ill-desert, are among 
 the deepest emotions of a heart that has been touched 
 by the Holy Spirit. This is the ever-recurring state of the 
 human heart, both individually and collectively, because 
 it rests on the ever-during relations that connect man 
 and God. A sense of sin fairly awakened produces 
 despair, if we are thrown back on the resources of rea- 
 son. We cannot hope in God, for we tremble before 
 his justice. Thus it was with the Jewish church at this 
 time. They felt that they had sinned, and hence had no 
 
144 ZECnARIAH. CHAPTER III. 
 
 2 And the Lord said unto Satan, The buke thee : is not this a brand plucked 
 Lord rebuke thee, Satan ; even the out of the fire ? 
 Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem re- 
 
 groimd in themselves to hope for God's favor. They 
 knew that their priests had also been unfaithful, and 
 hence they had no hope in them. Why then go for- 
 ward with the temple, when both priest and people must 
 defile rather than hallow its courts? Was it not pre- 
 sumption to expect that their labor would be accepted ? 
 These were the suggestions of Satan to their hearts, to 
 deter them from their work, suggestions with which the 
 people of God are, alas ! too familiar to this day. God 
 will not accept so vile and faithless a heart, so lame and 
 mutilated a service as you render him, says the tempter, 
 therefore you had better abandon it all, and enjoy sin 
 at least if you cannot enjoy holiness. This brings us to the 
 heart of the vision. It is designed to show the people of 
 God, that their personal demerit is no ground for distrust- 
 ing the mercy of God, for he receives them not because 
 of their own righteousness, but that of another ; and 
 that at this particular period, the unworthiness of the 
 priesthood was no reason for their destruction and the 
 overthrow of the temple, as they were typical, and the 
 end of their institution was not yet served. Such is the 
 general purport of it. 
 
 The scene is laid in the temple. Joshua the high 
 priest is seen standing before the Divine angel perform- 
 ing the functions of his office. He is not, as some sup- 
 pose, arraigned for trial, with Satan as his accuser, but 
 is standing in his official character to represent the 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHATTER III. 145 
 
 3 Now Joshua was clothed with 4 And he answered and spake unto 
 filth}' garments, and stood before the those that stood before him, saying, 
 angel. Take away tlic filthy garments from 
 
 people and the priesthood. He represents the people 
 in his character as priest, and the priesthood in his 
 character as high priest. This representative character 
 must be carefully noted, as it contains the essence of 
 the vision. He stands as the representative of the theo- 
 cratic people, and the priestly order as then existing. 
 But he is clothed in filthy garments, the common sym- 
 bol of sin. Both people and priesthood feel that they 
 are sinful and unworthy, and hence fear to hope for a 
 blessing from a holy God on their labors. Satan then 
 stands to accuse them in the person of their represent- 
 ative, representing thus these suggestions of the tempter 
 to which we have alluded. " You are not fit to appear 
 before God, and there is nothing in you that can be 
 pleasing to him, therefore abandon his service, which 
 3^ou are only polluting, and act out your character in 
 your conduct, by indulging openly in sin and rebellion." 
 
 V. 2. " And Jehovah said to Satan. Jehovah rebuke thee, 
 Satan ! Jehovah rebuke thee ! he that chooses Jerusalem ! Is not 
 this a brand plucked from the fire ?" 
 
 Here, then, God gives his answer to the tempter. 
 " Begone, false fiend ! Blacken not the glorious gospel 
 by such lying suggestions ! It is not Jerusalem that 
 chooses Jehovah, but Jehovah that chooses Jerusalem. 
 It is not the burning brand that plucks the hand, but 
 the hand that plucks it. Hence though Jerusalem, the 
 people of God, whom Joshua represents, are all covered 
 
146 ZECHARTAH. CHAPTER III. 
 
 him. And unto him he said, Behold, from thee, and I will clothe thee with 
 I have caused thine iniquity to pass change of raiment. 
 
 with sin as with a garment, I have chosen them in spite 
 of this sin, not that they should continue in it. but that 
 they should be freed from it." 
 
 V. 3, 4. "And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and stood 
 before the angel. And he answered and spake to those who stood 
 before him, saying, Take the filthy garments away from him ; and 
 he said to him, (Joshua) Behold I take away from thee thy sins, 
 and the}' shall clothe thee with festal garments." 
 
 Then to show that it was not their righteousness but 
 another's that was the ground of their acceptance, and 
 that it was not to encourage them in sin, but to remove 
 it, the divine angel commanded, v. 4, that these filthy 
 garments (the symbol of sin) should be removed, and 
 festal robes (the symbol of imputed righteousness) 
 should be put on him, thus setting forth the great and 
 consoling doctrine of a gratuitous justification because 
 of the merits of the Redeemer. This and this alone can 
 comfort the heart of the penitent, whether a solitary 
 monk, weeping and striving in the convent of Erfurth, 
 or a desponding people brooding in discouragement 
 over the ruins of Jerusalem. 
 
 Y. 5. " Then I said, let them place a clean tiara upon his head ; 
 and they placed a clean tiara upon his head, and they put garments 
 ujft)n him, and the angel of Jehovah was (still) standing (there.)" 
 
 Here, then, the prophet interposes, (v. 5,) to bring to 
 view the second main thought of the vision. The first 
 had reference to Joshua representing the whole people, 
 who are assured that God will not destroy them because 
 
ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER III. 147 
 
 5 And I said, Let them set a fair c And the angel of the Lord pro- 
 luitre upon his head. So they set a tested unto Joshua, saying, 
 fair mitre upon his head, and clothed 
 him with garments. And the angel of 
 the Lord stood by. 
 
 of their unworthiness. But now for their more imme- 
 diate comfort, to quell their fears as to the priesthood, 
 the prophet desires a token to be given of the continu- 
 ance and official purity of this order, and hence asks 
 that a clean tiara or priestly mitre be placed on his 
 head, to indicate that this purification was complete, 
 both in its nature and in its extent. This was done 
 (v. 5) whilst the angel of the Lord was standing there, 
 to show his approval of, and interest in this process. 
 
 V. 6, T. "And the ang-el of Jehovah answered to Joshua, saying-, 
 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if 
 thou wilt keep my laws, thou shalt judge my house, and also keep 
 my courts, and I will give thee guides among these that are stand- 
 ing here." 
 
 V. 6, 7, show the conditions annexed to this forgive- 
 ness. It was a salvation frora sin, not in it ; and con- 
 nected with obedience. This obedience, then, was con- 
 nected with a promise of reward. This reward was 
 judging Grod's house and guarding his courts, which in- 
 cluded supreme authority in sacred things, such as was 
 assigned to the priesthood, tj'^^^fi^^ is taken by Acker- 
 inann, Maurer, Rosenmiiller, Hitzig, Ewald, and others, 
 as the plural of the noun '^?Dd, meaning walks or loalh- 
 ing 'places ; but this gives no satisfactory sense. It is 
 therefore better with Henderson, Hengstenberg, and 
 some of the older interpreters, to take it as the Chaldaic 
 form of the Hiphil participle of I^C, meaning " those 
 
148 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER III. 
 
 7 Thus saitli the Lord of hosts ; If keep my courts, and I will give thee 
 
 thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou places to walk among these that stand 
 
 wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt by. 
 
 also judge my house, and shalt also 8 Hear now, Joshua, the high 
 
 who cause to go," or "walk," i. e. guides. Those who 
 are thus alluded to were the angels. It is therefore a 
 promise of angelic aid and ministry similar to Ps. 91 : 
 11, 12, and parallel passages. The cheering encourage- 
 ment of this every trembling heart can feel. 
 
 V. 8. " Hear, I beseech thee, Joshua, the high priest, thou 
 and thy colleagues who sit before thee, for men of omen are they: 
 for behold I bring my servant. Branch." 
 
 V. 8 presents another reason for encouragement. 
 The priesthood would not be destroyed because of its 
 typical character. Men of omen, are men who shadow 
 forth something future, (see Isa. 8 : 18, 20 : 3 ;) in other 
 words, typical men, whose office foreshadows something 
 to come. What this was is then declared, " my servant, 
 Branch." These are undoubted appellations of the 
 Messiah. He is called " servant" in such passages as, 
 Isa. 42 : 1, 49 : 3, 50 : 10 ; Ezek. 34 : 23, &c. ; and 
 Branch, in Jer. 23 : 5, 33 : 15. This designation is 
 given to him to indicate his original obscurity, and the 
 gradual development of his character. The type then 
 would continue until the coming of the anti-type, the 
 order foretokening the Messiah would not cease until he 
 came, and hence they could go on in the erection of the 
 temple, in which these priests were to minister. 
 
 The notion of some of the Jewish, and a few Chris- 
 tian interpreters, that the person predicted under the 
 
ZECHARIAU. CHAPTER III. 149 
 
 priest, thou and th)^ fellows that sit 9 For hehold the stone that I have 
 
 before thee : for they are men wonder- laid hcfore Joshua; upon one stone 
 
 ed at : for behold, I will bring forth shall be seven eyes : behold, I will en- 
 
 my servant The BRANCH. grave the graving thereof, saith the 
 
 name of Branch was Zerubbabel, is wholly untenable, for 
 the Branch had not yet appeared, whilst Zerubbabel 
 had. Even Maurer, Hitzig, and similar critics, concede 
 that the Messiah is here meant. 
 
 V. 9. " For behold the stouc which I have laid before Joshua, 
 upon this one stone shall there be seven eyes ; behold, carving I 
 will carve it, saith Jehovah of Hosts, and I will remove the sin of 
 the land in one day." 
 
 y. 9 gives the reason for the fulfilment of this glori- 
 ous promise. Everything seemed so desolate, that there 
 was no hope of such a blessing as the coming of the 
 Messiah. God declares that although his people were 
 thus obscure and desolate, he had never lost sight of 
 them. He represents his people, or the theocracy, by a 
 stone, a single stone {Ehad), lying before Joshua, as if 
 worthless. But he says that on this one stone are 
 " seven eyes." Seven being the number of perfection, 
 the seven eyes represent the all-seeing eye of Jehovah, 
 and show the sleepless regard which he bestows upon 
 his Church. The image of a stone was selected, because 
 the main work of the theocratic people then was the 
 erection of a temple. God assures them that he has 
 not cast it aside, but would yet polish and chisel it, and 
 make it suitable for its glorious destiny. The removal 
 of sin " in one day," refers to the perfection of the atone- 
 ment to be made by the Messiah, which needs not daily 
 
150 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER III. 
 
 Lord of hosts, and 1 -will remove the hosts, shall ye call every man his 
 iniquity of that land in one day. neighbor under the vine and under the 
 
 10 In that day. saith the Lord of fig tree. 
 
 repetition like the sacrifices of the priesthood, but "by 
 one offering he perfected forever them that are sancti- 
 fied." Heb. 10 : 14. Henderson refers " the stone" to 
 the literal foundation of the temple, but with a very 
 needless restriction and literality. God did not carve 
 that stone, and if one part of the verse is figurative, so 
 must be the other. 
 
 V. 10. " In that day, saith Jehovah of Hosts, yc sliall call every 
 man to his neighbor, under the vine and under the fig-tree." 
 
 Y. 10 refers to the security and peace that should 
 reign in the Messianic period, first in the heart of the 
 penitent believer, then in the bosom of the faithful 
 Church, and then at last in the glories of the latter day 
 and heavenly rest. 2 Kings 18 : 31 shows that this 
 was a familiar image of prosperity and peace. Thus, as 
 in all these visions, the prophet connects the present 
 with the future, the passing and perishing with the 
 unchanging and eternal. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The divinity of Christ. The Jehovah angel of v. 
 1 is called Jehovah in v. 2, and this Jehovah angel, as 
 appears from other passages, especially Haggai 2 : 6, 7, 
 and Malachi 3:1, compared with Mark 1 : 2, we know 
 to be Jesus Christ. 
 
 (2.) Satan's temptations are never so subtle or so 
 powerful as when they assume the form of penitence 
 
ZECHARIAn. — CHAPTER III. 151 
 
 and humility. But the greatness of our sin only mag- 
 nifies the greatness of the mercy that pardons it. 
 
 (3.) The origin of our salvation and the ground of 
 our hope are in the love and grace of God, and not in 
 our own worthiness or merit, (v. 2.) 
 
 (4.) We are saved by the imputed righteousness of 
 Christ and not by our own merits, (v. 4.) 
 
 (5.) A gratuitous justification furnishes no excuse for 
 inaction and sin, but leads to more entire obedience, 
 (y. 1.) 
 
 (6.) Fidelity in God's service shall be gloriously re- 
 warded, (v, 7.) 
 
 (7.) Angelic guidance shall be given to the faithful 
 people of God, (v. 7.) 
 
 (8.) The ceremonial system of the 0. T. typified 
 Christ, (v. 8.) 
 
 (9.) The atonement of Christ is perfect, and needs no 
 addition of penances or human merits, (v. 9.) 
 
 (10.) The tendency of true religion is toward peace 
 and prosperity, to men individually and collectively, 
 (v. 10.) 
 
152 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1 And the angel that talked with me en lamps thereon, and seven pipes to 
 came again, and waked me, as a man the seven lamps, which are upon the 
 that is wakened out of his sleep, top thereof : 
 
 2 And said unto me. What seest 3 And two olive trees hy it, one up- 
 thou ? And I said, I have looked, and on the right side of the bowl, and the 
 behold a eandlestick all of gold, with other upon the left side thereof 
 
 a bowl upon the top of it, and his sev- 4 So I answered and spake to the 
 
 Vision Y. 
 
 Chapter 4. — The Golden Candlestick, and the two Olive Trees. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. A golden candlestick symbolizes the theocracy, and two olive 
 trees the source of its strengtli. The prophet asks the meaning 
 of the vision, (v. 1 — 5.) 
 
 II. The teaching of the vision : that all the work of the Church 
 was to be done by the supply of divine strength, and hence all 
 obstacles would vanish, (v. 6 — 11.) 
 
 III. The explanation of the various parts of the symbolical vision, 
 (v. 12—14.) 
 
 V. 1 — 6. " And the angel who spoke with me returned, and 
 awaked me as a man who is awaked from his sleep : and he said 
 unto me, 'What seest thou V And I said, ' I have looked and behold 
 a candlestick all of gold, and a bowl on the top of it, and its seven 
 lamps upon it, and seven tubes to each lamp on the top of it : and 
 two olive trees, one on the right hand of the bowl, and one on the 
 left hand.' And I answered and spake to the angel that talked 
 with me, saying, ' What are these, my lord V Then the angel that 
 talked with me answered and said unto me, ' Dost thou not know 
 what these are V And I said, ' No, my lord.' Then he answered 
 and spake unto me, saying, ' This is the word of Jehovah unto 
 Zerubbabel, saying. Not by might, and not by power, but by my 
 spirit, saith Jehovah of Hosts.' " 
 
 A PAUSE seems to have occurred after the preceding 
 vision, and the prophet, for a time, to have relapsed 
 
Z EC EAR! AH. CHAPTER IV. 153 
 
 angel that talked with me, saying, Lord unto Zcnibhabel, saying, Not by 
 
 What are these, my lord ? might, not by power, but by my Spirit, 
 
 5 Then the angel tliat talked with me saith the Loud of hosts, 
 
 answered and said unto me, Knowest 7 Who art thou, great mountain ? 
 
 thou not what these be ? and I said, before Zerubbabel thou shall become a 
 
 Xo, my lord. plain : and ho shall bring forth the 
 
 C Then he answered and spake unto headstone thereof u-ilh shoutings, crying, 
 
 me, saying. This is the word of the Grace, grace unto it. 
 
 into liis ordinary and normal state. This state com- 
 paredjvvith the prophetic ecstac}^ was as sleep to 
 waking ; the ordinary state of the soul being so insen- 
 sible to those impressions that were made upon it in 
 the j)roj)hetic condition. But he was soon roused from 
 that state by the angel and bidden to look. He saw a 
 candlestick of gold with a bowl on the top, having 
 seven lamps, and each lamp furnished with seven feed- 
 ing tubes, making forty-nine in all, and two olive trees 
 standing beside the candlestick, from the two crowded 
 branches of which the clustering olives were pouring a 
 constant supply of golden colored oil into tubes that led 
 into the bowl. The prophet inquires into the meaning 
 of this vision, and after some delay is told, (v. G,) that it 
 conveys the truth that in carrying on the work of the 
 Church, it is not by human power that it is either to be 
 advanced or retarded, but by the strength of God. 
 
 The candlestick represented the Theocracy, the Church 
 of God, an image of great beauty, showing her mission 
 to be a light-bearer in a dark world. The material, 
 gold, indicated the purity, preciousness and indestructi- 
 bleness of all that pertained to her. The seven lamps, 
 and seven times seven tubes, indicated, by the use of the 
 10 
 
154 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IV. 
 
 8 Moreover the word of the LonD 10 For who hath despised the day of 
 came unto me, saying, small things ? for they shall rejoice, 
 
 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid and shall see the plummet in the hand 
 the foundation of this house ; his hands of Zerubbabel with those seven ; they 
 shall also finish it ; and thou shalt are the eyes of the Lord, which run to 
 know that the Lord of hosts hath sent and fro through the whole earth. 
 
 me unto you. 
 
 number of perfection, the manifold modes by which her 
 hght was to be given out, and the manifold modes by 
 which grace was to be imparted. The olive trees rep- 
 resented the source of that grace, the Spirit of God, 
 from whom comes forth all supplies of strength for the 
 Church. 
 
 Here, then, were these lamps burning continually, 
 lamps that man's hand did not make, and does not feed, 
 and yet supplied from a source that is exhaustless, the 
 living trees that stand beside the candlestick. Now, if 
 the strength to do God's work comes from God, the 
 weakness of man is no obstacle, for when he is weak 
 then is he strong. Zerubbabel ma}^ have but few visible 
 resources, but the work was one that after all was to be 
 completed by God, and not by man, and however feeble 
 the Church might seem to be, there was more for her 
 than against her. Hence, as the Jew gazed on this 
 ceaseless flow of strength and grace, he could forget the 
 feebleness of man in the unfailing supply of the power 
 of God. 
 
 V. ^. " Who art tliou, thou great mountain before Zerubbabel ? 
 Be a plain ! He shall bring forth the top-stone with shoutings, 
 Grace ! Grace unto it." 
 
 But there were obstacles in the way, like a great 
 
ZECUARIAII. CHAPTER IV. 155 
 
 11 «1 TliCD answered I, and said unto upon the right side of the candlestick 
 him, What are those two olive trees and upon the left sit/c thereof ? 
 
 mountain. These obstacles should be prostrated like a 
 plain before him, (v. 7,) so that the work should be com- 
 pleted, the top-stone laid, and it should be seen that all 
 was of grace. Hence they should not falter in the work 
 before them. 
 
 V. 8 — 11. "And the word of Jehovah came unto me saying-, 
 The hands of Zerubbabel have founded this house, and his hands 
 shall finish it, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of Hosts hath 
 sent me unto you. For who will despise the day of small things ? 
 For they shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of Zerub- 
 babel, these seven eyes of Jehovah, they run to and fro in the 
 whole earth." 
 
 Y. 8, 9, contain positive assurances that the temple 
 shall be finished by Zerubbabel, and not left unfinished 
 as it had been before, by the intrigues of their enemies. 
 
 Y. 10 rebukes them for despising the feebleness of 
 the Church in external resources, and overlooking her 
 true glory. That glory la}^ in the fact that God's eye 
 (the seven eyes) was upon her in love, and although 
 those eyes see all that is in the earth, the most mighty 
 and most magnificent, yet they see nothing that is 
 mighty enough to destroy the Church, or magnificent 
 enough to eclipse her true glory. The plummet {stone 
 of tin, Heb.) in the hand of Zerubbabel indicated that 
 the work was there going forward to completion. 
 
 Y. 12 — 14. "And I answered and said unto liim, ' Wliat are these 
 two olive trees on the right hand of the candlestick, and on the 
 left V And I answered again and said unto him, ' Wliat are the 
 two olive branches which through the tubes of gold pour out the 
 
156 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IV. 
 
 12 And I answered again, and said en pipes empty the golden oil out of i 
 • nnto him, "What be these two olive themselves? ' 
 
 hranches which through the two gold- 13 And he answered me and said, 
 
 golden oil from tlicmsclves ?' And he answered unto me, saying, 
 ' Knowest thou not what these are V And I said, ' No, my lord.' 
 ' These are the two sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole 
 earth.' " 
 
 The meaning of the ohve trees, or as the prophet 
 sees more distinctly, of the two ohve branches, is next 
 explained. The two questions are asked, and the first 
 left unanswered in vs. 11, 12, to draw special attention 
 to the duality of the olive branches. To what does this 
 refer ? The answer is, to the two anointed ones that 
 minister before G od. Who are these ? They refer to 
 some standing channel of blessing from God, and are 
 alluded to again in Rev. 11 : 3, 4, in terms that cannot 
 be mistaken. Without entering at length into the 
 reasons for the opinion, we simply affirm that they 
 refer to a duality of gracious manifestation from God, 
 corresponding to a duality of necessity in the nature of 
 man. There are two grand evils to be overcome, guilt 
 and pollution, and they demand two standing sources of 
 blessing, the one to remove the guilt by atonement, the 
 other to remove the power of sin by giving a higher 
 power of holiness. These two sources are embodied in 
 two official forms, the only two that were connected 
 with the theocracy as permanent elements, the sacer- 
 dotal and regal orders. They existed once in Mel- 
 chisedek, but were ever afterwards divided, as in Moses 
 and Aaron, Joshua and Zerubbabel, &c., &c., until the 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER lY. 157 
 
 Knowcst thou not what these he ? And anointed ones, that stand hy tlic Lord 
 I said, No, my lord. of the whole earth. 
 
 14 Then said he, These are the two 
 
 lime of the Messiah, who again combined them in his 
 own person, and who by his work, made his people 
 kings and priests unto God. Tliis duahty marked all 
 the manifestations of God, for it rested on a deep neces- 
 sity of human nature, and it was then embodied in the 
 persons of Joshua and Zerubbabel. Since then they 
 were so essential to the theocracy, the people need not 
 suppose that God would allow them to perish, but 
 would continue them in existence until he should come 
 who was a priest after the order of Melchisedek. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The Church is the same under both dispensa- 
 tions, for the promises made to her then are only ful- 
 filling now, showing that then and now she was the 
 same Church. The candlestick is the same, though the 
 tubes may be changed, and the Church is the same, 
 though her official channels be totally altered. 
 
 (2.) The Church is the light of the world, and only as 
 Christians show forth their light are they fulfilling their 
 duty, (v. 1—3.) 
 
 (3.) God has provided an unfailing source of strength 
 for his people. Their suppty comes not from a dead 
 reservoir of oil, but a living olive tree, that is ever 
 drawing from the rich earth its generous furnishings, 
 and then distilling them by seven pipes, a perfect 
 
158 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IV. 
 
 number, to those who are to be burning and shinmg 
 lights, (v. 1—3.) 
 
 (4.) The whole work of religion in the heart of the 
 individual, and throughout the world, is of grace. 
 Christ is at once the corner-stone and the cope-stone of 
 the Church ; and as he was greeted with shoutings of 
 "grace!" when he came the first time, much more 
 shall he when he comes the second time, without sin to 
 salvation, (v. 7.) 
 
 (5.) We are prone to judge of God's work by man's 
 standard ; and because we see but a narrow stream from 
 the fountain, doubt or deny the river, (v. 9.) 
 
 (6.) It is not only unwise, but it is wicked to be dis- 
 heartened because of the external feebleness of the 
 Church, compared with the work she has to do, and the 
 enemies she has to encounter. God is her strength, 
 her glory and her hope, and to despair of her is to 
 deny God, (v. 10.) 
 
 (7.) The doctrine and discipline of the Church, the 
 truth and power that God has lodged in her organiza- 
 tion and her ordinances, are still the standing channels 
 through which the spirit pours the oil of grace and 
 strength, and hence should both be kept pure and un- 
 clogged, (v. 11 — 14.) 
 
z E c II A R I A 11 . — c n A r T E R V . 159 
 
 1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine thou ? And I answered, I see a flying 
 eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll ; the length thereof is twenty cu- 
 "■oU- bits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. 
 
 2 And he said unto mc. What seest 3 Then said he unto me. This is the 
 
 Vision YI. 
 
 Chapter 5 : l—i.— Tkc Flying Roll. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. An outstretched roll is seen flying through the air, twenty by 
 ten cubits, (v. 1, 2.) 
 
 II. The meaning of the vision. A threatening against all trans- 
 gressorg of either table of the law, (v. 3, 4.) 
 
 V. 1 — 4. " Then I turned and raised my eyes, and looked, and 
 behold a tij'ing roll. And he {the interpreting angel) said unto me, 
 ' What dost thou see V And I said, ' I see a flying roll, in length 
 twenty cubits, and in breadth ten cubits.' Then he said unto me, 
 ' This is the curse that goes forth before the face of the whole 
 land, for every thief shall be cut off according to this side, and 
 every perjurer shall be cut ofi" according to that side. I have 
 caused it to go forth, saith Jehovah of Hosts, and it shall go into 
 the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears 
 falsely by my name, and it shall dwell in the midst of it, and it 
 consumes their house, and its wood and its stone.' " 
 
 The import of this vision is threatening, to show that 
 the object of the prophet was to produce genuine peni- 
 tence. The parts are significant. A roll, probably of 
 parchment, is seen, 30 by 15 feet, the exact dimensions 
 of the temple porch, where the law was usually read, 
 showino- that it was authoritative in its utterance, and 
 connected with the theocracy. Being a written thing, 
 
160 ZECHAEIAH. CHAPTER V. 
 
 curse that goeth forth over the face of sweareth shall be cut off as on that 
 
 the whole earth : for every one that side, according to it. 
 
 stealeth shall be cut off as on this side, 4 I will bring it forth, saith the 
 
 according to it ; and every one that Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into 
 
 it showed that its contents were solemnly determined, 
 beyond all escape or repeal. It was flying, to show that 
 its threats were ready to do their work, and descend on 
 every transgressor. It was unrolled, or the dimensions 
 could not have been seen, to show that its warnings 
 were openly proclaimed to all, that none might have an 
 excuse. It was written on both sides, to connect it with 
 the tables of the law, and show its comprehensive char- 
 acter. One side denounced perjury, a sin of the first 
 table, the other stealing, a sin of the second ; and both 
 iniited in every case where a thief took the oath of ex- 
 purgation to acquit himself of the charge of theft. This 
 hovering curse would descend in every such case into 
 the house of the offender, and consume even its most 
 enduring parts, until it had thoroughly done its work of 
 destruction. 
 
 The immediate application of this vision was to those 
 who were neglecting the erection of God's house to 
 build their own, and thus robbing God, and forswear- 
 ing their obligations to him. On such the prophet de- 
 clares a curse shall descend, that will make this selfish 
 withholding of their efforts in vain, for the houses they 
 would build should be consumed by God's wrath. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 The teaching of this vision is that of the law. It 
 
Z E C 11 A R I A II . CHAPTER Y . 161 
 
 the Louse of the thief, and into tlic mid.st of his house, and shall consume 
 house of him that swearetli falsely by it with the timber thereof and the 
 my name : and it shall remain in the stones thereof. 
 
 blazes with the fire and echoes the thunder of Sinai, and 
 tells us that our God is a consuming fire. We learn thus a 
 lesson of instruction to those who have succeeded the 
 prophets of the Old Testament, as the authorized expound- 
 ers of God's will under the Xew, It is needful to tell the 
 love of God, to unfold his precious promises, and to utter 
 words of cheer and encouragement. But it is also needful 
 to declare the other aspect of God's character.- There is 
 a constant tendency in the human heart to abuse the 
 goodness of God to an encouragement of sin. Hence, 
 ministers of the gospel must declare this portion of 
 God's counsel as well as the other. They must declare 
 to men who are living in neglect of duty, that withhold- 
 ing what is due to God, either in heart or life, is com- 
 bined robber}- and perjmy. For those who thus sin, 
 God has prepared a ministry of vengeance. There is 
 something most vivid and appalling in this image of the 
 hovering curse. It flies viewless, and resistless, poising 
 like a falcon over her prey, breathing a ruin the most 
 dire and desolating, and wdien the blind and hardened 
 offender opens his door to his ill-gotten gains, this mys- 
 tic roll, with its fire-tracery ^of wrath, enters into his 
 habitation, and fastening upon his cherished idols, be- 
 gins its dread work of retribution, and ceases not until 
 the fabric of his guilty life has been totally and irreme- 
 diabl}" consumed. 
 
162 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER V. 
 
 5 "j Then the angel that talked with 6 And I said, What is it? and he 
 
 me went forth, and said unto me, said. This is an ephah that goeth forth. 
 
 Lift up now thine eyes, and see what He said moreover, Tliis u their resem- 
 
 is this that gocth forth. blance through all tlie earth. 
 
 Vision VII. 
 
 Chapter 5 : 5 — 11. — The Woman in the Ephah. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. An cphah is seen coming forth, in which a woman was sitting. 
 A talent of lead was raised up and laid on the ephah, which was 
 then lifted np by two winged women and carried into the land of 
 Shinar, (v. 5—11.) 
 
 II. The explanation of the vision: that the people for their sins 
 should be carried into a long and distant exile, (v. 8, 11.) 
 
 V. 5 — 11. "Then the angel that talked wnth me went forth, and 
 said unto me, ' Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and see wdiat this is 
 that goeth forth.' And I said, 'What is this V And he said, ' This 
 is the ephah which goeth forth,' and he said, ' This is their appear- 
 ance in all the land.' And behold a talent of lead was lifted up. 
 'But this is the woman that is sitting in the midst of the ephah.' 
 And he said, ' This is wickedness.' And he thrust her down into 
 the midst of the ephah, and he cast the stone of lead upon its 
 mouth. And I raised my eyes and saw, and behold two women 
 came out, and the wind in their wings, for they had wings like the 
 wings of a stork, and they raised the ephah between earth and 
 heaven. And I said to the angel that talked with me, ' Where do 
 these carry the ephah V And he said unto me, ' To build for it a 
 house in the land of Shinar: and it {the house) shall be settled and 
 fixed on its own base.' " 
 
 This vision, like the preceding, is of a warning char- 
 acter, and somewhat more obscure in its symbohcal ap- 
 paratus. A Klim outhne rises to the eye of the pro^Dhet, 
 
Z E C II A R I A H . CHAPTER V . 1 03 
 
 7 And behold, there was lifted up a And ho cast it into the midst of the 
 talent of lead : and this is a woman ephah ; and he cast the weight of lead 
 that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. upon the mouth thereof. 
 
 8 And he said, This is wickedness. 9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and 
 
 to which the angel calls his attention, but which be can- 
 not at first distinctly make out. The angel tells him 
 that it is an ephah, a very common dry measure con- 
 taining about three pecks. He then sees a mass of lead 
 containing about a cwt., lifted up above the measure, 
 and on looking more closely he sees a woman in the 
 measure. This woman is then violently thrust down 
 into the measure, and the mass of lead laid upon its 
 mouth, after which two winged women carry it away 
 into the land of Shinar, where it was to be permanent- 
 ly deposited in a house prepared for it there. 
 
 The general meaning of this is to show, that when 
 the measure of the people's wickedness became full, 
 then their punishment should come, and the}^ should 
 again be carried into the land of their enemies in exile, 
 not for seventy years, but for a long time. As the fly- 
 ing roll symbolized the certainty and completeness of 
 their punishment, so this vision indicated its swift- 
 ness and mode. The ephah is selected simply as a com- 
 mon dry measure, to symbolize the thought that there 
 is a certain measure of sin beyond which the people 
 cannot go with impunit}^ The woman sitting in it, rep- 
 resents the Jewish people, by a common figure. The 
 phrase, "this is their appearance (Heb. eije) in all the 
 land," V. G, simply means, this represents that to which 
 the people are looking, or tending, viz., to fill up the 
 
164 ZECIIAEIAH. CHAPTER V. 
 
 looked, and behold, there came out wings ; for they had wings like the 
 two women, and the wind xcas in their wings of a stork : and they lifted up 
 
 measure of their sin, and when they have filled up the 
 measure of their sin, God will lay upon them their pun- 
 ishment. When the prophet perceives the woman in 
 the measure, he is told that this is (represents) wicked- 
 ness, i. e. that of the Jewish people. Henderson thinks 
 that the wickedness here represented was idolatry, and 
 that the vision predicted the removal of idolatry from 
 Palestine to Babylon. But there is no reason at all to 
 limit it thus, but rather the contrary. Idolatry had not 
 been a sin of the Jews for a century, and would hardly 
 be represented as an existing thing, as this vision does. 
 It did not exist in the land, and could not, therefore, be 
 removed out of it. Moreover, it was not removed to 
 Babylon, in any sense, literally or figuratively, and did 
 not remain there as the vision declares, (v. 11,) for the 
 Mohammedan occujDants of that region are not idola- 
 ters. Hence the explanation that refers it to the entire 
 wickedness of the Jewish people of all kinds, is more 
 consistent with the preceding vision, and gives a better 
 sense. The mass of lead symbolizes the heavy judg- 
 ment that God was holding over them, and which at the 
 fulness of time he would allow to fall. Accordingly, 
 the wicked woman is thrust down into the small meas- 
 ure, crushed and doubled together, and the heavyweight 
 laid upon her to keep her thus prostrate. Then there 
 appear two winged messengers, with outstretched pin- 
 ions, as if the wind was raising them up, and their 
 
:Z E C II A R I A II . CHAPTER V . 1 05 
 
 the cphah between the earth and the talked witli me, 'Wliithci- do these 
 heaven. bear the ephali? 
 
 10 Then said I to the ansrel that 
 
 wings were strong for flight like those of the stork. There 
 were two, because it required two persons to hft such a 
 measure. They symbohzcd the messengers of God's 
 wrath that should desolate Judea, and banish the peo- 
 ple. They were to carry it into Shinar, which is here 
 the symbol for an enemy's country, and not the exact 
 country to which they w^erc be exiled. There it 
 was to be put in a house, shut up, and this Iiouse to 
 be built strongly and securely for a permanent habita- 
 tion, to show that this exile w^ould not be like the first, 
 a brief sojourn, but a long, weary and enduring 
 banishment from the land of their fathers ; when their 
 resting should not be on God, or on the rock Christ Je- 
 sus, but on "their own base," they should be left 
 to themselves, weighed down like lead with judicial 
 blindness, stupidity, darkness, and hardness of heart. 
 ' The vision then predicted what happened four hun- 
 dred years afterwards, when the measure of their ini- 
 quity being full by the rejection and murder of the Mes- 
 siah, their hearts being gross and their ears heavy, the 
 hour of vengeance came. Then appeared the Roman 
 eagles, and after the most desperate struggle, the Jew- 
 ish nation was crashed, and scattered to the four winds, 
 wandering in enemies' countries, not resting on the 
 promise of God, but weighed down with leaden obsti- 
 nacy, and resting on their own works and righteous- 
 
1G6 ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER V. 
 
 11 And he said unto me. To build it shall be established, and set there 
 it an house in the land of Shinar : and ujion her own base. 
 
 V ness. How striking the symbol ! liow fearful the ful- 
 filment ! 
 
 TRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Every individual, and every nation, has a measure 
 of sin ; and until that measure is filled up, God's long- 
 suffering will wait for repentance and reformation, (v. 
 5,6.) 
 
 (2.) There hangs above each sinner a crushing weight 
 of wrath, poised and ready to descend with overwhelm- 
 ing destruction, (v. 7.) 
 
 (3.) If the measure is filled up, the weight shall fall 
 and crush the sinner with its ponderous mass of punish- 
 ment, (v. 8.) ■ ■ ^ 
 
 (4.) The finally impenitent shall be driven from God 
 into gloomy exile, and left to himself, "to rest on his 
 own base," to be subject to the thrall of his own law- 
 less lusts that he has so long pampered into strength, 
 and to reap as he has sowed, through a long and limit- 
 less banishment, (v. 11.) 
 
ZECHARIAII. Cn AFTER YI. 167 
 
 1 And I turned, and lifted up mine two mountains ; and tlic mountains 
 ej'cs and looked, and beliold, there were mountains of brass, 
 came four chariots out from between 2 In the first cliariot tvere red 
 
 Vision YIII. 
 
 Chapter G : 1 — 8. — The Four Chariots. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The vision. Four chariots with four diiTcn-outly colored 
 horses come forth from between two brazen mountains, (v. 1 — 4.) 
 
 II. The meaning of the vision: that they were God's agencies in 
 executing his purposes of wrath and mercy on earth, (v. 5, 6.) 
 
 III. The result of these agencies, protection to the people of 
 God, punishment to their enemies, (v. 7, 8.) 
 
 V. 1 — 8. " And I turned and lifted up mine eyes and saw, and 
 behold four chariots came out from between two mountains, and 
 the two 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 piebald 
 and fleet {or strong) horses. And I answered and said unto the 
 angel that talked with me, ' What are those, my lord V And the 
 angel answered and said unto me, ' These are the four winds of the 
 heavens, going forth from standing before the Lord of the whole 
 earth. That which has the black horses goes forth to the north 
 country, and the w^hite go forth following them; and the piebald 
 go forth to the south country.' And the fleet went forth, and they 
 desired to go that they might walk through the earth; and he said, 
 ' Go walk through the earth;' and they walked through the earth ! 
 And he cried to me, and spake to me saying, ' Behold these that 
 go forth into the land of the north have quieted my spirit in the 
 land of the north.' " 
 
 The scene of tliis Yision is in all probability the valley 
 of Jehoshaphat, which lies between Mount Moriah and 
 the Mount of Olives. The reason for selecting this spot 
 
168 ZECnARIAH. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 horses ; and in the second chariot horses ; and in the fourth chariot 
 Wack liorses ; grizzled and bay horses. 
 
 3 And in tlie third cliariot wliite 4 Then I answered and said unto 
 
 was its proximity to the temple, which was the standing 
 symbol of the theocracy. This was the nearest spot to 
 the temple, accessible to chariots, and hence the most 
 suitable for locating a vision which referred to the theo- 
 cracy. The prophet saw four chariots coming forth 
 from between two mountains of brass. The chariot 
 being used mainly in war, and on great state occasions, 
 was a symbol of authority, and owing to its warlike use, 
 of judgment. The number four has the same signifi- 
 cance here as in the four winds of Daniel, the four 
 cherubs of Ezekiel, the four angels at the four corners 
 of the earth in the Apocalypse, and the four horns and 
 four artificers of the second vision. Alluding to the 
 four points of the compass, it is the symbol of univer- 
 sality, a judgment that goes in every direction. The 
 two mountains were the mountains that stood around 
 Jerusalem, on one of whicli the temple stood. They 
 symbolized the immovable foundation on which the 
 theocracy rested, viz., the promise and purpose of God ; 
 and to give strength to this symbol, the mountains are 
 represented as brazen. Brass being a much more 
 valuable metal, both absolutely and relatively, to the 
 ancients than it is to the moderns, it serves to indicate 
 at once the strength of the protection with which God 
 surrounds the Church, like a mountain of brass, and the 
 resistless might that accompanied the judgment that was 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER VI. 169 
 
 the angel that talked with me, "\Miat 5 And the angel answered and said 
 are these, my lord ? unto me, These are the four spirits 
 
 thus threatened. The duahty of the mountains is 
 probably not significant, or if so, has essentiahy the 
 same meaning with the two ohve trees of vision fifth. 
 But it probably refers only to the locality of the temple, 
 which being on Moriah, a chariot could only approach 
 it by coming between two mountains. The chariots, 
 or winds, had been stationed at the temple, awaiting the 
 commands of God, and having received their com- 
 mands the prophet sees them going forth to obey them. 
 The colors of the horses are significant. Red, the 
 color of blood indicates carnage ; black, sorrow and 
 death ; white, victory ; and piebald, a combination of 
 them all, with the additional epithet of strong or fleet, 
 to show the nature of the judgments to be inflicted. 
 The angel declares these chariots to be the four winds 
 of heaven, that are often in Scripture the symbols of 
 the means employed by God, to execute his will. Two 
 of the chariots go toward the north, the countiy of 
 Babylon ; one toward the south, Egypt, (these being 
 the two greatest enemies of Israel at that period ;) and 
 one, the red probably, here also called fleet, went 
 through all the earth, so as to include all possible ene- 
 mies. More chariots are sent against Babylon than 
 Egypt because of her greater cruelty and guilt. The 
 black horses that went forth to Babylon, symbolized the 
 trouble that was coming upon that haughty city, and 
 the white horses that followed indicated that this trouble 
 11 
 
170 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 of the heavens, which go forth from 6 The black horses which are therein 
 standing before the Lord of all the go forth into the north country ; and 
 earth. the white go forth after them ; and 
 
 would terminate in conquest and subjugation. This 
 was fulfilled about three years after the utterance of 
 the prophecy, when Babylon revolted against the Per- 
 sian rule, and was completely destroyed by Darius. 
 God explains the vision by declaring that the chariots 
 that went forth against Babylon had appeased his wrath 
 by inflicting punishment on that country, and it follows 
 that the same is true of the other chariots, although the 
 fact is not specifically mentioned. Babylon being the 
 great enemy of the Jews, it only is mentioned, and 
 others follow as a matter of course. For illustrations 
 of the phrase, "quieted my spirit," in the sense of 
 " pacify," see Ezek. 5 : 13 ; 16 : 41 ; 24 : 13. 
 
 Such is the vision. The general meaning of it is 
 very clear. The enemies of the Church shall be 
 punished, is the motto of the picture, and the purport 
 of the vision. The immediate application of the truth 
 was to the existing circumstances of the Jewish church, 
 but it contains a general proposition or law of the divine 
 procedure that is now in fulfilment, and will so continue 
 until the restitution of all things spoken of by the holy 
 prophets since the world began. Following the pre- 
 ceding vision, which denounced wrath on the Jews, it 
 declares that after the Jews have been punished, God 
 will destroy their enemies, who will also be the enemies 
 of the Church. Now, as the threatened punishment of 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VI. 171 
 
 the gri;2zlcil go forth towards the south 7 And tlic bay went forth, and 
 country. sought to go that they might walk to 
 
 the Jews is not yet completed, so this punishment 
 which was to follow that completion is also incomplete, 
 and the main fulfilment yet to come. 
 
 We have therefore in this vision an instance of what 
 has been called the continuous fulfdment of prophecy. 
 This takes place when the prophecy is not so much a 
 simple prediction of facts, as the annunciation of a great 
 principle of divine procedure, in the garb of existing 
 and well-known facts, but yet equally applicable to 
 other facts all along the history of God's dealings with 
 man. Thus the most abstract and formulated statement 
 of the essence of this vision is, the enemies of the 
 Church shall be punished. Its immediate application 
 was to Babylon and Egypt, the existing representatives 
 of the ancient enmity of the serpent's seed, but this 
 application is of course but a single one, that does not 
 exclude the future examples of this principle of the 
 divine government, that may and must arise. This is 
 wholly different from the old double sense of prophecy, 
 and is a most obvious and reasonable canon of inter- 
 pretation. 
 
 And how striking the fulfilment of this threatening, 
 when we remember the circumstances under which it 
 was made. Could the haughty nobles of Babylon, in 
 the gorgeousness of its magnificence, and the pride of 
 its power, have heard the threatening of this obscure 
 Jew, amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, with what derision 
 
172 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 and fro through the earth : and he through the earth. So they walked 
 said, Get you hence, walk to and fro to and fro through the earth. 
 
 and contempt would they have treated the threat ! The 
 anathema that was so feebly uttered against the might- 
 iest and richest city of the world, to the eye of sense 
 seemed like the ravings of lunacy. Yet that feeble 
 whisper was the uttered voice of Jehovah, and the ^ 
 elements of ruin in their remotest lurking-place heard 
 the summons, and began to come forth. Slowly and 
 silently did they come up to this dread work, and yet 
 surely and resistlessly, until the glory of these high 
 palaces was dimmed, and the magnificence of these 
 gardens and temples was covered, and now the winds 
 whistle through the reeds of the Euphrates, where 
 Babylon then sat in her pride ; and loneliness, desola- 
 tion and death are stationed there the sentinel wit- 
 nesses of the truth that His word returns not to 
 him void, that His spirit is quieted in the land of the 
 north. 
 
 Egypt also was yet proud and powerful, Memphis 
 still sat in her queenly pride by the old and solemn 
 Nile, and Thebes still retained the glory of that wonder- 
 ful architecture that yet amazes the world. They had 
 stood thus from the hoariest antiquity, and how should 
 it be thought that at the bidding of the descendant of 
 an Egyptian slave, this ancient magnificence would 
 depart. Yet this bidding was obeyed, and wave after 
 wave of desolation swept over this haughty land, until 
 now the pyramids, the sphinxes and the temples of the 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER VI. 173 
 
 8 Then cried he upon me, and that go toward the north country have 
 spake unto me, saying, Behokl, these quieted my spirit in the north country. 
 
 mighty past, but mock the degenerate baseness of the 
 mournful present. 
 
 Thus was it Liter in history with Greece and Rome, 
 thus shall it be with guilty and godless Europe, thus 
 shall it be with every enemy of the Church, who at- 
 tempts to thwart the designs of God in the world. But 
 as the final development of this vision of judgment was 
 to be subsequent to the completion of the threatened 
 punishment of the Jews, we know that it has not yet 
 received its last and mightiest fulfilment. That shall 
 take place only when the Lord descends from heaven 
 with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the 
 trump of God, and when he shall be revealed from 
 heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on all his 
 enemies. Then, and not until then, shall this vision 
 receive its last, its most terrible, and complete fulfilment", 
 in the dread scenes of that day for which all other days 
 were made. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The history of the world is all arranged and 
 conducted in reference to the destinies of the Church, 
 and the agencies that control that history go forth 
 from the seat of the Church's great head, the unseen 
 temple, (v. 1.) 
 
 (2.) God has in operation every species of agency, 
 human and angelic, animate and inanimate, needful for 
 
174 ZECHARIAn. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 9 «j And the word of the Lord came Jedaiah, which are come from Baby- 
 \mto me, saying, Ion, and come tliou tlie same day, and 
 
 10 Talve of them of the captivity, go into the house of Josiah, the son of 
 even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Zephaniah ; 
 
 the accomplishment of his pm^poses. and will send them 
 forth at the proper time. Hence political changes and 
 revolutions are, after all, only the moving of the shadow 
 on the earthly dial-plate, that marks the mightier 
 motions going forward in the heavens, (v. 2 — 8.) 
 
 Vision IX. 
 
 Chapter 6 : 9 — 15. — The Crowning of Joshua. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The symbolic act. The prophet commanded to take of the silver 
 and gold that a deputation from Babylon had brought, and make 
 a crown to be placed on the head of Joshua, (v. 9 — 11.) 
 
 II. Its meaning. Joshua, the crowned high priest, typified the 
 Messiah, who was to be at once priest and king, and who would 
 complete the great work of redemption, and reconciliation be- 
 tween God and man, (v. 12—15.) 
 
 I 
 
 V. 9 — 15. "And the word of Jehovah came unto me saying: Take 
 of {them of) the captivity, of Heldai, of Tobijah, of Jedaiah, and 
 go thou in that day, and go to the house of Josiah the son of 
 Zephaniah, who {all) have come from Babylon: and take thou sil- 
 ver and gold, and make crowns, and place them on the head of 
 Joshua the son of Jozedek, the high priest. And speak to him 
 saying, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: Behold a man whose name 
 is Branch, from his place shall he grow up, and he shall build the 
 temple of Jehovah. And he shall build the temple of Jehovah, and 
 he shall bear majesty, and he sits and reigns upon his throne, and 
 is a priest upon his throne, and the council of peace shall be be- 
 tween them both. And the crowns shall be to Helem and to Tobi- 
 
ZECIIARIAII. CHAPTER VI. 175 
 
 11 Then take silver and gold, and head of Joshua the son of Joscdcch, 
 make crowns, and set tliem upon tlie the high priest ; 
 
 jab, and to Jcdaiah, and to Ilcn the son of Zcphaniah, for a me- 
 morial in the tcmjile of Jehovah. And the far oflf shall come and 
 build in the temple of Jehovah, and ye shall know that Jehovah 
 of Hosts hath sent me unto you, and it shall be thus {to you) if yc 
 will listen to the voice of Jehovah your God." 
 
 This vision concludes the revelations of that memora- 
 ble night, and they end as they began, like other reve- 
 lations of God, in Christ. In this closing vision, or 
 rather liv^ing tableau, which he was commanded to have 
 made in concluding the visions of the night, two things 
 demand investigation: (1,) the symbolic action, and 
 (2,) the meaning of it, as explained by God himself. 
 
 (1.) The symbolic action. 
 
 A deputation of Jews had brought gold and silver 
 from Babylon to Jerusalem to aid in the erection of the 
 temple. This deputation consisted of four men, who 
 represented those by whom they were sent. This rep- 
 resentative character appears in their names, which are 
 significant, and which, in two cases, are changed, to call 
 attention as it would seem to their significant character. 
 Heldai, which means robust, is changed for Helem, 
 which means strong ; Tobijah means the goodness of 
 God ; Jedaiah is, God knows ; and Josiah, which signi- 
 fies God founds, is changed for the kindred name Hen, 
 grace, whilst the name of his father Zephaniah means 
 God protects. In consequence of the peculiar gram- 
 matical construction of one clause, "who have come 
 from Babylon," it has been supposed that Josiah was 
 
176 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 12 And speak unto him, saying, The BRANCH ; and he shall grow up 
 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, say- out of his place, and he shall build the 
 ing, Behold the man whose name is temple of the Lord : 
 
 not of the deputation, but a resident of Jerusalem at 
 whose house they lodged, and this would seem to have 
 been the interpretation of our English translators, by 
 their transposition of this clause to another part of the 
 verse. But the position of it after the name of Josiah 
 seems to be designed to indicate him as one of the 
 number, and giving the relative ("who") its usual 
 meaning, we have a clear and consistent sense. It is 
 only necessary to suppose that Josiah was the treasurer 
 of the deputation, and that the gold and silver were at 
 his house, to see why it was necessary to go there to 
 obtain it for this symbolic purpose. The prophet was 
 commanded to take the other members of the deputa- 
 tion, and obtain from the whole of them a portion of 
 the precious metals they had brought with them from 
 Babylon. Of this metal he was to make crowns, or 
 perhaps one crown compounded of two or more parts, 
 such as Christ is represented as wearing, Rev. 19 : 12, 
 (many crowns or diadems.) The verb is singular. This 
 diadem, or combined crown, was to be placed on the 
 head of Joshua the high priest, to set forth a great fact 
 in the future, which is explained in the succeeding 
 verses. The symbohc action then was, to take the gold 
 and silver of the deputation, and make a crown which 
 was first to be placed on the head of Joshua, and after- 
 wards hung up as a memorial in the temple. 
 
Z E C H A R I A II . CHAPTER VI. 177 
 
 13 Even he shall build the temple of and shall sit and rule upon his throne: 
 the LoRB ; and he shall bear the glory, and he shall be a priest upon his 
 
 (2.) The explanation of this symbolic action. 
 
 There are two points involved in this explanation : 
 1st, what is meant by putting the crown on Joshua ; 
 and 2d, why the material was taken from the treasure 
 brought by the deputation. 
 
 1st. What did the crowning of Joshua signify ? 
 Joshua, as high priest, we have seen in Vision IV., to 
 be himself a tj'pical person, and hence was fitted to 
 receive this symbolic act, which was significant of an 
 investiture with kingly authority. This kingly author- 
 ity could not be promised to Joshua individually, for 
 the office was limited to the family of David. It must 
 then have referred to him in his typical character, as 
 the representative type of the Messiah. This is put 
 beyond doubt by the epithet Branch, which is reall}' 
 one of the appellations of the Messiah, as may be seen 
 in Jer. 23 : 5, 33 : 15, and Zech. 3 : 8. Hence the 
 crowning of Joshua was a typical representation of the 
 conferring of kingly power on the Messiah. 
 
 We have in vs. 12, 13, a description of the Messiah. 
 The phrase " from his place shall he grow up," is a 
 description of his obscure origin. He shall not openly 
 descend from heaven, in visible gloiy and greatness, but 
 shall slowly grow up out of the earth, in lowly humilia- 
 tion. This was true of him as a man, for he was the 
 humble carpenter's son for thirty years, and grew slowly 
 in the shade as aNazarene. It was true of him as Mes- 
 
178 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 throne: and the counsel of peace shall 14 And the crowns shall be to He- 
 be between them both. lem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, 
 
 siah, for he was a root out of a dry ground, despised 
 and rejected of man. It has been true of hhn as a 
 recognized Saviour in the world, for his Church began 
 as a httle flock, and is yet in a minority among men. 
 It is true of him as a life in each heart, for Christ is 
 formed within us the hope of glory, gradually, first the 
 blade, then the stalk, and then the full ear in the stalk. 
 Hence this j)lii'ase is strikingly descriptive of the 
 Messiah as he has been actually nianifested in the 
 person of Jesus, 
 
 The building of the temple of Jehovah, which is 
 repeated for emphasis, to show its prominence in his 
 work, is explained by Christ himself, when he says, 
 " destroy this temple, and in three days I will build 
 it again," which in like manner has its full significance 
 only in that Church which is at once the body of Christ, 
 and the spiritual temple founded on apostles and 
 prophets, with that corner-stone which the builders 
 rejected. " Bearing the majesty," refers to the kingly 
 glory that shall be his, in spite of his lowly origin. He 
 shall bear the crown. This is more fully expressed by 
 the words "he shall sit," (i. e. securely and permanently) 
 " reign," as a king, though the beginning of his kingdom 
 is thus obscure. 
 
 His character is more fully set forth in the next 
 phrase, "a priest upon his throne," which asserts the 
 kingly and priestly character of Messiah, as it is asserted 
 
ZECHARIAn. CHAPTER VI. 179 
 
 and to Hen the sonof Zephaniah, fora 15 And they that are far off shall 
 memorial in the temple of the Lord. come and hnild in tlic temple of the 
 
 in Ps. 110 : 4, " tlioii art a priest forever after the order 
 of Melcliiseclek," i. e. a kingly priest, and a priestly 
 king. 
 
 The phrase in v. 13, " the counsel of peace shall be 
 between them both," refers to the union of the priestly 
 and kingly offices in the work of redemption. " The 
 counsel of peace " is the counsel that produces peace, 
 and this is done by Christ in the exercise of these twoy. 
 offices, by one of which he purchases redemption, and 
 by the other applies it ; by the one expiates sin, and by 
 the other extirpates it ; and thus reconciling man and 
 God, causes peace on earth, and good will to man. We 
 have, then, in these words a full description of the 
 atoning work of the Messiah, and the application of 
 that work in the development of the Church. 
 
 TVe are now able to see, 2dly, why the material for 
 the crown was taken from the gold brought by the dep- 
 utation. It was to typify the introduction of the 
 Gentiles into the Church. This is directly asserted in 
 V. 15, " and the far off," (the very expression used by 
 Paul in Eph. 2 : 17, to designate the Gentile Ephesians, 
 "you that are afar off") shall come and build in the 
 temple of Jehovah, and carry forward his glorious 
 kingdom. This is then an exact parallel to ch. 2 : 11, 
 8 : 10, Isa. 60 : 9, 10, and many other passages of a 
 like purport. The silver and gold were brought from 
 the distant captives, and the crown was to be hung up 
 
180 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Lord ; and ye shall know that the diligently ohey the voice of the Loeb 
 Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. your God. 
 And this shall come to pass, if ye will 
 
 in the temple as a memorial of the fact, that the distant 
 outcast nations were coming, and would one day be 
 admitted to the full privileges of the Church. The 
 condition of this blessing is then given in the words 
 that follow, declaring that if the theocratic people are 
 faithful they shall retain their privileges, but if unfaith- 
 ful, they shall be cut off, and the wild olive branches 
 graffed into the original tree, and that the fulfilment of 
 this prophecy would prove his divine mission as a 
 prophet. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) We have here, then, a jDroclamation of the mis- 
 sionary character of the Church. Christ is yet a Branch, 
 yet growing, and not yet revealed, and hence men 
 reject him. But he is yet a king, despite of the lowli- 
 ness of his Church, and the wickedness of men, and as 
 such we must acknowledge him. It is only by resting 
 upon him as a priest and as a king that our souls can 
 find peace. We must be pardoned by his atonement, 
 and governed by his laws, or we can never be at peace. 
 To those who refuse to receive him in these offices, he 
 will come again in power and great glory, to take ven- 
 geance on all his enemies, (v. 12, 13.) 
 . (2.) The crown that yet hangs in the temple, is a call 
 to missionary activity. We may be able to do but 
 little, so were the Jews in Babylon, but that little must 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTERS VII., VIII. 181 
 
 be done, and God will bless us. We cannot go in 
 person to this work, neither could thej, but we may 
 send our representatives as they did, to act in our place. 
 Men are found willing to go far hence among the Gen- 
 tiles, and only ask the Church to enable them to do so, 
 and wo ! to the church that refuses to respond. Obe- 
 dience is the condition of inheritance, and if we refuse 
 to listen to God, God will refuse to listen to us, and 
 will cast us off from his kingdom as he did the faithless 
 Jews, and we remain as do they, a fearful memorial of 
 the danger of neglecting the commands of God. How 
 shall the far off hear without a preacher, and how shall 
 they 2^reacli except they be sent. The missionary 
 activity of the Church is the circulation of her life- 
 blood ; suspend this and she swoons, stop it and she 
 dies, (v. 14.) 
 
 (3.) The two great themes of the preacher are sin 
 and salvation ; man a great sinner, Christ a great 
 saviour ; and the great test of piety in preacher and 
 people is the fervency of the niissionaiy spirit, (v. 15.) 
 
 Part II. — Didactic. 
 
 Chapters 1, 8. 
 
 The occasion that called forth this portion of the 
 prophecy, was a question of casuistry. There was but 
 one fast appointed by the Mosaic law, the day of atone- 
 
182 ZECHARIAn. — CHAPTERS VII., VIII. 
 
 ment, and this was rather an incident connected with 
 the day, than a prominent part of its observances. But 
 in process of time other stated fasts were instituted among 
 the Jewish people, which gradually became very strin- 
 gent in their binding authority. One of these was on 
 the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, the 17th day of the 4th month ; or the 
 month Thammuz, answering to the moon of July. A 
 second was on the 9th day of the 5th month, Ab, (Au- 
 gust,) commemorating the burning of the city by Nebu- 
 zaradan, and the destruction of the holy and beautiful 
 house of their fathers. A third was on the 3d day of 
 the 7th month, Tishri, (the moon of October,) in mem- 
 ory of the massacre of Gedaliah and others by Ishmael, 
 as recorded in Jer. 41 :1 — 10. A fourth was on the 
 loth of the 10th month, Tebeth, (January,) the day 
 that Nebuchadnezzar commenced the siege of Jerusa- 
 lem. These were all merely human appointments, but 
 like all similar additions to God's ordinances, they soon 
 obtain a control over the minds of the people that led 
 them into superstition. They were observed with great 
 care doubtless during the captivity, and even after the 
 return of the people from Babylon. But after the re- 
 turn, a question as to the propriety of their continu- 
 ance arose in the minds of some, for the solution of 
 which they desired the declaration of the prophet. 
 Having been instituted on account of special reasons, the 
 query was, when the reasons are removed, shall the ob- 
 
Z E C II A R I A n . CHAPTERS VII., VIII. 183 
 
 1 And it came to pass in the fourtli fourth day of the uiuth montli, even 
 year of king Uarius, that the word of iu Chisleu ; 
 the Lord came unto Zechariah in the 
 
 servances continue ? cessante ratione, cessatne ipsa lex ? — 
 When the city is reinhabited, and the temple rebuilt, 
 shall we continue to mourn statedly their destruction ? 
 To answer these queries, a delegation was sent to the 
 prophet, who, before replying to the direct question, 
 reproves in ch. 7, the superstitions that had accumulated 
 around the fasts, and then in ch. 8, answers the query 
 in distinct and specific terms. 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. A question about the propriety of continuing- tlie stated fasts 
 under the altered circumstances of the people, brings a delegation 
 to the prophet to solve this doubt, (ch. 7: 1 — 3.) 
 
 II. The answer of the prophet. 
 
 (1.) A reproof of the selfish and godless motives that inspired 
 their observances, (v. 4 — T.) 
 
 (2.) An exhortation to the performance of weightier matters of 
 the law, by the example of their ancestors, who, in spite of the 
 warnings of the prophets to this effect, neglected these duties 
 and were severely punished, (v. 8 — 14.) 
 
 (3.) A further exhortation to obedience by promises of the fu- 
 ture prosperity of Jerusalem, (ch. 8 : v. 1 — 8.) 
 
 (4.) An exhortation to the vigorous prosecution of the erection 
 of the temple by reason of the manifest favor of God already shown, 
 and the fulfilment of the promises already made, (v. 9 — 12.) 
 
184 Z EC HARI All. — CHAPTERS VII., VIII. 
 
 2 When they had pent nnto the lech, and their men and to pray before 
 house of God, Shcrczer and Regem-me- the Ix)rd, 
 
 (6.) A furtlicr motive to obedience drawn from the future exten- 
 sion of tlic theocratic blessings to the heathen, (v. 13 — 17.) 
 
 (6.) Having- thus prepared their minds for the answer to the 
 question about fasts, the prophet deckxres that tliey were all to 
 be set aside as incongruous to the joyful condition of the theocra- 
 cy, (v. 18, 19.) 
 
 (7.) He then concludes with a prediction of the calling of the 
 Gentiles, of great dramatic beautj'^, thus linking the humble and 
 struggling present with the magnificent and conquering future, 
 and showing that all these passing duties of the present, were sig- 
 nificant and important only because of their connection with the , 
 mightier unfoldings of the purposes of Jehovah in the scenes of I 
 the latter-day glory, (v. 20—23.) 
 
 The preliminary facts are stated in cli. 7 : 1 — 3. 
 
 V. 1 — 3. " And it was so in the fourth year of Darius the king, 
 that the word of Jehovah was to Zechariah in the fourth {day) of 
 the 7iinth month, in Chisleu. And Bethel sent Sherezer and Regem 
 Melech, and their men, to pray before the' face of Jehovah; and to 
 speak to the priests which were in the house of Jehovah of Hosts, 
 and to the prophets, saying; Ought I to weep in the fifth month, 
 separating myself, as I have done for so many years ?" 
 
 The date of this transaction was two years after the 
 symbohc visions of the preceding portion, and the tem- 
 ple was therefore advanced near to its completion. The 
 condition of the theocracy was prosperous and promis- 
 ing, so that the people began to doubt the propri- 
 ety of indulging mournful memories of the past, when 
 
ZECHARIAII. Cn AFTER VII. 185 
 
 3 And to speak unto the priests hosts, and to the prophets, saying, 
 which icere in the house of the Lord of Shoukl I weep in tlic fifth mouth, scpa- 
 
 there was so much to excite joyful hopes of the fu- 
 ture. 
 
 The only difficulty in these verses is in the second, 
 where our version translates it, "when they had sent 
 unto the house of God Sherezer,'' &c. This makes the 
 singular verb ("^r'^) impersonal, and makes Beth-el an 
 accusative, referring it to the temple. But the temple 
 is never called Beth-el, but Beth- Jehovah, as in v. 3, and 
 moreover the use of it in this clause would be rather 
 tautological, as the latter part of the verse explains the 
 where, and the why of this mission. Hence Maurer 
 and Hengstenburg, following Lightfoot, refer Beth-el 
 (the house of God) to the congregation, or the people 
 of Israel. But this is equally unauthorized. There are 
 instances of this tropical use of heth, referring to the 
 people of Israel, but as far as we are aware of them, 
 always in connection with Jehovah the covenant name 
 of God, and never with El, which only expresses an at- 
 tribute which belongs in smaller measure to creatures. 
 Beth-el is uniformly used as the name of the old city of 
 Luz, where the ark was for so long a time kept, and which 
 for this reason was regarded as one of the sacred cities 
 of the land. Usage, therefore, requires us to give it 
 the same signification here, and the sense is a perfectly 
 good one. The people of this old and sacred city would 
 naturally be among the first to discuss such questions 
 as these, and to send to Jerusalem for their solution. 
 12 
 
186 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VII. 
 
 rating myself, as I have done these so 5 Speak unto all the people of the 
 
 many years ? land, and to the priests, saying, When 
 
 4 IT Then came the word of the Lord ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and 
 
 of hosts unto me, saying, seventh month, even those seventy 
 
 Hence it is said "Bethel sent," or the inhabitants of 
 Bethel sent, &c., and in the reply it is intimated that the 
 query was from a single city, for it is said, v. 5, " speak 
 unto «// the people of the land," as if to assure them' 
 that the reply was designed to have a scope wider than 
 the source of the question. There is no reason for de- 
 parting from the usual meaning of the terms. This is 
 the view taken by Henderson, Ewald, Blayney, Hitzig, 
 and the LXX. The fast of the 5th month is mentioned, 
 because that was the commemoration of the destruction 
 of the temple, an observance which would seem incon- 
 gruous after the temple was rebuilt. 
 
 The deputation was sent first to pray, perhaps that 
 God might solve their doubts, or bestow a fresh pros- 
 perity on Israel, and afterwards to seek at the mouth of 
 his ministers the solution of their difiiculties. The 
 phrase rendered " pray," means to stroke the face, then 
 to flatter by caressing, then to supplicate, or pray. (See 
 Ex. 32:11; 1 Sam. 13:12.) 
 
 But the Jewish people needed something more than 
 information in regard to the continuance of this fast. 
 The whole doctrine of fasting had become overlaid with 
 an incrustation of formalism and superstition, that need- 
 ed to be broken up. Fasting had become not a means 
 but an end, a mere form, as it is in Mohammedan and 
 Papal countries at this day, and had attached to it an 
 
Z E C n A R I A n . CHAPTER VII. 187 
 
 years, did ye at all fast unto me, even did drink, did not yo cat /or 7/onrselvcs, 
 to me ? and drink for yourselves ? 
 
 G And when ye did eat, and when ye 7 Should ye not hear the words which 
 
 opus operatum efficacy that wholly destroyed its real 
 value. They thought that God must bless them, indeed 
 was bound to bless them, if they rigidly observed these 
 outward rites, whatever was their inward character. 
 Thus formalism in religion acted in the time of the res- 
 toration, precisely as it acted in every subsequent peri-, 
 od in the history of the Church, leading men to be scru- 
 pulous about the mint, anise and cummin, the postures, 
 costumes and rubrics of religion, whilst the weightier 
 matters of justice toward man, and piety toward God, 
 were neglected and forgotten. Hence before a mere 
 question of ritual observance could be settled, it was im- 
 portant that their minds should be set right on the deep- 
 er questions of their spiritual relations to God. The 
 prophet, then, instead of answering the question about 
 the fast of the 5th month, proceeds to rebuke them for 
 their selfish and stupid will- worship, and their ignorance 
 in regard to the whole subject of fasting, not only as to 
 this, but as to all the stated fasts that they had been 
 observing. 
 
 V. 4 — 6. " Then was the word of Jehovah of Hosts to me, say- 
 ing: Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, say- 
 ing, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, 
 these seventy years, did j^e fast unto me, unto me ? And when 
 ye ate, and when ye drank, was it not to yourselves that ye were 
 eating, and to yourselves that ye were drinking ?" 
 
 The grand error of all their observances, was that 
 
 they w^ere "without God;" not done because of his 
 
188 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VII. 
 
 the Lord hath cried by the former of round about her, when mm inhabit- 
 prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited ed the south and the plain ? 
 and in prosperity, and the cities there- 
 
 command, not supported by his authority, not directed 
 to his glory, and not therefore deserving his approba- 
 tion. The repetition of the phrase " unto me," at the 
 close of the 5th verse, is emphatic, and gives the key to 
 the passage. Their fasting and feasting were alike self- 
 ish and godless, alike wanting in elevated aim, and alike 
 centered on themselves. The radical principle of all 
 piety, reference to God, was wanting in all their con- 
 duct, and hence before asking questions about the form, 
 it were better to secure the substance ; before raising 
 questions about the outward manifestations of piety, it 
 were better to assure themselves that they have piety 
 itself. 
 
 But some might be disposed to plead ignorance as an 
 excuse. The prophet meets this evasion by telling them 
 that this very ignorance was culpable in them, for they 
 had the teachings of the former prophets on this very 
 question of fasting. 
 
 V. 1. "Are not these the words which Jehovah cried by the 
 hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and 
 in peace, and also her cities round about her, and when the south 
 and the plain was inhabited ?" 
 
 The English version makes "words" the object of a 
 verb understood, thus making the verse an expostula- 
 tion for disobedience, rather than an additional assevera- 
 tion. But as the particle i^s is sometimes used to desig- 
 nate the subject of the verb, it is more natural to take 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VII. 189 
 
 8 •{ Aud the word of the Loud came poor ; and let none of you imagine 
 unto Zechariah, saying, evil against his brother in your heart. 
 
 9 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, 11 But they refused to hearken, and 
 saying, Execute true judgment, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped 
 shew mercy and compassions every tlioir ears, that they should not hear, 
 man to his brother : 12 Yea, they made their hearts as an 
 
 10 And oppress not the widow, nor adamant stone, lest they should hear 
 the fatherless, the stranger, nor the the law, and tlie words wliich the 
 
 it SO here, thus obviatmg the necessity for an eUipsis. 
 These are not novelties that are spoken in your ears, or 
 words that have had no corroborating proofs. Are they 
 not the very teachings of the older prophets ? Did not 
 Isaiah (ch. 58) and others assure you that it was not 
 such a fast that God had chosen ? Did they not warn 
 your fathers, when all was yet prosperity, that such con- 
 duct would bring a curse on the land ? And did not 
 that curse descend and depopulate Jerusalem, and those 
 regions round about her that once were crowded with 
 life ? Has not God then taught you alike by his word and 
 his providence, and can you under such circumstances 
 urge the plea of ignorance ? If you follow your fathers 
 in their sin, must you not also follow them in their 
 suffering ? 
 
 But that there might be no doubt in regard to the 
 duties omitted, and the teachings neglected, the proph- 
 et gives an epitome of both in the following verses : 
 
 V. 8 — 10. "And the word of Jehovah was to Zechariah saying : 
 Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts {to your fathers) saying- : Judge the 
 judgment of truth, and work kindness and compassion, every man 
 toward his neighbor : and the widow, and the fatherless, the 
 stranger and the poor, do not oppress, and do not devise evil in 
 your hearts, any man against his neighbor." 
 
 These were the instructions given to their fathers by 
 
190 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Lord of hosts hath sent in his Spirit so they cried, and I would not hear, 
 
 by the former prophets : therefore saith the Lokd of hosts : 
 came a great wrath from the Lord of 14 But I scattered them with a 
 
 hosts. whirlwind among all the nations whom 
 
 13 Therefore it is come to pass, that they knew not. Thus the land was 
 
 as he cried, and they would not hear ; desolate after them, that no man 
 
 the former prophets ; but how these were received, and * 
 what were the consequences of this reception, are next 
 pointed out. 
 
 V. 11 — 14. "But they {your fathers) refused to hear, and presented 
 a refractory shoulder {one that refused to wear the yoke), and made 
 heavy their ears against hearing : And their heart they made an 
 adamant against hearing the law, and the words which Jehovah 
 of Hosts did send in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets, 
 wherefore there was great wrath from Jehovah of Hosts. And it 
 came to pass, that as He cried and they did not hear, so they cry 
 and I hear not, saith Jehovah of Hosts. And I scattered them to 
 all nations whom they knew not, and the land was desolate after 
 them, so that none went out or came in, and they made the land 
 of desire to be desolate." 
 
 The meaning of these verses is very obvious. The 
 disobedience of their fathers, and the punishment that 
 followed, are held up to warn them against following 
 in their footsteps. As they refused to wear the yoke 
 of obedience, God laid upon them the yoke of oppres- 
 sion ; and as they hardened their hearts like the diamond 
 against God's word, God broke these hard hearts by 
 his judgments. When these judgments came down on 
 them, they cried to God, but as they had refused to 
 hear him, he then refused to hear them. The change 
 of tense in v. 13, from the preterite in the first clause 
 to the future in the second, is not accidental, but 
 designed, to show that the action is still continued, 
 
ZECIIARIAE. — CHAPTER VIII. 191 
 
 passed through norietunied : for they lousy, and I was jealous for her with 
 
 laid the pleasant land desolate. great fury. 
 
 8: 1 Again the word of tlie Loun of 3 Thus saith the Lord; 1 am re- 
 hosts came to me, saying, turned unto Zion, and will dwell in 
 
 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; I the midst of Jerusalem : and Jerusa- 
 
 was jealous for Zion with great joa- lem shall be called, A city of truth ; 
 
 which is the force of the Hebrew future iii such a con- 
 nection as this. (See Nordheimer's Grammar, §9G7,1. a.) 
 The meaning is that God had refused to hear their 
 cry, and continued to do so even to the present time. 
 Thus they had closed the throne of grace against them- 
 selves, and opened the throne of judgment. From this 
 throne came forth the mandate of destruction, like a 
 whirlwind, scattering them among their enemies, and 
 leaving their pleasant land desolate, and desolate b}'' 
 their own wilful and persevering disobedience. The 
 land of desire or delight was Canaan. (See Jer. 3 : 19.) 
 Having urged them to obedience by the fate of their 
 fathers, the prophet next urged them by promises 
 drawn from the future jDrosperity of Jerusalem, (ch. 8 : 
 1-8.) . 
 
 V. 1 — 3. " And the word of Jehovali of Hosts was to me saying, 
 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, I was jealous toward Zion with 
 great jealousy, and with great fury was I jealous toward her. 
 Thus saith Jehovah, I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in 
 the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called ' city of the 
 truth,' and the mountain of Jehovah, ' mountain of holiness.' " 
 
 The metaphor of the first verse is so common and 
 obvious as to 'require no explanation, and yet it is full 
 of instruction. God demands the whole heart, and will 
 not be content with a divided, throne. As the husband 
 cannot brook the estrangement of his wife's affections to 
 
192 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, and every man with his staff in bis 
 
 'file holy mountain. hand for very age. 
 
 4 Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 5 And the streets of the city shall 
 
 There shall yet old men and old wo- be full of boys and girls playing in 
 
 men dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, the streets thereof. 
 
 a rival, so God cannot allow the bestowal of our affec- 
 tions supremely to any other object. This is idolatry, 
 and as such will be punished with intense severity, 
 either in this world or in the next. But he assures 
 them, (v. 3,) that this outburst of anger is past, and that 
 now he has returned to Jerusalem with his former love, 
 and will dwell in her midst. God's presence in heaven 
 creates all its bliss, and God's presence on earth will 
 make it an antepast of heaven. But this will manifest 
 itself in an appropriate way. God is truth and holiness, 
 and they who enjoy his presence must partake of both. 
 Hence Jerusalem was to be a city of truth, and Moriah 
 a mountain of holiness. These phrases which are drawn 
 from Isaiah, are used in the same sense as in the older 
 prophet, and refer to the theocracy whose seat was in 
 Jerusalem, and therefore predict not simply the tem- 
 poral enlargement of the nation, but the permanent 
 enlargement of the Church. This future prosperity is 
 further described in the next verses. 
 
 V. 4, 5. " Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, there shall yet sit old 
 men and old women, in the streets of Jerusalem, and the man 
 whose staff is in his hand for multitude of days. And the streets 
 of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing- in the streets 
 of it." 
 
 The image here presented is one of great force and 
 beauty. The city rises before us as the glow of sunset 
 
ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 193 
 
 G Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; If should it also he marvellous in mine 
 it be marvellous in the eyes of the eyes ? saith the Lord of hosts, 
 remnant of this peojile in these days, 
 
 begins to steal over Olivet, and the lengthening shadows 
 begin to warn the laborer home. The streets are not 
 silent or deserted, as they have hitherto been, but there 
 sits the old man gazing on the scenes of peaceful beauty 
 before him, while the aged companion of his earlier 
 years sits by his side, to enjoy with him the freshening 
 breeze that comes cool and sweet from the distant sea, 
 while before them and around them are the merry 
 shout, the joyous glee, and glad gambols of happy 
 childhood, whose ringing echoes mingle sweetly with 
 the tinkle of the bells and the lowing and bleating of 
 the flocks that come softly from the hills as they hie 
 them homeward to the nightly fold. There is an exqui- 
 site beauty in this picture that would strike a Jewish 
 mind with peculiar force, to which the promise of old 
 age and posterity was one of the richest that could be 
 made. Indeed, the presence of the two extremes of 
 life is one of the usual signs of prosperity. Old age 
 and childhood not only grace a community, the one by 
 its venerableness, and the other by its beauty, but they 
 also prove its peace and prosperity. When war, famine, 
 pestilence or anarchy, have been raging, there are but 
 few of either class, for their feebleness makes them the 
 earliest victims. Hence in the streets of Jerusalem, 
 there were but few of either in her desolation, for even 
 those who did remain abstained from coming forth from 
 
194 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; the east country, and from the west 
 Behold, I will save my people from country ; 
 
 their houses through fear. But the time was coming 
 when security would be so general, that old and young 
 would meet in the peaceful streets without fear of mo- 
 lestation or injury. 
 
 In looking at the wider scope of this prediction, 
 which sets forth the enlargement of the Church, although 
 we may not say that it refers to the children of the 
 Church whose connection with it has been sealed by the 
 baptismal blessing, yet we will say, that no language 
 could, with more significance and beauty, set forth this 
 fact in the New Testament church, than this beautiful 
 promise, of the children that shall be seen in the streets 
 of the holy city. 
 
 But there seemed to be something almost incredible 
 in these promises, and their faith was staggered by the 
 very greatness of the blessing. It is therefore added, 
 to meet this feeling, 
 
 V. 6. " Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, if it is wonderful in the 
 eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, is it also won- 
 derful in my eyes, saith Jehovah of Hosts ?i' 
 
 The common error of men in regard to God, is 
 judging of him by themselves. Under the influence of 
 this error, the Jews thought such promises incredible. 
 But God assures them that they must not judge him 
 by themselves, for though to their pusillanimous weak- 
 ness it seemed a thing too wonderful for belief, yet it 
 was not so to his mighty and unlimited strength. 
 
ZECIIARIAn. CHAPTER VIII. 195 
 
 8 And I will bring them, and thoy be their God, in truth and in ri^^dit- 
 shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem : cousness. 
 and they shall be my people, and I will 9 ^ Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 
 
 V. 7, 8. " Tims saith Jehovah of Hosts, behold, I am ho saving 
 my people, from the land of the east, and from the land of the set- 
 ting- sun. And I will lead them, {viz. from these lands to Jerusalem,) 
 and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be 
 my people, and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness." 
 
 The terms of this prediction carry us beyond any 
 facts at that time existing, and refer to events then 
 future. It predicts a return of the Jews from the west 
 as well as the east, whilst at this time the only disper- 
 sion existing, was toward the east in Babylon. Hence, 
 an universal dispersion is implied in this universal 
 restoration, the terms, from east to west, being inclusive 
 of the entire earth. This general dispersion did not 
 occur until the final fall of Jerusalem, since which there 
 has been no general restoration of the Jews, either in 
 a literal or a figurative sense. Hence the main facts 
 predicted, are yet future. That they include a literal 
 restoration of the Jews to their owm land is probable, 
 but that this is the main purport of the prophecy, is 
 just as improbable. There is something more than a 
 mere political restoration required by the general drift 
 of the prophecy, which is spiritual and not temporal, 
 and which therefore demands a spiritual reunion to the 
 spiritual theocracy, or the blood-bought and blood- 
 washed Church of God. And this is particularly 
 demanded by the covenant formula of v. 8, " they shall 
 be my people, and I will be their God," which is always 
 
196 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Let your hands be strong;, ye that hoar 10 For before these days there was 
 
 in these days these words by the month no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; 
 
 of the prophets, which were in the day neither was there any peace to him that 
 
 that the foundation of the house of the went out or came in because of the af- 
 
 LoRD of hosts was Laid, that the temple fliction : for I set all men every one 
 
 might be built. against his neighbor. 
 
 the exponent of spiritual blessings, and the fact is put 
 beyond all question by the explanatory addendum, " in 
 truth and righteousness," which expressly affirms that 
 this restoration and union are not to be outward, visible 
 and temporal, but inward, invisible and spiritual. They 
 will be a sincere and justified people, as he will be a 
 true and pardoning God. Hence, whilst the general 
 sense of the prophecy has been fulfilled in every case 
 wherein prosperity was bestowed on the Jewish nation 
 before the advent of Christ, its terms have never been 
 fully met by any event that has yet occurred, and we 
 are to look for the grand restoration among those latter- 
 day things that are to complete the restoration of all 
 things spoken of by the holy prophets before the world 
 began. 
 
 Having predicted this future prosperity to the theoc- 
 racy, he uses this as a motive to urge them to the ener- 
 getic prosecution of the rebuilding of the temple, (v. 
 9—12.) 
 
 V. 9, 10. "Thussaith Jehovah of Hosts, strengthen your hands, 
 ye that in these days hear these words by the mouth of the {same) 
 prophets who {were) in that day, when the house of Jehovah of 
 Hosts was founded, that the temple might be built. For before 
 these days there was no hire of a man, and hire of a beast, there 
 was also none. And to him going out and coming in, {the trav- 
 eller,) there was no peace from the enemy, and I stirred up all men, 
 every man against his neighbor." 
 
ZECIIARIAII. CHAPTER VIII. 197 
 
 11 But now I will not he unto the ground shall give her increase, and the 
 residue of tliis people as in the former heavens sliall give their dew ; and I 
 days, saith tlie Loud of liosts. will cause the remnant of this jieople 
 
 12 For the seed shall he prosperous ; to possess all these things. 
 the vine shall give her fruit, and the 
 
 He urges them to carry forward the great work of 
 the temple, as the proper mode of testifymg their faith 
 and hope in God, and enforces these urgencies by an 
 appeal to their experience. The same prophets that 
 promised prosperity at the foundation of the temple, 
 (viz. himself and Haggai,) now promised yet greater 
 prosjDcrity if that temple was pushed on to final comple- 
 tion. He challenges an investigation into the truth 
 of the predictions then given, and shows their fulfil- 
 ment before their qjqs. Then all was confusion, inse- 
 curity and trouble. Labor was not rewarded, for no 
 man had the means of doing so, or the secure enjoyment 
 of his property to induce him to employ either man or 
 beast. Robbers and marauding parties of their enemies 
 infested the countiy so much, that no man could travel 
 through it without danger of becoming a victim. And 
 to this external peril there was added internal strife, 
 every man against his neighbor, so that all was anarchy 
 and confusion. Such was the condition of affairs when 
 the temple was founded, but as they prosecuted this 
 work, prosperity and peace began to return, and now 
 the whole aspect of things was changed, giving token 
 that God had opened the windows of heaven and poured 
 out upon them a blessing. Hence they had evidence 
 before their eyes of the faithfulness of God to the words 
 
198 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 13 And it shall come to pass, that as so will I save you, and j'e shall be a 
 ye were a curse among the heathen, blessing ; fear not, but let your hands 
 house of Judah, and house of Israel ; be strong. 
 
 of his holy prophets. The contmuance of this returning 
 
 prosperity is then further promised. 
 
 V. 11, 12. " But now, not as in the former days, {will) I (be) to 
 the i-emnant of this people, saith Jehovah of Hosts. For the seed 
 shall be safe, {Heb. of peace,) the vine shall give her fruit, and 
 the earth shall give her produce, and the heavens shall give their 
 dew, and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all 
 these things.'' 
 
 The argument here is from the past to the future ; as 
 Grod has fulhlled his promises heretofore, so will he 
 hereafter. Therefore go forward with this work. And 
 when we ascend from the temporary facts that called 
 forth this appeal, to the more unchanging ones that are 
 connected with them, we find the same principle to be 
 true. The faithfulness of God to his Church and people 
 in the past, is a guarantee that he will not forsake them 
 ill the future, and an encouragement to go forward in 
 the great work of erecting the spiritual temple, of which 
 this material temple was but the outward symbol. Let 
 our hands be strong in this great work, by remembering 
 the fact that Grod has ever been faithful to his promises 
 in the past, and therefore will continue to be faithful to 
 them in the future. 
 
 That the extended view we have taken of the proph- 
 ecy is the true one, appears yet further from the next 
 paragraph, in which the calling of the Gentiles is dis- 
 tinctly predicted, first implicitly and then explicitly. 
 
 V. 13. " And it shall be, that as ye have been a curse among the 
 
ZECHARIAH. CnArTERVIII. 199 
 
 14 For thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 15 So agjiin have I thought in these 
 
 As I thought to punish you, when your days to do well unto Jerusalem and to 
 
 fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the house of Judah : fear ye not. 
 
 the Lord of hosts, and I repented not: 10 •{ These are the things that ye 
 
 nations, oh liousc of Judiili, and house of Isvael, so I will save 
 you, and ye shall be a blessing : fear not, {therefore,) strengthen 
 your hands." 
 
 The words " curse " and " blessing," are here used, 
 not in the sense of being a source of curse and blessing 
 to the heathen, so much as an example of it so striking 
 as to become proverbial. As the nations were accus- 
 tomed to curse one another, by wishing that they might 
 be as the Jews, so prostrate was their condition, so 
 hereafter to wish this would be a form of benedic- 
 tion instead of malediction, so great would be their 
 prosperity. For this concrete sense of these terms, see 
 2 Kings, 22 : 19 ; Jer. 24 : 9, and Gen. 12 : 2 ; Ps. 
 21 : 7. 
 
 V. 14 — n. " For thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, as I determined 
 to punish you {the house of Israel) when your fathers provoked me, 
 saith Jehovah of Hosts, and I repented not, so, on the contrary, I 
 have determined, in these days, to do good to Jerusalem, and to 
 the house of Judah, fear not. These are the words which ye must 
 do, {obeij,) speak the truth, every man to his neighbor ; truth and 
 the judgment of peace judge in your gates ; devise not evil in 
 your hearts, each man against his neighbor, and an oath of false- 
 hood do not love, for all these are the things which I hate, saith 
 Jehovah." 
 
 The form of address in v. 14, furnishes an illustration 
 
 of the organic unity in which the theocratic people were 
 
 regarded by God. He says, " as I determined to punish 
 
 7jou" when the determination was really to punish their 
 
 fathers, with whom they were, however, connectefi in this 
 
200 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 shall do; Speak j-c every man the 17 And let none of you imagine evil 
 
 truth to his neighbor ; execute the in your hearts against his neighbor : 
 
 judgment of truth and peace in your and love no false oath : for all these 
 
 gates : '^'■e things that I hate, saith the Lord. 
 
 organic unity of the visible Church. A parallel but yet 
 more striking instance of the same thing, is found in 
 Haggai 2:5: " According to the word which I cove- 
 nanted with you when ye came out of Egypt," where 
 the remoteness of date was so great, as to make 
 the form of expression possible only in view of this 
 federal unity, under the aspect of which, God delights 
 to contemplate his Church. Those who deride Abra- 
 hamic covenants, and covenant relations and blessings, 
 as mere sectarian figments, have with Esau's blindness, 
 though not, we trust, with Esau's guilt, undervalued 
 their birthright. 
 
 The argument is, that as the threatened punishment 
 has been so faithfully inflicted, so the promised blessing 
 will with equal fidelity be bestowed, and the argument 
 is a fortiori^ if the work of severity, so alien to God's 
 character, has been inflicted with such inflexible deter- 
 mination, how much more shall that of goodness, which 
 is so much more consonant to his nature ? 
 
 The conditions of this promised blessing are set forth 
 in V. 16, 17, and the demonstrative "these "with which 
 the passage opens, indicates that a contrast is drawn 
 between these things, and the mere ritual and rubrical 
 questions that had engaged so much of their attention. 
 As if he had said, the question of humanly ordained 
 fasts is a very trifling one, for these are the weighty 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 201 
 
 18 ^ And the word of the Lord of 19 Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 
 hosts came unto me saying, The fast of the fourth month, and the 
 
 matters of the law, the observance of which is the great 
 duty of the people. Do these things, and the minor 
 questions of ceremonies will soon be decided. The sins 
 specified are those that it seems were most rife, false- 
 hood, perjury, fraud, and injustice. The expression 
 " in your gates," shows that the reference is to judicial 
 procedure, as the gate of the city was the place where 
 such business was transacted. The reason given for 
 avoiding these sins, viz., because God hated -them, is 
 instructive, for it brings out the great principle of piety 
 that runs through all revelation, that religion consists in 
 loving what God loves, and in hating w^hat God hates, 
 our nature being thus brought into conformity with His. 
 When this is done, the creature has reached the com- 
 pleteness of its development, and hence this is the grand 
 rule of conduct and attainment. 
 
 The prophet now at length proceeds to answer the 
 question about fasts, and answers it more fully than it 
 had been asked. The query was only in regard to a 
 single fast, that which commemorated the burning of 
 the city and temple, but the prophet adduces all the 
 fasts, and gives the same rules regarding them all. 
 They were all to be turned into days of rejoicing. 
 
 V. 18, 19. " And the word of Jehovah of Hosts was to me, say- 
 ing, ' Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, The fast of the fourth {inonth,) 
 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 for joy and gladness, 
 and for festal observances, therefore love the truth and peace.' " 
 13 
 
202 ZECHARTAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 fast of the fifth, and the fast of the gladness, and cheerful feasts ; there- 
 seventh, and the fast of the tenth, fore love the truth and peace. 
 shall he to the house of Judah joy and 
 
 For the fast of the fourth month ( Thammuz iTth ), 
 in which Jerusalem was captured, see Jer. 52 : 6, 7 ; 
 for that of the fifth month (Ab. 9th), see 2 Kings 25 : 
 8 ; for that of the seventh month (Tishri 3d), for the 
 massacre of Gredahah see Jer. 41 : 1 — 10 ; and for that 
 of the tenth month (Tebeth 10th), the beginning of the 
 siege of Jerusalem, see 2 Kings 25 : 1, and Jer. 52 : 4. 
 So far from the continuance of these days of fasting, 
 they were to be changed into days of festivity, so great 
 would be the blessing on the people. "When Grod 
 makes the sun shine, the tear-drops should be dried ; 
 and when his blessing comes upon us, the memory of 
 our sorrows should be used only to enhance our present 
 joy. But the moral condition of this is reiterated, 
 " love truth and peace." God will bless, but not in 
 spite of man's wickedness. 
 
 The ground of this joy is then more fully set forth, 
 and shown to be the conversion of the Gentiles, or the 
 enlargement of the Church from its narrow Jewish form 
 to its wide and comprehensive universality in the Mes- 
 sianic period. 
 
 V. 20—23. " Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, It shall yet be that 
 peoples shall come, and the inhabitants of many cities. And they 
 shall go, the inhabitants of one {city) to another, saying, ' Let us 
 go to pray before Jehovah and to seek Jehovah of Hosts.' ' I 
 will go also.' And they shall come, many peoples and many na- 
 tions, to seek Jehovah of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before 
 Jehovah. Tims saith Jehovah of Hosts, In those days {it shall be) 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 203 
 
 20 Thus saith the Iamw of hosts; come people, and the inhabitants of 
 It shall yet come lopa-^s, that there shall many cities : 
 
 that tlicy shall seize (viz. :) ten men from all the tongues of the 
 nations, they shall seize the skirt of a man (that is) a Jew, saying, 
 ' We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" 
 
 The form of this prophecy is highly dramatic. The 
 scope of it is to predict the introduction of the Gentiles 
 into the theocracy, and the consequent enlargement of 
 the Chm'ch. This is described by a bold and beautiful 
 personification. A movement is seen among the nations 
 that have hitherto hated the Jews, a pervading and 
 powerful movement, that stirs them to their remotest 
 extent. The inhabitants of one city run to another in 
 their eagerness, and cry, " let us go to pray before Je- 
 hovah, &c." The instant response of each one thus 
 addressed is, "I will go also." The intensity of the 
 feeling is set forth partly by the abruptness of the 
 expressions, and partly by the intensive verbal form in 
 the Hebrew, " let us go, going," i. e. let us all certainly 
 and speedily go, lest we be too late. Thus they start, 
 not by ones and twos, but in crowds to hasten to Jeru- 
 salem, that they may secure the favor of God. As they 
 near the holy city, they run to seize the outer garment 
 of a Jew, ten of the crowding Gentiles eagerly sur- 
 rounding one of the Jews, to cast in their lot with 
 them, to become one of their number, and to share 
 their privileges because they have heard that God is 
 with them. The numbers ten and one are used in that 
 definite for an indefinite sense, which we have in 
 
204 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 21 And the inhabitants of one city to seek the Lord of hosts : I will go 
 shall go to another, saying, Let us go also, 
 speedily to pray before the Lord, and 22 Yea, many people and strong na- 
 
 English in the expression "ten to one," and which is 
 common in the Bible, see Gen. 31 : 7; Lev. 26 : 26, &c. 
 The phrase " from all the tongues of the nations,"' is of 
 course an easily understood idiom for nations using all 
 the different languages. To seize the hem of the 
 garment is a gesture of earnestness, importunity, and 
 perseverance, which is emphatic were it done by only a 
 single person, but when done by ten persons, it becomes 
 significant of an intensity of anxiety, and a depth of 
 conviction, of the very highest grade. 
 
 When this prediction was uttered nothing seemed 
 more hopelessly improbable than its fulfilment. The 
 Jews were a poor, despised, obscure tribe in the heart 
 of Syria, whose existence was only known to the mighty 
 world by their furnishing a trophy to the victorious 
 arms of Babylon. Greece was just rising in the firma- 
 ment of human history, and as she ascended to her 
 brilliant zenith, her track was marked by the sweeping 
 of the phalanxes of Alexander and the legions of Anti- 
 ochus over the hills and valleys of Judea. And yet 
 this prophecy remained unfulfilled. Rome was then in 
 the rugged feebleness of her wolf-nursed infancy, and 
 slowly continued to grow until she reached that gigantic 
 stature in which she ruled the earth, and her conquer- 
 ing legions under Pompey again swept over this fated 
 land, and even desecrated the places of her holy solem- 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER VIII. 205 
 
 tions shall come to seek the liORD of 23 Thus saith the Loed of hosts ; In 
 hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray hefore those days U shall come to pans, that ten 
 the LoHD. men shall take hold, out of all lan- 
 
 nities. Five hundred years rolled away, and yet this 
 prophecy remained unfulfilled, indeed seemed further 
 from fulfilment than when it was uttered. 
 
 But at length the time arrived, and there came to 
 Jerusalem " men out of every nation under heaven — 
 Parthians, Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in 
 Mesopotamia, and in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus 
 and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the 
 parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, 
 Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians," all came up 
 to Jerusalem to seek the face of Jehovah, and from the 
 lips of a Jew they heard words that caused them to cry 
 out " Men and brethren what shall I do ?" They scat- 
 tered to their own homes again, and carried with them 
 the strange words that had so deeply moved their souls, 
 and being followed by these wonder-working men, 
 there soon began to work a new life among the nations 
 of the earth, and this life took hold in its origin and 
 efficacy upon a Jeiv. Greece with her polished dialec- 
 tics, Rome with her mailed mightiness, Asia with her 
 soft voluptuousness, all submitted to the authority of a 
 Saviour who was a Jew ; all rested their hopes for eter- 
 nity upon a Jew ; and soon received as divinely inspired 
 the words and writings of men who were Jews. And 
 for nearly two thousand years the mightiest intellects 
 and largest hearts of the race, have breathed the spirit 
 
206 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 guages of the nations, even shall take saying, We will go with you : for we 
 hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, have heard that God is with you. 
 
 and studied the words of men who were Jews, and 
 have sought as the most precious boon of existence the 
 privilege of being covered with a robe of righteousness 
 that was wrought by the divinely incarnated hands of 
 one who is of the seed of Abraham after the flesh, 
 though as to his higher nature, God over all blessed 
 forever. And at this day there are literally men of all 
 nations, and kindreds, and tribes, and people, who are 
 laying hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, and cast- 
 ing in their- lot with those whom God chose to be a 
 people for himself, and resting their hopes on that cru- 
 cified Jew, who is the Saviour of the world. Hence 
 thus far, the prophecy has been amply fulfilled, but its 
 grandest fulfilment is yet to come when Jerusalem shall 
 arise from the dust of her degradation, and Moriah be 
 crowned with the symbols of a pure worshij^, and Olivet 
 echo to the songs of the ransomed of Zion who shall 
 return with joy and everlasting gladness. Then and 
 not until then shall this prophecy have its grandest and 
 fullest fulfilment, in the glory of the latter-day restora- 
 tion of Israel. 
 
 And it is beautiful to remark the diffusive missionary 
 spirit that must accompany this great enlargement to 
 Israel, showing as it does the identity of all true rehgion. 
 The inhabitants of one city shall not be content with 
 idly waiting until another city shall hear of these glad 
 tidings, nor shall they merely send by another, but they 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER VIII. 207 
 
 shall go, and themselves urge this great duty of seeking 
 the Lord, and urge by the powerful suasion of example. 
 " Let us go,^^ with its loving earnestness shall then meet 
 with the glad response, " I will go also." And as clouds 
 and doves to their windows shall they come, and lay 
 hold, by a faith that will take no denial, of him who is 
 the only name under heaven by which men can be saved. 
 Thus the kingdom of heaven shall suffer violence, and 
 the violent shall take it by storm. How beautifully all 
 this comports with the religion of the Ne\V Testament 
 in its living and glowing form, we need not point out ; 
 and how exactly the teachings of the prophet in regard 
 to fasts and external ceremonies correspond with the 
 teachings of Christ and Paul, we need not unfold at 
 length, but only refer the thoughtful reader to their 
 coincidences, as instructive proofs that after all. the 
 Religion of the Bible is the same, by whomsoever taught, 
 and the Old and New Testament but different stages in 
 the growth of the same great tree of life, whose leaves 
 are for the healing of the nations. May every Christian 
 resort to its balm-breathing leaves more constantly and 
 earnestly, and he shall find them ever rich with angels' 
 food that shall give his soul her daily bread. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 Many of these have been anticipated, but a few others 
 may be briefly enumerated. 
 
 (1.) Prayer ought to precede every undertaking, but 
 especially every religious undertaking, (7 : 1, 2.) 
 
208 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 (2.) When we are in doubt as to any case of duty, 
 we should spread it before the Lord, When the fire 
 descends from heaven on the altar, its light will enable 
 us to see clearly, (v. 3.) 
 
 (3.) All stated fasts tend to degenerate into supersti- 
 tion, unless there is some strong counteracting agency. 
 The original reference to God is lost in the mere out- 
 ward act. This is the case with the Popish observances 
 of the present day, (v. 5.) 
 
 (4.) Selfishness is the bane ©f all true piety, as godli- 
 ness is its essence, (v. 6.) 
 
 (5.) Warnings of punishment when no signs of it are 
 seen, are too often disregarded, (v. 7.) 
 
 (6.) They who cherish hard hearts, must expect hard 
 treatment. The harder the stone, the harder will be 
 the blow of the hammer to break it, (v, 8 — 14.) 
 
 (7.) They who will not bear the burden of obedience, 
 must bear the burden of punishment, (v. 11.) 
 
 (8.) Loving anything as much as God, is unfaithful- 
 ness to his love, (c. 8:1.) 
 
 (9.) Men judge God by themselves in interpreting his 
 promises, much oftener than in interpreting his threat- 
 enings, (v. 2.) 
 
 (10.) God does not forget his threatenings any more 
 than his promises, (v. 14, 15.) 
 
 (11.) When God covenants with his people, he also 
 covenants with their children, (v. 17.) 
 
 (12.) All true piety is instinct with the missionary 
 spirit, desire for the salvation of others, (v. 20 — 23.) 
 
ZECHARIAU. — CHAPTER IX. 209 
 
 Part III. — Prophetical. 
 
 Chapter 9 — end. 
 
 The first question that meets us in regard to this 
 portion of Zechariali, is its authenticity, or, whether it 
 is the production of Zechariah. It is plain that this is 
 a question totally distinct from its inspiration. It may 
 be a part of the word of God, and yet wrongly ascribed 
 to Zechariah. This question is still strongly discussed 
 by able critics on both sides, and therefore cannot 
 properly be passed by in an attempt to elucidate the 
 prophecy. 
 
 One of the first to question its authenticity was 
 Joseph Mede, who, in his remarks on Matthew 27 : 
 9, 10, Epist. 31, says: "It may seem the Evangelist 
 would inform us that those latter chapters ascribed to 
 Zachary (namely, 9th, 10th, 11th) are indeed the 
 prophecies of Jeremy ; and that the Jews had not 
 rightly attributed them. Certainly, if a man weigh the 
 contents of some of them, they should in likelihood be 
 of an elder date than the time of Zachary ; namely, 
 before the captivity, for the subjects of some of them 
 were scarce in being after that time. And the chap- 
 ter out of which St. Matthew quotes (c. 11), may seem 
 to have somewhat much unsuitable with Zachary's 
 time ; as a prophecy of the destruction of the temple, 
 then when he was to encourage them to build it. And 
 how doth the sixth verse of that chapter suit with his 
 
210 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IX. 
 
 time ? There is no ScriiDture saith they are Zachary's, 
 but there is Scripture saith they are Jeremy's, as this 
 of the Evangehst. As for their being joined to the 
 prophecies of Zachary, that proves no more they are 
 his than the hke adjoining of Agur's proverbs to Solo- 
 mon's proves they are therefore Solomon's, or that all 
 the Psalms are David's, because joined in one volume 
 with "David's Psalms." Mede was followed in this 
 opinion by Hammond, Kidder, Bridge, Whiston, New- 
 come and Seeker, among the English commentators. 
 On the continent this view was adopted by Fliigge, 
 Doderlein, J. D. Michaelis, Seller, Eichhorn, Bauer, 
 Bertholdt, Forberg, Rosenmiiller, Corrodi, Gramburg, 
 Hitzig, Credner, Maurer, Ewald and Knoble. J. Pye 
 Smith and Davidson, in England, also take this side of 
 the question. De Wette, in the earlier editions of his 
 Emkitimg, took this position, but in the later editions 
 avows his belief that they were written by Zechariah. 
 The authorship of Zechariah has been defended by 
 Blayney, Carpzov, Beckhaus, Jahn, Koester, Hengsten- 
 berg, and Burger. It will thus be seen that there is 
 much weight of authority on both sides. Among those 
 who deny the authorship of Zechariah, there is great 
 diversity of opinion as to the real authorship. Mede 
 ascribes them to Jeremiah, and supposes that his pro- 
 phecies were in a fragmentary and confused state 
 during the captivity, and were arranged by Zechariah. 
 Eichhorn refers one part to the time of Alexander ; 
 Corrodi, the 14th chapter to the time of Antiochus 
 
ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 211 
 
 Epiplianes ; Bertlioldt, a part to an author in Josiah's 
 time, and a part later ; Rosenmiiller, to the age of 
 Uzziah ; and indeed each critic has his own pecuHar 
 theory as to the date and the authorship of these chap- 
 ters. This great variety of view shows that the marks 
 of date are by no means so clear as those affirm who 
 deny the authenticity ; for if they were, there would 
 be more uniformity. Hence, we are led to look at the 
 reasons for this denial more carefully. 
 
 (1.) The first reason adduced by Mede is the ascrip- 
 tion of the passage in Zech. 11 : 12, 13, to Jeremiah, by 
 Matthew. This is the only point about which there is 
 any real difficulty. We cannot, with the neologist, 
 say that it was a slip of memory on the part of the 
 Evangelist, for this would be to deny his plenary inspira- 
 tion. Nor can we suppose with some that the Evangelist 
 quotes from an apocryphal book ascribed to Jeremiah. 
 There was such a book, as we learn from Jerome ; but 
 it was obviously, as he pronounced it, a spurious fabri- 
 cation of a later age than that of the apostles. Hen- 
 derson, Grriesbach, and others, suppose that there has 
 been an error of the copyist. They, believing the gospel 
 of Matthew was written in Hebrew, show how such an 
 error might readily be made. But this hypothesis in 
 regard to the original language of this gospel is not 
 sufficiently proved to make it the basis for another 
 hypothesis. Others conjecture that 'ipiov was written 
 by some early copyist instead of Zpiov. This last sup- 
 position is by no means improbable. Dr. Henderson 
 
212 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IX. 
 
 cites a number of MSS., in which the name Jeremiah 
 is omitted, or that of Zechariah inserted. But after all, 
 the weight of authority yet is in favor of the common 
 reading, and hence we must look for some other ex- 
 planation. The one which, on the whole, seems to be 
 most reasonable, is that of Hengstenberg, that the Evan- 
 gelist quoted the earlier prophet on whose prophecy 
 the later one was based, to indicate this connection. 
 The reasons on which this view is based, may be seen 
 drawn out more fully in the notes on Chapter 11 : 12, 
 13, and need not here be repeated. One thing is very 
 certain, that in the age of the apostles this portion of 
 the prophecy was ascribed to Zechariah, for it occupies 
 that place in the LXX., which was written three hun- 
 dred years before, and used by our Lord and the 
 writers of the New Testament. It does not seem 
 probable that the Evangelist would make a correction 
 of the Jewish Canon, in this indirect manner, without 
 giving some intimation to that effect. The uniform 
 reference of these chapters to Zechariah in the Jewish 
 Canon, is much more difficult to account for, if he did 
 not write them, than the verse in Matthew is, if he did. 
 Hence we are led to the conclusion that this reference 
 was not intended to deny the received opinion that 
 these chapters were a part of the prophecies of Zecha- 
 riah, and rightly referred to him as their author. 
 
 (2.) It is said that the contents refer it to an earlier 
 age than that of Zechariah. This depends on the 
 interpretation of particular passages which it will after- 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 213 
 
 wards be seen do not require this interpretation. 
 Ephraim is mentioned, but it is used as it is in the pro- 
 phetic writings, as the designation of Israel, and we 
 find Israel spoken of in Malachi in a manner precisely 
 similar, and yet no one from this fact infers that 
 Malachi lived before the captivity. There is not the 
 slightest intimation that there was a separate political 
 organization in Israel at the time when the prophecy 
 was written. 
 
 Other texts will be found to refer to events after the 
 time of Zechariah, and not before, as we examine them 
 in detail. The absence of all references to a King as 
 existing in Judah or Israel, clearly intimates that the 
 prophecy was written at a time when the kingly office 
 had ceased to exist. This fact has led Eichhorn and 
 others to place the date of these chapters as late as the 
 age of Alexander. 
 
 (3.) It is alleged that a prophecy of the destruction 
 of the temple would have been most unlikely in Zecha- 
 riah, whose object was to urge its erection. This would 
 be true if the prophecies were uttered at the time of 
 its erection. But they were probably uttered toward 
 the close of the prophet's life, and many years after the 
 temple was completed. Hence this objection rests on a 
 confusion of dates. 
 
 (4.) The difference of style is also alleged. This is 
 accounted for in part by the difference of age, the early 
 portions being written when the prophet was a young 
 man (ch. 2 : 4), and in part by the difiJerence of aim 
 
214 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 in the prophecy. Differences just as great appear in 
 other prophecies whose authenticity has never been 
 questioned. In Amos the first two chapters have one 
 style and one formula of address, ' ' Thus saith Jehovah ;" 
 the next three another, " Hear ye this word ;" and the 
 seventh and eighth a third, " Thus hath Jehovah 
 showed me." But no critic has thought of dismember- 
 ing Amos on this account. And yet the differences in 
 this prophecy are not more important or decisive of a 
 different hand. The purposes for which the three por- 
 tions of Zechariah were written were so different that 
 they demanded a difference of style fully as great as 
 we actually find. To refer these portions to different 
 authors would be as valid a procedure in criticism as 
 to say that the author of the Treatise on the Sublime 
 and Beautiful could not be the author of Reflections on 
 the French Revolution, or that the author of Paradise 
 Lost could never have written Paradise Regained, or 
 the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. There is no 
 difference of style or expression that is not fully 
 accounted for by the interval that probably elapsed 
 between the composition of the first and third portions, 
 and the different purposes they had in view. 
 
 Hence, in view of the facts that these chapters were 
 ascribed to Zechariah by those who formed the Jewish 
 Canon, under divine guidance, as we believe, and but a 
 few years at most after the death of Zechariah ; that they 
 were so regarded when the Septuagint translation was 
 made three hundred years before the time of our Lord and 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 215 
 
 the apostles ; that this opinion was unchallenged by any 
 inspired writer, with an ambiguous exception, which is 
 susceptible of another interpretation ; that the contents 
 of these chapters have nothing that refers them to any 
 other age, except we deny the possibility of prophecy, 
 with the neologists ; and that the reason obviously 
 animating many of the assailants of tlie authenticity, is 
 a desire to disprove their prophetic character, we feel 
 constrained to adhere to the general judgment of both 
 the Jewish and Christian churches, that these chapters 
 belong to the prophecies of Zechariah, and are so to be 
 interpreted. 
 
 The contents of this portion of the prophecy are of 
 great variety, and intended obviously for the whole 
 Church, stretching as they do from the time of the prophet 
 to the undeveloped future when Christ shall return a 
 second time without sin to salvation. This will be seen 
 by an enumeration of the various discourses. I. The 
 Syrian conquests of Alexander, c. 9 : 1 — 8. II. The 
 lowly King Messiah, v. 9 — 12. III. The Maccabean 
 deliverance, v. 11 — 17. lY. Future blessings to Judah, 
 c. 10 : 1 — 5. V. The restoration of the Jews, v. 6 — 12. 
 YI. The storm preceding the coming of Christ, c. 11 : 
 1 — 3. YII. Christ assuming the pastoral care of the 
 Theocratic people, v. 4 — 14. YIII. The curse of evil 
 rulers after the rejection of Christ, v. 15 — end. IX. 
 Future blessings to Judah, c. 12 : 1 — 9. X. Future 
 repentance and blessing to Jerusalem, v. 10 — end. XL 
 Fruits of penitence, c. 13 : 1 — 6. XII. The sword 
 
216 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IX. 
 
 awaking against the shepherd, v. 7 — 9. XIII. Future 
 glories of the Church, chap. 14. 
 
 It will be seen at a glance that these prophecies carry 
 us to some of the deepest soundings of the vast ocean 
 of prophetic revelation ; and if the chart we shall pre- 
 sent of this portion of it should not be satisfactory to 
 all, they who have fathomed these depths lowest will 
 be best prepared to make allowance for any failures. 
 
 I. The Syrian Conquest of Alexander. 
 
 Chapter 9 : 1 — 8. 
 
 analysis. 
 
 I. The threatening', and the reason for it, (v. 1.) 
 
 II. The course of conquest traced, beginning at Damascus and 
 extending along the Mediterranean coast to the Philistine cities, 
 (v. 2-7.) 
 
 III. The safety of the Jewish people amidst these conquests of 
 Alexander. 
 
 V. 1. "A BUKDEN, the word of Jehovah on the land of Hadrach, 
 and Damascus shall be its rest, for to Jehovah is the sight of 
 man, and all the tribes of Israel." 
 
 Y. 1. This prophecy most obviously predicts the 
 conquests of Alexander the Great in the countries 
 that bordered the Holy Land. Its introduction here is 
 appropriate, because it refers to a state of facts that 
 would affect the Theocracy, and would also, at the same 
 time, affect the enemies of Israel. 
 
 The word " burden" seems to be a sort of title or 
 
ZECnARIAII. — CHAPTER IX. 217 
 
 1 The burden of the word of the Damascus shall be the rest thereof : 
 Lord in the land of Hadrach, and when the eyes of man, as of all the 
 
 motto to the prophecy to indicate its minatory charac- 
 ter. It is never prefixed to prophecies of any other 
 character, and seems to be an appropriate inscription 
 to such predictions, that hang in the Bible, hke dark 
 clouds, surcharged with a burden of wrath. The meta- 
 phor is so natural and common, that it is wonderful 
 that any attempt should be made to deny the obvious 
 significance of this word as marking those utterances 
 of prophetic inspiration that contain heav}'' tidingp. 
 The elaborate investigation of Hengstenberg has so 
 completely established this meaning of the word that it 
 may be considered as settled. 
 
 The name Hadrach is somewhat obscure. Heng- 
 stenberg considers it a symbolical name for Persia, 
 compounded of terms signifying "strong — weak," but 
 his reasoning is too fanciful to be admitted. As all the 
 other names are actual names of cities, we would not 
 expect a symbolical name without some reason that 
 does not appear in the passage. Others say that there 
 was a city of this name near Damascus, but it is very 
 doubtful whether such a city ever existed ; and if it did, 
 whether its importance was such as to justify its place 
 at the head of this prophecy. Hence the opinion of 
 Henderson is the most probable, that it is the name of 
 a king, and perhaps a corruption of the common name 
 of the kings of Syria, Hadad. Whatever view be 
 taken, the general meaning of the prophecy is the 
 14 
 
218 ZECnARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I 
 
 tribes of Israel, shall be towards the thereby : Tyrus, and Zidon, though I 
 
 Lord. it be very wise. j 
 
 2 And Hamath also shall border ! 
 
 same. The tempest was first to fall on this land, what- j 
 
 ever it was. I 
 
 "And Damascus shall be its rest." This is a parallel \ 
 
 passage to ch. 6 : 8, where it is said that the anger of \ 
 
 the Lord shall rest on the north country. The mean- ( 
 
 ing is that a permanent judgment shall rest on Damas- i 
 
 cus, implying that this judgment should not be of a ) 
 
 wholly destructive character, and hence Damascus re- 1 
 
 mains until the present day. ■ 
 
 The next clause assigns the reason for these judg- i' 
 
 ments, and hence begins with the particle "for," The \ 
 
 common interpretation of the phrase, "to Jehovah is | 
 
 the eye of man," makes it an expression of the provi- \ 
 
 dence of God ; but if "eye" retains its ordinary signi- ^ 
 
 fication, it should be in construction with Jehovah and | 
 
 not with man, to express the fact that the oversight of | 
 
 Jehovah was directed to man, and the sentence should I! 
 read "to man is the eye of Jehovah." Kimchi, Cal- 
 vin, Blayney, and Henderson take the words in their 
 natural order, and make the clause mean that men and 
 the tribes of Israel look to God in this time of trouble. 
 They take ^? as a particle of time. But this view does 
 not cohere with the context fully, which seems to re- 
 quire a reason for the infliction of the judgment rather 
 than the looking of men to God under it. This will be 
 done if we give to ?? the sense of adspectus or appear- 
 
ZECHAEIAH. CHAPTER IX. 219 
 
 3 And Tyrus did build herself a the dust, and fine gold as the mire of 
 strong hold, and heaped up silver as the streets. 
 
 ance, a sense that it has in several passages. (See 
 Num. 11 : 7 ; Ez. 1 : 4 ; Dan. 10 : 6, &c.) The mean- 
 ing tlien would be that the relative aspects of the world 
 and the people of Israel had come up before God, he 
 had seen their situation, and hence would bring judg- 
 ments upon the one whilst he protected the other. The 
 general idea is clear, that these judgments are brought 
 upon the lands in question because the attention of 
 God was directed to them, as well as to the tribes of 
 Israel, and would equalize any apparent anomalies in 
 their relative conditions. 
 
 V. 2. " Also Hamath shall border on it, Tyre and Sidon because 
 it is very wise." 
 
 Hamath, which lay at the entrance to Palestine from 
 Damascus, should not only border on Damascus in ter- 
 ritory, but also in treatment, and should lie in the track 
 of the conquering invader. Pursuing his southern 
 course he should reach Tyre and Sidon, whose conceit 
 of wisdom and godless pride must be punished. The 
 Tyrians were celebrated for their worldly wisdom. 
 (See Ezek. 28 : 3—5, 12, 17.) When Alexander de- 
 sired admission to their city under the pretext of sacri- 
 ficing to Hercules, they replied that the ancient and 
 true temple of that god was at Old Tyre, on the main 
 land, and sent him a crown of gold to conciliate him, 
 and prevent him from urging an entrance into their 
 city. 
 
220 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 4 Behold, the Lord will cast her the sea ; and she shall be devoured 
 out, and he will smite her power in with fire. 
 
 * 
 
 Tyre and Sidon were two of the oldest and richest 
 cities in the world, the one famed for her arts and man- 
 ufactures, especially in glass and pottery, the other for 
 her commerce. The fine harbor of Tyre had made her 
 the depot for the rich stream of Asiatic trade whose 
 current has always enriched the channels through which 
 it flowed, and her merchant princes were among the 
 rulers of the world. Having almost a monopoly of the 
 carrying trade of the Mediterranean, her wealth be- 
 came enormous, and her inhabitants lived in a style of 
 luxury that has but few parallels in history. Like 
 Venice in modern times, she became arrogant and con- 
 temptuous in her feelings towards other nations, and 
 especially towards the Hebrews, because of their com- 
 parative poverty. Hence that offensive pride alluded 
 to in this verse. 
 
 V. 3. "And Tyre has built for herself a strong- hold, and has 
 heaped up silver as dust, and gold as the mire of the streets." 
 
 Old Tyre had been built on the continent, but owing 
 to its greater exposure to invasion, another city was 
 erected on an island about half a mile from the shore. 
 The prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel seem to have 
 been directed against Old Tyre, and were fulfilled to 
 the letter by Nebuchadnezzar, who razed the city to its 
 very foundations and left it a heap of ruins. After the 
 overthrow of Old Tyre, the Tyrians concentrated their 
 strength on the island, surrounded it with a double wall 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IX. 221 
 
 5 Ashkclon sliall see it, and fear ; rowful, and Ekron : for her expecta- 
 Gaza also shall see it, and be very sor- tion shall be ashamed ; and the king 
 
 150 feet high, filled in with 25 feet of earth, which 
 together with the surrounding sea, made the city ap- 
 parently impregnable. This is the '" strong hold" men- 
 tioned by the prophet, and her flourishing commerce 
 had at this time made silver and gold to be heaped up 
 in her coffers like the dust of the streets. For the proph- 
 et to predict her overthrow, would be like a modern 
 seer to predict the razing of Gibraltar or the* sacking of 
 London. Yet it was precisely then that he declared 
 that this proud queen of the waters should be over- 
 thrown. 
 
 V. 4. " Behold the Lord will dispossess her, and will cast into 
 the sea her bulwark, and she shall be consumed with fire." 
 
 It is here predicted that the Lord would dispossess 
 her from her strong seat, cast her girdling bulwark into 
 the sea, and that she should be consumed with fire. Two 
 hundred years passed away, and still Tyre sat in her 
 queenly pride on the throne of the seas, and no power 
 on earth seemed likely to attempt the fulfilment of this 
 prophecy. At length there appeared on the shore an 
 army of Greeks, who demanded the surrender of the 
 city. But they were without a navy, and without any 
 means even of reaching these mighty walls, or arresting 
 for a moment the commerce that thronged her ports, 
 and we cannot wonder that the Tyrians derided the 
 presumption of the young chieftain. But her hour was 
 come. Alexander, after various expedients, finally re- 
 
222 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IX. 
 
 shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon dod, and I will cut off the pride of the 
 shall not be inhabited. Philistines. 
 
 6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ash- 
 
 solved to take the ruins of Old Tyre, and run a mole 
 from the shore to the island, which, after incredible 
 labor he did, thus fulfilling another prophecy, that the 
 very dust of Old Tyre should be scraped off, and her 
 stones, timber and dust be laid in the midst of the 
 water! (See Ezek. 26 : 4 — 12, &c.) Having completed 
 this mole, he took the city after a siege of seven months, 
 put to the sword about 10,000, enslaved 30,000, and 
 burnt the city with fire, thus, against the most stupen- 
 dous improbabilities, fulfilling this remarkable prophecy 
 to the very letter. 
 
 V. 5, 6. "Ashkelon shall see it and fear, Gaza {shall see it) and 
 tremble greatly, and Ekron, for her reliance is disgraced, and a 
 king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 
 An alien shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will destroy the pride of the 
 Philistines." 
 
 These verses describe the conquering march of Alex- 
 ander along the shore, and depict the terror that the 
 Philistian cities felt when they heard that even Tyre 
 (which is called the reliance of Ekron, that being the 
 most northern city of the Philistines, and nearest to 
 Tyre) had been overthrown. This we know from 
 history to have been the precise track of Alexander ; 
 and so completely have these prophecies been fulfilled, 
 that the traveller can hardly discover the sites of some 
 of these once proud and powerful cities. The perishing 
 of a king from Gaza, is the destruction of her form of 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 223 
 
 7 And I will take away his blood that rcmaincth, even he, sliall be for 
 out of his mouth, and his abomina- our God, and he shall be a governor in 
 tions from between his teeth ; but he Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. 
 
 government and her subjugation ; the dwelling of an 
 alien in Ashdod, is the banishment of the native popula- 
 tion ; and the destruction of the pride of the Philistines, 
 is the overthrow of those external means of attack and 
 defence in which they placed their pride. History re- 
 cords the complete fulfilment of these prophecies. Of 
 Gaza it is recorded that after a siege of two months it 
 was taken, and the governor, or king Betis, dragged 
 round the city ; a fact that may be, in part, referred to 
 in the prediction, " a king shall perish from Gaza." In 
 rendering ^I^?? " a bastard," our version has followed 
 the Septuagint version of the word in Deut. 23 : 2, the 
 only other text where it occurs. But the great majority 
 of interpreters give it the meaning of alien, a foreigner. 
 
 V. 1. "And I will remove his blood from his mouth, and his 
 abominations from between his teeth, and he that remains, even he, 
 shall be for our God, and he shall be as a prince in Judah, and 
 Ekron as the Jebusite." 
 
 The removal of his blood from his mouth, would seem, 
 by the parallel phrase, to refer to the overthrow of 
 idolatrous practices, one of which was the drinking of 
 sacrificial blood. 
 
 In the clause, "and he that remains, even he, shall 
 be for our God," it is intimated that this ruin shall not 
 be total, but that some would remain, who should after- 
 wards be converted to God. This conversion is illus- 
 trated by comparing those aUuded to among the Philis- 
 
224 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IX. 
 
 8 And I will encamp about mine j^ressor shall pass through them any 
 
 house because of the army, because more : for now have I seen with mine 
 
 of him that paf^seth by, and because eyes, 
 of him that returneth : and no op- 
 
 tines to the Jebusites, who were incorporated into the 
 Theocracy, after their subjugation by David. "Ekron 
 as the Jebusite" is there explanatory of the same con- 
 version that is expressed in the parallel clause, "he 
 shall be a prince in Judah." This prediction received 
 its fulfilment in the time of Christ, when a great multi- 
 tude from Tyre and Sidon came to him, (Luke 6 : 17,) 
 and when churches were planted along these coasts that 
 Paul visited, and from which in the Dioclesian persecu- 
 tion there went up a great cloud of witnesses. 
 
 V. 8. " And I will encamp around my house because of the army, 
 because of the passer by, and because of the returner, and the 
 exactor shall no more pass through them, for now I see with mine 
 eyes." 
 
 The question would naturally arise here to the 
 Jew, will not this temple which we have built be in 
 danger when such a conqueror is ravaging Palestine ? 
 Is he not likely to attack Jerusalem, and undo all this 
 work of our hands? The prophet assures them that 
 the temple is safe, because God will encamp around it, 
 because of this invading army. And it is a remarkable 
 fact, that when Alexander was advancing upon Jeru- 
 salem with great fury, he was arrested by a dream, and 
 induced not only to spare it, but also to confer upon it 
 great privileges. Hence in this narrowest sense the pre- 
 diction has been completely verified. 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER IX. 225 
 
 But as the temple was only a symbol of the Church, 
 the promise must have its widest fulfilment only in the 
 glorious antitype, that Church that is kept as the apple 
 of God's eye, and against which the gates of hell shall 
 never prevail. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The condition of all men is laid open to the eye 
 of God, and he will appoint judgment or mercy accord- 
 ing to that condition, (v. 1.) 
 
 (2.) Worldly- wisdom is at last greatly inferior to 
 that wisdom, the beginning of which is the fear of the 
 Lord, (v. 2.) 
 
 (3.) However secure nations or men may think them- 
 selves in sin, their sin will be sure to find them out. 
 Never has sin more proudly entrenched herself than in 
 godless, but magnificent Tyre. Never has every ele- 
 ment of earthly prosperity seemed more completely 
 under control than in her case. And yet they were all 
 swept like chaff before the whirlwind of the wrath of 
 God, when the time for the fulfilment of his threaten- 
 ings had come. Hence though nations now trample on 
 law and right, and seem long to flourish in their sin, let 
 not the child of God be impatient. Let him remember 
 that two hundred years passed away after the utterance 
 of these threatenings against Tyre, and she seemed 
 stronger than ever, and yet when the day of doom had 
 dawned, the galleys that left her on their stated voyages 
 the peerless queen of the seas, when they returned 
 
226 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 found her but a bare and blackened rock, a lonely 
 monument of the truth, that our God is a consuming 
 fire. If, then, God thus executes his threats even on a 
 mighty commonwealth, in spite of his delay, let not the 
 fact that judgment against an evil work is not executed 
 speedily cause the hearts of the sons of men to be fully 
 set in them to do evil. Let men remember that it is a 
 falsehood to violate a threatening as much as to violate 
 a promise, and that God will not make himself a liar to 
 save man in his sins, (v. 3 — 7.) 
 
 (4.) Amidst all the tumults of nations, the true people 
 of God are safe, being guarded by the arm of Almighti- 
 ness, (v. 8.) 
 
 II. The Lowly King Messiah, 
 
 Chapter 9 : 9, 10. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. A call to the Church to rejoice because of the coming of her 
 King Messiah, (v. 9.) 
 
 II. The reasons for this rejoicing: (1.) His personal character 
 (v. 9.) (2.) The nature and extent of his kingdom, (v. 10.) 
 
 That this passage applies to Christ is beyond all ref- 
 utation. It was exactly fulfilled in his history, when 
 he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and is re- 
 ferred to him expressly by the Evangelist. (See Matt. 
 21 : 4, 5.) It contains expressions from older Messianic 
 prophecies, the reference of which is generally admitted : 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER IX. 227 
 
 9 ^ Rejoice grdhtlj', O daughter of thee : he is just, and having salvation ; 
 Zion ; shout, dauglitcr of Jcrusa- lowly, and riding upon an ass, and 
 lem ; behold, thy King cometh unto upon a colt the foal of an ass. 
 
 it was always so understood in the Jewish Church, until 
 Christians used it as an argument in favor of Christ : and, 
 finally, it can be consistently applied to none other. 
 Hence, we are justified in taking it as a jubilate^ ad- 
 dressed to the Church in view of her king, who is 
 described as (1) just, (2) endowed with salvation, (3) 
 lowly, (4) externally poor, "riding on an ass;" and 
 whose kingdom (v. 10) is declared as to its character to 
 be peaceful, (v. 10,) and as to its extent, universal. 
 
 V. 9. " Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, shout for joy, daughter 
 of Jerusalem, behold ! thy King cometh unto thee, just, and en- 
 dowed with salvation, is he, lowly and riding upon an ass, and 
 upon a foal, the son of she-asses." 
 
 The Theocracy, or Church, is called to rejoice because 
 of the coming of her king. The kingly office of the 
 Messiah, which was conferred upon him for the accom- 
 plishment of the work of redemption, is often alluded 
 to as ground for rejoicing. (See Ps. 2, &c.) The 
 ground of this rejoicing is expressed in the words suc- 
 ceeding, to be the character of the king, and the nature 
 and extent of his kingdom. 
 
 (1.) He is "just." The righteousness here referred to 
 is not his priestly, but his kingly righteousness, that 
 rigorous justice of his reign in virtue of which no good 
 should be unrewarded and no evil unpunished. In the 
 unequal allotments of the present, when the good so 
 often suffer and the bad so often escape, it is surely 
 
 ly 
 
^ 
 
 228 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ground for rejoicing that the king, under whose rule 
 this dispensation is placed, is just, and will render to 
 every man according to his work. This attribute is as- 
 signed to the Messiah also in Isa. 45 : 23 ; 53 : 11; Jer. 
 23 : 5 ; 33 : 15, &c. 
 
 (2.) He is " endowed with salvation." The word sia'ia 
 is a difficult one here, and has received a great deal of 
 attention from interpreters. Being in the niphal or pas- 
 sive conjugation, it would literally be "saved," "pro- 
 tected," or " delivered." This would give a good sense, 
 but rather a tame one, compared with the other charac- 
 teristics named in the prophecy. Hence it is usually 
 taken in a secondary sense, as expressing not simply 
 the reception of a salvation, but its possession as a gift 
 that was capable of being bestowed upon others. The 
 same word occurs in this sense elsewhere, as Deut. 33 : 
 19 ; Ps. 33 : 16, &c. The meaning then would be that 
 God was with him, in spite of all his lowliness, sustain- 
 ing him in the mighty work he had undertaken, and 
 that this protection was bestowed upon him not as an 
 individual but as a king, a representative of his people, 
 so that he would not only enjoy it himself, but possess 
 the power of bestowing it upon others. Hence, while 
 his inflexible justice might make us tremble in our sin, 
 the fact that he was also endowed with a free salvation, 
 and a salvation which he could bestow as a kingly right, 
 would remove these fears and enable us to rejoice in 
 this coming king. This is the interpretation of this 
 word by the LXX., the Tar gum, the Syriac, and Yulgate 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 229 
 
 versions, Bochart, G-rotius, Marckius, Dathius, New- 
 come, Henderson, and Hengstenberg, with some slight 
 differences of opinion on a minor question of grammar. 
 (3.) He was to be "lowly." This word ^3^ is some- 
 times rendered meek, because of the Greek word used 
 in the quotation of this passage in Matt. 21 : 5, which 
 has this meaning. But as the word ^'^^ always refers 
 to lowliness of outward circumstances, and "i^? to lowli- 
 ness of disposition, Hengstenberg and others allege 
 that the Evangelist did not mean to endorse the abso- 
 lute accuracy of the Septuagint translation of the word, 
 but simply to quote it as a well-known version. If the 
 usual sense of the word be given, the Church would be 
 summoned to rejoice because of the humiliation of her 
 king. And however incongruous such a ground of re- 
 joicing may seem to be to men generally, the heart 
 that is crushed with penitence or grief will comprehend 
 the reason of this summons. Had this august king 
 been as sorrowless as he was sinless, had he been a 
 robed seraph or a crowned monarch, the poor and suf- 
 fering could never have approached him with confi- 
 dence, for he could not have sympathized with them in 
 their sorrows. But when he comes to us as one who 
 can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, we 
 welcome him with joy, and understand why we are 
 called to rejoice, because he comes to us as the lowly 
 king. It is marvellous that expositors should have 
 found so much difficulty here, when the reason of this 
 call to rejoice might have been found in the yearnings 
 
230 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 10 And I will cut off the chariot rusalem, and the battle bow shall be 
 from Ephraim, and the horse from Je- cut off : and he shall speak peace unto 
 
 of their own hearts for the sympathy of one who has 
 himself tasted sorrow. Surely a suffering child of God 
 can understand how blessed a thing it is to have a Sav- 
 iour king who has known himself what it is to suffer. 
 
 (4.) He was to be externally in poverty, "riding 
 upon an ass, and upon a foal, the son of she-asses." 
 This is a prediction of poverty, for although in earlier 
 times kings rode on asses, after the time of Solomon 
 they were never so used, horses having taken their 
 place. The employment of the horse in war also made 
 the use of the ass an indication of peace as well as of 
 poverty. The two members of the sentence are in the 
 form of a climax, the use of an untrained colt being less 
 honorable than that of a full-grown animal. The f)lural 
 '' she-asses," is merely the indefinite plural, as in Gen. 
 21 : 7, where "sons" is evidently used for the indefinite 
 "son," since Sarah had but a single son. The exact fulfil- 
 ment of this prophecy in the entrance of Christ into 
 Jerusalem was merely a specific illustration of the gen- 
 eral prediction, not the entire object of the prediction 
 itself Its range was much broader than this single 
 event, and indeed would have been substantially fulfill- 
 ed had this event never occurred. The specific fulfil- 
 ment however rivets the prophecy more absolutely to 
 Christ. 
 
 V. 10. " And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the 
 horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war shall be cut off, and he 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 231 
 
 the heathen ; and his dominion shall river even to the ends of the earth. 
 be from sea even to sea, and from the 
 
 shall speak peace to the nations, and his dominion (be) from sea 
 to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." 
 
 V. 10 describes tlie peaceful character of the Mes- 
 siah's kingdom in metaphorical terms, such as are used 
 elsewhere for the same purpose. The chariot and horse 
 are of course those used in war, and their removal is 
 equivalent to the cessation of warfare. The word 
 Ephraim here does not prove that this prophecy was 
 written before the exile, but only that the prophet was 
 familiar with the prophets of that period, and used 
 their language when he would describe the whole land 
 of Palestine. 
 
 The extent of this kingdom is indicated first by the 
 fact that he would " speak peace to the nations," {Gen- 
 tiles,) and hence would rule beyond the limits of Israel ; 
 and secondly, by the phrase from " sea to sea," &c., 
 which, by comparison with Ps. 72, and other passages, 
 will be found to express absolute universality, being 
 equivalent to the known world. The Euphrates and 
 the Mediterranean were the geographical limits of the 
 earth as known to the Hebrews, and by introducing one 
 into the first member of the parallelism, and the other 
 into the second, the universality of the Messiah's king- 
 dom was emphatically declared. 
 
 That the tendencies of Christ's kingdom are to uni- 
 versal peace and universal piety, we need not pause to 
 argue, and that these tendencies shall yet be fully em- 
 
232 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 bodied, we believe as well from the voice of history as 
 from the word of prophecy. We have only to patiently- 
 labor, and patiently wait, and the white banner of the 
 lowly king shall in due time be unfurled from every 
 mountain-top, and over every valley, and men be 
 brother-murderers and brother-haters no more. 
 
 This beautiful prediction of the Messiah is a sort of 
 episode, where the longings of prophecy for this mighty 
 future seemed to burst forth, as if irrepressible. These 
 involuntary gushings up of the prophetic hopes are 
 exceedingly touching and beautiful. The prophet then 
 returns to a nearer future in the succeeding verses. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Christians should be happy. No people have a 
 better right or better reason to rejoice, (v. 9.) 
 
 (2.) The righteousness wrought out by Christ is the 
 great ground of his Kingly authority, (see Phil. 2 : 6 — 
 10,) and also of the joy of his people, (v. 9.) 
 
 (3.) A suffering people can find great comfort in the 
 fact that they have a suffering Saviour ; see Heb. 4 : 
 15, (v. 9.) 
 
 (4.) Christians need never repine at earthly poverty 
 when their King had not where to lay his head, (v. 9.) 
 
 (5.) War will cease on earth only when wickedness 
 ceases, and wickedness will cease only when Christ's 
 universal empire begins, (v. 10.) 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 233 
 
 11 As for thee also, by the blood of prisoners out of the pit wherein it no 
 thy covenant I have sent forth thy water. 
 
 III. The Maccabean Deliverance. 
 
 Chapter 9 : 11 — 11. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The distress that would foHow the Grecian conquests of 
 Alexander and his successors, (v. 11, 12.) 
 
 II. The wars occasioned by the revolt of the Jews under the 
 Maccabees, (v. 13 — 15.) 
 
 III. The Maccabean victories and their results, (v. 16, 11.) 
 
 The key to this passage lies in v. 13, where a revolt 
 of the chosen people against the sons of Javan (Ionia or 
 Greece), is predicted. There was no such collision be- 
 tween the Jews and the Greeks, except under the suc- 
 cessors of Alexander. Hence the prophecy must refer 
 to the times of the Maccabees. It was natural that, 
 after predicting the conquests of Alexander, some allu- 
 sion should be made to the important events succeeding. 
 
 V. 11. "Also thou — in the blood of thy covenant I have sent 
 forth thy prisoners, from the pit, and there is no water in it." 
 
 "Also thou" — The prophet here turns to the 
 Theocracy to assure her that, in view of her covenant 
 relation, she should be delivered during the troublous 
 times that must precede the coming of the lowly king. 
 "In the blood of thy covenant," means on account of 
 the covenant sealed with blood, referring to the Sinaitic 
 covenant, which guaranteed protection to the chosen 
 15 
 
234 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 12 ^ Turn you to the strong hold, I declare that I will render double unto 
 ye prisoners of hope : even to day do thee ; 
 
 people while in the path of duty. The imprisonment in 
 a pit where there was no water, is a metaphor drawn 
 from the deep wells often found in dungeons, into 
 which they lowered prisoners in special cases, and is a 
 figurative representation of the distress that would be 
 occasioned by the successors of Alexander. How great 
 this distress was may be learned from history. Pales- 
 tine was the battle-ground of contending rivals for 
 empire, and suffered the usual calamities of such a posi- 
 tion. But these sufferings reached their height under 
 the ravages of the cruel Antiochus, who rifled and pol- 
 luted the temple, murdered and enslaved thousands of 
 the people, and attempted to overturn the religion of 
 Jehovah, and establish the worship of Jupiter. His 
 enormities were so great that the image of the prophet 
 was by no means exaggerated. But these very severi- 
 ties were doubtless ihQ means of preventing a national 
 apostasy. The mild rule of the Ptolemies might soon 
 have seduced the Jews from their allegiance, but the 
 terrible persecutions of Antiochus only made them cling 
 more obstinately to the faith of their fathers. 
 
 V. 12. " Return to the strong hold, prisoners of hope! Even 
 to-day {am I) declaring, I will render double to you." 
 
 V. 12. The image of the dungeon in v. 11, suggests 
 that of the strong hold, which is simply a metaphor for 
 divine deliverance. God calls the people to return to 
 him, and he will protect them. The phrase " prisoners 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 235 
 
 13 When I have bent Jiulah for me, 14 And the Lord shall be seen over 
 
 filled the bow with Ephraim, and them, and his arrow shall go forth as 
 
 raised up thy sons, Zion, against thy the lightning : and the Lord God shall 
 
 sons, Greece, and made thee as the blow the trumpet, and shall go with 
 
 sword of a mighty man. whirlwinds of the south. 
 
 of hope," means prisoners who have hope — a hope 
 resting on the covenant. He then assures them that 
 great as was their affliction, their prosperity should be 
 doubly greater. 
 
 The next two verses are addressed to the Greeks, 
 and declare, by two images, the deliverance that God 
 would work. When it is remembered that at this time 
 the Greeks were an obscure people, scarcely known 
 beyond their own borders, this prophecy becomes one 
 of the most remarkable in the Scriptures. 
 
 V. 13. " For I have bent to me Judah, the bow have I filled with 
 Ephraim, and I have raised up thy sons, Zion ! against thy 
 sons, Javan ! and have made thee as the sword of a mighty 
 man." 
 
 V. 13. God appears here as a warrior, taking Judah 
 for his bow, and Ephraim for his arrow, and bending 
 the weapon against the enemies of Zion. 
 
 Then addressing Zion and Javan alternately, he 
 declares that he will make Zion like the sword of a 
 mighty man, i. e. irresistible and invincible. 
 
 V. 14. "And over them Jehovah will appear, and his arrow goes 
 forth like lightning, and the Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet, 
 and he goes forth in the storms of the south." 
 
 Y. 14 changes the image to that of a tempest, the 
 arrowy flashes of whose lightning and the trumpet-peals 
 of whose thunder, make it an army of resistless power. 
 
 i^ 
 
236 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 15 The Lord of hosts shall defend 16 And the Lord their God shall 
 them ; and they shall devour, and sub- save them in that day as the flock of 
 due with sling stones ; and they shall his people : for they shall be as the 
 drink, and make a noise as through stones of a crown, lifted up as an en- 
 wine ; and they shall be filled like sign upon his land, 
 bowls, and as the corners of the altar. 
 
 Storms of the south are violent storms, because such 
 was their usual character, (see Isa. 21 : 1.) 
 
 V. 15. " Jeliovah of Hosts will protect them, and they eat and 
 they trample under foot the sling-stones, and they drink, and make 
 a noise as from wine, and they are full as the altar-bowls, and as 
 the corners of the altar." 
 
 V. 15 turns again to the covenant people, and 
 describes them under the image of a lion, who devours 
 his enemy and then treads him under foot. These ene- 
 mies are represented under the image of sling-stones, to 
 show their feebleness ; for only small stones were suita- 
 ble for a sling ; stones which, when on the ground, 
 were perfectly harmless. This lion was intoxicated with 
 blood as with wine, filled with it like the bowls of the 
 altar, and sprinkled with it, hke the corners of the 
 altar. These images of sanguinary conquest are very 
 powerful. 
 
 V. 16. " And Jehovah their God will save them in that day, as 
 a flock (will he save) his people, for as gems of a diadem are they 
 lifted up in his land." 
 
 V. 16 contains yet other images of prosperity. God 
 would not only give victory but afterwards peace, and 
 hence the warrior and the lion are now exchanged for 
 the shepherd and the flock, and the spent and worthless 
 stones of the sling scornfully trampled under the feet, 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 237 
 
 17 For how great is his goodness, shall make the j'oung men cheerful, 
 and how great is his beauty ! corn and new wine the maids. 
 
 are contrasted with the briUiant and costly gems of the 
 diadem that are honorably placed upon the head. 
 
 V. 17. '• For how great is his goodness 1 and how groat his 
 beauty ! Corn makes the young men to grow, and new wine the 
 maidens." 
 
 V. 17 is an exulting exclamation in view of the good- 
 ness and loveliness of God's character, and the blessings 
 he would then grant to the Theocracy. Corn and wine 
 indicated peace and prosperity that permitted the per- 
 formance of agricultural labor, whilst the increase of 
 young men and maidens indicated the peaceful increase 
 of population, and showed that children were not cut 
 off, as they commonly are, in a state of war or trouble. 
 
 These images of prosperity predict the deliverance 
 that should take place under the Maccabees, which we 
 know to have been one of the most wonderful in history. 
 The tyranny of' Antiochus aroused this brave family, 
 whose victories over the repeated armies sent to subdue 
 them, have no parallel but in the rapid conquests of 
 Alexander or Napoleon. Having retaken Jerusalem, 
 the temple was restored and the feast of the Purification 
 instituted, which connects itself with the history of our 
 Lord. The Maccabean rule was one of such prosperity 
 as to fulfil the terms of this prophecy, and designate its 
 era as one of the bright pages in the Hebrew annals. 
 
 The spiritual interpretations that are often given of 
 this passage, are not wholly accommodations of its 
 
238 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER IX. 
 
 terms. All the facts of the Jewish history are looked 
 at in their relation to the Messianic blessings, and have 
 their value mainly in this connection, and hence as 
 objects seen in the same plane and parallel, their out- 
 lines and lights are often blended. We, too, are often 
 in a horrible pit and miry clay. We, too, are prisoners 
 of hope, who are to go forth by the blood of the ever- 
 lasting covenant ; and we, too, have an enemy more 
 terrible by far than the gigantic Epiphanes, and are 
 menaced with a storm of ruin more fearful than that 
 which swept over widowed Judea. Hence the call to 
 turn and flee to the strong hold, is one that may still be 
 sounded to man, and the promised blessings of this 
 passage shall but prefigure those greater blessings that 
 shall be bestowed upon those who are the flock of the 
 good shepherd, and who are among the jewels that 
 glitter in his diadem of many crowns. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The covenant love of God, and his faithful prom- 
 ises that are sealed with blood, are the hope of the 
 Church in a time of trouble, (v. 11.) 
 
 (2.) Let sinners, who are also prisoners of hope, turn 
 to the strong hold Christ, ere it be forever too late, and 
 God will give them a double blessing, (v. 12.) 
 
 (3.) Men are only the instruments in God's hand for 
 accomplishing his purposes, (v. 13.) 
 
 (4.) However terrific the tumult of wars and revolu- 
 tions, the people of God are safe, (v. 14, 16.) 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER X. 239 
 
 1 Ask ye of the Lord rain in the them showers of rain, to every one 
 time of the latter rain ; so the Loed grass in the field. 
 shall make hright clouds, and give 
 
 (5.) After the storm comes the rainbow. After the 
 tears of suffering faith, comes the radiance of joyful 
 hope, (v. 17.) 
 
 IV. Prayer and Promise. 
 
 Chapter 10 : 1 — 5. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The call to prayer, because (1) thus God would bestow bless- 
 ing, (v. 1); (2) their former objects of worship were false, (v. 2); 
 (3) their former rulers were wicked, (v. 3.) 
 
 II. Promise of blessings in answer to prayer ; (1) rulers from 
 themselves (v. 4); (2) conquest of their enemies, (v. 5.) 
 
 V. 1. " Ask of Jehovah rain, in the time of tlic latter rain ; Je- 
 hovah shall (then) cause lightnings, and shall give abundant rain, 
 to every man grass in his field." 
 
 We have here expressed the connection between 
 prayer and promise on the one hand, and prayer and 
 the processes of nature on the other. The blessing of 
 rain, which to an agricultural people, was inclusive of 
 all other temporal blessings, and symbolical of all spirit- 
 ual ones, was promised ; but this promise was depend- 
 ent on its supplication in prayer. Just as in the great 
 blessing of the descent of the spirit on an individual or 
 a Church, though a free gift, it must be obtained by 
 prayer. It is this fact that makes the spirit of prayer 
 
240 ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER X. 
 
 2 For the idols have spoken vanity, in vain : therefore they went their 
 and tlie diviners have seen a lie, and way as a flock, they were troubled, be- 
 have told false dreams ; they comfort cause there was no shepherd. 
 
 in the Church an index at once of her piety, and of the 
 spiritual blessings she may expe^ct from God. When the 
 Church pours out a fulness of prayer, God will pour out 
 a fulness of his spirit. The inspired writers see no dif- 
 ficulty in the connection between prayer and the pro- 
 cesses of nature, such as the mole-eyed philosophy of 
 modern times discovers. They think that the God who 
 has created the elements, may direct them according to 
 his will. "The latter rain" was that which fell in 
 March, to ripen the harvest, whose seed had been 
 watered by the former rain in October. We must not 
 suppose that because God has begun to bless us, we 
 may relax our prayers and efforts. The former rain 
 may be given, but we must also ask for the latter rain. 
 We may have the former rain of conversion, but if we 
 would have the latter rain of ri|)ened sanctification of 
 nature, we must continue to ask of God. So, also, in 
 the revival of religion. The former rain may occur, and 
 souls be converted, but if we would have the ripening 
 of the seed in active Christians, we must ask of God, 
 and he will give growth, greenness and maturity. 
 
 V. 2. " For the teraphim speak nothingness ; and the soothsay- 
 ers see falsehood ; and the dreams speak vanity ; they comfort 
 falsely ; wherefore they wander as a flock, they are troubled be- 
 cause there is no shepherd." 
 
 V. 2 gives the reason for that suffering of the Jews 
 that made God's interposition necessary. They had 
 
ZECIIARIAII.^ CHAPTER X. 241 
 
 3 j\Iine anger was kindled against hath made them as his goodly horse in 
 
 the shepherds, and I punished the thehattle. 
 
 goats ; for the Lord of hosts hath vis- 4 Out of him came forth the corner, 
 
 ited his flock the house of Judah, and out of him the nail, out of him the 
 
 forsaken God for other sources of light, and hence soon 
 found themselves in darkness and emptiness. It is a 
 mournful proof of man's depravity that he will believe 
 any one sooner than God, and seek comfort anywhere 
 rather than from heaven. But when men resort to 
 their earthly teraphim, they fnid at last that they have 
 been deceived, and are left in loneliness and sorrow. 
 So it was with the Jews. They wandered like silly 
 sheep, and soon found themselves among the wild 
 mountains and the howling beasts of prey. The tera- 
 phim were the household gods of the heathen, some 
 sort of images, the form and character of which we do 
 not know. The etymology of the word is uncertain. 
 
 V. 3. " Against the shepherds my anger is kindled, and the he- 
 goats will I punish, for Jehovah of Hosts visits his flock, the 
 house of Judah, and makes them like a caparisoned horse in war." 
 
 The people had shepherds, but they were false ones, 
 
 and they are here threatened. " The he-goats " are the 
 
 leaders of the people, an image taken from the flock 
 
 which the he-goats usually head, as they move from 
 
 place to place. They who are first in crime, will be 
 
 first in punishment. But God will visit his flock in 
 
 mercy, and make each one, instead of a timid sheep, to 
 
 be a war-horse, decked for the battle. 
 
 V. 4. " From him (is) the corner-stone, and from him the pin, 
 from him the bow of battle, from him comes forth every ruler to- 
 gether." 
 
242 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER X. 
 
 battle bow, out of bim every oppressor the mire of the streets in the battle : 
 
 together. and they shall fight, because the Lord 
 
 5 ^ And they shall be as mighty is with them, and the riders on horses 
 
 men, which tread down (heir enemies in shall be confounded. 
 
 V. 4 predicts that the rulers of the country shall then 
 come forth from the people themselves, and not from 
 foreigners. These are called corner-stones and pins, 
 which were used to suspend things upon, because such 
 men were the support of the State, on which everything 
 was sustained or suspended. So, from themselves 
 should come forth military deliverers, symbolized by the 
 "battle-bow." All this was literally fulfilled in the 
 times of the Maccabees, but receives its highest fulfil- 
 ment in the self-sustaining energy and resources of the 
 kingdom of Messiah. 
 
 V. 5. "And they shall be as heroes, trampling on the mire of 
 the streets in war, and they fight, for Jehovah is with them, and 
 the riders on horses are put to shame." 
 
 V. 5 predicts the conquests of the chosen people, 
 that they will trample down their enemies as mire in 
 the streets, and overcome cavalry, so formidable usually 
 to the infantry of the Jews. The cavalry of Antiochus 
 was thus trampled down by the resistless ranks of the 
 the Maccabean armies. But, as in previous cases, for 
 reasons already given, these temporal blessings of the 
 Theocracy but symbolize the higher blessings of the 
 Church, whose triumphs are bloodless and tearless, and 
 whose strength is that of the spirit, mighty to the pull- 
 ing down of strong holds, and the subduing of princi- 
 palities and powers. 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER X. 243 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Prayer and promise are the two wires of the 
 telegraph between earth and heaven, the one coming 
 forth from the Hps of man, the other from the Hps of 
 God, (v. 1.) 
 
 (2.) Prayer for promised blessings is as needful as 
 the promise itself, for it is the condition of its perform- 
 ance ; the time of the latter rain may have come, and 
 yet we must ask for it, (v. 1.) 
 
 (3.) All the laws of nature are as completely under 
 the control of God now as when they were originally 
 impressed, and can be turned to the answer of prayer 
 as readily as to the reward of right doing in any other 
 form, (v. 1.) 
 
 (4.) All comfort in religion is not true comfort, for it 
 may rest on an error or a heresy, that shall be proved 
 false at last, (v. 2.) 
 
 (5.) Rulers who are first in doing, will also be first 
 in suffering, if this doing is wrong-doing, (v. 3.) 
 
 (6.) God is in human history, (v. 4, 5.) 
 
 V. The Restoration of the Jews. 
 
 Chapter 10 : 6 — 12. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The permanent establishment of the two great divisions of 
 the chosen people in their own land, (v. 6, 1.) 
 
 II. The causes of this restoration, (1) God's redeeming work 
 (v. 8;) (2) their penitence, (v. 9.) 
 
244 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER X. 
 
 III. The extent of this restoration reaching to all possible 
 places of dispersion, (v. 10, 11.) 
 
 IV. The conversion of the Jews, (v. 12.) 
 
 The proiDliets do not observe an exact chronological 
 order in their prophecies, but often group together the 
 nearer and more remote. Like a painter who in de- 
 picting a landscape will put on the same canvas the 
 hillock at his feet and the mountain that lies leagues 
 away, so they often place the remotest objects in im- 
 mediate proximity to the nearest in sketching their 
 wondrous pictures. This arises partly, from the nature 
 of the prophetic vision that saw future events as it were 
 in the same plane ; partly, from the fact that the greater 
 future was connected with the lesser present by some 
 bond of relation, causal or otherwise, and hence ought 
 to be considered in connection with it ; and partly, from 
 the fact that we naturally rise to the great future, even 
 though but imperfectly connected with the present, 
 when we would draw encouragement to bear existing 
 toils and trials. Thus it is with the minister of the 
 gospel now, who continually breaks away from the 
 narrow present to the more glorious future, either on 
 earth or in heaven, and thus naturally would it be with 
 the prophets of the Old Testament. Hence we need 
 not be surprised to find a mingling of events in the 
 same prophecy that are very remote in their chrono- 
 logical relations. Such is the case in the present 
 instance, where the restoration of the Jews, an event 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER X. 245 
 
 6 And I will strengthen the house 7 And they of Ephraim shall he like 
 
 of Judah, and I will save the house of a mighty man, and their heart shall 
 
 Joseph, and I will bring them again to rejoiee as through wine : yea, their 
 
 place them ; for I have mercy upon children shall see it, and be glad ; their 
 
 them : and they shall he as though I heart shall rejoice in the Lord. 
 had not cast them off; for I am the 
 Lord their God, and will hear them. 
 
 still future, is connected with the Maccabean deliver- 
 ance, an event long since past. Like the near planet 
 and the remote fixed star, though widely different and 
 widely apart, they are seen as if side by side in the 
 prophetic firmament. 
 
 Henderson follows Grotius in supposing that this 
 restoration took place before the coming of Christ, but 
 the terms in which it is described can hardly be re- 
 stricted to any return that took place during that period. 
 Calvin refers it entire to a sjDiritual restoration. But 
 the most natural interpretation seems to be that which 
 predicts a future return to their own land, and a spirit- 
 ual return to God, which is predicted as a separate and 
 ultimate result in v. 12. 
 
 V. 6. " And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will 
 save the house of Joseph, and I will again cause them to dwell, 
 for I liavc compassion upon them ; and they shall be as though I 
 had not cast them out, for I am Jehovah their God, and I will hear 
 them." 
 
 Y. 6 declares the permanent establishment of the two 
 tribes, and the reason of it found in their covenant re- 
 lation to God, and his compassion on them. 
 
 V. T. "And Ephraim shall be as a miglity man, their heart shall 
 rejoice as {loith) wine, and their sons shall sec and rejoice, their 
 heart shall rejoice in Jehovah." 
 
246 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER X. 
 
 8 I will hiss for them, and gather 9 And I will sow them among the 
 
 them ; for I have redeemed them : people : and they shall rememher me 
 
 and they shall increase as they have in far countries ; and they shall live 
 
 increased. with their children, and turn again. 
 
 Y. 7 extends the same blessing to Ephraim, the niost 
 prominent of the ten tribes, most of whom had not yet 
 returned from captivity, and hence needed encourage- 
 ment. 
 
 V. 8. "I will hiss to them and collect them, for I have redeem- 
 ed them, and they shall be many as they were before." 
 
 V. 8 begins to widen the view to include the great 
 restoration. "I will hiss to them," is an image taken 
 from the management of bees, where the apiarist hisses 
 or whistles to collect the swarm. It is designed to ex- 
 press the ease with which a work, seemingly so difficult, 
 could be accomplished. God has only to hiss and these 
 scattered exiles will be brought back. The word "re- 
 deemed" and the context show that this restoration is 
 connected with their conversion to God. 
 
 V. 9. " And I will sow them among the peoples, and in distant 
 lands they shall remember me, and with their children they shall 
 live and return." 
 
 V. 9 shows that the dispersion alluded to was with a 
 special design. They were " sown," and like seed long 
 buried in the dust, they are awaiting the time of ger- 
 mination. It may also indicate the future use of the 
 Jews, when this germ of vitality shall be awakened, in 
 extending the knowledge of the true God as mission- 
 aries. The slight hold that they have on every soil 
 where they now live, the commercial, and hence cosmo- 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER X. 247 
 
 10 I will bring them again also out sea with affliction, and sliall smite the 
 of the land of Egypt, and gather them waves in the sea, and all tlie deeps of 
 out of Assyria ; and I will bring them the river shall dry up ; and the pride 
 into the land of Gilead and Lebanon ; of Assyria shall be brought down, 
 and pUce shall not be found for them, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart 
 
 11 And he shall pass through the away. 
 
 politan character of their pursuits, making a change of 
 residence so easy to them, fit them pecuharly for mis- 
 sionary work. If converted generally, they would be a 
 seed of great power in almost every nation of the 
 world. The mention of their children indicates the 
 completeness and permanence of this restoration. 
 
 V. 10. " And I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, 
 and from Assyria will I gather them, and to the land of Gilead and 
 Lebanon will I bring* them, and there shall not be room to contain 
 them." 
 
 Y. 10 proves that this dispersion alluded to here is 
 not the Babylonish captivity, but a later and wider one. 
 Egypt and Assyria are taken as types of all the lands of 
 their dispersion, the one being the first great oppressor 
 of the chosen people and the other among the last, and 
 the one lying on the north whilst the other lay on the 
 south. Hence they are here taken merely as types of 
 the universal dispersion, just as Shinar in ch. 5:11. So 
 in the next clause, Gilead beyond Jordan, and Lebanon 
 on the hither side, represent the entire land of promise. 
 
 V. 11. "And he passes through the sea, the af&iction, and he 
 smites in the sea the waves, and all the deeps of the river are put 
 to shame, and the pride of Assyria is overthrown, and the rod of 
 Egypt shall give way." 
 
 V. 11, keeping up the allusions of v. 10, employs the 
 
248 ZECHARTAH. CHAPTER X. 
 
 12 And I will strengthen them up and down in his name, saith the 
 in the Lokd ; and they shall walk Lord. 
 
 passage of the Red Sea as an image of the future de- 
 Hverances of the great restoration. " He" probably 
 refers to God, and "affliction" is in apposition with 
 " sea." showing that it is to be taken metaphorically and 
 not literally. Smiting the waves in the sea, is stilling 
 them, putting. down all opposition. "The river" is 
 either the Nile or the Tigris ; if the latter, its peculiar 
 importance as a means of defence to Nineveh may be 
 alluded to. "The rod of Egypt shall give way" is of 
 course a metaphorical statement of the fact that the 
 power of all enemies to restrain and oppress the chosen 
 people would be forced to relax. The general mean- 
 ing of the verse is that all future obstacles would be as 
 powerless to arrest this return as the Red Sea and Jor- 
 dan were to prevent that of their fathers. 
 
 V. 12. "And I will strengthen them in Jehovali, and in his 
 name shall they walk, saith Jehovah." 
 
 V. 12 predicts their conversion. Here again we find 
 one Jehovah speaking of another, and predicting the 
 fact that in the name they now despise and hate, they 
 shall walk, and shall bear that name with joy. They 
 shall call themselves Christians, for as it is in Christ 
 that they are to be strengthened, he is this Jehovah. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Christians should pray for the conversion of the 
 Jews, since that conversion is promised. We must pray 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER X. 249 
 
 for rain in the time of the latter rain. It was stated in 
 1853, that the latter rain had appeared in Palestine the 
 previous year, for the first time since the downfall of 
 Jerusalem. If this be true, it would indicate a reason 
 for prayer that the latter rain of the Spirit may be 
 poured out, according to promise, (v. 1.) 
 
 (2.) The dispersion of the Jews during nearly two 
 thousand years, for the crime of rejecting Christ, proves 
 that this crime is one of no ordinary magnitude, and 
 that it is a fearful thing to bear the rejected blood of 
 the Redeemer. If these things were done in a green 
 tree, what shall be done in a dry? (v. 8, 9.) 
 
 (3.) When the fulness of time comes, all the difficul- 
 ties in the way of fulfilling God's promises shall melt 
 away, (v. 10, 11.) 
 
 (4.) There are evidently two Jehovahs spoken of in 
 V. 12, one of whom is the speaker, and the other spoken 
 of Hence there are either two Grods, which leads us 
 to polytheism, or two persons of the same Godhead, 
 which leads us to the doctrine of the New Testament, 
 that Christ, in whom all the redeemed are at last to be 
 saved, is Jehovah, God over all, blessed forever, (v. 12.) 
 
 16 
 
250 ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XI. 
 
 YI. The Mission of Messiah. 
 
 Chapter 11. 
 
 analysis. 
 
 I. The troubles that would precede the coming of Christ under 
 the image of a storm, (11 : 1 — 3.) 
 
 II. The coming of Christ to make one last effort to save the 
 covenant people. (1) The call to the shepherd to take charge of 
 the flock, (v. 4 — 6.) (2) His answer to that call, and actual 
 assumption of the pastoral office, (v. 7, 8.) (3) His rejection and 
 sale for thirty pieces of silver, (v. 9 — 14.) 
 
 III. The curse that would follow this rejection, under the sym- 
 bol of an evil shepherd who oppresses the flock and is afterwards 
 punished, (v. 14 — 1*1.) 
 
 In the utterances of God to his people, the voice of 
 Ebal is always set over against that of Gerizim, and the 
 blessing to faithfulness is enforced by the curse against 
 unfaithfulness. This is necessary, owing to our prone- 
 ness to sever the blessing from that obedience which is 
 its condition, and expect the one whilst we neglect the 
 other. It is therefore necessary for God to show us 
 that in the same cloud where the rain is treasured there 
 also sleeps the thunderbolt. Hence after promising 
 (chap. 10 : 1,) the refreshing showers, on the condition 
 of fidelity, the prophet now turns to the stormy rush of 
 evils that would come in their place, if they were un- 
 faithful. These evils are described in a highly dramatic 
 form in ch. 11. 
 
ZECHARIAn. CHAPTER XI. 251 
 
 1 Open thy doors, Lebanon, that 2 Howl, fir tree ; for the cedar is 
 the fire may devour thy cedars. fallen ; because the mighty are spoil- 
 
 Part 1. The storm 2'>i'eced'mg the comiiir/ of Christ, v. 1 — 3. 
 
 V. 1 — 3. " Open, Lebanon, thy gates, and let the fire consume 
 thy cedars. Howl, cypress, for the cedar falls, for the lofty arc 
 laid waste ; howl, ye oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest falls. 
 A voice of howling- of the shepherds, for their glory is laid waste : 
 a voice of roaring of the lions, for the pride of Jordan is laid waste." 
 
 Henderson follows most of the interpreters in refer- 
 ring this passage to the temple. The Jews, generally, 
 so explained it, and nearly all the Christian expositors 
 have followed them. But Calvin properly remarks that 
 it is a most frigid interpretation, and hence gives the 
 true view, which has been followed by Hengstenberg, 
 and a few others, that it is a prediction of tumult and 
 trouble, under the image of a storm traversing the 
 whole land of Palestine. 
 
 It is a highly dramatic passage. The prophet looks 
 to the north, and sees sweeping down a terrific tempest, 
 that bursts through the rocky ramparts of Lebanon, 
 consumes with its lightnings the lordly cedars, lays 
 waste the lofty monarchs of the forest, and spreads 
 terror and ruin along its track. The cypress is called 
 to tremble, because the mightier cedar has been unable 
 to withstand the shock, and the oaks of Bashan to fear 
 because the dense and firmly knit forest has been pros- 
 trated by its rush. There mingles then with the crash 
 of the storm a voice of terror and despair from the 
 shepherds who see their broad pastures laid waste ; and 
 a cry of rage and fear from the lions as their lairs on 
 
252 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ed ; howl, ye oaks of Bashan, for the of the shepherds ; for their glory is 
 
 forest of the vintage is come down. spoiled ; a voice of the roaring of young 
 
 3 •; There is a voice of the howling lions ; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. 
 
 the banks of the Jordan are torn up by the sweep of the 
 hurricane. " The pride of Jordan," is a well-known 
 phrase for the beautiful shrubbery that lined its bank, 
 in whose tangled recesses the wild beast found a shelter. 
 The passage is a bold and beautiful description of a 
 tempest that sweeps over the entire length and breadth 
 of the holy land, prostrating everything before it. This 
 metaphor describes the storm of invasion, bloodshed 
 and oppression that should roll over Palestine after the 
 glorious Maccabean era, and before the coming of 
 the Messiah. The designation of Lebanon and Bashan 
 belong to the metaphor, and not to the fulfilment, being 
 designed to set forth by the usual course of such storms 
 the track of this tempest, and hence it is not necessary 
 for us to show that any invasions actually came by the 
 way of Lebanpn. The reference is to that desolating 
 storm of civil war that caused the calling in of the 
 Romans, whose legions swept like a whirlwind of steel 
 over the land, and finally prostrated every vestige of 
 independent authority, from the cedar of Lebanon to 
 the lowliest cypress, from the peaceful shepherd to the 
 lion-like spirit that refused to be subdued, and humbled 
 the whole land beneath the mighty power of Rome. It 
 was this state of deep prostration that constituted the 
 dark hour before the dawn, the fulness of time on the 
 arrival of which the great shepherd was to come. God 
 
ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 253 
 
 4 Thus saith the Lord my God; that sell them say, Blessed ic the Lord; 
 Feed the flock of the slaughter ; for I am rich, and then- own shepherds 
 
 5 Whose possessors slay them, and pity them not. 
 hold themselves not guilty ; and they 
 
 had sent messenger after messenger, some of kindness, 
 and some of wrath, but at that time he would make one 
 more effort, and send forth his own son, made of a 
 woman, made under the law, saying, "surely they will 
 reverence my son." 
 
 Part 2. Christ assicmes the 2'>0-storal care of the Theocracy. 
 V. 4—14. 
 The prophet here appears as a type of Christ, and 
 performs a series of symbolic actions that represent the 
 advent of the Messiah "to his own," and his rejection 
 by them, with its bitter consequences. One last effort 
 will be made to rescue them from the wrath they are so 
 recklessly braving. By remembering that this whole 
 passage is a dramatic representation, in which the 
 prophet acts as a type of Christ, in the first instance, 
 and of the foolish shepherd in the second, the interpre- 
 tation will be clear and easy. 
 
 V. 4. " Thus saith Jeliovah my God, Feed the flock of slaughter." 
 Y. 4. "Flock of slaughter" is a flock doomed or V 
 sentenced to slaughter, in consequence of their insane 
 rejection of the care of the good shepherd. During the 
 war with the Romans, and the capture of Jerusalem by 
 Titus, a million and a half of the Jews were slaughtered. 
 
 V. 5. " Whose buyers slaughter them, and do not become guilty ; 
 and whose sellers say, blessed be Jehovah, for I am enriched, and 
 their shepherds spare them not.'' 
 
254 ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 
 
 6 Fori will no more pity the inhab- hand of his king ; and they shall smite 
 
 itants of the land, saith the Lord ; but the land, and out of their hand I will 
 
 lo, I will deliver the men every one not deliver them. 
 into his neighbor's hand, and into the 
 
 V. 5 expresses the thought that, although once they 
 who opiiressecl the covenant people would be guilty and 
 so treated by God, now the sms of the people were such 
 that these oppressions were righteous punishments, and 
 their agents therefore not guilty for the execution itself, 
 however they might be for the mode and motives with 
 which they performed it. By the buyers and sellers 
 are meant the Romans, who used the Jews, as they did 
 all their conquests, as mere merchandise, making from 
 them the greatest possible gain for themselves. " Their 
 shepherds " refer to the civil and ecclesiastical rulers of 
 the Jews, and there is predicted here that extortion 
 and treachery in which the Pharisee and Sadducee 
 wrung from the unhappy people what the Roman had 
 failed to extort, and both combined thus in spite of 
 their mutual hate in this work of shameless robbery. 
 
 V. 6. " For I will no longer spare the dwellers in this land, saith 
 Jehovah, And behold ! I will give up each man to the hand of his 
 neighbor, and to the hand of his king, and thc}- lay waste the 
 land, and I will not deliver out of their hand." 
 
 Y. 6 gives the reason for making this last effort to 
 save them ; their wickedness could no longer be borne, 
 but must be arrested either by penitence at the call of 
 Christ, or punishment at the sword of the Roman. The 
 nature of the punishment is described in the latter 
 clauses. Civil war and intestine discord are delineated 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 255 
 
 7 And I will feed the flock of slaugh- called Beauty, and the other I called 
 ieT,jvm you, poor of the flock. And Bands ; and I fed the flock. 
 I took unto me two staves ; the one I 
 
 in each man being given into " the hand of his neigh- 
 bor," whilst the Roman oppression is indicated by " the 
 hand of the king." Both these were fulfilled in those 
 fearful times when the bloody factions that wasted the 
 land found but a single bond of union, and that in their 
 common hate of their rightful king, and their prophetic 
 cry, " we have no king but Ccesar." 
 
 V. 1. " So I fed the flock of slaughter, in order that (J might 
 preserve) the humble of the flock. And I took to myself two 
 staves, the one I called Favor, the other I called Union, and I fed 
 the flock." 
 
 Y. 7 represents Christ as taking by covenant the 
 mediatorial work, and gives his reason for so doing. 
 That reason is contained in the phrase, "therefore the 
 humble of the flock." This phrase presents no little 
 grammatical difficulty. The word 15^ is taken by our 
 translators and others as a pronoun with the preposition 
 \ prefixed, and rendered as a dative of advantage, " for 
 you," i.e., for your sakes, " I will feed the flock." This 
 is the sense of the passage, but it requires us to assume 
 a form of the pronoun that never occurs elsewhere. 
 Henderson, and others, take it as a participial noun, in 
 the sense of " truly," ) being considered as redundant. 
 This gives a good sense, but a more unusual meaning 
 to the word, and does not cohere with the context so 
 well, unless we render ''P^ " miserable," which is not its 
 proper meaning here, (see v. 11.) Others translate it 
 
256 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 
 
 as an adverb, rendering it " because." This would give 
 the exact sense, but this word, in strictness, never has 
 the sense of " because," but always that of "therefore." 
 But there are cases in which it is used to introduce not 
 only the cause but the design of an action. (See Alex- 
 ander on Isa. 26 : 14.) Taking it in this sense it would 
 furnish the design with which Christ fed the flock, 
 namely, to feed or save " the humble of the flock," the 
 remnant of faithful ones who had never bowed the knee 
 to Baal. We have rendered ^'!'^?._ by " humble," 
 because it has that double sense of outward lowliness 
 and inward meekness that ''??> has, especially in this 
 passage. This portion of the flock is referred to in v. 
 1 1 more explicitly as the humble of the flock who clung 
 to the Messiah. Hence the fact is set forth, that Christ 
 assumed the work of feeding the Jewish people, in order 
 that he might save that remnant of them who were 
 waitinsT for the salvation of Israel. Had there not been 
 such a remnant, he would have come as an avenging 
 instead of a suffering messenger from God. 
 
 The assumption of this work is symbolically repre- 
 sented by taking two staves of office, or crooks, such as 
 shepherds usually carried. One was called Favor, (Eng. 
 version, Beauty,) and symbohsed the favor with which 
 God caused the Jews to be regarded by other nations, 
 and their rights respected until the work of redemption 
 was completed. How marvellously they were thus pre- 
 served, with all their records, usages, and institutions, 
 until " the son of David" came, is well known. Alex- 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER XI. 257 
 
 8 Tlircc shepherds also I cut off in and their soul also abhorred me. 
 one month ; and my soul loathed them, 9 Then said I, I will not feed you : 
 
 ander, Antiochus and Pompey, were alike held back 
 from destroying them until tlic mystic staff was broken, 
 after which the power of Titus and the malignity of 
 Julian were alike impotent even to save or restore their 
 temple. The second staft' was called Union, (Eng. ver- 
 sion, Bands,) and symbolised that union within them- 
 selves, which was secured until the coming of Christ, in 
 order that it could be seen that all the words of pro- 
 phecy in regard to him were minutely fulfilled. 
 
 V. 8. " And I destroyed three shepherds in one month, and my 
 soul was grieved with them, and tlieir soul abhorred me." 
 
 V, 8. "I destroyed three shepherds in one month." 
 The obscurity of this phrase would have been more 
 easily removed by interpreters, if the three-fold nature 
 of Christ's work had been recollected, and its relation 
 to the Jewish polity. He was the great antetype, of 
 which that polity was the complex type. Now he, as 
 our Redeemer, appeared as a Prophet, a Priest and a 
 King, and thus fulfilled all the significance of these three 
 orders in the old dispensation. He was the promised 
 prophet, the one and only priest, and the king in Zion, 
 and hence his appearing brought these respective orders 
 in the theocracy to an end, since they were only designed 
 to foreshadow his advent and kingdom. This was done 
 in judicial anger also ; they were deposed because of 
 their unfaithfulness in the discharge of their duties. 
 "One month" is mentioned to show that this was done 
 
268 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER XI. 
 
 that that dieth, let it die ; and that and let the rest eat, every one the flesh 
 that is to he cut off, let it he cut off; of another. 
 
 gradually and yet not protractedly. A month is the 
 intermediate measure of time between a day and a year, 
 and expresses thus that gradual transition from the old 
 to the new dispensation, which did in fact occur. The 
 one overlapped and evolved the other. 
 
 The other clauses of the verse represent that mutual 
 aversion that existed between Christ and the magnates 
 of the Jewish people. He denounced them with terri- 
 ble severity, as vipers, hypocrites, &c., whilst they hated 
 him so that they even gloated in fiendish delight over 
 his agony on the cross. 
 
 V. 9. " Then I said, I will not feed yon, the dying, let them die, 
 the cut oiF, let them be cut off, the remaining, let them consume 
 each the flesh of the other." 
 
 V. 9 sets forth the final abandonment of the Jewish 
 people to their fate, when it became evident that they 
 would not listen to the voice of Jesus. They were left 
 to their fatal choice. A threefold calamity is predicted ; 
 pestilence and famine, "the dying ;" war, "the cut off;" 
 and intestine discord, " let them consume each the flesh 
 of the other." How terribly these predictions were ful- 
 filled may be seen from the pages of Josephus, where 
 this threefold calamity is set forth in the most appalling 
 details, in relating the history of the latter days of the 
 Jewish republic. 
 
 V 10. " And I took my staff Favor and brake it ; to abolish my 
 covenant that I had made with all nations." 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 259 
 
 10 ^ And I took my staff, even Beau- 11 And it was broken in that day : 
 
 ty, and cut it asunder, that I might and so the poor of tlie flock that waited 
 
 break my covenant which I had made upon me knew that it was the word of 
 
 with all the people. the Lord. 
 
 Y. 1 refers to that period when God let loose the 
 angry nations of the earth against his people, and re- 
 moved that girdle of protection that he had so long kept 
 around them. This is symbolised by breaking the staff 
 Favor, which is explained as abolishing the covenant 
 that God had made with all nations. This covenant 
 was of course not a formal engagement between God 
 and all nations in favor of the Jews, but an ordinance 
 of God in reference to all nations, by which they were 
 restrained from destroying the Jews. A similar form 
 of speech will be found in Hos. 2:20, when God makes 
 a covenant with the beasts, the birds, and the insects, 
 and in Job 5 : 23, which speaks of a covenant with the 
 stones of the field. This was fulfilled when the Roman 
 eagles gathered in hungry ferocity about the dying 
 commonwealth. 
 
 V. 11. " And it {the covenant) was abolislied in that day, and thus 
 they knew, {viz.) the humble of the flock who clung to me, that 
 this is the word of Jehovah." 
 
 v. 11 states that when this protection was withdrawn 
 "the humble of the flock" who clung to Christ should 
 know that this was the word of Jehovah. This was 
 remarkably fulfilled. When Jerusalem was compassed 
 with armies, the Christians remembered the warning of 
 Christ to flee to the mountains, and accordingly when 
 Titus unaccountably raised the siege for a few days, as 
 
260 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 
 
 12 And I said unto them, If ye think forbear. So they weighed for my price 
 good, give me my price ; and if not, thirty jneces of silver. 
 
 if to give them an opportunity of obeying Christ's words, 
 they fled to Pella, and escaped the fate of those who 
 remained in the city. Thus they knew that this was 
 the word of Jehovah. 
 
 V. 12. " Then I said to them, if it seem good in your eyes, give 
 me my reward, and if not, withhold it, and they weighed my re- 
 ward, thirty pieces of silver !" 
 
 V, 12 contains the record of the final rejection of 
 Christ. The expression, "if it seem good in your eyes," 
 &c., is one of indignant contempt, with an intimation 
 that to retain that reward was a far more costly thing 
 than to bestow it. The reward was that travail of his 
 soul v/liich it was promised he should see and be satis- 
 fied, when men would receive him as a Saviour from 
 sin. They, however, not only withheld that obedience 
 and love that were the proper return for the work of 
 Christ among them, but they added insult to injury. 
 " They weighed, "^(alluding to the ancient mode of com- 
 puting the value of money,) " my reward, thirty pieces 
 of silver." This was the price of a servant who was 
 gored by an ox, (see Ex. 21 : 32,) a fact that made the 
 sum a gross insult to him who was the Lord of all. 
 How exactly this was fulfilled, when the traitor sold his 
 master for thirty pieces of silver, all now know. It 
 was fulfilled in its very minutest particulars. 
 
 V. 13. "And Jehovah said to me. Cast it to the potter, this mag- 
 nificent price at which I was valued of them, and I took the thirty 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 2G1 
 
 13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast the thirtypieces of silver, and cast tliem 
 it unto the potter : a goodly price that to the potter in the house of the Lord. 
 I was prized at of them. And I took 
 
 pieces of silver, and I cast it down iu the house of Jehovah, (to 
 be given thence) to the potter." 
 
 V. 13 shows what was to be done with this price, 
 which is ironically called a " magnificent price." It was 
 to be cast to the potter. This was a proverbial phrase 
 for cast it to an unclean place, like our phrases, " throw 
 it to the dogs," "to the moles and the bats," and others 
 of like character. The origin of this proverb was in the 
 fact that the potter for the temple had his shop in the 
 valley of Hinnom, because it furnished the most suitable 
 clay for his purpose. This valley was a polluted place 
 to the Jews, because of the idolatry once practiced 
 there, and also because of the fact that Josiah defiled it 
 with carrion, bones, &c. See 2 Kings 23 : 10. Hence 
 to cast a thing to the potter, was to cast it to the valley 
 of Hinnom, or to intimate that it was an unclean and 
 unholy thing. That it was to be cast there, was because 
 of a prophecy in Jer., chs. 18th and 19th, where the 
 valley of Hinnom and the shop of the potter are 
 taken as scenes for symbolic actions that apply to this 
 precise period of Jewish history. The prophet Zecha- 
 riah mentions the potter to connect this prophecy with 
 the older one of Jeremiah, and show that it was only a 
 fuller development^ of it, or more strictly a second and 
 wider execution of the threatening then contained 
 against unfaithfulness.' That this view of the relation 
 of the later to the earlier prophecy is correct, is proved 
 
262 ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER XI. 
 
 by Matt. 27 : 9, when it is said, " There was fulfilled that 
 which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And 
 they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him 
 that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did 
 value, and gave them for the potter's field as the Lord 
 appointed me." The very fact that seems at first sight 
 a difficulty, is the one that proves this connection. It 
 will be seen that the words of Zechariah are referred to 
 Jeremiah, and this is the uniform reading of all the best 
 MSS. of the gospel. Why then is the prophecy referred 
 to Jeremiah ? For the very same reason that a man 
 quoting from the abridgement of a law book, would 
 probably refer to the original author rather than the 
 compiler, even though he quoted the words of the com- 
 pilation. This is not a solitary instance in the New 
 Testament writers. Mark 1:2, 3, quotes the words of 
 Malachi, and refers them to Isaiah, to show the relation 
 between the prophecies. So it is here. The passage is 
 quoted, not verbatim, but with slight explanatory vari- 
 ations, as if to suggest to the reader the fact meant to 
 be indicated by connecting the name of the earlier pro- 
 phet with the form of the prediction that was given in 
 the words of the later. This was much more obvious 
 to the Jews than it is to us, because the minor prophets 
 were all regarded as constituting but one book, and 
 hence rarely quoted by name, and regarded as supple- 
 mental and subsidiary to the major prophets. Hence 
 we see how wonderfully the prediction and the fulfil- 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XI. 263 
 
 14 Then I cut asunder mine other the brotherhood between Judah and 
 staff, even Bands, that I might break Israel. 
 
 ment have been connected in their very minutest terms, 
 and their very obscurest intimations. 
 
 It ought to be remarked, however, that the majority 
 of commentators prefer the supposition that there has 
 been a mistake of the transcribers, and that Jeremiah 
 has been written for Zechariah in the contracted form, 
 or that a marginal reference to Jeremiah has crept into 
 the text, the Evangehst having originally written only 
 "the prophet" without giving any name, the view held 
 b)'- Augustine. Either of these suppositions is probable, 
 and if supported by external evidence, would be admis- 
 sible. But in view of the changes made by Matthew 
 in quoting the and text, the connection actually existing 
 between the two passages as predictions of the same 
 period, the opinion of Hengstenberg, which is given 
 above, seems to be the most probable. 
 
 V. 14. "And I broke my second staff Union, to destroy the 
 brotherhood between Judah and Israel." 
 
 Y. 14 predicts by the symbol of breaking the second 
 staff Union, the intestine discord that raged so fearfully 
 after the rejection of Christ by the Jews. The destruc- 
 tion of the brotherhood between Judah and Israel is 
 not to be taken literally, for this bond had been broken 
 long before in the time of Rehoboam, but is used as a 
 metaphor of disunion. The breach of the past, with its 
 mournful results, is used as a type of the future. How 
 terribly this prediction was fulfilled can be seen in the 
 
264 ZECHARTAH. CHAPTER XI. 
 
 15 ^ And the Lord said unto me, 16 For lo, I will raise up a shepherd 
 Take unto thee yet the instruments of in the land, ivhich shall not visit those 
 a foolish shepherd. that he cut oif, neither shall seek the 
 
 pages of Josephiis. The most terrible factions that have 
 ever torn out the vitals of a commonwealth appeared 
 in Judea, and amidst the terrors of invasion without 
 and the horrors of fratricide within, this prophecy was 
 fulfilled. The staff of protection from evil abroad and 
 the staff of continued union at home were both broken, 
 and the double horrors of foreign and domestic war paid 
 the fearful penalty of rejecting the Lord of life, and set- 
 ting upon him a price which in itself was an insult, and 
 a mockery. 
 
 Pari 3. The cujse of evil rulers after the rejection of Christ. 
 Ch. 11 : 15— end. 
 
 These verses describe a second symbolic action, in 
 which the prophet predicts the curse of evil rulers by 
 taking the implements of a foolish shepherd. What 
 these were we are not told, but they were doubtless 
 implements calculated to injure and destroy, rather 
 than to benefit the flock. He thus declared that after 
 rejecting their rightful Lord, God would send upon 
 them wicked and cruel rulers, who would waste and 
 scatter them. 
 
 V. 15. " And Jehovah said to me, again, take to thee the imple- 
 ments of a foolish shepherd." 
 
 V. 15. "Again," seems to be spoken to the prophet 
 and to summon him to the resumption of those sym- 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHATTER XI. 265 
 
 3-oung one, nor heal that that i? broken, he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and 
 nor feed that that standeth still : but tear their claws in pieces. 
 
 l)olical actions that were connected with tlic predictions, 
 
 and that now were to express a new state of fiicts. 
 
 Y. 16. " For behold ! I raise up a shepherd in the land. The 
 perishing- will he not visit, the straying- v.'ill lie not seek out, the 
 wounded will he not heal, the feeble avIII lie not nourish, and the 
 flesh of the fat ones will he eat, and their hoofs will he break off'." 
 
 Y. 16. "The shepherd in the hind,'' is of course not 
 to be taken as an individual, but as representing the 
 ruUng power, in whomsoever vested. The character- 
 istics of that power would be neglect, greediness and 
 cruel t}^ The perishing, straying, wounded and feeble, 
 who needed his aid, would be neglected, wdiilst the fat 
 ones would be devoured, and adding cruelty to greed, 
 their ver}^ hoofs w^ould be broken off. 
 
 Henderson restricts this verse to Herod, but without 
 sufficient reason. Herod was undoubtedly included, 
 but to limit it to him would restrict the threatenins; to 
 the time of the advent, instead of extending it, where it 
 undoubtedly reaches, to the downfixll of the Hebrew 
 commonwealth. 
 
 V. n. "Wo to the worthless shepherd, forsaking- the flock ! A 
 sword upon his arm ! and upon his right eye ! His arm shall 
 surely be vrithered, and his right eye shall surely' be blind." 
 
 Y. 17 declares that these rulers themselves should 
 not escape, but the ami that oppressed should be pal- 
 sied, and the eye that coveted should be blinded. 
 
 The reference here seems mainty, though not exclu- 
 sively to be to the Romans. They were the rulers, but 
 17 
 
266 ZECIIARIAH. CHAPTER XI. 
 
 17 Wo to tbe idol shepherd that }iis arm shall be clean dried up, and 
 leaveth the flock ! the sword shall be his right eye shall be utterly darkened. 
 upon his arm, and upon his right eye : 
 
 not the only rulers of the Jewish people. They were 
 at once rapacious, proud and cruel, and they thronged 
 like vultures to batten on the yet quivering flesh of the 
 dying commonwealth. But they in turn were assailed 
 by others, and it is by overlooking the very exactness 
 of the fulfilment of the terms of the prophecy that the 
 query has been raised about their significance. It is 
 said that there is an incongruity in the change of pun- 
 ishment predicted, the first words declaring that it shall 
 be the sv/ord, and the next that it shall be j)alsy and 
 blindness. But this will vanish the moment we look 
 at the exact facts of the case. Borne, like some old 
 lion who had ravaged for many years, when his eye 
 grew dim and his arm grew weak, lay down to die. 
 And it was precisely then that in addition to this inter- 
 nal feebleness there came upon them from the forests 
 of the IN^orth, the sword, and thus there was literally 
 fulfilled the terms of this passage. The sword of the 
 barbarian was added to her own blinded and palsied 
 weakness, and thus judgment inflicted in exact accord- 
 ance with the words of this prophecy. God often uses 
 instruments, which he afterwards throws into the fire. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) No defence shall protect the wicked from pun- 
 ishment, when God's time has come. Though they 
 tower as high and strong as Lebanon, the storm shall 
 
Z E C II A R I A II . CHAPTER XI. 267 
 
 bow tlieir summits, and though they hide themselves 
 as deep as the lairs in the creeping thickets of Jordan, 
 the tempest shall find them out, and wrap them in 
 ruin, (v. 1—3.) 
 
 (2.) Sin is always folly, and the sinner always a fool, 
 for he secures the great evil of punishment in exchange 
 for the small good of gratification, and therefore always 
 makes a fool's bargain, (v. 4, 5.) 
 
 (3.) Wicked rulers are a curse of God on a wicked 
 nation. ISTow as religion tends to prevent such rulers, 
 or at least prevent their choice, there is an obvious con- 
 nection between politics and religion. Church and 
 state may and ought to be separated ; politics and re- 
 ligion ought not, for thus the state becomes exposed to 
 the curse of God, and political evil follows in the train 
 of moral evil, (v. G.) 
 
 (4.) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the 
 Kingdom of Heaven, (v. 7.) 
 
 (5.) Union of feeling in a people is a mark of the 
 favor of God, and disunion a token of his wrath, and 
 usually a beginning of the downfall of a people. May 
 this token of God's wrath long be averted from the 
 people of these United States! (v. 7.) 
 
 (6.) Christ cannot be rejected with impunity. Even 
 the Jews, who " did it ignorantly in unbelief," paid a 
 terrible penalty for their crime ; how much more terri- 
 ble will be the punishment of those who have all- their 
 unbelief, without any of their ignorance, (v. 8 — 11.) 
 
 (7.) Men now sometimes reject Christ for a far less 
 
268 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XII. 
 
 reward than thirty pieces of silver, and of course with 
 far more guilt than Judas, (v. 12, 13.) 
 
 ('8.) God may bear long with the wicked, but there 
 is a point where the piling avalanche will cease to be 
 held back, and descend in fearful ruin, (v. 14—17.) 
 
 VII. Future Blessings to Judaii. 
 
 Chapter 12 : 1—9. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. A message of wratli to tlie enemies of Israel, (v. 1.) 
 
 II. God will use the Jewish people, or the Theocracy, as instru- 
 ments of wrath against his enemies and theirs, (v. 2 — 4.) 
 
 III. A regularly organized government shall exist, which shall 
 protect the people, (v. 5, 6.) 
 
 IV. In scenes of peril and trouble God will protect his people, 
 but to prevent the city from looking contemptuously on the coun- 
 try, the former will be rescued by the latter, (v. 1 — 9.) 
 
 This chapter ushers in a set of facts over which there 
 hangs some obscurity, both as to the persons to whom 
 they refer and the time of their fullilment. They are 
 placed subsequent to the rejection of Christ, and yet 
 they seem to refer to a time yet future, and to repre- 
 sent the rejection of Christ as not a hopeless alienation 
 from God. There can be but little doubt that the 
 events here predicted are yet future. The persons re- 
 ferred to are, we believe, the people of God, the New 
 Testament succession of the Theocracy, the Church of 
 Jesus Christ, which is the continuation of the kingdom 
 
Z E C H A R I A H . — CHAPTER XII. 269 
 
 1 The burden of the word of the eth tlic foundation of tlic earth, and 
 Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which fornieth the spirit of man witlun him. 
 stretcheth fortli tlie heavens, and hxy- 
 
 of God as it existed in the Jewish economy. This 
 brings this prophecy in harmony with the rest of the 
 book, which is designed to trace out the liistoric course 
 of the covenant people down to the time when the un- 
 believing Jewish element was to be eliminated, and 
 onward to the period when it should be restored in 
 penitence and faith to the one living Church of the liv- 
 ing God. 
 
 Henderson supposes that this prophecy refers to the 
 restored Jews, in their national capacity, but this is too 
 narrow an object to contain its promises. Calvin takes 
 essentially the view alread}^ presented, and considers 
 these promises made to the whole Church of the future, 
 including the restored Jews, though made in terms 
 taken from the existing and past form of the Church. 
 
 V. 1. "A Burden. The word of Jehovah upon Israel, saith Jeho- 
 vali, who stretches the heavens, and establishes the earth, and 
 forms the spirit of man within him." 
 
 y. 1. The word "Burden" is usually, if not always, 
 prefixed as a title to threatening prophecies, as if to in- 
 dicate the weight of wrath that they embosomed in 
 their dark clouds. Although the drift of this prophecy 
 is consoling, yet it is not wholly so, for the greater part 
 of its predictions are threatenings of evil to the enemies 
 of the chosen people. The words "upon Israel" are 
 supposed by Hengstenberg to indicate Israel as the 
 object of the threatening predictions that follow. Is- 
 
270 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XII. 
 
 rael, or the ten tribes, being taken as typical of the 
 enemies of the chosen people. This view is favored by 
 the fact that all the subsequent promises are made to 
 Judah and Jerusalem, and none to Israel. It is how- 
 ever not at all an obvious or usual sense of the word 
 Israel, though the sense thus expressed is the real ob- 
 ject of the prophecy, viz., comfort to the people of God 
 by the assurance that their enemies should aU be de- 
 stroyed. As there is really no necessity for adopting 
 so unusual a sense to explain the word "burden,"' it is 
 useless to adopt it. 
 
 The language describing God's attributes here is jdc- 
 culiar. It is not who hath stretched the heavens, &c., 
 but who is now stretching them, and, by a ceaseless 
 exertion of his power, upholding the great ongoings of 
 the universe. The Bible is ignorant of that philosophy 
 which teaches that God has created the universe and 
 wound up its machinery like a clock, and then left it to 
 run on by its own inherent energies. From moment 
 to moment he is exerting his power in maintaining the 
 movements of visible things. The argument is that 
 God is doing all these mighty works, and hence will be 
 able to do less mighty, and that as he has not excluded 
 himself from his creation, he is able to do all that he 
 has promised. It is therefore a most fitting introduc- 
 tion. 
 
 V. 2. "Behold ! I make Jerusalem a threshold of shaking- to all 
 nations round about, and also upon Judah shall it be, in the 
 siege against Jerusalem." 
 
Z E C H A R I A H . CHAPTER XII. 27l 
 
 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a 3 ^ And in that day will I make Jc- 
 
 cup of trembling unto all tlie people rusalem a burdensome stone for all 
 round about, when they shall be in the people : all that burden themselves 
 siege both against Judah and against with it shall be cut in pieces, though 
 Jerusalem. all the people of the earth be gathered 
 
 together against it. 
 
 y. 2. The word ^^ is usually translated cup, but 
 the more common, if not the only proper meaning, is 
 "threshold," and as the same figure essentially is used 
 in V, 3, it is most appropriate here. The meaning is 
 that when the nations assail Jerusalem they shall find a 
 crash of ruin falling upon them, just like the man who 
 on entering the house finds the threshold to give way 
 under his feet, bringing down the building in ruins 
 upon his head. The phrase " upon Judah shall it be," 
 &c., is a difficult one, but seems to mean that Judah 
 shall be involved in the evils of the siege against Jeru- 
 salem, i. e.^ that the evil shall be general, so that all, 
 even the most remote, shall feel it. 
 
 V. 3. " And it shall be in that day, I will make Jerusalem a stone 
 of burden to all the nations, all who lift it up shall surely gash 
 themselves, and there shall be gathered against her all people of 
 the earth." 
 
 y. 3 declares that the efforts of the enemies of the 
 Church to overthrow her shall be futile and injurious 
 only to themselves. It shall be like some huge rock, 
 the efforts to raise w^hich only wound and bruise the 
 hand of him who makes the attempt. Jerome states 
 that it was a custom among the cities of Palestine to 
 have a large rock, the lifting of which was a test of 
 strength, and that he himself saw in the Acropolis at 
 
272 Z E C II A R I A H . CHAPTER XII. 
 
 4 In that day, saith the Loud, I will open mine eyes upon the house of Ju- 
 smite every horse with astonislinient, dah, and will smite every horse of the 
 and his rider witli madness : and I will people with blindness. 
 
 Athens a huge spliere of brass, which was used for the 
 same purpose ; no athlete bemg allowed to enter the 
 games who was unable to lift it, Jerusalem has literally 
 been such a stone, and the Church of God pre-eminently 
 has been a test of this kind, to all who have attempted 
 to use her for selfish purposes. 
 
 V. 4. " In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with 
 affright, and his rider with madness, and iipon the house of Judah 
 will I 0})en my eyes, and every horse of the nations will I smite v/ith 
 blindness." 
 
 y. 4 drops this metaphor, and as cavalry was in ancient 
 warfare a very important arm of attack, and one which 
 the Jewish people feared, God promises so to confound 
 the horse and his rider as to prevent them from doing 
 any injury to the chosen people, to whom under the 
 phrase, "I will open my eyes," the supervision and 
 protection of God is promised. He had seemed to slum- 
 ber or to close his eyes upon and forget them, but now 
 he will bestow upon them special attention and protec- 
 tion. A distinction is evidently made between Judah 
 and Jerusalem, or the province and the metropolis, but 
 what is the exact fact alluded to by this distinction, in 
 the future, we cannot tell. It implies a difference of 
 privilege and of strength among the people of God, 
 corresponding to the difference between a residence 
 within the fortified walls of the city and the hallowed 
 
Z E C II A R I A II . CHAPTER XII. 273 
 
 5 Aud the governors of Jiululi shall G *: In tliat day will I make the go- 
 say in their heart. The inhabitants of vernors of Judah like an hearth of lire 
 Jcrnsalem shall be my strength in the among the wood, and like a torch of 
 Loud of hosts their God. fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour 
 
 sliadow of the temple, and a residence in the less holy 
 and loss secure regions of the country. 
 
 V. 5. " And the princes of Jndali say in llieir hearts, my streng'th 
 (is) the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in Jcdiovah of Hosts, tlicir God." 
 
 Y. 5 brings out this distinction more emphatically. 
 
 There are several grammatical difficulties about this verse. 
 
 but the most natural course seems to be to take "^^^ as 
 
 a noun meaning strength in apposition vvdth "'inhabitants 
 
 of Jerusalem," and "in Jehovah" as explanatory of the 
 
 connection asserted by this apposition. The meaning 
 
 then would be, that the princes of Judah (who speak 
 
 for the people) recognize Jerusalem, which is the place 
 
 of God's special manifestation, as the source from which 
 
 their strength is to come, and yet as only the medium 
 
 of transmission, the strength itself residing at last only 
 
 in Jehovah. The general fact predicted seems to be 
 
 that cordial union of all portions of the Church from the 
 
 lowest to the highest, that will give the fullest scope for 
 
 the exertion of God's power in delivering and blessing 
 
 his people. 
 
 V. 6. " In that day I will make the princes of Judah as a pan 
 of fire among faggots, and as a torch of fire in a sheaf, and they 
 shall consume on the right hand and on the left all the nations 
 round about, and Jerusalem shall yet sit in her own place in 
 Jerusalem." 
 
 Y. G intimates, that because of the meek acknowledg- 
 
274 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XII. 
 
 all the people round about, on the right 7 The Lord also shall save the tents 
 
 hand and on the left : and Jerusalem of Judah first, that the glory of the 
 shall be inhabited again in her own house of David and the glory of the 
 place, even in Jerusalem. inhabitants of Jerusalem do not mag- 
 
 nify themselves against Judah. 
 
 meiit of subordination made by the province, they who 
 humbled themselves shall be exalted, and the province 
 should be made the instrument of delivering the metrop- 
 olis, and should consume the enemies assembled against 
 the church as a pan of coals sets fire to a pile of dry 
 faggots, or a torch consumes a sheaf of straw. Jerusa- 
 lem sitting " in her own place," describes a settled and 
 secure state of things in the Church, which should be 
 brought about by the agency of these feebler and hum- 
 bler instrumentalities, the princes of Judah. 
 
 V. *T. " AndJehovah shall help the tents of Judah first, that the 
 glory of the House of David, and the glory of the inhabitant of 
 Jerusalem, may not be magnified over Judah." 
 
 y. 7 assigns the reason for the preference given to 
 the humbler agencies ; it is to prevent all swelling of 
 pride, and show that God and not man is the source of 
 this deliverance, and also to prevent the more favored 
 from looking down contemptuously on the less favored. 
 The " tents of Judah," in their insecurity and lowliness 
 are placed in contrast with the lofty mountains of Jeru- 
 salem. As these privileges w^ere likely to produce pride, 
 God would bestow the honor of this deliverance, as well 
 as the first possession of it, on those who were less favored 
 externally than the inhabitants of the holy city. Such 
 has been his plan in the past, and such it is here declared 
 it will be in the great struggles of the future ; the weak 
 
ZECIIARIAII. CHAPTER XII. 275 
 
 8 In tliat (lay shall the Lord defend that is feeble among them at that day 
 the inhabitants of .lertisalem ; and he shall be as David ; and the house of 
 
 things shall confound the mighty, unci the things that 
 are not bring to naught things that are, in order that 
 no flesh may glory in his presence. 
 
 V. 8. " In that day Jehovah will protect the dweller in Jerusa- 
 lem, and the feel)lc among- them in that day shall be as David, and 
 the house of David as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them." 
 
 y. 8 declares that this favor shall not be restricted to 
 the lowly and less favored, lest it might generate the very 
 evil it was designed to avoid, but that all portions of the 
 Church should be visited and blessed. The highest earthly 
 type of might and glory to the Jew was David, and the 
 highest heavenly was the Jehovah angel, the divine mes- 
 senger who led them through the desert. These are 
 taken as the standards of comparison to describe this 
 future glory. The weakest of the future shall be equal 
 to the strongest of the past, whilst the strong ("the 
 house of David") shall be as God, namely as the angel 
 of Jehovah. There is no reason for taking elohim in any 
 other than its usual sense, expressing the abstract notion 
 of Deity, whilst Jehovah, and especially "the angel of 
 Jehovah,^^ expresses that concrete and manifested form 
 of divinity that was most significant to the Jew. The 
 apposition here is another proof that the angel of the 
 covenant is a divine person. 
 
 V. 9. " And it shall be in that day I'will seek to destroy all 
 nations who come up against Jerusalem." 
 
 V. 9 declares in general terms the destruction of all 
 
276 Z E C H A R 1 A n . CHAPTER XII. 
 
 David !ih(iU he as God, as the angel of 9 ^i And it shall come to pass in that 
 the IjOUD before them. day, that I will seek to destroy all the 
 
 nations that come against Jerusalem. 
 
 the enemies that shall combine against the Church, here 
 symbolised by Jerusalem. 
 
 As the events predicted here are yet future, it were 
 unwise to dogmatise in regard to their exact nature. The 
 general meaning seems to be, that there shall be here- 
 after a wide and formidable combination of enemies 
 against the Church ; that God shall deliver her, not by 
 the instruments to which she has looked, but by others, 
 of the humbler and obscurer part ; and that this deliver- 
 ance should be accompanied by cordial union of affection 
 among all portions of the Church, and followed by a vast 
 accession of strength to every portion of it, and by com- 
 plete overthrow of her enemies. This great struggle 
 yet before the Church, is one that seems to have loomed 
 up like the lurid smoke of some distant battle to the 
 eye of all the prophets, from Enoch to the seer of the 
 Apocalypse. Blessed is he who is then found faithful ! 
 
 There is however another great event that is to ac- 
 company this mighty struggle, which is, the conversion 
 and restoration of the Jewish people to the Church from 
 which they have been so long separated. This is alluded 
 to and implied in the remaining verses of this chapter 
 and the opening verses of the succeeding. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The agency of God is still exerted as really in the 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XII. 277 
 
 continued existence of the universe, as in its original cre- 
 ation, (v. 1.) 
 
 (2.) The ark of God may be allowed, on account of 
 the sins of his Church to fall into the hands of the Phi- 
 listines, but it shall be a booty of fearful import, and 
 one, which, over mutilated and prostrate Dagons, shall 
 at last be restored to its rightful possessors, (v. 2, 3.) 
 
 (8.) Tlie promise of God is the best protection of his 
 Church, in the time of peril, (v. 4, 5.) 
 
 (4.) God may seem to forget his people in their 
 trouble, but it will only be a seeming oblivion, for at 
 the proper time he will open his eyes upon them, and 
 show them that he slumbers not nor sleeps, (v. 4.) 
 
 (5.) However feeble the cause of religion may be now, 
 there is a time coming when it shall be in fact what it 
 is in right, and in actual result what it is in natural ten- 
 dency, the mightiest element in human things, (v. G, 8.) 
 
 (6.) The whole plan of God's dealings with man is to 
 humble that pride, the root of which is selfishness, and 
 the fruit of which is every form of sin, (v, 7.) 
 
 (7.) The enemies of the Church of God shall at last 
 perish, (v. 9.) 
 
278 ZECHAKIAH. CHAPTER XII. 
 
 10 And I will pour upon the house Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of 
 of David, and upon the inhabitants of supplications: and they shall look 
 
 VIII. Future Repentance and Blessing to Jerusa- 
 lem. 
 
 Chapter 12 : 10 — end. 
 
 analysis. 
 
 I. The outpouring of tlie spirit on the Cliurch, whicli shall then 
 contain the restored Jews, (v. 10.) 
 
 II. The penitence that shall exist because of their former treat- 
 ment of Christ. (1) Deep, (v. 11.) (2) Pervading. (3) Personal, 
 (v. 12—14.) 
 
 V. 10. " And I pour out upon the house of David, and upon the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, a spirit of grace and of supplication, 
 and they look upon me, whom they pierced, and they lament for 
 him, as the lamenting of an only child, and they mourn for him as 
 the mourning of a first-born." 
 
 Y. 10. There is here predicted a great spiritual bless- 
 ing from God on the Church, but contemplated mainly 
 as now containing the penitent Jews. " A spirit of 
 grace and supplication " is an outpouring of the spirit 
 of God, that awakens gracious affections and leads the 
 heart to prayer. The spirit of prayer is the gauge of 
 the spirit of grace, and the mercury whose rise or fall is 
 au unerring test of the state of the Church. 
 
 In this mighty revival that shall take place in the 
 future, there will be much prayer and much penitence. 
 This penitence shall pervade the whole Church, but 
 especial prominence is given here to the recovered Jews. 
 
Z E C II A R 1 A II . CHAPTER XII. 279 
 
 upon ine whom they have pierced, and in bitterness for hirn, as one that is in 
 they shall mourn for him, as one bitterness for /«s first-born, 
 inournctli for his only son, and shall be 
 
 " They shall look on me whom they have pierced." As 
 God is here the speaker, this passage has always been a 
 stumbling-block to the Jews, for how could God be 
 pierced ? The only fact that explains it is that which 
 they have not yet admitted, that they have crucified and ^ 
 slain that prince of peace who was God manifest in the 
 flesh. As soon as they admit this fact they will see the 
 consistenc}' of the passage, and will mourn the guilt of 
 their fathers in crucifying the incarnate Son, and their 
 own guilt in so long rejecting him. 
 
 John 19 : 37 refers this passage to the piercing of 
 Christ's side, but as this was the act of a Roman soldier J^ 
 and not of the Jewish people, it must be regarded as 
 only a partial fulfilment of the prophecy. It refers to 
 all the sufferings of Christ, which culminated in his 
 death on the cross, and affirms that then the Jews will 
 admit what heretofore they have rejected, a suffering 
 and dying Messiah. Tliere is a change of person from 
 the first to the third, which is not unusual with the 
 prophets, (see Jv^ordheimer's Grammar, § 7G8, 1, 6,) 
 and which, in view of v.diat was to be said in reference 
 to the speaker, was highiy appropriate. 
 
 This passage has always been regarded as one of no 
 small difficulty ; at least, the expositors have found no 
 small difficulty with it, from the fact that if its obvious 
 meaning be admitted, a real prophecy and a suffering 
 
280 Z E C H A R I A H . CHAPTER XII. 
 
 and yet divine Messiah must also be admitted. . Hence 
 Jews in earlier times, and neologists in later, have 
 endeavored to get rid of this meaning. Some alleged 
 that "iP7 here means not to pierce, but to grieve, or to 
 insult, and that the charge is that of insulting or blas- 
 pheming God. This is the rendering of the LXX and 
 the Chaldee. Calvin favors it to a certain extent, but 
 finds, in the literal fulfilment on the cross, a divinely 
 arranged procedure, giving a symbolical exemplification 
 of this insulting treatment of God. Rosenmuller, 
 Eichorn, Theiner, Maurer, De Wette, Winer, and others, 
 contend very strenuously for this opinion. But it is a 
 sufficient objection to it that the word never occurs in 
 that sense, but always in the sense of literal piercing, 
 even in this prophecy, (ch. 13 : 3.) And the whole 
 context is at variance with this meaning. The mourn- 
 ing, to which it is compared, was for a literal piercing, 
 or death, in the case of Josiah, and, unless it is a literal 
 death here, the depth of sorrow indicated in these words 
 seems hardly explicable, and the analogy fails. 
 
 That the passage refers to Messiah was admitted, 
 even among the Jews, the later interpreters explaining 
 it of Messiah Ben Joseph, or the suffering Messiah, 
 whom they invented to meet the passages of Scripture 
 that speak so clearl}^ of this characteristic of the prom- 
 ised Redeemer. But as they believed that this Messiah 
 son of Joseph was a mere man, the difliculty met them 
 that Jehovah declared "they shall look on me whom 
 they have j^ierced ;'' so that if it refers to the Messiah 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XII. 281 
 
 he cannot be a mere man, but must be divine. To 
 escape this difficulty, they changed the text, and made 
 it read " him," instead of " me." This was at first only 
 a marginal reading, as appears from some of the MSS., 
 but was afterwards admitted into the text. But man}' 
 of the most able Jews reject this gloss, and admit that 
 " me " is the true reading. Scarcely any scholar of any 
 note, even among the infidel critics, admits this interpo- 
 lation. Hence this evasion is utterly inadmissible, and 
 the text still stands, asserting that the Jews would look 
 at Jehovah whom they had slain, a prophecy which can 
 only be interpreted in the light of the cross. 
 
 It is useless to discuss the opinion of some of the 
 early Jews, adopted in later times by Jahn, Bauer, Ber- 
 tholdt, and others, that the mourning here was for the 
 death of Judas Maccabeus, or some other Jewish leader, 
 for this is liable to the same objections with the last- 
 named opinion. Calmet admits this view, but says that 
 Judas Maccabeus was a type of Christ. Ackermann, 
 who quotes it at length, coincides with it as most prob- 
 able. But there is no necessity for supposing any such 
 reference as this, for the context refers obviously to 
 events later than the Maccabean age, and events some 
 of which are still future. Indeed, this very mourning 
 is obviously yet to take place. 
 
 Hence, the only meaning that the text will bear is, 
 
 that Jehovah is the speaker, and that he is speaking of 
 
 himself, and the manner in which he has been treated 
 
 by his people, and will be hereafter. Having, in the 
 
 18 
 
282 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XII. 
 
 11 In that day shall there be a great ing of Hadadrimmon in the valley of 
 mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourn- Megiddon. 
 
 previous passage, under the symbol of a shepherd, 
 declared how the people would treat him, in their 
 blindness and madness, he then predicts that they would 
 V repent of this treatment, and turn to him with deep and 
 heartrending penitence. 
 
 When their eyes were open to see what they had 
 done, they would mourn. The bitterness of this mourn- 
 ing is described by two illustrations, a private and a 
 ' public. The private is the grief that a parent feels at 
 the loss of a first-born and an only child. The bitter- 
 ness of this agony in any parent is a most vivid image 
 of sorrow, but to a Jew, with his passion for posterity, 
 and his impression of disgrace and curse connected with 
 childlessness, this illustration was one of the most sig- 
 nificant that could be used. There is an allusion to this 
 passage in Matt. 24 : 30, and also in Rev. 1:7, imply- 
 ing its Messianic interpretation. 
 
 V. 11. " And in that day the mourning shall be great in Jerusa- 
 lem, as tlie mourning' of Hadadrimmon in the vale of Meg-iddo." 
 
 Y. 11 expresses the public example of sorrow^, and it 
 was the most expressive in the histoiy of the Jewish 
 people. The death of the good Josiah was the darkest 
 and saddest event in the history of the monarchy, for it 
 was the quenching of all hope. He was a link of bright 
 memories in the past, and bright hopes in the future, 
 and when he fell, and fell under the displeasure of God^ 
 it was as the giving up of the ghost. It was like the 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XII. 283 
 
 12 And the land shall raouru, every apart, and their wives apart ; the fa- 
 family apart ; the family of the house mily of Shimei apart, and their wives 
 of David apart, and their wives apart ; apart ; 
 
 the family of the house of Nathan 14 All the families tliat remain, 
 apart, and their wives apart ; every family apart, and their wives 
 
 13 The family of the house of Levi apart. 
 
 death of Hampden in the Enghsh histoiy, or hke what 
 the death of Washington in the darkest hour of the 
 Revokition would have been in our own, acakmity that 
 would have wrung a wail of agony and despair from a 
 whole people, 
 
 Hadad Rimmon was the name of a place in the plain 
 of Esdraelon, that great battle-field of nations, near 
 Megiddo, and was called, in the time of Jerome, Maxi- 
 mianopolis. It was probably named from the Syrian 
 god, Rimmon. 
 
 V. 12 — 14. " And the land mourns, family by 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 fam- 
 ily of the house of Shimei apart and their wives apart ; all the 
 remaining' families, family by family apart, and their wives apart." 
 
 y. 12 — 14 describes the universality of this mourn- 
 ing. It should extend to every family, and every indi- 
 vidual, leading each one to retire alone and weep. The 
 selection of names seems designed to express the fact, 
 that from the highest to the lowest this mourning 
 should extend. David and Levi express the kingly and 
 priestly orders, or the civil and ecclesiastical, whilst 
 Nathan, who was not the prophet, but a descendant of 
 David, (see 2 Sam. 5 : 14, Luke 3 : 31,) and Shimei, 
 who was a descendant of Levi, (see Numb. 3 : 18, 21,) 
 
284 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XII. 
 
 carry the lamentation to the remotest members of these 
 two great orders. 
 
 The mom^ning of the wives apart simply alludes to 
 the Jewish custom of separating the males from the 
 females, even in acts of worship. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) There shall be a revival of religion in the future 
 history of the Church that shall gather in the Jews, 
 (v. 10.) 
 
 (2.) This revival shall be characterized by the inva- 
 riable marks of an outpouring of the spirit, namely, a 
 spirit of prayer and penitence, (v. 10.) 
 
 (3.) Prayer is the barometer of the Church. When 
 the spirit of supplication is low, there is but little of the 
 Spirit of God, and as soon as the prayer meeting begins 
 to fill up with earnest suppliants, the Christian may 
 hope for a blessing, (v. 10.) 
 
 (4) All true repentance arises from a sight of a 
 dying Saviour, one who has died for us. Terror may 
 produce remorse, only a sense of forgiven sin will ever 
 produce true repentance. True repentance is after all 
 only love weeping at the foot of the cross, the soul sor- 
 rowing for sins that have been^o freely forgiven, (v. 10.) 
 (5.) True religion is a personal thing, and when it 
 takes strong hold of the heart, will lead the soul apart 
 to solitary wrestling with God, and acts of personal 
 humbling before him. Confession of sins past and re- 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIII. 285 
 
 1 In that day there shall be a foun- to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin 
 tain opened to the honse of David and and for uncleanness. 
 
 solutions of obedience for time to come. Grace needs 
 solitary meditation to grow, just as much as the plant 
 needs the repose and darkness of night, (v. 12 — 14.) 
 
 IX. Fruits of Penitence. 
 
 Chapter 13 : 1—6. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The opening of the fountain of pardon and purity, (v. 1.) 
 
 II. The extermination of idolatry, false prophecy, and sorcery 
 from the land, (v. 2.) 
 
 III. The zeal of God's people in the work of cleansing, (v. 3,) 
 and the penitent confessions of false prophets themselves, (v. 
 4—6.) 
 
 V. 1. " 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." 
 
 We have shown before that the preceding chapter 
 refers to a great revival of religion in the Church, which 
 is yet future, and to this revival especially as it should 
 include the Jews, who would at that time be restored 
 to the Church from which they had been so long separated 
 by unbelief. The depth of their penitence is described 
 very vividly in ch. 12 : 8 — 14. Connected with this 
 penitence, however, would then be, what their previous 
 mourning had never attained, a felt possession of par- 
 don. This is represented by the metaphor of a fountain, 
 
286 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 2 ^ And it shall come to pass in that remembered : and also I will cause the 
 
 day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I prophets and the unclean spirits to pass 
 
 will cut off the names of the idols out out of the land. 
 of the land, and they shall no more be 
 
 that bestows the double blessing of refreshment to the 
 thirsty and purification to the unclean. This fountain 
 is not then opened for the first time, for it has long 
 been flowing from the riven rock. But it is opened 
 then for the first time to the house of David, after their 
 long and weary wanderings. Like Hagar they had 
 wandered in the wilderness until they were ready to 
 perish, ignorant of the refreshment that was near them, 
 until the Lord opened their eyes to see the fountain. 
 Prominence is here given to its purifying power, be- 
 cause of the guilt that had so long rested on the cove- 
 nant people. The w^ord " sin" here refers to the guilt, 
 and " uncleanness " to the defilement of moral evil, and 
 the verse teaches the Jews that mere ceremonial obser- 
 vances are not sufficient to remove these. The two 
 cardinal doctrines of justification and sanctification by 
 the blood of Christ are therefore here brought out 
 clearly. 
 
 V. 2. " And it shall be in that day, saith 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 
 spirit of uncleanness will I remove from the land." 
 
 V. 2 describes the consequences of this pardon. A 
 free forgiveness does not lead to indolence, but to a 
 more vigorous discharge of duty and extirpation of sin. 
 The two great sins of the Jewish people before the cap- 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIII. 287 
 
 3 And it shall come to pass, that father and his mother that begat him 
 when any shall yet prophesy, then his shall say xmto him, Tliou shalt not 
 
 tivity were idolatry and false prophecy, and these are 
 taken as the types of all ungodliness of whatever speci- 
 fic form. All actual, outward idolatry and false pro- 
 phecy have ceased among the Jews, and hence these 
 sins are only the types of sin in general. It is, how- 
 ever, worthy of remark, that the only sin of heart that 
 is called emphatically idolatry, is a sin that is supposed 
 to be peculiarly that which besets the Jew, the worship 
 of mammon, and who can tell but that the wealth of the 
 world is gathering into the hands of Jews, in anticipa- 
 tion of that mighty Exodus that is yet to be made by 
 the sons of Jacob. Certain it is that a general conver- 
 sion of the Jews would throw an amount of wealth into 
 the treasury of the Lord, of which we now can have no 
 conception, and give a blow to the rule of gold such 
 as no other event we can now specify would be likely 
 to do. " The spirit of uncleanness" is here put in con- 
 trast with the Spirit of God, who inspired the true 
 prophets, and refers doubtless to more than a mere 
 impersonal depravity of human souls, but to spiritual 
 influences of demoniac form, such as are so often re- 
 ferred to in the Bible in connection with sin. 
 
 V. 3. " And it happens, if a man still prophesy, his father and 
 his mother who begat him say unto him, ' Thou shalt not live, be- 
 cause thou hast spoken falsehood in the name of Jehovah,' and 
 his father and his mother who begat him, pierce him through in 
 his prophesying." 
 
 Y. 3 describes in dramatic form the effect of this re- 
 
288 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 live; forthouspeakest lies in the name 4 And it shall come to pass in that 
 of the Lord : and his father and his day, that the prophets shall be ashamed 
 mother that begat him shall thrust every one of his vision, when he hath 
 him through when he prophesieth. prophesied ; neither shall they wear a 
 
 rough garment to deceive : 
 
 rnoval of sin. There is not only a passive abandonment 
 of sin, but also an action antagonistic to it that is strong 
 enough to overcome the most powerful principles of 
 our nature. The one selected is parental affection, 
 whose strength is such as usually to survive the greatest 
 unworthiness in its object. The prodigal boy may be 
 despised and hated by all the world, and yet the heart 
 of the father will yearn kindly toward the hapless out- 
 cast, and the arms of the mother will be ever ready to 
 fold him in forgiving love. Now the love of duty that 
 can surpass an affection like this, must be of a most 
 controlling character. The precise incidents here con- 
 ceived seem to have been suggested by Deut. 13 : 6 — 10, 
 18 : 20, where the nearest relation of the false prophet 
 was required to put him to death, a heroic sense of 
 duty that had been embodied thus in Hebrew law, long 
 before Brutus made it famous by a similar act in Roman 
 history. The general truth is, that the religious emo- 
 tions shall swallow up, like Aaron's rod, all others in 
 the nature. 
 
 V. 4. "And it happens in that day, the prophets ai-e ashamed 
 from their vision in their prophesying-, and they shall no longer 
 put on the mantle of hair to deceive." 
 
 Y. 4 declares that so general will be the power of 
 this religious reformation, that even sin itself shall hide 
 its head in shame. The false prophets shall be ashamed 
 
ZECHARIAn. CHATTER XIII. 289 
 
 5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, C And one shall say unto him, What 
 I am an husbandman ; for man taught are these wounds in thy hands ? Then 
 me to keep cattle from my youth. he shall answer, Those with which I was 
 
 wounded in the house of my friends. 
 
 to utter their pretended visions. The prophets usually 
 
 wore a hairy garment, such as was worn by mourners, 
 
 because of the solemn and often mournful purport of 
 
 their messages. Hence deceivers adopted the same 
 
 garb, but this symbol of deception shall then be laid 
 
 aside in dread of the fiery storm of zeal for God that 
 
 shall sweep the land. 
 
 V. 5, 6. "And he says, ' I am not a prophet, I am a husbandman, 
 for a man has sold me from the time of my youth.' And he (the 
 former) says unto him, ' What then are these wounds between thy 
 hands V And he replies : (they are the wounds) ' which I received 
 in the house of my lovers.' " 
 
 Y. 5 and 6 describe in dialogue form the detection of 
 one of these prophets. He is seized by some zealous 
 vindicator of the law, and in his fright he exclaims that 
 he is not a false prophet, but a field servant, who was 
 purchased for that purpose in his youth, and hence 
 could not have exercised the prophetic function, being 
 under the absolute control of a master. The interro- 
 gator, however, detects falsehood in the statements of 
 the prophet, and forces him to confess his character. 
 He sees scars in his hands. The phrase " between thy 
 hands, "means this, as appears from Prov. 26 : 13, where 
 " between" has the same signification. He demands an 
 explanation of these scars, and the guilty man confesses 
 with shame that they were received in the service of 
 idols. This verse is often applied to Christ, in the gross- 
 
290 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 est misapprehension of its meaning. It applies solely 
 to the detected false prophet. Some have taken the 
 passage as a continuance of his defence, asserting that 
 these were scars received from his master, but besides 
 destroying the fine dramatic finale that the real sense 
 gives us, it is inconsistent with the terms used. " Lov- 
 ers," in the Hebrew, is the word usually employed to 
 represent the objects of idolatrous love and service, and 
 must so be taken here, and 1 Kings 18 : 28, and other 
 passages show that cutting the flesh was a part often of 
 idolatrous worship). It is, therefore, the trembling con- 
 fession of a confused culprit, who is detected, and in 
 shame and terror acknowledges his crime in hope of 
 mercy. 
 
 But it is proper to say that some of the ablest inter- 
 preters prefer the other interpretation, which repre- 
 sents the scars as received from his parents, among 
 whom are Calvin, Hitzig, Maurer, Ackermann, and some 
 of the older expositors. Hengstenberg, Henderson, and 
 others prefer the one just given, making the passage to 
 be a highly picturesque description of the zeal for God, 
 the hatred of evil, and the shrinking fear and conceal- 
 ment of sin that will be found in the great Revival of 
 the future. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The fountain of pardon and purity is flowing be- 
 side many a soul that is too blind to perceive it, (v. 1.) 
 (2.) The atoning work of Christ has provided for 
 
ZECIIARIAH. — CHAPTER XIII. 291 
 
 purity as well as pardon, and the one is inseparable 
 from the other. Ignorance or malignity must be the 
 origin of the averment that justification by faith is not 
 favorable to sanctification, (v. 1, 2.) 
 
 (3.) Love to God must be paramount to all other 
 affections, even the tenderest of which the heart is ca- 
 pable. It is, in our present imperfect sanctification, 
 inconceivable to us how we could acquiesce in the per- 
 dition of our children, without a pang that would poison 
 all the bliss of heaven, and yet it shall be so. Much as 
 we love them, we shall love God and his law immeasur- 
 ably more, (v. 3.) 
 
 (4.) Sinners shall at last be made to confess their sins, 
 and the justice of their punishment, and the bitterest 
 drop in the cup of their agony will be that they have 
 wrung it out for themselves, and that it is all just, 
 (v. 4—6.) 
 
 X. The Sword Awaking against the Shepherd. 
 
 Chapter 13 : ^—9. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The Divine decree, that Christ should die for the sins of his 
 people, (v. 1.) 
 
 II. The dismay and dispersion that his death would occasion, 
 (v. 7, 8.) 
 
 III. The salvation of the elect through much tribulation, (v. 9.) 
 
 It is not unusual with the prophets to give at the 
 opening or the close of a prophecy a summary of its 
 
292 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 contents. An instance of the first, we have in ch. 11 : 
 1-3, and an instance of the second we have in the pas- 
 sage before us. It sums up the preceding prophecy, 
 which had declared the assumption of the pastoral charge 
 of the flock by the Messiah, his rejection by the people, 
 their rejection by God, their dispersion and subsequent 
 restoration. This summary is in this case the more ne- 
 cessary, because the reason for cutting off the Messiah 
 was not stated. Only the human agency was brought 
 out, because the deeper significance of this awful fact 
 was not pertinent to the scope of that portion of the 
 prophecy. It seemed a mysterious thing that one whose 
 coming was to be such a blessing should be cut off be- 
 fore he had bestowed that blessing. It seemed a final 
 triumph of wickedness, and a defeat of the merciful pur- 
 poses of God by the insane folly of man. It was there- 
 fore necessary before ending the prophecy to bring to 
 view that deeper mystery that underlaid this fact, and 
 show that God's great purposes were in it all, and that 
 what seemed man's final ruin was really man's appointed 
 salvation. 
 
 The meaning of this passage is clearly fixed by Christ, 
 when in Matt. 26 : 31, 32, he applies it expressly to him- 
 self, at that dread hour when he was about to finish the 
 mystery of redemption. There is in the whole compass 
 of human knowledge, nothing more awfully sublime, 
 than this seeming schism in the Godhead. It is as if sin 
 was so dreadful an evil, that the assumption of its guilt 
 by a sinless Mediator must for a time make a division 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHATTER XIII. 293 
 
 7 •! Awake, sword against my smite the Shepherd, and the sheep 
 Shepherd, and against the man ihat is shall be scattered : and I will turn 
 my fellow, saith the IjOrd of hosts : mine hand upon the little ones. 
 
 even in the absolute unity of the Godhead itself. It is 
 the most awful illustration of the repulsive and separat- 
 ing power of sin, that the history of the universe affords. 
 
 V. 7. " sword ! awake against my shepherd, against a man, 
 my nearest kin, saith Jehovah of Hosts, smite the shepherd, and 
 the sheep shall be scattered, and I will bring back my hand upon 
 the little ones." 
 
 This verse has been variousl}^ interpreted. Calvin 
 thinks that it applies to Christ only in common with the 
 whole body of pastors, and cannot be restricted to him 
 or to his death. Maurer refers it to Jehoiakim, others 
 to Pekah, others to Judas Maccabeus, and others to the 
 false prophets of v. 4 — 6. But as Sanctius well re- 
 marks, we have this verse expounded by the very best 
 expositor, Jesus Christ, and applied specifically to him- 
 self, in Matt. 26 : 31. The obvious connection of this 
 verse with ch. 11 : 4 — 14, would corroborate this expo- 
 sition, were it necessary to add to the authority of the 
 omniscient prophet. 
 
 The sword is the symbol of judicial power. The 
 taking away of life being the highest function of gov- 
 ernment, the sword, which is the instrument of violent 
 death, was selected as the symbol of these functions. 
 The magistrate was called one who beareth the sword, 
 see Eom. 13 : 4, because he wielded judicial power. 
 Hence the great doctrine here set forth is, that the death 
 of Christ was a judicial act, in which he endured the 
 
294 ZECHARIAH.^ — CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 penalty of that law whose penal power was symbolised 
 by this sword of divine wrath. The sheep had deserved 
 the blow, but the shepherd bares his own bosom to the 
 sword, and is wounded for the sins of his people, and 
 bears those sins in his own body on the tree. The vica- 
 rious nature of the atonement is therefore distinctly in- 
 volved in this passage. 
 
 But who was this shepherd? " A man, my nearest 
 kin." He was a man, with all human sympathies and 
 emotions, but he was more than a man, the nearest kin 
 of Jehovah. The word i^^^? is only found elsewhere in 
 the Pentateuch, where it is used for the nearest kin, and 
 sometimes as synonymous with brother. See Lev. 5:17, 
 etc. It is never used to indicate similarity of office, as 
 Socinians assert on this passage, but always nearness of 
 relation or kindred. Hence it here must refer to a human 
 nature that beyond this humanity has a nature in the 
 nearest possible relation to Jehovah, which of course 
 must be a divine nature. Hence we have here clearly 
 a twofold nature in the suffering Messiah, human and 
 divine. 
 
 The versions vary in rendering this phrase. 
 
 The LXX renders it, " a man, my fellow-citizen ;" 
 Aquila, " a man, my kinsman ;" Symmachus, " a man 
 of my people ;" Theodotian, "a man, my neighbor ;" 
 the Syriac, "the man, my friend ;" the Yulgate, " a man, 
 my connection ;" De Wette, " the man, my equal ;" 
 Arnheim, " the man whom I have associated with my- 
 self." The last two versions are remarkable, as coming 
 
Z EC H ARIA II. CHAPTER XIII. 295 
 
 8 And it shall come to pass, that in therein shall be cut off and die ; but 
 all the land, saith the Lord, two parts the third shall be left therein. 
 
 the one from a Rationalist and the other from a Jew, 
 and express very nearly the exact truth. It is one 
 equal with God, and associated with him, and such an 
 one can only be found in Immanuel. 
 
 The scattering of the sheep must not be limited 
 exclusively to the dispersion of the disciples on the 
 night of Christ's arrest, but refers to that general dis- 
 persion that should follow the death of Messiah. The 
 flock that the shepherd was to feed was the whole 
 theocratic people, of whom the Christians were but a 
 part. The dispersion, therefore, applies to the whole 
 people. The extent of the dispersion is explained in 
 the next verses. To " bring back the hand " is to 
 interpose in reference to any one, whatever be the ani- 
 mus of the interposition, and to do so upon the little 
 ones, is that interposition in favor of the humble and 
 faithful that is alluded to elsewhere, (see ch. 11 : 7, 11.) 
 It was partly fulfilled in the gathering of Jewish disci- 
 ples into the Christian church. 
 
 V. 8. "And it sball be in all the land, saith Jehovah, two por- 
 tions shall be cut off and die, and the third portion shall remain 
 in it." 
 
 Y. 8 predicts the destruction of a majority of the 
 theocratic people, after the death of Messiah. The 
 phrase, " a mouth of two," (probably a mouth-portion 
 of two, a double portion of eatables,) is taken from 
 Deut. 21 : 7, and here means a large portion. This 
 
296 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 9 And I ■will bring the third part name, and 1 will hear them ; I will say, 
 
 through the fire, and will refine them It is my people ; and they shall say, 
 
 as silver is refined, and will try them The Lord is my God. 
 as gold is tried ; they shall call on my 
 
 was fulfilled in the immense destruction of the Jewish 
 
 people that took place after the death of Christ, when 
 
 probably two-thirds of the nation were destroyed by 
 
 war, pestilence, and famine. 
 
 V. 9. " And I bring the third part into the fire and purify them 
 as silver is purified, and try them as gold is tried. They shall 
 call upon my name, and I will hear them, I will say they are my 
 people, and they shall say, Jehovah is my God." 
 
 Y. 9 declares that the smaller portion that would be 
 saved, must be brought through great trials. This 
 portion includes not only the Jews who were converted 
 to Christianity, and who passed through the fires of 
 persecution, but also that portion that survived the dis- 
 persion, and still remain in unbelief They are still in 
 the furnace, but the time comes when they shall be 
 purified and return to God in covenant love, and be 
 received by him again into favor. These verses, there- 
 fore, give us an epitomised history of redemj)tion, and 
 show that there are yet purposes of mercy in reserve 
 for the ancient covenant people. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) How fearful an evil is sin, when it could call 
 forth the sword against God's own co-equal and well- 
 beloved Son ! (v. 7.) 
 
 (2.) Christ was man, and yet equal with God, (Phil. 
 2 : 6,) or, God and man in one person, (v. 7.) 
 
ZECHARIAH. — CHAPTER XIV. 297 
 
 (3.) The death of Christ was the judicial sentence of 
 God against sin, the endurance of the penalty of the 
 law, and was, therefore, strictly vicarious and propitia- 
 tory, (v. 7.) 
 
 (4.) No human merit can mingle with the infinite 
 merit of the work of Christ, for he trode the wine-press 
 alone. It is impossible for us to eke out our works 
 with Christ's work, or to attempt with our " filthy rags " 
 to patch the seamless robe of his righteousness. When 
 the shepherd was smitten the sheep were scattered, and 
 the blow fell on him alone, (v. 7.) 
 
 (5.) God often makes his people pass through the 
 furnace, not that they may perish, but that they may be 
 purified, and thus reach a better salvation, (v. 9.) 
 
 XI. Future Struggles and Triumphs of the Church. 
 
 Chapter 14. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. Great assault on the people of God, (v. 1, 2.) 
 
 II. Interposition of God in their favor, (v. 3,) giving them some 
 remarkable means of escape, (v. 4, 5 ;) and after a mingled con- 
 dition of things, a final and glorious deliverance, (v. 6, 1.) 
 
 III. Spiritual blessings and enlargement : (1) a perennial 
 source of spiritual refreshment, (v. 8 ;) (2) the true God the on 
 object of worship throughout the world, (v. 9 ;) (3) special facil- 
 ities for intercourse among the people of God, (v. 10, 11.) 
 
 IV. Judgments on the enemies of God and his people, (v. 12 — 
 15 ;) submission of all nations to God's laws, under heavy penal- 
 ties, (v. 16—19.) 
 
 V. Universal holiness, (v. 20, 21.) 
 
 19 
 
298 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 This chapter is one of those portions of Scripture 
 which, hke sealed orders to a vessel, which are not to 
 be opened until a certain latitude is reached, can only 
 be read in perfect comprehension after the Church has 
 reached a point in her history yet future. Until the 
 seal is removed at the appointed time, we can only con- 
 jecture the full meaning of the predictions, and await 
 the clearer light of the future. The chapter seems to 
 refer to facts distinct from those predicted in the last 
 chapter, probably the last great events . of the present 
 dispensation, that are described in other prophecies in 
 terms of such fearful grandeur. It seems to point to 
 that last great struggle of the powers of evil with the 
 Church, which is to be ended by the coming of Christ 
 in great power, and the complete establishment of his 
 kingdom of glory. It is therefore parallel with the 
 prediction of Enoch, concerning the coming of the Lord 
 with ten thousand of his holy ones ; with that of Ezek. 
 39, about the battle of Gog and Magog, and the corres- 
 ponding passage in Rev. 20, referring to the same great 
 events. The general facts predicted are, a wide com- 
 bination against the Church, a time of trouble ensuing, 
 in the midst of which the Lord appears in terrible 
 power, destroys the enemies of his people, establishes 
 the Church in permanent glory, inflicts enduring pun- 
 ishment on the finally wicked, and brings about a state 
 of holiness that shall be the last and perfected state of 
 the Church. 
 
 This chapter has been variously interpreted by expo- 
 
Z E C H A R I A II . CHAPTER XIV. 299 
 
 1 Behold, the clay of the Lorb com- 2 For I will gather all nations against 
 eth, and thy spoil shall be divided in Jerusalem to battle ; and the city shall 
 the midst of thee. be taken, and the houses rifled, and 
 
 sitors. Calvin, Grotius, Dathius, Ackermann, and others 
 refer it to tlie times of the Maccabees. The early in- 
 terpreters, such as Jerome, Cyril, and Theodoret, and 
 among the later, Lowth, Scott, Adam Clarke, and Hen- 
 derson apply the first part to tlio destruction of Jerusa- 
 lem by Titus, and the rest to events yet future. It is 
 evident that no events have yet occurred in history to 
 which these predictions are applicable without much 
 forcing, and it seems most natural to interpret the first 
 verses of the chapter as we interpret the rest. 
 
 V. 1. " Behold a day comes to Jehovah. And thy spoil is di- 
 vided in the midst of thee." 
 
 The phrase "a day comes to Jehovah," means more 
 than that the day of Jehovah comes. It conveys the 
 thought that this time is to be one of special glory to 
 Jehovah, in which his government shall be vindicated 
 and his name glorified. The second member of the 
 verse is addressed to the Church, and shows . that she 
 also shall share in the glory of this day. The promise, 
 "thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee," is a 
 promise of victory and security. Victory is indicated 
 by "spoil," and security by the manner in which the 
 spoil was to be divided ; not secretly in places of con- 
 cealment, for fear of a return of the enemy, but openly 
 in the midst of the city ; showing that the enemy is 
 completely vanquished. Hence this verse is the cap- 
 tion of the prophecy, showing that it predicts glory to 
 
300 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 the women ravished ; and lialf of the 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and 
 
 city shall go forth into captivity, and fight against those nations, as when he 
 
 the residue of the people shall not be fought in the day of battle, 
 cut off from the city. 
 
 God and triumph to his Church, taking Jerusalem here 
 
 as the symbol of the Theocracy, or the Church of the 
 
 future. 
 
 V. 2. "And I collect all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, 
 and the city is taken, and the houses plundered, and the women 
 dishonored, and half the city go forth into captivity, and the rem- 
 nant of the city shall not be cut off from the city." 
 
 Y, 2 explains how this spoil comes to be in the hands 
 of the Church. It is the spoil of those who have come 
 up to destroy her. In consequence of her coldness and 
 defections, a combination of enemies is allowed against 
 her. This is represented under the image of a siege, 
 with obvious allusion to the capture of Jerusalem by 
 Babylon. There is first the investiture of the city by 
 the besiegers, then the breach, and then the pillage, 
 brutalit}^, and cruelty that accompanied the sack of a city. 
 But this capture should not be like the first one, so 
 vividly in their memory then, for * ' the remnant of the 
 city shall not be cut off from the city." There shall be 
 a faithful few who shall be left like wheat when the 
 chaff has been winnowed by the tempest, and who shall 
 not be cut off from the city. 
 
 Y. 3. " And Jehovah goes forth, and fights against those hea- 
 then, as in the day of conflict, in the day of battle." 
 
 When the scene is darkest, and the enemies of the 
 Church seem to be completely victorious, God himself 
 appears in a form of terrible majesty, and takes part 
 
Z E C 11 A R I A 11 . C II A r T E li XIV. 301 
 
 4 ^ And his feet shall stand in that toward the west, and there shall he a 
 
 da}' upon the mount of Olives, which very great valley ; and half of the 
 
 is hefore Jerusalem on the east, and mountain shall remove toward the 
 
 the mount of Olives shall cleave in north, and half of it toward the south, 
 the midst thereof toward the east and 
 
 against the invading nations. What shall be the exact 
 mode of this interposition, the event only can fully de- 
 clare. " The day of conflict," alluded to in the second 
 member of the verse, is probably the Egyptian deliver- 
 ance, which is called a battle in Ex. 14 : 14, 15 : 3, 
 and which always was regarded as the deliverance of 
 the nation, by way of eminence. 
 
 V. 4. "And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of 
 Olives, which is before Jerusalem, on the east, and the mount of 
 Olives is split in the midst from east to west, a great valley, and 
 half the mountain recedes to the north, and half to the soutli." 
 
 Y. 4 describes the first great act of interposition, viz., 
 
 an earthquake, which divides the Mount of Olives in 
 
 half, and opens out a valley toward the Jordan, which 
 
 would be a prolongation eastward of the valley of Je- 
 
 hoshaphat. The mount of Olives is chosen as the spot 
 
 that commanded the finest view of Jerusalem, and 
 
 hence the one most suitable for God to occupy as a 
 
 position of observation. 
 
 V. 5. "And ye flee into my mountain vallej^, for the mountain 
 valley will extend to Azal, and ye shall flee, as ye fled before the 
 earthquake, in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and there comes 
 Jehovah my God, all holy ones with thee." 
 
 Y. 5 explains the reason for opening out this valley. 
 
 The Mount of Olives would be an obstacle in the way 
 
 of a sudden flight from the city. When, therefore, the 
 
 earthquake was sent in judgment on the enemies of the 
 
302 ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 5 And yo shall flee to the valley of mountains shall reach unto Azal : yea, 
 the mountains ; for the valley of the ye shall flee, like as ye fled from be- 
 
 Churcli, it was necessary that the few faithful should be 
 enabled to escape like Lot from Sodom ; andto enable 
 them to do so in the speediest manner, the same might}^ 
 convulsion that was sent to swallow up the enemy 
 opened up a way of escape for them. " My mountain- 
 valley," (lit. valley of my mountains,) would seem to be 
 the ^-alle}' of Jehoshaphat, which lay along Zion and 
 Moriah, which may be called God's mountains, from 
 their peculiar sacredness. This is said to extend, in 
 consequence of the disruption of the Mount of Olives, 
 to Azal. The word Azal means, probably, standing- 
 still, or ceasing, and may be used to express the fact 
 that the valley of deliverance should extend to the point 
 where all danger w^oulcl cease. If it designates any ac- 
 tually existing place, it must have been some small city 
 east of Jerusalem. . . . The earthquake in the days of 
 Uzziah is not mentioned in the historical books of the 
 Old Testament, but is alluded to in Amos 1 : 1, as a 
 ver}^ memorable event in the history of Judah. ... It 
 is impossible for us to take this whole passage literally, 
 for God cannot literally place his feet on the Mount of 
 Olives, but how far it must be taken as figurative, we 
 cannot now tell. It is clear, however, that it predicts 
 scenes of confusion and terror, in the midst of which 
 God shall interpose by some amazing acts, which shall 
 at the same time destroy his enemies and deliver his 
 people. How far the mighty agencies of the material 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XIV. 303 
 
 fore the cartliquake in the days of my God shall come, and all the saints 
 Uzziah king of Jiidah : and the Lord with thee. 
 
 world shall be actually employed, it is impossible for us 
 now to say with certainty. 
 
 The last member of the verse seems like a sudden ex- 
 clamation. After looking at the earthquake, and the 
 rending mountain, and the flying crowds rushing to a 
 place of safety, the prophet looks up and sees a sight 
 that causes him suddenly to cry out with joyful surprise, 
 "there comes Jehovah ni}^ God! all holy ones with 
 thee !" The surprise is indicated not only by the ab- 
 rupt transition, but also by the change of persons from 
 the third to the second. The "holy ones'' are the in- 
 habitants of heaven, whether angels or redeemed souls, 
 and the same with the saints, &c., that are so frequent!}' 
 mentioned in connection with the coming of the Lord. 
 This coming of Jehovah is distinct from the interposi- 
 tion predicted in v. 3, 4, and seems to be that last great 
 coming to judgment, elsewhere so vividly depicted. 
 This exclamation is thrown in parenthetically, like that 
 in 13 : 7, " awake, sword," &c., as if the prophet had 
 lifted his eyes from the dim and troubled scenes he was 
 contemplating to a more distant but more radiant fu- 
 ture, the lidit of which enabled him to look more 
 steadily on the scenes more immediately before liim. 
 Having gazed for an instant of exulting rapture on that 
 glorious procession that he saw approaching, he then 
 returns in the next verse to describe more in detail the 
 events he had been just before describing. This sud- 
 
304 ZECHARTAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 6 And it shall come to pass in that day, tliat the light shall not be clear, 
 
 nor dark : 
 
 den transition from a nearer to a remoter future, that 
 has some connection with it, we have already noticed 
 frequently in this prophecy, and need not pause to ex- 
 plain or defend it, for it is the natural action of the 
 mind in looking at a series of future events. 
 
 V. 6. "And it shall be in that day, it shall not be light, precious 
 things are obscured." 
 
 This verse returns to the events that are to attend 
 this interposition of God for his Church. The words 
 '^^iK&p': ^'^'^Pt' are somewhat obscure, and have received va- 
 rious interpretations. The older versions and some of the 
 modern interpreters, render it " cold and ice." But this 
 is wholly at variance with the usage of at least the 
 second word, which elsewhere means invariably some- 
 thing costly, or precious. Henderson connects "light" 
 with "precious things," and translates it " there shall 
 not be the light of the precious orbs, but condensed 
 darkness." This, however, requires several changes of 
 the reading, and takes the last word as a noun, when it 
 never elsewhere appears in that form. Hengstenberg 
 renders them "that which is precious will become mean," 
 and also refers them to the heavenly bodies. But there 
 is no necessity for such a restriction. "\VC^ means any- 
 thing costly, and does not at all suggest the heavenly 
 bodies, if indeed it is applicable to them. And s^^p 
 means to contract or lessen, and if the received reading 
 be retained, it is the future Kal, and may be construed 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 305 
 
 7 But it shall be one day which shall nicht : but it shall come to pass, that 
 be known to the Lord, not day, nor at evening time it shall be light. 
 
 with c^i"!?^"? without any grammatical difficulty, as Heng- 
 stenberg has shown. Hence the phrase would mean that 
 bright things were losing their brightness, and thus their 
 value. These bright things need not be limited to any 
 single class of objects. 
 
 When the light disappears, all precious things, heav- 
 enly and earthly must be obscured, and the general fact 
 predicted seems to be, that in the time of trouble here de- 
 clared, all that is most prized among men, all the guiding 
 lights of human ambition, and all the precious things of 
 human affection, shall lose their former value, and darken 
 under a gloomy eclipse. 
 
 V. *I. " And it shall be one day, it shall be known to Jehovah, 
 not day, and not night, and it shall be that in the evening time it 
 shall be light." 
 
 Y. 7, declares that this state of darkness shall not be 
 long in duration, nor shall it be total in its obscurity. It 
 shall be only " one day, known to Jehovah," but a short 
 time, and this time limited by the purposes of God. The 
 words, "not day, not night," indicate that it shall not 
 be a total obscurity, but only a twilight dimness, in 
 which the darkness of the past shall be yielding to the 
 light of the future. And then when it seems to the 
 fainting hope of God's people that this darkness is thick- 
 ening into the deeper gloom of night, it suddenly breaks 
 away, like the outburst of the setting sun, after a day 
 of clouds, and at " evening time it shall be light." The 
 
306 ZECHAEIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 8 And it shall be in that day, that sea, and half of them toward the hinder 
 living waters shall go out from Jeru- sea : in summer and in winter shall it 
 salem ; half of them toward the former be. 
 
 meaning is as obvious as the image is beautiful, and in 
 the experience of many a Christian has it been true, as 
 it will be in the great sunset of the world, that when 
 the gloom that has thickened through the waning noon 
 seems to be deepening into the blackness of night, then 
 is the sudden sunburst of a bright revealing of the face 
 of God, so that in the evening time there is light, 
 
 Henderson translates this verse, "when it shall not 
 be day and night," and interprets it to mean that it shall 
 be all day and no night, and refers it to the Millenium. 
 But this wrenches the verse from its context, and gives 
 no sufficient force to the last clause, "in the evening 
 time it shall be light." This implies that previous to the 
 evening it had not been clear light, and naturally refers 
 to the nearest subject. 
 
 V. 8. " And it shall be in that day, living' waters shall go out 
 from Jerusalem, their half to the eastern sea, and their half to the 
 "western sea, in summer and winter it shall be." 
 
 Y. 8 predicts the coming of blessings on the earth, 
 by means of the Church. These blessings are set forth 
 under the symbol of living {i. e. running) waters, a sym- 
 bol which is frequently used in Scripture to express not 
 only divine blessings, but these very blessings that are 
 yet in store for the Church. See Isa. 44 : 3, &c.; Eze- 
 kiel's vision of the river flowing forth from the temple, 
 ch. 47 ; Joel 4 : 18, and Rev. 22 : 1. To an Oriental 
 in his burning clime, the image of a gushing stream, 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 307 
 
 9 And the Lord shall he King there be one Lord, and his name 
 over all the earth : in that day shall one. 
 
 whose grassy margin was overhung by waving trees, was 
 one of the most significant that could be used to express 
 a divine blessing. Their going out from Jerusalem, im- 
 plied that the Church should be the medium of these 
 blessings ; their flowing to the Eastern and Western seas, 
 i. e. the Dead and Mediterranean, implied their univer- 
 sality, as these were the limits of the holy land ; whilst 
 their joerennial endurance is declared by the fact that 
 they would be unaffected by either the summer's drought 
 or the winter's cold. 
 
 V. 9. " And Jehovah shall be king over the whole laud, in that 
 day Jehovah shall be one, and his name one." 
 
 Y. 9 explains this blessing in more distinct terms. It 
 shall consist in the acknowledgment of God's rightful 
 authority. Hitherto men have revolted from the one 
 God, and served divers lusts and vanities, and made to 
 themselves gods many and lords many. But then they 
 shall acknowledge God as their rightful ruler, and all 
 acknowledge the same God, know God by the same 
 name, and worship him with the same views. This 
 seems to be the meaning of the words, " Jehovah shall 
 be one and his name one." The diversities of the pre- 
 sent shall give place to a living and glorious unity. This 
 is as if in designed denunciation of the type that infidel- 
 ity is now assuming, that all existing forms of religion are 
 good, and that it is bigotry to assert any one only true 
 sj'stem of religious belief and practice. Henderson ren- 
 
308 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 10 All the land shall be turned as a jamin's gate unto the place of the first 
 
 plain from Geba to Eimnion, south of gate, unto the corner gate, and from 
 
 Jerusalem : and it shall be lifted up, the tower of Hananeel unto the king's 
 
 and inhabited in her place, from Ben- Avine-presses. 
 
 ders the second clause " In that day Jehovah alone shall 
 be, and his name alone," objectmg that the other trans- 
 lation implies that before that day Jehovah was not one. 
 But the same objection may be urged to his own trans- 
 lation, that it implies that before that day Jehovah did 
 not exist alone. In either case something must be sup- 
 plied, and there is really but little to choose between the 
 translations. 
 
 V. 10. " All the laud shall be changed, as the plain from Geba 
 to Eimmon, south of Jerusalem, and she shall be exalted and sit 
 in her place, from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the first 
 gate, to the gate of the corner, and from the tower of Hananeel 
 to the king's wine-presses." 
 
 V. 10 describes symbolically the future exaltation and 
 
 restoration of the Church. This is described first by the 
 
 prediction that all the mountainous region round about 
 
 Jerusalem should be levelled into a plain, like the 
 
 plain or valley of the Jordan. " From Geba to Rim- 
 
 mon," expresses the fact that this would be general, as 
 
 Geba was the northern limit of Judah (2 Kings 23 : 8), 
 
 and Rimmon (not the rock Rimmon, but Rimmon of 
 
 Simeon, Josh. 15 : 32.) was the southern. The fact 
 
 predicted is, not that the Church should be exalted so 
 
 much as that the world should be humbled ; the cold 
 
 and stony pride that has hitherto surrounded the Church 
 
 should be abased, and that Church left in her lofty 
 
 pre-eminence as the dwelling-place of God among men. 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 309 
 
 11 Aud men shall dwell in it, and people that have fought against Jeru- 
 there shall be no more utter destruc- salem ; Their flesh shall consume away 
 tion ; but Jerusalem shall he safely in- wliile they stand upon their feet, and 
 habited. their eyes shall consume away in their 
 
 12 •! And this shall be the plague holes, and their tongues shall consume 
 wherewitli the Lord will smite all the away in their mouth. 
 
 The future restoration of tlie Church to her former con- 
 dition is described by the terms, " From the gate of 
 Benjamin to the place of the first gate," &:c. This 
 refers to the capture and sack described in v. 2, and 
 declares that all trace of this destruction shall be 
 effaced. The places named here are the boundaries of 
 the city as they were known in the time of Zechariah, 
 the gate of Benjamin being on the north, the first gate 
 on the east, the tower of Hananeel on the south-east, 
 the wine vats on the south-west, and the corner gate on 
 the extreme west. The general fact predicted is that 
 all traces of this time of trouble should be effaced, and 
 the Church restored to all her former glory. 
 
 V. 11. "And tliey dwell in her, and there shall be no more 
 curse, and Jerusalem sits in security." 
 
 Y. 11 declares that there should be no return of these 
 seasons of trial. Being kept pure, she needed not again 
 to pass through the furnace, the days of her mourning 
 being ended. 
 
 V. 12 — 15. "And this shall be the plague, with which Jehovah 
 shall plague all nations which warred against Jerusalem ; his 
 flesh shall rot, and he standing on his feet, and his eyes shall rot 
 in their sockets, and their tongue shall rot in their mouth. And 
 it shall be in that day there shall be among them a great confu- 
 sion from Jehovah, and they shall seize each man the hand of his 
 neighbor, and his hand shall rise against the hand of his neigh- 
 bor. And Judah also shall fight in Jerusalem, and the wealth of 
 
310 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 13 And it shall come to pass in that neighbor, and his hand shall rise up 
 
 day, that a great tumult from the Lord against the hand of his neighbor, 
 
 shall be among them ; and they shall 14 And Judah also shall fight at Je- 
 
 lay hold every one on the hand of his rusalem ; and the wealth of all the 
 
 all the nations round about shall be gathered ; gold, and silver, 
 and garments in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of 
 the horse, the mule, the camel, and the ass, which shall be in 
 these camps, as this plague." 
 
 V. 12 introduces the declaration of the punishment 
 that God would inflict on his enemies. This passage is 
 parallel to Isa. 66 : 24, and seems to allude to the same 
 general facts. It is a figurative description of the pun- 
 ishment of sin. The first element of the punishment is 
 corruption, which is set forth by tlie terrible image of 
 a living death, a fearful, anomalous state, in which the 
 mouldy rottenness of death is combined in horrible 
 union with the vivid, conscious sensibility of life. The 
 soul of the sinner, in its future consciousness of sin, shall 
 feel its loathsome corruption as vividly as now it would 
 feel the slow putrefaction of the body that rotted piece- 
 meal to the grave. 
 
 The second element of the punishment is given in v. 
 13, viz. : mutual hate and contention. The image is 
 that of a panic-struck army, in which each man clutches 
 and strikes in frantic fury his nearest neighbor. Hell 
 shall be hate, in its fiercest and hatefullest forms. Sin 
 is now the cause of all the quarrels on earth ; it shall be 
 the cause of endless quarrels in hell. Oh, the thought 
 of an everlasting scene of rage, hate, and conflict is 
 intolerable ! and yet this is but sin left to itself. 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XI Y. 311 
 
 heathen round ahout shall ho gathered horse, of the raule, of the camel, and 
 
 together, gold, and silver, and ap- of the ass, and of all the heasts that 
 
 parel, in great ahnndancc. shall be in these tents, as this plague. 
 
 15 And so shall be the plague of the 16 ^ And it shall come to pass, that 
 
 The third element of this punishment is given in v. 
 14, viz. : loss of the blessings previoushj enjorjed. This is 
 represented by the image of spoil. The wealth of the 
 nations that besieged Jerusalem shall be taken by 
 Judah and Jerusalem, which are here combined in the 
 triumph, as they were combined in the struggle 
 described in ch. 12. This is parallel to the fact alluded 
 to in the parable where the one talent is taken from the 
 unfaithful servant and given to him who has ten talents. 
 The blessings that sinners now have, and abuse in 
 having, will then be taken from them and given to 
 others. 
 
 fi after verbs of lighting generally means '' agaitist,^^ 
 but there are undoubted instances in which it has its 
 natural meaning "in," (see Judges 5 : 19,) and hence 
 it may be so rendered here without impropriety. 
 
 A fourth element is described in v. 15, viz. : the in- 
 fectious nature of sin. Sin defiles all that it touches. It 
 has defiled the earth and all it contains, so that it must 
 be burned up ; and it will hereafter transform the 
 dwelling-place of its possessors into a hell, and their 
 companions into fiends, and make it necessary that the 
 very instruments of enjoyment they have possessed in 
 life should be taken from them and destroyed. 
 
 These denunciations of punishment may refer to 
 events preceding the last judgment, but they will not 
 
312 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 every one that is left of all the nations ship the King, the Lord of hosts, and 
 ■which came against Jerusalem, shall to keep the feast of tabernacles, 
 even go up from year to year to wor- 
 
 probably have their complete fulfihiient until afterwards, 
 when sin shall have developed itself perfectly into 
 sorrow and everlasting woe. 
 
 V. 16. " And it shall be that the remnant of all the nations who 
 came up against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, {to Je- 
 rusalem,) to worship the king, Jehovah of Hosts, and to keep the 
 feast of tabernacles." 
 
 Y. 16 turns to the Church, and asserts her suprem- 
 acy over all her enemies, and her extension over all the 
 earth. This is done by the statement that all that sur- 
 vive of the nations of the earth shall come up to the 
 observance of the feast of tabernacles. This is of course 
 not to be taken literally, as it would be impossible as a 
 literal fact, without a miracle, and in contradiction to 
 the obvious teachings of Paul in regard to the tempo- 
 rary character of these ordinances. The feast of taber- 
 nacles was selected as the ground of this figurative pre- 
 diction, because it was a feast of peculiar joy. It was 
 instituted as a memorial of the wanderings in the wil- 
 derness, and as an acknowledgment of the ingathering 
 of the harvest. It therefore clustered around it the 
 memories of the past and the blessings of the present. 
 The selection of it as a basis of the representation of 
 future blessings to the Church implies, that in that 
 period predicted her wanderings in the wilderness shall 
 have ended, her seed-time of tears shall have issued in 
 a reaping time of joy, and along the hills of light that 
 
ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 313 
 
 17 And it shall be, that whoso will King, the Lord of hosts, even upon 
 not come up of all the families of the them shall be no rain, 
 earth unto Jerusalem to worship the 
 
 stretch away in the Canaan above, there shall roll the 
 everlasting song of her harvest home. 
 
 Henderson interprets this prediction literally, but 
 perceiving the impossibility of all nations coming up to 
 Jerusalem in mass, he makes them come up by repre- 
 sentatives, which is of course to depart from the letter. 
 There is, however, no more reason to take this literally, 
 than to take other statements of the chapters, such as 
 vs. 4, 5, 7, 8, &c., which are confessedly to be taken in 
 a metaphorical sense. The future of the Theocracy or 
 Church, is predicted under the forms and facts of the 
 time when the prediction was made. 
 
 V. It. " And it shall be that whoever of the tribes of the earth, 
 will not go lip to Jerusalem to worship the king, Jehovah of 
 Hosts, upon them there shall be no rain." 
 
 Y. 17 threatens that upon those who refuse to go up, 
 there shall be no rain. It is not meant to be implied, 
 that at the time predicted there shall be such disobe- 
 dient persons, for in v. IG it is clearly implied that 
 there shall be none of such. It is rather a figurative 
 assertion of the fact that, in this future condition, the 
 present mingled state of reward and punishment shall 
 end. Now God sends rain on the just and the unjust, 
 then he will separate the good and the evil, and render 
 unto every man according to his works. 
 
 V. 18. " And if the family of Egypt will not go forth, and come 
 up, and there shall not be upon them {therefore any rain,) there 
 20 
 
314 ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 18. And if the family of Egypt go witli the Lord will smite the heathen 
 not up, and come not, that have no that come not up to keep the feast of 
 rain ; there shall be the plague, where- tabernacles. 
 
 shall be tlie plague Avith which Jehovah shall plag-ue the nations 
 that do not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles." 
 
 Y. 18 amplifies this thought. It might be thought 
 that to some this threatening would convey nothing 
 that they would fear, just as the threatening of no rain 
 would not be feared by Egypt, which in fact rarely had 
 any rain, but depended for water on the Nile. Thus to 
 threaten a hardened sinner with the withholding of the 
 gentle showers of divine grace, would seem to him to 
 be no punishment, for he never had enjoyed these 
 showers from heaven, but found his enjoyment in the 
 turbid waters of the earthly. It is then declared that 
 even for such, there shall be a suitable punishment, and 
 one that they shall feel. God's magazine of wrath has 
 an instrument for every shade of guilt. They who fear 
 not the drought, shall tremble before the pestilence. 
 The somewhat obscure words, tj^^o^bs iibi we have taken 
 as expressing the result of the supposed disobedience, 
 as threatened in v. 17. If Egypt refuses to obe}^, and 
 as a consequence of this refusal there falls no rain upon 
 her people, then although this would be no punishment 
 to be dreaded by them, there shall be a punishment 
 which they must dread, namely the plague. Some inter- 
 preters supply "the Nile," and make this a prediction, 
 that the Nile should not overflow. But this is very 
 forced, and we naturally expect that such an ellipsis will 
 be supplied, if possible, by some v^ord already used. 
 
Z E C H A R I A II . C II A r T E R XIV. 315 
 
 19. This shall be the punis-limcut of nations that come not up to keep the 
 Egypt, and the punishment of all feast of tahcrnades. 
 
 which in this case is obviously the word "rain," which 
 
 gives a clear and consistent sense. 
 
 V. 19. " And this will be the sin of Egypt and the sin of all nations, 
 that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. " 
 
 V. 19 explains what is the real nature of the sin of 
 the impenitent world, namely, a refusal to attach them- 
 selves to the people of God. It is therefore only a figu- 
 rative declaration of the fact that unbelief and being 
 ashamed of Christ are the damning sins of the world. 
 
 Henderson takes the word " sin'' here in the sense of 
 
 "punishment," and the verse as declaring that this is 
 
 the punishment of disobedient nations, but that makes 
 
 the verse a tautology. 
 
 V. 20, 21. " In that day there shall be upon the bells of the 
 horses ' Sacred to Jehovah.' And the vessels in the house of Je- 
 hovah shall be as the sacrificial bowls upon the altar. And every 
 vessel in Jerusalem and Judah shall be Sacred to Jehovah of 
 Hosts. And all the sacrificers shall come, and take from them 
 and offer in them, and there shall be no more a Canaanite in the 
 house of Jehovah of Hosts, in that day." 
 
 y. 20, 21, closes up this picture of the future with a 
 
 fitting finale, developing the great fact that this future 
 
 state of the Church would be happy because it would 
 
 be holy, and that this holiness would extend to every- 
 
 thino; connected with her. The distinction between 
 
 sacred and profane was introduced by sin, and would 
 
 cease with its termination on the earth. The Mosaic 
 
 dispensations drew the line with much sharpness and 
 
 narrowness ; the Christian dispensation widened the 
 
316 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 20 ^ In that day there shall be upon the Lord's house shall be like the 
 the bells of the horses, HOLINESS bowls before the altar. 
 UNTO THE LORD ; and the pots in 21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and 
 
 limits, and made all the saints to be priests, but there 
 comes a time when this consecration shall be wider 
 still, and extend to the minutest things pertaining to 
 life. The " bells of the horses" were those bells that 
 were fastened to them partly for ornament and partly 
 to make them easily found if they strayed away at 
 night. They were not necessary parts of the harness, 
 and trifling in value. When, therefore, it is said that 
 even they should have the inscrij)tion that was engraved 
 on the breastplate of the high priest, this declares the 
 fact that even the most trifling things in this future 
 state of the Church should be consecrated to God, 
 equally with the highest and holiest. 
 
 It is further stated that the vessels in the temple 
 used for boiling, receiving ashes, &c., shall be as holy as 
 the golden bowls that were used to catch the blood of 
 the sacrificial victim. This is to aflirm that all outward 
 distinctions in the Church, official and otherwise, should 
 be swallowed up in the great brotherhood of the chil- 
 dren of God. 
 
 To show the extent of this holiness, it is added that 
 the very cooking utensils of Jerusalem should be holy 
 to the Lord, or that the smallest acts of the daily hfe 
 should be consecrated, and holiness difl'use itself in 
 living power through the whole man, in all the depart- 
 ments of his activity, leading him whatsoever he does to 
 
ZECHARIAII. CHAPTER XIV. 317 
 
 in Judah shall be holiness unto the seethe therein : and in that day there 
 Lord of hosts : and all they that sacri- shall be no more the Canaanite in the 
 fice shall come and take of them, and house of the Lord of hosts. 
 
 do all to the glory of God. The idea is, absolute and 
 universal consecration to the Lord. 
 
 The words " all the sacrifice rs shall come," &c., imply 
 that this condition shall be one of active obedience, and 
 not of mere passive enjoyment ; whilst the prediction 
 that there should be no more a Canaanite in the house 
 of the Lord, affirms that no profane or unclean person 
 shall there be found in the redeemed Church. Most of 
 the expositors take " Canaanite " here to mean " mer- 
 chant," as it sometimes does. But there is no necessity 
 for thus restricting its meaning. It was to the Jew the 
 type of an alien, and here predicts that the mingled 
 condition of the present shall give place to a state in 
 the future in which all shall be holy, and nothing 
 unclean be found in the new Jerusalem. The whole 
 passage is then parallel with the sublime close of the 
 Apocatypse, in which the holiness of the heavenly state 
 is depicted in such magnificent terms. All shall be 
 happy because all shall be holy. Sorrow shall cease 
 because sin shall cease. The groaning earth shall be 
 mantled with joy because the trail of the serpent shall 
 be gone, and the Eden of the future make us cease to 
 look back with longing at the Eden of the past. If 
 then a man would have the beginnings of Heaven, it 
 must be by this absolute consecration of everything to 
 God on earth, for precisely as " holiness to the Lord " 
 
318 ZECHARIAH. CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 is upon the "bells of the horses," shall their melody 
 have the ring of the golden harps. Let a man's life be 
 a liturgy, a holy service of acted worship, and his death 
 shall be a sweeter melody than the fabled song of the 
 dying swan, and his eternity the song of Moses and the 
 Lamb. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) There are scenes of trouble yet before the 
 Church of the most appalling character. There is as 
 much necessity for such scenes now, as there ever has 
 been in the past. The divisions of Christians into sects, 
 parties, and cliques, the alienation often of brother from 
 brother, has made the Church, not like a mass of pure 
 gold, ready for the fashioning workman, but like a 
 mass of ore, cold, earthy, dim and defiled, ready for the 
 furnace. Let this ore be cast into the furnace, and the 
 dross will be purged out, the pure metal flow together 
 in bright and beautiful blendings, and the gold come 
 forth seven times refined. Hence, as we read the prom- 
 ises of future purity and power, we cannot see how they 
 can so well be fulfilled as by purging with fire. And as 
 we look at the troubled state of political affairs, and the 
 menacing aspects of Popery and Infidelity, we can 
 readily see how this may soon happen, (v. 1, 2.) 
 
 (2.) When the Church's greatest need shall come, 
 then shall come God's greatest deliverance, so that we 
 need not fear, Ps. 45, (v. 3 — 5.) 
 
 (3.) Christ is coming to the earth, in such form at 
 
Z E C 11 A R I A n . CHAPTER XIV. 319 
 
 least as shall fulfil his purposes of mercy to his friends 
 and justice to his foes, (v. 5.) 
 
 (4.) However dark the day, in the Christian life, at 
 evening time there shall be light. His life is a twilight, 
 but it is the twilight of the morning, that shall brighten 
 and broaden into a day that has neither sunset nor 
 night ; whilst the twilight of the sinner is that of the 
 evening, that shall thicken and blacken into that long 
 and gloomy night that knows no morning, (v. 7.) 
 
 (5.) There is but one way of salvation, one object of 
 worship, and one Mediator, (v. 9.) 
 
 (6.) In the future glory of the Church the mountains 
 of imaginary causes that now separate Christians shall 
 vanish, and they all see eye to eye, and be one, even as 
 their God and Saviour, (v. 10.) 
 
 (7.) The most fearful punishment of sinners is simply 
 to leave them to themselves. Sin is but hell in embryo, 
 hell is but sin in development, (v. 12 — 15.) 
 
 (8.) God has a scourge fitted for every sin, and all 
 shall receive precisely as they have deserved, (v. 18.) 
 
 (9.) "When there shall be universal holiness, there 
 shall also be universal happiness, (v. 20, 21.) 
 
M A L A C H I 
 
M A L A C H I 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 The Expostulation. 
 
 1. A Burden ! 
 
 The word of Jehovah to Israel. 
 By the hand of Malachi. 
 
 2. ' I have loved you,' saith Jehovah. 
 
 And ye say, ' In what hast thou loved us ?' 
 
 ' Was not Esau Lrother to Jacob V saith Jehovah. 
 
 And I loved Jacob ; 
 
 3. And I hated Esau ; 
 
 And I made his nrjountains a waste, 
 
 And his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. 
 
 4. But if Edom should say, ' (alfho^tgh) we are overthrown, 
 Yet will we return and build up the ruins.' 
 
 Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts : 
 
 ' They may build up, but I will cast down, 
 
 And (men) shall call them the borders of wickedness. 
 
 And the people against which Jehovah is angry forever. 
 
 5. And your eyes shall see, and je shall say, 
 
 Let Jehovah be exalted from the borders of Israel.' 
 
 Section II. 
 
 The Sin of the Priests. 
 ' A son honors a father, 
 And a servant a master. 
 Now if I am a father, where is my honor ? 
 And if I am a master, where is my reverence ?' 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts to you. 
 ' priests ! despising my name.' 
 
 And ye reply, ' In what have we despised thy name ?' 
 ' Offering upon my altar polluted bread.' 
 And ye say, 'In what have we polluted thee ?' 
 
M A L A C 11 I . 32'3 
 
 In your saying-, 'The table of Jeliovah is contemptible.' 
 
 8. And when ye offer the blind in sacrifice, 
 Is not this evil ? 
 
 And when ye offer the lame and the sick, 
 
 Is not this evil ? 
 
 Offer it, I pray you, to yc)ur governor ; 
 
 ' Will he be pleased with it, or accept your face V 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 9. And now I pray, supplicate the favor of Cod, 
 That he may be gracious to us. 
 
 ( Since) by your hands must this bo done. 
 ' And will he accept your persons V 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 10. ' Who is there among you that will shut the doors, 
 
 So that je may not be kindling fire upon my altar in vain ? 
 
 I have no delight in you.' 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts, 
 
 ' Nor will I receive an offering from your hands. 
 
 11. For from the rising of the sun to his going down, 
 My name shall be great among the nations. 
 
 And in every place incense shall be offered to my name, 
 
 And a pure offering : 
 
 For great is my name among the nations,' 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 12. 'But 3^ou are profaning it in saying. 
 That the table of Jehovah is polluted ; 
 
 And {in saying) of its produce, that the food is contemptible. 
 
 13. And ye say, (also), Behold what a Aveariness ! 
 And ye have snuffed at it,' 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 'And ye have brought the stolen, and the lame, and the sick. 
 
 And have offered an offering. 
 
 Shall I accept this from your hands ?' 
 
 Saith Jehovah. 
 
 14. ' Cursed be the deceiver, who hath a male in his flock. 
 And offers and sacrifices a corrupt thing to the Lord ! 
 For a great King am I,' 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 And my name is feared among the nations. 
 : 1. And now to you is this command, priests ! 
 2. And if ye will not hear, 
 
324 MALACHI. 
 
 And if ye will not lay to heart, 
 
 To give glory to my name, 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts ; 
 
 Then I will send upon you a curse, 
 
 And I will curse your blessings. 
 
 Yea, I have cursed them {already.) 
 
 Because ye lay not to heart {this thing.) 
 
 3. Behold I will rebuke the seed for you. 
 And spread dung upon your faces, 
 The dung of your festal offerings, 
 And they shall take you away in it. 
 
 4. And ye shall know that I have sent unto you this command- 
 
 ment, 
 That it might be {a confirmation of) my covenant with Levi, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 5. My covenant with him was {to give to him) life and peace. 
 And I gave them to him ; 
 
 {And 011 his part to me it was to give) reverence : 
 
 And he did reverence me, and feared before my name. 
 
 6. The law of truth was in his mouth. 
 And iniquity was not found in his lips ; 
 
 In peace and uprightness he walked before me, 
 
 And converted many from sin. 
 1. For the lips of the priest should keep knowledge. 
 
 And the law should they seek from his mouth ; 
 
 For he is the messenger of Jehovah of Hosts. 
 8. But ye have departed from the way ; 
 
 Ye have caused many to stumble in the law. 
 
 Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 %. And I also will make you contemptible and mean before all 
 the people. 
 
 According as ye have not kept my ways. 
 
 And have been partial in {dispensing) the law. 
 
 Section III. — Chapter II : 10-16. 
 
 Mixed Marriages. 
 10. Is there not one Father to all of us ? 
 Has not one God created us ? 
 Wherefore then do we act treacherously one toward another. 
 
M A L A C H I . 326 
 
 In pi'ofaning' the covenant of our fatliers ? 
 
 11. Judali acts tveaclicrously. 
 
 And wickedness is done in Israel and Jerusalem ; 
 For Judali lias prt^ianed the lioliaess of Jeliovah, 
 {Even that) which he loved, 
 And has married the daughter of a strange god. 
 
 12. Jehovah , will cut off the man who did this, 
 The watcher and the answerer. 
 
 From the tabernacles of Jacob ; 
 
 And him presenting an offering to Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 13. And this in the second place ye have done. 
 
 Ye have covered with tears the altar of Jehovah, 
 
 With weeping and crying. 
 
 So that there is no seeing of your offering, 
 
 Or accepting favorably from your hands ; 
 
 And ye say, Wherefore ? 
 
 Because Jehovah is the witness 
 
 Between you and the wife of your youth ; 
 
 Toward whom you have acted treacherously. 
 
 And she your companion and the wife of your covenant. 
 
 15. And did he not make {us) one ? 
 
 And the remainder of the spirit was with him. 
 
 And wherefore {did he thus isolate us, as) one {people ?) 
 
 {Because he was thus) seeking a seed of God. 
 
 Take heed then to your spirits, 
 
 And do not act treacherously to the wife of your youth, 
 
 16. For he hates putting away, 
 Saith Jehovah, the God of Israel. 
 
 - And the one who covers his garment with iniquity, 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 Take heed then to your spirits. 
 And do not act treaclicrously. 
 
 Section IY. — Chapter II : IT — III : 6. 
 
 The Coming of Christ, and the Forerunner. 
 
 It. " ' Ye weary Jehovah with your words.'" 
 And ye say, ' Wherein do we weary liim ?' 
 In your saying, ' Every one who does evil is good in the 
 eyes of Jehovah ; 
 
326 MALACHI. 
 
 And in them he delights ;' or 
 ' Whore is the God of judgment V 
 3 : 1. 'Behold, I send my messenger, 
 
 And he shall prepare a way before me. 
 
 And suddenly there shall come to his temple 
 
 The Lord whom ye are seeking. 
 
 And the Messenger of the Covenant for whom ye arc lunging. 
 
 Behold he shall come,' 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 2. ' And who shall endure the day of his coming ? 
 And who shall stand in his appearing ? 
 
 For he shall be as a refiner's fire ; 
 And as a fuller's soap. 
 
 3. And he shall sit, refining and purifying the silver ; 
 And shall purify the sons of Levi, 
 
 And refine them, as gold and as silver, 
 And they shall be Jehovah's, 
 Offering sacrifice in righteousness. 
 
 4. And grateful to Jehovah shall be 
 
 The sacrificial offering of Judah and Jerusalem, 
 
 As in the days of old ; 
 
 As in the years of the past. 
 
 5. And I draw near to you for judgment. 
 And I will be a swift witness 
 
 Against the sorcerers, and the adulterers, 
 And those who swear to a falsehood, 
 And those who defraud the hireling of his wages, 
 And the ^yidow and the orphan. 
 And those who oppress the stranger, 
 And who fear not me,' 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 ^>. ' For I am Jehovah ; I change not. 
 
 And you, (therefore), sons of Jacob, are not consumed.' 
 
 Section Y. — Chapter III : 7-12. 
 
 Neglect of Tithes and Offerings. 
 1. ' From the days of your fathers 
 Ye have departed from my statutes, 
 And have not kept them, 
 
M A L A C II I . 327 
 
 lictuiTi niito me, and I will return unto you,' 
 
 Saitli Jehovah of Hosts. ' 
 
 And ye say, 'Wherein shall we return ?' 
 
 8. Will a man defraud God ? 
 Because ye have defrauded me.' 
 
 And ye say, ' Wherein have we defrauded thee V 
 ' In tithes and offerings. 
 
 9. Ye are cursed with a curse I 
 For nie have ye defrauded, 
 The whole nation (of yen.) 
 
 10. Bring- all the tithes into the house of the treasury, 
 And let there be food in my house. 
 
 'And prove me in this, I pray you,' 
 Saitli Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 ' If I will not open to you the llood-gcites of heaven, 
 And pour down upon you a blessing i)crpetual]y. 
 
 11. And I will rebuke for you the devourer, . 
 
 And it shall not destroy for you the fruits of the ground, 
 And it shall not blight for you the vine in the iield,' 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 12. And all nations shall pronounce you blessed, 
 For ye shall be a land of delight.' 
 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts." 
 
 Section VI. — Chapter III : 13. — End. 
 
 Reproofs and Warnmg.s. 
 18. ' Your words have been violent against me,' 
 
 Saith Jehovah. 
 
 And ye say, ' What do we say against thee V 
 
 Ye say, ' It is vain to serve God ; 
 
 And what profit (is ii) that wo have kept his observances ? 
 
 And that w^e have walked monrnfuUy 
 
 Before Jehovah of Hosts. 
 15. And now we pronounce the proud happy, 
 
 They are built up, the workers of iniquity ; 
 
 Also, they tempt God and escape.' 
 IG. Then they who feared Jehovah, spake, 
 
 Every man to his neighbor ; 
 
328 MALACSI. 
 
 And Jehovah attended and heard ; 
 
 And there was written a book of remembrance before him 
 
 For those who feared Jehovah, 
 
 And for those who thought upon his name. 
 11. And they shall be mine/ 
 
 Saith Jehovah of hosts, 
 
 ' In the day in which I shall make up my possession. 
 And I will spare them 
 As a man spares his son that serves him. 
 18. And ye shall return. 
 
 And discern (the difference) between 
 The righteous and the wicked, 
 And between him who serves Jehovah, 
 And him who serves him not. 
 4:1. For, behold ! the day comes ! 
 Burning like a furnace ! 
 And all the proud, 
 And all the doers of evil, are chaff I 
 And the day that comes burns them,' 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 ' Who will not leave to them root nor branch. 
 2. And then shall rise on you who fear my name. 
 The Sun of Righteousness, 
 And healing in his wings. 
 
 And ye shall go forth and leap as calves of the stall. 
 2. x\nd ye shall trample down the ungodly ; 
 
 For they shall be ashes under the solos of your feet, 
 In the day which I make,' 
 Saith Jehovah of Hosts. 
 
 4. 'Remember the law of Moses, my servant, 
 Which I commanded him in Horeb, 
 
 For all Israel, statutes and judgments. 
 
 5. Behold ! I send unto you Elijah, the prophet. 
 Before the day of Jehovah comes, 
 
 The great and the terrible 1 
 
 6. And he shall return the heart of the fathers to the sons, 
 And the heart of the sons to the fathers. 
 
 Lest I come and smite the land with a curse. 
 
INTRODUCTIOX TO MALACHI. 
 
 There is something peculiarly solemn in the closing 
 book of the Old Testament canon. The stern vigor of 
 its reproofs, the yearning tenderness of its appeals, and 
 the sublime sweep of its predictions, combine to give it 
 an intrinsic interest of the profoundest character. But 
 this interest is greatly enhanced by its position. It is 
 the transition-link between the two great dispensations 
 of redemption — the last note of that magnificent oratorio 
 of revelation, whose w^ailings of sorrow and breathings 
 of hope were soon to give place to that richer song, 
 which should be not only of Moses, but also of the Lamb ; 
 and tell not only of Eden and Sinai, but also of Calvary 
 and Heaven. Hence we find sounding through it voices 
 of the past and voices of the future — the knell of the 
 departing and the chimes of the coming age. It is, 
 perhaps, in part to this fact that we owe some of the 
 abruptness that characterizes this prophecy in so unusual 
 a degree. 
 
 The same kind of interest attaches to the personal 
 history of the prophet. He appears before us with 
 some of the vague mystery as well as the stern vehe- 
 mence of Elijah the Tishbite ; delivers his message with 
 an indignant earnestness, reproves the Pharisaic wick- 
 21 
 
330 MALACHI. 
 
 edness of the present, points forward to the glorious yet 
 dreadful future, and disappears as suddenly as he came. 
 His very name is by no means certain. The name 
 Malachi {my messenger^ or my angel) is commonly taken 
 as an apocopated form of the name ''messenger,^'' or 
 angel of Jehovah^ But the only instance of such an 
 apocope given by Gesenius (Uri for Uriah) is very 
 doubtful, if not absolutely erroneous. The invariable 
 suffix in such forms is '^'1 and not '^'? ; and the name would 
 have been Malachiah, like Zechariah, and the large class 
 of compounded names of this formation. Hence it was 
 very anciently conjectured that this was not the name 
 of the prophet. The Septuagint translates ''pi^^^? i^a " hy 
 the hand of his angel,^' or ''messenge?',^^ showing that 
 they regarded it as not a proper name. The Targum 
 of Jonathan adds after the word Malachi, ^' ivho other- 
 wise is called the scribe Ezra ;^^ which, with other conjec- 
 tures as to his name among the Jews, identifying him 
 with Haggai, Mordecai, &c., shows that Malachi was 
 regarded by them as merely a name of office. Indeed 
 Haggai is actually called by this very name, ^^ the 7nes- 
 senger of Jehovah,''^ in Hag. 1:13. And as the precise 
 form itself occurs in chap. 3:1, of this projohecy, where 
 it must be translated " my messenger ^^^ there seems to be 
 a very strong probability that it was given originally, at 
 least, as an official rather than a personal title. He was 
 called, by eminence, "the messenger of God," partly 
 because he was the last inspired messenger of the Old 
 Testament, and partly because he came to announce the 
 
M A L A C II I . 331 
 
 coming of the great Messenger of the New; chap. 3:1. 
 But as there is no other instance in the Old Testament 
 in which the official title alone of the writer is prefixed 
 to the hook, it is by no means impossible that the official 
 became a personal designation, as was afterward virtu- 
 ally the case with John the Baptist, and even the Apos- 
 tle Peter. Calvin coincides in the conjecture that he 
 was Ezra, but in the absence of all intimation to this 
 effect from the Scriptures, and the rejection of the con- 
 jecture by some Jewish authorities themselves, the opin- 
 ion is inadmissible. 
 
 There is less difficulty in determining the age of the 
 prophet than in ascertaining his name or personal his- 
 tory. Indeed it may be regarded as absolutely settled 
 by Yitringa, who, in his elaborate disquisition, (Observa- 
 tiojies Sacra, lib. vi, cap. vii,) comes to the conclusion 
 that Malachi prophesied about the time of the second 
 return of Nehemiah from the court of Persia, which was 
 somewhere between the thirty-second year of Artax- 
 erxes Longimanus, B. C. 432, and the year B. C. 424 ; 
 for Artaxerxes died after a reign of forty-one years, and 
 Nehemiah returned the second time to Jerusalem dur- 
 ing his life. Neh. 13 : G. The temple was evidently 
 built, (chap. 1:10; 3 : 1 — 10,) which places him after 
 Hao-o-ai and Zechariah ; a civil ruler was over the Jews, 
 which places him before the death of Nehemiah, who 
 was their last civil ruler ; and the crimes reproved by 
 the prophet, such as mixed marriages, neglect of tithes, 
 etc., were precisely the abuses corrected by Nehemiah. 
 
332 MALACHI. 
 
 As these abuses were actually reformed by Nehemiah, 
 we are compelled to assign the date of the prophet as 
 precisely coincident with the second reformation of Nehe- 
 miah, or about B. C. 424. He then sustained the same 
 relation to Nehemiah that Haggai and Zechariah did to 
 Joshua and Zerubbabel, or Isaiah to Hezekiah, and Jere- 
 miah to Josiah, in the earlier history of Israel. The silence 
 of the Book of Nehemiah is no valid objection to this 
 view, because it does not profess to be a complete his- 
 tory of the times, but only a personal narrative of the 
 acts of the author. It is an interesting coincidence, 
 therefore, that while this stern Hebrew was reproving 
 the formalism and falsehoods of the people of Jerusa- 
 lem, Socrates was engaged in a similar work among the 
 mercurial masses of Athens. 
 
 The characteristics of the times of Malachi are appa- 
 rent on the surface of the prophecy. Before the cap- 
 tivity the besetting sins of the Jews were idolatry and 
 superstition. Afterward they were prone to the other 
 extremes of practical atheism and Epicureanism. There 
 were two elements then at work which afterward issued 
 in the frigid formahsm of the Pharisees, and the scoffing 
 scepticism of the Sadducees. But the predominant ele- 
 ment, owing to the fact that they were in the transition- 
 state from superstition, was the Pharisaic, — a spirit of 
 proud and bigoted self-righteousness that claimed the 
 favour of God with insolent haughtiness, at the very 
 moment that this favor was forfeited by unbelief and 
 neglect of duty. 
 
MALACHI. 333 
 
 The Captivity had cured the people of their tendency 
 to idohitry, but it had also infused some elements of 
 evil into their character. The Chaldean philosophizing 
 had perhaps been insensibly at work, modifying their 
 views, and Orientalizing their habits of thought, in ac- 
 cordance with the subtle doctrines of that school of 
 speculation, which so naturally tended to Pantheistic 
 and Manichean errors. The general result of this state 
 of mind was an insensibility to the unseen and spiritual, 
 and a grasping after mere temporal and earthly good. 
 Hence they expected to be rewarded by God in worldly 
 blessings for the mere external performance of acts 
 of worship. The promises of God, by Haggai and 
 Zechariah, were interpreted in accordance with this 
 carnal literalism, and outward blessings were expected 
 in reward for the discharge of mere outward duties. 
 Hence when these outward blessings were not bestowed, 
 they charged God with a violation of his promises, 
 instead of inquiring whether they had not failed to 
 fulfil the conditions annexed to these promises. Two 
 generations had passed away since the temple was 
 completed, and this callous unbelief and self-righteous- 
 ness had assumed a definite and palpable form. They 
 had been warned by Zechariah, (ch. 5; 10:3; 11:6; 
 Sec.) that their obduracy and unbelief would be pun- 
 ished, but they turned a deaf ear to these warnings. 
 They had no real sense of sin, and hence did not appro- 
 priate these warnings to themselves. They deemed 
 themselves secure in a claim to God's favor, holding 
 God as bound to bless them because of their adoption 
 
334 MALACiii; 
 
 of him as the object of worship, and his withholding 
 this blessing as a violation of his covenant. This unbe- 
 lief was found in the mind of the priests as well as the 
 people, leading them to engage in God's worship in a 
 most slovenly manner ; to bring mean offerings to the 
 temple ; to intermarry with heathen and repudiate 
 their Jewish wives ; and neglect in general all that was 
 spiritual in the Theocratic requirements. And the worst 
 of all was that they were wholly unconscious of any 
 dereliction of duty in these respects. Their secret feel- 
 ing obviously was, that they had done as much for God 
 as he had done for them, had given him mean gifts 
 because he had done the same to them, and had kept 
 their part of the covenant just as faithfully as he had ; 
 and if they had shown a preference for the heathen in 
 the selection of wives, it was no more than he had done 
 in the bestowal of outward prosperity. And yet all 
 this time they seemed to be perfectly secure of a claim 
 to the possession of God's favor, perfectly sure that they 
 were the only persons on earth who had any right to 
 expect any peculiar blessings from God, or to be called 
 his people. This self-righteous spirit was at the root 
 of all their sins, as will be seen by a careful perusal of 
 the prophecy. It had wrought its mournful results for 
 many years preceding the first return of Nehemiah ; so 
 that he found the people disheartened, the worship of 
 the temple neglected, and flagrant abuses encouraged 
 in violation of the law. These he partially reformed 
 during his first visit ; but having returned to the Per- 
 sian court, and remained there an indefinite time, (JSTeh. 
 
M A L A C II I . 335 
 
 13 : G, 7,) probably from ten to twelve years, lie came 
 back to Jerusalem, and having found that the people 
 had relapsed into many of their former sins, — such as 
 mixed marriages, (13 : 23 — 30,) withholding of tithes, 
 (13 : 5,) and neglect of tlie Sabbath, (13 : 15—22,)— 
 he set himself vigorousl}' to the work of a second refor- 
 mation, that might be more permanent than the first. 
 It was then, as we infer, that he was joined by Malachi, 
 that the special dealings of God with his ancient Church 
 might be finished, and the canon of Scripture closed up, 
 until the coming of that great Messenger of the cove- 
 nant, who was to open a new dispensation of the great 
 plan of redemption. He thus ends the great argument 
 precisely w^iere the evangelists take it up, so that a 
 verse of his prophecy is made the introduction to one 
 of the Gospels. (See Mark 1:2.) 
 
 The canonical authority of Malachi has never been 
 called in question. It is found in all the authoritative 
 enumerations of the canonical books, and is referred to 
 repeatedly in the New Testament as an inspired proph- 
 ecy. (See Matt. 11 : 10 ; 17 : 12 ; Mark 1 : 2 ; 9 : 11, 
 12 ; Luke 1:17; and Rom. 9 : 13.) 
 
 The prophecy is composed of six distinct portions. 
 Part I. (1: 1 — 5) opens the charges against Israel by 
 laying bare the root of their sin, an insensibility to the 
 love of God, that had been so signally unfolded in their 
 history ; and shows, by reference to the history and 
 condition of Edom, how great had been that love. 
 Part II. (1: 6 — 2 : 9) addresses the priests, reproving 
 
336 MALACHI. 
 
 them for their neglect of the worship of God, and their 
 profanation of his ordinances ; threatening punishment 
 for these sins, and predicting the calUng of the Gentiles. 
 Part III. (2 : 10 — 16) rebukes the mixed marriages 
 of the people, and their injurious treatment of the 
 Jewish wives. Part lY. (2 : 17 — 3 : 6) predicts the 
 coming of Christ and his forerunner, and the different 
 aspects in which he will appear from that in which he 
 is looked for by the Jews. Part Y. (3 : 7—12) 
 reproves their withholding of tithes. Part YI. (3 : 
 13 — 4 : 6) describes more fully the sinful character of 
 the people, contrasts it with the character of those who 
 fear the Lord, and then describes the contrast in their 
 destinies that shall take place in the dread scenes of the 
 future. 
 
 Section I. Chap. 1 : 1 — 5. 
 
 The Expostulation. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The motto of the prophecy, a burden or message of wrath, 
 (v. 1.) 
 
 II. The vindication of God from the secret charge made against 
 him in the minds of the people, that he had not loved them, be- 
 cause he had not outwardly blessed them. This is refuted Ity 
 comparing their history with that of Esau, the brother of their 
 great forefather, whose land was wholly laid waste, whilst theirs 
 was yet inhabited. An appeal to their history, as compared with 
 that of other descendants of Abraham, proves that God had loved 
 them, though he had chastened them, (v. 2 — 5.) 
 
COMMENTARY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 
 
 V. 1. " A BuKDEX. The word of Jehovah to Israel by tlie liaiul 
 of Malachi." 
 
 This verse contains the caption or heading of the 
 prophecy. The word "burden" is the motto that 
 describes its character. It is always prefixed to proph- 
 ecies of a threatening character, and seems designed to 
 indicate the fact, that hke some dark clond, heavy with 
 its pent-up fury, these prophecies are surcharged with 
 the wrath of God, and hang ready to pour their dread- 
 ful contents on those against whom they are directed. 
 Many modern commentators give the word the meaning 
 of " declaration ;" but Hengstenberg shows clearly 
 (Christology II. pp. 77—79) that its undoubted mean- 
 ing is " burden," in a threatening sense. (See Zech. 
 
 9:1.) 
 
 The addressing of the prophecy to Israel proves that 
 the distinction between the Ten Tribes and Judah was 
 obliterated, and the whole nation was supposed to have 
 returned, in the persons of those who actually did re- 
 migrate. This throws some hght on the vexed question 
 
338 MALACHI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 2 I have loved you, saith the Lord. 3 And I hated Esau, and hiid his 
 
 Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved mountains and his heritage waste for 
 
 us ? Was not Esau Jacoh's brother ? the dragons of the wilderness, 
 saith the Lord : yet I loved Jacob. 
 
 of the fate of the Ten Tribes, and indicates that their 
 existence and destiny were merged with those of Judah 
 and Benjamin, at the Restoration. It is therefore use- 
 less to look for them in any separate form after this 
 date, and indeed they are not alluded to afterwards as 
 sejoarately existing. 
 
 V. 2, 3. " I have loved you, saith Jehovah. And ye say, ' In 
 what hast thou loved us V Was not Esau brother to Jacob ? 
 saith Jehovah. And I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and I made 
 his mountains a waste, and his heritage for the jackals of the 
 wilderness." 
 
 Y. 2, 3. There is something very touching in the 
 opening of this message of rebuke. Addressing a self- 
 righteous and disobedient people, we would naturally 
 expect an outburst of indignant invective. But instead 
 of this God speaks to them in accents of the softest ten- 
 derness — though the reproaching tenderness of love. It 
 is like the language of some weeping parent, who seeks 
 to woo back a prodigal child, by recalling to his mem- 
 ory the love that has been lavished u2:»on him. And it 
 is in painful contrast with this tearful tenderness of 
 God's love that we hear the insolent challenge of the 
 ungrateful people, " In what hast thou loved us ?" Here 
 they lay bare the root of their sin — insensibility to the 
 love of God, and to their own wickedness. They had 
 been punished, and left to adversity ; but instead of 
 referring these calamities to the love of God, chasten- 
 
MALACni. CHAPTER I. 339 
 
 ing their sins, they considered themselves unjustly 
 treated, and met the tender expostulation of God with 
 dogged insolence and hard ingratitude. Their history 
 was crowded with proofs of God's kindness in the midst 
 of his chastisements ; but with perverse hearts they 
 looked, not at what he had left but at what he had 
 taken. But it is too true that, in this respect, they 
 only acted as men act still toward God — enjoying his 
 mercies with thankless oblivion of the giver, until some 
 of those mercies are removed, when he is acknowledged 
 only by murmuring complaints. 
 
 It is an additional illustration of the patient love of 
 God that he condescends to argue the case with them. 
 He refers to the fact that Jacob was chosen while Esau 
 was rejected ; and that they, as the children of Jacob, 
 were enjoying the blessings that followed this choice. 
 Their history as a people, then, compared with the his- 
 tory of the children of Esau, showed wherein God loved 
 them. "Hated "is used in a negative, not a positive 
 sense, as in the phrase, " If any man come unto me, 
 and hate not his father and mother," &c. Paul quotes 
 this text, Romans 9 : 13, in illustrating the dealings of 
 God. The argument is very obvious. Israel complained 
 that it had not enjoyed outward prosperity, and hence 
 had no tokens of God's love. It is replied that Israel 
 had been much more favorably dealt with than Esau, 
 without any claim to such treatment, and in this respect 
 had tokens of God's love : Israel was only straitened. 
 Edom was laid waste. The phrase ^^n?? ni:rib is some- 
 
340 MALACHI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 4 Whereas Edom saith, We are im- the Lord of hosts, They shall huild, 
 poverished, but we will return and but I will throw down ; and they 
 build the desolate places ; thus saith shall call them, The border of wicked- 
 
 what doubtful. Maurer, Gesenius, Henderson, and 
 others, following the Septuagmt and the Syrian version, 
 render it " habitations of the desert." But there seems 
 to be no necessity for a rendering so unusual. If we 
 suppose ^'^3£ii to be the plural of ^\', we have a common 
 image of a deserted spot. (See Isa. 13 : 22 ; 43 : 20, 
 &c.) The fact that it is a feminine form is no objection 
 to this view, for many common nouns take both forms 
 of the gender in the plural, (see Nordheimer's Gram- 
 mar, § 556, 558.) When a city became a place for the 
 dens of jackals, it was a complete solitude. 
 
 V. 4. " But if Edom should say {although) we are overthrown, 
 yet will we return and build up the ruins : thus saith Jehovah of 
 hosts, They may build up, but I will cast down ; and {men) shall 
 call them the borders of wickedness, and the people against which 
 Jehovah is angry forever.'' 
 
 This verse predicts the hopelessness of Edom's deso- 
 lation, in spite of all the efforts of man to the contrary. 
 Such efforts were strenuously put forth ; but at last the 
 curse of God was stronger than man, and the lonely 
 solitudes of Petra now remain as monuments of the 
 fact that God's words never fail. The perpetuity of 
 this desolation is guaranteed by the fact that the current 
 of eastern commerce that once enriched Edom, has been 
 diverted beyond all hope of recall into other channels. 
 Yet when this prophecy was uttered, and for years 
 after, Edom was a prosperous and powerful country. 
 
MALACIII. CHAPTER I. 341 
 
 ness, and The people against whom 5 And your eyes shall sec, and ye 
 the Lord hath indignation for ever. shall say, The Lord will be magnified 
 
 from the border of Israel. 
 
 The prediction that it should be called " tlie borders of 
 wickedness " is strikingly fulfilled by its present condi- 
 tion, for it is one of the most dangerous spots in the 
 East. It can only be visited with a strong escort. 
 Therefore the prophecy thus far has been fulfilled. 
 
 V. 5. " And your eyes shall see, and ye sliall say, Let Jehovah 
 be exalted from the borders of Israel." 
 
 This verse predicts the fact that Israel, although now 
 insensible to God's favor toward them, should hereafter 
 so acknowledge it, as to admit that Israel should exalt 
 and praise him. RosenmiiUer, Maiirer, and Ewald 
 render the second clause, " Jehovah is great beyond the 
 boundary of Israel," as if the Israelites were simpl}^ to 
 acknowledge his power outside of their national limits. 
 But it is more natural to suppose that the prophet pre- 
 dicts the future acknowledgment of his peculiar favor to 
 Israel, and the ground thus created for an ascription of 
 praise to him from the land thus favored. Henderson 
 connects "from the borders of Israel" with "ye shall 
 say," as if it were a simple prediction that the Israelites 
 would hereafter praise God. But it is more than this ; 
 it predicts that they would acknowledge that Israel 
 ought to praise Jehovah. " Let the whole people exalt 
 Jehovah for his special goodness to them." This allows 
 the words to be taken in their natural order, and both 
 members of the clause to be construed together. The 
 
342 MALACHI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 meaning then is, " However blind you may now be to 
 God's special love to you, you shall hereafter see it, and 
 shall exclaim in comparing nations with yourselves, Let 
 Jehovah be extolled from all the habitations of Israel." 
 This admission has often since been forced from the lips 
 of the Jewish people. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) God's threatenings are very weighty, and ma}^ 
 well be called " A Burden." Men must choose between 
 an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory, and an 
 exceeding great and eternal weight of wrath, (v. 1.) 
 
 (2.) God is love. This is true even when he afflicts, 
 for whom he lovcth he chasteneth. We must not 
 therefore infer that he does not love us, because he 
 afflicts. The gardener prunes the grape which he values, 
 not the thistle which he hates. The fruit tree that is 
 highly prized is trimmed that it may bear more fruit, the 
 forest tree that is designed for the flames is left to grow 
 in unpruned luxuriance. Yet in answer to these assu- 
 rances of God to us, we often say in our murmuring, 
 " In what hast thou loved us. Where is the proof?" 
 It is a mournful proof of human depravity that the love 
 of God is often least acknowledged, where it is most 
 manifested, (v. 2.) 
 
 (3.) The sovereign eternal purpose of God is the only 
 ground of his bestowal of favors on one man which he 
 withholds from another. The apostle Paul saw as deeply 
 as any other man the difficulty of making salvation de- 
 
M A L A G H I . CHAPTER I . 343 
 
 pend on the elective love of God, but he saw more deeply 
 the difficulty of making it depend on anything else. We 
 may make the world with the Hindoo philosophy rest 
 on the elephant, and that on the tortoise, but after all, 
 the same difficulty meets us in finding a resting-place for 
 the tortoise. So we may refer our salvation to our own 
 volition, and that to the self-determining power of the 
 will ; but after all, we reach a basis which demands a 
 Divine support, and it is just as philosophical to rest the 
 world on that at first, as to be compelled to rest the 
 whole cumbrous machinery there at last. It is all of 
 God, from Alpha to Omega, from first to last, and in 
 our prayers and praises, if not in our disputings and 
 reasonings, we will ascribe it all to the sovereign grace 
 of God. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in 
 thy sight.*' There may be difficulties in referring salva- 
 tion to the election of God, there are still greater in 
 trying to refer it to the election of man, (v. 3.) 
 
 (4.) God still addresses men with the same touching 
 appeal, "I have loved you;" and he still meets the 
 same hard, ungrateful response, " Wherein hast thou 
 loved us ?" Men suffer many forms of outward evil 
 and inward grief, because of their sins ; but instead of 
 referring them to the proper cause, their own wicked- 
 ness, they impiously accuse God in their hearts of being 
 indifferent to their welfare. They refuse to look at the 
 tokens of love strewed all along their history, and dwell 
 in obstinate ingratitude on the evils that their own sin 
 has entailed upon them. And yet that history is crowded 
 
344 MALACIII. CHAPTER I. 
 
 with such tokens. Besides the unnumbered blessings 
 that each one individually has received, God has passed 
 by our elder brethren, the angels who kept not their 
 first estate, and provided a salvation for man. Here is 
 a token of love as high as heaven, and as broad as 
 eternity, that may be urged like the love of God to 
 Jacob in rejection of Esau, in proof that the love of 
 God to man is wonderful, and past finding out. And 
 the perpetual rejection of the sinning angels, like the 
 23erpetual desolations of Idumea, stands as an everlast- 
 ing proof of the goodness and severity of God — good- 
 ness to those who had not been doomed to such a fear- 
 ful rejection ; severity inscrutable and mj^sterious to 
 those who have, (v. 2.) 
 
 (5.) The power of man can never reverse the sen- 
 tence of God. It is vain- to rush on the bosses of his 
 buckler, or to resist his will, (v. 4.) 
 
 (6.) God will be glorified in the punishment of sin as 
 well as in the reward of obedience. Hell is full of God's 
 glory, as well as heaven, and the sinner shall show it 
 forth in his perdition not less truly than the saint in his 
 salvation, (v. 5.) 
 
 Section II. Chap. 1 : 6—2 : 9. 
 
 The Sin of the Priests. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The priests charged with violating their duty to God, whom 
 they acknowledged as a father and master, in withholding filial 
 and submissive reverence, (v. 1.) 
 
M A L A C H I . CHAPTER I . 345 
 
 G •] A son lionoiireth his fatlier, and polluted thee ? In that ye Kay, Tho 
 
 a servant his master : if then I be a table of the Lord is contemptible, 
 
 father, where is mine honour ; and if 8 And if ye offer the blind for sacri- 
 
 I he a master, where is my fear ? saith fice, is U not evil ? and if ye offer the 
 
 the LoKD of hosts unto you, priests, lame and sick, is it not evil ? offer it 
 
 that despise my name. And ye say, now unto thy governor ; will he be 
 
 Wherein have we despised thy name ? pleased with thee, or accept thy per- 
 
 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine son ? saitli the Loud of hosts, 
 altar ; and ye say. Wherein have we 
 
 II. Specifications under this charge. (1) Offering; defective 
 sacrifices, (v. 7.) (2) Undervaluing the haHowed places, (v. 8.) 
 (3) Failing to vindicate tho purity of God's house as they ought 
 to have done, (v. 9, 10.) 
 
 III. The consequent rejection of the Jewish people, and the 
 bringing in of one from among the heathen that would serve God 
 more faithfully, (v. 11.) 
 
 IV. Their neglect of duty reproved and additional threats 
 uttered, (v. 12—14.) 
 
 V. The priests especially reproved and threatened, (2 : 1 — 3 ;) 
 contrasted with former priests, (v. 5 — *I ;) and their dereliction of 
 duty severely denounced, (v. 8, 9.) 
 
 V. 6. " A son honors a father, and a servant a master. Xow if 
 I am a father, where is m^^ honor ? and if I am a master, where 
 is my reverence ? saith Jehovah of hosts to you, priests ! de- 
 spising my name." 
 
 The priests boasted that God was a Father and a 
 
 Ruler to them, and hence expected blessings from his 
 
 hand. God requires that they show the sincerity of this 
 
 claim by treating him as they professed to regard him. 
 
 Y. 1, 8. "And ye reply, ' In what have we despised thy name V 
 Offering upon my altar polluted bread. And ye say, ' In what 
 have we polluted thee ?' In your saying, ' The table of Jehovah 
 is contemptible.' And when ye offer the blind in sacrifice, is not 
 this evil ? And when ye offer the lame and the sick, is not this 
 evil ? Offer it, I pray you, to your governor ; will he be pleased 
 with it, or accept your face, saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 22 
 
346 MALACHI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God gard your persons ? saith the Lord of 
 that he will be gracious unto us : this hosts, 
 hath been by your means : will he re- 
 
 These verses develop in detail tlieir sin, and show 
 
 that they treated God as they would not dare to treat 
 
 an earthly ruler, striving to put him off with the mere 
 
 shreds and ekings of time, strength, and means, and 
 
 then wondering that he does not reward them for such 
 
 niggard mockery. " Bread" in v. 7 is of course to be 
 
 taken in the sense of food, as it often is, and here refers 
 
 rather to flesh than to bread, from the fact that it was 
 
 offered on the altar of sacrifice, where flesh only was 
 
 presented. 
 
 V. 9. "And now, I pra}^, supplicate the favor of God that he 
 may be gracious to us, {since) by your hand must this be done. 
 And will he accept your persons, saith Jehovah of hosts ?" 
 
 The principal question in regard to this verse is 
 whether it is serious exhortation or irony. Michaelis, 
 (and Rosenmiiller, of course, who usually transcribes 
 Michaelis word for word, except when he is too ortho- 
 dox,) Hitzig and others, take it as a serious exhortation 
 to repentance. The difficulties in this view are, that 
 the whole tone of the passage is r^prehensive, and not 
 hortatory; and that the challenge, "Will he accept 
 your persons ?" identical with the phrase " accept your 
 face," in verse 8, seems to imply that God would not 
 listen to them, and hence an exhortation to pray to him 
 would seem idle. We therefore prefer with Maurer to 
 take it ironically : " Go, then, with such ragged offer- 
 ings, and interced;ejvith God, since this is your duty as 
 
MALACIII. CHAPTER I. 347 
 
 10 Who is there even among yo\i for uoiiglit. I have no pleasure in 
 that would shut the doors for noiigJd ? you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither 
 neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar will I accept an offering at your hand. 
 
 priests ; and think you that he will accept such an 
 insult ? I tell you nay. He will fling it in your teeth 
 with, " Who hath required it at thy hand, thus to tread 
 my courts." 
 
 The second member of this sentence is rendered by 
 Henderson and others as the English version, "this 
 hath been by your means," although they admit the 
 ironical character of the verse. But it is much more in 
 accordance with the irony of the passage to take this 
 clause not as stating that the present evil has been the 
 result of the action of the priests, but as a refined 
 mockery. " Intercede for us with God, for you are the 
 men whose office calls you to this duty ; you are the 
 professed avenues to God." This was a bitter flash of 
 irony. 
 
 V. 10. " Who is there among you that will shut the doors, so 
 that ye may not be kindling fire upon mine altar in vain ? I have 
 no delight in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, nor will I receive an 
 offering from your hands." 
 
 This verse is taken by our English version, by Hen- 
 derson, and most of the English expositors, as an accu- 
 sation of a mercenary spirit in the priests : " Who is 
 there among you that would shut the doors /or naught V 
 as if they were charged with being unwilling to do the 
 smallest service for God without reward. But the 
 coherence of the passage with what follows requires a 
 different interpretation. It is not an indolent, merce- 
 
348 MALACHI. — CHAPTER I. 
 
 imry spirit that is rebuked, but a want of zeal to vindi- 
 cate the purity of God's house. The meaning is, 
 ' ' Where is there among you some Phinehas, who will 
 rise in holy indignation and shut the doors of my house 
 against such desecration, and prevent this smoking of 
 useless and polluting sacrifices upon my altar ? Better 
 withhold your beggarly apology for rehgion than insult 
 me, and add to your own guilt by palming it upon your 
 conscience as an acceptable service to God." It is, 
 therefore, a burst of indignant scorn upon such attempts 
 to palter with God in the matter of religion. Then, as 
 now, men sought, as for the philosopher's ptone, a cheap 
 religion — one that would insure heaven to them on the 
 easiest terms. Hence they made a shuffling compro- 
 mise with duty, compounding for the lowest possible 
 per-centage of self-denial and effort. God assures them 
 that a cheap religion, like most cheap things, was 
 always dear, since it always cost more than it was 
 worth — for it was worth just nothing. God will not 
 despise the widow's mite, but he will despise the miser's 
 mite — especially when the blinded man is dreaming that 
 by this beggarly shift he is securing the favor of God. 
 As he drops liis pittance into the treasury of the Lord, 
 a voice comes forth from the throne. Who is there 
 among you that will close the doors against this insult- 
 ing mockery, and tell the starveling giver that he had 
 better keep his miserable apology for a gift, for it was 
 worse than thrown away when presented as an offering 
 to God. ! that this voice of indignant scorn could be 
 
MALACHI. CHAPTER I. 349 
 
 11 For from the rising of tlie sun shall be offered unto my name, and a 
 
 even unto the going down of the same, pure offering : for my name shall he 
 
 my name shall he great among the great among the heathen, saitli tlic 
 
 Gentiles ; and in every place incense Lord of hosts. 
 
 rung through the laggard Churches of Christendom, 
 
 who are striving to solve the same impossible problem 
 
 in the maxima and minima of spiritual calculus, with 
 
 how little self-denial and active labor a man may reach 
 
 heaven at last. 
 
 The wish that the doors of the temple should be 
 
 closed, conveys an intimation that if no one is found to 
 
 shut them God will do it himself ; or rather will forsake 
 
 that temple, and leave it an altar without a j)i'omise. 
 
 and a shrine without a divinity. This explains the 
 
 force of " for " in the next verse. 
 
 V. 11. " For from the rising- of the sun to his going down my 
 name shall be great among the nations, and in cvcr3q:)lace incense 
 shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering, for great is my 
 name among the nations, saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 This verse is elliptical, the exact antecedent to " for'' 
 not being expressed. The intimation is : " But if there 
 be none who will thus vindicate the glory of my name 
 among the priests of my own temple, still that name 
 shall be glorified ; for a people will be raised up from 
 among the heathen who not merely in this temple, but 
 * in every place,' shall offer, not the blind and lame, 
 but a pure offering to my name." This, then, predicts 
 the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gen- 
 tiles into the Church. The conversation of Christ with 
 the Samaritan woman, at Sychar, is a striking commen- 
 tary on this verse. 
 
350 MALxVCHI. CHAPTER I. 
 
 12 ^ But ye have profaned it, in .at it, saitla the Lord of hosts ; and 
 that ye say. The table of the Lord is ye brought that which was torn, and 
 polluted; and the fruit thereof, a'en the lame, and the sick ; thus ye brought 
 his meat, is contemptible. an offering : should I accept this of 
 
 13 Ye said also. Behold, what a your hand ? saith the Lord. 
 weariness is it ! and ye have snuffed 
 
 And who can tell but that, if we also are faithless in 
 God's work, others may be raised up from the dark 
 places of heathenism, and we left to perish in our 
 rejection ? Certain it is that God's name will be glori- 
 fied on the earth ; and if we are false to our duty, he 
 can of the very stones raise up children to Abraham, 
 while we are shut out. 
 
 V. 12. " But you are profaning it in saying that the table of 
 Jehovah is polluted, and {in saying) of its produce that the food 
 is contemptible." 
 
 This verse renews the charge of sacrilege in further 
 detail. The " produce " of the altar was the offerings 
 of the people, from which the priests obtained their 
 subsistence, which the priests despised, like the godless 
 sons of Eli, perhaps longing gluttonously for more lux- 
 urious fare. 
 
 V. 13. '"And ye sa,j, (also,) Behold what a weariness ! And ye 
 have snuffed at it, saith Jehovah of hosts. And ye have brought 
 the stolen, and the lame, and the sick, and have offered an offer- 
 ing. Shall I accept this from your hands, saith Jehovah." 
 
 These words amplify the charge. The priestly func- 
 tion was to them a weariness, in view of its imperfect 
 reward ; and they " snuffed " at the provision that was 
 made for them at the Lord's table. Religion is still a 
 weariness to many, and the provisions it furnishes to 
 
M A L A C H I . CHAPTER I . 351 
 
 14 But cursed be the deceiver, which rupt thing ; for I am a great King, 
 hath in his floclc a male, and voweth, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name 
 and sacrificeth imto the Lokd a cor- m dreadful among the heatlicn. 
 
 the soul snuffed at with ill-disguised contempt — w^», it, 
 
 refers to the produce of the table of the Lord, in v. 
 
 12 ; i^f3 means torn away by violence — that is, stolen, 
 
 and not lacerated. 
 
 V. 14. "Cursed be the deceiver who has a male in liis flock, and 
 offers and sacrifices acorruiit thing to tlic Lord ! for a great King 
 am I, saith Jehovah of hosts, and my name is feared among the 
 nations." 
 
 This verse reproves the people, as well as the priests, 
 for withholding suitable offerings to the temple. A 
 male victim was more valuable than a female. It was, 
 indeed, expressly required by the law. See Lev. 1:3, 
 10, &c. The same intimation of a removal of the 
 Church to the Gentiles, if the chosen people were 
 unfaithful, as in v. 11, is made in the second clause. 
 Alas ! how often do we keep back the firstlings of our' 
 flocks, the best of our services, and offer God the shreds 
 of our time, the weary remnant of our thoughts and 
 affections, and the niggardly gleanings of our means ! 
 It is in touching reproach that God refers to the heathen, 
 as if he had said : The very heathen fear me more than 
 my own people ; even now in their blindness they have 
 more dread of offending me than those whom I have 
 chosen. Alas ! heathenism in the great day will con- 
 demn much of our Christianity. 
 
352 MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 1 And now, ye priests, this com- cursed them already, because ye do not 
 mandment is for you. lay it to heart. 
 
 2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will 3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, 
 not lay it to heart, to give glory unto and spread dung upon your faces, eve7i 
 my name, saith the Loed of hosts, I the dung of your solemn feasts ; and 
 will even send a curse upon you, and I one shall take you away with it. 
 
 will curse your blessings ; yea, I have 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 V. 1. " x\nd now to you is this command, priests!" 
 
 Having in chap. 1:14, turned aside for a moment to 
 
 the people, he returns to the priests, whom he rebukes 
 
 for violating the covenant of the priesthood : (1) by 
 
 unbelief and disobedience, v. 2, 3 ; (2) by corrupt 
 
 teaching, v. 4 — 8 ; (3) by partiality in dispensing the 
 
 law, ver. 9. 
 
 V. 2. " If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay to heart to give 
 glory to my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, then I will send upon 
 you a curse, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed 
 them, {already) because ye lay not to heart {this thing) J' 
 
 This verse threatens a curse for disobedience, if it 
 
 were persisted in. The phrase O'^rii'i^ tsai is taken by 
 
 Maurer and others as an emphatic repetition ; but it 
 
 seems more natural to give t=3 its ordinary meaning, and 
 
 take the verb as a preterite. Then the sense would be : 
 
 " This is no idle threat, for the curse is even now upon 
 
 you because of your sin ; ye are condemned already." 
 
 V. 3. " Behold I will rebuke the seed for you, and spread dung 
 upon your faces, the dung of your festal offerings, and they shall 
 take you away in it." 
 
 To rebuke the seed is to forbid its growing. " For 
 
MALACIII. CHAPTER II. 353 
 
 4 And ye shall know that I have my covenant might be with Levi, 
 sent this commandment unto you, that saith the Lord of hosts. 
 
 you," is for your disadvantage. (For this use of ^ see 
 Nordheimer, § 868.) The spreading of dung on the 
 face is an image of the most insulting indignity, while 
 the being carried away in it is assurance that this 
 indignity will be permanent, — a thing that cannot be 
 fled from, but will cleave to and follow its objects 
 wherever they go. — s^ijs^ is to be taken here impersonally. 
 
 V. 4. "And ye shall know that I have sent to you this com- 
 mandment, that it might be {a confirmation of ) my covenant with 
 Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 This verse is susceptible of two interpretations. 
 That of Rosenmiiller and others makes " this command- 
 ment " to be in apposition with "the covenant with 
 Levi," asserting their substantial identity ; but this is 
 incompatible with the words tri'^n^ which express design. 
 We therefore prefer that of Maurer, which takes the 
 last clause as explaining the design of this command- 
 ment, with its threats, namely, to establish the original 
 covenant with Levi, and bring the priests back to the 
 purity of their sacred order, and thus effect a complete 
 reformation. This verse then explains the special mis- 
 sion of Malachi as a Reformer. It was to bring back 
 the priests to the original Levitic covenant, and restore 
 the true spirit of the Mosaic institutions that he came 
 forth. 
 
 V. 5. " My covenant with him was {to give to him) life and peace, 
 and I gave them- to him, {and on his part to me) reverence ; and he 
 did reverence me, and feared before my name." 
 
354 MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 5 My covenant was with him of life for the fear wherewith he feared me, 
 and peace ; and I gave them to him and was afraid before my name. 
 
 Y. 5 explains more fully the covenant with Levi, 
 alluded to in the fourth verse ; and shows, by the mode 
 in which Levi observed it, how much his descendants 
 had violated it. The grammatical construction of i^^i^ 
 is somewhat doubtful. Rosenmiiller and others take it 
 as an accusative in apposition with the suffix ti-, repre- 
 senting the design for which the life and peace were 
 given. We prefer with Maurer to take it as a nomina- 
 tive in apposition with "covenant," just as " life and 
 peace" are in the preceding clause, and expressing the 
 other branch of the covenant. The sense then would 
 be as follows: "My covenant with Levi was this, 
 namely, on my part there were to be given to him life 
 and peace, and I fulfilled ,my part, and gave them to 
 him ; on his part there was to be rendered to me reve- 
 rence ; and he did reverence me, and fear before my 
 name." This furnishes the most consistent sense, and 
 requires no unusual grammatical construction. It 
 states first the conditions of the covenant on both sides, 
 and secondly the fact that these conditions had been 
 faithfully met. This was at once a reproof to the irrev- 
 erent descendants of Levi, and an explanation of the 
 absence of those blessings from God's hand which they 
 considered to be guaranteed to them by the covenant. 
 The covenant referred to we have in Numbers 25 : 12, 
 13, " Behold I give unto him my covenant of peace ; 
 and he shall have it and his seed after him, even 
 
MALACIII. CHAPTER II. 355 
 
 G The law of truth was in his mouth, 7. For the priest's lips should keep 
 
 and iniquity was not found in liis lips : knowledge, and they should seek the 
 
 he walked with nie in peace and equi- law at his mouth : for he is theiiiessen- 
 
 ty, and did turn many away from in- ger of the Lord of hosts, 
 
 iquity. 8. But ye arc departed out of the 
 
 the covenant of an everlasting priesthood," — Kfe and 
 
 peace. 
 
 V. G. " The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not 
 found in his lips ; in peace and uprightness he walked before me, 
 and converted man}' from sin." 
 
 Y. 6 describes yet further the conduct of the an- 
 cient priesthood. The law of truth in the mouth refers 
 to their truthful teachings, the absence of perversity 
 in their lips to their uj)ri^ht judgments in judicial 
 cases. See Deuteronomy 17 : 8, 9 ; 19 : IT, where 
 judicial functions are expressly recognized in the priest- 
 hood. And as the priests were especially to judge of 
 the fitness of sacrificial offerings, the comparison becomes 
 yet more bitter as a reproof. 
 
 To walk with God is to follow his precepts, as did 
 Enoch, (Genesis 5 : 22 ;) Noah, (6 : 9 ;) and Abraham, 
 (17 : 1.) To walk in peace is so to walk as to please 
 God ; and to walk in uprightness is to walk sincerely, 
 without guile. The effect of this kind of walking with 
 God, then, as now, was the conversion of sinners. 
 
 V. 7. " For the lips of the priest should keep knowledge, and the 
 law should they seek from his mouth ; for he is the messenger of 
 Jehovah of liosts." 
 
 V. 7 declares that these were the proper functions of 
 the priesthood, and hence those in whom they were 
 wanting were derelict to their duty. 
 
356 MALA CHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 way ; ye have caused many to stumble 9. Therefore have I also made you 
 at the law ; ye have corrupted the co- contemptible and base before all the 
 venant of Levi, saith the Lord of people, according as ye have not kept 
 hosts. my ways, but have been partial in the 
 
 law. 
 
 V. 8. " But ye have departed from the way, ye have caused many 
 to stumble in the law, ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, 
 saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 The priests are here openly charged with the derelic- 
 tion hinted at in the previous verse. They not only 
 failed to teach others to keep the law, but they taught 
 them by example, if not precept, to break it. Maurer 
 and De Wette render " law" here by " teaching." It is, 
 however, not necessary to depart from the usual meaning 
 of the word, and that which it has elsewhere in the con- 
 text. Even if it refers to the effect of their teaching, 
 this is expressed by retaining the ordinary meaning of 
 the word. But the meaning of the verse probably is not 
 to charge them simply with teaching error, but to as- 
 sert that they not only neglected to teach the people to 
 keep the law by precept, but, on the contrary, taught 
 them to break it both by precept and example. 
 
 V. 9. "And I also will make you contemptible and mean before 
 all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, and have 
 been partial in {dis'pensing) the law." 
 
 V. 9 threatens these punishments, and declares that as 
 they had violated the conditions of the covenant, God 
 would inflict its penalty. As they had exercised their 
 priestly functions, judicial and otherwise, partially re- 
 specting the persons of one class while they disregarded 
 
M A L A C H I . — CHAPTER II. 357 
 
 those of another, God would visit them with punish- 
 ment- for this injustice. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Men often acknowledge God as a father and a 
 master in words, who deny it in deeds, (c. 1 : v. 6.) 
 
 (2.) He who undervalues the ordinances of God's 
 house, insults God, (v. 7.) 
 
 (3.) Men often treat God as they would not dare to 
 treat one another, and make offerings to the Ruler of 
 the universe that would be despised by an earthly ruler, 
 (y. 8.) 
 
 (4.) Prayer without corresponding practice is a so- 
 lemn mockery, (v. 9.) 
 
 (5.) Men never gain anything by trying to drive a 
 hard bargain with God. A cheap religion is always a 
 cheat religion, (v. 10.) 
 
 (6.) God will always raise up a people to serve him. 
 If we do not, others will take our place, (v. 11.) 
 
 (7.) Men who neglect the Lord's table profane the 
 Lord's name, (v. 12.) 
 
 (8.) We may deceive ourselves, we can never deceive 
 God, (v. 13, 1-4.) 
 
 (9.) Ministers of religion have a fearful responsibility, 
 for they cannot sin or suffer alone. They drag others 
 down with them if they fall, and have a part of their 
 sins to bear. (2:1, 2.) 
 
 (10.) If men refuse to be taught by precept, they 
 must be taught by punishment, (v. 3, 4.) 
 
368 MALACHI. — CHAPTER II. 
 
 (11.) If we expect Grod to give us blessings, we must 
 give him obedience, (v. 5.) 
 
 (12.) A faithful ministry will usually be sealed by 
 the conversion of sinners, (v. 6, 7.) 
 
 (13.) Fearful will be the fate of an unfaithful minis- 
 ter, (v. 8, 9.) 
 
 Section III. — Chapter II : 10-16. 
 
 Mixed Marriages. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The way prepared for showing the sin for mixed marriages, 
 by exhibiting the paternal relation of God to Israel, and the bro- 
 therhood thus created. This makes any mutual wrong very hei- 
 nous, (v. 10.) 
 
 II. The wrong specified, namely, marriages with the heathen, 
 such as the Mosaic law forbade, (v. 11.) 
 
 III. The punishment threatened against the man who thus 
 oflfends, (v. 12.) 
 
 IV. A second crime, namely, unfaithfulness to the wives they 
 already had, and the sorrow thus caused to these wives, (v. 13.) 
 
 V. The aggravations of that crime, (v. 14.) 
 
 VI. The heinousness of the crime arising from the fact that it 
 contravened the whole object of the Mosaic dispensation, (v. 15.) 
 
 VII. The warning to abandon this sin, (v. 16.) 
 
 The prophet now turns to reprove the sin of mixed 
 marriages, which we learn from Nehemiah was one of 
 the crying sins of the Jews at this time. The greatness 
 of the sin arose from the fact that it tended to defeat 
 one of the purposes of the Mosaic economy. God iso- 
 
MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 359 
 
 10. Have we not all one father ? liath his brother, by profaning the covenant 
 not one God created us? why do we of our fathers? 
 deal treacherously every man against 
 
 lated the Jews from all otlicr nations, that they might be 
 a nursery for the great ideas of religion that were to be 
 elaborated in the history of the world, and a stock from 
 which he would bring forth the Messiah. All mingling 
 with other nations who had not been trained in this 
 way and preserved for this purpose, tended to defeat 
 this design. Especially was this true of matrimonial 
 alliances. Heathen women retained a natural longing 
 for the indulgences of their own religion, and easily led 
 their husbands into guilty compliances. The women of 
 Moab and Philistia, and the wives of Solomon, furnish 
 mournful proofs of this fact. They led their infatuated 
 husbands and paramours into the grossest idolatry. 
 Hence these connexions were grievous sins against God ; 
 but as they led to cruel treatment of the Jewish wives, 
 they were also sins against humanity. The prophet 
 strikes at once at the heart of the sin, and shows that 
 it is want of fidelity to God that lies at the root of it 
 all. Whoever violates the theocratic law, rebels against 
 God who made it. They, therefore, who chose heathen 
 wives, thereby rejected the God of Israel. 
 
 V. 10. " Is there not one father to all of us ? Has not one God 
 created us ? Wherefore, then, do we act treacherously one toward 
 
 another, (lit. a man totoards his brother,) in profaning the ciivenant 
 of our fathers ?" 
 
 Y. 10 opens somewhat abruptly. The argument is 
 this : God has chosen us as his children, from all other 
 
360 MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 11. ^ Judah hath dealt treacherous- hath profaned the holiness of the Lord 
 ly, and an abomination is committed which he loved, and hath married the 
 in Israel and in Jerusalem ; for Judah daughter of a strange god. 
 
 nations, to preserve us a peculiar people for peculiar 
 purposes. To intermarry with heathen defeats these 
 purposes, and therefore is a sin against our Father God. 
 The fatherhood here spoken of is not that of the whole 
 human race, or the reasoning would be without force, 
 since he was in that sense the Father of the heathen as 
 well as of the Jewish woman. The word " create" does 
 not militate against this view, for it is used exactly as 
 in Isa. 43 : 1, " Thus saith the Lord that created thee, 
 Jacob," &c. 
 
 The Jewish people were a family of God, and to in- 
 troduce heathen members into it, without permission 
 from God, was to violate both the filial and the frater- 
 nal relations. 
 
 V. 11. "Judah acts treacherously, and wickedness is done in Is- 
 rael and in Jerusalem ; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Jeho- 
 vah, which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange 
 god." 
 
 Y. 11 specifies the crime by which this filial relation 
 had been violated, viz., marrying the daughter of a 
 strange god, or, in other words, the worshippers of 
 strange gods. The filial relation is used in Scripture to 
 express the relation between worshipper and worship- 
 ped. (See Jeremiah 2 : 27, " Saying to a stock, Thou 
 art my father," &c.) 
 
 V. 12. " Jehovah Avill cut off the man who did this, the watcher 
 and the answerer, from the tabernacles of Jacob, and him pre- 
 senting an offering to Jehovah of hosts." 
 
MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 3C1 
 
 12. Tlie Ix)r(l will cut off the man 13. And this have yo done again, 
 
 that doeth this, the master and the covering the altar of the Lord with 
 scholar, out of the tabernacles of Ja- tears, with weeping and with crying 
 cob, and him that offereth an offering out, insomuch that horegardcthnot the 
 unto the Lord of hosts. offering any more, or receiveth il with 
 
 good will at your hand. 
 
 y. 12 declares that however lofty or sacred be the 
 position of the offender, he shall surely be punished. 
 The proverbial phrase njyi ^5, Gesenius renders " the 
 waking and the answering," supposing that it refers 
 to the watch of the Levites in the temple, when 
 one kept awake and called, and the other answered. 
 The Arabs have a similar proverbial expression, " No 
 caller and no answerer." The meaning is, whatever or 
 whoever he may be ; being an idiomatic phrase for uni- 
 versality, like our English one " root and branch." 
 
 V. 13. " And this in the second place liave ye done. Ye have 
 covered with tears the altar of Jehovah, with weeping and cry- 
 ing, so that there is no seeing of your offering, or accepting fa- 
 vourably from your hands." 
 
 V. 13 turns to the human aspect of this sin, and 
 shows the cruelty that it involved to the Jewish wives. 
 By a bold and beautiful figure he represents the guilty 
 husbands as covering the altars of God with the tears 
 and cries of their injured wives, so that the offering on 
 the altar cannot be seen by God. The mute supplica- 
 tion of a sacrifice may rise to invoke a blessing on the 
 offerer ; but above it, and rising first to heaven, is the 
 language of injured innocence that calls down a curse on 
 the man who has wronged the helpless and confiding 
 wife of his youth. 
 23 
 
362 MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 14 ^ Yet ye say, Wherefore? Be- against whom thou hast dealt treaoh- 
 cause the Lord hath been witness be- erously ; yet»'sshe thy companion, and 
 tween thee and tlie wife of thy youth, the wife of thy covenant. 
 
 Henderson takes the numeral here as an adverb of 
 time, and understands the prophet to charge them with 
 committing this offence a second time, i. e., once before 
 under Ezra, and now under Nehemiah. 
 
 V. 14. " And ye say, Wherefore, Because Jehovah is the witness 
 between you and the wife of your youth, toward whom you have 
 acted treacherously, and she your companion and the wife of your 
 covenant." 
 
 V. 14 opens with a query from the people, Wherefore 
 God thus refused to receive their offerings ? The answer 
 is, Because he was a witness to the nuptial contract. 
 Marriage is a religious act, having all the solemnity of 
 an oath ; and God is called to witness this compact, and 
 therefore to punish any violations of its terms. This 
 was true, in an especial sense, with the theocratic 
 people, for reasons already suggested. The phrase 
 " wife of your covenant'' alludes to the fact that the 
 wife was a daughter of Israel, the covenant people ; and 
 therefore a sin against her, in this respect, was a sin 
 against God. The phrases " wife of your youth" and 
 "companion" are thrown in to show the aggravated 
 nature of this offence. " She whom you thus wronged 
 was the companion of those earlier and brighter days, 
 when in the bloom of her young beauty she left her 
 father's house and shared your early struggles, and re- 
 joiced in your later success ; who walked arm in arm 
 with you along the pilgrimage of life, cheering you in 
 
MALA CHI. CHAPTER II. 363 
 
 15 And did not he make one? Yet a godly seed. Therefore take heed to 
 had he the residue of the Spirit. And your spirit, and let none deal treachcr- 
 wherefore one? That he might seek ously against the wife of his j'outh. 
 
 its trials by her gentle ministry ; and now, when the 
 bloom of her youth has faded and the friends of her 
 youth have gone, when father and mother whom she 
 left for you are in the grave, then you cruelly cast her* 
 off as a worn-out, worthless thing, and insult her holiest 
 affections by putting an idolater and a heathen in her 
 place."' There is something very touching in these allu- 
 sions to the aggravations of this wrong, arising from the 
 tender associations and memories of youth. 
 
 V. 15. "And did lie not make (us) one ? And the remainder of 
 the Spirit ^vas with him. And Avherefore (did he this isolate us 
 as) one (people ? Because he was thus) seeking a seed of God. 
 Take heed then to your spirits, and do not act treacherously to the 
 
 wife of your youth." 
 
 V. 15 is one of some difficulty, and has been singu- 
 larly misunderstood by the commentators. Most of the 
 continental interpreters, including Rosenmiiller, Maurer, 
 and Hengstenberg, follow Kimchi, and interpret it as 
 referring to Abraham, and stating an objection of the 
 Jews, thus making t^? a nominative. "Did not one 
 (viz., Abraham) do so ?" i. e., take a heathen Hagar to 
 wife ? The prophet replies Yes ; but it was to raise up 
 a godly seed. This interpretation is so unnatural that 
 it is amazing that it should have been so generally 
 adopted. It is liable to insuperable objections. First, 
 there is no reason for supposing an allusion to Abraham 
 here. He is never called by the name of "the one,"^ 
 
364 MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 nor was his conduct a j^arallel at all to that reproved. 
 The crime reproved here was putting away their cove- 
 nant wives and taking heathen wives. But Abraham 
 did not put Sarah away when he took Hagar ; and he 
 took her also at Sarah's request, and not as the Jews 
 then did, in utter disregard of the wishes of their wives. 
 Hence the cases are wholly dissimilar. Secondly, this 
 interpretation gives no sufficient sense to the words 
 ib m-1 ^sffi>. The tame rendering " to him there was a 
 remnant of intelligence" of Maurer, shows how utterly 
 unmeaning they are on this interpretation. The idea 
 of " remainder" cannot be made to cohere with this 
 view of the words. The same thing is true of the idea 
 of one-ness that is made so prominent. Thirdly, in 
 every other case an objection by the people is intro- 
 duced by the formula, " ye say," the omission of which 
 here is fatal to this view. Hence we are constrained to 
 reject this interpretation. 
 
 Others, with Calvin, Henderson, and most of the 
 English interpreters, refer the words to Adam and Eve. 
 But the case of Adam and Eve does not touch the one 
 before us. It would be pertinent if the sin reproved 
 were polygamy, but not at all so when it is the putting 
 away of a covenant, i. e., a Jewish wife, and taking a 
 heathen in her place. This also, hke the preceding in- 
 terpretation, gives no force to the oyze-ness insisted on 
 in the verse as bearing on the question, and which fur- 
 nishes the key to the passage. The cases of Adam and 
 Abraham have nothing that meet the logical demands 
 
M A L A C n I . CHAPTER II. 365 
 
 of the verse. The true view of the passage seems to 
 be somethmg like this : The prophet at the outset (v. 10) 
 had argued the oneness of the Jewish people from the 
 fact that they had one father. Tliey were therefore one, 
 and these mixed marriages that violated this oneness were 
 wrong. This wrong became more apparent when the 
 reason for this oneness is regarded. Having then shown 
 that the Jews were breaking this arrangement and in- 
 flicting cruel injustice on their covenant wives, he asks 
 again, as he did at the outset, " Did not God make us one ? 
 Did he not separate us from other nations into an isolated 
 unity ? Yet this was not done because the blessing was 
 too narrow to be spread over other nations, or because 
 infinite fulness was exhausted ; for the residue of the 
 Spirit was with him. There remained an inexhaustible 
 fulness of spiritual blessing that might have been given 
 to other nations. Wh}^ then did he choose but one ? It 
 was that he might make a seed of God, a nation which 
 he should train to be the repository of his covenant and 
 the stock of his Messiah, a people in which the true 
 doctrine of the unity of God should be cherished amid 
 surrounding polytheism and idolatry, until the fulness 
 of time should come. Now to introduce this very 
 polytheism and idolatry into the chosen people, and to 
 reject the wives who were protected by the covenant, was 
 to break up this oneness, and do that which if persisted 
 in would amalgamate the Jewish people with the other 
 nations of the earth." Such we consider to be the 
 argument of the prophet ; and its obvious consistency 
 
366 MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 16 For the Lord, the God of Israel, merit, saith the Lord of hosts : there- 
 sftith, that hehateth puttmg away : for fore take heed to your spirit, that ye 
 one covereth violence with his gar- deal not treacherously. 
 
 and force, its development of the significance of the 
 words "one," ''remainder," and "seed of God," 
 that are the pregnant words of the sentence, demon- 
 strate it on presentation to be the true view of the 
 passage. It gives its full force to the idea of one- 
 ness, and presents an argument of great force against 
 these unlawful marriages. This view of the passage is 
 presented by the Rev. P. Fairbairn, of Saltoun, Scotland, 
 in an essay in the Christiaii Treasury for 1847, Edin- 
 burgh, p. 187. 
 
 V. 16. " For he hates putting' away, saith Jehovah the God of 
 Israel ; and the one who covers his garment with iniquity, saith 
 Jehovah of hosts. Take heed then to your spirits, and do not act 
 treacherously." 
 
 The words f^5?5 ^ip~'^^ are rendered by the Septuagint, 
 Vulgate, and Luther's translation, "if he hate her, let 
 him put her away." But as it is a quasi putting away 
 that is condemned, a permission to do so in such a con- 
 nexion would seem to be incongruous. The ordinary 
 sense of ''? is "for," and not "if," as this view de- 
 mands ; and the absence of pronominal suffixes and the 
 form of the second verb are inconsistent with this view. 
 The form would be nbm'^ the Pret. Kal, instead of the 
 Piel Inf. construct as we find it, in which conjugation it 
 has the sense of divorcing. (See Gesenius, s. v.) Hence 
 it is better, with most modern interpreters, to take 
 Jehovah as the subject of the first verb, and render it, 
 
MALACni. — CHAPTER II. 367 
 
 " for he (Jehovah) hates [such) putting away," viz., as 
 has just been described. This is given as the reason for 
 the warning to " take heed and not act treacherously to 
 the wife of your youth." The change of persons from 
 the third to the first is not at all uncommon. (See 
 Zech. 14 : 2, 3.) Henderson changes the pointing so 
 as to make the verb " hates" an active participle, with 
 the pronoun " I" understood. But he gives no authority 
 for it. 
 
 The words iia^^^b-b? o^pn nDji have been variously ren- 
 dered. A common rendering is, " who covers violence 
 with his garment," i. e., conceals it. The grammatical 
 objection to this is, that b? with this verb always desig- 
 nates the thing covered, and not the covering itself. (See 
 Deut. 13:8; Hab. 2 : 14. &c.) It may be rendered " who 
 covers his garment with violence." The word "gar- 
 ment" was used among the Hebrews to designate the 
 conjugal relation, (see Deut. 22 : 30 ; Ruth 3:9; Ezek. 
 16 : 8,) somewhat as the word "bed" is with us. It is, 
 also, so used in Arabic. Hence, to cover the garment 
 with violence, was to act in a violent and unjust manner 
 toward the conjugal relation, just as to be unfaithful to 
 the bed is with us to be unfaithful to the nuptial obli- 
 gations. This brings the phrase into exact harmony 
 with the rest of the section, and makes a fitting con- 
 clusion to this solemn rebuke. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) The great doctrine that underlies this section is, 
 that God has a people in the world bound to him by 
 
368 MALACHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 special relations, and, by virtue of this fact, bound by 
 special relations to one another. The violation of these 
 relations to each other is therefore a violation of their 
 relations to him. The Christian Church is still such a 
 people, and although its relations to the world, are very 
 different from those of the Jewish people, this law of 
 mutual obligation is still in force. The Church is one 
 family, and is bound to act thus in all the dealings of its 
 members with each other. And even in the matter of 
 marriage, her members must not be unequally yoked, 
 but have reference to their Christian obligations in 
 forming this relation, and marry in the Lord, i. e., in ac- 
 cordance with the obligations that bind them to the 
 Lord. The neglect of this principle has caused incal- 
 culable wretchedness and apostasy in the past, and con- 
 demned many a heart either to life-long sorrow, by 
 the sin of a partner in life, or worse still, to a fellow- 
 ship with that sin, and its consequent condemnation, 
 (v. 10.) 
 
 (2.) God has a special regard for all that is specially 
 devoted to him, (v. 11.) 
 
 (3.) No position shall exalt the sinner above the flood- 
 mark of God's wrath, or cover him from his lightnings, 
 (v. 12.) 
 
 (4.) The cries of those whom men have injured will 
 
 be louder in the ears of God than the prayers of the 
 
 injurer, and the tears of the helpless oppressed will hide 
 
 the costliest offerings of their oppressors, (v. 13.) 
 
 (5.) God is the witness to every marriage ceremony, 
 
MALACIII. — CHAPTER II. 369 
 
 and will be the witness to ever}^ violation of its vows, 
 (v. 14.) 
 
 (6.) The object of the family relation is to train souls 
 for eternity, and raise a seed for God, (v. 15.) 
 
 (7.) Sin is that abominable thing which God hates, 
 (v. 16.) 
 
 Section IV. Chapter 2 : 17 — 3 : 6. 
 
 The Coming of Christ and the Forerunner. 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. The laying bare of a sceptical state of mind, which whilst it 
 cherished the hope that Messiah would come and rectify all things, 
 yet wholly mistook the purposes of that coming for the same reason 
 that it doubted the providence of God in the affairs of the present, 
 
 (v. n.) 
 
 II. Announcement of the Messiah, who was expected, indeed 
 longed for, to correct all existing anomalies in the condition of the 
 covenant people, (v. 1.) 
 
 III. This coming, however, would be very different in its results 
 from the expectations then had in regard to it. He would come 
 to purify and punish, and not to give prosperity to a disobedient 
 people, (v. 2.) This process would especially go forward in regard 
 to the priests, (v. 3.) When the process should be completed, then 
 the favor of God would be restored to the people, and not until 
 then, (v. 4.) 
 
 IV. As to the present generation, if they persisted in sin, God 
 would certainly'- punish them, in spite of the hopes of impunity 
 which they cherished because of his past forbearance, (v. 5.) 
 This impunity was not because they had not deserved to be de- 
 stroyed, but because of God's unchangeable love, and his remem- 
 bering the covenant made with tlieir fathers, (v. 6.) 
 
 Chap. 2 : 17 . "Ye weary Jehovah with your words. And ye 
 say, ' Wherein do wc weary him V In your saying, ' Every one 
 
370 MALA CHI. CHAPTER II. 
 
 17 ^ Ye have weaned the Lord with one that doeth evil is good in the sight 
 your words. Yet ye say. Wherein have of the Lord, and he delighteth in them ; 
 we wearied him ? When ye say, Every or, Where is tlie God of judgment ? 
 
 who does evil is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and in them he de- 
 lights ;' or, ' Where is the God of judgment ?' " 
 
 Here opens another count in this solemn indictment, 
 the charge of an Epicurean scepticism, or a denial of 
 the providence of God in human affairs, so far, at least, 
 as their own condition was concerned. 
 
 There is no attribute of God more wonderful than his 
 long-suffering. It has borne with a sinful world for six 
 thousand years, with unwearied patience, and is even 
 now waiting to be gracious. Hence when we read, as 
 we do in this verse, that this attribute is exhausted, we 
 infer that the wickedness which possessed such power 
 as this, must have been very flagrant. What then is 
 this enormity ? Not murder, or lust, or any of the most 
 atrocious crimes of the human standard of guilt, but the 
 abuse of the long-suffering itself as an indication that 
 God was indifferent to sin. To pervert this very kind- 
 ness into a pretext for so blasphemous a thought ex- 
 hausted the kindness itself, and extorted from the pro- 
 phet the indignant accusation, "Ye weary Jehovah 
 with your words." The extent of their depravity is 
 evinced by the mode in which this charge was met. It 
 was not met with penitent regret, or even silence, but 
 with the insolent challenge, "Wherein do we weary 
 him ?" What have we done so much worse than others 
 that God charges us with w^earying him ? The prophet 
 replies, that it was in saying that either God loved evil- 
 
MALACHI. CHAPTER II, 371 
 
 and the references to it in the New ? An answer to 
 doers, or there was no directing hand of a rigiiteous 
 God in the affairs of men. 
 
 The cause of this ungodly challenging of Divine Pro- 
 vidence lay in the existing circumstances of the Jews. 
 After they returned from the captivity, they continued, 
 in spite of the efforts of Haggai and Zechariah, to neg- 
 lect the more important duties of religion, while they 
 discharged other lesser ones with superstitious punctili- 
 ousness. Because of the discharge of these minor 
 duties, they conceived God as laid under obligation to 
 prosper them. But because of the neglect of the higher 
 duties God did not prosper them, even as much as sur- 
 rounding heathen nations were prospered. Instead, 
 however, of inferring that their peculiar privileges above 
 the heathen brought after them peculiar guilt in the 
 neglect of these privileges, and demanded peculiar pun- 
 ishment, they looked only at the few points of their obe- 
 dience, and inferred that they were unjustly dealt with 
 in not being rewarded for them. They therefore came 
 to the monstrous conclusion, that either God loved and 
 rewarded the evil-doer, like the surrounding heathen ; 
 or if not, " Where is the God of judgment"? Where 
 is the proof that there is any directing hand of God in 
 human affairs ? Either there is no providence, or it 
 favors the wicked. Hence they longed for the coming 
 of that Messiah whom the prophets had promised, and 
 whose coming was to bless the chosen people ; suppos- 
 ing that when he came all these apparent anomalies 
 would be rectified, and prosperity return to Israel. 
 
372 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 These delusions are corrected in the remainder of the 
 section, when it is shown that this Messiah shall come ; 
 but his coming, so far from bestowing reward upon 
 them in their sins, would only hasten their punishment, 
 and bring about that final rejection which should scat- 
 ter them, like autumn leaves, all over the earth. The 
 state of mind, therefore, which the prophet addresses, 
 is not that of scepticism as to the ultimate coming of 
 Messiah, as interpreters generally assume ; but false 
 views as to the purpose and result of that coming. This 
 is proved by chap. 2:1, where they arc said to be 
 "seeking" him, and "longing" for his advent, not 
 doubting it. It was not doubt about his coming, but 
 delusion that he would correct. " He shall come as you 
 expect, but not with the results that you expect." 
 Such is so clearly the drift of the passage that it is sur- 
 prising that the other view should have obtained such 
 universal prevalence. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Chap. 3 : 1. "Behold, I send my Messenger, and he shall pre- 
 pare a way before me, and suddenly there shall come to his tem- 
 ple the Lord, whom ye are seeking, and the Messenger of the 
 covenant for whom ye are longing. Behold he shall come, saith 
 Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 Chap. 3:1. In regard to this important verse seve- 
 ral questions arise. Who is the Messenger sent to pre- 
 pare the way ? Who is the Lord ? Who is the Messen- 
 ger of the covenant ? And what is the connection of this 
 passage with previous prophecies in the Old Testament^ 
 
MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 373 
 
 1 Behold, I will scud my messenger, the messenger of the covenant whom 
 
 and he shall prepare the way before ye delight in : behold, he shall come, 
 
 me : and the Lord, whom ye seek, salth the Lord of hosts. 
 shall suddenly come to his temple, even 
 
 the last question will aid us greatly in reaching an an- 
 swer to the others, and therefore we address ourselves 
 first to its consideration. 
 
 This passage is evidently founded on Isaiah 40 : 3 — 5: 
 " The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Pre- 
 pare ye the way of the Lord," &c. This was probably 
 a favorite passage with the Jewish people at this time, 
 from which they drew their hopes of a Messiah, who 
 should rectify all their anomalies and grant them a sig- 
 nal prosperity. Hence they looked anxiously for the 
 promised forerunner who would herald his coming. 
 Malachi assures them that this prophecy would be ful- 
 filled — the forerunner and the Lord would both surely 
 come as they were predicted. The voice was to cry 
 from a wilderness, not in a literal sense so much as a 
 figurative. The condition of the chosen people would 
 be that of a wilderness — one of desolation and ruin. 
 Now when that desolation was darkest and wildest the 
 voice of summons should be heard calling upon them 
 to prepare for the coming of the Lord. This voice is 
 applied expressly to John the Baptist in Matthew 3:3; 
 Mark 1:3; Luke 1 : 76 ; 3:4; and John 1 : 23. 
 But the question arises, Is John alone referred to by 
 this voice? Hengstenberg, Olshausen, and other ex- 
 positors of note, say that he is not the only one referred 
 to, but only the last one of a series. This is inferred 
 
374 MALACHI. — CHAPTER III. 
 
 from the use of the pkiral " our Grod," and from the fact 
 that this preparation was really the work of all the pro- 
 phets who prophesied until John, and not of John alone. 
 The cry was the same, but it was taken from lip to lip 
 along the whole line of prophets, until the last and 
 greatest of them could say, "Behold the Lamb of God !" 
 
 In the citation of this prophecy in Mark 1 : 3, it is 
 preceded by that of Malachi 3:1; and there is a diffi- 
 culty in the quotation that does not meet the eye of the 
 English reader. The received text reads "as it is writ- 
 ten in the prophets," which, as the quotations are from 
 both Malachi and Isaiah, presents no difficulty. But 
 the true reading is admitted to be "as it is written in 
 Isaiah the prophet," and hence the question arises, How 
 can the passage from Malachi be referred to Isaiah? 
 Hengstenberg explains it by the fact that the passage in 
 Malachi rested on that in Isaiah, and hence the original 
 was quoted, as it was the greater, as well as the older 
 prophecy, to indicate this connection. This is very 
 ingenious, though Olshausen (on Matt. 3 : 3) remarks, 
 that it seems forced. The fact is, that as the minor 
 prophets were regarded as but one book, they were 
 rarely quoted by name, and where they were cited with 
 one of the major prophets, the name of the latter was 
 naturally given, especially as in this case, when the 
 other evangelists had cited the major prophet by name. 
 The omission, therefore, of the name of Malachi, is un- 
 important. 
 
 It is then plain from this brief reference to the rela- 
 
MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 375 
 
 tions of this text to Isaiah and the Gospels, that "the 
 messenger " here predicted was John the Baptist. 
 Mark quotes it with several verbal alterations to adapt 
 it to his purpose in the use he makes of it. Christ 
 expressly refers it to John the Baptist in Matthew 1 1 : 
 10, and Luke 7 : 27. Hence there can be no doubt in 
 the mind of any believer in the claims of Christ, as to 
 the proper reference of this text to John the Baptist. 
 The only question is, whether it refers to him exclu^ 
 sively. Hengstenberg and others say here also, that it 
 does not. Their reasons are, (1) the connection with. 
 Isaiah 40 : 3, where not an individual but a series is 
 meant; (2) the word "behold," intimating a nearer 
 connexion with the time of the prophet than the age of 
 John ; (3) the connection of this passage with chap. 4 : 
 5, that predicts the coming of Elijah, which, as we shall 
 see, is the strongest reason of the three. By this inter- 
 pretation the word " messenger " is applied to that long 
 series that ended in John, to all of whom this prepara- 
 tory work was assigned. The prophecy was really ful- 
 filled in John, though not exhausted by him, but pos- 
 sessing a continuous fulfilment all along the history of 
 the past. The work of John was too narrow to meet 
 the sweep of the predictions of this prophecy. Hence, 
 when he appeared in the wilderness, fasting, and 
 clothed in the wild garb of the old prophets, he appeared 
 rather as a s3anbol to gather in his own case all the 
 scattered delineations of prophecy, and explain their 
 meaning and apphcation, than as himself the end and 
 
376 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 object of these prophecies. His appearance was not so 
 much a mere fulfilment of prophecy, as a reexistence of 
 all its awful and glorious voices, couched under obvious 
 symbols. The Jewish people were in a state of desola- 
 tion, all the bloom of their civil and spiritual life with- 
 ered, and their hearts as hard as the parched wilder- 
 ness. Hence, when John took up his abode in the 
 wilderness, he presented to the people a vast and silent 
 symbol of their condition. He came, clothed in a garb 
 of penitence, like the older prophets, and eating a diet 
 of penitence, to present a symbol of the great duty of 
 the people, repentance. He then proclaimed the near 
 approach of the Messiah, thus gathering up the three 
 great topics of prophecy, sin, repentance, and salvation, 
 and presenting them for the last time before the coming 
 of the expected One. His ministry was therefore a 
 symbolical epitome of all that had gone before, in the 
 prophetic teachings of God to the Church ; and hence 
 he was, as the last representative of this long line of 
 embassadors from God, pre-eminently the messenger. 
 
 Who then is meant by "the Lord"l^t»jn? We 
 reply, God ; because f^!* with the article always has 
 this meaning. See Exod. 23 : 17 ; 34 : 23 ; Isai. 1 : 
 24 ; 3 : 1 ; 10 : 16, 33, &c. In Dan. 9 : 17, it seems to 
 mean the Son, where the prophet prays to God to 
 grant his request, for the Lord's sake. The fact that 
 God is the speaker proves the same thing ; for after 
 declaring the way shall be prepared "before we," he 
 
MALA CHI. CHAPTER III. 377 
 
 adds that the Lord should coiiio, thus identifying the 
 Lord with himself. 
 
 There is now but little dilliculty in determining who 
 is meant by the "messenger of the covenant." The 
 authority of the New Testament settles it to be the Mes- 
 siah, Jesus Christ. The "covenant" here does not 
 mean any specific outward transaction between God and 
 the Jews, but that deeper inward relation which he has 
 to the whole Church, involving, as it does, the great 
 purpose and plan of redemption, of which Christ was 
 the executive agent. In distinction from this national 
 covenant, Christ is called " the Mediator of the new 
 covenant," Heb. 12 : 24 ; in allusion to such passages 
 as this one, Jer. 31 : 31, <fec. He is called the "mes- 
 senger" or "angel" of the covenant, in allusion to 
 Exod. 23 : 20 ; where the Jehovah Angel is promised 
 as the guide of the people. This angel is thus identi- 
 fied with the Shekinah, that went before the tribes, 
 dwelt in the tabernacle, and afterward in the temple, 
 through which all the manifestations in the Old Testa- 
 ment were made. This text, compared with Mark 1:2, 
 identifies this angel with Christ, proving thus, that all 
 the theophanies of the Old Testament were through the 
 Son, who became flesh, and dwelt among us. Those 
 who wish to pursue this interesting theme more full}', 
 will find it very ably discussed in the Lectures on 
 Divinihj, by Principal Hill, of St. Andrews. (Book iii. 
 chap. V. sec. 1 — 3.) The bearing of this point on the 
 Socinian controversy is obviously very important, for if 
 24 
 
378 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. • . 
 
 this is established, it follows irresistibly that Christ is 
 God. 
 
 The words " for whom ye are longing," show clearly 
 that the state of mind existing then was delusion and 
 not doubt, as is commonly stated. They longed for 
 Messiah to bring those temporal blessings which Jeho- 
 vah had not bestowed on them yet, and the prophet 
 corrects their error as to the purpose of his coming. 
 To assume, as the expositors do, that only the pious 
 portion of the people thus longed for him, is perfectly 
 unauthorized and arbitrary, for the very persons long- 
 ing thus, are those reproved for sin, and threatened 
 with his coming. The temple here is not necessarily to 
 be limited to the literal temple, any more than the wil- 
 derness in which the other messenger was to appear. 
 The theocratic people, the Church, is sometimes called 
 the temple of the Lord. (See Jer. 7:4; and espe- 
 cially Zech. 6 : 12, 13, 15, which is exactly parallel to 
 this passage.) The Church is frequently so called in 
 the New Testament. (See 2 Cor. 6:16; 2 Thess. 2 : 
 4 ; Rev. 3:12, &c.) The literal temple was only a 
 symbol of this spiritual temple, built on the foundation 
 of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the 
 chief corner-stone. 
 
 V. 2. " And who shall endure the day of his coming ? And who 
 shall stand in his appearing ? For he shall be as a refiner's fire, 
 and as a fuller's soap." 
 
 V. 2. "The day of his coming," and his "appear- 
 ing," are not to be limited to the first advent of Mes- 
 
MALACHI. — CHAPTER III. 379 
 
 2 But who may abide the day of his 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and 
 coming? and who shall stand when he purifier of silver ; and he shall purify 
 appearcth ? for he is like a refiner's the sons of Levi, and purge them aa 
 fire, and like fullers' soap. gold and silver, that they may offer unto 
 
 the LoKD an offering in righteousness. 
 
 siah, but to bis entire work, including tbe wbole dis- 
 pensation tbat sball end witb tbe judgment. Tbe 
 " day of bis coming-' is parallel to '*tbe day of tbe 
 Lord" mentioned so frequently in tbe propbets, (see 
 Amos 5 : 18 ; Joel 2 : 11, &c.,) and afterward called 
 "tbe great and dreadful day of tbe Lord," in cbap. 4 : 
 5, wbere it is obviously identical witb tbe day spoken 
 of bere. Tbis is furtber proved by tbe allusions to tbis 
 text in tbe New Testament, e. g., Luke 21 : 34, 36 ; 
 Epb. 6 : 13 ; and Rev. 6 : 16, IT, wbere tbis " standing " 
 at bis appearing is referred to a period yet future. Tbe 
 mission of Cbrist is regarded as a wbole, from tbe man- 
 ger of Betblebem to tbe tbrone of judgment, and de- 
 clared to be for tbe fall as well as for tbe rising of many 
 in Israel, a work that sbould separate tbe pure from tbe 
 impure, just as tbe refiner's fire and tbe fuller's wasbing 
 lye, or potasb. Tbis process began during tbe life of 
 our Lord on eartb ; it bas been going on ever since ; and 
 will continue until tbe final separation, of wbicb we 
 bave so solemn a description from tbe lips of Cbrist 
 bimself in Matt. 25 : 31—46. 
 
 V. 3. " And he shall sit, refiniiif^ and purifying the silver, and 
 shall purify the sons of Levi, and refine them, as gold and as sil- 
 ver, and they shall be Jehovah's, oflFering' sacrifice in righteous- 
 ness." 
 
380 MALACni. CHAPTER ITI. 
 
 4 Then sliall the offering of Judah Lord, as in the days of old, and as in 
 and Jerusalem be pleasant vnito the former years. 
 
 V. 3 takes up the metaphor of v. 2, and, slightly 
 altering it, gives it more distinctness, and presents us 
 with an image of exquisite beauty. When the ore is 
 cast into the glowing crucible, it seems as if it were to 
 be destroyed, and could it reason, it would, like Chris- 
 tians when put into the furnace of affliction, infer that 
 the result and design must be destruction. But when 
 the process is ended, that which went in cold, sordid, 
 and impure, comes forth bright, glowing, and unalloyed. 
 And the refiner is beautifully represented as coming 
 and sitting down beside tlie crucible, that the fire may 
 not be too hot, or the process left incomplete. He 
 bends in patient love over the furnace, until, (in the 
 rule given to the Manchester ladies, who sought an illus- 
 tration of this text in a refiner's shop,) when he looks 
 down on the liquid metal, he can see his own image 
 perfectly reflected there ; then the process is completed, 
 and the fire removed. The Old Testament images of 
 "sons of Levi," "sacrifice," &c., are here used to express 
 New Testament facts with obvious propriety. niji^b 
 means belonging to the Lord, including their own joyful 
 acknowledgment of this fact. 
 
 V. 4. " And grateful to Jehovah shall be the sacrificial offering 
 of Judah and Jerusalem, as in the days of old, and as in the 
 years of the past." 
 
 V. 4 declares the result of this process, that the of- 
 ferings of the people shall be grateful to God. These 
 sacrifices are of course eucharistic, and not expiatory, 
 such as are mentioned in Rom. 12 : 1 ; 1 Peter, 2:5, &c. 
 
M A L A C II I . CHAPTER III. 381 
 
 5 And I will come near to you to {idultercrs, and against false swearers, 
 judgment ; and I will be a swift witness and against tboso that oppress the hirc- 
 against the sorcerers, and against the ling in his wages, the widow, and the 
 
 V. 5. " And I draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a 
 swift witness against the sorcerers, and the adulterers, and those 
 Avho swear to a falsehood, and those who defraud the hireling of 
 his wages, and the widow, and the orphan, and those who oppress 
 the stranger, and who fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 Y. 5 refers to the godless cavil of chap. 2 : 17, " Where 
 is the God of judgment?" as if he was totally removed 
 from all notice of human affairs. God says that he is near 
 to them for judgment, and a swift witness against their 
 crimes, committed against their helpless wives and de- 
 pendents. He may seem not to notice sin, and to de- 
 lay its punishment, but all the time his sleepless eye is 
 noting the sinner, and his thunder but grows hotter the 
 longer it sleeps. While these impious cavillers were in- 
 ferring that God did not hate sin, because he did not 
 punish others, they would suddenly receive a proof of 
 his justice in his punishing themselves. The first three 
 crimes were against their wives ; sorcer}^ was connected 
 with the idolatrous worship to which their heathen wives 
 allured them, and was a common practice among the 
 later Jews, as appears from Acts 8 : 9 ; 13 : 6 ; and 
 also from Josephus (Arch. 20 : 6 ; B. Jud. 2 : 12, 23,) 
 quoted by Hengstenberg. The other crimes were 
 against the unprotected, of whom God touchingly rep- 
 resents himself as the protector and avenger. Oppres- 
 sion of the helpless is defiance of God. The root of 
 their crimes is traced in the fact that they do not fear 
 God — a crime whose folly seems even greater, if pos- 
 sible, than its wickedness. ^ ,' ^ , ^1 ' , .' 'V L jJotfCyOJ 
 
382 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 fatherless, and that turn aside the 6 For I am the Lord, I change not ; 
 stranger /rom his rigid, and fear not me, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not con- 
 saith the Lord of hosts. sumed. 
 
 V. 6. " For I am Jehovah, I change not, and you (therefore) sons 
 of Jacob are not consumed." 
 
 V. 6. The exact force of "^^ in this verse is somewhat 
 obscure. It must be taken as a causal particle, intro- 
 ducing a reason for, or an inference from what pre- 
 cedes. The connection is probably as follows : — In view 
 of this prevalent wickedness, there were two conclusions 
 that might be drawn. First, that of the sceptic — that 
 God had ceased to punish sin, since the sinning people 
 still continued to exist ; and secondly, that of the timid 
 believer — that with so much sin, Israel must be de- 
 stroyed. God replies that neither of these conclusions 
 is correct. "They are spared and not consumed, be- 
 cause I am Jehovah, the covenant God of their fathers, 
 and they, sons of Jacob, to whom I am bound by cove- 
 nant ; and while I spare them, I will also punish them, 
 and while I punish them, I will also preserve them from 
 total extinction !" The stress of the verse, then, is found 
 hi the meaning of the name Jehovah, which was the 
 covenant name of God to the Jews, as is clearly proved 
 by the remarkable — and on any other hypothesis, inex- 
 plicable — ^passage, Exod. 6:3; and is here used in an- 
 tithesis with Jacob, the covenanting head of the visible 
 theocracy. So when the Church grows cold, and there 
 shall be no faith on the earth, the hope of the Christian 
 must be founded, not on the visible tokens of either im- 
 punity or gathering doom, but on the unchanging love 
 
MALACHI. — CHAPTER III. 383 
 
 of God, who will not allow the gates of hell to prevail 
 against her. The immutability of God, then, is at once 
 the guarantee that his people shall be cast into the fur- 
 nace, and also that they shall not be consumed. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) One of the greatest sins we can commit, is to in- 
 fer that the inequality of human condition is a proof 
 that God is indifferent to human conduct. The inference 
 is unfair, on a sufficient^ extensive induction of facts, 
 if we know nothing of God, but most atrociously wicked, 
 even if more plausible, in view of what we actually 
 know of him as a righteous ruler, (2 : 17.) 
 
 (2.) We may look to Christ as God, and as such 
 trust in and worship him. There is one being called the 
 Angel of the Lord, Angel of the Presence, Angel of 
 the Covenant, &c., who appeared to Abraham in Mamre, 
 (Gen. 18 : 1, 2, 16; 19 : 1,) and who is there called 
 Jehovah ; who appeared to Jacob in Bethel, (Gen. 31 : 
 11 ; 48 : 15,) to Moses in the bush, (Ex. 3 : 2, 4, 6,) who 
 went before the camp in the Shekinah, (Ex. 14: 19,) 
 who delivered the law at Sinai (Acts 7 : 28,) who led 
 the people through the desert, (Isa. 63 : 7, 9,) who was 
 promised as the one who was to make the new cove- 
 nant, (Jer. 31 : 31,) and who is predicted by Malachi, 
 (3 : 1,) as to appear in the temple then existing. This 
 Messenger, we arc thus clearly taught, was Divine, for 
 he is called Jehovah. This Divine Messenger, Mark 
 
884 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 (1 : 1, 2) assures us, was Jesus Christ. Hence, Jesus 
 Christ is " God manifest in the flesh," "God over all, 
 blessed forever." (See also John 12 : 41, compared with 
 Isa. G: 10, and 1 Cor. 10: 9.) 
 
 (3.) It is not enough to desire the coming of Christ. 
 Many have longed for it to whom it was a fearful apo- 
 calypse of wrath, (3 : 1.) 
 
 (4.) The remedial dispensation of God's mercy in 
 Christ has two aspects — one of wrath, the other of love. 
 The Angel of the Covenant is the same that led the 
 people out from Egypt ; and like that cloud-girt pre- 
 sence of Jehovah, it has an aspect of terror to the 
 foes of God, while it has an aspect of love to his friends. 
 The gradual dispensation of the gospel is separating 
 the gold of the earth from its dross, in the mass of men, 
 and doing the same refining work in every Christian 
 heart. When the separating process is complete in the 
 one case, the world will end ; when in the other, the fire 
 will be put out in the furnace of afSiction, and the pu- 
 rified spirit brought out of the crucible, (v. 2.) 
 
 (5.) Afflictions are God's refinings. The purer the 
 gold, the hotter the fire ; the whiter the garment, the 
 harder the washing, (v. 3.) 
 
 (6.) Ministers who are to be eminently useful are 
 often eminently afflicted, (v. 3.) 
 
 (7.) The prayer that rises from the broken and con- 
 trite heart is often the sweetest offering to God. The 
 incense must be put on the burning coals before its fra- 
 grant smoke will ascend ; the sandal wood must be 
 
M A L A C II I . CHAPTER III. 385 
 
 crushed and bruised before it will give out its sweetest 
 odor, (v. 4.) 
 
 (8.) The helpless, who have no human protector, 
 have a mightier and surer one in God. He may allow 
 them to be oppressed for a time, but in the end will 
 visit swift and terrible judgment on their oppressors, 
 (v. 5.) 
 
 (9.) Let not the Christian heart grow timid in a time 
 of prevalent wickedness and unbelief, in the fear that 
 the ark of God may perish. The sons of Jacob shall 
 not be consumed — the seed of Christ shall not perish. 
 The unchangeableness of God is the sheet-anchor of the 
 Church. He wall be faithful to his Son, and to his word, 
 however disheartening external circumstances may ap- 
 pear to our wavering faith, (v. G.) 
 
 (10.) The perseverance of the saints is guaranteed, 
 not by their unchangeable love to God, but by his un- 
 changeable love to them, and his eternal purpose and 
 promise in Christ Jesus, (v. 7.) 
 
 Section V. Chapter 3 : 7 — 12. 
 
 Neglect of Tithes and Offerings. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 I. A general charge of disobedience and degeneracy, and a call 
 to reformation, (v. 1.) 
 
 II. The specific sin of neglecting tithes and ofierings adduced 
 in answer to the challenge of the people, (v. 8.) 
 
 III. A call to reformation in this particular, and a promise of 
 blessings in that event, (v. 9 — 12.) 
 
386 MALACHI. CHAPTER 111. 
 
 7 \\ Even from the days of your fa- you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye 
 
 thers ye have gone away from mine said, Wherein shall we return ? 
 
 ordinances, and have not kept them. 8 ^ Will a man rob God ? Yet ye 
 
 Return unto me, and I will return unto have robbed me. But ye say, Where- 
 
 V. t. " From tlie days of your fathers yc have departed from 
 my statutes, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will 
 return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. And y.e say, ' Wherein 
 shall we return ?' " 
 
 Y. 7. It is a principle in God's government that the 
 sins of the fathers should be visited upon the children, 
 in order that parental affection may be an additional 
 restraint against sin. Now, the Jews having begun 
 their wanderings after returning from captivity, at the 
 point where their fathers had left off, instead of re- 
 penting of and forsaking their sins, this law of heredi- 
 tary guilt was allowed to take its course. God, how- 
 ever, assures them that if they return to him in peni- 
 tence, he will return to them in prosperity. They then, 
 with the same stolid impenitence that they have all 
 along shown, ask wherein they were to return — as if 
 the accusation of departure was a calumny. 
 
 V. 8. " Will a man defraud God ? Because ye have defrauded 
 me. And ye say, ' AVherein have we defrauded thee ?' In tithes 
 and offerings." 
 
 V. 8 answers this insolent question with a burst of 
 indignant invective. What, when the cry of your in- 
 jured wives, the ruins of the holy city, and the neglected 
 altars of the temple, are all telling of your having with- 
 held from God his dues, do you ask wherein you must 
 return ? Will a man defraud God, and yet think that he 
 has nothing to repent of? The word s^I? having the radi- 
 
M A L A C H I . CHAPTER III. 387 
 
 in have we robbed thee ? In tithes and mine house, and prove me now hcre- 
 
 offerings. with, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will 
 
 9 Ye are cursed with a curse : for ye not open you the windows of heaven, 
 have robbed me, even this whole nation, and pour you out a blessing, that there 
 
 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the shall not te roo?« enough to reoeit'e i<. 
 storehouse, that there may be meat in 
 
 cal sense of covering or hiding, is properly to defraud, 
 rather than to rob. The force of ""^ seems to be as fol- 
 lows : ' ' Can you think that sacrilege is not a crime to 
 be repented of? Yet you have committed that crime, be- 
 cause ye have defrauded me. Again, the hardened in- 
 solence of the people rears its brow, and demands where- 
 in has this fraud been committed ? And God answers : 
 •' In tithes and offerings." 
 
 The tithes required by the Mosaic law were, first, a 
 tenth of all that remained after the first-fruits, (which 
 belonged to God and must be given to him,) which tenth 
 was God's, as the original proprietor of the soil, and was 
 paid to the Levites for their maintenance. (Lev. 27 : 
 30-32.) Secondly, from this tenth the Levites paid a 
 tenth to the priests. (Num. 18 : 26-28.) Thirdly, a se- 
 cond tenth was paid by the people for the entertainment 
 of the Levites and their own families at the tabernacle. 
 (Deut. 12 : 18.) Fourthly, another tithe was paid every 
 third year for the poor, widows, orphans, &c. (Deut. 14 : 
 28, 29.) The first three classes of tithes are specially 
 referred to here, as appears from the context, though 
 the fourth was also withheld, as we would infer from 
 chap. 3 : 5. "The offerings" are referred to in chap. 1 : 
 7-14. 
 
388 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 11 And I will rebuke the devonrer ther shall your vine cast her fruit be- 
 for your sakes, and he shall not de- fore the time in the field, saith the 
 slroy the fruits of your ground ; nei- Lord of hosts. 
 
 V. 9. "Ye are cursed with a curse ; for me have ye defrauded, 
 the whole nation {of you)." 
 
 Y. 9 states that, because of this defrauding of God, 
 the people were cursed, as akeady stated in chap. 2 : 2. 
 The position of "me" we regard as emphatic, designed 
 to intimate the enormity of the attempt to defraud 
 God. For the syntax of 1, which is here taken causally, 
 see Nordheimer, § 1093, 6, e. a. 
 
 V. 10. "Bring all the tithes into the house of the treasury, and 
 let there be food in my house, and prove me, I pray you, in this, 
 saith Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open to you the flood-gates 
 of heaven, and pour down upon you a blessing perpetually." 
 
 Y. 10 contains God's challenge : Be faithful to God, 
 and see whether he will be faithful to his promises. 
 "All the tithes :" (see under v. 8 what these were.) 
 The phrase '^v'^^f-i? has been variously rendered ; lite- 
 rally it means, " until a failure of sufficiency," and the 
 interpretation depends on the exact reference of suffi- 
 ciency. Our version understands sufficiency of room to 
 receive the blessing ; but it seems most natural to refer 
 it to the source of this sufficienc}^, viz., God. This 
 m.akes it precisely analogous to the corresponding pas- 
 sage where this idiom occurs, (Psa. 72: 5,) "Until a 
 failure of the moon," i. e., as long as the moon endures, 
 which was equivalent to saying perpetually : so here it 
 would be equivalent to, " as long as the sufficiency of 
 God endures ;" and as this sufficiency is infinite, it means 
 
MALACIII. CHAPTER III. 389 
 
 12 And all nations shall call you land, salth the Lord of hosts, 
 blessed : for ye shall be a deligiitsome 
 
 perpetually. We have preferred to translate the idiom 
 into its proper equivalent in our language. The rea- 
 soning is, that constant obedience will produce a con- 
 stant shower of blessino; : the exact meaning; of the 
 phrase hQing perpetuity of blessing rather than abun- 
 dance of blessing as it is commonl}^ rendered, a thought 
 which was sufficiently expressed by the words "pour 
 down" and "flood-gates of heaven."' It is, however, 
 proper to say, that most of the interpreters prefer the 
 other meaning, making "to the failure of sufficiency" 
 mean more than sufficient, which would be expressed 
 rather by the excess of sufficiency than by its failure. 
 
 V. 11. "And I will rebuke for you the dcvourcr, and it shall 
 not destroy for you the fruits of the ground, and it shall not blight 
 for you the vine in the field, saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 Y. 11. " The devourer" is not any specific kind of de- 
 stroyer, but any and every one, rational or irrational. 
 The allusion is the threat of chap. 2 : 3, which is here 
 specifically revoked, on condition of repentance and obe- 
 dience. 
 
 V. 12. "And all nations shall pronounce yon blessed, for yc 
 shall be a land of delight, saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 V. 12 promises a blessing in the same form in which 
 it is promised in Dent. 33 : 29 ; Zech. 8:13. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) As men love their children, let them avoid that 
 sin that will be to them a legacy of sorrow, (v. 7.) 
 
390 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 (2.) We must come back to God if we would have 
 Grod come back to us, for it is we who have changed, 
 and not God ; He is the same, (v. 7.) 
 
 (3.) We may try to defraud God, but in the end will 
 only defraud ourselves. The eagle who robbed the al- 
 tar set fire to her nest from the burning coal that ad- 
 hered to the stolen flesh. So men who retain God's 
 money in their treasuries will find it a losing possession. 
 No man ever yet lost an3^thing by serving God with a 
 whole heart, or gained anything by serving him with 
 half a one. We may compromise with conscience for 
 half the price, but God will not endorse the compro- 
 mise, and like Ananias and Sapphira, we will lose not 
 only what we thought we had purchased so cheaply, 
 but also the price we paid for it, (v. 8.) 
 
 (4.) One cause of the spiritual barrenness of the 
 Church is the parsimony of its members, (v. 9.) 
 
 (5.) If we would have God open his treasury, we must 
 open ours, (v. 10, 11.) 
 
 (6.) Let Christians cease to defraud the Lord's pen- 
 sioners, and the Lord's house ; become whole-hearted, 
 and open-handed Christians, and the cloud will soon rise 
 over Carmel, and the heavens grow dark with rain, 
 (v. 12.) 
 
 Section YI. Chap. 3 : 13— End. 
 
 Reproofs and Warni7igs. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 I. The unbelieving state of mind which lay at the bottom of all 
 their evils, again reproved. This consisted in saying (1) that 
 
MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 391 
 
 they who served God gained nothinfr by it, and (2) tliat they wlio 
 disobeyed him were not only unpunished, but aetually blessed, (v. 
 13—15.) 
 
 11. The true characteristics of those who served God, amidst 
 this abounding- hypocrisy and wickedness, and their true reward. 
 They conferred together, and tliey would be rewarded in the 
 great events of the future, (v. 16, 11.) 
 
 .III. These unbelieving ones should see in those days to come 
 that there is a diflerciice between right-doing and wrong-doing, 
 (v. 18.) 
 
 IV. The time when this vindication shall take place ; viz.: the 
 day of the Lord, (c. 4 : 1.) The results of that day, (v. 2—4.) 
 
 V. The events preceding it, viz.: the mission of Elijah and its 
 results, (v. 5, 6.) 
 
 The passage (v. 13 — 15) repeats in a more aggra- 
 vated form the sin of the ungodly Jews, reproved in 
 the previous portion of the prophecy. That sin was — 
 charging God with partiality and injustice, because he 
 did not reward them for their mercenary and imperfect 
 obedience, while the heathen seemed to be so much 
 more prosperous. There is a sort of climax in the 
 utterance of their feelings. At first, their murmurings 
 were such as to cause God to say that he had no plea- 
 sure in them. (Chap. 1 : 10.) Then their unreasonable 
 pertinacity was such that their words wearied him. 
 (Chap. 2 : 17.) But now their insolence arises so high as 
 to amount to audacious violence. (Chap. 3:13.) The 
 error, lying at the root of all this, was a mistake in 
 regard to the nature of God's service, and converting it 
 into a mere mercenary kind of worldliness, supposing 
 that, if it did not reward, in the good things of this life. 
 
392 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 13 ^ Your vt'ords have been stout God : and what profit is it that we 
 against mc, saith the Lord. Yet ye have kept his ordinance, and that wfe 
 say, What have we spoken so much have walked mournfully before the 
 against thee ? Lord of hosts ? 
 
 14 Yc have said, It is vain to serve 
 
 all those who performed its outward observances, what- 
 ever was the motive of these performances, it was a 
 failure. They mistook, at once, the spiritual motives 
 and feelings required, and the eternal rewards promised 
 to those who served God. 
 
 V. 13. " ' Your words have been violent against mc,' saith Je- 
 hovah. And ye say, ' What do we say against thee V " 
 
 V. 13. Pl^i w^ith b? is literally to be strong upon 
 any one, i. e., to be violent. It represents the aggra- 
 vated insult contained in the words of the Jews, as if 
 they really forced God to punish them. ^-^^1?, being 
 the Niphal form of the verb, has the reciprocal sense of 
 this conjugation, (see Nordheimer, vol. i. p. 94, § 141, 
 3,) and implies that these things were said — not directly 
 to God — but of God, to one another. For this mean- 
 ing of the word, see Ezek. 33 : 30, where it is fully ex- 
 plained in the context. 
 
 V. 14. " Ye say, ' It is vain to serve God, and what profit (is it) 
 that we have kept his observances, and that we have walked 
 mournfully before Jehovah of hosts ?'" 
 
 V. 14 expresses the corrupt feelings, the utterance 
 of which had so insulted God. They had engaged in 
 the discharge of duty, not from any love to God, but 
 from a hope of being well paid for it ; and when they 
 found that God did not pay them as they expected, 
 they murmured, and charged him with being unjust. 
 
MA LAC II I. — CHAPTER III. 393 
 
 15 And now we call the proud hap- are sot up ; yea, they that tempt God 
 Py ; yea, they that work wickedness are even delivered. 
 
 Their error, however, was not in thinking that God 
 would reward those who faithfully served him, but in 
 thinking that such beggarly services as theirs, arising 
 from such ignoble motives, had any claim on God's 
 favor. ' ' To walk mournfully " was to assume the garb 
 of penitence, which was the garb used by mourners. 
 They had even submitted to fasting and humiliation, and 
 yet had not been paid for it, forgetting the teaching of 
 Isaiah 58, in regard to the fast which God had chosen. 
 
 V. 15. " ' And now we pronounce the proud happy ; they are 
 built up, the workers of iniquity ; also, they tempt God and es- 
 cape.' " 
 
 Y. 15 is a continuation of the conversation of the 
 people with one another. "And now '' expresses the 
 inference they stated to each other, as to be drawn from 
 their adversity as compared with the prosperity of the 
 heathen. " Since we are not rewarded, who serve Je- 
 hovah, and the proud heathen flourish in prosperity, we 
 must now pronounce them the favorites of God, and 
 say that he builds up the workers of iniquity, and 
 allows them, who dare him to punish them, by break- 
 ing his laws, to escape." This atrocious insinuation, 
 that God favored evil-doers, was the liighest insult they 
 could have uttered, and was that which, as it were, 
 drove God to inflict his judgments upon them. 
 
 V. 16. '' Then they who feared Jehovah spake, every man to 
 his neighbor • and Jehovah attended and heard : and there was 
 25 ^ 
 
394 MALACHI. CHAPTER III. 
 
 16 ^ Then they that feared the Lord book of remembrance was written be- 
 spake often one to another ; and the fore him for them tliat feared the Lord, 
 Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a and that thought upon his name. 
 
 written a book of remembrance before him, for those who feared 
 Jehovah, and for those who thought upon his name." 
 
 y. 16. It is a cheering thought that no defection 
 from the truth has ever been so wide spread, as not to 
 leave a remnant who never bowed the knee to Baal. 
 Such was the fact here. Amid the astounding wicked- 
 ness of the people, there were still those who were 
 faithful to God. Their character is described as those 
 " who feared Jehovah." This fear is not the fear of 
 terror or guilt, but the fear of a love that is always 
 tremblingly alive to the possible alienation of its object. 
 Their conduct is also described : "They spake one to 
 another." While the wicked spake to one another 
 words of daring scepticism, they who feared the Lord 
 were speaking to each other words of encouragement 
 and faith. Maurer and Hitzig endeavor to show that 
 the persons referred to in this verse are the same with 
 those spoken of in verses 13 — 15. But the promises in 
 verses 16, 17, are plainly inconsistent with the heavy 
 condemnation imphed in verse 13. The reward of this 
 fidelity is then stated. The kings of Persia were accus- 
 tomed to enter in a book the names of those who had 
 rendered any special service to the king, in order that 
 they might be duly rewarded. (See Esther 6:1.) This, 
 or the books in Daniel 7:10, may be referred to here, 
 .to express the fact that their fidelity would not be over- 
 
M A L A C II I . C II A r T E R III. 395 
 
 17 And they shall be mine, saitli the as a man spareth bis own son that 
 Lord of hosts, in tiiat day when I make Bcrvcth him. 
 up my jewels ; and I will spare them 
 
 looked. The faintest whisper which they utter in the 
 ears of each other will be heard and recorded in heaven. 
 
 Y. ] 1. " And tlic}' sliuU be mine, saitli Jehovah of hosts, in the 
 clay in which I sliall make up my possession, and I will spare 
 them, as a man spares liis son that serves him." 
 
 V. IT. The word ri^^o in the English version is 
 rendered "jewels ;'* but it strictly means "a posses- 
 sion," implying some special value, though without Um- 
 iting it to the precise kind of valuables indicated by the 
 word jewels. It will admit of two constructions. The 
 first is that preferred by Maurer and the older inter- 
 preters, which connects it with ^"b ^"m, and gives the 
 sense, " They shall be my possession in the day that I 
 shall make." This construction is at variance with the 
 accents, and does not give that fulness of significance to 
 the promise that seems to be demanded by its terms. 
 Hence the other construction is preferable, which 
 declares that in that great day of final adjustment, when 
 God shall make up his own peculiar people from the 
 assembled millions of the earth, then these humble and 
 fearing followers of Jehovah, in the midst of abounding 
 wickedness, shall be his : and when the threatened 
 wrath begins to consume the enemies of God, he will 
 spare them with all a father's yearning fondness for a 
 docile and loving child. Thus the prophet carries the 
 mind forward to the mighty adjustments of the future. 
 
396 MALACHI. CHAPTER IV. 
 
 18 llicn shall ye return and discern between him that servethGod and him 
 between the righteous and the wicked, that serveth him not. 
 
 in whicli all the seeming anomalies of the present 
 
 shall be fully explained and wholly removed forever. 
 
 V. 18. "And ye shall return and discern {the difference) between 
 the righteous and the wicked, and between him who serves Jeho- 
 vah, and him who serves him not." 
 
 V. 18 expresses the fact alluded to in v. IT : " j^ow 
 you murmur at the ways of God as unjust in seemingly 
 confounding the righteous and wicked, thus refusing to 
 him the justice you concede to a man, not to condemn 
 an unfinished plan, because it seems to you to be objec- 
 tionable. It is in part to test your disposition to trust 
 in God in spite of all appearances that perplex, and to 
 make your service of him less mercenary and selfish, 
 that this blended state of facts is allowed. But when 
 the experiment has been fully made, and it is thus seen 
 who will be faithful in the face of perplexity, and who 
 will be otherwise, then shall you see clearly that there 
 is a difference between the righteous and the wicked as 
 broad as the abyss between heaven and hell." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 V. 1. "For behold! the day comes! bin-ning' like a furnace! 
 and all the proud, and all the doers of evil are chaff ! and the day 
 that comes, burns them, saith Jehovah of hosts, who will not leave 
 to them root nor branch." 
 
 V. 1. In this verse we have a prophecy that requires 
 the application of what we may call the principle of 
 successive fulfilment. This is one of great importance 
 
M A L A C II I . — CHAPTER IV. 397 
 
 1 For behold, the day comcth, that comoth shall burn them up, saith the 
 
 shall burn, as an oven: and all the Loud of hosts, that it shall leave them 
 
 proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, neither root nor branch, 
 shall be stubble : and the day that 
 
 in interpreting the Bible, if we would avoid confusion. 
 There are a number of statements by the sacred writers 
 that are designed to apply to distinct facts, success- 
 ively occurring in history. If the words are limited to 
 any one of these facts, they will seem exaggerated, for 
 no one fact can exhaust their significance. They must 
 be spread over all the facts before their plenary mean- 
 ing is reached. There is nothing in this principle that 
 is at variance with the ordinary laws of language. The 
 same general use of phrases occurs repeatedly. Thus, 
 Berkeley's celebrated line, " Westward the course of 
 empire takes its way," is fulfilled with every new 
 advance of occidental greatness, and includes the small- 
 est as well as the greatest facts of this nature. The 
 expression, " The schoolmaster is abroad," has its fulfil- 
 ment in every successive teacher of youth who goes 
 forth to his work. Every language contains these for- 
 mulas, which refer not 'to an}- one event, but a series of 
 events, all embodying the same principle, or resulting 
 from the same cause. Hence, there is nothing in this 
 principle at variance with the laws of language. 
 
 "We find repeated instances of this species of predic- 
 tion in the Scriptures. The promise in regard to the 
 " Seed of the woman," (Gen. 3 : 15,) refers to no one 
 event, but runs along the whole stream of history, and 
 includes every successive conquest of the religion of 
 
398 MALACIII. — CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Christ. The same thing is true of the promise, that^ 
 men shall beat their swords into ploughshares : and 
 kindred predictions of the peace that shall ensue in 
 Messianic times. They refer to every advance that is 
 made in the peaceful tendencies of the religion of the 
 Bible, and await their fullest fulfilment in the future. 
 
 There is a class of predictions in interpreting which 
 this principle is eminently important. It is that which 
 refers to what the old theologians called the novissima, 
 to which this verse belongs. When Christ speaks of 
 these last things, he does it in terms that obviously re- 
 fer to the destruction of Jerusalem, and yet as obviously 
 transcend that event. This has led to the Universalist 
 dogma, that there is no day of judgment, except in that 
 indefinite sense in which every judicial visitation of God 
 is a day of judgment, just as every gracious visitation of 
 God is a day of grace. Relying on the indefinite use of 
 the word day in Scripture, they seek to eviscerate these 
 predictions of a future day of judgment of all the tre- 
 mendous significance that they have commonly possessed. 
 
 They refer to the fact that Peter applied Joel's pre- 
 diction of the day of the Lord to the events of Pente- 
 cost, in Acts 2:16; and from thence infer that the 
 formula " day of the Lord" cannot be applied to a fu- 
 ture judgment, as it is commonly held. The difficulty 
 which they press, however, can be wholly removed by 
 adopting this principle of successive fulfilment. It is 
 true that the deluge, the destruction of Sodom, Baby- 
 lon, and Jerusalem, and all subsequent visitations of 
 
MALACHI. — CHAPTER IV. 399 
 
 God's wrath, were days of the Lord, and m each one ol" 
 them the proud and evil-doers were as chalT. But as 
 each one did not exhaust these ominous predictions, so 
 all together have not yet met the full reach of the ter- 
 rors, which will only he done in that future day in which 
 the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
 the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and 
 the drama of earth shall be ended. All previous 
 judgments were but reddenings of the dawn, that be- 
 tokened the coming, but did not unfold the terrible 
 brightness of that awful day. As the proplict in this 
 verse gazes upon its distant rising, he exclaims, as if in 
 breathless emotion, It comes ! burning like a furnace ! 
 the wicked proud are chaff! the day burns them ! There 
 is something very forcible in these abrupt exclamations, 
 as if the prophet was elevated on some mount of vision, 
 and actually beheld this terrible pomp come rolling up the 
 distant skies, on its reddening pathway of fire and blood. 
 The finality of this day is distinctly declared in the utter 
 ruin that it is predicted to bring. 
 
 V. 2. " And then shall rise on you who fear my name the Sun of 
 Kighteousness, and healing in his wings, and ye sliall go fortlj 
 and leap as calves of the stall." 
 
 Y. 2 presents the situation of the righteous in this 
 future day of terror, as contrasted with that of the 
 wicked. To the wicked, the day should come fierce 
 and consuming as a furnace ; to the righteous it should 
 dawn in peace, and the sun that should illumine it 
 would be not one of condemnation, but of "righteous- 
 ness," — not one of destruction, but of "healing."' 
 
400 MALACHI. CHAPTER IV. 
 
 2 ^ But unto you that fear my name 3. And ye shall tread down the 
 
 shall the Sim of Righteousness arise -wicked ; for they shall be ashes under 
 
 with healing in his wings ; and ye shall the soles of your feet in the day that I 
 
 ^■■0 forth, and grow up as calves of the shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 stall. 
 
 Wings are attributed to the sun, poetically, in allusion 
 to his apparent motion, just as we read of "the wings of 
 the morning," in Psa. 139 : 9. The image of the sun 
 seems to have been suggested by the expression " day," 
 used in the preceding verse, in order to make the con- 
 trast more striking between the day of terror to the 
 wicked, and of gladness to the righteous. The phrase 
 " Sun of Righteousness" is generally applied to Christ in 
 popular language, and if the ultimate ground of this future 
 gladness and righteousness is brought in view, the phrase 
 is undoubtedly applicable to him. But we cannot think 
 that the prophet here meant to predict Christ personally 
 by this phrase, or indeed to look at the ground of this 
 righteousness at all. His object was to show the contrast 
 that this future day would present to the righteous, from 
 the aspect it would present to the wicked ; and while it 
 is true that the foundation of this contrast rests on 
 Christ, yet it is the contrast itself, in its bright and joy- 
 ous character, rather than the foundation that is here 
 contemplated by the prophet. To leap as a young ani- 
 mal, which after confinement exults in the joyousness 
 of freedom, is a striking image of the joy that the 
 righteous shall feel after being kept so long waiting for 
 deliverance. 
 
 V. 3. " And yc shall trample down the nngodly : for they shall 
 be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day which I make, 
 saith Jehovah of hosts." 
 
MALACHI. — CHAPTER IV. 401 
 
 4 •[ Remember yc the law of Moses 5 ^ Behold, I will send you Elijah 
 
 my servant, which I commanded unto the propiiet before the coming of the 
 
 him in Horeb for all Israel, with the sta- great and dreadful day of the Lord : 
 tutes and judgments. 
 
 V. 3 is designed to meet the perplexity of the right- 
 eous, in view of the prosperity of the wicked. That 
 prosperity would be brief, and soon reversed. The im- 
 age of ashes refers us back to that of fire in v. 1, 
 which was to consume the ungodly. 
 
 V. 4. " Remember the law of Moses, my servant, wliich I com- 
 manded him in Horeb, for all Israel, statutes and judgments." 
 
 V. 4 expresses the condition on which this future 
 blessing would be bestowed, namely, obedience. Obey 
 the law already given, and at the proper time it shall 
 be found, that in the end it shall be well with the right- 
 eous, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 
 
 V. 5. "Behold! I send to you Elijah the prophet, before the 
 day of Jehovah comes, the great and the terrible !" 
 
 Y. 5. The main difficulty in this verse, is, to answer 
 the question, Who, or what is Elijah? Is he the Tish- 
 bite, who is personally to reappear on earth ? So the 
 Jews, and even some of the early Christian fathers, 
 thought. But the reference by Christ himself of this 
 passage to John, proves that this could not be its mean- 
 ing. Indeed, the fact that he is called " the prophet." 
 and not "the Tishbite," implies thatit is his official, and 
 not his personal relations, that are here contemplated. 
 If, then, it is not Elijah personally, is it John person- 
 ally that is here predicted under the name of Elijah ? 
 This view of the case is contradicted by the express as- 
 25 b 
 
402 MALACHI. — CHAPTER IV. 
 
 sertion of John. When, in evident allusion to this 
 passage he was asked, (John 1 : 21,) "Art thou Ehas ?" 
 he replied, "I am not;" and then, as if to meet the 
 supposition, that he might thus only mean to deny that 
 he was Elijah reappearing on the earth, when he was 
 asked further, "Art thou that prophet?" (the article 
 here must be taken as emphatic,) he replies, "No," thus 
 asserting that none of these prophecies found an ex- 
 haustive fulfilment in him individually. The Jews sup- 
 posed that this prophecy would be fulfilled finally in a 
 single individual, and that when this individual would 
 come, the time of Israel's glory was near at hand. It 
 was this false view of the passage that John denied, and 
 not any reference of it to him. He must have known 
 from the communication of the angel to his father, 
 (Luke 1 : 16, 17,) that this prophecy had a reference to 
 him, and his adoption of the costume of Elijah proved 
 the same thing ; hence it could only have been the ex- 
 clusive application of the text to him that he meant to 
 deny. 
 
 In what sense, then, is Elijah predicted ? The fact 
 that John, to whom the passage is applied by Christ, 
 calls himself " the voice crying in the wilderness," which 
 we have seen (Mai. 3 : 1) to be identical with "the mes- 
 senger" then predicted, proves that Elijah is here to be 
 understood in the same sense with "the messen- 
 ger." We are here therefore presented with another 
 case of successive fulfilment, such as we' found in v. 1 . 
 Indeed, this is expressly intimated when we are told 
 that John was to come in " the spirit and power of Eli- 
 
M A L A C H I . — CHAPTER IV. 403 
 
 jail,"' (Luke 1 : 10, 17.) As Moses in the preceding verse 
 was taken as the representative of the law, the pre- 
 ceptive reveahngs of God, so Ehjah is taken as 
 the representative of the prophets, or the prophetic 
 revealings of God. This was done again in the 
 transfiguration, where these men appear in their rep- 
 resentative and not in their personal character. This 
 use of Elijah is not unknown to the Old Testament ; in 
 2 Chron. 21 : 12, it is said that "a writing from Elijah 
 the prophet" came to King Jehoram, when Elijah 
 had been for many years in heaven. This can only 
 mean a prophecy, in the spirit of Elijah. So in 1 Kings 
 19 : 15, 16, it is predicted that Elijah shall do acts that 
 •in fact were done by Ehsha (2 Kings 8:13) and one of 
 the 3^oung prophets, (2 Kings 9 : 13.) This also implies 
 that Elijah was taken as a representative of the prophe- 
 tic order, or more strictly, of the spirit of prophecy. 
 This prophetic mission was to reprove, to instruct, to 
 warn, and to predict. The general fact, then, that is 
 predicted, is, that before God comes in his terrible mis- 
 sion of judgment, he will send agencies to revive and 
 reform his people, so that they may escape from the 
 wrath to come. Were it announced to us that before 
 God would cut off an apostate Church, he would send a 
 Luther, we should instantly comprehend the meaning 
 of the prediction, and see no confusion of language, but 
 rather a greater clearness in this use of a typical or rep- 
 resentative man. Thus, then, it is predicted, that be- 
 fore God sends wrath, he will send messengers to sum- 
 mon to repentance. This was done before the downfall 
 
404 MALACHI. — CHAPTER IV, 
 
 of the Jewish people. John, as the first of these sent 
 messengers, had especial prominence, but he was not 
 the last ; others followed with the same message, " Re- 
 pent, for the day is coming !'" And in every subsequent 
 revival of religion in the Church it has been so. In the 
 reformation of the sixteenth centur}", Elijah came in 
 the burning words of Luther, Calvin, and Knox ; in the 
 eighteenth, in the fervid spirits of the Wesleys, White- 
 field, and Edwards ; and now that we are verging upon 
 yet more fearful unfoldings of the wrathful visitations 
 of God on the earth, we look for Elijah to come forth 
 again in some new and mighty awakening of men to 
 repentance. Indeed, to every regenerated soul there is 
 essentially this coming of Elijah, this summons, "Re- 
 pent, for the day is coming!" And as the faithful min- 
 ister of Christ goes forth, it must be ever in the same 
 spirit, calling on men to repent, and pointing to the lu- 
 rid flashings of that dies irce, which, when once per- 
 ceived by the startled eye of the soul, will lead it to flee 
 to the only refuge from this wrath to come. We thus 
 see, that instead of a narrow prediction that is ex- 
 hausted by its application to a single man, and that con- 
 fuses us by this restriction, we have a magnificent for- 
 mula of the spiritual world, that stretches like a law 
 over aU its phases, and gives unity to them all, from the 
 most mighty to the most minute. 
 
 V. 6. " And he shall return the heart of the fathers to the sons, 
 and the heart of the sons to the fathers, lest I come and smite the 
 land with a curse." 
 
 V. 6 describes the work of the preacher of repent- 
 
MALACHI. — CHAPTER lY. 405 
 
 G And lie shall turn the heart of the of the children to their fatlicrs, lest I 
 fathers to the children, and the heart come and smite tlie eartli witli a curse. 
 
 ance. The expression, " return the heart of the fathers 
 to the sons, and the heart of the sons to the fathers," has 
 usually been explamed to mean the restoration of do- 
 mestic harmony among the people. But this is a very 
 meagre sense of words that close up the utterances of 
 Grod to his people for twelve generations. Want of do- 
 mestic concord was not one of the sins charged upon 
 the people, and its removal would hardlj^ be the great 
 work assigned to the Elijah messenger. The meaning 
 is suggested in the words of the angel to Zacharias, in 
 Luke 1 : 16, IT ; where, instead of the clause, " the 
 heart of the sous to the fathers," is put, "the disobe- 
 dient to the wisdom of the just." This paraphrase indi- 
 cates that the hearts of the devoted ancestors were to 
 live again in the obedience of their repentant posterity, 
 and that the backslidden sons were to be restored to the 
 piety of their fathers. The piety of the fathers had 
 been referred to repeatedly before, (see 1 : 2 ; 2 : 5, G ; 
 3:4,) and the promise is, that this piety should live 
 again in the children, under the Elijah call to repent- 
 ance ; and it is threatened, that if this is not the result, 
 the land shall be laid under the terrible herem. This was 
 a devotion to destruction, such as was done to the 
 Canaanites by the judicial act of God. As these guilty 
 nations were cut off because of their sins, so should the 
 people who had taken their place on the soil of the land 
 of promise, or those who in turn would take their place 
 on the covenants of promise, if they imitated their sin- 
 
406 MALACni. CHAPTER IV. 
 
 fill example. This was fulfilled five hundred years af- 
 terward, when the chosen people were finally rejected, 
 and the awful blood was upon them and their children, 
 according to their own imprecation. And to this hour, 
 the soil that was wet with that blood lies under the ter- 
 rible herem, and will so continue, until that Elijah call 
 that shall bring back the heart of David, of Isaiah, and 
 of Nathaniel to their exiled posterity, enabling them to 
 see him whom they have pierced, and to ctj, " My 
 Lord and my Grod." And by the same principle of in- 
 terpretation that we have applied to the previous verse, 
 do we extend this warning to every age of the Church, 
 and find in it the germ of the solemn admonition of 
 Paul in discussing the same subject, (Rom. 11 : 20, 21,) 
 "Be not high-minded, but fear ; for if God spared not 
 the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not 
 thee." 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 (1.) Men often utter most atrocious charges against 
 God without being fully conscious of the bearing of their 
 words of complaint, (v. 13.) 
 
 (2.) Men who expect to be paid in this world for 
 serving God have mistaken God for mammon. Re- 
 ligion is not a thing of bargain, but of love ; and when- 
 ever a man begins to chaffer for easier terms, he shows 
 that his heart is not right with God, (v. 14.) 
 
 (3.) The disposition to value religion by the worldly 
 
MALACHI. — CHAPTER IV. 407 
 
 property it bestows, is an old tendency of the human 
 heart, and one not yet wholly eradicated, (v. 15.) 
 
 (4.) When the wicked are talking against God, the 
 righteous should talk for him. Religious conversation 
 is necessary, all the more, for the very reasons that often 
 chill and repress it. When a fire burns low, the coals 
 that are alive should be brought near together, that they 
 may be blown into a flame. So when all is cold and 
 dead, living Christians should draw near and seek the 
 breathings of the Spirit, and kindle each other by mu- 
 tual utterance. The words thus and then spoken shall 
 be heard and recorded in heaven, (v. 16.) 
 
 (5.) The reproofs and warnings of this section are 
 eminently applicable to our epicurean age. There is 
 the same tendency to challenge the dealings of God now 
 that there was then, and there is the same need to point 
 men forward to the mighty adjustments of the future, 
 in which all these apparent anomalies will be rectified, 
 and to urge them to listen to the heavenly voice that 
 calls them to repent, believe, and obey, assuring them 
 that if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he is 
 Anathema, Maran-atha ! (v. 17, 18.) 
 
 (6.) The best motive to present duty is to be drawn 
 from future destiny, (4 : 1.) 
 
 (7.) We can afford to walk in the dark now, if we 
 are assured of eternal light hereafter, (v. 2.) 
 
 (8.) Before God sends wrath he will send calls to re- 
 pentance, and give room to repent, (v. 5.) 
 
 (9.) Let no present impunity encourage any to per- 
 
408 MALACHI. CHAPTER IV. 
 
 sist ill sill, for out of Clirist God is a consuming fire. 
 And it is suggestive of much solemn thought, that the last 
 utterance of God to the Church and to the world, be- 
 fore the coming of the Messiah, the word that was to 
 sound through four hundred years of historj^-, was that 
 awful wor d , " Curse ! ' ' 
 
 THE Sot: 
 
Date Due 
 
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