LIBRARY OF PRINCETON JUN 2 8 2007 THEOLOGICAL SEMiNARY THE SECOND PART OF THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. THE SECOND PART OF THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH WITH SPECIAL REFEREXCE TO THE TIME OF ITS ORIGIN. A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL FACULTY OF THE o UNIVERSITY OF BASEL (NOVEMBER 1891) FOR THE Pi:iu'osE OF '• m' w: ": ■:. - . of philosophy. BY Rev. NATHANIEL I. RUBINKAM B. A. U. S. A. Basel. R. Reich, vorm. C. Detloff's Buchhandlung. 1892. Printed by M. Wekner-Riehm. Basel. To the Memory of DR. AUGUST THOLUCK of Halle, the great friend of students, who received the author into his home and friendship in 1875, and WITH GRATITUDE to all whose instructions and kindness have been helpful during the present visit, naming with special pleasure Prof. Dr. H. L. Strack of Berlin, and Prof. Dr. B. Duhm and Lie. K. Marti of Basel. CONTENTS. Pages Bibliography . 1 — o I. Historical sketch of the criticism .... 7 — 10 II. The question concerning the Zecharianic and pre-exilic authorship preliminarily noticed . 11 — 19 III. The canonical question affecting the discussion 20 —27 IV. Examination of chapter i», 1-10 28—35 V. » » » 9, 11-17 .... 36—39 VI. » » » 10 40-47 VII. » » » 11 48—58 VIII. » » » 12 59—68 IX. » » » 13, 1-G 69—71 X. » » » 13, 7-9 72—74 XI. » » » 14 75-82 Summary 83 — 84 ^? BIBLIOGRAPHY. LITERATURE ON ZECHARIAH SINCE JOSEPH MEDE. The following list, which I have arranged for reference, though only partial, is too large to admit here ot remarks upon single works. Not all of them have been accessible to me. A large number of them I have consulted. Additional literature and sources are meutioned in the footnotes. Joseph Mede (f 1638): Dissert, eccles. triga. Frag, sacra. Lond. 1853. Works, -4"^ edition Loud. 1677. p. 786. — [Huflo Grotiu.s: Annotations in V. T. 1644. Ed. Vogel and Doederlein. Hal. 1676 vol. II] — //, Hnmmond: Paraphrase and Anno- tations etc. 6"> ed. Lond. 1653. Ill pp. 135. 745. — ./. Marckivs: Comm. in duod. proph. min. Amst. 1696-1701. Ed. nova, Tiib. 1734. — RlrJi. Kidder: Demonstration of the Blessias, in which the truth of the Christian religion is proved against all enemies thereol, but espec. against the Jews. Lond. 1700. 2°'^ ed. 1726, p. 76. — W. Whiston: Essay toward restoring the true text of the 0. T. etc. Lond. 1722, p. 93 f. — J. G. Elchhorn: Einleitung etc. eds. 1-3. Leipz. 1783-1803. — B. G. 2 — FVitfjqe: Dii- Wcissaguiigeii wcIcIh! lici dcii Si'hrirtcii ties Zuch. licigelutgeii siiul etc. Haml). 17.Si. — W. Xeacome: An attenipt toward an improved version etr. of the twelve min. prophets. Lond. l7Sj. New ed. 1836. — ./. D. Micfmiills: Ncue orien- talisflie und exeget. Bibliotliek I, GiUt. 178G. — G. F. Seller: Theol. krit. Betrachtung neiier Schril'ten. Erlangen 1786. — i ed. 1860. p. 603. — T. V. Moore: The Proph. of the Restora- tion .... New trans, with notes. N. Y. 185G. — Ed. Meie'-: Gesch. der poet. Nationallit. der Hebraer. Leipz. 1856. — //. L. Sandrock: Prior, et post. Zach. part. vat. ab uno eodem auc. prof. 1856. — A. Geiger: Urschrift u. Ubersetzung etc. Breslau 1857. — L. Reinke: Die messianische Weissagung. Giessen 1859-62. — E. F. J. von Ortcnherg: Die Bestandtheile des Buches Sacharja. Gotha 1859. — C. K. J. Bimsen: Die Propheten, Leipz. 1860. — W. Neumann: Die Weissagung des Sakharjah. Stuttg. 1860. — Sam, Davidson: Introduction to the — 4 - (). T. London 18tJ2-:}, — Th. Kllcfolh: Dw I'l-oplid Sacli. iiberst'tzt etc. Sclwverin 1.SG2. — J. ■/. Sliiliel'm: Spei-iello Ein- leitnng. Elberf. 18G2. — Fr. Bottcher: Ncnc cxej^ct, Aelircn- lese etc. Leipz. 1863-4. — Ab. Knenen: Hist. crit. Onder- zoek etc. 18ti3-1885 (German ed. 1892, vol. II). — J. J. S. Ferouue: Art. Zechariah, in Smith's Bib. Dictionary. Lond, 1863. — Ralph Wardlaic: Lectures on tlie Pro])li. of Zecli 1869. — W. Pressef: Conira. zu Hag., Sach. n. MaL Gotha 1870. — A. Elzas: The Min. Proph. trans, etc. IL Lond. 1873. — C. Fr. Keil: Comm. iiber d. zwiUf kL Proph. Leipz. 1866-8. — T. IF. Chambers: Zech. (in Lange's Coinm. Eng. ed.) 1874. — IJ. Duhm: Die Theologie der Propheten. Bonn 1875. — L. Diestel: Art. Sacharja, in Schenkel's Bib. Lex. 1875. — Wordsivorth: The Minor Proph. in the A. V. etc. Lond. 187;"). — J. Schleier: Die zwiilf kl. Proph. Nordlingen 1876. — J. D. Lange: Sach. (im Bibelwerk). Bielefeld u. Leipz. 1876. — W. Drake: Zech. (in Speaker's Comm.) Lond. 1876. — S. H. Bo- nanqnet: The Prophecies of Zech. 1877. - E. B. Fusey: The Minor Prophets. Oxf. and Lond. 1877. — C. C. H. Wright: Zech. and his prophecies (Bampton Lectures) 1878. — Marcus Bodda: Hag., Zech. and Mai. (in Hdbks. for Bib. Classes). Edinb. 1879. — G.J. Bredenkamp: Der Proph. Sach. Erlangen 1879. — H. Steiner: 4"' ed. of Hitzig's zwolf kleinen Proph. 1881. — M. Wcdther: Le prophete Zacharie. Lausanne 1881. — B. Stade: Programm zum Ludwigstage. Giessen 1880. — Deuterozacharja in Z. A. T. W. 1881-2. — W. H. Lowe: The Hcbr. Students Comm. on Zech. Loud. 1882. — Ferd. Montet: Etude crit. sur le date a.ssignable aux six dernicrs chap, de Zech. Geneve 1882. — Ed. R'lehm: Art. Sach. in Handb. des bibl. Alterth. 1884. Einleitung etc. (posthumously pub.). Hal. 1889. — C. A. Briggs: Messianic Prophecy. Edinb. 1886. — T. T. Perowfie: Hag. and Zech. (in Cambridge Bib. for Schools and Colleges). — C. von Orelli: Ezek. u. d. zwijlf kl. Propheten. Kiirdl. 1888. — T. E. Cheyne: The Origin of the Book of Zech. (in Jewish Quart. Rev. Oct. 1888). — F. W. Farrar: The Minor Prophets (Men of tlie Bible series). N. Y. — H. Gruetz: The last Chap of Zech. (in Jewish Quart. Rev. Lend. Jan. 1891). — W. Staerk; Komposition u. Abl'assungs- zeit von Zech. 9-14. (Dissert.) Hal. 1891. — S. R. Driver: Introduction to the Lit. of the 0. T. Eds. 1-3. Edinb. 1891-2. — K. Marti: Der Prophet Sach. der Zeitgenosse Serubbabels. Freib. 1892. I. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CRITICISM. The motive of finding a better explanation than the Fathers had devised, for the quotation in Matt. "21, 9-10 of Zech. 11, 12-lo as from Jeremiah, led Joseph Mede, in England, earl}' in the 17"' century, to seek for the chapters Zech. 11-11, a pre-exilic authorship. The way to freedom of criticism being once broken, the whole of the second pai>t of Zechariah viz., chapters 9-14, was by various English writers assigned to a pre-exilic period. This view was introduced into Ger- many by Benedict (lilbert Fliigge in 1784. Impelled by the same motive as Mede, viz., to vindicate the Matthew quotation, he followed Medes successors in denying to the whole of the second part a post-exilic origin. Defenders of the unity of the book were not wanting, and so great was the zeal on both sides, from Medes day, that the succeeding centuiy produced an exten- sive literature upon the subject. The history of the controversy was written at the beginning of this century by Fried. B. Koster, who defended the post- exilic origin of chaps. 9-14 as well as the unity of the wlidlo l)()nk. AiiKiiin- the writers of this pei'iocl \vhi> cuiitt'iKled lui' the |»i-e-exilic authoi'ship, were Aiii^nisti, Jiei-thnhlt, RoseniMiiller and Ifitzi>< );")), had thought on a post-Zecharianic period. Eich- horn's interpretation made little headway against the pre-exilic view, and the post-Zecharianic theory had few adherents, at least publicly, except Gramberg, Vatke and, later, Abraham (leiger. On the other hand, Ewald, followed by Edward Meiei- and others, assigned chaps. 1)-14 to two different pre-exilic authors, viz. chaps. I)-11 to a writer of the time of Aliaz, and chaps. 12-14 to a writer at the beginning of the Exile. This pre-exilic, double authorship, defended by Bleek and Hitzig (1852), became the prevailing opinion. One of the most enthusiastic exponents of this view was P]mil F. J. v. Ortenberg, who considered it to be established with ''absolute certainty", and calls it the "heavenly truth" and the "precious pearl", v. Ortenberg argued that chaps. H-ll and 13, 7-9 were written by the Zechariah mentioned in Isaiah 8, 2 about the year 720 B. C. and chaps. 12 — 13, and 14 between the year of Josiah's death, ()09, and the ' See the Literature, page 1 tV. In this liistorical sketch, siniplj' enough names will be mentioned to indicate the pro- gress ot" the criticism. destruction of Jerusalem, 58tj. This view of the pre- exilic origin of chaps. 9-14, with various modifications, has prevailed in the great majority of commentaries, Introductions and works on Prophecy, in Germany, in the past quarter of a century. Diestel in 1875 repeats the statement of Bleek in 1852 that this is one of the '^surest results of the modern investigations of the Bible." In England this view has had its adherents, among others, in Dr. Samuel Davidson, A. P. Stanley, and F. W. Farrar. In America C. A. Briggs agrees with the view so far as chaps. 9-12 are concerned, but assigns chaps. 12-14 to a post-exilic writer other than Zechai'iah. That the position of the unity of the Book and the Zecharianic authorship of the whole book, is not so easily yielded, is seen in the long list of defenders, among whom are De Wette, in the Editions 4-7 of his Introduction, Keil, Kohler and Hengstenberg on the Continent, Henderson, Pusey and C. H. H. Wright in England, and T. W. Chambers, in the American Edition of Langes Commentaries. The arguments of the defenders of the traditional view have been mainly directed against the position of the pi-e-exilic origin of Part II. and little attention has been given to the refu- tation of the post-Zecharianic authorship. The criticism of the last quarter of the century is, however, showing a decided tendency to seek in this latter view, in some of its forms, a more satisfactory solution of the problem than has hitherto been attained. Stade, in the first two volumes of the Zeitschrift fiir die alt- test. VVissenscJiaft (1881-2) re-opened and discussed the question at length and concluded that chaps. 9-14 - 1(1 - \vt'i\' written in tlir ixMind of the cniitests ot" the Di.uhichi viz., hetwt'eii .">.'i.")-l?7>! H. (J. ami jiiuhahlN hy a siiijrle hand.' IMof. ('lieyiie in the Jewish (-iiiarterly Review ({.)ct(»her IS.sSi decides that these ehapter.s were written by one wln» "lived nearer to that apo- calyptic age of which the most noted representative is tlic author, it" we should n»tt say authors, of Daniel."' The late venerable Frajiz Delitzsch, in his •»Messianisclie \VLissagjing^eschatologische Trdumev. or that they are predictions of a distant future — of the age of Alex- ander, of Antiochus, of the destruction of Jerusalem, of the Christian Church. To find in them an attach- ment to the facts and conditions present before the eyes of the nation at the time in which they were written, or spoken, is not considered important. Hender- son, in his introduction to chap. 11 says: ''As the predictions do not relate to the times in which those persons lived, it is not conceivable how they could have so appropriated them as to derive effectual ad- vantage from them. Besides, they contain no instances of direct address, or personal application of the truths delivered, such as we find in the other prophets when addressing themselves to contemporaries, for their im- mediate benefit. It may therefore be concluded, that they were communicated to Zechariah on some oc- corporated the chaps. 9-14 into his book from earlier pro- phecies very difticult. ' Hiob p. 34 footnote. — n; — r.'isiiiM or (tccasioiis dt wliidi wc have in> kMO\vlc'(l<^e. The scenes cle})icted lay in a more distant Inture." If it be true that this chapter and othei's have no histdiical allusion to the Zecharianic a^e, and no lesson for it. we have here sufficient ground to lead us to seek another period or periods for their origin, for we hold fast to the ])rinciple that the ])rophetic ■\vi-iter speaks to the age in which he lives, is its interpieter, and the repi-esentative of its instructive ele- ments. Whatever he may say concerning the future, of warning, comfort or promise, is interw'oven with the immediate situation, is the dark shadow cast for- ward by the nation's sins, or the bi'ight light dawning to its hopes. Whatevei" may be the later application of Old Testament wi-itings, the fact that the wi'iter spoke to his age, in terms appropriate to his age, is the only key which ejiables us to enter upon the scien- tific study of these writings. If these chapters do not belong to the age of Zechariah, why do w^e not follow the prevailing criticism and seek for them a pre-exilic origin? Pre- liminarily, it will be sufficient if we show that such a course is not necessary. The attachment of a body of pre-exilic writings solidly to a post-exilic book is so opposed to analogy, that the proofs for its necessity should be unmistakably strong. We find nothing in these chapters which makes the refuge to a pre-exilic theor}' necessar}'. These chapters contain terms appro- priate to pre-exilic conditions, but we must bear in — 17 - mind that the later a book is, the less is the value of the argument from the use of words, and forms of speech. While an earlier writer cannot use phrases which have their birth in a later age, the later writer may be greatl}- influenced by the diction and style of the earlier age. Forms of speech, like modes of dress changed very slowly, and the later generations, used expressions which could no longer be literally applied, but which were thoroughly understood. Thus, in the chapters we are considering, the terms Ephraim (chap. 10), Judah and Ephraim (chap. 9 ), Judah and Israel (chap. 12), Beth David (chaps. 12 & 13) Egypt and Assyria, the teraphim etc., which have the ring of pre-exilic productions, and thus have led criticism to seek in them the political and religious situation of a former period, * can all be explained on the principle we have stated. ^ We must not overlook ' Compare even so recent an Article as that of Prof. Graetz in the Jewish Quarterly Review Jan. 1891 (p. 212). »Those chapters which assume the continuation ot the House of David and the prevalence of idolatry, certainly belong to the period before the exile, while the last chapter belongs to the period after it.« Also Prof. Driver in his Introduction just issued (p. 327). ». . . . passages such as 9, 10 ('I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalam') 11, 14 (where the 'brotherhood' between Judah and Israel, existing at the time, is broken) especially the latter, are very difficult of explanation if the prophecy be of post-exilic date.« - Some of the expressions supposed to be pre-exilic are used even by New Test, writers. Also compare the New Test, expression which speaks of Jesus coming ». . . . into the borders of Zebulon and Naphthali« Matt. 4, 13. Numberless illustrations occur to us of the tenacity of tech- nical terms to retain their place in popular speech and in — 18 - tlic jMiwcrt'iil iiilliuMU'i' of the earlier projiliets on the diction and stvlc of jiost-exilie writers. The later writers, esjieeially in tlie national strn<(f(les of the (rreeian ])erio(l, were so jxjssessed with every word and line of the classic jn-ophets ami the other saei-ed writers, whose utterances were their only literature and ex- clusive interest, that their own ])roductious were replete with archaic terms.' These considerations, 1 believe, are sufficient tr) explain all the terms which we iind in chai)s. '.)-14, appropriate to an earlier period, without resort to theory of a pre-exilic authorship of these chapters. These terms are referred to again where we consider the contents of the chapters. The argument from words is one where the greatest caution is necessary. It was, as we have seen (page 8), a single linguistic hint, even the use of a single word in St. Matthew's (xospel, which formed the basis of this pre-exilic literature after they have lost tlieir literal application. Ke- centl}' I noticed in a presentation address in America that the speaker used the term »shillings and pence« in presenting a purse of American money. Later critics might conclude that that address must have been written in our colonial period, when we still used English money. Their error would be in giving too much weight to the argument from language and too little to other criteria. ^ We do not need therefore to deprive deutero-Zechariah of all orginality and consider him as mechanically copying and combining ideas from the earlier prophets. See Stade in Pt. II. of his article referred to above, where he discusses the relation of deutero-Zechariah to earlier Old Test. Prophecy. Compare Zech. 9, 2'^-4 with Amos 1, 9-10: Zech. 9, 6*^-7 with Amos 1, 7-8; Zech. 11, 1-3 with .Jer. 2.'), 34-38: Zech. 14, IG with Is. 66, 23 etc. — 19 — theory, and then the finding of terms and expressions in chapters 9-14 suited to earlier conditions enlarged and expanded this structure for two and a half centuries. If, therefore, in our consideration of the separate chapters, it can be shown that the historic background and the prophetic motive of these chapters belong to a post-exilic date, and that all of their terms are explicable, in the later situation, there will be no need of an endeavor to refute the pre-exilic arguments in detail. III. THE CAXOXICAL QUf:STlOX AFFE(TIX(; THE DISCUSS lOX. In the histoiy of tliis criticism, every attempt to find a later origin of chapters U-14 lias encountered the objection of a closed Canon. The full discussion of the question concerning the Canon* does not belong here, but not being willing to proceed further until I had satisfied this objection in my own mind, I will give here simplj^ an outline of the canonical argument which affects the present discussion.* 1. In the earliest notices which we have, looking toward an Old Testament Canon, we see a constant striving toward the collection of a body of writings with divine authority, but there is no word from which we may infer a collection complete and unalterable. a) In the later Old Test. Books as Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra and Daniel, we find not only the divine authoritj- of the first division — the * To the long list of works on the Old Test. Canon have been added the present year (1891) Bnhl: Kanon und Text des Alt. Test. Leipzig; Wildeboer: Die Entstehung des Alt. Test. Kanons (translated into German from the Dutch). Gotha. - 21 - Tliorah — pressed upon the people, but also an appeal made to the "'former prophets" and ''the prophets" , showinjo^ the inception and growth of a second division, viz., of prophetical books, but of course with no hint as yet of a com- pleted Canon. The second witness we have is in the apocry- phal book 2 Maccabees 2, lo, where there is related the Jewish tradition that the prophet Jeremiah found, on the mountain where Moses had his vision of Canaan, a hollow cave, and deposited there the tabernacle, the ark and the altar of incense etc. Vs. lo reads: "The same things also were reported in the memoirs (ij7ro|j.v7j[j.aT!.!j[j,o!,(;) of Nehemiah; and how he, founding a library, ( ^t.|jAt.o97]x-rjv ) gathered together the acts of the kings and the prophets and of David and the letters of the kings concerning the votive offer- ings (avaOir]ij.aTwv)."' This passage, we see, is so embedded in fable that its testimony is injured. Nevertheless it is witness to a record current in the second centur}^ B. C. of the activity of Nehemiah, in his day, in the collection of the sacred writings. But we certainly have no sufficient grounds here for inferring a com- pleted Canon in Nehemiahs time. On the contrary, the verse which follows says that Judas (Maccabeus) added to Nehemiah"s col- lection, (vs. 14). "In like manner Judas, collected all (the writiners) that were scattered Ity ri'asoM of the war \vc liad. and llu-y are %vitli us. " ' c) A more important Avitiiess is the prologue to the Wisdom of Jesus hen Siraidi. hy a ij^randson of the same name who went to Eg3-pt in tlie 3-I4.i ' The inquiry into the historic position of a prophetic writing does not therelore involve a doctrinal problem. I cannot resist quoting w^ith peculiar commendation the admi- rable words of Perowne in his Inti'oduction to Zechariali in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. »Ia dealing with this and similar Biblical questions it is important clearly to understand that they are purely critical in their character and must be discussed and decided on the ground of scholar- ship alone ... It is unworthy of a scholar and alien from the calm, candid spirit of a seeker after truth, to taunt an 0[)ponent with the nonie of 'orthodox' or 'rationalist' instead of weighing his reasons, and accepting or rejecting the arguments which he adduces. « IV. CHAPTER IX. 1-10. The Nt'O at the head of chapter 9 cannot well be considered as in status constructus to ^^'^31 and the phrase rendered, as it frequently is, ''The oracle of the word etc," ' which would be equivalent to •'the word of the word". ^'C^ is evidently an inde- pendent superscription, to be read "Oracle: The word of Jahwe". ^ When one observes the recurrence of i^U-'P at Chap. 12, 1 and at Mai. 1,1. the conclusion is natural that it was placed there to mark a division of this last section of prophetical writings into tln-ee parts. This division was evidently only intended to be an external one. Each part at present contains three chapters. ^ Stade considers the superscription of Chap. 12, 1 to be an interpolated cop}^ of 9, 1 and that 12, 1 began originally at ''D^{^. also that the ' So Wrightiuul others. Zunz'sBibel: »Vortrag(les Wortes.« A. E. V. »The burden of the Word«. - So Segond: »()raele, parole do rEt('rnal.« v. Orelli and otliers: »Orakel, Wort Jahvves.« ^ Since writing tlie above I notice tliat Driver accepts as — 29 - superscription at 9, 1 belonged to the whole six chapter 9-14,' The mn' 121 of 9, 1, according to our analysis, were originally sinipl}- the opening words of the short section a-ss. 1-10. This passage, according to our proposition in the Introduction, (p. 11) was written at the time that the arni}" of Alexander the ( Treat was standing before Tyre. Eichhorn, who in the last edition of his Einleitiing in das A. T. argued so positively for the conquests of Alexander as the historic background of this passage as to declare (IV. p. 449.) that any other explanation is impossible, considered the whole of chapters '.) and 10 a unit. ^ Other scholars (e. g. Sharpe in his work above quoted p. 19.5.) who liaA'e not properly assigned the passage, hare, howevei-, observed the break in the chapter at verse 11. We will first look into the contents of these verses 1-10. The writer describes a movement of Jahwe. ^ plausible the conjecture that the compiler added the three anonymous pieces 9-11, 12-14 and Mai. 1-3 to his collection which ended at chap. 8, arranging the titles of the second and third pieces on the model of the first. * Pie suggests that the 7\^TV at the beginning of the oracle has fallen out, and that the original reading was: »Oracle; the word of Jahwe. Jahwe dwells in, etc.« - Paulus (III p. 120f.) also considered this chapter to be a unit, adding to it 10, 1. but set the whole in the late Mac- cabean period viz. under Hyrcan I. ^ In vs. 1 it is the activity of Jahwe's word, (with prep. 3 comp. Is. 9, 7), in vs. 4 the subject is Adonai, in vs. 7. the person of Jahwe ^rin^m. I'^ Hebrew literature the word of Jahwe came more and more to mean the power and even the person, of Jahwe. The Targum of Gen. 3, 8 translates mn^ SpTIJ< with ^n J<1D'D Vp n' »The voice of the word of Jahwe. « — 30 — It l)i'<,^iiis with Syria. It falls iipmi lladracli. rests upon Uaiiiascus, touclios H;iiiiatli. It proceods to Plufnicia. Hero the wisdom of Tyre and Sidon is outwitted.' A(h)iiai sliall dispossess Tyre of lier riches, smite in the sea her powei- whieli lias withstood the sieges of centui-ies. and burn liei- with tire. The writer predicts also the fti'cct "f this movement upon rhilistia : the evacuation ot Askelon, the despair of Ekron, the disappearance of the kinj:^ from (iaza, the breaking of the pride of the Philistines. 2 The writer then meditates upon the bastard raee,^ the half Jewish, half Philistine })Opulation of Ashdod, which had dis- graced Judaism since the days of Nehemiah ( Neh. lo ). The prophet foresees the rejudaizing of this people of mixed blood (vs. 7 1, It shall be freed from the guilt of having eaten blood and forbidden meats (Gen. *.). Ezek. 8. Is. 65.1, and sliall be restored to Judaism, though perhaps to a place subordinate to that of the genuine Jew.* ' Segond translates ^3 of 2" with malgre: »in spite of all their \visdoin«. - 6'' is parenthetical, or it may be a marginal remark made after vs. 5, summing up the contents of vs. 5, viz. that the pride of the Philistines should be broken, and in being copied into the text it was put in after G* instead of before it. The suffixes in V3 a"d i" VJU'* certainly refer to the maitiscr. ' ITDD li'i=^ l^een variously interpreted. LXX aUoytvuiV Vulgate: Separator; Luther: Fremde: Zunz's Bibel: Ausliinder ; Segond: Tetranger; v. Orelli, A. E. V. and others: Bastard (as Dt. 23,3): R. E. V. (margin), a bastard race. This is the most explicable rendering. ^ The I^N is best understood as defined by Siegfried and Stade's VVorterbuch, Clanhanpt, head of a clan, subordi- — 31 — The most appropriate period in post-exilic, Jewish history for the production of these verses, seems to me to be the moment of the approach of Alexander, when new hope was awakened by his defeat of the Persians at Issus in 333 B. C. and his attack upon Phoenicia. The victory at Issus decided Alexander's empire over Syria. Damascus, which was at the time the store- house of the treasures of Darius, and the rendezvous of his court, was the special prey of the conqueror (See Prideaux I. p. 53(j). Alexander personall}^ con- ducted the campaig'n against Phoenicia where, Sidoii quickly succumbing, he began a seven months siege of Tyre. As in connection with the former sieges of Tyre by Salmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar, other prophets had awaited its downfall (Is. 23; Jer. 25, 22. 47, 4; Ezek. 27-28), so here the writer expects the fortress in the sea, which had survived former sieges, to be smitten, and the city to be entirely destroyed. That which is before the eyes of the people as the movement of a great conqueror, is described as a judgment of Jahwe, even his own direct action. The relation of the Jews to this movement, and the whole politico-religious situation, needed to be inter- preted so as to allay fear. This vnew is strengthened by the contents of verse 8 : »And I will encamp about mine house against an armj'^, »Against the going over and returning, »And there shall no more pass over it an oppressor. »For now I have seen with mine eyes.« nate prince, as it then gives the best parallel to the following clause, »and Ekron as the Jebiisite« i. e. adopted as Israelites but still inferior to those of unpolluted blood. — 32 - The lonof pei'iMil of rest under the I'ei-siaii Kings sim-e C'yi-ii.s, had been broken by Ai'taxerxes III (Oehus) 35S-iJ3S. This niDiiarch, whose bi'iitality nt home was nnprecedented, exercised the same crnelty towai'd his western subjects, and the new territory which he sought to sidjdue. In his own personally conducted expedition against Phoenicia and Egypt, he passed througli Judea, took Jericho, carried away captive many .lews, taking some of them with him into Egypt, and !3 • The majority of translations follow the Qere ^{3■>Q from J<3i*'TQ »against an army«. R. E. V. »against the array«; Zunz's Biliel : wider Sehaaren: Kohler: wider Heeres- niacht: Segond : pour la defendre contre une armee: Vulgate: — 33 — better application than to Ochus, who was pre-emin- ently an oppressor and whose "going- orer and retur- ning" was, as we have seen, still in bitter remem- brance. * The '3 of vs. 8, and that of verse 1, give the confirmation that, in all of these movements, Jahwe's eye is especially upon Israel. ^ This short oracle ends with the messianic passage (vss. 9-10) in poetic form, composed of two six-line strophes : »Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, »Shout, daughter of Jerusalem, »See! tlij' king cometh unto thee. »Righteous and charged with deliverance^ is he. »Humble and riding upon an ass, »And upon a colt the foal of an ass.« Ex his qui militant mihi; The LXX read H^i'D dydairnxa a setting up, a station, a garrison. (1 Sam. 1-4,12. Ezek. 26, 11). So Siegfried and Stade's Worterbuch: Schutzwache. v. Orelli: zur Wache etc. Ewald however reads n3>D = Wall. * The view that this verse merely expresses the idea, ■developed greatly in later Judaism, that Jahwe would be a "wall about his people to keep them from contact and hence pollution with the heathen does not seem to me to meet all the requirements of the text, which certainly has a military allusion. 2 Whatever difticulty there may be with the masoretic text of l'\ it seems to me to be more satisfactory than any of the changes proposed which substitute □")8i{, Syria, for Dlfi^- »Mankind«, i. c. the nations, forms a better antithesis to Israel (Jer. 32, 20) than »Syria«. Israel was scattered among the nations and thus Jahwe had his eye upon the nations for Israel's sake. The R. E. V. has »The eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward the Lord.« Others since Paulus, read »Edom« instead of »Man«. * i^^tJ is difticult to translate. This niphal participle - 34 - »Ajii1 he' shall cut olT diariots Iroin Kjihraiin, »Aii(l horses from Jenisalciu, »The battle bow sliall also be cut oft', »Aml he shall speak jteace to the nations. »lle shall also reign Irom sea to sea, »An(l tVoni the river unto tlie ends of the earth, « This picture of the king of peace, drawn in the- spiiit and reminiscence of the messianic expectations- of the classic prophets, could well have been suggested in contrast to the picture wliich was before the eyes of the people, viz: of a prince who was gaining dominion over the earth through inilitary prowess and display. War implements, horses, chariots, against which the classic prophets had disclaimed, lis. 4. 7. Mic. 7, 10 1 would be unknown in the messianic kingdom. Dl .^'' would be his word to the nations. The symbol of his reign would be his riding u])on the domestic beast, the ass. The whole colouring of this piece lit, 1-10 1, so far as we can judge from its apparent motives and language, makes it an appropriate production for the end of the Persian period, at the moment of the- approach of Alexander the Great. Dean Stanley who, under the influence of the criticism of his day, assigned Zech. 9-14 to a pre-exilic age, says, tin his History can hardly bear the active sense, as LXX am^"^i^: Vulgate: Salvator; Luther: ein Heifer; Zunz's Bibel: siegreich; Segond: victorieux. The passive sense, as the R. E.V. (margin), »saved«,. seems too strong on the other side. Kohlers translation is perhaps the best: »heilbegabt«, gifted with healing, or, as we have translated ^charged with deliverance«. v. Orelli: heilvoll. > LXX rightly read nnjH} I'or 'niDni. — 35 ~ of the Jewish Church, Lecture XLVII) : '^lu the- prophets of the captivity we felt the electric shock produced by the conquests of Cyrus. There is unfor- tunately no contemporary prophet in whom we can, in like manner, appreciate the approach of Alexander." If, however, we have rightly studied this passage- (9, 1-10) this misfortune has been healed. Y. CHAPTER IX. 11-17 ^^'ben we endeavor to find in vss. 1 1 and 1 2 a continuation of the poem contained in vss. IMO, as «ome have done, we are met with great difiiculties. We can pi-oduce six lines ])y rejecting' 12 Q^D f'N (jf vs. 11. »And tlioii also, through the blood of thy covenant, »I have sent thy prisoners from the pit, [in whicli there is no water] »Return to the strong hohl, » Prisoners of hope. »Also this day he declares:' »Doul(le will I requite thee.« There is, however, not the poetic form in these lines that exists in the poem of verses 9-10. Also '■ It is best to explain this much discussed word TJIQ as an araraaism i. e. the participle being used for the perfect tense, as is so frequently the case in tiie later books of the Old Test. Hoffmann: Hiob, Kiel 1891 p. 83 reads nJJ3 and makes vs. 12 the motto of Job. 42, 10. The LXX (ml avii txtas rjfxiQas TiaQo/y.taias aov, »for one day of thy sojourning.*) had ii difterent text. — 37 — they form no climax to the previous verses, but are like a new beginning after the climax of vs. 10. Verse 11 has a kind of connection both with the foregoing and with the following, and yet we have a feeling that the connection is not essential. If "thou" refers to the preceding, the "daughter of Zion", the "also" seems to apply to some new period or situation. I have the impression that verse 11 is a connecting verse between pieces which belong to far different periods. When I read vss. 11-17 there is the im- pression of a different historic environment from that observed in vss. 1-10. In vss. 1-10 Jahwe is subduing the nations about Israel which, amid the noise of war and the trauipling of armies, is assured of Jahwe's protection. The messianic hope is of a king of peace. There is no hint of danger from the side of Greece. If oar interpretation is correct, the approach of the Greek conqueror awakens the hope of protec- tion, at least of peace, and of the enlargement of Jewish state (vs. 7). In vss. 12-17 the Jews are at war with Greece.* Jahwe is maldng Judah into a bow and Ephraim into arrows. Zion is as the sword of a hero. In tlie heat of the contest Jahwe appears above the host, with arrow of lightning, blowing upon the trinnpet, striding in the stormwind. With Jahwe as a shield over them they are devouring, ^ * The LXX reads »Thy sons Zion against the sons of Greece« i. e. TV ^22 instead of » T^3- The repetition of 1^j3 is evidentl}' an ordiiiarj^ mistake of the copyist. - The order of words in the masoretic text is very dif- ficult »They shall eat and tread down slingstones.« What would be here the object of iVjXI 'j* Probably the enemy - ns ~ -iuid treadinjj^ down tlic sliiigstoiies, di'iiikiiig and shon- ting as with %viiu'.' tillcMl (i, e. bespattcrod with the blood ut" tlieir eneniios, tlie Greeks i as the bowl and the corners of the altar. ^ This utterance is introduced with a call to the prisoners, for whom there was still hope, to return to the strong-hold, with the declaration that double vengeance would be awarded them, for Jahwe was about to convert them into hei'oes. This fierce conflict, pictuied in Ijoidest terms, with the sons of Zion on the one side an clothed in a beautiful pastoral form, -and are an appropriate conclusion to the piece. ' V3' >>liis beauty« compare Ps. 45, 3. Is. 33, 17. YI. CHAPTER X. Kohler, Stade and a multitude of interpreter.^ consider that the division of cliapters is not happy liere and that chapter 10, 1-2 foi-m the conclusion of chapter 1'. Hitzig-Steiner arc^ues against this, but with others, regards 1(1, 1-2 as indepejident of what follows. I cannot agree with either of these conclusions, but, as we found i>, 1()-17 an appi-opriate conclusion to chap. *J. so chapter 10 can be well explained as a unit. This piece of rhythmic prose is, in my view, more than an apocalypse or dream. It has also a didactic motive viz. of re-establishing and confii-ming the religion of Jahwe in the populai" mind, as opposed to the inroads of the heathen cult, especially of holding the peasant population loyal to the national faith and national armies. Its historic background is, in general, the same as that of the foregoing with more of a distinctly religious piu-pose. If there exists here the didactic motive I have indicated, then vss. 1-2 are a proper introduction to the whole chapter and the transition, as we shall see, is natural, from the thought of Jahwe as the giver of rain. — 41 — to Jahwe as the givei- of victories. We can gain a better impression of the unity of the piece, if we read it connectedly and note throughout the plea for the cause of Jahwe. 1. »Ask from Jahwe rain, at the time of latter rain. »From Jahwe who formetli the lightnings. »And showers of rain he will give them, »To every man grass in his field. 2. »For the teraphim speak vanity, »And the diviners see falsehood. »Dreams of emptiness they relate. »Fruitlessly they comfort. »Therefore as sheep they (the people) are turned aside, »They suffer, for there is no shepherd. 3. »lTpon the shepherds burns mine anger, »And upon tlie he-goats will I make visitation. »For Jahwe of Hosts has visited his tlock, the house ot Judali. »And he will set them as his favorite steed in battle. 4. »From him tlie corner stone, »From him the nail, »From him the battle bow, »From him go forth all the drivers together. 5. »And they shall be as heroes trampling (the foe), »In the mire of tlie streets in battle. »Yea, they shall fight, for Jahwe is with them. »And the riders on horses shall be put to shame. 6. »And I will make strong the house of Judah, »And the house of Joseph will I save. »Yea, I will restore them, as I have pity for them. »And they shall be as though I had not forsaken them. »For I am Jahwe their God, and I will answer thein, 7. »And Ephraim shall be as a hero. »And their heart shall rejoice as with wine. »Yea, their children they shall see and rejoice. »Their heart shall exult in Jahwe. 4 — 42 — H. »An(l 1 will whistlt' fur linin, »Yea, I will gatlicr llitiii. »For I have reiict'iiird them. »Au(l tlu'y shall incrcasf, as they have incnased. 9. »Wh(Mi I sow ihcm among the heathen, »Anil in distant lands tht-y remember mi-, »Tlu'n they shall live with tlu^ii' children and return. 10 »An(l 1 will icsldif ilieio I'ldni the land oi EjTypt. »Krgm Assyria also will 1 gather them. »Then to the land of (iili^ad and Lehandn I will Itriiig them. »Until (roouij be nut found for them. 11. »When he sliall pass throngh tlic sea of distress, »Ile shall smite in the sea the waves. »An(i all the de]iths of the Nile shall be dried up. »Then shall be l)ronghl down the pride of Assyria. »And the sceptre of Egypt shall turn aside. 12. »For I will strengthen them in Jahwe, »Aiid in his name shall they walk. »ls the saying of Jahwe. Tlie argiiiiient: l^aiii, the greatest pastofal blessing, especially the "lattci- fain , so necessary to good Cfops, must be asked of Jalnvo. Jahwe gives the showers and the grass in the fields. Then follows (vs. 2) a denunciation of the teraphini cult and the practice of mantik. The writer enlarges on the text of Jeremiah 14: 22, where the power of Jahwe to give i-ain is contrasted with the "vanities' of the heathen, for this piM'pose. Here are named the teraphini and the qosemini, the diviiicis. The teraphim were introduced into Palestine from Mesopotamia. They were considered to be of great material protection (Gen. 31, 19. 30. 35). In the period of the Judges they were used by Micah, a worshi[)er of Jahwe — 48 - (Jiidg. 17 & 18). Samuel disapproved of their use (1 S. 15, 23), but David kept them in his house (1 S. 19, 13). Hosea foretells the day when the children of Israel should have no king^, prince, sac- rifice, pillar, ephod nor teraj)him, as a day of calamity. Josiah's reform brought a decided attack upon their use (II Kings 23, 24). From that period the vanity and guilt of such idolatry were more and more em- phasised. Ezek. 21, 2() [Heb.] makes their use the sin of the king of Babylon. In later Judaism, as seen from the Mishna, the hatred of this species of idolatry became intense. * That the Jews were still subject to the fascinations of a heathen cult, after the exile and into the Maccabean period, is clear from II Mace. 12, 32-45. The soldiers who were slain in the battle with Clorgias were found with heathen amulets ' See Levy's Clialdaisches Wurterbucli in loco. One can well see how these teraphim, which were formerly household gods simply, could come to be consultsd I'or weather por- tents etc. 11' the usual derivation from the arabic tarapha, to live in comfort, iurphatun, prosperous and comfortable life, be the correct one, (see Gesenius' Thesaurus p. 15"2()) then it is not strange that they were consulted on the subject of rain. (The identification of terapliim with the south Palestinian seraphim, contended for by some scholars, is strong!}' disputed). Parallel with the lifeless teraphim, as objects of consul- tation, were the Qosemim, practicers of inantik, often co-ordina- ted with the Nebiim, especially when these were denounced (see Micah 3, 5. G. Is. 3, 2). Here both teraphim and qosemim are denounced in strongest terms. These two species of idolatrous practice are here used by the prophet as general terms to designate every species of idolatry, which, in the introduction of Hellenism, tempted the Jew from Jahwe worship. — u - (up«p.aTa e'.5«Xov) liiddeii iimlci" their coats,' It is likely therefoi-e that the terms used in verse 2 are iiielusive desif^iiations of the various methods ot" con- sultation of divinities and divinei's and the multitude of heathen rites and practices which were introduced by the mixed forci<^n population which ming'led freely with the Jews in the Grecian period. In verse ;3, with judgment pronounced against the leaders of the heathen cult, both inside and outside of Judaism, 2 a transition is easily made from the thought of Jahwe, the giver of pastoral blessings, to Jahwe, the giver of strength and pi-owess in war. Also the inner connection is seen between loyalty to the national faith, and heroism in the political crisis which was upon the nation. Jahwe (vs. 4) is the centre of the jiolitical system; fi'oni him* aie the corner stone which su])ports, and the nail which holds together. Also of the military ])ower; tVoin him are the battle bow and chariot drivers. Through Jahwe, vs. 5, the people shall become heroes to conquer and confuse the riders on horses. The house of Judah, which is already in the land, shall be strengthened, and Joseph and Ephraim, i. e. the diaspora, shall be saA-ed and converted into heroes. Upon this favorite prophetic theme the wi'iter naturally enlarges. .lahwe will whistle for those who are scattered among: the * See also Josephiis Antiq. XVIII, 9, ^. 2 The n^i71i shepherds, and the DmiHy, he-goats, are appropriate designations of the Greek friends inside of Judaism, and the Seleucidae outside. We meet theseagaininchap.il. 3 »From him«, see Is. 28, 16. Ps. 118, 22. - 45 — nations, and restore them to their own land, where their increase shall be as in former days (vs. 5-8). Not only captives, but the colonists, who, with their offsprino-, lived in distant lands, should return, vs. 9. The figure of the people being sown as seed, was not an uncommon one in Hebrew literature (Ps. 10(5, 27. Hosea 2, 25 [Heb.]), but the figure is here modified and pi-esents the picture of Jews in foreign lands without the immediate prospect of return. At the period in which we have set this writing, the Jewish colonists, especially in Egypt, had already attained great impor- tance. According to Ps. 87 which already Olshausen and, since, many others have assigned to the Macca- bean period, the birth of Jews in foreign places was a reason for these places receiving Jahwes notice. Of them it should be said, "this man was born there.'' The lands of the diaspora are hei-e in general terms desig- nated Egypt and Assyria. In the (irecian period the Jewish writers meant by the term "Assyria'", Syria,' or the lands of the north. The I'eturned exiles were to be gathered "into the land of Gilead and Lebanon." In these districts were already many Jews, but they were annoyed and oppressed by the heathen. The prophetic promise is that these quarters should be tilled with Jews. Though the actual territory held ' Herodotus VII, 63 says concerning Syria: »Tliis people whom the Greeks call Syrians are called Assyrians by the barbarians«. See also Rawlinson's note to Herodotus, Bit. I. 6 and Bli. VI. 63. Hitzig's Article »Assyrien« in Schenkel's Bibel- Lexikon, and Chejme's note on Ps. 83, 9. Comp. Is. 27, 12-13. See Driver's Notes on the Hob. Text of the Books of Samuel. Introduction p. X. - w - 1)V the .K'ws iiiidcr .ludas \v;is vciy iiarntw, cumpri- siiii^ littk' more than .leriisaloin and tlic .linleaii hills, and tiinuuji the cxcni-sitiiis into the border, ' especially into (iikad. l)y the Maecabean brothers, after the death of Antiorhus. wt-re for the I'elief and rescue of opj)ressed .lews in those (piarters, nevertheless the conception of the extent of Jewish control in the future, include(l tiie whoK' of Palestine. In verse 11, Jahwe becomes the subject of discourse, abruptly resumed from verse 4, though the general contents of the verse connect well with the preceding. Jahwe here is the heio, as in It, 14, at the head of the host. Here he leads through the sea of distress. ^ The i-eminiscence of the Red sea deliverance was always freshest in the Jewish consciousness at the moment of greatest peril. It was a favoi-ite figure of the writers in the Maecabean crisis. The author of the 1*" Bk. of the Maccabees, in his description of the battle of Knunaus, has .Judas, when be k»und himself shut in between the "'camp of the heathen" and the trained detachment under Gorgias, cheer his soldiers with the memory of the Red sea delivei-ance (1 Mace. 4, 8-0). Here are repeated the prophetic expectations of Is. 11. Is. 27. and Micah 7. ' See Conder's »Judas Maccabensx p. 109, lit) and Schiirer I. \>i>. 142-3. ^ D*n should b<' D^3- This is thfi method usually adopt- ed to got a readable text. Stade, following Klosternaann, recommends for niY, niY-»to Tj're.« and holds the clause »and he shall smite in the sea the \vaves« to be a gloss copied in a mistaken manner from 9, 4 »and he shall smite in the sea lier riches« i. e. Q^^il for n'^^R- - 47 — The second clause of vs. 11 seems to j-efer to the drying- up of the Nile, (Is. 11. 15) followed by the prophecy of the humiliation of Syria (Assyria) and Egypt, the two parts of the last great kingdom of Daniels image (the (irrecian, Dan. 2). That Jahwe is the subject of 13i7 1 in vs. 11" agrees with vs. 12 where he is made the source of the strength, and his name of the sustenance of Israel. This plea for Jahwe as the object of the worship and trust of the people tempted to a heathen cult, is emphasised by the threefold repetition of his name in the climax clause (VS. 12 i. Thus the whole tenor of chap. 10, with the didactic motive which we have discovered and its historic environments, so far as we can divine them from allusions to national events and conditions, points to the Maccabean period as its appropriate setting. ' ^f nn^ should be read HHy then of course Epliraim would be the subject of n3I7- VII. CHAPTER XI. Ill chai)tei" 1 1 T do not discover any elements which require for it u ditferent historic situation from the preceding. Its direct prophetic purpose is, however, different from that of chap. 10. The motive in chapter 10 we found to be the winning of the people, throughout the country, from a heathen cult to the worship of Jahwe and to loyalty to his armies. That in chapter 11 is to rebuke the secularization of the religious leaders at the centre of government. This different motive is accompanied by a change of style and i-hctorical method. The former is light, easily grasped; Jahwe is the giver of i-ain, the source of political and military strength, the hero and deliverer in the national crisis. The latter is obscure, with meaning hidden undei' proso})opoeia, allegory and symbolic action, at the same time more massive and powerful. The former, being for the people, is full of hope and encouragement, the latter being for the leaders, contains the darkest picture. Henderson cor- rectly admitted that there was no message in chap. 11 for the period of the restoration of the temple.* ' See above in II. - 4'J - Eichhorn. * though considering it the product of a later age, declares that the whole section 11, 1 — 13, G has no contents by which we can determine the period of its authorship. If, however, w^e give it the background of the Maccabean age, when the hostile power of the north was bursting like a storm-cloud of fire and devastation upon the whole land, and when this outward storm had its counterpart in the internal corruption, wheji the religious leaders were secularized, when the highpriesthood was sold to the highest bidder, and the offices of religion were the reward of bribes, we can see how it affords the intensest meaning for the age in w^hich it was written. The complete seculaiization of thie one party produced the intense religious consciousness of the other, and from the depth of this consciousness could well have issued the contents of chapter 11. The two ideas of the writer seem to be, first : the bursting in of a world power from without, which was apparent to all, and secondly: the development of a world spirit wnthin, w^hich should disrupt the nation. The first part, contained in vss. 1-3, is an apos- trophe in poetic form, comprising a distich and two tetrastichs. 1. X'Open, Lebanon, thy doors, »That fire may devour thy cedars. 2. »How'l pinetree. »For the cedar hiis I'allen. [HIU^' D^nX li:*>{-]' »Howl, oaks of Ka^han, »For the inaccessible forest has gfone down. ' Einleitung IV. 449. ^ »For the glorious ones are destroyed. « The original of this clause is in vs. 3. - r)0 — 3. »HarkI llic wailiiiLT ol tin- slir|ilu'nls! »l""(tr tlieir glory is dcslroytMl. »HarlvI llie roaring of young lions! »Kor (he jiride of the Jordan is (i\ ertliinwii. \(m Ortoiibei"^ ' ami a g'i'eat iniinlxi' (»f' critics, earlier and later, hold vs.s. l-.'> to ])c an iiidcixMident prophecy. Others consider tlicin tlic (tiiicliisioii ot clui]). 10.2 Others consider them to be simply a marg'iiial production which afterward jj^ot into the text between chapters 10 and 11 without any i-elation to the context. Stade (I. p. TOi, who explains these verses as a mechanical working over of Jer. 25, 34-38, shows, however, the unity of authorship between them and the following, on the ground that vs. 3 is influenced by Jer. 12, 5 and vs. 4 by .h'v. 12. 3. According to oui" analysis vss. 1-3 are a necessaiy part of the author's plan, and the literary material from the earlier prophets, which he has by heart, and which he consciously or unconsciously uses, he models into a new form, just as from the same stones very different structures can be built. Here the burning cedars of Lebanon, the falling forests of Bashan, the howling of the ])ine trees and oaks, the wailing of the she[)hei-ds, the roaring of the lions and the laying waste of the Arabah. are bold foi-ins of speech to i-epresent the external catastrophe, cor- responding to the internal disruption which he is- about to describe under allegory and symbolic action, in vss. 4-14. The flock of slaughter, vs. 4, is the victim of the- ' Bestandtheile etc. p. 74. - Hofmann: Weissagung and Erriillung I, p. 31H. - .")! — world-spirit in the leaders and shepherds, who had so far lost the sense of the sacredness of the priest's- ofHce, that they were, in Jahwe's name, makini^ traffic of the people, and with light word play upon their historic faith blessing Jahwe that they were getting rich (Vs. 5). The giving over of the people of the land to the prey of desti'uctive forces * (vs. 6) expresses the inner relation of the whole symbolic action to the devastating external power portrayed in vss. 1-3. The result of the secularization of the leaders and hence the disintegration of the people, created the susceptibility to ruin expressed by "Open, Lebanon, thy doors."' ^ The writer then represents himself as undertaking to feed the flock, in commission of the traffickers (vs. 7). "Then I fed the flock of slaughter for the traffickers of the sheep." The reading ''Jl^JD^ suggested by Stade, though disputed, is undoubtedly the correct one. The expression ''^2V f37 (vs. 7) and the similar expression ''*pi7 |3 (vs. 11) do not otherwise give a satisfactory sense. What would "therefore" refer to? The LXX translate d^ tt,v yjrxxcolTV), (vs. 7) and ' inyii li'S neigiiboiir, should probably be read ini^^j ^lis shepherd, parallel with »his king«. The kings = the Seleu- cidae, »the shepherds« = the high priests, who were selling the people into their hands. ^ With this view we cannot of course translate 'iH'' 1^ Y^Ji^ri of vs. 6 as Kiihler, Wright and others »inhabitants of the earth«, but as the A. E. V. and R. E. V. »inhabitants of the land.«. So also Lutlier, Zunz's Bibel, Osterwald, Segond and others. Not the nations, but the land and people of the Jews, are here the object. yavavato'- i vs. 1 1 i. In I Ins. li*. s ["J3 is used in the sense of merchant, nr tiatlickei'. So also in Zech. 14, 21, the word 'J^JD is pri.jx'ily transhited trat- iiekci-. See also Ezek. 1<>, .'5. T\w loaders of the people in vs. 5 are painted under the iig-iire of mer- chants dealing in the people, and these expressions in verses 7 and 11 appropriately- carry out the figure. The prophetic purpose in the symbolic handling of the two staves is evidentl}' to show that true government, symbolized by these, is not possible under the present order, the one staff DV2, favor, symbolizing Jahwe's covenant with the nations for the protection of Israel, and the other D ^^R, unity,' symbolizing the ideal national brotherhood and inter- nal concoi'd. In the action described in verse 8, of the cutthig off of the thi'ce shepherds ^ in one month, and the refusal to feed the flock, it is difficult to detei'mine whether the writer had in mind three distinct persons who in ' Frou) part, of /^n, t'^ bind. »Bands« would require D^^3n. Comp. vs. 14. ''' Some critics have suggested the supplying of "IK^tJ and reading »I cut oil" the three shepherds, which were in one month. « (See von Ortenberg and Hitzig-Steiner in loco.") This is not necessary. The rendering defended by Kohler seems to me justifiable: »1 cut off three of the shepherds in one month. « Compare Ex. 2G, 3 J-|i;n^ H Cpfl- The A.E.V. reads »the five curtaiiis«, which is not good, because five curtains are not hitherto mentioned. The R. E. V. corrects and reads »five curtains* i. e. five of the ten before mentioned. So here the Jahwe- appointed shepherd cuts off three of the shepherds, i. e. of those mentioned in vs. 5. - 53 — one month were cut off, or whether, with objectively figurative language, he meant simply to portray the swift destruction of the shepherds. The seeking here for the literal action of the Jahwe-appointed shepherd has led, in the course of criticism, to the finding of twenty or more different groups of three persons who might be the three shepherds, from Moses, Aaron and Miriam b}- Jerome, to Galba, Otho and Vitellius by Calmet, or of classes of leaders as Prophet, Priest and King,' Pharisee, Sadducee and Essene. Against the suggestion of post-exilic characters, Judas, Jonathan and Simon, Antiochus Epiphanes, Eupator and Demet- rius, the defenders of the pre-exilic authorship settled upon Zecharia, Shallum and some unknown preten- der, as the three shepherds. 2 If we were zealous to find three persons who could appropriately be in the mind of the writer at the period in which we have set the writing of chap. 11, they would be Lysimachus, Jason and Menelaus, all of whom exercised the priest's oflice in a disgraceful manner, and were cut off within a comparatively short period. After Menelaus had bought the priesthood from Antiochus by offering three hundred talents of silver more tax than Jason, the latter was compelled to flee to the land of the Ammonites. Menelaus, being obliged to go to Antioch, ' This was Delilzsch's view in his last work, Messianische IVeissagimgen p. 150, following, as he says, the precedence of Ephrem, Theodoret and 03^-111. ^ Stade from the standpoint of the Diadochan period thinks upon the three world-kingdoms which had hitherto hindered the advent of the kingdom of God (i. e. the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian). — 51 - left the (itlice (»t' t\\v pricstliMdd in Jt'i-iisalcin with his brothiM' Lysiiiiachiis. Tliis hitter ccdninitttMl so inaiiv sacriloirfs Jind oiitraufcs in .Fcnisalein, in r(»l)l)iii"), then let the staff DV2 be broken (vs. 10), and the covenant of Jahwe with the nations for Israel's protection be annulled — let Lebanon open her doors and the hre devour. The attention of the traffickers 2 (vs. 11) is called to the pictui-e. Those who regard it shall know that it is the nln^'niJl that is at work. In the picture which follows is exhibited the little value which the people set upon the .lahwe rule. In the secularization of public life, the religious service is held to be of little value. The new shepherd asks for his hire. The price of a slave (Ex. 21, 32) is weighed out to him. At Jahwe's command he casts it to a potter ^ as an ' Comp. Jeremiah's 70 years which, in Daniel, become 490 yeai's. " '"'2V 13 = '*JI7J3 as in vs. 7. Comp. p. .51. ^ This, assuming that 13^V J^ the proper text. The R. E. V. (Margin) following the reading of a host of interpreters, has »treasury«, lYlX, explained as being the original reading lor which "ll^V i'^ '^ mistake, or that the latter is an Ara- maism for the former. The LXX has x^fivn](iioy = foundry. Wright follows a number of scholars, in arguing at great length for the rendering »potter«. Segond translates »pour — i)ii — ainoinit adapted to the small hiisiiu-ss of inakiii<^ clay vessels, but despicable as repr('seMtiiiV ^Ia^{• Vulg. has: Confortentur mihi habitatores Jerusalem. Zunz's Bibel: »Eine Stiitze sind mir die Bewohner Jeruschalaims.« - The weak and stumbling should be as David, i. e.. endowed with royalty, and those of the David line should be as Elohim and as the angel of Jahvve, i. e. possessed of a divine glory. With this apocalypse ot the wonderful exal- tation of Israel, compare that of Daniel (Dan. 12, 1-3). — 68 - versa! mourning. It is possible that the prophet here had in mind, as the object of this mourning, the conservative pai't of the people, which suffered for fidelity to the national faith. Those persisting in observing the law were persecuted, hunted to the death. Women who were discovered having their children circumcised, were crucified with their babes dangling upon their necks. Thus the faithful or ideal Israel were, like the mn'' 12V of deutero-Isaiah, suf- fering for the whole nation. In this persecution, those of the nation who were either outspoken friends of the Greeks, or by indifference gave countenance to the outrages, were themselves guilty of piercing the heart of Jahwe, represented in his ideal people. For this the house of David and the people of .Jerusalem were responsible and guilty, and, looking upon him • whom they had pierced, they should mourn. That many a .Jew who had gone over to the Grecian party, upon seeing a friend or relative crucified for fidelity to the faith, turned back to Judaism, is one of the traditions of that period. From the language of vs. 10 f. however, we look for some person who was before the writer's mind. This could, at that period, be no other than the good high priest Onias III who had served the people twenty-four years, and whose fidelity to the faith of his fathers, and antagonism to the outrages practiced in the nanie of religion, was murdered at the instigation of the unprincipled ^ The pointing of ^7J< should evidently be '75«{ = 7X1 to, toward. See, Siegfried iind Stade, Worterbiich in loco. Ges. § 103. Job. 3, 22 etc. — (J4 — Greciaii-tVientl .Mciiclans. 'i His death cuiisimI a iiiniini- iiig on the part of all classes, because of the integ- rity of his character, and even tlie dissolute Antiochus avenged his blood iipdii his murderer Andronicus. Tliat lie was later held in greatest lionoi' by the Jews, is witnessed to in theii- traditions |2 Mace. 15, i'2 f. ). In a dream which Judas jMaccabeus re- lates that he had on the eve of the battle with Xi- canor, Onias and Jeremiah appear as the intercessors with God "for the people and for the holj- city"'. We can well see, therefore, how the wi'iter here, probably one of the most devout of the Chasidim, seeking to conciliate various diverse elements, should nevertheless see Jei-usalem, in the day that there should be an outpouring of grace and prayer, con- fessing its guUt for, and lamenting over, the murder of the pious Onias. The gi'ief should be as a mourn- ing for the only son, and as bitterness over the first- born, i. e. it should be intense and personal. ^ There should also be great lamentation throughout the city. »ln that day, great sliall be the mourning in Jerusalem, »As the mourning of Hadadrimnion in the valley of Megiddo.* The seeking on the part of scholars for the pei'son • II Mace. 4, 34 f. - With l^n' and 1132 compare D5<'V3i<{3 (Ps- 35, 14). »As one mourning for a mother.* Altsu TfT ,3^{l Jer. G, 2G. Amos 8, 10. We see no need therefore, (comp. Kneucker, SchenkeTs Bibel-Lexicon 11 p. 564) of seeing in "l^RV Hadad of the Hadadrimmon (vs. 11), nor of the identification, by Conder (Heth and Moab )>. 78), of the »bitter day«, which is the parallel of the l^fl^ , 3^{ of the Amos passage, with the »bitter tree« from which Thammuz was born. — 65 — referi-ed to in the latter clause of this parallel has resulted in a long and still continued discussion. Those holding the traditional view, current since St. Jerome, contend that the writer refers here to the death of king Josiah who fell in a battle with Necho, in the valley of Megiddo, B. C. (109. The opposing view is, that by Hadadrininion the writer meant Adonis, the Phoenician god of the spring, whose death, and dis- appearance in midsummer were bewailed with im- posing festivals, Neithe]- of these views is entirely •satisfactory. As to the first view, we have no facts which coiniect Josiah with Hadadrimmon. According to at least one source, * he did not even die in the valley of Megiddo, nor was the mourning for him there, but at Jerusalem. Kohler will make it analogous to the expression "the mourning over Leipsic", by the French. We have however, no account of Hadadrimmon being a stronghold, or a field that was lost, or a place where a battle was lost. The record concerning King Jo- siah is that he fell in the valley of Megiddo, smitten by the archers of the king of Egypt. The expression in the text, "as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo", would require much strain- ing to make it refer to the mourning over Josiah. The opposing view is equally difficult. It would require the text to read: "Great shall be the moui'n- ing in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon, i. e. over Hadadrimmon, i. e. over Adonis, in the valley of Megiddo." The chief objection to this is 1 Compare 2 Kings 23, 29 with 2 Chr. 35, 23-24. — «6 — that we cannot identity Iladadrinunon with Adonis. >' Hadad and Rinimon were names of Syrian deities, and they entered into the names of Syrian kings, as Hadadezer, Benhadad, Tabrimmon ^ etc. Tlie com- pounding of the names of two deities was common, thus indicating that the one possessed also the attri- butes of the other. Hadadrimmon was such a com- pound name. Adonis (lord) was the Phoenician di- vinity whose worship was adopted by other nations^ especially by the Greeks, but we cannot supply the link which identifies this divinity with Hadadrimmon. The writer had probably no distinct personality in mind, (neither Josiah nor Adonis), but simply ?i place, ^ Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo, where mourn- ing festivals were held. This is all that the text itself warrants. In the first clause, the idea empha- sised is that the mourning shall be great in Jeru- salem, In the second clause of the comparison we are to expect another place to be mentioned where there was great mourning, and this is expressed by "as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo"'. "In the valley of Megiddo" is simpl}^ a localising of Hadadrimmon. When we bear in mind the multitude of mourning festivals celebrated in the Orient, such as the mourning for kings, * the festival * See Baudissin: Studien zur semitischen Religionsge- scliichte I. p. 305 ff. Schrader: K. A. T. 454. ^ See Movers: Die Phoenizier, I. C. 7. p. 19(i. 2 Kings 5,. 18. 1 Kings 15, 18. * For compound names as designations oi" localities com- pare Baal-peor, Baal-hamon etc. ^ Comp. Gen. 50, 10. 1 Sam. 31, 13. — G7 — of the virgins in remenibrance of Jephtha's daughter, ' also the elaborate ceremonies of lament for the deities of the changing seasons, as the lamentation over the Babylonian Thammuz, son of life, ^ and over the Phoenician Adonis, with imposing ceremonies in mid- summer; also that these festivals, especially the Phoenician, were lifted into greater importance when adopted by the Greeks, we would expect that certain localities, like the Jew's wailing-place in Jerusalem to-day, would become Avell known centres for these festivals. The Targum, quoted by Kohler, hints at the fact that the prophet had no single personality in mind, wlien it says that he meant Ahab and Jo- siah. To my mind, we learn from this passage, in the absence of more definite sources of knowledge, that Hadadrimmon was a well known centre ^ of these festivals of mourning in the Grecian period. The land should mourn (vs. 12). In order to- give in a single paragraph a most comprehensive picture of the universal lamentation, the writer men- tions the royal and priestly lines in the history of Israel, i. e. he names David and a son of David (2 Sam. 5, 14), Levi and a Levite (Ex. (3, 17. Nunu 3, 17), and all who did not belong to either of these,. 1 Judges 11, 40. ^ Ezek. 8, 1-14. This festival was lield in the sixth month, September. * The absence of the 3 loci before JlQlTin was that vi'hich led scholars to think of Hadadrimmon as the object of the mourning rather than the designation of a locality, and hence it was sought to identifj^ it with Adonis. For the use of the genitive instead of the preposition, however, compare Micah 1, 11 V^xn n'2 "13DD »The mourning of Beth-ezel.i7 be translated »their sorrows«, »ihre Schmerzensr, as is still done by most versions {even Chej'ne, »griefs«), or, »their ido]s«, as Gescnius and many scholars more recent. 3 Neh. 6, 7-14. * Compare the \piv6oTiQO(fi\irfi of the first christian cen- tury. J\ltt. 7, 15. 24, n. Acts 13, 6. 2 Pet. 2, 1. 1 John 4, 1 •etc. For characters of like spirit though differing in method comp. also John 10, 12-13 ij.is(hon6g »hireling«. Acts 8, 20 Tr]v ^coQidf Tov 6iov iyouiaas did ^Qr^txarwu y.Ta(^i^ai. ^ I Mace. 9, 27. 4, 46. ^ Amos 7, 14. — 71 — in speaking" of his own call did not reflect against the prophetic order of his day. But in the period of our author, the consciousness that the order of true prophets had ceased, together with the degener- acy of the class of prophets, who, in imitation of the Syrian practices, cut themselves on the arms and back in order to produce ecstasy or to compel the presence of the divinity, gives sufficient occasion for the strong denunciation of the whole class (vss. 2-7). ^ In the critical period of the battle between Judaism and the Greco-Syrian heathenism, the writer in his vision of "that day", i. e. the day of Jahwe, saw first, an indignation which would lead a father and a mother to pierce through a son who should practice nebiism, and secondl}^, that Jiebiism would be so stig- matised by the popular conscience that the man who had practiced it would be ashamed of his vision, would have laid aside his prophetic garb and w^ould dissemble the true source of his scars. This is not necessarily a contradiction of the representations of Joel (3, 1) and Jeremiah (31, 34) of the universal prophetic gift in the Messianic age, but rather a supplement to these utterances. As an outburst of indignation upon the present corrupt practices, it is an expressed hope of the total extinction of profes- sional nebiism. ' For the original and later conception of the meaning of self-castigation in heathen usage, see Pietschmann's Ge- schichte der Phoenizier p. 164, in Oncken's allgemeine Ge- ^chichte. Com p. the Baal prophets 1 K. 18, 28. X. CHAPTER XIII, 7-0. »S\vor(l, awake upon my sheplierd, »Even upon the man of my companionship, »Is the saying of Jahwe of Hosts. »Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; »And I shall turn my hand upon the little ones. »And it shall be that in all the land, saith Jahwe, »T\vo parts therein shall be cut oft" and shall perish, »But the third part shall remain therein. »And I will cause this third to pass through the lire. »Yea, I will purify them as tlie purifying of silver, »An(l I will try them as the testing of gold. »Tliey shall call upon mj' name, and 1 will answer themr »1 will say: This is my people, »And they shall say: Jahwe is my God.« This seemiugl}^ detached fragment of rhythmic prose has caused interpreters great perplexity. Hitzig, Wright and others, seek an inner connection between these verses and wliat immediately precedes. But the scene here is certainly entirely changed, and the theme new. Ewald, von Ortenberg, Stade, Cheyne, Driver and perhaps the majority of the more recent critics, consider this passage a suitable conclusion to chapter 11, 15-17. This explanation, however, has also — 73 — its difficulties. A shepherd is concerned in each case, but in the allegory of chap. 11, after the prophet, in the role of a good shepherd, was loathed and paid off in an unappreciative manner, he was commanded to take the instruments of the foolish shepherd. The pre- diction was that Jahwe should raise up a base shep- herd, who should devour the flock. A curse is pro- nounced upon him, viz: a complete withering of the right arm, and a total blindness of the right eye,' in consequence of his neglect and robbery of the flock. Under his regime the flock is scattered, lost, broken. The death of such a shepherd would be a blessing to the flock. Here, however, in 13, 7-9 the sudden death of the shepherd, Jahwe's shepherd, the man of his companionship, is looked upon as a calamity. Because of his death the sheej) are scattered, implying that under his regime they were cared for and conserved. I would rather think here upon some leader whose fall was the occasion of lamentation, ^ as the pierced one of chapter 12, or, with Eichhorn/ upon Judas Maccabeus, whose death in battle* was the crowning calamity of the Maccabean crisis. The news of such a calamity could well be the occasion of this outburst of consternation * We would hardly expect the epithets of 13, 7, '^"1 and 'n^Di^ 13 il? to follow directly upon this emphatic curse of 11, 17. - Compare Jl^TS TJj, »prince of the covenant« (Dan. 11, 22), who fell before the »arms of a ilood« of Antiochus Epi- phanes. ^ Eichhoru unites, however, 13, 7-9 with chap. 14. * 1 Mace. 9, 18 ff. — 74 - iningk-fl ^vitll cdinfitrt. ' The writer takes refiif^e in the promise of a remnant, a i)ro])lieti(' consohition reserved for extremities. Here the remnant shall be a third and this third refined and tested as with fire. ' Notice here also the total absence of the reproach which so [lervades chap. 11. The sense of a common woe converts all reprf)ach into sympathy. XL CHAPTER XIV. Chapter 14 is historical!}' in harmony with the preceding, but its contents are to be explained rather as the product of a national condition than as the reflex of a specific event. It is an apocalypse of exaltation in the future, born of the sorrows and limitations of the present. Meditation upon the I'e- lation of Judaism to surrounding nations, and upon its mission in the future, produced an intense national self-consciousness. * It was a period when thought lent itself willingly to pictures of the horrors of Jahwe's punishment of world powers, in contrast to the glory of Israel when finally exalted. On the literary side, the terrible scenes of siege and devas- tation, during the Grrecian period, furnished material for portraying the fate of the heathen, as well as ^ The Babj'loniau Exile, as it advanced, fostered, especi- ally in those intenselv loj'al to the national faith, a spirit, which, in the age of the Syrian-Greek persecutions, ripened into an intense hatred to »lhe nations«, and this in turn fostered apocalyptic pictures of the tortures to which Jahwe should subject »tlie nations«, in contrast with the glory which awaited Israel. 7(; the terrible day ul" .laliwe whicli should precede the Messianic age. It was also the j)ei'iod of the tlieocracy, in the narrower sense, when the Thorah was exalted and ceremonial holiness emphasised, when righteous- ness meant, iii-st of all, loyalty to the national faith and observation of the ceremonial law. Instead of the prophetic message of the classic, pre-exilic, period, wliirh demanded the turning away from sins in order to escape an impending calamity, or of the restoi'ation period, which gave encouragement to activity in order to regain and i-ebuild, the prevailing motive here is that of invincible fidelity to the institutions of Judaism, in the face of oppression, of patience and endurance until the day of redemption, the day imminent and glorious for Israel. The "day of Jahwe", a day of great tribulation, stood just ahead, but it was only the prelude to an age of exaltation, when Jahwe should be the object of the homage, and Jerusalem of the pilgrimage of all nations. Thus chapter 14 is apocalyptic. It is the author's ])icture of the future. It reflects an expectation. It has no word of censure, nor a command to activity, nor a precept of righteousness, l)ut it is the unfold- ing of a picture of the future before the present, troubled and bitter with the instinct of vengeance against woi-ld powers. This will be clearer when we make an analysis of the contents of the chapter. 1. The da}^ of great tribulation which was to pre- cede the age of glory (vss. 1-5). The nations were to be assembled against Jerusalem to battle. The city should be spoiled, and the most terrible ravages and shameless violence practiced. One half of the city should be can-ied away, and one half remain. Then Jahwe would appear as a great warrior against the nations. He would stand upon the Mount of Olives, 1 and the mountain should split in two, one half moving northward and one half southward, mak- ing a valley leading outward from the city. This valley, made by the cleft mountain, reaches to the city gate, making a path of escape ^ for that half of 1 Here we have the first appearance of the expression »Mount of 01ives« (D^Jn'tH IWi the common New Test, term. 2 Sam. lo, 30 has simply »the 01ives«, and Ezek. 11, 23 has »the mountain whicli is east of the cit3'.« 2 Qj^DJI? »and ye shall flee« etc. is translated by the LXX by y.ai (pQaxO^rjatTai., »and (the cleft etc.) shall be stopped up», reading DDDJl from the root DJID, instead of the form from the root 01J- We have no further account of this earthquake than the simple mention of its occurrence in Amos 1, 1. There must have been traditions concerning it current among the later Jews, giving it a spiritual meaning. Josephus (Antiquities B. IX. c. 10) makes it occur at the moment ofUzziah's usurpation of the highpriest's office, and has also the idea of the LXX, ol the way being stopped up. »In the meantime, a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king's face, insomuch that the leprosy seized him immediately. And before the city, at a place called Eroge , half the mountain broke off from the rest on the west, and rolled itself into four furlongs, and stood still at the east mountain, till the roads, as well as the kings gardens, were spoiled by the obstruction. « The Erogc here, as Wright (p. 478) has pointed out, after Rahmer (Monatsschrift des Judenthuras,1870), looks like a transposition of 'liT'JIi »tlie valley of my mountains«, of the Zechariah passage. Josephus has no account of the people fleeing from — «,s — the pef "^ p^, precious, costly, s]ilendid. This epithet is used of the moon in Job 31, 2G. LXX read as from nnpV 'i'"l cold, yai ti'i'jOi. ■'' ])iiTjp\ better pointing, pi<3p> from ^{^p = to draw in, contract. Comp. Joel 2, 10. LXX read with the Qere, PNSpl) '^ct' TTctjifos-, and ice. So Vulgate: sed frigus et gelu: and Luther: »Kalte und Frost. « But Zunz's Bibel: »Schwere und Erstarrung«; A. E. V. »The light shall not be clear nor dark«; R. E. V. »with brightness and gloom. « — 79 — A. Some of its outward features (A^ss. 8-11). 1) Living and perennial waters should flow from Jerusalem, * one half toward the Dead Sea, and one half toward the Mediterranean Sea (vs. 8). 2) Jahwe should reign as king over the whole land 2 (vs. U). -']) The territory of Judah should be elevated to a table-land, and Jerusalem should be situated in the middle of this high plain, with well de- lined walls and gates, and remain with the in- habitants without curse or danger (vss. 10-11). =* B. Relation of other nations with the Jews in the final age (vss. 12-15). 1) A most horrible plague should suddenly visit all the nations who had fought against Jeru- salem. They should suffer a living death, their flesh decaying while they were still alive, their eyes rotting in their sockets, and their tongues in their mouths (vs. 12). This same pestilence should also attack all the animals in the camps of the enemies of Israel (vs. 15). * 2) There should be a panic and confusion among the iiations, so that they should be at war among themselves (vs. 13). 1 Comp. Ezek.'47, 1-1-2. Joel 4, 18. ' Yl{< heve can mean only >,lancl«, as it cannot mean anything else in the following clause, vs. 10, tliough it can mean only »earth« in vs. 17. ^ Comp. Pss. 48. 122. 144. ■* V. 15 connects directly with vs. 12. - hO - ii) All the nMuds of the nations rmind abuut, all the gold, silver and clothing in inunense quan- tities, should be collected, apparently as spoil (vs. 14).> 4) Those of the nations who are left, i. e. those who have not suffered the living death for light- ing against Jerusalem, should do homage to Jahwe, and should come up from year to year to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Taber- nacles (vs. 1(5). 2 5) Any nation which would not comply with this requirement should be visited with the plague of rainlessness, which meant in the east, famine, untold suffering (vs. 17). Egypt, though not ' The lirst four wnnls of vs. It are dittiiiult in the connection. It may be that they were a marginal remark in remembrance of chap. 12, 2. The LXX has »and Jndah will fight in Jernsalem«, while the Vulgate has, against -Jerusalem. Versions and critics are divided as to whether it shall be in or against Jerusalem. The former is preferable. The A. E. V. has at (margin, against). The R. E. V. reverses the order and has against (margin, at). - That the feast of Tabernacles was especially enipiiasised in the Maccabean period, witness such passages as 2 Mace. 1, i>. 10, 6-7. The feast of Dedication was kept as a feast of Tabernacles (comp. 1 Mac. 4, 59). For the importance given to this feast still later we have the Talmud Tract Succah, which gives the minutest directions as to the keeping of it. In the passage 2 Mace. 1, 9 the Palestinian Jews enjoin upon the Egj'ptian Jews the duty of keeping the feast of Taber- nacles, while our prophet looks forward to the time when heathen Egyi)t also shall come to the Jewish feast at Jeru- salem. — 81 — affected by such a plag-ue, is especially men- tioned as also to be s:iiitte]i if violating the regulation (vss, 18-19), ' C. The inner condition of Israel in the final age (vss. 20-21). A ceremonial holiness should attach to every thing within the territory of Judah and Jerusalem. The bells ^ on the horses ^ should have upon them nin^^ Vip. AU vessels, within the bounds of the Jewish territor}^ should be as hol}^ as the vessels of the altar itself (vs. 20). There would be no need of traffickers of special, clean vessels * in the house of * The reference to Egypt seems to he a second thought, and the plague with which it should be visited is not ex- pressed. The masoretic text is not in order and can hardly be translated. Kimchi (M'Caul's Edition p. 187) quotes the interpretation of Jonathan, that the Nile should not rise. - The bells, rilV^TD, were thin round metal plates strung or fastened together lilce scales. When shaken, they struck each other making a tinkling sound. This was especially an Egyptian ornament for horses. See Gesenius Thesaurus p. 11G8. This notice, together with the specification of Egypt in verse 18, in the manner in which it is mentionned, also the locating of the Mount of Olives (vs. 4), which would be unnecessary to an inhabitant of Jerusalem, suggests the thought that the writer had belonged to the Jewish colony in Egypt, and had those distant from Jerusalem in his mind, as among his readers. ^ This mention of the horse with such toleration is quite remarkable. The first mention of Jewish cavalry is in the account of the attack made on Cendebeus by Judas and Hyrcanus, sons of Simon, in the Maccabean period, when pros- perity began to crown the Jewish state under the Hasmonean house. * Compare the New Testament picture of these traflickers Matt. 21, 12. Mk. 11, 15. Lk. 19, 45. Jaliwi.'. Those who should coiue up to sacritice could use any vessel at hand, for it would be holy if found in Jerusalem (vs. 21). Such is the writer's outlook. There is here a plan and method in the gradual unfolding of the events of the future. With all of its dependence upon other prophecies, this chapter is original in the order and unity of the scenes it presents — the day of Jahwe, the twilight period, the exaltation of Judaism, the horrible tortures of nations which have been hos- tile, the universal homage to Jahwe and pilgi-images to Jerusalem, the severe punishment of those who may refuse to make these pilgrimages, the sanctity of everything on Jewish territory', even to harness, pots and cups. We feel here that we are far away from the age of the classic prophets, and that we have reached almost the last stage of pre-Christian Jewish literature, almost the dawn of the new era; for we have here the coloring of the ideas which Jesus found dominating Jewish thought when he en- tered upon his ministry. * ' It may be objected that we can find in the books ascribed to the pre-exilic T>rophets, sentiments parallel to those here put so late in Jewish literature. Whether these sentiments belong there, however, is the great question which scholarship is seeking to-da}' to settle. It is easier to explain ho\^• the compilers of Old Testament literature, themselves belonging to the period after the Exile, should have incorpo- rated much post-exilic material with the earlier literature, than it is to reconcile tiiis material with the prophetic mes- sage contained in such utterances as Is. 1. Micah 6, 1-8. Amos 5, 18-25. Jer. 7, 21 f. SUMMARY, Summing up the i-esults of the above inquiry, which I submit simply as a contribution to the study of this difficult theme: I. Zech. U-14 can be best characterized as a collection of post-Zecharianic utterances added to the original book of Zechariah. The parts are as follows: 1) 9, 1-10. 2) 9, 11-17. 3) 10. 4) 11. 5) 12. 6) 13, 1-6. 7) 13, 7-9. 8) 14. II. Chap. 9, 1-10 had its origin at the period of the approach of Alexander the Great, it being an inter- pretation of the movements of the conqueror as a movement of Jaliwe, with a prophecy of the hu- miliation of Phoenicia and Philistia, and promise of security to the Jews, who had suffered terribly under one of the last Persian Kings, Artaxerxes III, and awakening Messianic hopes of the reign of the King of Peace. Chapter 9, 11 — chapter 14 witness to the struggle for independence, and for the maintenance of the Jewish faith at the period of the Maccabean uprising against the Grreek-Syrian persecutions, and against the attempts to heathenise Judaism — a period The Snd pa?t of the Book of Zechanah Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 1 1012 00029 8416 — 84 — which fostered in tlic pai-ty loyal to the national faith, special zeal in uiiitiiii;- and saving all possible to Judaism, begetting also, in reaction against the hjoseness of the times, a strictness of adherence to i-eligious fo]-nis, and, in the midst of the troubles and limitations of the present, apocalyptic visions of the exaltation of Israel over the hated nations, when an impending catastrophe should be overpast. in. As to the unity existing between these utter- ances, there is not sufficient data upon which to found a positive objection against their issuing from a single hand (except, as we have seen, in the case of U, 1-10). At the same time each piece is a unit in itself, with its own occasion and motive. The nearest determination at which criticism will probably arrive in regard to these separate pieces contained in chap. !J, 11 — chap. 14, is that while they are historically in harmonj^, i. e. are the product of the same period, their lack of external unity on the one hand, and of internal differences on the other, is sufficient to cause the question of unity or plui-ality of authorship to remain an open one. --^I-l-^ 044BCE„ 2821 06-2B-07 32180 HC ^