PT 
 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 ^^y/Lcfyt^ "l/ .i^-z^^-2^-T^i::f-' 
 
 
 I Shelf. N'laiiber. 
 
POSTHUMOUS WORKS 
 
 REV. RALPH WARDLAW, D.D 
 
 EDITED BY HIS SON, 
 
 THE REV, J. S. WARDLAW, A.M, 
 
 VOL. VII. 
 
 FULLARTON, MACiXAB & CO., 
 
 182 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
 
 A. ■FTLLARTOX & CO., LONDON. 
 
LECTURES 
 
 PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH. 
 
 REV. RALPH WARDLAW. B.D 
 
 EDITED BY HIS SON, 
 
 THE REV. J. S. WARDLAW, A.M. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 A. FULLARTON & CO.: 
 
 EDINBURGH, LONDON, AND DUBLIN. 
 1869. 
 
EDIKBURGH : 
 
 FULLARIDN ANL MACNAH, PRIXTERS, LEITH WAl.S,. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is the ambition of some to be specially distincruished 
 as " Students of prophecy." To such a distinction 
 my revered father made no claim. But as a student 
 OF God's word the prophetic page was not neglected 
 by him. He found there a field of pleasant and profit- 
 able research; and sought to throw light upon it, and 
 unfold its treasures for the benefit of others. 
 
 Of this he has left abundant evidence, not only in 
 these Lectures on Zechariah, but in numerous other 
 lectures, on most if not all the prophetic books of the 
 Old Testament; and in a complete series of expository 
 discourses on the Apocalypse. And of his mode of 
 handling prophetic questions, he presented to the Public 
 a specimen or two during his life-time; — one, a Dis- 
 course on "The Purposes of Divine Mercy to 
 THE Seed of Abraham;" the other, a Discourse on 
 "The Millennium." 
 
 These Lectures have been selected, because among 
 the Author's latest productions — having been composed 
 and delivered when he was in his seventy-second yeai'; 
 because the portion of Scripture which they seek to 
 elucidate, while possessing many points of great interest, 
 is apt to be overlooked; and because it introduces 
 greater variety into the character of these posthumous 
 volumes, and shows the Authors facility in giving to 
 every theme a practical bearing. 
 
vi TREFACE. 
 
 In the interpretation of Prophecy tliere is a twofold 
 danger — the extreme of literaUsm on the one hand, 
 and of spiritualism on the other. This the Author 
 deeply felt ; and he made it his aim, to discover the 
 "happy medium" where he had a full persuasion the 
 truth lay. How far he has, in this, been successful the 
 reader must judge. It need be no matter of surprise if 
 at times there is room for hesitation or dissent. 
 
 It will be seen that the return of the Jews to their 
 own land, and their possession, hereafter, of a distinct 
 political existence, is regarded as the teaching of this 
 and other parts of the Sacred Record. This was the 
 Author's opinion from an early period; and it gained 
 strength in later years. The question is somewhat fully 
 discussed in this volume; and the general results of the 
 discussion are in singular harmony with those at which 
 Dr. David Brown arrives in his recent work entitled 
 "• The Restoration of the JewsV 
 
 While availing himself of the valuable work of Dr. 
 Henderson on the Minor Prophets, the Author ventures 
 to differ from his friend on some points of criticism; 
 and frequently diverges widely from him in his view 
 of the Prophet's meaning. 
 
 This Volume, like those which have preceded it, is 
 commended to the blessing of God. 
 
 J. S. Wardlaw. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 Zech. I. 1—6. 
 
 " In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, cnme the word of tlie 
 Lord unto Zechariah the son of Barachiali, tlie son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 
 The Lord hath been 8ore displeased witli your fathers. Therefore say thou unto 
 tliem, Thus saith tlie Lord of hosts, Turn ye unto ntie, saitli the Lord of hosts, 
 and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of liosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto 
 whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Loid of hosts. 
 Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not 
 hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Your fathers, where are tliey? and 
 the prophets, do they live for ever? But iny words, and my statutes, which I 
 commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? 
 and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, 
 according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us." 
 
 Near the close of the Book of Revelation, and therefore of 
 the whole Book of God, we have the statement — " The testi- 
 mony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecyT The meaning 
 seems to be, that the scheme of redemption, contained in that 
 testimony, is the great theme of prophecy; that to which, 
 whether more or less directly, the whole relates ; — its living 
 soul; — its essential pervading element; bereft of which, it 
 would lose at once all its zest, — all its interest, all its real 
 value, leaving nothing behind but what was vapid and 
 worthless. That such should be the case, was what might 
 reasonably have been anticipated. The fall of man changed 
 entirely the character, and position, and prospects, of the 
 race, — and the whole aspect of futurity. The race became 
 apostate, depraved, outcast, accursed. Then came the first 
 intimation of the plan of mercy ; which had been previously 
 
2 LECTURE I. 
 
 in the form of a matured purpose, in the mind of the God- 
 head. The first promise was the first j)rophecy. It came 
 from the lips of Jehovah Himself, — in terms intentionally 
 obscure, but of which the full import was to be gradually 
 unfolded — " I will put enmity between thee (the serpent, the 
 Devil, and Satan) and the woman, and between thy seed 
 and her seed: — it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt 
 bi'uise his heel." This first prophecy Vv^as the germ of the 
 whole scheme. Here was " flie testimony of Jesus" in its 
 original embryo. From that hour, the grand problem of tlie 
 divine administration towards our world was, — the working 
 out of this divine plan of salvation; the restoration of an 
 apostate race, guilty and depraved, to the favour and to 
 the moral image of God, — in a way not merely consistent 
 with the claims of law and government, and with the honour 
 of all the attributes of the divine character, but that should 
 place them all in a brightness of maniiestative glory, such 
 as should fill the intelligent creation with adoring wonder. 
 This, I repeat, was the problem to be worked out. It be- 
 came, therefore, the leading star of the wiiole of the divine 
 government of our world ; — the spirit of providrjice, as well 
 as of prophecy. Supposing the plan to exist, it could not 
 be otherwise, than that everything else should be subordi- 
 nated to it ; all the plans and measures of God's providential 
 administration so regulated as to be subservient to its suc- 
 cessful and final completion. Thus it was before " the ful- 
 ness of the time;" thus it has been since; thus it shall be to 
 the end. We may speculate, and speculate truly, respecting 
 the designs of providence, in particular courses of events, 
 towards this or that nation, or this or that section of the in- 
 habited earth, in regard to their temporal prosperity or de- 
 clension, weal or woe; but we must not forget that in the 
 whole of this extensive and complicated administration, there 
 have been from the first, and there are now, higher ends, 
 tow^ards which all events are made to converge, and in tlie 
 attainment of w^hich they all shall issue. Before " the fulness 
 of time," the whole was a preparation for the Saviour's ^/?;-6^^ 
 coming ; and now all is bearing forward toward the promised 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 1—6. ^ 
 
 nniversality of His holy and happy reign, a? the prehnlc to 
 His second coming, and the Avinding up of the j)lans of His 
 mediatorial grace. 
 
 Along with the preparatory course of providence, there 
 were, from the beginning, two classes of means especially, by 
 which the nature of the divine scheme of mercy was intimated, 
 still indeed with comparative obscurity, yet with a gradually 
 growing clearness ; — 1 mean the typical and the prophetical. 
 It is with the latter alone we have at present to do. It 
 began early. Jude tells us, what we should not otherwise 
 have known, that "Enoch, the seventh" in descent "from 
 Adam," prophesied of the coming of the Lord to judgment : 
 — and it is impossible to doubt that he who prophesied of 
 His coming to judge the world, prophesied also of His coming 
 to save the world ; that he who predicted His second coming 
 predicted also His first. jN'or is there any sufficient reason 
 to think that Enoch was the only prophet of the antediluvian 
 age. In what may be called the second ojDening of the 
 world's history, the very first man — Noah himself — is a 
 partaker of the " spirit of proiDhec}^" And that Spirit, in all 
 the prophets — from Enoch to Malachi — is called " the Spirit 
 of Christ," both as being bestowed by Him, and as testifying 
 of Him ; and also, perhaps it might be added, as, during His 
 incarnation, given without measure unto Him. But, in spite 
 of both type and prophecy, aided too by the manifestations 
 of God in all creation, ignorance and corruption spread and 
 prevailed. Men showed the truth of the charge, that they 
 " did not like to retain God in their knowledge." To prevent 
 the total loss of that knowledge, including of course the 
 knowledge of Him in the character and relation in which He 
 had set himself forth in the first promise, — as " the God of 
 salvation," Abraham was called, and, in due time, amongst 
 liis seed, the nation of Israel, the Theocracy, or Mosaic 
 Economy, was instituted. Under this economy, the schemes 
 of type and prophecy, which before had been partial and de- 
 sultory, were extended, embodied, and more thoroughly sys- 
 tematized. And although, among the many prophets that 
 arose in the successive periods of their history, there was 
 
4 LECTURE I. 
 
 a great variety of predictions, besides those which related 
 directly to the coming, and work, and kingdom of the 
 promised Messiah, — yet even those which related simply 
 to the destinies of various nations bore widirectly a relation 
 to the same great events. Like the entire scheme of miracle, 
 they were designed to establish the truth of God's word; and 
 the accomplishment of the nearer to confirm faith in the 
 more remote. So it is still. 
 
 But the prophets in Israel were not mere seers — mere 
 foretellers. They were inspired instructors. They were 
 commissioned by God to convey His mind to the people ; to 
 tell them God's truth; to enjoin upon them God's will; to 
 convey to them God's promises and God's threatenings, — His 
 assurances of blessing to faith and obedience, and His equally 
 faithful assurances of retributive vengeance to unbelief and 
 rebellion: — by these means, to keep them in the worship 
 and the ways of Jehovah, and direct the eye of their hojDcs 
 to the coming of the promised Deliverer, and to his "great 
 salvation." That these prophets were, in the proper sense 
 of the term, inspired men, — that they received their messages 
 to the people directly from God, — Avhether they Avere mes- 
 sages of instruction, warning, or, prediction, we have the most 
 unequivocal assurance of the New Testament Scriptures. 
 What can be more explicit than the w^ords of Peter : — " The 
 prophecy came not, of old time, by the will of man; but 
 holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost?'' — or those of Paul, "God, in sundry portions and in 
 various ways,* sp)alie in time past unto the fathers by the pro- 
 phets V Those modern neologians, or anti-supernaturalists, 
 who would have us to regard the prophets merely as great 
 thinkers, men of lofty genius, of penetrating intuition, of 
 calculating sagacity, — shrewd guessers at the future from the 
 aspects of the present, — not only utter words which, when 
 applied to the great scheme of Scripture prophecy, — so vast, 
 so complicated, and reaching onward to the close of time, — 
 are words without meaning; but they would be far more 
 
ZECHAEIAH I. 1-6. 5 
 
 consistent with themselves, and far less mischievous to others, 
 would they but avow their unbelief, and cast aside the Bible 
 altogether, as "old wives' fables," — prophets and apostles 
 alike. — The chief period of Old Testament prophecy is from 
 Moses to Malachi. It embraces ten centuries. And the per- 
 fect harmony between these "holy men of God," speaking 
 and writing independently of each other, at different j^laces 
 in the same time, or at the same place in successive times, — 
 harmony in doctrine, in precept, and in prediction as well as 
 in the spirit of divine faithfulness, and zeal, and devotion, 
 and love, by which all their writings are pervaded, is a fact 
 for which no reasonable account can be given but the admis- 
 sion of their having spoken and written under the same 
 influence, and delivered the dictates of one Mind.* — The va- 
 rious modes in which the dictates of that one Mind were 
 imparted to them and by them, will naturally be considered, 
 when some of the visions of this prophet — Zechariah — come 
 before us. 
 
 The Old Testament prophets, whose writings have come 
 down to us, — writings which form so large and important a 
 part of the canon of ancient Scripture, — have been divided 
 into two classes — the greater prophets, and the lesser or 
 minor projihets. The former are four in number — Isaiah, 
 Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel : — the latter, twelve — Hosea, 
 Joel, Amos, Jonah, Obadiah, Micah, JSTahum, Habakkuk, 
 Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Tlie distinc- 
 tion is founded, not in any superiority of the former over the 
 latter in the character, or weight, or credit, of their predic- 
 tions, or the other contents of their respective writings ; but 
 solely on the comparative size, or extent, of those writings. 
 They are all ahke divine ; and some of the shortest will bear 
 comparison in importance with the longest. 
 
 Neither in the original Hebrew, nor in the Septuagint 
 Greek, nor in our English Bibles, are the books arranged 
 
 * " Whence but from Heaven should men unskilled in arts, 
 In various ages born, in various parts, 
 Weave such agreeing truths? or how or v^hy 
 Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie ? " — Ed. 
 
6 LECTURE I. 
 
 in the order of time. Xor, witli regard to all of tlieia at 
 least, is this chronological order perfectly settled. The 
 chief difference among critics relates to Joel. Ey one critic 
 he is placed fourth among the minor prophets; by another 
 sixth; and by another ^?'s/f of all. I shall give the arrange- 
 ment of the whole, that is probably nearest to the truth; 
 some of the times bemg settled by the dates prefixed to the 
 books themseh^es by their writers, and some by their con- 
 tents, as presenting allusions to ecents of which the times 
 are known: — Jonah; Amos; Hosea; Isaiah; Joel; Mi- 
 cah; Nahum; Zephaniah; Jeremiah; H^ujakkuk; D.vniel; 
 Obadiah; Ezekiel; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi. The 
 period embraced by these prophets, from Jonah to Malachi, 
 extends to about four hundred and thirty years, reaching 
 from 850 before Christ to 420. By much the larger num- 
 ber, of course, preceded the Babylonish captivity. Daniel's 
 prophetic career was in Babylon, and during the whole time 
 of that captivity; Ezekiel's during part of it; and Haggai's, 
 Zechariah' s, and Malachi's after the return fi-oni it. 
 
 There is an obvious importance in fixing and keeping in 
 mind the time and circumstances in which such books were 
 written; or in which their contents, v»'hether prophetic or 
 of other descriptions, were uttered. With regard to the 
 former — the prophetic portions — one thing is instantly set- 
 tled by ascertaining the date, — namely, that nothing, in 
 the form of prediction, can relate to events preceding that 
 date. And, with regard to their more miscellaneous con- 
 tents, there may be allusions, modes of speech, and particular 
 directions and commands as to conduct, which the time, and 
 the condition of the people at the time, may contribute 
 materially to explain. The great importance of fixing time, 
 is strikingly illustrated by the case of those Prophets Avho 
 flourished subsequently to the Babylonish cajDtivity. There 
 are two restorations of Israel wliich are the subjects of pro- 
 phecy, — the one at that time, from Babylon; the other still 
 future, from their more general and prolonged dispersion. 
 This, then, makes us sure, that if, in the Prophets that de- 
 livered their predictions after the first restoration, there are 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 1-6. 7 
 
 predictions of a restoration yet to come, tliey iimst have ref- 
 erence, not to the former, but to the latter. AA^iereas, in 
 tlie Prophets that preceded the captivity in Babyhm, one of 
 the principal difficulties, v/hen a future restoration is sj)oken 
 of, is to determine with certainty whether the reference is to 
 the one or to the other, — to the one now past, or to the one 
 still in prospect. 
 
 Zechariah and Hag gal were contemporaries. They lived 
 and prophesied t(\qether, among the returned captives, at 
 Jerusalem. Eut Ilaggai is thought to have begun to pro- 
 phesy a short time — say two, or at least within tliree months 
 — before Zechariah ; while Zechariah's course of official duty 
 continued for a considerably longer period than that of 
 Haggai.-" 
 
 That Zechariah was a young man when he began his pro- 
 phetic career, we have his own testimony. He is expressly 
 so called.t AVe have in the opening of his Book J the names 
 of his father and his grandfather — the former BerecJiiah, the 
 latter Iddo. AVhen, therefore, he is called " the son of Id- 
 do," § it is according to a common idiom among the Hebrews, 
 which, in special cases, and for special reasons, (such as, per- 
 haps, the greater distinction and notoriety of the grandfather 
 than the father) admits of the title son signifying son by one 
 remove, or grandson. It is, indeed, so general, as sometimes 
 to signify simply a lineal descendant. — In the list given in 
 the twelfth chapter of Nehemiah of those Jews who returned 
 from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Joshua, we have|| the 
 name of Iddo. ^ow, that list is one of ^^ priests and Levites.'' 5r 
 If, therefore, this Iddo be the same (as is generally under- 
 stood) with the grandfather of Zechariah, then Zechariah 
 himself was of priestly lineage, descended of the tribe of Levi. 
 
 A question has been started, which it would be wrong to 
 pass without notice — whether the prophet Zechariah be the 
 same with the " Zacharias, son of Bai-achias," whom our 
 Lord mentions Vvdien he says, " That upon you may como 
 
 • * Comp. Ua^. i. 1 and Zecli. i. 1,— Isfc of 6th month— 24th of Stn. 
 
 t Chap. ii. 4. | Chap, i. 1. g Ezra v. 1. 
 
 11 Verse 4. ^ Verse 1. 
 
S LECTURE I. 
 
 all the righteous Llood shed upon the earth, from the blood 
 of rigliteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, 
 whom ye slew between the temple and the altar,"* There 
 is a Zacharias mentioned in the second Book of Chi-oniclest as 
 having been slain by the fury of the exasperated populace, 
 or rather at the instigation of king Joash and his princes, 
 for his faithfulness in denouncing their idolatries. But then 
 he was the son, not of Barachias, but of ^^Jehoiada the 
 priest," who is so specially, honourably, and repeatedly men- 
 tioned under that name, witliout the least hint of another 
 belonging to him, that, although it was common fjr the 
 Hebrews to have two names, it seems unlikely that he should 
 have been mentioned by our Lord under a different one from 
 that under which he has so honourable a testimony in the 
 history 4 On the other hand, Zechariah the prophet answers 
 to our Lord's description, so far as the name and the father's 
 name are concerned : — he is " Zacharias, the son of Bara- 
 chias;" but we have no record of his having suffered a 
 violent death. It may be observed, however, that a mere 
 negation is not enough to disprove the fact of his having so 
 suffered; and especially a negation in such circumstances. 
 For, let it be remembered, that its not having been recorded 
 may arise from the simple fact of there being no inspired 
 history subsequent to the time in which it could have been 
 recorded; that circumstances are, in other places, alluded 
 to which took place subsequently to the date of the last in- 
 spired historical record, and which, though not recorded, were 
 well known in the traditionary and apocryphal history of the 
 Jewish people ; — such as some of the cases referred to in the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, of " women who received their dead 
 raised to life again," and of martyrs who were "sawn asunder;" 
 and that, although the spirit of the Jewish people at the very 
 time of the return from Babylon, or even when Zechariah 
 began his prophetic career, may hardly appear such as to war- 
 
 * Matt, xxiii. 35. f Chap. xxiv. 21. 
 
 X It is by the supposition of two names that commentators explain 
 t1ie difficulty which arises from considerinsr tlie son of Jehoiada as the 
 uerson referred to: — ^yhich is the (/encral opinion. — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 1—6. 9 
 
 rant the supposition of their shedding the hlood of one of 
 the Lord's prophets, yet that Zechariah was, when he began 
 his career^ hut a youth ; that he might Hve long, and pro- 
 phesy long, and that by a people so proudly capricious and 
 from first to last so prone to selfish murmurings and rebel- 
 lions, he might, ere the close of his course, have delivered 
 such expostulations, and reproofs, and predictions of divine 
 vengeance, as might stir them up to blood- thirsting and 
 blood-shedding violence. There is one consideration which 
 lias been regarded, and not, I think, without a good deal of 
 force, as favoimng this supposition. I give it in the words 
 of Scott : — " Especially let it be considered, how far it 
 might have been previously expected, that the murder of one 
 who suffered before the persecuting reigns of Ahaz, Manasseh, 
 and Jehoiakim (during which more innocent blood was shed 
 and more prophets were slaughtered than in all preceding 
 ages) should be mentioned as the last of the righteous per- 
 sons whose blood would be required of the generation which 
 crucified the Messiah? The blood shed after the death of 
 Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, especially fdled up the measure 
 of national wickedness, and brought on Judah the Babylon- 
 ish captivity : — yet, on this supposition, it is wholly passed 
 over by our Lord. But if Zechariah the prophet were meant, 
 and if he were murdered after the captivity, as the other 
 Zechariah had been before ; the whole appears natural ; and 
 probably he might be the last eminent person who thus suf- 
 fered." This is strong; and I think it is further strength- 
 ened by remarking, that in taking the sweep of time during 
 which the blood had been shed for which an avenging God 
 was to "make inquisition," our Lord must be supposed, 
 from the very energy of his style of denunciation, to have 
 given it aZZits extent ; that in going hack he goes to the 
 furthest possible point — "the blood of righteous Abel;" 
 and that in coming down he imcst be conceived also to have 
 come down to the nearest case on record, — which the one in 
 Chronicles certainly could not be. The mere silence of Jo- 
 sephus as to the fact is very far from being decisive against 
 it ; seeing it is by no means the only case in which .Tosephus 
 
10 LECTURE I. 
 
 has slurred over what was not to the credit of his country- 
 men. — N"or is it very likely, though possible, that there 
 was still a later Zechariah, with a father too whose name 
 was Barachias, who had come to a violent death at the hands 
 of the unbelieving Jews. Though not, therefore, a matter 
 of certainty, it seems not without some considerable amount 
 of probability, that our prophet was the martyr to whom 
 Jesus refers. 
 
 I shall proceed on the assumption that Zechariah was the 
 writer of the entire Booh. By certain critics doubts have 
 been exjJressed as to the authorshijD of tlie last six chapters. 
 The doubts with some have rested on the circumstance (of 
 ■svliich notice may be taken when we come to the proper 
 place) of a passage towards the close of the book being cited 
 by the Evangelist Matthew as from Jeremiah; — and with 
 others on what they have been pleased to regard as a differ- 
 ence of style between the latter portion of the book and the 
 f )rmer: — a difference which is often to be found in the cri- 
 tic's imagination, or his fondness for originality and a char- 
 acter for discrimination; — which, so far as it really exists in 
 the present instance, is not more than may be accounted for 
 from the difference of subject, and the lapse of some con- 
 siderable interval of time between the giving out of the 
 former and the later series of prophecies; and which is 
 as far as possible from being such as to warrant so bold 
 and reckless a conclusion. The improbability of an earlier 
 authorship is not a little strengthened by the fact of the 
 total absence, in that part of the Book as well as in the for- 
 mer, of every allusion to the kingly government, or to any 
 other circumstance distinctive of the period of the history 
 antecedent to the cajptioity, — of every allusion from which a 
 surmise could be elicited of the writer's having lived before 
 it, and especially, I might perhaps add, of all prophetic allu- 
 sion to the coming captivity itself. I am disposed to adopt, 
 ill their full force, the words of a modern, and at once a 
 learned and sober-minded critic, when he says : — " On the 
 whole, I cannot but regard the objections to the authenticity 
 of the disputed chapters as the offspring either of a holy jea- 
 
ZEGHAKIAH I. 1—6. 11 
 
 lousy for the honour of the Evangelist Matthew, who attri- 
 butes cha23ters xi., xii., xiii. to Jeremiah and not to Zechariah, 
 or of a spirit of wanton and unbridled hypercriticism, which 
 would unsettle everything, in order to satisfy the claims of 
 certain favourite principles of interpretation that may happen 
 to be in vogue."* I may just add, that we never were more 
 in need than at the present hour, of soher-mindedness as 
 v/ell as learning, in the critical investigation of the sacred 
 Volume. 
 
 The Book has been divided into two sections by some, and 
 by others into three : — but the divisions seem to be of little 
 consequence. As far as they are marked by the Prophet 
 himself, they will come in our way for notice in course of 
 exposition. 
 
 The opening address is general. Its style is that of cri- 
 mination and warning. It reminds them of the displeasure 
 of Jehovah with the perverse doings of their fathers in for- 
 mer days ; — and the lesson of admonition is more than im- 
 l)lied, that, if they continued to act as their fathers had done, 
 they might look for the same displeasure, and the same mani- 
 fystations of it. 
 
 The second verse, expressing the '' sore displeasure of Je- 
 hovah witli their fathers" — may be interpreted as bearing 
 reference to the whole of their previous history. They had 
 all along sliovrn a mournfully strong and inveterate pro- 
 pensity to depart from God and from his ways. They had 
 needed incessant repetitions of divine admonitions, entreaties, 
 promises, and threatenings ; and many a time, all had proved 
 unavailing. Jehovah bound them to himself with " cords of 
 \oyqJ' But they " brake the bands asunder, and cast away 
 the cords from them." They chose their own ways. They 
 followed the wicked devices of their own hearts. They thus 
 provoked Him to anger. They drew down upon themselves 
 
 * Henderson on tlie Minor Tropliets, p. 3C5. In page 362, wliile 
 presenting a formidable array of names against the authenticity of 
 the said chapters, he gives no inconsiderable number in its favour — 
 Carpzovius, Blayney, Jahn, 15eckhaus, Koester, Hengstenbcrg, and 
 Burger. — Ep. 
 
12 LECTURE I. 
 
 His judicial visitations. From one of those visitations tliQ 
 people whom the Prophet now addressed had but recently, 
 in the faithfulness and mercy of a covenant-keeping and coni- 
 passionate God, been delivered. And I cannot doubt that 
 to that most recent manifestation of the divine displeasure 
 Zechariah specially referred. Their fathers had by their sins 
 brought that heavy seventy years' judgment upon themselves. 
 And He who in justice had executed the judgment had re- 
 turned in mercy, and rescued them from their second bondage. 
 JS"ow, "the second year of Darius'' (Darius Hystaspes) 
 was sixteen years after the Jews had begun to avail them- 
 selves of the decree of Cyrus, giving them liberty to return 
 to their own land, and munificently aiding them in effecting 
 such return. And it appears especially from the style of 
 remonstrance in the Book of Haggai, that there was now, 
 whatever for a short season there might have been, a great 
 slackening of their zeal for the re-establishment of the wor- 
 ship of Jehovah. Tliey had begun to mind self more than 
 God. His temple was neglected. They said it was time 
 enough to attend to it when they had got themselves thor- 
 oughly accommodated, — not comfortably only, but elegantly : 
 — " Is it time for you, ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, 
 and this house lie waste ? " They " ran every man to his 
 own house" — to build, and finish, and furnish, and adorn 
 it; and let the house of God stand in its ruins. For tliis 
 very thing — which was just an imitation of the spirit and 
 practice of their fathers, — Jehovah had begun to make them 
 too feel the tokens of His displeasure : — " ^ow therefore thus 
 saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Ye have sown 
 much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; 
 ye drink, but ye are not tilled with drink; ye clothe you, 
 but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth 
 wages to put it into a bag with holes. Ye looked for much, 
 and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I 
 did blow upoji it. "Wliy? saith the Lord of hosts. Be- 
 cause of mine house that is waste, and ye run every mau 
 unto his own house.'"'"' 
 
 * Haff. i. 5, 6, 9. 
 
ZECHARIAH L 1—6. 13 
 
 Aiid what is the injunction — and wliat the promissory 
 encouragement to compliance? — verse 3. "Therefore say 
 thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn ye unto 
 me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saitK 
 the Lord of hosts." The injunction was obeyed, and the 
 promise was fulfilled : — " Consider now, from this day and 
 upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the 
 tcmjDle of the Lord; since those days were, when one came 
 to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when 
 one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of 
 the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blast- 
 ing, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labours of 
 your hands ; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord. Con- 
 sider now from this day and upward, from the four and 
 twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that 
 the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it." * 
 It apj)ears that Haggai delivered his expostulation in the 
 ^ixth month, and Zechariah his in the eighth month, — fol- 
 lowing up that of Haggai. Both, by the blessing of God, 
 had "wrought effectually " in them ; so that on "the four 
 and twentieth day of the ninth month," they set about lay- 
 ing the foundation of God's temple. They thus " returned 
 to God," and God "returned to them:" — "/ro??^ this day 
 will I bless you." 
 
 Brethren, the entire procedure of Jehovah toward His an- V 
 cient people was a manifestation of His character. His de- ) 
 light was in giving and fulfilling promises, not in denounc- 1 
 ing and executing threatenings ; in blessing, not in cursing ; 
 in returning, not in forsaking; in saving, not in destroying. 
 It was never He that first left His people ; it was His people 
 that left Him. His leaving was always judicial, always 
 punitive ; never in sovereignty, but always in righteous chas- 
 tisement; never voluntary, always reluctant and constrained. 
 — " How shall I give thee up, Ephraiml how shall I deliver 
 thee, Israel] how shall I make thee as Admahl how shall 
 I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my 
 
 ♦ liaff. ii. 15-18 
 
 ) 
 
14 LECTURE I. 
 
 repeiitings arc kindled togethor. I will not execute tlio 
 fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Epli- 
 raim ; for I am God, and not man ; the Holy One in the 
 midst of thee; and I ^dll not enter into the city."* The 
 language of Isaiah was always a truth — " Behold, the Lord's 
 hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear 
 heavy, that it cannot hear : but your iniquities have sepa- 
 rated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his 
 face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are 
 defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity ; your lips 
 have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 
 ]^one calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth : they 
 trust in vanity, and speak lies ; they conceive mischief and 
 bring forth iniquity. Therefore is judgment far from us, 
 neither doth justice overtake us ; we wait for light, but be- 
 hold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness."t 
 And no sooner did His chastisements produce their effect, — 
 no sooner was there a symptom discoverable of penitence 
 and humiliation, and turning of heart to God, — than God 
 showed that He was not willingly keeping aloof from them, 
 but was ready and delighted to return to them in mercy, 
 and pour down upon them " showers of blessing." 
 
 And thus it is still. I have no idea of any such thing as 
 the sovereign hiding of God's countenance; — Avhich is the 
 same thing with the sovereign shutting of the mental eye — 
 the spiritual vision — of His childi'en. No. It is not now, 
 any more than of old, He that withdraws from His people ; 
 it is His people that withdraw from Him. In correction for 
 such withdrawment. He may hide himself, and take away that 
 delightful sense of His favour, Avliich is the "chief joy" of 
 the believing soul. But whenever, with a " broken and con- 
 trite heart" for their unbelief and sin, they return with the 
 prayer — '' Eestore unto me the joy of thy salvation ;" will He 
 then keep at a distance, — still " hide his face," — still " hold 
 back the face of his throne, and spread his cloud upon 
 it?" No. He will verify the words before us — ''Return 
 
 * ilos xi. 8, 9. t Isa. lix. 1 — 4, 9. 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 1-G. 25 
 
 unto me, and I will return unto you."" Ho " retainotli not 
 his anger for ever: he delighteth in mercy. He will 
 turn again; lie will have compassion on his ^^eople; he will 
 subdue their iniquities; he will cast all their sins into the 
 depths of the sea." He will um'eil His face, and light it up 
 with love. He will dispel the cloud from His throne, and 
 " shoAV them his glory," — " manifesting himself to them, as 
 he doeth not unto the world." He will make them to feel 
 anew that He is theirs, and that they are His, and make 
 their "joy" again " full" in " fellowship with Himself." 1 
 if God's people will be but true to Him, they will find 
 Him unfailingly true to them. He will verify to them that 
 most gracious and comprehensive of all assurances — " I will 
 never leave thee; I will never forsake thee." The end of 
 all His corrective visitations is to bring His children, back 
 when they have w\andered ; or to draw the bond of their 
 attachment to Him more close, wlien aught has slackened it. 
 And to all His children, when they are losing ground in 
 their course heavenward, or are drawn aside from that course 
 by the attractions of a foscinating world, — His encouraging 
 invitation is still the same — " Return, ye backsliding chil- 
 dren, and I will heal your backslidings." And if they will 
 only come with the heart, saying, "Lo, we come unto thee; 
 for thou art the Lord our God" — He will not disappoint 
 them. He " receives them graciously, and loves them freely." 
 What Zechariah says in verse 4. "Be ye not as your 
 fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, 
 Thus saitli the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your 
 evil ways, and fi-oni your evil doings: but they did not 
 hear, nor hearken unto nie, saith the Lord" — is just what 
 all the prophets before him had said. Hear the words 
 of Jeremiah : — " From the thirteenth year of Josiah the 
 son of Anion king of Judah, even unto this day, that 
 is the tliree and tvv'entieth year, the word of the Lord hath 
 come unto me, and T have spoken unto you, rising early 
 and speaking ; but ye have not hearkened. And the Lord 
 hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early 
 and sending them ; but ye have not hearkened, nor inchnr.d 
 
16 LECTURE I. 
 
 your ear to hear. They said, Tarn ye again now every ono 
 from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and 
 dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to 
 your fathers for ever and ever : and go not after other god j 
 to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to 
 anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no 
 hurt. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; 
 that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your 
 hands to your own hurt:"'"' — and observe how far back the 
 same statement is carried — " From the day that your fathers 
 came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have 
 even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily ris- 
 ing up early and sending them : yet they hearkened not 
 unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck : 
 they did worse than their fathers." t And they were now 
 betraying the same tendencies with their fathers : — and the 
 reference to them is an indirect but abundantly intelligible 
 warning. 
 
 And what is the precise connexion of verse fifth, " Your 
 fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for 
 ever?" — There is no mistaking the meaning. Eoth aro 
 gone ; — their " dust to the earth as it was, their spirits to 
 God who gave them." They have finished their course, and 
 " the place that knew them knoweth them no more." — But 
 what is the spirit and aim of the questions here ? I answer, 
 
 L Take the language in connexion with the following verse 
 — "But my words and my statutes, which I commanded 
 my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your 
 fathers? and they retiurned and said, Like as the Lord of 
 hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and ac- 
 cording to our doings, so hath he dealt mth us." It is as 
 if he had said — "Your fathers, where are they? the pro- 
 phets, do they live for ever?" They are gone. They are 
 not now here, that we may make our appeal to them. But 
 are we, then, without their testimony? Is it not on record? 
 iJid not my words lay hold of your fathers? Did not they 
 
 * Jer. XXV. 3 — 7. f Jer. vii. 25, 26. 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 1—6. 17 
 
 experience their truth? — the truth, both of my threatenings 
 when they rebelled, and of my promises when they returned] 
 AVlien they did return, was it not with the confession — • 
 " Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according 
 to our ways and according to oui* doings, so hath he dealt 
 with us?" — Take, then, the testimony of your departed fa- 
 thers. Let them, "though dead, yet speak." And from 
 their twofold recorded experience of my faithfulness, be per- 
 suaded at once to take warning and to receive encourage- 
 ment. 
 
 2. " Your fathers, where are they 1 the prophets, do they 
 live for ever?" — They are gone. Their lives have proved 
 " as a vapour, that endured for a little, and vanished away." 
 The prophets were the servants of God. They had their 
 period of service, which it was incumbent upon them to fill 
 up diligently and faithfully for Him from whom they had 
 their commission, — as men who knew that they were not to 
 " Kve for ever." That period is closed. They can speak no 
 more. We have come, as if the prophet had said, in their 
 room. Nor are ice, any more than they, to " live for ever." 
 "Our days," like theirs, "are determined; the number of 
 our months is with God." This is owr time of service. It 
 becomes us too to fill it up faithfully; to plead with you, in 
 God's name, as those who know not whether they shall ever 
 have another message to deliver, or another hour to deliver 
 it ; to speak as dying men to dying men. — And " your fa- 
 thers," — while they lived, they had the ministry of the pro- 
 phets, " speaking to them the word of the Lord." They had 
 thus their period of privilege and probation; — their day of 
 grace ; — their time of opportunity for shunning the displea- 
 sure, and obtaining the favour, of the God with whom they 
 had to do. That period — that day — that time — is now 
 closed. And ^^ ivhere are they?" ISTo longer Ziere; and what 
 their state is in the world unseen depends on the use they 
 made of God's lessons by his prophets while on earth, — of 
 the warnings of God's vengeance, — of the offers and invita- 
 tions of God's mercy. It is a significant memento that such 
 was their oicn case; — that the present was their day of 
 
 B 
 
18 LECTURE I. 
 
 grace : — that soon it would come to be said of them " where 
 are they?" — that they should therefore "know" and im- 
 prove " the time of their visitation ; " — that they should not 
 "be as their fathers" when they persisted in rebellion, and 
 refused to hearken; but rather as their fathers, when they 
 humbled themselves, and returned, as believing penitents, to 
 God. — I may just add 
 
 3. " Your fathers, where are they ? the prophets, do they 
 live for ever?" — The prophet was seeking to stir th.em up to 
 activity, — to the dihgent and zealous service of God. He 
 reminds them by the questions that life is the time for 
 action; that to them, as well as to those who had gone 
 before them, that time must soon come to an end. It is like 
 saying, therefore — "Work;" and especially "work the work 
 of God, while it is day;" remembering that "the night com- 
 eth, when no man can work:" "Whatsoever thy hand 
 findeth to do, do it with thy might : for there is no work, 
 nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither 
 thou goest." 
 
 I need not, surely, say, that, in the full spirit of them, 
 all these are lessons for the people of God noiv, as much 
 as they were theii. And if the sin of departure from 
 the living God was aggravated in its guilt in the case of 
 those who both had had, in the experience of their fathers, 
 such warnings before them, and in their own deliverance 
 from captivity such obligations laid upon them by the divine 
 goodness, how much heavier the guilt of apostasy now, 
 when we have the instruction of A]Jostles as well as Pro- 
 phets ; when God has even " spoken unto us by his Son ;" 
 when " the great redemption is complete," and " the accepted 
 time and the day of salvation" is come; when we have 
 so much larger an amount of privilege than could be 
 enjoyed at any period of the old economy; and when we 
 live under a dispensation which is, by way of eminence, 
 "the ministration of the Spirit?" — If "he that despised 
 Moses' law died without mercy under two or tlu'ee witnesses, 
 of liow much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be 
 thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 1—6. 19 
 
 God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith 
 he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite 
 unto the Spirit of grace ?"'^ Listen then, Christian profes- 
 sors, to the monitory voice — " Cast not away therefore your 
 confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye 
 have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of 
 God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, 
 and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. IsToav 
 the just shall live by faith : but if any man draw back, my 
 soul shall have no pleasure in him."t 
 
 And, while we thus shrink with self-diffident dread, from 
 the thought of apostasy from Christ and from God, let us 
 see to it, that, in our different conditions and relations in 
 life — in the family, in the church, in general society, we be 
 found filHng up our fleeting day of life with an increasingly 
 active devotedness, "not slothful in business, fervent in 
 spirit, serving the Lord," that so, when it shall, in oiu* 
 turn, come to be said of us — " Where are they?" the recol- 
 lection of our lives by those who survive us, may not be an 
 entire blank. Try, every one of you, my fellow-christians, 
 to give others, as far as heth in you, reason to remember 
 you, as instruments of good; and, above all, of the highest 
 good, — their soul's good — their eternal good. 
 
 And, while there are special warnings against apostasy to 
 the professing people of God, because such apostasy has in 
 it special guilt, and exposes to a specially " fearful looking- 
 for of judgment and fiery indignation," — we must, at the 
 same time, as those who are not to " live for ever," and who 
 know not but that, ere to-morrow it may be said of them, 
 " Where are iheijV — and who know that this is the posi- 
 tion of their hearers as well as their own, — lift our warning 
 and our inviting voice, in the name of a warning and in- 
 viting God, to such as have yet made no transition, even by 
 profession, to the side of Christ and of God, — who are still 
 " aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to 
 the covenants of promise, having no hope, because without 
 
 * Heb. X. 28, 29. t Heb. x. 35—38^ 
 
20 LECTURE I. 
 
 Christ, and without God." Let me beseech you, friendiS 
 and fellow-sinners, to tliink. how many souls have been 
 lost for want of thought ! — going on through life without 
 thought, — and then, either losing the power to think, or 
 awakened to the exercise of it when it is too late. Just try 
 to fancy your last moment come, — your soul disembodied, — 
 and the first fearful consciousness coming over it, of its being 
 — lost! — irretrievably lost! — lost in the very midst of the 
 means of safety ! — lost amidst the beseechings of a merciful 
 God, in the name of a no less merciful Mediator, — lost, from 
 its own refusal to be saved ! — the last opportunity gone, — and 
 gone for ever! — What would that consciously lost soul then 
 give, for a return to earth, and another offer of mercy ! — Let 
 me beseech you then, neither to live here as if you were to 
 "Kve for ever" — nor to live here as if, when you died, you 
 were not to live for ever. In the name of His beloved Son, 
 — in the exercise of that mercy in which He delights, and 
 in which He has shown his dehght by providing so marvel- 
 lous a way for its consistent and honourable exercise — God 
 — your Maker, Governor, and Judge — the God Avith whom 
 you have, now and finally, to do — says to you — to all of 
 you — to each one of you — " Eeturn unto me ; and I will 
 RETURN UNTO YOU." He givcs it you upon oath; that yju 
 may have the assurance of it " by two immutable things in 
 which it is impossible for Him to lio," — that "He has no 
 pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the 
 wicked turn from his way and hve:" and He follows up the 
 assurance with the earnest entreaty — (strange! God^s en- 
 treaty to you! is not the proper order your entreaty to God?) 
 — but, in the condescension of infinite compassion, it does 
 come from God to you, — let your ear listen, and your heart 
 yield. It will be your life. 
 
LECTURE 11 
 
 Zech. I. 7—21. 
 
 "Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh nioiith, wliich is the 
 month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came tlie word of the Lord unto 
 Zechariah, tlie son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw 
 by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among 
 the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom ; and behind him were there red 
 horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, my lord, what are these? And 
 the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these 
 be. And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, 
 These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the 
 earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle- 
 trees, and said. We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all 
 the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. Then the angel of the Lord answered and 
 said, Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on 
 the cities of Judah, against wliich thou hast had indignation these threescore 
 and ten years? And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with 
 good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said 
 unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; I am jealous for Jeru- 
 salem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with 
 the heathen that are at ease : for I was but a little displeased, and they helped 
 forward the affliction. Tlierefoi'e thus saith the Lord; 1 am returned to Jeru- 
 salem with mercies : my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and 
 a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the 
 Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the 
 l^ord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Then lifted I up 
 mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that 
 talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns 
 ^'hich have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord shewed me 
 tour carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, 
 These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his 
 head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, 
 v.hich lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it." 
 
22 LECTURE IT. 
 
 We have presented in this passage hco of a series of 
 eight visions^ seen by the prophet, and seen, so far as any 
 intimation is given us, in immediate succession, in the 
 course of the same night. The visions are distinct, yet con- 
 nected. Our plan must be, to illustrate each in succession, 
 and then, by a summing-up of their contents, show their 
 connexion. They occupy what may be considered as the 
 first section of the Book, — ending at the middle of the sixth 
 cliapter. 
 
 The month Sehat, or SJiehat, in which " the word of the 
 Lord came" to the Prophet, was the eleventh month of the 
 Jewish sacred year. It extended "from the new moon 
 in January to the new moon in February" of our division. 
 The civil year of the Jews commenced from the equinoctial 
 new moon in Autumn, and their sacred or ecclesiastical year 
 from the equinoctial new moon in Spring ; the former, that 
 is, in our September, and the latter in our March; so 
 that the eleventli month of the latter (by which it is 
 that this prophet calculates time), must have corresponded 
 to part of January and February. And the name of the 
 month is thought to have an etymological reference to the 
 sprouting, or shooting -forth of the spring season.* This was 
 three months after the former inspired message, which, 
 as the first verse tells us, was in the eighth month of the 
 same year. God sends his messages when it pleases him; 
 but they are always wisely and appropriately timed. And 
 among the principles by which their seasons are determined, 
 there are tivo which we may, in passing, notice. The first 
 is, that, when warnings are ineffectual, they are, in faithful- 
 ness and compassion, blending with judicial indignation, reit- 
 erated and urged : — and the second is, that, when they have 
 proved effectual, they are followed up, in loving-kindness 
 and mercy, with an increase of divine instruction and en- 
 couragement: — the two principles, indeed, being properly 
 one — that laid down by our Lord himself, when he says — 
 
 * tt^ar " Ex HebrsBis Carpentrasi hunc mensem ita dictum putat a 
 surculis et ramidis in eo efflorescentibus. Alii originem in vetere lin- 
 gua Persica anquisiverunt." Gesen. Thesaicr. — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 7—21. 23 
 
 " For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall 
 have more abundance : but whosoever hath not, from him 
 Bhall be taken away even that which he hath."* They who 
 do not rightly improve "the word of the Lord" shall have a 
 famine of it ! 
 
 Of the ^^ various manners'^ in which we are told God 
 " spake unto the fathers by the prophets," t six have been 
 specified: — direct internal suggestion; articulate audible 
 voices; the Urim and Thummim; dreams; visions; the ap- 
 pearance of the dead. It is with one or other of two only of 
 these that we have aught at present to do ; namely, dreams 
 and visions. That these were customary modes of divine 
 communication, we learn from the words of Jehovah himself 
 — " Hear now my words ; If there be a prophet among you, 
 I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, 
 and will speak unto him in a dream. "J 
 
 Direct inivard suggestion is very properly distinguished 
 from dreams and visions. For, although both of these might 
 be considered as coming under the general head of imcard 
 suggestion, — both being communications to the mind inde- 
 pendently of the external senses; yet the communications 
 are not, in either, so direct — so immediate. In ** direct in- 
 ward suggestion," there is supposed to be no kind of medium 
 whatever; but that discoveries of truths or of events are made 
 to the mind of the prophet, without the intervention of either 
 dream or vision, or voice, or apparition. It is a matter of 
 uncertainty, whether the discoveries made to Zechariah were 
 made by dream or by vision. He tells us they were made 
 '*' hy niglitr But he might be aicalce in the night-season as 
 well as asleep; so that what he describes might have been a 
 vision as well as a dream. 
 
 The mental vision, properly so called, might be presented 
 to the prophet's inward view, in open day, when he was 
 broad awake, and even, in some cases, in the midst of com- 
 pany. Of this we have a remarkable example in the begin- 
 ning of the eighth chapter of Ezekiel : " And it came to pass, 
 
 * Matt. xlii. 12. f Heb. i. 1. % Num. xii. 6. 
 
24 LECTURE II. 
 
 in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the 
 month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat 
 before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon 
 me." In such cases, whether in company or in solitude, there 
 was what we call a trance or ecstasy: — a complete ab- 
 straction of the mind from all outward objects; an uncon- 
 sciousness, probably, of their presence; an entire absorp- 
 tion of its powers in what was supernaturally — by a direct 
 divine influence — brought under its contemplation; the 
 senses being, in the meanwhile, locked up, — the eye unaf- 
 fected by the visible, and the ear by the audible ; the whole 
 process passing in the hidden chambers of the inner man. 
 This seems what is expressed by the phrase of Ezekiel, which 
 he repeatedly uses — " tlie hand of the Lord fell upon me'' 
 — laying, as it were, an arrest upon all his powers for His 
 own special purpose, — interdicting for the time all intrusion 
 and all disturbance. Tliis is the phrase Ezekiel seems to use 
 when aught was imparted to him b?/ vision. On other occa- 
 sions, when he received any communication by immediate 
 suggestion, his more simple expression is — " Tlie loord of the 
 Lord came unto ??ie." "Wliat Ezekiel expresses by " the hand 
 of the Lord falling upon him" is the same with what John 
 expresses when he says, '^ I teas in the S2nrit:" — the meaning 
 being that for the time he was entirely taken, as it were, out 
 of himself — abstracted from all his OAvn ordinary conscious- 
 nesses, and brought under the Spirit's irresistible and all- 
 excluding mastery. And such was Peter's vision, when it is 
 said of him, that, while engaged in prayer, he "fell into a 
 trance : " — and such were Paul's " visions and revelations of 
 the Lord," when he kncAV not whether he was in the body or 
 out of the body, so vivid were the impressions of what he 
 heard and saw, and, at the same time, so thoroughly was 
 everything pertaining to earth and sense shut out. The 
 prophets in whose writings there is most of vision are — Eze- 
 kiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and John. The vision was, if I mis- 
 take not, invariably, and indeed it might almost be said 
 necessarily, symholiccd. Dreams were sometimes simply and 
 directly monitory. But more frequently they were also sym- 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 7—21. 25 
 
 bolical. Thus God's appearance in a dream to Abiraelecli 
 the king of Gerar, warning him respecting the wife of Abra- 
 ham, was supernatural, but simply monitory. Joseph's 
 dreams of the corn -sheaves, and of the sun and moon and 
 twelve stars were also from God; but they were symbohcal. 
 The dreams of ^Nebuchadnezzar — both that of the image, and 
 that of the tree — were symboHcal: — and it was wisely or- 
 dered, in order to bring honour to the true God in his eyes 
 and in the eyes of his people, that, instead of the prophet 
 having the dreams himself, the monarch should have them, 
 and the prophet be called in as the sole interpreter. The 
 vision and the dream are very closely analogous. In both 
 there was the same unconsciousness of all that was passing in 
 the external world. In vision, the mind was, in this respect, 
 very much as if in sleep. A passage or two in the Book of 
 Daniel may serve to show how nearly they were allied, and 
 how almost undistinguisliable : — " In the first year of Bel- 
 shazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions 
 of his head upon his bed : then he Avrote the dream, and told 
 the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in 
 my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the hea- 
 ven strove upon the great sea."* Here we have a dream — 
 distinctly so called: yet what was presented to the mind 
 in sleep, which he proceeds to describe, had all the charac- 
 ters of a symbolical vision. Compare the passage with the 
 opening of the eighth chapter — " In the third year of the 
 reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even 
 unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the 
 first. And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I 
 saw, that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the 
 province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by 
 the river of Ulai."+ This is a vision. JN"© mention is 
 made of night or of sleep, or of dreaming: and yet he 
 uses the words "after that which appeared unto me at 
 the first;" — which, as we have seen, was a dream; or, 
 more correctly, a vision in a dream. It may be thought by 
 
 * Dan. vii. 1,2. f Dan. viii. 1, 2. 
 
25 LECTURE 11. 
 
 some that the torins of the eighteenth verse of the same 
 chapter settle the point that this was a vision in a dream 
 too; — "]^ow as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep 
 sleep on my face toward the ground." The attentive reader, 
 however, must at once perceive that this is not at all meant 
 to express the state in which he was when the vision was 
 brought before his mind, but a part of what seemed to him 
 iri the vision, an item, or circumstance, in the details of the 
 vision itself; just as the subsequent particular evidently is 
 — "but he touched me, and set me upright" — together in- 
 deed with all that follows. 
 
 We shall not attempt, then, to determine with certainty 
 whether the scenes described by Zechariah were visions in a 
 trance or visions in a dream. All that we can say is, that 
 from their having been " Jjy night," the probability seems in 
 favour of the latter. And with regard to each of the visions, 
 it will at once naturally occur to all of you, that there are two 
 leading questions — the first. What ivas seen ? — the second. 
 What loas its meaning ? The latter, indeed, was the natural 
 inquiry of the prophet himself : and in each case, we shall 
 find, with greater and less degrees of simplicity, the answer 
 given. Eespecting the two visions wliich noio come under 
 our review, I assume in the outset, from their manifest 
 general character, that they bear relation to the then present 
 condition of the Jewish people, and have no distant pro- 
 spective reference. 
 
 I. Let us take up these two questions, then, in regard to 
 the first vision. 1. What did the prophet see ? He saw 
 (verse 8.) a man, mounted on a horse, of which the colour 
 was red. This horseman stood in a low-lying valley, in a 
 grove of myrtle-trees. Behind him were other horsemen 
 (for to suppose the rest to have been horses only without 
 riders is out of the question) mounted on horses of different 
 colours; one troop red, another — our translation says 
 *' specldedl^ but, according to the best critics, light-hay, or 
 chestnut, and a third white. 
 
 Our first inquiry, then, relates to the Leader. What was 
 this " man on the red horse ? " In answer, we are sure of 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 7—21. 'i7 
 
 one thing from the passage itself — that, under the appear- 
 ance of a man, he was an angel Yerses tenth and eleventh 
 make this certain : — "And the man that stood among the 
 myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they whom the 
 LoED hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And 
 they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the 
 mjTtle-trees, and said. We have walked to and fro through 
 the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at 
 rest." And I need not say to any who are at all familiar 
 with the Old Testament history, how frequent such appear- 
 ances of angels were under a temporary human form. But 
 there is a second question — Was he a mere created angel ? 
 That he was more, commentators of all classes appear to be 
 agreed. I am fully satisfied the exposition is right, which 
 makes him the divine "Angel of the Covenant," — the same 
 who, under a similar human form, appeared to Abraham in 
 the plains of Mamre, and with whom he interceded for the 
 cities of the plain ; — to Jacob, before his meeting with Esau, 
 with whom he had his mysterious but significant wrestling, 
 and to whom he said, " I will not let thee go, except thou 
 bless me," and from whom he got the new name of Israel, 
 because " as a prince he had power with God, and prevailed;" 
 — to Moses at the burning bush, — when, hearing from the 
 bush the voice that said, " I am the God of thy father, the 
 God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob 
 — he hid his face, and was afraid to look upon God ; " — to 
 Joshua at Jericho, when, with a drawn sword in his hand, 
 he said — "As captain of the Lord's host am I come;" — and 
 on various other occasions. That this was a vision of the 
 same glorious divine person, we shall see evidence by and by 
 in the passage before us. The " red hoi'se" on which he 
 appeared mounted, was the symbol of tvar — from which he 
 had returned a conqueror, or for which, if needful, he stood 
 prepared.* 
 
 Our next inquiry is — What were the other riders, and 
 their horses'? An eminent modern critic says that on a 
 
 ♦ Eev. vi. 4. 
 
28 LECTURE II. 
 
 comparison of different passages of Scriptures it will appear 
 " that horses with their riders are employed in the symbolical 
 language of Scripture to denote dispensations of divine pro- 
 vidence." * Yet he argues decidedly for understanding tho 
 first horse and his rider as a representation of the divine 
 Angel of the Covenant. Does not this introduce incongruity 
 into the symbol 1 If horses and their riders symbolize dis- 
 pensations of providence, why not the first as well as the 
 others ? I at once acquiesce in the more ordinary view of 
 this part of the symbol — that these riders and their horses 
 represent the hosts of heaven — the angehc hosts — as under 
 the leadership of the Divine person, to whom from the be- 
 ginning the whole conduct of the schemes of redeeming 
 mercy in our world had been committed. They ride, in the 
 vision, on horses — representing the speed and the power with 
 which they execute their commissions ; and these commis- 
 sions, executed under the control of their divine leader, are 
 various in kind — for weal or for woe — for mercy or for 
 judgment : this variety being here signified by the various 
 colours of the horses ; the red, vengeful bloodshed ; the 
 loliite, triumph, peace, joy; the hay, probably in different 
 shades, all that might be intermediate in national condition 
 between the two. 
 
 Our last question rdates to i\\Q\v position — the place they oc- 
 cupied. They "stood among the myrtle-trees in the bottom'* 
 — or the valley, t The critic before referred to conceives that 
 this is not designed at all to form part of the symbol, but 
 meant merely " to give vivacity and force to the description." 
 He may be right. And such a view has the recom- 
 mendation of putting an end to the conjectures of fancy. It 
 is common to interj)ret the valley as representing the low and 
 depressed condition of the Jewish people at the time ; — while, 
 by one commentator, the dark shade of the myrtle-trees is 
 interpreted as an aggravation of this meaning — representing 
 their condition as gloomy, as well as depressed; — and 
 
 * Henderson. 
 t rrbijn — " a derivation from hh)L to be shaded, darkened: hence the 
 shade or shady place, probably that of a mountain." — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 7—21. 29 
 
 anotlier, a good and popular commentator, finds in the 
 myrtle-trees an apt emblem of the true people of God, among 
 whom, as their Leader and Protector, Christ is ever to be 
 found* Taking my key from the "good and comfortable 
 words" in which the general scope of the vision is subse- 
 quently explained, I am inclined to take a view of my own ; 
 and to understand the low-lying valley, environed by hills, 
 as the emblem, on behalf of God's people, of a state of 
 tranquil security from their enemies, and the myrtles, the 
 luxuriant ever-greens, as the ajDt symbol of growing pros- 
 perity, — the myrtle itself being understood as emblematic 
 oi peace. We shall see immediately how far this is in ac- 
 cordance with the explanation given to the prophet. This 
 now claims our attention. 
 
 Yerse 9. " Then said I, my lord, what are these ? And 
 the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee 
 what these be." Who is this angel that tallied with him % 
 It is clear, we answer, that it is a different angel from any 
 in the group that formed the vision; to the whole of which 
 group, inclusive of the Leader, the prophet's question had 
 reference. And, moreover, this " angel that talked with 
 him" — that "communed with him" — appears throughout 
 all the visions, as the interpreting angel ; a divine messen- 
 ger, commissioned from heaven to reply to his questions, and 
 make him know God's mind as conveyed by those visions. 
 In the Book of Eevelation, we find a similar interpreting 
 angel attending John, — and showing that he was no more 
 than a created angel, by his peremptory refusal of the 
 homage which the Apostle, in mistake, fell down to offer 
 bim. 
 
 This angel appears to have been about to answer the 
 prophet's inquiry ; when the Angel of the Covenant him- 
 ::,elf took the word: (verse 10) "And the man that stood 
 among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they 
 whom the Loed hath sent to walk to and fro through the 
 earth." Wliile thus speaking he appears to have turned, 
 
 * Newcome— Scott, 
 
30 LECTURE IT. 
 
 and pointed to those who were behind him, waiting his 
 commands. By thus taking the word of explanation, he 
 excepts himself from the description he gives, and renders it 
 unnecessary for the interpreting angel to exce^Dt him. Those 
 to whom he pointed, and of whom he spoke, understanding 
 the gesture, the look, and the words, as calling for a report 
 of their last commission, give it, spontaneously, in the verse 
 following: — "And they answered the angel of the Lord that 
 stood among the myrtle-trees, and said. We have walked to 
 and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth 
 still, and is at rest." Their divine Leader needed not the infor- 
 mation: — the information is meant for the prophet. At 
 the same time, the report is given to the Leader. This 
 brings before us (and similar representations occur in other 
 parts of Scripture) the idea of the angels being the ministers 
 of the divine government, waiting the behests of that govern- 
 ment — " doing God's commandments, hearkening to the 
 voice of his words." They go forth on special errands. 
 They return, and report their execution. In the vision 
 before us, they appear as having been sent out to reconnoitre, 
 and ascertain the present state of the surrounding nations ; 
 for these are evidently here specially intended by " the earth" 
 — " the whole earth." The report was pacific. There had 
 been " wars and rumours of wars ;" but now all was " at rest 
 and quiet." It had been by the Medo-Persian war, in which 
 the Babylonian empire was overthrown by Cyrus, that the 
 captives of Judah had obtained their edict from the con- 
 queror, giving them liberty to return to their own land, and 
 furnishing them with all facihties to do so, and means of 
 effecting the restoration of their temple and their city, when 
 there ; an edict of which they had already begun to avail 
 themselves, but, as we shall hereafter see, to a very partial 
 extent. And now, after a short period of unsettledness — a 
 kind of transition-state, all the nations round, that were wont 
 to affect the condition of Israel, especially as occasional in- 
 struments of Jehovah's judicial inflictions, were in a state 
 of repose. 
 
 I have already hinted that I conceive what follows, along 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 7-21. 31 
 
 •^sith what is thus reported by the commissioned angels, 
 should be taken as the key of interpretation for the vision — 
 as directly intended to set forth its leading scope, in answer 
 to the prophet's question. This is obviously natural and 
 reasonable : — verses 12, 13. " Then the angel of the Lord 
 answered and said, Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not 
 have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against 
 which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten 
 years 1 And the Lord answered the angel that tallced with me 
 with good words and comfurtable words." Observe here — 
 
 1. " The Angel of Jehovah," "^ in verse twelfth, is evidently 
 the same as " the Angel of Jehovah that stood among the 
 myrtle-trees," in the eleventh verse. We have considered Jiim 
 as the divine Angel of the Covenant. Will this be regarded 
 by any as inconsistent with what is here ascribed to him, — 
 intercession for Israel ? By no one, surely, who attends to 
 the harmony of the representations of the Old and the New 
 Testaments, and who recollects that the second Person in the 
 blessed Trinity was the appointed Mediator from the begin- 
 ning ; and that such intercession is one of his mediatorial 
 functions. He who now having, "in the fulness of the time," 
 finished on earth his work of propitiation, " ever Hveth 
 making intercession" for his people, here appears, sjanbolical- 
 ly anticipating his mediatorial intercession, — and imploring 
 the divine compassion and interposition in their behalf The 
 restoration of Judah from captivity was but begun. There 
 were many still remaining in Babylon. Judea and Jeru- 
 salem were yet in a state of comparative solitude and desola- 
 tion. A vast deal remained to be done for both the city and 
 the country. " These threescore and ten years," during which 
 Jehovah had " had indignation" against both, evidently mean 
 the predicted seventy years of divinely threatened and in- 
 flicted bondage ; during which, " by the rivers of Babylon," 
 they had "sat and wept" at the remembrance of Zion : hanging 
 their unstrung harps upon the willows. IsTow God's time of 
 
 * The reader need hardly be reminded that Lord in the authorised 
 version, (from which the writer generally quotes) is Jehovah in tho 
 Hebrew. — Ed. 
 
32 LECTURE II. 
 
 mercy was come ; and the intercession here is for the full 
 manifestation of that mercy; — the full verification of the 
 promises of Jehovah, as there had been of His threatenings. 
 What, then, is the reply? — Yerse 13. "And Jehovah 
 answered the angel that talked with me with good words 
 and comfortable words." There is a difficulty here. Who 
 is the speaker 1 He is called " Jeliovahr From the 
 previous intercession being addressed to Jehovah, we are 
 very naturally disposed to regard the Jehovah that answers 
 as the same with the Jehovah addressed. But observe — the 
 Jehovah that "answers" does not address his answer to '^ the 
 angel of Jehovah'' that had i^leaded in intercession. It is 
 to " the angel that talked'' with the prophet. The Being 
 addressed in the intercession of the Angel of the Covenant 
 is the Eternal Father. Eut He is not to be considered as 
 appearing or speaking in the vision at all. And I quite 
 concur in the conclusion that " Jeliovah" in the thirteenth 
 verse, who addresses the " good and comfortable words" to the 
 interpreting angel, is the very same with " the Angel of the 
 Lord" who intercedes in the verse preceding — the Divine 
 Angel of the Covenant. If you reckon it harsh and gratui- 
 tous to suppose so immediate a transition from the designa- 
 tion " the Angel of Jelwvah" to that of " Jehovah" itself; I 
 have first to remind you that this Angel of Jehovah is divine, 
 and that therefore there is nothing incongruous in the 
 transition in itself; and then, secondly, to refer to a specimen 
 of parallel cases — cases of the very same sudden transition. 
 Compare Exod, iii. verse 2 and verse 4, " The Angel of Je- 
 hovah a^Dpeared unto him in a flame of fij'e out of the midst 
 of a bush ; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned 
 with fire, and the bush 'was not consumed. And when 
 Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto 
 him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. 
 And he said, Here am I." Also Judg. vi. ver. 1 2 and ver. 1 4. 
 '' The Angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said unto 
 him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 
 And Jehovah looked upon him, and said. Go in this thy 
 might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the 
 
ZECIIARIAH I. 7-21. 33 
 
 Midiaiiitcs : liave not I sent tlieeT' To these more might be 
 added. It is " the Angel of the Covenant," then, that utters 
 the " good words and comfortable words." The Sinrit that 
 was in the prophets — in whatever way making known the 
 messages of God, was " the Spirit of Christ." But He spake 
 then "by the prophets" — not directly, as in "the fuhiess of 
 the time." 
 
 Then the "good and comfortable words" are communi- 
 cated by the interpreting angel to the prophet, to be by him 
 imparted to the people: — Verses 14 — 17. "So the angel 
 that communed with me said unto me. Cry thou, saying, 
 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem 
 and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore 
 displeased with the heathen that are at ease : for I was but 
 a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. 
 Therefore thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem 
 with mercies : my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord 
 of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 
 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. My cities 
 through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad : and the Lord 
 shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem." In 
 these verses, which, as has been said, are the key to the 
 import of the pi-evious vision, the following things may be 
 noticed : — 
 
 1. The jealousy, or zeal, of Jehovah, in behalf of Jeru- 
 salem; — Jerusalem, as a matter of course, being inclusive of 
 the chosen people. Being ^''jealous for Jerusalem with a 
 great jealousy ;" and being, as others render the words, 
 " zealous for Jerusalem with a great zeal " — amount, in effect, 
 to very much the same thing. He was ^^ jealous" indig- 
 nantly jealous, of every person and of every thing that could 
 injuriously affect her interests: — and this is the very same 
 state of feeling with being earnestly zealous for her good — for 
 the promotion of her real well-being. Jerusalem was "the 
 city that was called by His name " — " the place which He 
 had chosen to put his name there." There was the temple 
 — " the Zion of the Holy One of Israel ; " — where He dwell 
 between the chcrulnm ; where He had received the homage 
 
 
 
^4 LECTURE It 
 
 of tlic seed of Abraham Ilis " friend," — tlie people of His 
 choice and care — His " pecuUar treasure." He had been many 
 a time ill requited by them for special kindness. He had 
 been constrained by their evil deserts to visit them witli cor- 
 rective judgments. But, in the jnidst of tlu^in all, they 
 were still " beloved for the fathers' sakes." His eye and 
 heart v/ere still upon the Holy City. He, as well as Jlis 
 suffering people, " remembered Zion." Her ruined " walls 
 were continually before Him." '' His heart Avas turned within 
 him. His repentings were kindled together." On many 
 occasions He had shown special jealousy and zeal for them, 
 — ^both providentially and miraculously; turning the counsels 
 of their enemies into foolishness, and their might into 
 weakness; and, after He had employed them ao ii^.struments 
 of their correction, working their deliverance, and turning 
 His vengeful hand against their adversaries, in .requital of 
 their malice and their cruelty. This leads me to observe — 
 2. His corresponding Jieavi/ dlsiyleasure against the ene- 
 mies of Jerusalem; and the cause of that displeasure: — 
 " I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease : 
 for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward 
 the affliction." The language here may be fairly inter- 
 preted, not exdusicehj^ of the one particular case of judicial 
 visitation from which the Jews were just obtaining deliveraiicc, 
 but of other cases too, Avhere similar oppression had been 
 practised towards them. " The heathen, or nations, at ease^* 
 might seem to have reference, immediately and solely, to 
 the description in the eleventh verse of " all the earth being 
 silll and at rest.'^ But the phrase " heiiig at ease " is fre- 
 quently, and pi'obably here, used in a different and a bad sense, 
 — as signifying not mere external repose and quiet, but care- 
 less and carnal security — " having no fear of God before 
 their eyes."* And what was the cause of Jehovah's dis- 
 pleasure 1 — "for I was a little displeased, and they lielj^ed 
 foncard the affiiction.'' The meaning evidently is, that, 
 
 * See Psa. cxx'ii. 4 (probal)iy the very language of the captives of 
 Judali in Ikihylon or wlicn Itaving itfor Jerusalem); Amos vi, ij 
 Ui\. Kxx:;, and 11 : Jer. xlviii. 11. 
 
ZECIIARIAH I. 7—21. 35 
 
 v/itlioiit a tliouglit of Jeliovab, — -iDeiit upon tlie indulgence of 
 their own lust of conquest, of power, of wealth, and, it might 
 be, of spite and revenge, they stirred up all their malice, and 
 took eager and full advantage of the license given them 
 (though they knew it not) by the very God of the people 
 they were delighting to plunder and oppress. They had got 
 their commission from Him; but they did not fulfil it for 
 Him, but for themselves, in all the wantonness of insult and 
 outrage ; — aggravating " the affliction " to the ut^iiost limit 
 of their povrer. — AYe have a fine illustration of the sentiment 
 in this verse, in Isa. x. 5 — 27. If you read the whole 
 chapter, you will find it, both in regard to God's faithful care 
 of His people, and to His indignation against their proud and 
 cruel enemies, a lengthened commentary on the verse be- 
 fore ur. 
 
 3. The relenting compassions of Jehovah towards His 
 people, and His promises both to Jerusalem and Judea. In 
 all the judgments brought upon them, tlie design Avas to bring 
 them back to Him, that so He might come back in blessing 
 to them. This is what He here engages to do. The temple 
 was to rise again ; His worship was to be re-established ; 
 and Jerusalem, in its environing walls, and in all its in- 
 terior streets and dwellings and public places, to be laid 
 out and built, and iidiabited anew. And the whole land 
 was to enjoy like prosperity; its cities growing in populous- 
 ness, and in peace, and liberty, with all their attendant bene- 
 fits. J(!hovah w^as to " comfort Zion " — to " comfort all her 
 waste places;" to compensate to her for all that she had 
 passed through; again setting His heart on Jerusalem, as 
 the object of His ancient choice. She w^as to have smiles 
 after frowns ; sunshine and calm after darkness and storm ; 
 visits of mercy, instead of visitations of wrath. 
 
 Have we not here, then, tlie clear and simple meaning of 
 the symbols in the vision? Jehovah, with those heavenly 
 hosts, which are His agents for judgment or for mercy, again 
 takes His station near the forsaken city, — resuming the chcirge 
 of His chosen people. The Red Horse is the apt emblem of 
 His avenging jealousy on their behalf — denoting His readiness 
 
36 LECTURE II. 
 
 and jiower to subdue and destroy their foes. Tlie vari- 
 ous colours of the horses of His followers signify that all His 
 dispensations, of every description, through their agency, 
 should be ordered for good to His people and His land. The 
 ivlilte especially, being the last mentioned, were emblematic 
 of the festive joy that yet awaited them, as the termination 
 of tl^eir recent trials, through the same divine superintendence 
 and control. And we are thus confirmed in the meaning we 
 assigned to the valley and the flourishing myrtles, — as being 
 significant of returning security, prosperity, peace, and growth. 
 The land had long lain desolate ; but now, " instead of the 
 briar should come up the myrtle-tree : " — and, " as the moun- 
 tains were round about Jerusalem, so the Lord would be 
 round about his people." 
 
 On the second vision — which, thougli distinct, and in its 
 symbols even widely different, is yet closely connected with 
 the first, it will not be needful at all to dwell: — verses 
 18 — 21. " Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold 
 four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with 
 me, What be these? And he answered me. These are the 
 horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 
 And the Lord showed me four carpenters. Then said I, 
 AVhat come these to do? And he spake, saying. These are 
 the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did 
 lift up his head : but these are come to fray them, to cast 
 out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over 
 the land of Judah to scatter it." The proj)het — still in the 
 same drearn, or in the same trance — " hfted up his eyes " — • 
 the scene before described having vanished, — and Avhat did 
 he see? — " Four horns ;'' but of what description of animal is 
 not said : — and then, approaching towards them, " four car- 
 penters " or rather, more generally, " icorkmcn.'""' 
 
 The explanation is simj^le. Throughout the Scriptures — 
 in their prose or in their poetry — the Horn is the emblem 
 of power ; from a natural analogy which every one in a 
 
 * The word ly^iH " fi workman in iron, wood, stone,'' &e., an artizan, 
 fin artificer; Ex. xxxv. 35; Dent, xxvii. 15; Comp. Gesen. in verb. — 
 
ZECHARIAH I. 7—21. 37 
 
 moment recognizes, Tlie horns here, then, are the sym- 
 bols of the might of the adversaries of Israel. Th^ four 
 horns need not be regarded as pointing to any four particular 
 powers ; but rather as meaning hostile powers on every side 
 — east, west, north, or south. The ivorkmen denote antago- 
 nist powers, in the service of Jehovah, commissioned by 
 Him to weaken and destroy those powers. When the inter- 
 preting angel says respecting the " four workmen," " These 
 are come to fray them" — an English reader may very na- 
 turally understand the word "fray'' in a sense which is per- 
 fectly legitimate — and indeed even in Johnson the only sense 
 given of it — the sense, I mean, of " ivearing down hy fric- 
 tion;'' or, as we might say, filing do2vn the horns; that is, 
 gradually diminishing, and ultimately annihilating the sym- 
 bolized powers. Such interpretation might seem specially 
 suitable both to workmen and to that on which they were to 
 work. The original word, however, has no such meaning. 
 It signifies to frighten — to terrify.^ And it is therefore in 
 this sense that here, as in several other places, we must con- 
 sider our translators as having used the word " to fray." 
 Thus — " Thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the 
 air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray 
 them away." t Again — " The carcases of this people shall 
 be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of tlie 
 earth ; and none shall fray them away." % When the word in 
 this sense is applied to horns, it is obvious, we are to con- 
 ceive a transition from the literal symbol — the horn — to the 
 power represented hy it. Jehovah would employ His own 
 agents, to terrify and scatter the powers that had terrified 
 and scattered Judah and Israel. — To go further now would 
 be to anticipate the remaining visions. 
 
 Meanwhile observe, in conclusion — 
 
 1. The same "Angel of the covenant" — Immanuel — the 
 Divine Mediator — who had the charge of the interests of the 
 
 * It is the hipliil form of the verb •T^^ to tremble, to he terrified. 
 I'he verb to fray is used in the same sense as here both by Spencer 
 and Bacon : — to affright, Fr. effraijer. — Ed. 
 
 t peut. xxviii. 2G. \ Jer. vii. 33. 
 
SS LECTURE II. 
 
 cliiircli of GoJ, and of tlie sclicmo (;f rcdemptioii, ii'oni tlio 
 be,:^'i lining, lias the charge, still. Having come, "in the fulness 
 of time," and executed his great commission of mercy to man- 
 Idnd, he is now " seated on the riglit hand of the throne of 
 the Majesty on high." Heaven and earth are at his com- 
 mand. All power in botli wa-;rlds is His, The angels are 
 still the messengers and ministers of His kingdom — " minis- 
 tering spirits, sent forth to minister for the heirs of salvation." 
 He is "the prince of the kings of the earth;" having "on 
 his vesture and on his thigh a name Avritten — King of kings, 
 and Lord of lords." And as of old we find his treatment of 
 all the surrounding nations regulated by their relation to 
 Israel, and made to subserve his purposes in reference to that 
 chosen people, — so still, in his conduct as " governor among 
 the nations," He directs and overrules all their counsels and 
 all the events in their respective histories, more directly or 
 more remotely, to subserve the ends of his exaltation and 
 rule in regard to the interests — the varying fortunes, the pro- 
 gress, and the ultimate triumph of the " kingdom which is 
 not of this world." His church is secure, — wdiat system 
 soever that usurps the name may be in danger. " The gates 
 of hell shall not prevail against it." " No weapon that is 
 formed against his spiritual Zion shall prosper;" — whether 
 it be a weapon forged in the fires and on the anvil of perse- 
 cution, — or framed in the brain and at the desk of infidelity 
 and rationalism. " Every tongue that riseth against her in 
 judgment He wdll condemn." "All his enemies" — and the 
 enemies of his church and cause — " shall be made his foot- 
 stool." It is on his ifhite horse that he goes forth for his 
 spiritual conquests. The sword which, on that horse, He 
 wields, is " the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of 
 God." It is that divine Truth, which is " the power of God 
 unto salvation." — Eut on the red horse, He may still execute 
 his vengeance on those persecuting powders of earth that have, 
 at different periods, ^vasted his church, and poured out the 
 blood of his saints. His own spiritual people are forbidden 
 to unsheath the sword for such a purpose. But He can 
 
ZECIIAniAH I. 7—21. S9 
 
 make otlier earthly powers liis agents in this righteous ven- 
 geance, — " giving them blood to drink, for they are worthy." 
 He " treadetli the wine-press of the iierceness and wrath of 
 Alniiglity God." 
 
 2. In times of depression and distress, — when the hand of 
 God has Leen upon his people, laying them low on account 
 of their backslidings and sins; and when the corrective strokes 
 of that hand have brought them to a right mind ; to a sub- 
 missive and penitential state of feeling; — to a due sense and 
 acknowledgment of God's rightoou><ness, and of the indispen- 
 sable necessity of his restored f ivour to safety and to happi- 
 ness ; — to an influential conviction of the guilt alike and the 
 folly of " forsaliijig the fountain of living water, and hewing 
 out cisterns (>f their own, broken cisterns that can hohl no 
 water:" — and when, in such a state of mind aud heart, they 
 come to Him, saying — " Take avray our initpiity, and receive 
 us graciously;" — what "good words and comfortable words" 
 He has ever in readiness for them! " I will heal their back- 
 slidings; I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned 
 away from them. I will be as the dew unto Israel ; they 
 shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine, and send forth 
 their roots as Lebanon!" With Avhat "exceeding great and 
 precious promises" he meets them ! Many of these promises 
 ;ire made to the church, collectively, — and even ridate to 
 future periods of her history. But as utterances of the state 
 of God's heart towards His 'people, — tlicy are as appropriate 
 and as precious to each of them individually as to the collec- 
 tive body. Every one may take the comfort they are litted 
 to afford. Let one serve as a specimen : — " Lut now, thus 
 saith the Lord that created thee, Jacob, and he that formed 
 thee, Israel, Fear not : for I have redeemed thee, I have 
 called thee by thy name ; thou art mine. AVlien thou pass- 
 est through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the 
 rivers, they shall not overflow thee: ^Vhen thou vralkest 
 through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt ; neither shall the 
 flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the 
 Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour : I gave Egypt for thy ran- 
 
40 LECTURE II. 
 
 som, Ethiopia and Seba for thee."* The promise is to the 
 Church collectively, in all seasons of persecuting cruelty and 
 violence. And how wonderfully has it been fulfilled! 
 Through what floods and flames has the Church been 
 brought ! The floods have not overwhelmed, nor the flames 
 consumed her. And so it will be to the end. — But every 
 section of the Church, in seasons of difficulty and trial, and 
 every individual child of God, in times of personal and do- 
 mestic privation and suffering, may, with perfect propriety, 
 appropriate the promise, and draw from it all the sweetness, 
 and all the refreshing and vivifying influence, it is fitted to 
 yield. How rich in consolation are such "good words" — 
 words coming from the lips of divine faithfulness and love, — 
 when the spirit is cast down, and the heart agonized and 
 ready to break, under such afflictions as bring nature's feel- 
 ings into torturing conflict with the principles of grace ! How 
 often has such a promise — such a " good and comfortable 
 word" — been the oil on the restless and turbulent wave, — 
 soothing the inward tumult to repose, — giving it to find " rest 
 in the Lord!" — how thankful we should be, that any 
 words of a holy and just God were ever " good and comfort- 
 able" to sinful and guilty creatures. They might have been 
 all words of " condemnation and wrath." Had they been so, 
 who among the sons of men would have had just cause to 
 complain] But it is not so. He has "good words and 
 comfortable words" even for the chief of sinners. To all he 
 says — " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, 
 and learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye 
 shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and 
 my burden is light." t And he adds — "Him that cometh 
 unto me I will in no wise cast out." But remember — he 
 has no good words — no comfortable words, either to back- 
 sliders continuing in their bacl'slidinr/s, or to sinners per- 
 listing in their sins. 
 
 * Isa. xliii. 1—8. t ^I'ltt, xi. 28— SO. 
 
LECTURE III 
 
 Zech. II. 
 
 " I lifted up mine eyes a_c;ain, and looked, ;ind behold a man with a measuring- 
 line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest tliou? And he said unto me, To 
 measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length 
 thereof. And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another 
 angel went out to meet him, and said unto liim, Run, speak to this young man, 
 saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, for the multitude 
 of men and cattle therein: for I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire 
 round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Ho, ho, come forth, and 
 flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord ; for I have spread you abroad as 
 the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Deliver thyself, Zion, that 
 dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, After 
 the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you; for he that touch- 
 eth you toucheth the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon 
 them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants* and ye shall know that the 
 Lord of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion: for, lo, 1 
 come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations 
 shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dAvell 
 in the midst of thee: and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me 
 unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and 
 shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord: for he is 
 raised up out of his holy habitation." 
 
 We mentioned formerly, that the first portion of this Book 
 of Zechariah consisted of a series of visions, presented to 
 tlie entranced mind of the prophet, in the course of the 
 same night. We had two of these visions before us in 
 last lecture. This chapter contains the third. It is evi- 
 dently a continuation of the same subject, — the rebuilding 
 and re-occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple. It is of 
 
42 LECTURE III. 
 
 the most encouirigiug and raiimatiiig character, both for tha 
 time theiir present and for days in remote futurity. 
 
 Our first inquhy, then, i.>=;, ]Vhaf did the j^i'ophet ,^ee ? — ■ 
 verses 1 — 3 : " I hfted up mine eyes again, and looked, 
 and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then 
 said I, Yv^iither goest thou? And he said unto me. To 
 measure Jerusalem, to see what is tlie bieadth thereof, and 
 what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that 
 talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to 
 meet him." Agreeably to the use of the same modes of ex- 
 pression in the former visions — especially the first, the '" man'' 
 with the "measuring-line in his hand" was an angel in 
 human form; these " ministerhig spirits" being clearly the 
 agents in these scenic representations. And I may here re- 
 marjc by the way, that the scenery of each of these visions, 
 when presented in succession, should be conceived of as vanish- 
 ing; each being complete in itself, — and no part of its agency 
 to be borrowed from those which precede. I do not mean that 
 there is no connexion between the successive visions as to 
 tlie nature and extent of tlieir progressive discoveries. What 
 I mean is, simply, that as each vision is seen, the apparatus 
 of it disappears, and the ground is cleared for the next. The 
 only exception which I should be disposed to make to this 
 statement relates to the inter^yreting angel — called by the 
 YiYophet " the angel that talked ivith me' — "• the angel that 
 communed ivith me," — who appears to continue the same 
 throughout all the visions, though he is not in all of them 
 introduced. Seeing "the man with the measuring-line" 
 advancing onwards, as if for some special purpose, the pro- 
 pi let, in eager and interested curiosity, does not apply to the 
 interpreter, but seems in the vision, to accost the measurer 
 himself. Tlie question put by him, " Whither goest thou ? '* 
 evidently implies more than it expresses, — not only to what 
 '^IdidQ, hwt for icluU iDurpose — ichat to do? It was enough 
 to ask ichlther? — because tlie purpose was implied in the 
 professional instruments which he carried with him. The 
 answer — " to measure Jerusalem, to see Avhat is the breadth 
 thereof, and what is the length thereof," — corresponds 
 
ZECHAPJAH II. 4,3 
 
 with tli8 teims of the first vision: ■•' — •''Therefore, thus saith 
 the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my 
 house shall he huilt in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and 
 a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem." The 
 talcing of the measurements w^as a preparatory step for 
 v.'liat was to follow — the full re-erection of the city, and its 
 restored population; for what would building have been 
 without peopling? The measurements now to be taken, I 
 agree with those who think, were not the measurements of 
 the future city, but of the city as it had been, and as, in its 
 ruins, it now lay. It was to ascertain the extent of the work 
 which required to be done for its restoration. It seems quite 
 a mistake to assume, as some do, that the act of measuring 
 proceeds on the supposition of the re-building having been 
 already effected, and that the intended visionary mensuration 
 related to the future^ — to what the city was to he. We shall 
 see immediately what is said of that, — that tlie extent of the 
 city was to be such as, in a manner, to supersede the neces- 
 sity of measuring. 
 
 Meanwhile, three questions require to be answered, to clear 
 our way to the simple explication of all that follows : — 
 
 1. Who is meant 1)y ^' tJie angel that talked tvith him?" 
 I should hardly have thought of such a question, indeed, 
 had it not been for the following words of Scott : — " If 
 the angel who talked with the prophet was the same with 
 the man who ' stood among the myrtle-trees' — the Angel of 
 the Covenant, tlie Word and Son of God, as it seems most 
 prohahle, the man with the measuring-line must have been a 
 created angel in human form." Of the latter there can, I 
 think, be no doubt. But that " the angel who talked with 
 the prophet" was the same with the man among the myrtle- 
 trees in the hrst vision, is anything but lyrohahle. It seems 
 to me decidedly wrong. The man " among the myrtle-trees " — 
 the Angel of the Covenant, is, in that vision, expressly 
 distinguished from the "angel that talked with the pro- 
 phet." The latter is in that vision, — and so, therefore, 
 
 *Cliaj). i. 16, 
 
44 LECTURE III. 
 
 when the same designation is used, he should be considered 
 in this, — the interpreting angel. 2. Our next inquiry is — 
 Who is meant by the " other angel,'' that " went out to meet" 
 the interpreting angel, on his "going forth?" Some conceive 
 him to have been an ordinary created angel, who " went out" 
 from the presence of the Angel of the Covenant. There is 
 an objection to this, wliich I cannot get over. To me it is 
 clear, that all that follows in the chapter is the utterance of 
 one speaker. There is no indication of change. I^ow the 
 speaker is this angel. Yet, as we shall see, there are things 
 said by him in his own person, such as cannot be made to 
 accord Avith the idea of his being no more than a created 
 angel. While he speaks in Jehovah's name, he, at the same 
 time, s]3eaks as sustaining the same divine character himself^ 
 and as doing things such as the divine Being alone could 
 do. My own conviction is — and the assumption, it Avill, I 
 think, be found, gives unity and consistent simplicity to all 
 that follows, — that this " other angeV is himself the same 
 with 'Hhe man among the myrtle-trees," — is himself the 
 divine " Angel of the Covenant." This supposition agrees 
 with the representations of the first vision. There, you will 
 remember, it is He that communicates to the interpreting 
 angel the " good words and comfortable words," which that 
 angel immediately imparts to the prophet, with the charge to 
 proclaim them. !N"ow so it is here. The Angel of the Cove- 
 nant himself meets and acc-3sts the interpreting angel, and 
 gives him his message for the prophet. The only difference 
 between this and the former case is, — that in tliis the mes- 
 sage is recorded simply as communicated to the interpreting 
 angel, without the intervening link of its communication 
 from him to the prophet, and the prophet's pubhcation of it. 
 I cannot but think that this view of the matter gives 
 simplicity to the contents of the vision, greater than any I 
 have seen in the different commentators. 
 
 3. Our third question is — Who is the " young man" to 
 whom the interpreting angel is ordered to impart the mes- 
 sage? — I have already anticipated the answer I am disposed 
 to give to it. I think the most common idea the right one, 
 
ZECIIARIAH II. 45 
 
 • — tLat tlio " young man " is the proj^hct:'^ Stonard, and 
 Henderson, and others, conceive liini to have been " the man 
 with the measuring line." The sole consideration in support 
 of this idea that appears to have any force, is to be found in 
 the word " BunJ' This, it is alleged, " implies the ne- 
 cessity of despatch, which could only have been occasioned 
 l\y the intended procedure of the measurer," — as if the word 
 could only signify, make hg-ste to overtake him. For, as 
 regards the farther allegation, that " he had no need to 
 run, or to move at all, in order to speak to Zechariah, who 
 certainly remained where he was," — it appears to be for- 
 gotten, that, though the prophet " remained where he was," 
 the interpreting angel did not remain where he was. He is 
 expressly said to have "gone forth;" that is, manifestly, 
 from his position beside the prophet: — "and behold, the 
 angel that talked with me went forth." For what purpose 
 he went forth, or to what distance he had proceeded, is not, 
 in either case, said ; and nothing can be allowed to rest on 
 mere conjecture. But just suppose that the "other angel" 
 who goes out to meet him, when he has left the prophet, is 
 the Angel of the Covenant — and the command to " run and 
 speak to this young man " (understanding the young man 
 to mean the j)ro2jliet) has a meaning imparted to it that is at 
 once appropriate and pleasing. It is as if he had said, 
 Do not quit your post. Keep not my servant in sus- 
 pense : run, speak to him : give him the following mes- 
 sage for my people. The prophet had asked the question 
 — "Whither goest thou'?" with eager and impatient curi- 
 osity. It was /or hhn, assuredly, that the information, what- 
 ever it might be, was intended; and to him the Divine 
 Prophet of the church, the Angel of the Covenant, commands 
 it to be immediately imparted. 
 
 There are questions of still more importance. On ivhat 
 principle is the subsequent information, or message, to be in- 
 terpreted? — the literal, or the spjiritual? — that which con- 
 fines it to the theocratic or Old Economy, or that which refers 
 
 * So Blayney, Rosenmiiller, Hengstenberg and others. — Ed. 
 
4G LECTURE IH. 
 
 it to Gospel times, and the Church in Xl^w Testament days? 
 To such questions I am disposed to answer — On neither 
 principle exclusi^'ely, but partly on the one and partly on 
 the other: that is, not applying both principles to each por- 
 tion of the vision, but tlie one to the former, and the other 
 to the latter part of it. Let me not, however, be understood 
 as if there were no cases in which the application of both 
 principles might properly be made to the same vision or pre- 
 diction. Far from it. There may be, and frequently there 
 is, a literal meaning which iijpicalhj involves a spiritual, and 
 a prpscnt v»diich thus involves a future. But as to the views 
 of those interpreters who take the whole of the vision before 
 us spiritually as well as literally, and apply it to the future 
 as w^ell as to the present and then existing dispensation, — 
 and to the spiritual and future chiefly, — who loill have what 
 is here said of the extension of Jerusalem's boundaries, and 
 increase of her population, as having reference to the spread 
 of the Gospel in the Xew Testament era, and the multi- 
 plication, by the conversion of sinners, of the subjects of the 
 spiritual Jerusalem — the Church of Christ, — and who inter- 
 pret the victory over her enemies, and the subjugation of 
 those enemies by whom they had been oppressed, and at 
 v/hose hands they had suffered, as finding its projDer counter- 
 part in the cessation of persecution, and the subjection of 
 the Eoman empire b}'' Constantine to Christian instead of 
 pagan dominion ; — I cannot but regard such views as utterly 
 out of place, and sheer extravagance; — even apart from their 
 inadniissibleness on other grounds, — such as reckoning among 
 the Church's benefits and blessings some of her really worst 
 calamities ! It is, at the same time, true, that in the writings 
 of the Prophets we often find abru^^tt and sudden transitions ; 
 the prophetic eye, while surv^eying the near in time, darting 
 forward under the impulse and illumination of the prophetic 
 Spirit, to the distant future, — the glory and fehcity of tho 
 coming Messiah's kingdom bursting unexpectedly on the en- 
 raptured vision : — the inspired seer, ere he is aware, " rapt 
 into future times," and then " inquiring and searching dili- 
 gently, what and what manner of times the Spirit within him 
 
ZECITARIAH II. 47 
 
 signified." My belief regarding the utterance we are now to 
 expound is — that the language i'vom verse fourth to ver.?e 
 ninth has immediate, and I think I may venture to add ex- 
 clusive, reference to tlie literal Jerusalem and the then existing 
 theocratic dispensation ; and that the sulDsetpient verses, from 
 verse tenth to the end, cannot be consistently explained other- 
 wise than as looking forward to the Messiah's appearance 
 and reign. Let us take the portions of the vision thus dis- 
 tinctly, though in inseparable connexion. 
 
 1. What is said, in the way of promissory assurance, re- 
 specting the literal Jerusalem, — the city which of old Jehovali 
 liad chosen, " to place His name there," — Vvdiich had so long, 
 in punisliment of the sins of its inhabitants, been lying deso- 
 late, — free of profanation, and "enjoying its Sabbaths," — a 
 sad reflection on the vrorshippers by whom those Sabbaths 
 had been desecrated? — Tliree things are promised — exfension, 
 security, glory. 
 
 i. Extension : — ver3c 1. " Jerusalem shall be inhabited as 
 towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle 
 therein." There is a correspondence, as already noticed, be- 
 tween this and the representation in the fh'st vision.* The 
 expression " Jerusalem shall be inhabited as to\Yns without 
 walls " — or '*' as unwalled villages," — or, as a modern translator 
 renders it, " into the open country," — has a meaning sufii- 
 ciently obvious j namely, that the former limits of the city 
 which '' the man with the measuring line " was about to take, 
 Vv'ould be too straitened for the number of its inhabitants ; 
 so that they would spread themselves out into the sur- 
 rounding localities. IS'ow, there is no occasion whatever 
 for going forward to Gospel times, and seeking a spiritual 
 accomplishment of tliis prediction or promise. It was liter- 
 ally verified. Even by such as are most "enamoured of the 
 spiritual interpretation, it is distinctly admitted, that " the 
 inhabitants grew to a number beyond the capacity of the 
 city, in its ancient dimensions, to supply them with dwellings." 
 And this accords with the testimony of Josephus, who say.5 
 
 * Comp. Chap. i. 16, 17. 
 
48 LECTURE III. 
 
 — " Overflowing with numbers, it gradually crept out beyond 
 its walls ; and the citizens, joining the parts, that lay north- 
 ward of the temple, to the hill, went forward to a considerable 
 distance, till they had covered with their habitations a fourth 
 hill, called Eezetha." For a time, immediately after the 
 return from Babylon, under jN'eliemiah, the building and ex- 
 tension were rapid. The progress suffered many an interrup- 
 tion, — adverse and j^rosperous seasons, — opposition and fa- 
 vour; till, in the period of the heroic and patriotic Macca- 
 bees, in the very terms of a spiritualizing commentator, 
 " Jerusalem, blessed with freedom and prosperity, filled the 
 extent of her w\alls wdtli citizens, resumed her ro3^al insignia 
 under nativ^e princes, overgrassed her former boundaries, — 
 and, as the head of a populous and extensive territory, rose 
 to a state of opulence, power, dignity, and sj)lendour, which 
 she had not known since the division of Israel and Judah."* 
 Is not this enough? What further accomplishment of the 
 assurance before us could be wished? 
 
 ii. Security. — This, indeed, might be considered as implied, 
 to a certain extent, in the preceding particular. The very 
 idea of dwelling " u'itTiout walls " implies that of conjidence, 
 or felt safety. But mark the striking promise — verse 5. 
 " For I, saith Jehovah, lolll he a wall of Jive round about her." 
 The figure is a vivid and most expressive one. As a literal 
 " wall of fire," environing a city would effectually prevent 
 intrusion by consuming all who should venture to attempt 
 it; so would Jehovah's avenging jealousy destroy every 
 assailant of the holy city. He Himself would be its unseen 
 but sure protection. Had the inhabitants of the city — had 
 Israel and Judah generally — in former days, exercised and 
 exemplified faith in God, putting their trust in His pro- 
 mises, walking in His fear, and maintaining the purity of His 
 w^orship and the practice of His laws, — its walls had never 
 been overthrown, nor its temple demolished; it would have 
 been as safe without walls as with them; it would never 
 have experienced its seventy years of desolation, nor its 
 
 « Stonard, p. 71. 
 
ZECHARIAH II. 49 
 
 people the same period of captivity and oppression. And 
 now, when He had begun to accomplish their promised 
 restoration, He engages to invest their city anew with His 
 all protecting presence and power : — invisible, but unfailing. 
 The figure bears resemblance to the vision by which the ser- 
 vant of Elisha was assured of the safety of his master, when 
 liis escape seemed impossible : " And when the servant 
 of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, 
 an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots : 
 and his servant said unto him, Alas, my master ! how shall 
 we do? And he answered. Fear not: for they that be with 
 us are more than tliey that be with them. And Elisha 
 prayed, and said. Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he 
 may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man ; 
 and he saw : and, behold, the mountain was full of horses 
 and chariots of fire round about EUsha."'"^ 
 
 3. Glory. — This, you will perceive, refers to the latter 
 half of the same verse — " and the glory in the midst of her." 
 Jehovah's presence — " dwelling between the cherubim " — 
 worshipped before the mercy-seat — was from the beginning, 
 and all along the ti'ue glory of the ancient Jerusalem. It 
 was not the mere presence of the symbol, but the presence of 
 Himself. It is true the Sliech'inah was glorious. But its 
 chief glory lay in its being the visible symbol of an invisible 
 glory infinitely surpassing its own. It seems strange, therefore, 
 for any Christian commentator, at any rate, to object to the 
 application of the words to the literal Jerusalem, that there 
 is no evidence of the Sheclihiah having taken visible occu- 
 pancy of the second temple, as it did of the first ; when it is 
 recorded that " the priests could not stand to minister by 
 reason of the cloud ; for the glory of the Lord had filled the 
 house of the Lord." It may be so ; but if Jehovah himself 
 was there, the true glory was there. The other is a sadly 
 Jewish notion. They were ready to say " the glory is de- 
 parted from Israel," when " the ark of God was taken." But 
 it was when by their sins they drove Jehovah himself, in 
 
 * 2 Kings vi. 15—17. 
 D 
 
50 LECTURE ITT. 
 
 judicial displeasure, away from tliem, tliat the glory really 
 departed. What then could the ark do for them? Nay, 
 ■vyhat the temple itself, with its holy of holies, and all its 
 outward ritual? The carnal, Avorldly-minded Jews trusted 
 in the external glories — ^iu the cloud, and the fire, and the 
 temple, and the ark, and the altar, and the pomp of the 
 Levitical ceremonial. These they counted their glory, and 
 the glory of tlieir city. But this was their error. It was 
 the presence of Jehovah that was their real glory : — His pre- 
 sence, in the exercise, on their behalf, of His power, and wis- 
 dom, and goodness. The promise is similar to that given by 
 Jehovah through the prophet Haggai: — "Thus saith the 
 Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, 
 and bring wood, and build the house ; and I \d\l take plea- 
 sure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord."* If He 
 took up anew his abode there, — that would be their true 
 glory, — whether the symbol of his presence accompanied Him 
 or not. And He would be glorified, at once in the worship 
 there rendered Him, and in the " wonders and the judgments " 
 there wrought by Him in behalf of His people, for their de- 
 liverance from thraldom, their protection in difficulty and 
 danger, the assertion of their liberties, the vindication of their 
 rights, and the avengement of their wrongs. Their glory 
 would be His glory, and His glory theirs. 
 
 The two following verses are in close connexion with the 
 promise of the extending population of Jerusalem. We 
 formerly had occasion to mention, that the return from Baby- 
 lon had as yet little more than begun. And to those Jews 
 who still remained there, in " the land of the IS'orth " — the 
 province of Babylon — the invitation, or injunction, in these 
 words, is addressed. Various might be the motives by which 
 those who remained might be influenced m staying where 
 they were. Indolence, and indisposition to move, unless 
 iinder a very powerful inducement of some worldly and self- 
 interested kind, — the wealth they had amassed in Babylon, 
 — coupled with indifference about their religion, and even a 
 
 * H.ior-ai i. 7, 8. 
 
ZECHAIUAII IL 51 
 
 prevailing S2)irit of worldl}' infidelity; — a concern for nothing 
 beyond present enjoyment, and a sense of its liaving, as far 
 as they could look for it, been found, — and what was it to 
 them iclwre? What to them was one country better than 
 another, further than as they enjoyed what alone they cared 
 for — the possessions and pleasures of this world? To all 
 who still lingered there is tiie call to come forth addressed. 
 And the kindness of Jehovali is apparent in this. It is like 
 the call to Lot and his family, to escape from the destruction 
 that was impending over " the cities of the plain : " — and 
 like the call to His people to come out from the mystical 
 Babylon, that they might not be " partakers of her plagues." 
 For the doom of Babylonia, " the land of the jN'orth," was 
 coming. And, vrhile the lingering Jews were hugging them- 
 selves in the self-complacent thought that they were saving 
 themselves all the toil and trouble of their countrymen who 
 were making their way back to Palestine and Jerusalem, tlie 
 day of the Lortl's vengeance on Babylon might be near, and 
 might overtake them in their unpatriotic as well as infidel 
 security and selfishness. 
 
 The connexion of the former part of this verse with the 
 latter seems strange. The latter appears as if it assigned a 
 reason for compliance with the call in the former. " Ho ! ho ! 
 flee from the land of the north; for I have spread you 
 abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord," 
 It is surely a strange idea of an able critic wlio spiritualizes 
 the whole passage, — that the call is not a call to quit Baby- 
 lon for Judea at all; but that it is a 2^'>'C'diction (in which, 
 according to what is often the prophetic style, what is ^vet 
 future is spoken of as if past) of the Jews being thereafter, 
 not scattered by judicial violence, but spread abroad among 
 the nations for the diilusion of the Gospel, and the promo- 
 tion of the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah. " The procla- 
 mation," says that critic, " may be paraphrased thus : — ' Think 
 not, my pc-(^}">le, of fixing yourselves and your inheritances 
 in the land of Babylon. You must quickly prepare to de- 
 part thence ; for I have fully purposed to send you forth into 
 all countries, spreading yon as the four winds of heaven; 
 
52 . LECTURE III. 
 
 tliat ye may be the means of conveying to mankind spiritual 
 knowledge, rational fears, and lofty hopes, as is suitable to 
 the children of that great patriarch, in whose seed all the 
 families of the earth were to be blessed : ' — " They are here 
 sent forth from Babylon, with a commission to bear this tes- 
 timony all abroad, like the four winds of heaven, stretching 
 ' their line through all the earth,' and carrying ' their words 
 unto the end of the world.' " This, and much more to the 
 same purpose, seems to be altogether beside the point of the 
 vision, and unnaturally forced. There can hardly be a doubt 
 in any one's mind, that the call is a call from Babylon back 
 to Judea; a call to all who remained there to avail them- 
 selves of the way of return which Jehovah, in faithful- 
 ness to His engagement, and in His covenant mercy, had 
 opened for them. Still there is difficulty in seeing the exact 
 bearing of the reason apparently assigned. I am disposed 
 to acquiesce in the judgment of a still more recent critic, 
 that the expression — "I have scattered you as the four 
 winds of heaven " does not refer to the extent of their disper- 
 sion, but to the poiver by which it had been effected. It is 
 not said to the four winds, but as the four winds.* My 
 power has dispersed you from your land, even as the four 
 winds of heaven, combining their strength, would scatter 
 whatever opposed them. And it seems to me to be implied, 
 though not expressed, that the power which had scattered 
 them had opened the way for their return, and was able to 
 effect it in safety against all opposition. It seems difficult 
 at all to make sense of the passage otherwise. That the in- 
 timation of a future more extensive dispersion of the same 
 people should be used as a motive to their fleeing from a par- 
 ticular quarter of their present more limited dispersion is 
 out of the question. There is no tracing of any connexion 
 of inducement between the one and the other. The mode of 
 address, at the same time, reminds them of another tiling, — 
 that, although it was by force they had been driven from 
 
 * Some adopt a various veadin,^ i for 5; but while, as Henderson 
 observes, tlie former is not suitable in sense, the latter reading is su- 
 perior in authority. — Ed, 
 
ZECHARIAII IT. 53 
 
 their country, it must be of their own free-will that they re- 
 turn to it. The power of God was not to compel and drive 
 them back. It had only made the way clear; and stood 
 engaged for their protection from enemies, and their aid in 
 straits and difficulties, on their obeying His summons to 
 return. 
 
 In the next two verses, we have inducements to such 
 compliance, in full correspondence with what we have just 
 been saying: — verses 8, 9. "For thus saith the Lord of 
 hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations 
 which spoiled you : for he that toucheth you toucheth the 
 apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon 
 them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants : and ye 
 shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me." " After 
 the glor]}^ Without troubling you Avith any attempt to 
 make you understand the verbal criticisin Avhich has been 
 bestowed on these words, I satisfy myself with remarking, 
 that the simplest and most natural interpretation is that 
 which makes them refer to the fulfilment of the promise in 
 the fifth verse — " I will be the glory in the midst of her." 
 When this has been fulfilled, — when Jehovah's house has 
 been built, and He has returned and taken j^ossession of it, 
 and become anew the glory of His people and His city; — 
 then, says the speaker, " He hath sent me unto the nations 
 which spoiled you;" words, of which, in the connexion, 
 the most appropriate interpretation seems to be, that Jeho- 
 vah had given him a commission against those nations.* 
 And this interpretation is supported by two considerations : 
 — First, it is in exact accordance with the intimations given 
 in the first of these visions: — "And I am very sore dis- 
 pleased with the heathen that are at ease : for I was but a 
 
 * Similarly Dr. Henderson: "It can only be employed to denote the 
 posteriority of the mission specified to the restoration of the glorious 
 presence of the manifested Jehovah to his recovered people." Gese- 
 nius, Ewald, and other high authorities render, '■''He hath sent me after 
 (fJory," i. e. to acquire it. But this Henderson seems justly to re- 
 ject on the ground that "inx is mt elsewhere employed except aa 
 an adverb. — Kd. 
 
54 LKCTIJRH III. 
 
 little displeased, and they lielped forward tlie affliction:"* — 
 and secondly^ the words which follow in tlie ninth verse here 
 confirm it: — "For, behold, I will shake mine hand at them" 
 — the attitndc of threatening ; and, by the execution of that 
 threatening, "'they shall be a spoil to their servants" — or 
 rather to their slaves: — that is, the tables shall be turned; 
 and they shall be spoiled by those whom they reduced to 
 bondage. The spoilers shall become the spoiled, the oppressors 
 the enslaved. There is no necessity for confining this to 
 the Jewish people alone. There might be others besides th.em 
 over whom ilielr oppressors had tyrannized : and no matter 
 whether the retribution was to come immediately from the 
 Jcnvs themselves, or from others — come it should. 
 
 And all tliis vv'as to be the result and manifestation of 
 Jeliovah's tender care for His people : — " tor whoso toucheth 
 you, toucheth the apple," or \hQ ijujjil ''of Ins eye." There 
 are some critics who v/ould ffike from us this exquisitely 
 beautiful expression of the jealous affection of God tovrard 
 his peoj^le. They explain it as meaning — " He that touch- 
 eth you touclieth the pupil of ills o?cii eye;" that is, he that 
 injures you does wrong to himself. It is a truth. Eut it 
 is a truth, just because the otlier is a truth: and because 
 he who injures God's people — the objects of this jealous 
 affection and care, — ensures retribution from Him. Vie are 
 unvrilling, we confess, to give up the ordinary, and very in- 
 teresting and delightful, impfU't of the words. And glad we 
 feel, that v.'c are not only under no necessity of partijig v/itli 
 it, but that, Vvdien tested by the leading design of the whole 
 passage (the only proper test) we have the strongest ground 
 for retaining it. The design is, the encouragement of God's 
 l"!eople to comply with the summons addressed to tiiem. 
 And, tried by its comparative force as a motive, who can for 
 a moment hesitate ?t 
 
 * Chap. i. 15. 
 f " Tlie pronomiriMl affix in I3*i;, his eye. is to be referred to JllM* 
 niKSS Jeliovaii of liosts at the begiiuiiiig of the verse, tlie nomina- 
 tive to »3nbir', and not with Kimchi, Blayney, Stonard and others to 
 the enemy himself. Henderson. — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH It. 53 
 
 It is a charming image. The eye is one of the most in- 
 tricate and dehcate structures in the human frame ; and the 
 pupil of the eye — tlie opening by which the hglit of heaven 
 enters for the purposes of vision, the most dehcate and easily 
 injured, as well as important, part of that structure. No- 
 thing can more linely convey the idea of the sensitively ten- 
 der care of Jehovah for the objects of His love. There are 
 many figures in the Bible, expressive of the same sentiment : 
 there is no one more excpaisitely beautiful than this. 
 
 You must have observed the evidence of the divinity of 
 the speaker here, in the terms used by him in the ninth 
 verse — " / will shalie imj hand id thcni.'' This can be the 
 language of no other than Jehovah ; and yet it is the lan- 
 guage of one who speaks of ^'Jehovah" as having *' sent him.'' 
 There does not appear to be any reasonable explanation of 
 this, but our considering the speaker as the Divine Angel of 
 the Covenant. And the remaining verses present us with 
 additional evidence of it. I shall not dwell on the manner 
 in which the spiritual izers of the previous part of the vision 
 explain the language of the ninth verse ; applying it, as they 
 do, hke what we noticed before, to the triumph of the Chris- 
 tians over their contumelious and persecuting enemies in 
 Constantino's time ! Those enemies had '' treated them with 
 contempt and insult, violence and cruelty, as the most despi- 
 cable portion of their slaves." ' But thejt the spoilers, they 
 allege, became the spoiled. " The Christians are truly said 
 to have spoiled the heathen" (such are the terms of one of 
 the ablest of those who apply the part of the vision that has 
 been before us to Gospel times) " when they took possession 
 of the supreme government, the offices of State, and all the 
 important posts, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, which had 
 hitherto been in heathen hands. They further spoiled them, 
 by turning the idolatrous temples into Christian churches ; 
 and above all, by depriving Rome of her supremacy, as the 
 Queen of cities and Head of empire, when Constantinople 
 was made, in point of dignity, her rival, and in point of im- 
 perial favour her superior. Thus did the Lord of hosts, the 
 Son of God, go forth after the glory, shake his hand over tho 
 
56 LECTURE III. 
 
 Heathen Empire, break its horn, and make the imperial peo- 
 ple a spoil to their servants."* Plausible as all this may 
 seem, we have two objections to it. The first is, that wo 
 do not think it has any business here, as part of the exposi- 
 tion of the former portion of this vision : and the second is, 
 that while we cannot hinder those who are so disposed 
 thus to glory in the events referred to — the assumption 
 of Christianity into union with the State as the established 
 religion of the Roman Empire; and the Christian church 
 under the patronage and supervision of the Roman Govern- 
 ment, and a legally chartered incorporation, — we are unable 
 to view them in the same favourable light. We cannot say 
 " This is the Lord's doing : " — for, considering all its more 
 immediate and more remote consequences to the Church of 
 God, — as having been, indeed, to a great degree, the causal 
 prelude to the introduction and domination of Antichrist, in 
 all the branches of his power — we think we have better rea- 
 son to regard it as the doing of the adversary, and one of 
 his most masterly doings too. And, while we may add — - 
 " it is wondrous in our eyes," our wonder is rather at the 
 mystery of God's providence in permitting it, than at the 
 magnitude of God's favour in bestowing it, as a boon upon 
 His church. 
 
 These views, at the same time, are perfectly consistent 
 with our understanding the latter part of this vision as look- 
 ing forward to times beyond the period of the Jewish theo- 
 cracy, — to the times of Messiah — to both the earlier and 
 remoter times of His kingdom, — its erection at His first com- 
 ing, and its later triumphant consummation. But, as we 
 shall find still more pointed and ample reference to these 
 times and their events in the subsequent visions, we shall do 
 no more now than briefly indicate the principles of expo- 
 sition for the closing verses of the chapter : — " Sing and 
 rejoice, daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell 
 in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations 
 shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my 
 
 * Stouard, p. 99. 
 
ZECHAEIAH II. 57 
 
 people: and I will dwell in tlie midst of thee; and thou 
 shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 
 And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy 
 land, and shall choose Jei?usalem again. Be silent, all flesh, 
 before the Lord : for he is raised up out of his holy habitation." 
 We find it impossible to explain these verses otherwise 
 than as referring to Messiah's coming and kingdom. We 
 might indeed contrive so to explain the tenth verse ; but how 
 the eleventh 1 — "and many nations shall be joined to the 
 Lord in that day." We have seen that Messiah is the 
 speaker. When was this ever accomplished, unless by the 
 gathering of the Gentiles under subjection to his spiritual do- 
 minion? Taking the tenth verse, then, as in connexion with 
 the eleventh, we are constrained to view it as Messiah's pro- 
 mise of His own coming ; His coming in the flesh, and dwelUng 
 in His wonderful person, as God-man, among his own people : 
 — " Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion : for, lo, I come, and 
 I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord." And the 
 interpretation is fully established by a comparison of the 
 passage with others. For example: — "Eejoice greatly, O 
 daughter of Zion ; shout, daughter of Jerusalem : behold, 
 thy King cometh unto thee : he is just, and having salvation ; 
 lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of 
 an ass."* We are quite sure of the reference of these words; 
 and there is no resisting the parallelism. Again :- — " Behold, 
 I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way 
 before me : and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come 
 to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye 
 delight in : behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." t 
 And lastly : — " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among 
 us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begot- 
 ten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.":}: Here was the 
 fulfilment; here was his " dwelling in the midst of them." 
 Gentiles as well as Jews were to be the subjects of that 
 kingdom. There was to be no such exclusiveness as the lat- 
 ter proudly and selfishly imagined. 
 
 * Chap. ix. 9. f Mai. iii. 1. X John i. 14. 
 
53 LKCrUIlE 111. 
 
 Yet, at tlie same time, it was to be on the principle 
 — "to tJie Jew first.'' It was among that people He was 
 to appear and to dwell, while on earth. And, when the 
 mass of his own people according to the flesh " rejected and 
 despised him," and he took the Gentiles who believed in 
 their room ; — yet were the chosen people not to be utterly 
 and finally cast off". He would again, " in the latter days," re- 
 turn to them in mercy ; gather from their so much wider and 
 so much longer continued dispersions; — restore them anew 
 to the land of their fathers, and the city of their God : — 
 verse 12. ''And the Lord shall inherit Judali his portion in 
 the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again." Hoav far 
 such promises as this are to be literally or spiritually fultilled 
 to the remnant of Israel, will come, by and by, to be the 
 subject of special inquiry. We cannot touch it now. Eut, 
 on this twelfth verse we have an apostolic commentary, so 
 far as simple future restoration is concerned, in the Epistle to 
 the Eomans, — " For I would not, brethren, that ye should be 
 ignorant of this myster}^, (lest ye should be wise in your own 
 conceits,) that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until 
 the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel 
 shall be saved; as it is written. There shall come out of Sion 
 tlie Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 
 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away 
 their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for 
 your sakes : but as touching the election, they are beloved 
 for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are 
 without repentance. For as ye in times past have not be- 
 lieved God, yet have now obtained mercy through their 
 unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that 
 through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God 
 hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have 
 mercy upon all."* And how remarkable is the coincidence 
 between the language in which Paul closes his discussion of 
 " this mystery," and the divine Speaker's more brief, but not 
 less emphatic summons to reverential awe in the passaga 
 
 * Eom. xi. 25—32 
 
ZEfllARIAil II. o9 
 
 before us ! — " the depth of the riclies hoth of the ^visdom 
 and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, 
 and his Avays past finding out ! For who hath known the 
 mind of the Lordl or who hath been his counsellor? Or 
 who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed 
 unto him again? For of him, and through liim, and to him 
 are all things: to whom be glory for ever!""' — and here, 
 " Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord : for he is raised up 
 out of his holy habitation." Similar calls to silent awe, and 
 reverential contemplation of the divine doings, and of the 
 divine character as embodied and developed in those doings, 
 are not infrequent in Scripture : — " Be still, and know that 
 I am God!" — "Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who 
 may stand in thy sight, when once thou art angry? Thou 
 didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth 
 feared, and was still, when God arose to judgment, to save 
 all the meek of the earth:" — "Hold thy peace, at the pres- 
 ence of the Lord God : for the day of the Lord is at hand." i* 
 
 We must close with two or three brief practical reflec- 
 tions : — 
 
 1. Y/hile Ave disoAvn the reference of the former pcntion 
 of the vision to Gospel times, and to the spiritual or Xcv/ 
 Testament Jerusalem, Ave are very far from disoAvning the 
 applicability to the latter of Avhat is said in the former. For 
 example, Ave rejoice in admitting, to their utmost possible 
 extent, Avhatever sayings are here respecting the extension, 
 the security, and the glorij of the literal Jerusalem as equally 
 true of the spiritual and heavenly. In regard to extension — 
 to the multiplication of the inhabitants of the latter, there 
 are no limits short of the numbers of the race in all its sue- 
 cessiA^e generations. Hoav many soever the thousands and 
 tens of thousands that have become its citizens, and partakers 
 of its privileges and its hopes, — " yet there is room." The 
 community being a spiritual one, and the city to Avhich they 
 belong the " Jerusalem Avliich is above," there are no other 
 bounds to admission. And extension of population, though 
 
 * Honi. xi. 33—36. t Psalm xlvi. 10 ; Ixxvi. 7—9 ; Zepli. i. 7. 
 
60 LECTURE III. 
 
 not of local limits, is its predicted and promised destination. 
 It is to comprehend men of " every kindred and people and 
 nation and tongue." The inhabitants are at length to be 
 " a multitude which no man can number." The heavenly 
 city AviU contain them all. And when at length they are all 
 collected Avithin its walls, let sinners remember, extension, 
 increase, will be at an end. The increase must be on 
 earth. There will be none from hell. The gulf will be im- 
 passable, and eternal — Then, in regard to security. The 
 "wall of fire" — the rampart of omnipotence — invests the 
 I^ew Testament church, as thoroughly, effectually, and con- 
 stantly, as it did the Old. AVe know Him who hath said, 
 "On this rock" — the rock of the great truth which Peter 
 had confessed, and which he fastened in his memory by asso- 
 ciating it with his name, — " On this rock will I build my 
 church : and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
 It is to the church, to the end of time, that Jehovah hath 
 said, "Pear not; I have called thee by thy name, thou art 
 mine: when thou passest through the waters, I will be 
 with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow 
 thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be 
 burnt; neither shall the flames kindle uj^on thee." "^N"© 
 Aveapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every 
 tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt 
 condemn." Wliat church soever, then, may be in danger, — 
 "the church of the living God" — "the Zion of the Holy 
 One of Israel" — never is, never can be. The eternity of the 
 Church is as sure as the eternity of God. Earth and hell 
 combined are impotence itself against the pledged omnipo- 
 tence of heaven. " If God be for His church, who can be 
 against her?" "Wliat foe can penetrate the "wall of fire'?" 
 — Lastly, in regard to glory. As " the glory of the second 
 temple was to be greater than the glory of the first," by the 
 reception within its sacred precincts of Immanuel himself — 
 " God manifest in the flesh" — so will the glory of the JS'ew 
 Testament church ever be greater than that of the Old. 
 Immanuel is still in it, and will be for ever. He is " the 
 glory in the midst of it," and will be for ever ! — and in Him 
 
ZECHARIAH II. 61 
 
 tlie full glory of Deity is seen in lights in which it never 
 had been seen before. And his throne will be the central 
 point of heaven; — his Father's and his own, — the united 
 glory of that pure and happy world. Of all the blessed in- 
 habitants " the Lord shall be the everlasting light, and tlieir 
 God their glory ! " 
 
 2. The people of God may now, as well as of old, and even 
 more emphatic;dly, appropriate the divine assurance — "He 
 that toucheth you, toucheth the pupil of his eye." " In all 
 their afflictions," now as well as then, " he is afflicted." 
 "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
 them that fear him." " Can a woman forget her sucking 
 child, that she should not have compassion on the son of 
 her womb? yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee." 
 "He careth for His children:" and by this assurance they 
 are encouraged to " cast all their care upon Him." Yes, my 
 brethren. And the same tiling is true of " Jesus, the divine 
 Mediator of the new covenant." He is " not an high priest 
 who cannot be touched with a feeUng of our infirmities, but 
 one who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet with- 
 out sin;" and who, "having himself suffered being tempt- 
 ed," and having "learned obedience by the things which 
 he suffered," is " able to succour them that are tempted." 
 And so does he identify himself with his people, and his 
 own interests with theirs, that with regard both to good and 
 evil, to benefit and to injury, he says — " Inasmuch as ye did 
 it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did unto 
 ME." What a spring of consolation to behevers in every 
 hour of darkness, — whosoever or whatsoever be the cause of 
 their sorrow — " Whoso toucheth you toucheth the apple of 
 his eye ! " And let the enemies of his people fear. If you 
 are wronging, in selfish malice, or in hatred of their principles 
 and their godliness, any of the true Israel of God, — you aro 
 " touching the pupil of the divine eye." The Father feels it. 
 The Son feels it. It will not be unpunished. 
 
 3. We ought to be earnest in persuading God's people, — 
 as many of them as are to be found there, and to whom we 
 have access, — to ^' come forth'' and "flee" from the mystical 
 
Gi Li'CruPvE in. 
 
 Babylon. We should, as far as our voice, in any way, can 
 reach, say to them—" Come out of her, my peo])le, tluit ye 
 be not partakers in her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
 plagues ! " Never was there greater need ; and never was there 
 better and more extensive opportunity. And, on the same 
 principle, we should be earnest in urging sinners to " com.e 
 forth" and " flee"/ro??i the world ; — to " escape for their Uves" 
 from that spiritual Sodom, and to seek their safety in the 
 spiritual Zion, in union with God's people, — Avith tliose who 
 themselves have " lied for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set 
 before them." As tliere was no safety for the Israelites in 
 Babylon, but impending and sure destruction ; so is there no 
 safety for sinners, remaining in the society and courses of the 
 world. " Their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation 
 slumbereth not." let none make light of divine warnings, 
 or of any divine communications. " Great fear is due unto 
 God; he is to be had in reverence of all that are about 
 him." It becomes " all flesh to be silent before IIi:.i." And 
 when, at the close of our world's history — v/hen, in the final 
 judgment, the words shall be more signally verified than at 
 any previous period, how awful soever, of His jDrovidential 
 administration, — " He is roused out of his holy habitation," 
 — roused for the last great act of justice and of mercy, — to 
 pronounce the dooms, and fix for eternity the conditions, of 
 all the assembled millions of mankind, — ilitn " all flesh 
 sltall be silent before Him," iu "listening fear and dumb 
 amazement," waiting their final A^erdicts; — verdicts of gra- 
 cious acceptance, or verdicts of righteous condemnation ; 
 both ensured by a power which none can resist. The way 
 to obtain the one, and to escape the other, is nov/ before you. 
 " Through Jesus Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness 
 of sins." Flee to the Cross, Flee to the altar on which 
 "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world" 
 was offered. Take hold, and kee'p hold, of the horns of that 
 altar. And thus, may none of you ever know, in your expe- 
 rience, how " fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the 
 livinsj God!" 
 
LECTURE lY, 
 
 Zech. III. 
 
 "And lie showed me Josliua the high priest standing before the juigel of the 
 Lord, and Satan standing at his right liand to resist him. And the Lord said 
 unto Satan, Tlie Lord rebuke tliee, Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen 
 Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? !Now 
 .lushua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he 
 answered and spake unto those tliat stood before liim, saying, Take away the 
 filtliy garments from him. And unto liim he said, Behold, I have caused thine 
 iniquity to pass from tiiee, and I wiil clotlie thee with change of raiment. And 
 1 said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his he;id. So they set a fair mitre upon 
 liis head, and clothed him with garments. And tlie angel of the Lord stood by. 
 And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying. Thus saith the Lord 
 of hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then 
 thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give 
 thee places to walk among those that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua the high 
 priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee; for they are men wondered at: 
 for, behold, I will bring forth my servant The BRANCH. For behold the stone 
 that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall he seven eyes: behold, I 
 will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the 
 iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shidl ye 
 call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree." 
 
 In last lecture, I expressed my conviction tliat, in this series 
 of visions, each should he taken distinctly; — that is, that as 
 another is introduced, the persons and scenery of the preced- 
 ing ones are to be considered as entirely withdrawn. The 
 onlj'' exception I was disposed to make to the observation 
 was, that the interjwetlng angel appears, through all the 
 visions, to continue the same. I am led at present to repeat 
 the remark for this reason — that an eminent commentator on 
 the Book, in considering the question who is meant in the 
 
64 LECTURE IV. 
 
 beginning of this chapter when it is said, " He showed me," 
 finds a difficulty in understanding this of the "angel inter- 
 preter," in his having been " sent with the message dehvered 
 in the preceding part to the measurer of the holy city, and 
 not having yet returned^'' so that he could not, as he con- 
 cludes, be " then by the side of Zechariah." * On that pas- 
 sage, I endeavoured to show that the interpreting angel had 
 been met, when he went out from beside the prophet, by the 
 Angel of the Covenant, and sent back immediately to the pro- 
 phet with important and encouraging tidings, both for the 
 time then present and ages more remote. — But apart fi'om 
 this ; the difficulty proceeds on the assumption (which I can- 
 not but think a groundless one) that the scenery of the pre- 
 vious visions remained as before, and that the successive 
 visions were portions of one. Not only is this assumption, 
 in my apprehension, groundless ; it appears to be one which 
 would produce inextricable confusion. On the proof of this, 
 however, it is needless to dwell. I shall take it for granted 
 that by He is here meant the interpreting angel — " the angel 
 that talked with him," — as in the first verse of the fourth 
 chapter, " And the angel that talked with me came again, 
 and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep." 
 
 "VVliat was now shown to the prophet 1 According to the 
 promises made in the former visions, Jerusalem was to be 
 rebuilt; and the three blessings of extension, security, and 
 glory, were to be conferred upon her. " The glory in the 
 midst of her" was to be Jehovah himself — dwelling of course 
 in His temple. But that implies the full re establishment of 
 His loorsldp^ in all its previous divinely instituted typical 
 splendour. Wliat would Jerusalem be without its temple] 
 and what would the temple be without its rites of priestly 
 celebration? If there is to be the temple, there must be the 
 priesthood; and the priesthood, not in a mean, sordid, de- 
 graded condition, but with all its equipments, and all its 
 observances. And this is just what we have in the vision now 
 before us; accompanied, — as in such a case might be anti- 
 
 * Stonard, p. 131, note^ 
 
ZECHAEIAH III (ib 
 
 cipated, with a glance, similar to that in the preceding vision, 
 to the times of a greater than Joshna : — 
 
 Verses 1, 2. "And he showed me Joshua the high priest 
 standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at 
 his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said nnto Satan, 
 The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath 
 chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee : is not this a brand plucked 
 out of the fire ? " Joshua, here and elsewhere mentioned as 
 high priest, is the first in the list of names, given in the book 
 of Ezra, of those who had come up from Babylon under the 
 conduct of Zerubbabel. He is called by Ezra, and by Hag- 
 gai, "the son of Josedecli,^^ who was high priest at the time 
 of the captivity from Jerusalem. He was seen, in vision, by 
 the prophet, " standing before tlie ang''l of the Lorciy We 
 have seen, in the former visions, Avho this "angel of the 
 Lord" was, — even the divine "Angel of the Covenant." 
 That the angel here mentioned is the same, is at once clear 
 from the second verse. Just as, on former occasions, he who 
 is "the angel of the Lord" in the one verse is "the Lord" 
 in the next. And while he is himself Jehovah, he yet speaks 
 in the name of Jehovah, showing clearly the personal dis- 
 tinction in the Godhead. We formerly traced the fact, from 
 the earliest periods of the Scripture history, of the second 
 person of the Godhead — the future Immanuel, having, all 
 along from the beginning, the charge of the entire scheme of 
 preparatory steps for " the fulness of the time." The part He 
 is represented as acting now, as well as in the previous 
 visions, is altogether appropriate to this representation of his 
 person and office. 
 
 " At Joshua's right hand," standing " to resist him," was 
 seen "Satan." You will observe, that on the margin it is 
 said, "or an adversary ." But this is not quite correct. 
 It is true that Satan signifies "an adversary;" but in the 
 passage before us, the designation is not thus general. It is 
 not "an adversary," but "the adversary."* It is thus em- 
 phatic and definite, — the appropriate designation of some 
 
 E 
 
66 LECTURE IV. 
 
 hi dividual person. And who that individual person is, can- 
 not be doubtful. It is so appropriated as to have become a 
 ])ro2Der name. N"ot that it is always so used. It is some- 
 times used Avithout the definite article. This is the case in 
 Psa. cix. 6 — "Let Satan stand at his right hand;" where it 
 is correctly given on the margin "«?i adversary," and ought 
 to have been so in the text. It corresponds, on the principle 
 of parallelism, to "« iviclced man'' in the former clause of the 
 verse: — "Set thou a wicked man over him; and let an 
 enemy stand at his right hand." " The adversary," in the 
 vision before us, is not Sanballat, or any other of the op- 
 ponents of the Jewish builders, mentioned by Ezra or Xehe- 
 miah, — whether personally or as the representative of their 
 foes in general, as some have imagined, — but the great adver- 
 sary of God and man. It is he whom the Apostle Peter 
 calls, speaking to Christians, " your adversary the devil" 
 It is he who, in the vision of the persecuted church of God, 
 in the book of Eevelation, is described as " the great dragon, 
 that old serpent, called the devil and Satan;'' and over 
 wliose fall the voice of triumph is heard in heaven — " ]^ow 
 is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, 
 and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our hrethren 
 is cast down, who accused them before our God day and 
 night." * 
 
 This "adversary" is seen " standing at Joshua's rigltt Uand.'^ 
 Because it is said to have been the Jewish practice for the 
 accuser, or, as we should call him, the plaintiff, to stand at 
 the right hand of the accused, on occasions of judicial trial, it 
 has by some been conceived that such was tlie representation 
 in the vision. And this, it is added, is countenanced further 
 by Joshua's being represented as standing himself ^^ before 
 the angel of the Lord;" wdio thus, it is alleged, occupying 
 the tribunal or seat of judgment, appears as judge in the 
 cause between the accuser and the accused. And to this it 
 has by some been added too, that Joshua's appearing, as wo 
 afterwards find, " in filthy garments" corresponds to the 
 
 * Rev. xii. 10. 
 
ZECIIARIAII III. 67 
 
 Poomaii practice of attiring tlie accused party, when at the 
 bar, in sordid apparel. But well might we ask — "NVliat has 
 a Eoman jDractice, in those ancient times especially, to do in 
 a Jewish vision? — Avhy are the customs of different countries 
 to be thus unnaturally mixed up, to make out a case, which, 
 even with the more plausible addition of Satan being called 
 " the accuser of the brethren," has not a sufficiency of ground? 
 It is quite true, that to ^^ stand before the judge" is the com- 
 mon phrase for the accused person appearing in his presence 
 for trial. It is needless to quote instances ; for in truth it 
 is not easy to sujDpose how any other could be used. It is 
 enough to observe, in reply, that the same phrase is in- 
 variably employed to express the functions of the officiating 
 iiigli priest; and that it is tlie high priest that is here 
 spoken of. For example: — "At that time, the Lord sepa- 
 rated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of 
 the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, 
 and to bless in his name, unto this day:"* — " My sons, be 
 not now negligent ; for the Lord hath chosen you to stand 
 before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto 
 him, and burn incense : " t — " Eut the priests, the Levites, the 
 sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the 
 children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near 
 to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to 
 offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God." J — 
 Since it is the high priest, then, that is spoken of, ought we 
 not to consider him as, in the vision, occupying his official 
 place and posture? He "stands before the angel of Je- 
 hovahy But this angel of Jehovah is Jehovah. And, 
 along with the proof of this in the following verse, his 
 very appearing before Him to perform his official func- 
 tions is a recognition of His divinit}". Joshua appears, in 
 connexion with the prospective rebuilding of the city and 
 the temple, and the reoccupancy of the holy place by Jeho- 
 vah, as about to resume his sacred official duties. And 
 Satan appears, "to resist him;" not by physical force, but 
 
 * Deut. X. 8. f 2 Chron. xxix. 11. X Ezek. xliv. 15. 
 
68 LECTURE IV. 
 
 to oppose him by charges — by giving reasons why he should 
 not. and so prevent what, of course, could not but be mor- 
 tifying and chagrining to his malignity against both God 
 and His people. The return of the divine favour to them 
 was gall and wormwood to the malevolent and wicked spirit. 
 What he said, or had to say, we are not told. Jehovah 
 knew, and appears to have debarred him from giving it 
 utterance. He could, no doubt, have laid many things to 
 the charge both of the priest personally and of the people 
 whose representative he was. He could have pleaded that 
 they were not yet cured of their spirit of alienation and 
 rebellion, — and have urged their selfish attention to their 
 own accommodation, and their indifference, their tardiness, 
 their reluctance, in setting about the work of the house of 
 God. But what he meant to plead in bar of Joshua's re- 
 sumption of office, — what ground of opposition he was about 
 to take, it is vain for us to trouble ourselves with conjectur- 
 ing. Let us notice rather now — 
 
 The reception he experienced: — verse 2. " And the Lord 
 said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, Satan; even the 
 Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee : is not this a 
 brand plucked out of the fire?" " The Lord " here, as already 
 observed, is evident!}'- the same as " tlie Angel of the Lord " 
 — himself Jehovah, yet speaking in Jehovah's name. There 
 is a passage in the epistle of Jude, which different critics and 
 commentators of eminence interpret as referring to the verse 
 now before us : — "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending 
 with the devil, (he disputed about the body of Moses,) durst not 
 bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord re- 
 buke thee."* The question is, whether the dispute here spoken 
 of between Michael and Satan was a dispute respecting the 
 hteral body of Moses, or whether the reference is to the pas- 
 sage before us, and by " the body of Moses " we are to under- 
 stand the Jewish Church, on the same principle on which the 
 Christian church is called " the body of Christ." M'Knight, 
 Stonard, Henderson, all agree in so understanding it. The last- 
 
 • Jude 9. 
 
gECHARIAH III. 69 
 
 named says — " If the construction put by some eminent com- 
 mentators upon Jude 9, wliich resolves ' the body of Moses ' 
 there spoken of into the Jewish church, and supposes the 
 apostle to refer to the passage before us, be the true one {and of 
 tills I cannot entertain a doubt) it will follow," &c. As to 
 " the body of Moses " meaning, as Clarke imagines, the body 
 of laivs which the people had broken, it is too far-fetched to 
 deserve refutation. Even as to the former view of '' the body 
 of Moses " meaning the Jewish Church, I am not without 
 my doubts, though I would not speak positively. I grant 
 the apparent likelihood of the reference being to the passage 
 before us, from the terms of the reprimand to Satan — " Tlie 
 Lord rebuke thee " — being so precisely the same. I would 
 remark, hoAvever, — 1. That there is nothing at all impos- 
 sible, or even unnatural, in the supposition of the dispute 
 having been about the literal body of Moses ; seeing motives 
 are easily conceivable, such as are quite in harmony with 
 Satan's character, which might prompt the wish to have the 
 body of Moses publicly honoured, and the place of his inter- 
 ment known, — so that he might convert it into a temptation 
 to idolatrous homage, such as the heathen were wont to 
 give to their deified heroes and legislators ; well aware of the 
 strength of the propensity among the Jews to the imitation 
 of such pagan practices. — 2. Although, when there is a pas- 
 sage in the Old Testament to which another in the New 
 may be naturally interpreted as referring, such interpretation 
 is certainly to be preferred, — yet there was nothing impos- 
 sible, or even unexampled, in Jude's having received by in- 
 spiration the unrecorded fact of the dispute about the dead 
 body of the Jewish Lawgiver, or in his giving the sanction 
 of inspiration to the tradition. We have an exempHfica- 
 tion of the same thing a few verses afterwards, in the same 
 epistle, where an unrecorded prophecy of " Enoch the seventh 
 from Adam," of which we never could have heard otherwise, 
 is introduced. — 3. " The body of Moses " as a designation 
 of the Jewish Church, is one altogether without a parallel. 
 Not only is the designation itself to be found nowhere else, 
 but nothing at all resembling it. Christ is " the Head of 
 
70 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Ids body the Church," because there is a spiritual and vital 
 uniun between him and his believing people, who are the 
 members of that body. But there was no such connexion 
 between the Jewish people and Moses, — no such faith in his 
 name, and no such union effected by that faith, — as at all to 
 warrant the use of the same figure in the one case as in the 
 other. The spiritual Israel indeed were " the body of Christ " 
 even then. And, in addition to this, I notice, — 4. Jude's 
 mode of expression respecting the Archangel Michael — " he 
 durst not bring against him a railing accusation." Durst 
 not — icas not so hold as to do it — did not venture to do it. 
 Our English translation is as literal as any other — did not 
 dare!^ ISTow in the passage before us there is very clear evi- 
 dence, — of which the conclusiveness is admitted even by critics 
 who would have resisted it if they could, — that Jehovah is 
 the speaker — the Angel Jehovah. To this divine person, 
 then, if the reference in Jude be to this passage, " Michael 
 the Archangel,'' named by him, must correspond. But who 
 does not at once see and feel that this cannot he? Who 
 could use the word '* dared not " when the reference was to 
 a divine speaker? We revolt at the thought. Whatever 
 incongruity there might be — and it is admitted to be as great 
 as possible — between the idea of a divine speaker and any- 
 thing of the nature of a '* railing accusation;" yet " daring " 
 could not be used of such a speaker without presumption. 
 It can be applied only to a creature. And that a created 
 angel is meant appears further from the parallel passage in 
 2 Pet. ii. 11, "Whereas angels, Avhich are greater in power 
 and might, bring not railing accusation against them before 
 the Lord." 
 
 For such reasons, I have my doubts about this question. 
 It is one, however, Avhich does not affect the sense of the 
 vision; and we pass from it, — leaving it with your own judg- 
 ments.t 
 
 * OVK iTOXfJt,YI(Jl. 
 
 f Wordsworth, Alford, and others nre decidedly in favour of the 
 view to which tiie author leans, and for which he assigns his i-easons. 
 Alford says, " All such explanations " (as those to which the author 
 
ZECHAIUAH in. 71 
 
 There are two grounds on which the rebuke of Satan pro- 
 ceeds — 1, Jeliovalis clioice of, or delight in, Jerusalem: — 
 ** The Lord that hath chosen (or that dehghteth in) Jeru- 
 salem rebuke thee!" — Satan knew full well that in the op- 
 position he was offering to Joshua, to prevent his officiating 
 as priest, he was opposing Jehovah. Jehovah had returned 
 in loving-kindness to Jerusalem, He would have had that 
 loving-kindness kept back, and turned away; and the pun- 
 ishment of their sins continued. He would thus have inter- 
 dicted the blessing of Jehovah: and, since it was the plea- 
 sure of Jehovah he was seeking to hinder, it was appropriate 
 that the rebuke should come from Him : '' The Lord rebuke 
 thee, Satan; even the Lord that hath cliosen Jerusalem re- 
 buke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire"?" — 
 2, The malice — the envious and deadly sj)ite of the Devil 
 stands here in contrast with the benevolence — the relenting 
 forbearance and love — of Jehovah: — ** Is not this a brand 
 plucked out of the iire'^" The question is to be understood, 
 not of Joshua considered only personalli/j but also of Joshua 
 considered 7'epresentatively — as relating to the rescue of the 
 people as well as himself from oppression, wrong, and, if 
 their enemies had had their will, extinction; and the de- 
 liverance and restoration of the very office of Joshua — the 
 priestly office, which, without such divine interposition, might 
 have been lost. Satan would have had the brand kept in 
 the fire till it was consumed. Lut Jehovah's power, and 
 goodness, and faithfulness had plucked it out of the flames, 
 — rescued it from such consumption. And had the arch- 
 adversary the boldness to put himself forward as an ac- 
 cuser, and think to j^revail with Jehovah to throw the 
 brand back into the fire? The rebuke is evidently that of 
 indignant supremacy and offended benevolence, directed at 
 once against malignity and presumption. 
 
 Yerse 3. " ISTow Joshua was clothed with filthy garment?, 
 and stood before the an<:fel." Pollution and sordidness of 
 
 liere refers) " niv. of course out of the question: and tlie literal matiej 
 of fact alone to be held fast." — Ed. 
 
72 LECTURE IV. 
 
 outward attire is a Bible emblem of moral defilement, or sin- 
 fulness; while, on the contrary, cleanliness and purity of 
 costume is the tj^^e of holiness. And in the present case, 
 the remark made as to the divine deliverance of Joshua, as 
 having reference to the jDeople whose representative he was, 
 as well as to himself personally, is equally applicable to his 
 appearance. His ^^ filthy garments " symbolized the iniquity 
 of Israel as well as his own. These garments were, in all 
 likelihood, such soiled and worn-out priestly robes, or portions 
 of them, as might be supposed to have escaped the burning 
 of the temple and been preserved during the captivity. 
 At any rate they appeared in the vision as soiled priestly 
 vestments. The dress did not become the holy presence in 
 which he stood. Divine forbearance, however, does not 
 frown him away ; but orders a change : — 
 
 Yerse 4. ** And he answered and spake unto those that 
 stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from 
 him. And unto him he said. Behold, I have caused thine 
 iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change 
 of raiment." It is the Angel of the Covenant that orders 
 the change. And the language put into His lips is in fine 
 harmony with the view we have taken of His person and 
 character. For, while He gives the order to " those that 
 stood before him," — that is, to the attendant angels, — mark 
 what he says to Joshua himself: ** Behold, I have caused 
 thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with 
 change of raiment." I have done this. Who but Jehovah 
 could " cause iniquity to pass away," either in its charge, its 
 guilt, or its punishinent, — or in its personal pollution and 
 defilement ? This is God's doing, and God's alone. The 
 " change of raiment " was the putting on of new and clean 
 priestly vestments, instead of the old and soiled; and this 
 was to be the sign that his iniquity and that of the j^eople, 
 for which they had been made to suffer, was remitted. The 
 expressions used appear to signify — forgiveness, acceptance, 
 restoration to privilege and honour. God had inflicted pun- 
 ishment on Judah. Their iniquity had been the cause. 
 Thoy had been apparently abandoned. Their temple was in 
 
ZECHARIAH IIT. 73 
 
 ruins ; tlieir city was laid waste ; the glory was departed, — • 
 the priesthood, the worship of Jehovah in His sanctuary sus- 
 pended and silenced; no Holy of Holies; no incense, no 
 sacrifice, no priestly blessing. But Jehovah had visited 
 His people in faithfulness, and in pardoning mercy — 
 verifying the character, " AYlio is a God like unto thee, that 
 pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the 
 remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, 
 because he delighteth in mercy. He Aviil turn again, he will 
 have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; 
 and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." * 
 He had even thus dealt with them, restoring priest and peo- 
 ple to favour, and honour, and blessing, and fulness of pri- 
 vilege. And who is he who engages to do, and who does, 
 all this ? Even He who from the beginning, as we saw on a 
 former occasion, had tlie management of the entire scheme of 
 preparation for "the fulness of time" committed to him; and 
 who, at the fulness of time, was to come and " finish the 
 work " for which all the preparation had been made, — ajD- 
 pearing for that purpose, as " God manifest in the flesh." 
 
 But while the priestly vestments are, in the vision, " put 
 on," the attire is not complete. The *' mitre,'^ or turban of 
 pure white linen, with its holy crown, is wanting : — 
 
 Yerse 5. "And I said. Let them set a fair mitre upon his 
 head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed 
 him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by." 
 By the slightest imaginable change — the change not of any 
 letter, but of a single vowel point — the " / said,'' in the 
 beginning of this verse, becomes " lie said'' The change 
 has the countenance of several versions ; and the critics in 
 general give it a decided preference. I hesitate. — In the 
 first place, Is it necessary ? AYe have found the prophet in 
 one of the former visions, animated by an eager curiosity, 
 springing from depth of interest in the scenes passing before 
 him, putting in his word, — saying to the angel with the 
 measuring-line — "Whither goest thou?" Is it inconcciv- 
 
 * Micah vii. 18, 19 
 
74 LECTURE IV. 
 
 able, then, that now, dehghted to see the high priest thus 
 restored, in his new and clean sacerdotal robes, but missing 
 the priestly head-gear, he should give hasty utterance to his 
 delight by expressing the desire to see the change completed? 
 I do not think it is. And, if I mistake not, there is in the 
 ver}'' style of expression some little confirmation of the pro- 
 phet's being here the s^^eaker. Mark the difference. In 
 the fourth verse, the words are — in the form of a direct 
 order — " Take aicay the filthy garments from him." Fol- 
 lowing the same style of direct order, we should expect 
 the direction in the fifili verse, given, like the former, to 
 " those who stood before him," " Set a fair mitre on 
 his head." But it is not so. The style is different. It 
 is, " Let them set a fair mitre on his head." This is not 
 natural, considered as the utterance of the Angel Jehovah ; 
 and it is natural, considered as the utterance of the prophet. 
 But, whether the words were the Angel's or the prophet's, 
 the thing was done. The " mitre," tiara, or turban, was 
 put upon his head, surmounted probably with its golden 
 croAvn and inscription of " Holiness unto the Lord." Tlie 
 sacerdotal attire was thus completed. 
 
 It is said here, "And the angel of the Lord stood hy ;^' as 
 if the meaning were, that he stood by witnessing the cere- 
 mony. But there is no word in the original for " ?>?/." It 
 It is simply — "And the angel of the Lord stood'' * And 
 thus it is rendered by one critic ; and by another " stood up^ 
 Wliichsoever of these two renderings is adopted, I can have 
 no hesitation in considering the words as connected, not with 
 what precedes, but Avitli Avhat follows, — as expressing the 
 attitude in which " the angel of the Lord" uttered the solemn 
 protestation to Joshua in the next two verses : — " The angel 
 of the Lord stood, and the angel of the Lord protested unto 
 Joshua, saying. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. If thou wilt 
 keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and 
 shalt also keep my courts, and I will also give thee places to 
 walk among these that stand by." We have here three things 
 
 TDi;. 
 
ZECHARIAH III. 75 
 
 promised, or cngagecl for; — and tlie promise made to depend 
 on certain conditions. It matters not which of the two we 
 notice first, we may as well take them as they stand. The con- 
 ditions stipulated for are these — " If thou shalt ivaJk in my 
 ways, and 1ieep viy charge, or, as it is in the margin, ordi- 
 nance. They are thus two ; yet closely connected. We may 
 fairly consider the former as relating to 2^^^'^onal character^ 
 and the latter to official fidelity. He was to be found 
 obedient, in personal conduct, to God's precepts; exempli- 
 fying in his own character the sanctity and moral rectitude 
 which it was part of the duty of the j^riest to inculcate 
 on the people : — " for the priest's lips should keep know- 
 ledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for 
 he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." And he was 
 faithfully and ]3unctually to attend to every enjoined func- 
 tion of his priestly commission ; keeping all the ordinances, 
 as God had delivered them to Moses. 
 
 Such, then, without entering into detail, were the required 
 conditions. ^Vliat, tlien, depended on the conditions'? Three 
 things: — 1. Thou shalt ^^ judge my house.'" The word 
 "house" here, you will at once perceive, means, not temjyJe, 
 but household. "The house of Jacob" is a designation of 
 Israel; and they were regarded, and are repeatedly spoken 
 of under the image of the household or family of Jehovah : 
 " I am a Father to Israel." To "judge Jiis house,'' then, 
 is the same thing as to " rule his people.'' This, you 
 may naturally think, did not properly pertain to the priest- 
 hood. It is remarkable, however, that thus it was to 
 turn out, and did turn out, in regard to the priestly line- 
 age in the family of Joshua. It M-as not so in the person of 
 Joshua himself; but after Nehemiah's death, a large portion 
 of the management of the civil affairs of Judea was commit- 
 ted by the S}Tian prefects into the hands of the high priest ; 
 and it was still more fully realized in the time of the Mac- 
 cabean high priests, in whom the civil and the sacred were 
 eminently united. And it may be remarked, in passing, 
 that it was when these princely priests failed in the condi- 
 tions here specified, that, in the arrangements of providence, 
 
7o LECTURE IV. 
 
 the glory departed. — 2. Thou "shalt also keep my courts." 
 Of this the meaning cannot be mistaken. He was to con- 
 tinue to have the charge of God's house, and to minister in 
 the holy place, and superintend the entire system of the sa- 
 cerdotal and Levitical services. His continuance in this high 
 and honourable office, — that is, in the way of succession in 
 his lineage, was to depend on the conditions specified, of per- 
 sonal obedience and official fidelity. It is q^ite the same 
 style of conditionality with that in which the engagements 
 of Jehovah to Israel generally, when he took them into 
 covenant, are couched : " Il^ow therefore, if ye will obey my 
 voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a 
 peculiar treasure unto me above all peoj^le : for all the earth 
 is mine : and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and 
 an holy nation." * — 3. " I will give thee places to walk 
 among these that stand hy^ By " these that stand by" we 
 suppose to be meant the attendant angels. The great dif- 
 ficulty here is with tlie word rendered ^^ places to walW^ — 
 on the margin, " ivallcs." The original word is one which is 
 ambiguous in some degree. But from the conjugation of the 
 verb to which, as a participle, it belongs, we are disposed to 
 acquiesce in the judgment of a modern critic who makes it 
 to signify, neither walks nor walkers, but those who guide or 
 conduct in walking : — " I will give thee ministering guides 
 among these that stand by."t And no sense can correspond 
 better than this with all that we learn, from the entire pre- 
 vious history of the Jewish people, from the calling of Abra- 
 ham onwards, respecting the ministration of angels. It is a 
 promise, then, of the aid and direction of the hosts that 
 surround the divine throne, the "ministering spirits, sent 
 forth to minister to the heirs of salvation." If the render- 
 ing "?faZ/i:5," or ^^ p)laces to tcallc" be retained (though we 
 
 * Exod. xix. 5, 6. 
 t "D^abrrn is the Hiphil participle from ibi7. It must therefore sig- 
 nify tlwse uJw cause to go or walk^ leaders^ conductors, guides." (Hen- 
 derson.) Still, liigh authorities, as Rosenmiiller, Ewald and others, 
 favour th^^ rendering of our authorised version, taking the word as tha 
 plural of nbnn, a ivalk. — Ed. 
 
ZECIIAPJAH III. 77 
 
 feel doubtful if it can) then the promise will be a higher one 
 still, — that, namely, of a final association with angelic spirits 
 in heaven. 
 
 We are never, in Scripture, allowed to forget, that the 
 whole glory of the sacerdotal institutions of the ancient eco- 
 nomy arose from their tuincal import — their being " shadows 
 of good things to come." In such a connexion as this, it is 
 almost natural to anticipate a prospective reference to the 
 coming Messiah. "VVe had it in last vision. We have it 
 even more clearly in this, in the verses which follow: — 
 "Hear now, Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy 
 fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered 
 at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant The 
 BEAiN'CH. For behold the stone that I have laid before 
 Joshua ; upon one stone shall be seven eyes : behold, I will 
 engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I 
 will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that 
 day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his 
 neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree." Mark 
 the speaker. It is not directly "the Angel of the Lord" 
 himself, but Jehovah the Father by him : — for the words in 
 the beginning of verse seventh continue to apply to all that 
 follows, to the end. Observe then — 
 
 \. The very reason I have assigned for expecting the in- 
 troduction of Messiah here, — namely the symbolical or typi- 
 cal character of persons, offices, and things, under the old 
 dispensation, — is actually stated in the first of these verses. 
 It is said of "Joshua and his fellows that sat before him;" 
 that is, whose ordinary place this was, — his ordinary at- 
 tendants — the inferior priests, who ministered officially to the 
 high priest, waiting before him for his orders, — "they are 
 men wondered atr The marginal reading (which you need 
 not to be informed is of the same authority with that in the 
 text) is — " men of wonder, or sign" * The meaning then, we 
 take to be, they are sign-men; that is, symbolical ^Hypical 
 i)ien." Joshua himself is obviously to be here included. 
 
7« LECTURE IV. 
 
 Joshua, as lugli priest, we take to have been, hke all who 
 held the same liigh office, from Aaron downward, the type of 
 "the great" and only "High Priest of our profession," 
 under the new economy, " Christ Jesus." And " his fel- 
 lows," the inferior priesthood — why sliould we not regard 
 them as types of believers in general in the Gospel age; — 
 who, while all formal and official priesthood but that of 
 Christ is for ever set aside, — are yet called " a royal priest- 
 hood," being made at once "kings and priests unto God," 
 and who are said as " a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual 
 sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." — 2. This sense 
 of "men of sign" as meaning typical j^ei'sons, accords well 
 with what follows: — "for behold I will bring forth" — bring 
 forward — introduce — " my servant the Branch^ Who speaks ? 
 Observe again; it is not the Angel of the Lord directly — 
 for He was himself "tlie Branch" — but the Jehovah of hosts 
 in whose name he makes the announcement. It is He that 
 says, " I will bring forth my servant the BEANCH." I have 
 already assumed who is meant by " my servant the Branch!' 
 It seems absurd to make it Zerubbabel ; for it is evidently 
 a person yet to come; whereas Zerubbabel had been the con- 
 ductor of the first returning captives from Babylon; was 
 there, and at his post : and to him we shall liereafter find 
 the w^ord of Jehovah addressed, both in the following chap- 
 ter and in the sixth.'"' Moreover, "the Branch" is a title 
 by which, beyond all controversy, the Messiah is distin- 
 guished elsewhere. Just look at one or two passages, in 
 which the reference is beyond a doubt: — "And there shall 
 come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch 
 shall grow out of his roots." " In that day shall the branch 
 of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the 
 earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped 
 of Israel." " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
 will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall 
 reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in 
 
 * "The author of the Targuui admits that by the Branch tlie Mes- 
 siah is meant. The same interpretation is found in other Jewish au- 
 thorities, as both Kimchi and liushi admit." — Ed. 
 
ZECHAKIAH III. 79 
 
 tlie earth. In liis days Judali shall be saved, and Israel shall 
 dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be 
 called, THE LOED OUE EIGHTEOUSNESS."* And 
 when he is called, so emphatically, "il/v/ servant the Branch," 
 — the designation becomes one of still more marked indivi- 
 duahty and eminence. " My servant^' even by itself, marks 
 out the Messiah, as, among the many servants of God, stand- 
 ing alone, in unrivalled distinction: " Eeliold my servant, 
 whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul dehghteth" — 
 is language which would lead us to think as if no one that 
 merited the title had gone before, and no one was ever to 
 follow : — " Behold my servant ! " His was to be the most 
 signal and glorious service ever rendered ; a service to which 
 no one in the universe of being was competent but himself. 
 " And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb 
 to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel 
 be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the 
 Lord, and my God shall be my strength." t Such were the 
 prophecies that went before, respecting Him, of whom, after 
 liis coming and work it is said — " Who, being in the form 
 of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but 
 made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form 
 of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and 
 being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and 
 became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.f 
 
 3. Observe the deeio interest of Jehovah, and his ever 
 toaheful and ivatchfal care over the work going on, and over 
 that too, and specially, which it typified : — " Eor behold the 
 stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one sto7ie (shall 
 be) seven eyes'' The stone " laid before," or in the presence 
 of, Joshua, must mean the foundation stone of the second 
 temple. The foundation had been laid, — and laid " hefore 
 Joshua^ He is expressly named more than once in the ac- 
 count of the ceremony: but must it be that stone only? 
 Can no other be included? "I cannot imagine," says an 
 
 * Isa. xi. 1 ; iv. 2 : Jer. xxiii. 5, G. 
 t See too Isa. 1. 10; lii. 13. | Plnl. ii. 6- 
 
80 LECTU1?£ IV. 
 
 excellent and thoroughly evangelical critic, " any other stone 
 to be intended here than the foundation-stone of the tem- 
 ple, which had been laid by Zerubbabel in the presence 
 of Joshua and his brethren the priests, who celebrated 
 the joyful event in songs of praise to Jehovah,"* We 
 are tempted to ask — not even typically? If the men 
 were men of sign, why not the stone a stone of sign? — 
 a typical stone? That a stone is one of the figurative 
 and prophetic designations of the Messiah is without a 
 doubt. Even so early as the days of Jacob, he is an- 
 nounced as "the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel." t So flir 
 from thinking that no other stone is referred to than the 
 foundation-stone laid by Zerubbabel, we are disposed to be 
 of opinion that the second stone — the "chief corner-stone" 
 in the foundation of the spiritual temple, is more meant 
 in the terms which follow, than even tliat stone that had 
 been " laid before Joshua." At all events, what is said of 
 the Type is pre-eminently true of the Antitype : — " Upon one 
 stone (shall be) seven eyes^ The eye is the natural hiero- 
 glyphic for Imowledge ; and seven, as every reader of the 
 Bible is aware, is the number used to denote completeness, 
 perfection. ^^ Seven eyes'' denote the perfection of observant 
 knowledge: and as ''the eyes of Jehovah" mean Jehovah's 
 observation and laiowledge, His "seven eyes" express the 
 perfection of both — omniscient observation. Of the " seven 
 eyes" in the passage before us, we have the explanation ex- 
 pressly given in the following chapter : — " For who hath 
 despised the day of small things'? for they shall rejoice, and 
 shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those 
 seven ; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro 
 through the whole earth.":|: The word "ztvY/i" is supplemen- 
 tary. It spoils the sense. The verse contains two sentences. 
 The one ends witli Zerubbabel; and the other is the ex- 
 
 * Henderson. The expression "laid before Joshiia" is the ground 
 of his objection to regard the stone as referring to the Messiah. — Ed. 
 
 f Comp. Psal. cxviii. 22. with Matt. xxi. 42, and Acts iv. 11: — and 
 Isa. xxviii. 16. with 1 Pet. ii. 6. 
 
 I Chfip. iv. 10. 
 
ZECHARIAH III. 81 
 
 planation, finoly introduced, as we shall hereafter see, of 
 the "seven eyes" in the vision before us: "Those seven — 
 they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through 
 the whole earth." 
 
 From the connexion of the innnediately following words — • 
 "Behold, I icill engrave ilie graving thereof l' — with these — • 
 " upon one stone seven eyes" — we are very naturally led to 
 think of the eyes as graven on the stone. There is not the 
 slightest reason to conceive of any such engraving having 
 been upon the foundation-stone of the temple : — and they 
 who repudiate the notion of the graving being that of 
 hieroglyphic eyes are constrained to satisfy themselves with 
 —'it is not said what the graving was to be.' I am strongly 
 inclined to think, that when Jehovah here says, " For be- 
 hold the stone which T have laid before Joshua," (although 
 I am far from objecting to the seven eyes meaning the 
 observant and interested regard of Jehovah as fixed even 
 upon that stone, as tlie encouragement of the builders and 
 the worshippers of that day,) He then passes, in the prin- 
 cipal intention of his words, to another stone, — even to the 
 stone which, " in the fulness of time," He himself was to 
 " ky in Zion," for the foundation of the hopes of sinners ; and 
 for the foundation of the K"ew Testament church, the spir- 
 itual temple, composed of "living stones" laid on that founda- 
 tion by the grace of the great Master-Builder : — of which 
 more on the following chapter. The language is future — "/ 
 loill engrave the graving," or the sculpture, " thereof." And, 
 as the stone is a figure, so is the graving. I do think the 
 graving is that of the hieroglyphic eyes. And the hiero- 
 glyphic may perhaps convey a twofold meaning. The first, 
 I should say, certainly : that the eyes of Jehovah should be 
 «.;ntinually upon it, with intense and delighted interest; 
 and upon the glorious spiritual structure that was to rest 
 upon it, marking its progressive advancement to its final 
 completion. The idea is the same (though more strongly 
 conveyed, both by the number seven, and by the graving of 
 the eyes upon the stone) with that which is expressed re- 
 specting the land of Canaan : " The eyes of the Lord thy 
 
82 LECTURE IV. 
 
 God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to 
 the end of the year." — The second is one which I mention 
 with hesitation, because I am not sure about the propriety 
 of assigning two meanings to one hieroglyphic. I cannot, 
 however, forget, that the stone represents a person, and that 
 that person is divine. Jesus Christ himself is this "chief 
 corner stone." May not the graving of the hieroglyphic 
 seven eyes upon the stone, then, convey the additional idea 
 of the DEITY of Him whom the stone represented, — as himself 
 the possessor of divine omniscience ; who could say — " All 
 the churches shall know, that I am He that searcheth the 
 reins and the hearts'?" 
 
 Looking still to the future, Jehovah adds — " And I will 
 remove the iniquity of that land in one day." That the 
 word ^^ iniquity'' does sometimes, by a sufficiently natural 
 figure, or association, stand for the punishment which iniquity 
 brings upon the transgressor, need not be questioned. I 
 cannot, however, (fond as I am of keeping to the present 
 time when the present time is the subject,) go in with those 
 •who translate it punishment here, and confine the meaning 
 CO the removal of the punishment Avhicli for seventy years 
 had been inflicted on the Jewish people. For in truth, the 
 present is not here the subject. Jehovah has passed on to 
 the future, — to the mission of " his Servant the Eranch ; " 
 and to the results of that mission, — the laying of the founda- 
 tion of a more glorious temple than that of Solomon or 
 Zerubbabel; and the laying of it (as the clause now before 
 us indicates) in a work which was to expiate iniquity — to 
 "take away sin." The "o?ie daif in which that was to be 
 effected, we cannot but regard as the day when Messiah fin- 
 ished his work, when Jehovah " laid on him the iniquity of 
 us all," and for all that iniquity he made the atonement, by 
 "offering up himself." "The iniquity of that lancV' refers 
 of course to the land of Palestine. The work of the Mes- 
 siah had a primary respect to Israel. The offer of the salva- 
 tion was " to the Jew first : " — " Unto you first, God, having 
 raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning 
 away every one of you from his iniquities." These words of 
 
ZECHARIAH III. 83 
 
 Peter to the Jews of liis day, are a commentary on those 
 before us. The iniquity of "that land" was multiform and 
 aggravated ; but an atonement should be made in " that day " 
 infinitely more than sufficient to take it all away. And then 
 follows, under another figure, the jpeace thence resulting : — - 
 verse 1 0. " In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call 
 every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig- 
 tree." I cannot but regard it as quite too limited a view of 
 the meaning of these words to say — " A promise of the tran- 
 quillity and social enjoyment that were to be experienced by 
 the restored Hebrews." But is not the whole of this latter 
 part of the vision future ? Is not the very phrase " in that 
 day" frequently and emphatically future? And has it not 
 most commonly a pointed reference to the "fulness of the 
 time?" It has j and here, we presume, amongst other places. 
 We consider the words as referring to tl:>e peace of the Gos- 
 pel. That it is a figure for a state of repose, peace, security, 
 personal and social, many passages might, were it at all ne- 
 cessary, be cited to show. One passage only I now quote, 
 because it has so clear a reference to the same period, — 
 to the same hind, and the same cause, of peace : — " But 
 they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his 
 fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid : for the mouth 
 of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it."* It is true, the 
 reference here is to the " latter days." But the peaceful in- 
 fluence of the Gospel was felt and manifested from the 
 first. It was felt individually, in the soul of each subject of 
 it ; and it was felt socially in the intercourse of all. " The 
 multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one 
 soul." Jew dwelt in peace with fellow- Jew ; and even Gen- 
 tiles were numbered among neighbours and brethren, who 
 before were aliens and outcasts, " hated with a perfect hatred." 
 The proclamation of the Gospel was to be, " Peace, peace, to 
 him that is far off and to him that is nigh : " — and the cor- 
 responding effect of it 'was — " He is our peace, who hath 
 made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of parti- 
 
 * Micah iv. 4. 
 
U LECTURE IV. 
 
 tion between us ; having abolished in his flesb the enmity, 
 
 even the law of commandments contained in ordinances ; for 
 
 to make in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace."* 
 
 I must now close with one or two practical observations. — 
 
 1. " Consider the higli priest of our profession." What 
 a contrast between him and " every priest taken from among 
 men!" His character and his work are alike perfect; — no 
 defect in the one, no flaw in the other. Wlien he stood 
 before Jehovah, and said, " Lo I come, to do thy will, God :" 
 • — and when, having done that will. He entered into the 
 Most Holy place, and again stood before God, presenting the 
 blood of his own sacrifice, and making intercession, — the eye 
 of di\dne omniscience, from first to last could see no spot or 
 blemish, in person, character, or work. There was no " change 
 of raiment needed there." All was taintless purity. " Such 
 an high priest became us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, 
 and separate from sinners." Safan could bring no charges 
 against him ; but fain would he have prevented his fulfilling 
 the purpose for which He had assumed his official character. 
 He tried it by temptation, at the outset, in the progress, and 
 at the close of his work. But " when the prince of this world 
 came, he found nothing in Him." This is our comfort, and 
 our hope, — the sinless purity of his character, and the per- 
 fection, and divine acceptance of his priestly work. 
 
 2. Of every converted and saved sinner it may with em- 
 phatic truth be said — " Is not this a brand plucked out of 
 the fire'?" Every such sinner owes his rescue from destruc- 
 tion to the interposition of sovereign grace. And the grace 
 that has delivered must keep him. He is ever, while in this 
 world, in danger. Satan, having failed with the Master 
 tries to secure his followers. He tempts them to all manner 
 of evil. He tempts them to presumption ; and he tempts them 
 to despondency. Tries them at one time to draw from Christ, 
 and at another to drive them. And, Avere they left to them- 
 selves, the issue would infallibly be fatal. But He who with- 
 stood his own temptations helps them in theirs. Satan 
 
 * p:pli. ii. 14, 15. 
 
ZECHAPJAH III. 85 
 
 would have them back whence they have Lcen dehvered : he 
 would insure their perdition. Eut the divine "Angel of the 
 Covenant " is ever with them ; and He will " bruise Satan 
 under their feet shortly." 
 
 3. "VVe stand before God in our sinfulness and pollution: 
 and the God before whom we stand is " of purer eyes than 
 to behold iniquity, neither can he look upon sin." What, 
 then, is to become of us? Must not God turn away from 
 us with indignant loathing? Must He not banish us 
 from his presence ? Were He to regard us as ice are, and to 
 treat us as ice deserve, He must. There could be but one 
 doom for us. But God " delighteth in mercy." He hath pro- 
 vided for us a change of raiment. The garment of his Son's 
 righteousness is ready for us, instead of the " filthy raiment " 
 of our own. And, at the same time, the white robe of per- 
 sonal holiness. The one Christ provides; the other, his 
 Spirit ; — and thus we are fitted for standing before God, and 
 ministering in His presence. Even now we appear before 
 Him, having our iniquity covered by the one; and, though 
 the other is still sadly imperfect in purity, those imperfections 
 are concealed from the eye of divine Justice; and in due 
 time, it shall be " without spot before the throne of God." 
 And we owe our present acceptance, — our holiness so far as 
 attained, and our hopes of heavenly perfection, to the work 
 of that " ONE DAY," in which iniquity was removed by the 
 divinely provided expiation, — not the iniquity of " that land " 
 alone, but of the whole world. And hence — 
 
 4. Let sinners remember, — There is but one foundation 
 for their hopes ; one ground alone on which they can now 
 draw near to God, or on which they can finally stand before 
 him. It is the "one stone," — the " tried stone, the precious 
 corner stone," — the stone on which are graven the seven eyes, 
 — itself divine, and the object of the Father's approving de- 
 light. Build there; and all is safe, — safe now, — safe for 
 death, — safe for judgment, — safe for eternity. This founda- 
 tion is laid by the God with whom you have to do : — it is 
 therefore at once a sure and flie oiihj mro foundation. 
 
LECTURE Y, 
 
 Zech. IV. 
 
 *' And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man 
 that is wakened out of Lis sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And 1 said, 
 I have looked, and beliold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of 
 it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are 
 upon the top thereof: and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the 
 bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the 
 angel that talked with me, saying, Wiiat are these, my lord? Then the angel 
 that talked with ine answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not wliat these 
 be? And I said. No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, 
 This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by 
 power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, great mountain ? 
 before Zerubbabel thou shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the head- 
 stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, gi-ace, unto it. IMoreover, tiie word 
 of the Lord came unto me, saying. Tlie hands of Zerubbabel have laid the founda- 
 tion of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the 
 Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small 
 things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerub- 
 babel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, wliich run to and fro 
 through the whole eartli. Tlien answered I, and said unto him, What are these 
 two olive-trees upon tlie right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side 
 thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive- 
 branches, wlach, through the two golden pipes, empty the golden oil out of 
 themselves? And he answered me and said. Knowest thou not what these be? 
 And I said, No, my lord. Then said he. These are the two anointed ones, that 
 stand by the Lord of the whole earth," 
 
 It is needful to keep in mind that all these successive scenes 
 were presented to the mind of tlie Prophet in vision; and 
 that each vision was distinct, forming a whole of itself, inde- 
 pendently of the scener}^ of those which preceded it, al- 
 
ZECHARIAH IV. 87 
 
 tliough not so as to preclude connexion in the lessons taught, 
 and occasional reference (such as we shall find in the one 
 now before us) to the earlier in the later. The fourth in the 
 series of visions, then, was now closed: and at the close of 
 it, the Prophet represents himself as having fallen into a kind 
 of reverie arising from its disclosures, or from some particular 
 part of them, by which his mind was absorbed, and uncon- 
 scious of aught that might be passing around him. From 
 this state he was roused, as the first verse indicates, by the 
 touch and the voice of the ministering angel, and his atten- 
 tion arrested to a new scenic representation, and the explana- 
 tion of its meaning. 
 
 Our plan in this Lecture will be — first to take a brief 
 survey of the different parts of the vision with their general 
 import; and then, secondly, to deduce, with a somewhat 
 fuller illustration, some of its principal lessons. 
 
 The first thing which presented itself to the prophet's en- 
 tranced view was " a candlestld:,'' or ccmdelabra, " cdl of 
 gold." The structure of this candlestick evidently differed 
 from that in the tabernacle and temple, of which a minute 
 description is given in the close of the twenty-fifth chapter of 
 the book of Exodus. In that candlestick, there were three 
 branches projecting from either side, and all in the same line. 
 Each of these had its lamp, or light, while the seventh light 
 occupied the centre. In that of Zechariah's vision, the centre, 
 or top of the shaft, is occupied by the " bowl," or oil-vessel. 
 There could not, therefore, be a light there ; the more espe- 
 cially as there was a pipe, or tube, from the oil-vessel to each 
 of the lights. Some critics have puzzled their ingenuity to 
 a degree absolutely ludicrous about the disposition of these 
 " seven lamps " and their respective " pipes " or tubes. Their 
 perplexity has arisen from an assumption, that the order of 
 the lamps must have been the same with that of those in the 
 candlestick of the sanctuary. But for this there is no 
 ground. The same symbol may have different forms. In 
 the vision of John, in the beginning of Revelation, there is 
 no certainty at least that the " seven golden candlesticks," 
 representing the seven Asiatic churches, were united by con- 
 
88 LECTURE V 
 
 iiexion with a common centre at all. It appears to me clear, 
 in the present instance, that the seven lamps were, in regu- 
 lar order, round the central bowl; while from that bowl 
 there proceeded one of the pipes or tubes to each lamp. In 
 the Hebrew, indeed, when the " ijlpes " are spoken of, tlie 
 phraseology is pecuhar, — not simply " seven," but " seven and 
 seven." This too has given occasion for not a little verbal 
 criticism : — some multiplying the one seven into the otlier, and 
 making forty-nine; others doubling the seven, and making 
 fourteen ;* and assuredly it is not impossible, that in order to 
 convey the idea of the copiousness of the su^^^ly of oil, hco 
 pipes might be represented as going to each of the lamps. 
 Others conceive the second of the two sevens to have been an 
 interpolationt — accidental or intentional, — and the Prophet to 
 have written simply seven. And they support this by the fact, 
 that both in the Vulgate Latin and in the Septuagint Greek, 
 the reading is thus simple. The probability is, that there 
 were seven lamps, with an oil-pipe to each. On either side 
 of this golden candelabra there grew an olive tree : — and the 
 " two olive-trees " without tlie intervention of any human pre- 
 paration, skill, or labour, distilled spontaneously into the 
 central reservoir the oil-olive for the lights. 
 
 Eager to know the meaning of the symbol, the Prophet, 
 addressing the interpreting Angel with the resjDCct due to a 
 superior, puts the question, "What are these, my lord?" 
 The Angel, ap^Darently in the style of surprise, and thus 
 of gentle reproof, asks in return, " Eaiowest thou not vdiat 
 these be?" — implying that he might and ought to have 
 known ; the question bearing resemblance to that of Jesus to 
 JSTicodemus, " Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not 
 these things?" — or that to his disci]3les, "Know ye not this 
 parable? and how, then, shall ye know all pai-ables?" — The 
 Prophet, however, will pretend to no knowledge which he 
 does not possess. He at once owns his ignorance — " No, my 
 lordr Let us imitate the twofold example; both that of 
 
 * So Stonavd; defending it from Gen. vii. 2, 3; 1 Kings viii. ^o, — 
 Ed. 
 t So Dr. Henderson, very decidedly. 
 
ZECHARIAH IV. 89 
 
 Inquisitiveness, and that of ingenuousness. Let us be on tlie 
 alert in our inquiries after knowledge; and in order to oui 
 acquiring it, never foolishly, and to save our pride or vanity, 
 affect to have what we have not. 
 
 The answer is not, in the meanwhile, fully given ; but is 
 reserved till the close of the vision, when the question is 
 again repeated and pressed. A general Icey, however, to the 
 meaning is immediately supplied: — "Then he answered 
 and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord 
 unto Zerubbabel, saying, JSTot by might, nor by power, but 
 by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." This message, 
 which the Prophet was to convey to Zerubbabel for his en- 
 couragement, evidently contains the grand lesson of the vi- 
 sion : — the lesson, namely, that it was not by the power and 
 might of man, but by the supply of the Spirit of God, that 
 the Church of God was to thrive, or the cause of God to 
 jjrosper and triumph. The words " 7nighf^ and "jjoz^^e?*," or 
 their corres]3onding words in the original, are not materially 
 different in meaning; but, by an idiom common to all lan- 
 guages, more tei'ms than one are used, to convey the idea of 
 "might" or "power" of whatever description or in whatever 
 amount; — physical power, mental power, moral power, as 
 swayed by man ; or power of all these kinds exerted indivi- 
 dually or by combined numbers. The candlesticli, with its 
 " lamps," is a symbol which seems, by the use of it in Scrip- 
 ture, appropriated to the Church; not the Old Testament 
 church, nor the New Testament church, exclusively, but the 
 true Church of God in all ages, and under all dispensations. 
 As it is only by the supply of oil that the lights of the candle- 
 stick can be kept burning, so is it only by the supply of 
 the Spirit that the Church can retain its spiritual light, and 
 impart it to the world around. 
 
 And it is in connexion with this all-important sentiment, 
 that, in verse seventh, the further assurance is given to Zerub- 
 babel of all difficulties, even the greatest, giving way before 
 him : — " Who art thou, great mountain ? before Zerubbabel 
 thou shalt become a plain : and he shall bring forth the head- 
 stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." I 
 
DO LECTURE V. 
 
 have hinted at what a|3pears the ohvious and natural meaning 
 of the figure here used. A "mountain'' in the way, repre- 
 sents an obstacle ap^^arently insuperable. Thus Zerubbabel 
 might be tempted to think of the magnitude of the work be- 
 fore him, connected with the comparative smallness and 
 feebleness of the agency and means of effecting it, and the 
 formidable character and degree of the opposition to it. But 
 if, instead of looking despondingly at his human means and 
 agency, he looked to, and trusted in, the almighty and all- 
 subduing energy of the divine Spirit, he would find every 
 difficulty vanish; the weakest power omnipotent, when God 
 himself was with him. The levelling of mountains and hills 
 is a figure used elsewhere, as well as here, for the overcom- 
 ing and smoothing down of varied obstructions, "The 
 voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the 
 way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway 
 for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
 mountain and hill shall be made low : and the crooked shall 
 be made straight, and the rough places plain : and the glory 
 of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it to- 
 gether: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."'" 
 
 In the latter part of this verse, an eminent modern cri- 
 tic t understands "the head-stone" (translating it "the chief 
 si one'') as meaning the chief stone of the foundation: and 
 the pronoun "7ie" as meaning, not Zerubbabel, but Jeho- 
 vah. " Thereof being supplementary, he understands the 
 words as not referring at all to the temple then in build- 
 ing, but as looking beyond it altogether, and having exclu- 
 sive reference to the great spiritual temple, — the Chris- 
 tian churchy as in due time to be founded by Jehovah; 
 who, for this purpose, was to bring forth to view His chosen 
 Messiah, who was to be "laid in Zion" as "the stone, the 
 13roved stone, the precious corner-stone, the sure foundation." 
 I cannot but think this forced and unnatural. The found- 
 ing had been introduced in the preceding vision; and the 
 itone of the foundation described in such terms as constrained 
 
 * Isa. xl. 3 — 5. t Di'- Henderson. — Ed. 
 
ZECHAEIAH IV. 91 
 
 as to understand it, not literally merely, but symbolically, as 
 relating to the spiritual building, as well as to its type, the 
 temple. In the vision before us, it is the progress and com- 
 pletion of the work that is the special subject. I am satis- 
 fied, therefore, that our translators were right in understand- 
 ing the stone that was to be brought out with the acclama- 
 tions of "Grace, grace, unto it" as meaning the ^^ head-stone,'* 
 and as having reference to the finishing of the structure. 
 That in this view of the words, they have a typical as well 
 as a literal — a prospective as well as an immediate import, I 
 have no more doubt than I have regarding i\iQ foundation in 
 the former vision. More of this, however, by and by. The 
 words in the seventh verse, " He shall bring forth the head- 
 stone thereof," I understand as substantially the same in 
 meaning with those which follow in the ninth verse, " The 
 hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house ; 
 his hands shall also finish it." This was a divine assurance, 
 as the eighth verse affirms : " Moreover the icord of the Lord 
 came unto we." And the fulfilment of the assurance was 
 to be the evidence of the divine commission of the Pro- 
 phet ; or rather, perhaps, of Him by whom the communication 
 was made. I have said " rather perliajjs^' because in the 
 words, " Thou shall hnoio',' the Prophet himself is addressed. 
 If therefore, as in former instances, the divine " Angel of the 
 Covenant" is considered as making the communication to 
 him, then the words " Thou shalt know that the Lord of 
 hosts hath sent me unto you," will have reference to the di- 
 vinity of His oicn commission, — His commission the7i, in an- 
 ticipation of His commission in " the fulness of time." 
 
 How Httle soever had as yet been effected, Zerubbabel 
 and Joshua, and the builders under their superintendence, 
 should find all their desponding apprehensions joyfully dis- 
 appointed. The slender beginnings should have a great and 
 successful ending : — verse 1 0. " For who hath despised the 
 day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the 
 plummet in tlie hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they 
 are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through tho 
 whole earth." 
 
92 LECTURE V 
 
 There is a reference in these words (as in last lecture I 
 took occasion to notice) to a particular in the previous vision. 
 I observed that the preposition ''^ witli" — '^ with those seven," 
 is supplementary; and that the sense it gives (if sense it 
 should be called) is a very harsh and revolting one, — placing 
 the seven eyes of the divine omniscience, along \vith the 
 plummet, " in the hands of ZeruhhaheV^ I stated that the 
 verse should consist of two sentences, in addition to the 
 question with which it commences: — "for they shall re- 
 joice when they shall see the plummet in the hands of 
 Zerubbabel. Those seven" (namely the seven eyes on the 
 stone in the former vision) — "they are the eyes of Jehovah, 
 which run to and fro through the whole earth." Another 
 rendering, indeed, is given in the margin — "Those seven 
 eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole 
 earth, shall rejoice, when they shall see the jDlummet in the 
 hand of Zerubbabel" And this construction the critic be- 
 fore referred to pronounces ^^the only tenable one." That 
 it is tenable, and more than tenable, we grant. That it is 
 the only tenable one, we more than question. And that, 
 in the connexion, it is the most natural and suitable, we 
 are further still from admitting. The latter part of the 
 verse is an answer to the question in the beginning of 
 it. That question, being addressed to the children of the 
 captivity themselves, implies, and was evidently meant to 
 imply, that there were some, not among their enemies merely, 
 but among themselves, that thought lightly, despondingly, 
 and even slightingly and scornfully, of the slender, inauspi- 
 cious, and unpromising, commencements of the great under- 
 taking, and were disposed to smile, with a feeling that ap- 
 proached to derision, at the confidence of others. JSTow, it is 
 of all by whom "the day of small things" was thus lightly 
 esteemed, that the words, we think, are to be understood — 
 "for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the 
 hands of Zerubbabel" — adjusting the erect position of the 
 walls, as they rise, contrary to all their anticipations, toward 
 their completion. All their derisive and discouraging fears 
 should be changed to wondering joy. 
 
ZECHARIAH IV. ?3 
 
 Then follows tlie cause of this : — " Those seven ; they 
 are the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the 
 wliole earth." The meaning is plain. Those eyes were upon 
 the foundation stone. It was laid, that is, under divine 
 auspices. " The eyes of Jehovah" being upon it implies that 
 all the perfections of the divine character w^ere engaged and 
 pledged for the completion of the structure : for they were 
 upon it, with approving sanction ; and He who looked ap- 
 provingly on the laying of the foundation would not desert 
 the rearing of the superstructure, but watch it till the bring- 
 ing out of " the head-stone," — till tlie finishing touch. 
 
 The ProjDhet had not yet obtained an explicit answer to 
 his inquiry about the ^Hivo olive-trees'' on the two sides of 
 the candlestick, lie repeats it: — verses 11, 12. "Then an- 
 swered I, and said unto him, Wliat are these two olive-trees 
 upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side 
 thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What 
 be these two olive branches which througli the two golden 
 pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves'?" Eetaining 
 the translation in the text of the latter part of the twelfth 
 verse in preference to that given in the margin,* I need hardly 
 remark that the epithet ^^ golden^' when applied to the oil, 
 signifies simply the richness of its colour. After a question 
 and an answer the same as before, we have the reply to the 
 inquiry in the verses which follow : — " And he answered me 
 and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, 
 No, my lord. Then said he. These are the two anointed 
 ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." 
 
 Commentators are not a little divided as to who or what 
 are to be understood by the " tico anointed ones'' — a suffi- 
 ciently correct translation, we presume, of the peculiarly 
 idiomatic Hebrew designation " sons of oil" It may be well 
 at once to take another passage along with us, to aid us in 
 our interpretation of this ; — a passage in which there is uni- 
 versally understood to bo an allusion to this of Zechariah, 
 
 * Namely, " empty out of themselves oil into the gold." — Ed. 
 
04 Lecture v. 
 
 I refer to Eev. xi. 4. " These are the two olive-trees, and 
 the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth," 
 
 The passage in the Prophet has by some been explained 
 of the two Dispensations — the old and the new; or of Moses 
 and Christ, as respectively the representatives of the one and 
 of the other:* and those who adopt this explanation consi- 
 der the passage in Revelation as having the same reference 
 — regarding the "two witnesses" as the Old and New Tes- 
 taments. By some, again, it has been explained very far- 
 fctchedly and incongruonsly, of the hoo natures of Christ, — ■ 
 a sense Avhich neither the one passage nor the other will at 
 all bear : and by others of Christ, in his lorlestly and his 
 kingly offices. I was for a time much incUned to thirik: that 
 to apply the designation of "the two anointed ones who 
 stand before the Lord of the whole earth" to Joshua and 
 Zerubbabel, was rather too high an honour. But, without 
 now assigning my reasons for this thought, and the view 
 wliich had pressed itself upon my mind, somewhat different 
 from any I have mentioned, it is better for me to say at once 
 that I acquiesce in the more ordinary reference of the An- 
 gel's explanation to these two great agents as selected and 
 employed by Jehovah as His servants in this entire trans- 
 action; not, however, in their own persons merely, but 
 in their official characters, as representatives of the ser- 
 vants of God in His church, and in tlie promotion of His 
 cause under both Dispensations. I am confirmed in this 
 interpretation by these considerations: — 1. It is not recon- 
 dite, and difficult of apprehension: — and the questions of 
 the interpreting angel seem to imply that the Prophet should 
 not have been so much at a loss for the meaning. — 2. It 
 suits well the description of them as ^^ standing hy the Lord 
 of the whole earth;" that is, as servants waiting His orders, 
 — to witness for him, — to bear his messages, — or, in any way 
 to execute his work, and advance his glory. — 3. This very 
 representation of them implies, that, when they are compared 
 to olive-trees, furnishing oil to the lights of the candlestick, 
 
 * So Blayney: Stonard adopts the sa.me. — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH IV. 95 
 
 —that is, conveying spiritual influence to tlie Cliiu'cli of God, 
 it is not as producers, but as dispensers, — being in subser- 
 viency to " the Lord of the whole earth," from whom all ori- 
 ginates; by whom the olive-trees are made to grow, and are 
 themselves supplied with the oil which they impart, — fitted 
 for the purpose they thus serve. Thus it is with the minis- 
 ters of God's sanctuary. God supplies them with all the 
 grace they possess. And as, in the vision, the oil from the 
 olive-trees passes through the golden tubes to the lamps; so 
 from them, through the ordinances of divine institution, the 
 gracious influence of the truth and Spirit of God comes upon, 
 and is maintained in, the Church. — 4. In no other way can I 
 find a satisfactory principle of harmony between the text be- 
 fore us and that quoted from the Book of Eevelation. AYlien 
 on that passage, we endeavoured to show, that the only in- 
 terpretation of the 'Hioo witnesses'^ was the most common 
 one; that which makes the meaning simply a comp)etent 
 number of faithful witnesses for God and his Christ amidst 
 prevailing spiritual darkness and death.* "The olive-trees 
 and the candlesticks of Zechariah," says Fuller on the 
 verse in Eevelation, " to which there is a manifest reference, 
 were not the same. The former supplied the latter, or the 
 two sides of the bowl of it, with oil. The candlestick seems 
 to have signified the church; and the olive-trees the pro- 
 phets of God who were with the builders helping them.t 
 Corresponding with this, the olive-trees of John are faithful 
 ministers, and the candlesticks Christian churches. The 
 same prophesying" (the word used respecting the two wit- 
 nesses, — a word which includes all spiritual teaching) " which 
 bears witness against the corruptions of Antichrist, supplies 
 the friends of Christ with fresh oil, and enables them to 
 * shine as lights in the world.' Both the olive-trees and the 
 candlesticks, in different ways, are witnesses for the truth." 
 The only observation we would offer on this statement is — 
 
 * There is a complete series of unpublished Lectures by the Au- 
 thor, on the Book of Kevelation. It is to a discussion in one of thess 
 that allusion is here made. — Ed. 
 
 f- Ezra V. 2. 
 
96 LECTURE V. 
 
 that when the writer speaks of the "ohve-trees" represent- 
 ing "the prophets of God who were with the builders help- 
 ing them," he surely ought to have specially included the 
 two principal servants of God whom we have named, and 
 whom the prophets are said to have helped. The " two olive- 
 trees" we consider as having represented them principally, if 
 not exclusively. The prophets, however, may with propriety 
 be taken along with them : " Then rose up Zerubbabel the 
 son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began 
 to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem : and with 
 them were the prophets of God hel]3ing them."* We 
 would only further remark here, that " the Lord of the whole 
 earth" is a designation which, though it from the beginning 
 belonged to God as Creator, and in that capacity Lord, not 
 of the earth alone, but of the universe, yet seems to be 
 given in anticipation of Gospel times, and to belong specially 
 to the Lord Messiah; to Avhom "the heathen were to bo 
 given for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
 for his possession," — who was to be "Lord of all" — not of 
 the Jews only, but of " all kindreds and peoples and nations 
 and tongues." 
 
 I must now call your attention to some of the leading les- 
 sons of the passage. 
 
 \. First, then : — let us bear in mind God's purpose in the 
 institution of His Church on earth, and our corresponding 
 duties, as members and ministers of that Church. All inter- 
 preters seem to be of one mind in regarding the candlestich 
 as the symbol of the Church. And assuming this to be 
 right, there can be no hesitation about the divine design. 
 Who frames a candlestick, with its branches, its lamps, its 
 oil vessel, and all the means of its su23ply, for any other pur- 
 pose than that of giving light ? The Chiu^ch of God is 
 tlius constituted by Him to be " the light of the world." 
 The world is spiritually dark. The hght of truth — the light 
 of life — is in the Church, — and there alone. By the Church 
 I mean the true spiritual Israel. Individually and collec- 
 
 * E 
 
 •jzra V. "i. 
 
ZECHARIAH IV. 97 
 
 tively, they are lights ; hghts for the diffusion of knowledge, 
 holiness, and joy. Let us see to it, then, brethren, that, 
 individually and collectively, ive be answering this end, and 
 answering it effectually. The Jeicish church was set down 
 as a light amid the darkness of surrounding heathenism. If 
 that people, under the influence of selfish j)ride, kept their 
 light to themselves — " placing it under a bushel," instead 
 of seeking its diffusion for Jehovah's glory and the benefit 
 of ignorant and perishing men, — we cannot but think they 
 took a false view of their special privileges, and thus failed, 
 in one respect at least, of fulfilling the divine design in their 
 bestowment. And thus, beyond all question, ought the ISTew 
 Testament church to be a centre of diffusion ; regarding itself 
 as enlightened, that it may shine; as blessed, that it may be 
 a blessing. In proportion as, at home and abroad, we assist 
 in spreading light — the light of God, the light of saving, and 
 sanctifying, and joy-diffusing truth — we are fulfilling God's 
 purpose in our own illumination. In proportion as we are 
 failing in this, we are failing in the very end for which he 
 has " given us light," and are incurring His displeasure. 
 And ! if it be the part of a faithful ministry to be the 
 medium of the communication, by their instructions and 
 admonitions, of divine influence to the churches, so that 
 they may shine with a pure, and steady, and extending 
 light, — ive should feel, and all the ministers of the word and 
 pastors of the churches should feel, the weight of responsi- 
 bility that attaches to the charge. It is in proportion as the 
 oil supplied is pure and copious, that you will enjoy the light 
 among yourselves, and extend the joy of it around you. 
 
 2. The next great general lesson is, the assurance we 
 may enjoy of the complete fulfilment of every purpose and 
 promise of God. The subject of His purposes and promises 
 brought before us in this chapter, is the growth to its full 
 perfection, in height, and symmetry, and glory — not of the 
 ancient temple at Jerusalem merely, but of the spiritual 
 temple — the temple of " living stones," built on Christ, the 
 living and everlasting foundation. The whole vision Wtis 
 intended for the encouragement of the builders and their 
 
 G 
 
93 LECTURE V. 
 
 leaders at tlie time. There were, as we have seen, circum- 
 stances that were disheartening, — calculated to make them 
 sigh and desist, sinking their spirits and paralyzing their 
 hands. Their number was comparatively small. The work 
 to be done, when regarded in proportion to their number 
 and their means, was great. They were in the midst too 
 of enemies, — powerful, numerous, artful, and malignant. 
 The derision of these enemies, and their efforts, sometimes 
 too successful, to interrupt and thwart them, made their 
 case appear in their eyes at times as hopeless. And the 
 unbelieving doubts of many among themselves were infec- 
 tious and spreading; so that their very leaders were in 
 danger of fainting. The whole drift of this chapter might 
 be summed up in the words of Jesus to his disciples — 
 "Have faith in God!" And the encouragement that was 
 held out to the Jewish builders, is held out to us. We are 
 warranted to take it, in its fullest amount, in regard to the 
 building up of God's " spiritual house." Zerubbabel, the 
 Jewish builder, v/as a typical representative of Christ; to 
 whom, as the great Architect of that spiritual structure, the 
 promise in the ninth verse must be considered as ultimately 
 referring — " The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the founda- 
 tions of this house; his hands shall also finish it." We 
 shall see this more fully and pointedly brought out in a 
 future vision : " Speak unto him, saying. Thus speaketh the 
 Lord of hosts, saying. Behold the man whose name is the 
 BEAI^TCH ; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he 
 shall build the temple of the Lord : even he shall build the 
 temple of the Lord ; and he shall bear the glorj, and shall 
 sit and rule upon his throne ; and he shall be a priest upon 
 his throne : and the counsel of peace shall be between them 
 both." * As surely as the typical Zerubbabel finished the 
 tj'pical temple, so surely shall the typified finish His. And 
 surely if the " shoutings of Grace, grace unto it ! " were 
 appropriate at the completion of the one, still more empha- 
 ticall}^ so must they be at the completion of the other. The 
 
 * Chap. vi. 12, 13. 
 
ZECHAEIAH IV. 99 
 
 first sto]io and tlie last must owe alike to grace tlieir life as 
 "livhig stones," and their position in the "living temple." 
 And the plaudits of men and angels, amidst which the 
 building shall be completed, will be in harmony with the 
 character of its progress from beginning to end. Grace 
 shall be their theme. 
 
 It is true, that in the one case, as in the other, human 
 agency is employed; and in the one case much more than in 
 the other, looking at that agency and at the nature and ex- 
 tent of the work, do we see reason for despondency and 
 desperation; especially when to the nature of the work is 
 added the nature and the amount of the hostile opposition 
 it is fated to encounter. No created agency, indeed, could 
 succeed in the attempt to add a single living stone to the 
 building. As soon could such agency put life into the 
 stones of the field or of the quarry. "What, then, are our 
 securities? What our encouragements? Let an answer to 
 tliis question be — 
 
 3. Our third and last topic. We have first of all, what 
 should ever be enough to inspire confidence, though it 
 stood alone, — independent of all information as to the way 
 in which the work was to be effected by Him, — we have 
 the express and explicit promise of Jeliovali, that the build- 
 ing shall bo finished, and that before the efforts of His 
 people, put forth in obedience to His will, and with prayer 
 for His blessing, the greatest — the most apparently insur- 
 mountable — obstacles shall give way.* How feeble soever 
 the power of those employed in the work, yet, with Jehovah 
 on their side, " the mountains would flow down at his pre- 
 sence," and what seemed insuperable become level ground. 
 Such an assurance ought of itself to be enough. We may 
 well rest assured, that if God be with us, no created poAver 
 can prevent success. " God will Vv^ork, and who shall 
 LET IT?" If He bids us labour, and promises success, let us 
 labour, and trust Him, even though he give us not another 
 vrord on which to rest, beyond a hare engagement. " Hath 
 
 * Verses 7, 9, 10. 
 
100 LECTURE V. 
 
 he said, and shall he not dol hath he spoken, and will he 
 not make it good?" He to- ill "make it good." It is ours 
 to obey ; to do duty ; and leave the result in His hands. 
 
 But we Jiave something more here on which to rest than 
 the bare word of promise : — we have the assurance of the 
 incessantly attentive superintendence and ivatchfid care of 
 His ever-present p)rovidence. This, we are satisfied, is the 
 true interpretation of the mystic terms of the tenth verse, as 
 before explained* The " seven eyes of the Lord" "run to 
 and fio through the whole earth;" so that nothing can any- 
 where happen unanticipated and unseen, and take him by 
 surprise. The work, then, cannot fail to prosper. In what 
 part soever of the earth it may be going forward. His eye is 
 there, watching over and guiding it. And who can either 
 elude omniscience, or resist omnipotence'? The divine eye 
 is ever in union with the divine arm ; the Icnoioledge of 
 God with his p)ower. Mere knowledge, unless thus associated, 
 would be utterly inefficient : — so that, in all cases in which 
 the eye of the Lord is represented as in any work, it may 
 fairly be considered as inclusive of His ijower as well as His 
 knowledge. Under a different figure, God's unceasing care 
 of His church is finely expressed by the prophet Isaiah : — 
 " In that day, sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I 
 the Lord do keep it ; I Avill water it every moment : lest any 
 hurt it, I will keep it night and day."f — Jesus, our Im- 
 manuel, we have seen, is represented as himself the divine 
 Builder — possessing this omniscience in union with power. 
 How, then, can the work ever fail? Still further, we have 
 the promise of tlie constant and copious effusion of the 
 Holy Spirit. We have seen how this is inchided in the 
 vision; and while the might and power of man are pro- 
 nounced altogether incompetent, this divine influence is pro- 
 mised, as ensuring success : — " not by might, nor by power, 
 but by MY Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." This, to a cer- 
 
 * In Ilev. V. 6, we have terms which serve to confirm the explana- 
 tion — tlie ^^ seven horns^' of the Lamb representing his omnipotence^ and 
 the eScJen eyes his omniscience. 
 
 + Isa. xxvii. 2, 3. 
 
ZECHARIAII IV. 101 
 
 tain extent, was true of the existing case. Faitli, fortitude, 
 energy, and perseverance, were specially needful for its effec- 
 tual prosecution; and were supplied by the influence of the 
 divine Spirit in the leaders, in the people, and in the pro- 
 phets. But it is, in a peculiar sense and degree, true of the 
 building up of the spiritual temple. In it there is not only 
 an operation of the Spirit required for fitting the builders 
 for their duty ; — there is an operation required on the stones 
 themselves, such as no other energy but that of God's own 
 Spirit can effect. They must be living stones. They are 
 sinners, previously spiritually dead, but made alive unto God. 
 And this giving of life to the dead is God's work alone. 
 All attempts to promote Christianity by human power and 
 human authority have invariably and necessarily failed. 
 Mere external constrained uniformity is not Christianity. 
 Christianity, when transfused from the book to the person, 
 consists in spiritually enlightened minds and renewed hearts : 
 and by no power can these be produced but that of " the 
 Spirit of the living God." — And even all the legitimate, 
 zealous, scripturally directed efforts for the advancement of 
 the great work, must prove inefficacious and fruitless, unless 
 God give His influence with them. ISTot a stone can be added 
 to a stone in the living temple but by the gracious vivifying 
 energy of this promised Spirit. But having the promise of 
 this divine energy, we need never despond. Need! nay, we 
 7nust not. To despond is crimirial; for it is faithless. This, 
 as I have said, is the spirit and life of the whole lesson. 
 We are not to be disheartened by small beginnings, or un- 
 promising circumstances. The cause is God's. " The residue 
 of the Spirit is with Him." And from small beginnings He 
 has already, in times past, brought about great results. Thus 
 the ancient Church was animated to look with confidence for 
 the accomplishment of all the glorious things awaiting her 
 at the " fulness of time," by being reminded of her small be- 
 ginnings : — " Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteous- 
 ness, ye that seek the Lord : look unto the rock whence ye 
 are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 
 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare 
 
102 LECTURE V. 
 
 you : for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased 
 him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion : he will comfort all 
 her waste places ; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, 
 and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness 
 shall he found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melo- 
 dy." * The prospects of the ancient Church were all verified, 
 and are noio our remembrances, and our encouragements in 
 anticipating what yet remains to be fulfilled. And we look too 
 to the " day of small things" in the outset of the new Dispen- 
 sation. We look at it during our Lord's personal ministry, 
 and in the small company in the upper room during the 
 "forty days " after his rising from the dead. How little ajDpear- 
 ance — how little promise, was there ! But soon we see the 
 outpouring of the promised Spuit; and then sinners are 
 quickened by thousands. The " living temple " rises rapidly, in 
 all its purity and beauty — " majestic in its own simplicity ! " 
 And to other and later periods of the history of the Church 
 we might point, for other exemplifications of the same thing. 
 The history of the origin and progress of some of the greatest 
 and most successful institutions in our own day for the pro- 
 motion of Christianity, presents us with striking lessons of 
 the folly of " despising the day of small things." To take 
 one example. An incidental conversation between tv/o or 
 three individuals, respecting the want of the Holy Scriptures 
 in some parts of Wales, about half a century ago, gave origin 
 to the most magnificent of all modern Christian institutions ; 
 an institution, whose salutary and life-giving operations em- 
 brace the entire globe, which dispenses the word of truth 
 and salvation in almost all the known languages of men; 
 and the cessation of Avhose benevolent exertions would be 
 felt as a heavy calamity by every kindred and people and 
 nation and tongue ! K eed I name the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society^ — The parables of the mustard-seed and the 
 leaven are illustrations, from the lips of divine wisdom itself, 
 of the same truth. An ignorant and thoughtless man, in 
 stepping across a httle trickling streamlet, might despise it 
 
 * Isa. li. 1—3. 
 
ZECHARIAH IV 103 
 
 as unworthy of his notice. And yet, that streamlet becomes 
 the mighty river, from the ports of whose widening frith 
 there goes forth the commerce of the world. The same man, 
 picking np an acorn, without being aware what seed it was, 
 might think nothing of it ; and when he saw it inserted in 
 the earth, might anticipate the springing from it of a dimu- 
 nitive and dwarfish plant. But the acorn is the enfolded 
 embryo of the huge and venerable oak, the future material of 
 the vessels in which that commerce is freighted, and borne 
 to the ends of the earth. So is it in the administration of 
 Providence. How often have events apparently trivial and 
 contemptible jjroved like the river-spring in the mountain's 
 side, or like the embryo seed, — extensive and mighty in 
 their ultimate results ! 
 
 Brethren, we are often, both ministers and people, and 
 with too good reason alas! deploring the limited extent of 
 success attending the preaching of th(; Gospel, and the use of 
 other means for the instruction and conversion of sinners, 
 both at home and abroad; and the lamentable fact that 
 even now, — eighteen centuries and a half from the Saviour's 
 birth, — it should still be so emphatically, in regard to the 
 prevalence of the Gospel — ^Hlie day of small tilings^ 
 Why is it so? Why have ministers in general so much 
 cause for saying, with a heart-drawn sigh — "We have 
 laboured in vain; v.^e have spent our strength for nouglit 
 and in A^ain?" and why have their people so much cause 
 to join in the lamentation'? Without at all entering into 
 this inquiry, I would only ask. May not one reason, and 
 not the least, be, the want of a proper sense of our de- 
 pendence, for all success, on the influence of the Spirit of 
 God? — and the deficiency in the spirit of fervent personal 
 and social prayer for that influence? God "will not give His 
 glory to another." The maxim of His government, in all 
 things, is — " Him that honoureth me I will honour." We 
 do not honour God, whfen we fail to cherish this sense of 
 dependence on Him in everything : when we either look for 
 the conversion of the world by any other doctrine than His 
 own truth, or by any other accompanying influence than that 
 
1C4 LECTUllE V. 
 
 of His own Spirit. Let us accompany prayer with zealous 
 action and liberal gift ; and accompany action and gift with 
 fervent, believing, importunate prayer. We cannot expect 
 it to be anything else than " the day of small things " in 
 success, if it is the day of small things with ourselves, in 
 effort, and contribution, and prayer. 
 
 Finally, let all enemies and despisers of the work of God, — 
 all who neglect His great salvation, who trifle with and shght 
 the offers of His mercy, who refuse the virtue of His Son's 
 blood, disown His Spirit, and take no interest in the progress 
 of His cause, but rather oppose and thwart than promote 
 it; let all such bethink themselves. The Jews prospered, 
 and successfully finished their work, in spite of their ene- 
 mies ; because God was with them. The " might and power" 
 of man were against them : — but a higher might and power 
 were on their side. Thus it is still; and thus it shall be to 
 the last. And wlien the temple of God shall be finished, 
 and " the headstone brought out with shoutings of Grace, 
 grace unto it," — what shall the end be of those who cannot 
 join in the acclamations'? They who have taken no concern 
 about, and no part in, the work, can have no share in the 
 final joy. The great Master-Builder, pointing to the glorious 
 structure — liis own completed achievement — will say, " Be- 
 hold, YE DESPISERS, AND WONDER, AND PERISH ! " 
 
LECTURE VI 
 
 Zech. v. 
 
 "Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flyiiic; 
 roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And 1 answered, I see a flyinj; 
 roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. 
 Tlien said he unto nie, Tiiis is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the 
 whole earth ; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side accord- 
 ing to it ; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according 
 to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the 
 house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name ; 
 and it sliall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the tim- 
 ber thereof and the stones thereof. Then the angel that talked with me went 
 forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth 
 forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. 
 He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. And, behold, 
 there was lifted up a talent of lead : and this is a wonian that sitteth in the 
 midst of the epliah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the 
 midst of the ephah ; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. 
 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, 
 and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings hke the wings of a stork; 
 nd they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to 
 Ihe angel that talked with me. Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said 
 unto me. To build it an house in the land of Shinar; and it shall be established, 
 and set there upon her own base." 
 
 In tliis chapter we have two distinct visions — the sixth and 
 the seventh in the series. In the interpretation of all the 
 visions, there are two extremes, — so at least I am disposed to 
 regard them, — which it is desirable to avoid. The one is, 
 the confining of the visions too exclusively to the Jewish 
 people and the times which were then passing over them : — 
 the other is, explaining one or two of the earlier visions 
 
106 LECTURE VI. 
 
 as referring to the then existing condition, or immediate 
 prospects of that people, and the rest as leaving them alto- 
 g(;ther behind ; and, as a chain of successive historical predic- 
 tions, carrying forward the future destinies of the Church of 
 God in the Christian age, — its corruptions, persecutions, hin- 
 drances and progress to the end of time. Thus Stonard — 
 because the former chapter, in the vision which it contains, 
 looks forward to the times of the promised Messiah, espe- 
 cially when taken in connexion with that which had pre- 
 ceded it, where the Messiah is clearly introduced under the 
 designation of " Jehovah's Servant the Branch," — takes for 
 granted that there must be no reverting, in the visions which 
 folloAV, to the times then present and the circumstances and 
 prospects of the people among whom the Prophet delivered 
 his divine revelations. But this is an extravagant assump- 
 tion. According to him, both the one and the other of the 
 two visions in this chapter relate not at all to the Jews, but 
 to the Christian Church, to its corruption in principle and 
 in practice, especially during the early rise and progressively 
 darkening and vitiating influence of Antichrist — establish- 
 ing idolatry, with its attendant follies and wickednesses, and 
 provoking the divine displeasure and curse. Yet this able 
 interpreter himself fails in carrying out his own principle — ■ 
 the principle, I mean, that in the successive visions there 
 should be no reverting to times or events referred to in those 
 which preceded. For in the visions immediately preceding 
 those in this chapter we have the progress of the Christian 
 Church even to its final completion, — the building up of the 
 spiritual temple till " the head-stone is brought forth with 
 shoutings of Grace, grace unto it ; " and yet, on his own ad- 
 mission, there is, in the visions now before us, a reverting to 
 the early history of that Church — that "living temple." 
 Kow an interpreter cannot be entitled, when it suits his own 
 convenience, to violate a principle which he denies to be ad- 
 missible in the expositions of others. He seems sensible of 
 this, and tries to meet the objection; but we think unsuc- 
 cessfully. In his exposition too, ^^ the earth^' as in our 
 translation, — ^^ the land,'' as rendered (more correctly Ava 
 
ZECHARIAH V. J 07 
 
 tliink) by otliers, — is made to signify neither the ivlioJe earth 
 nor the land of Jadea^ but what he describes as "the seat 
 of the people professing the Christian religion" — "Christen- 
 dom or the Roman Empire." This, as well as various 
 other particulars in his interpretation, seems unnatural and 
 forced. There arc two things which, in order to the just 
 understanding of the visions, it is necessary to bear in 
 mind. The first is, that there appears no sufficient evi- 
 dence that the visions are a connected chain of successive 
 symbolical predictions, each following the other in time, 
 and taking up the series of events or of characteristic 
 changes in the state of the Church, where the other left it. 
 There is no possibility of making this out, without such a 
 straining and twisting as is quite inadmissible. The second 
 is, that there does not appear sufficient evidence, respect- 
 ing some of the visions, that they are either entirely prophetic, 
 or even prophetic at all. The visions of a proj)liet, or seer, 
 might be intended to teach and enforce important lessons, as 
 well as to unfold future events. We think, then, it may be 
 adopted as a fair principle of interpretation, that in these 
 visions there is to be found, generally, a reference to something 
 present blending with, and shooting forward at times to 
 what is future ; especially to events connected with the com- 
 ing and work, and kingdom of the promised Messiah ; and 
 that both are, at the same time, mixed up with salutary 
 warnings and lessons of duty. With these impressions, let 
 us look at the first of the two visions in this chapter. It 
 will serve to exemplify and confirm the remarks just made : — 
 Verses 1, 2. "Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, 
 and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, 
 What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the 
 length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten 
 cubits." Wliat was here seen? — "A roll.'' We have men- 
 tion made of such rolls by Ezra, by Isaiah, by Jeremiah, and 
 by Ezekiel. Ezra speaks of search being made in " the house 
 of the rolls" — the depository of the public archives or re- 
 cords, — and of a "roll' being found there in which was re- 
 corded the decree of king Darius respecting the Jews. And 
 
108 LECTURE VI. 
 
 Jouemiali speaks of " a roll of a Booh^ The Book might 
 be considered as consisting of several "rolls" over each other, 
 and forming one volume. This is illustrated by the Book 
 ^vhich John saw in " the right hand of Him that sat on the 
 throne;" which was "sealed with seven seals;" and of 
 wliich the contents were brought to view, as each of the seals 
 was successively broken, and the "roll" which it fastened 
 unfolded. The ancients wrote on a variety of materials; — 
 the pajDyi'us, or paper -reed; the inner bark of particular 
 trees; and the dressed skins of animals forming a kind of 
 parchment. These, when written, were rolled up, for con- 
 venience, and for preservation of the Avriting, either singly 
 or in a number over each other. The roll seen by the pro- 
 phet was "a flying roll;" bat not flying through the air in 
 its rolled up state. It was expanded, and was of extraordi- 
 nary size. Reckoning the cubit at a foot and a half, it was ten 
 yards in length hj five in width, — the measurement being 
 guessed by the prophet's e^^e. 
 
 Its large size might denote two things ; — the large number 
 and amount of the divine denunciations it contained; and, 
 at the same time, there being room for writing them large, 
 that they might be " seen and read of all men." This latter 
 lesson is also implied in the roll being open; not rolled up 
 and sealed, but fully ex^^anded to view, that notliing it con- 
 tained might be concealed. It was, at the same time, "fly- 
 ing." By which also two things might be denoted; — that 
 it was not meant for any particular city or locaUty, but to 
 make a progress through the length and breadth of the 
 land; and also, that the denunciations of Jehovah written 
 in it would come speedil}^ and surely on those against whom 
 they were pointed. 
 
 The explanation is immediately given by the interpreting 
 angel — verses 3, 4. "Then said he unto me, Tliis is the 
 curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth : for 
 every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side ac- 
 cording to it ; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off 
 as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith 
 the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the 
 
ZECHARIAH V. 109 
 
 thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my 
 name : and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and 
 shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones 
 thereof." The import of " This is the curse,'' is abundantly 
 manifest. The curse of the divine law — the denunciation of 
 divine retribution and vengeance against all transgressors of 
 it — was legibly and openly written therein. And that one 
 of the meanings we have attached to its "flying" is correct, 
 appears from the very terms here used — it " goeth forth over 
 the whole land.'' 
 
 And mark the two descriptions of trespass that are here 
 particularly selected and specified : — " every one that stealeth, 
 and every one that siveareth." I need hardly say, for no 
 one will imagine it, that "the curse" was to be confined ex- 
 clusively to these two specified crimes — theft, and false or 
 profane swearing. They are a part for the whole. And it 
 has been justly remarked, that one of them is taken from the 
 second table of the law, and the other from the first ; the 
 one being a sin directly against man, the other directly 
 against God. They may therefore be taken as representing the 
 whole Law. And " the curse" was to be impartially executed. 
 It was to go forth, to " cut off" — or, as it has been rendered, 
 to "clear away" — transgressors, wherever they were found, 
 " on this side and on that side ; " all who practised injustice 
 and dishonesty, in whatever form, to their neighbours ; all 
 who withheld from God the "reverence and godly fear" 
 which was His due, in principle and in action. 
 
 And " the curse " was most fearful. It was of all inevi- 
 tahle: — "I will bring it forth, saith the Lord." And who 
 can elude His eye? who can withstand His power'? Then, 
 further, it is 2^enet7'ating. Nothing escapes it. It assails 
 the man himself, and it finds its way to everything connected 
 with him, — to the very timber and stones of his dwelling. 
 It rests on and consumes all he is, and aU he has. Further 
 still, it is domestic as well as personal. The character affects 
 the family. A dishonest and profane father was most likely 
 to have dishonest and profane children ; and thus " the curse" 
 would affect the household, and go down from generation to 
 
110 LECTURE VI. 
 
 generation. Whicli leads me to notice lastly, that it is 
 abiding. Not only does it " enter into his house," it " re- 
 mains in the midst of it;'' like a leprosy, infecting, wasting, 
 consuming, destroying. It is a curse that embitters every 
 sweet, and gives more than twofold intensity to every bitter. 
 It dooms to destruction the man and all his possessions. And 
 from this world it must accompany and follow him to an- 
 other, and settle with him there for ever. The special refer- 
 ence made to their houses, with the " stones thereof and the 
 timber thereof," forcibly points to the care which they had 
 been taking of their own accommodation, in comfort and 
 elegance, while Jehovah's house was neglected. '"* 
 
 This, then, I take to be one of the cases, in whicli there 
 is more of lesson than of prophecy ; more of faithful and 
 salutary admonition, than of direct prediction. If there can 
 be said to be prediction at all, it is only the prediction, con- 
 ditionally, of the evils contained in God's " curse," as sure to 
 come on "the workers of iniquity." There is no prediction 
 of any specific future event. There is no more of predic- 
 tion than there is in the general declaration, ^^ Evil shall 
 slay the tvicJced." 
 
 What, then, is the great lesson, — what the import of the 
 admonition, thus symbolically conveyed? It is, first, that 
 God's law remained the same, now that they were restored 
 to the land of their fathers, as when their fathers first 
 settled in it. It was still a " fiery law," as it was when de- 
 livered from Siuai. The curses then pronounced, in Jehovah's 
 name, by their inspired lawgiver, had not been cancelled. 
 Here they arc — produced anew : and, I may add, with the 
 attestation to the divine faithfulness in their infliction, ex- 
 perienced by themselves in the very captivity from which 
 they had just been rescued. The lesson and the warning 
 were as seasonable as they were salutary. The captivity had 
 been a divine visitation, — a penal infliction. It was de- 
 signed, like all other divine judgments, to " lead to repent- 
 
 * In the language there is manifestly a reference to the awful terms 
 in which divine curses were denounced in Jehovah's name by Moses. 
 ^ec Deut. xxviii. 1—6, 15—19. 
 
ZECHARIAH V. Ill 
 
 ance." And now that tliey were again partaking of tlio 
 divine goodness, — now that God had come to them in the 
 land of their bondage, and vouchsafed their dehverance, and 
 settled them anew in their own Canaan, — they were to be- 
 w\are of taking encouragement from His kindness to con- 
 tinue in sin; to repeat the trespasses that had exposed 
 their fathers and themselves to His displeasure and to tem- 
 porary abandonment and suffering. They were rather to 
 "confess and forsake," that they might continue to "find 
 mercy." — The lesson, under a different form, was also, that 
 the land to which they had been restored must be held 
 hy the same tenure as hefore. God had given it originally 
 hy 2)ro7nise. By faith of the promise it was obtained. Ey 
 "the obedience of foith" it was held. The inheritance was 
 never " of the law ; " was never held by any legal tenure — 
 by any kind of desert — any right arising out of the doings 
 of those who occupied it. 
 
 Yerses 5 — 11. "Then the angel that talked with me 
 went forth, and said unto me. Lift up now thine eyes, and 
 see what is this that goeth forth. And I said. What is 
 if? And he said. This is an ephah that goeth forth. He 
 said moreover. This is their resemblance through all the 
 earth. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: 
 and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. 
 And he said. This is wickedness. And lie cast it into the 
 midst of the ephah ; and he cast the weight of lead upon the 
 mouth thereof Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, 
 behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in 
 their vv^'ngs ; (for they had wings like the wings of a stork ;) 
 and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the hea- 
 ven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither 
 do these bear the ephah] And he said unto me. To build 
 it an house in the land of Shinar : and it shall be established, 
 and set there upon her own base." 
 
 This vision of the " tvoman in the epliah'' is one of which 
 the obscurity and difficulty have been not a little felt. And 
 various, accordingly, have been the interpretations proposed 
 cf it. The expositor whom I mentioned in the beginning 
 
112 LECTURE VI. 
 
 of this Lecture, in full consistency with his general principle, 
 — while he considers the ^^ wickedness'' exposed in it as mean- 
 ing specially idolatry, interprets it of the idolatry of the cor- 
 rupted, or apostate, Christian cliurch — the idolatry of popery. 
 He regards the concealment of it within the ephah as sym- 
 bolical of the delusion practised on the multitude, so that 
 they incur the guilt of idolatry hiddenly to themselves, — 
 unconsciously of the crime. There is much, we think, here, 
 as in the interpretation of the preceding vision, that is forced 
 and out of jDlace. And the same remark applies to his view 
 of the "two winged women" by whom the ephah is borne 
 away; whom he identifies with "the two witnesses" in the 
 Book of Revelation. It would be wrong to deny the merit 
 of ingenuity and plausibility to this theory — or rather to the 
 manner in which it is maintained. But it is more ingenious 
 than solid. 
 
 At first view, I was disposed to be much enamoured of the 
 interpretation given by Dr. Henderson. He too regards the 
 "wickedness" as meaning idolatry; while the wommi in the 
 ephah he takes to be the symbol of idolatry; and the " two loomen'' 
 by whom the ephah, with this wickedness carefully secured 
 in it, is carried away to the land of Shinar, or Babylon, as 
 symbolizing " the Assj'rian and Babylonian powers, by which 
 (to use his own words) God removed idolatry, in the persons 
 of the apostate Hebrews, out of the Holy Land," — to have 
 its place in a land where idolatry was its very characteristic ; 
 where it was indigenous and abundant. " In this striking 
 hieroglyphic," says this able critic, " we are taught how ido- 
 latry, with all its accompanying atrocities, was removed from 
 the land of the Hebrews, which it had desecrated, to a coun- 
 try devoted to it, and where it was to commingle with its 
 native elements, never to be reimported into Canaan. How 
 exactly has the prediction been fulfilled ! From the time of 
 the captivity to the present, a period of more than two thou- 
 sand years, the Hebrew people have never once lapsed into 
 idolatry. The whole vision was intended to convince them 
 of the greatness of the evil." There is something in this 
 interpretation so very pleasing, that one naturally feels a 
 
ZECHARIAH V. 113 
 
 strong predisposition to adopt it. Objections, however, have 
 suggested themselves to my mind, which I am at a loss to 
 get over. They are especially i^t^o. 1. How comes a ?^o??^rt?^ 
 to be the symbol of idolatry ? — not of an idolatrous church, 
 observe, but of idolatry ? There is no parallel passage for 
 this; nothing, so far as my memory serves me, at all analo- 
 gous to it in the Scriptures. That the Jewish people, or 
 Jewish church, should be so symbolized, is in harmony with 
 a great deal of the language of Scripture. Jehovah is re- 
 presented as espousing that church to himself: and He him- 
 self frequently, by the prophets, makes use of this image. 
 " The daughter of Zion " too is one of the common designa- 
 tions of Israel by the inspired prophets. Wlien she departs 
 from Jehovah by idolatry, she is represented as unfaithful to 
 her espousals, and "playing the harlot:" but nowhere do 
 we find idolatry itself represented under the symbol of a. 
 icoman. An idolatrous church — as for instance the mystical 
 Babylon — may be, and is; but not idolatry itself. This 
 objection is double. It is negative and positive. Negative, 
 inasmuch as the supposed symbol is unsupported by any 
 parallels; and ^90S2Y? ve, inasmuch as a woman is the common 
 symbol of both the Old and the !N'ew Testament churches, — 
 of both the true church and the false. — 2. On the principle 
 of this interpretation, we have a question to ask, Was the 
 statement of the interpreting angel in verse sixth true ? The 
 statement is, " This is their resemblance," their appearance, 
 their fair representation* — " through all the land." J^ow, if 
 idolatry be signified by the emblem, is this correct? Ac- 
 cording to the expositor s own admission, there was at tlie 
 time no such thing as idolatry. He speaks of the vision as a 
 ^^ prediction ;^^ but, in this respect, there was no predic- 
 tion : — the banishment of idolatry was an event cd.ready past. 
 But the whole style of the emblematic representation implies 
 its reference to something yet to he done. 
 
 On these grounds I have been constrained to abandon this 
 
 * ]">J^, lit. ci/e; but it sij^nifics also that which presents itself to tha 
 eye — appearance. 8ee Lev. xiii. 55, Numb. xi. 7, &c. — Ed. 
 
 H 
 
114 LECTURE VI. 
 
 interprGtatioii. Let us now, tlien, look a little luorc closely 
 at what was presented to the Prophet's view. 
 
 1. "A71 ephah.'" This was a common Jewish measure, 
 the same as a " hath;'" containing ten "homers," or about aa 
 English bushel. It was " gomg forth ;" it is not said lohence; 
 but the phrase is significant of the incipient outgoings, in 
 their fulfilment, of the divine counsels. The mouth of the 
 ephah was covered with a round piece of lead, very heavy. 
 That the original Avord is sometimes rendered "a talent,'' as 
 our translators have rendered it liere, is true : but it means 
 too a round cake of metal.* A talent would be upwards of a 
 hundredweight, which, in such a connexion, is out of the 
 question. When the leaden cover was "lifted iTp," there 
 was seen " a woman sitting in the midst of the ephalu" 
 From this some have imagined the ephah to have been the 
 figure and appearance of that measure, but of a gigantic size. 
 ])ut there is no ground whatever for supposing the figure -jf 
 the woman to have been of the size of a full-grown female. 
 The ephah we conceive to have been of the ordinaiy dimen- 
 sions, and the female figure to have been, as a matter of 
 course, one in miniature. — Then, pronouncing the words, 
 " Tliis is tvlckednesSj' the angel either cast in something 
 else, so designated, into '"the ephah," beside the woman; or 
 rather, perhaps, as some translate, "threw her down in the 
 midst of the ephah," and covered it closely up again v>'ith 
 the ponderous leaden lid. Then there came forth " two 
 women;" who had wings like storks' wings, strong and 
 ample; and "the wind in their wings" — to represent the 
 swiftness of their movements, flying before the wind, instead 
 of struggling against it. These women took up the ephah, 
 with the woman thus secured in it, to carry it to the land of 
 Babylon, — there to have a lasting place. Tliey lift it above 
 all the obstacles to their i:>rogress on the earth's surface, that 
 they may bear it along the more freely : and their " building 
 a house for it," and setting it on its own base, and establish- 
 ing it, strongly express the idea of long, though it miglit 
 
 * Tlie woivl is na:). — Ed. 
 
ZECHARlAil V. 115 
 
 not be i-)ermanent continuance. To get at tlic meaning, -wo 
 ask the four following questions : — Wlio, or what, is repre- 
 sented by tliG ivoman? Why is she borne away in an e]phah ? 
 "Why is tlie ephah covered? And why is she borne to ^^ tlie 
 land of Babylon ? " 
 
 1. Who, or what, is represented by tlie ivoman? — I have 
 already said enough to indicate my answer to this inquiry. 
 There is nothing else that can well be supposed to be repre- 
 sented by the symbol, but the Jewish people — the nation of 
 Israel, — the ancient Church of God — " the daughter of Zion." 
 I acquiesce, then, in this interpretation; wliicli is the one 
 most conmionly received. 
 
 2. Eut why is tlie v/onian represented as seated in an 
 ephah? — As to what the ephah is, there exists of course 
 no difficultj^ But to the question just put. Why in an 
 ephah? I have never seen any reply that has been satisfac- 
 tory; nor, indeed, any reply attempted at all. This has 
 seemed to me strange. There must surely be some meaning 
 in this part of the hieroglyphic. I am disposed, then, to 
 understand the ephah as the apt emblem of traffic, or mer- 
 chandise. It was one of the most common measures in use 
 among the Jews. In proof of this it may be noticed, that 
 it is selected as the representative of measures in general. 
 Thus in Deut. xxv. 14 it is said — " Thou shalt not have in 
 thine house diverse measures, a great and a small : " — on the 
 margin the literal rendering is given — " Thou shalt not have 
 in thine house an ephah and, an ephah, a great and a small." 
 The ephah, then, is a sufficiently appropriate symbol of the 
 merchandise, or business, of this world;, and the woman 
 seated in the ephah, of the Jeioish people immersed in world- 
 liness. 
 
 This worldliness — this eager thirst after earthly things — 
 mingled with a large amount of dishonesty and deceit in 
 their acquisition, was a ground of divine complaint and ex- 
 postulation by the prophets, previously to the captivity. 
 Their idolatries might then be the chief theme of censure 
 and remonstrance ; but it was far from being the only one. 
 Take an examj^le : — " Hear this, ye that swallow up 
 
116 LECTURE VI. 
 
 the iieed3', even to make the jDoor of tlie land to fail, 
 saying, Wlien will the new-moon be gone, that we may 
 sell corn 1 and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, 
 making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsi- 
 fying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the 
 poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes ; yea, and 
 sell the refuse of the wheat? " * The suitableness of the ephah 
 in the passage before us is here farther established by the 
 circumstance that " selling corn," and " setting forth wheat," 
 are given as the principal dejDartment of Jewish merchandise. 
 We have further to notice, that the same worldly disposition 
 had manifested itself a//er the return from the captivity, as 
 well as before. " I perceived that the portions of the 
 Levites had not been given them : for the Levites and the 
 singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field. 
 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on 
 the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as 
 also, wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which 
 they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath- day : and I testi- 
 fied against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There 
 dwelt men of Tyre also therein, wdiicli brought fish, and all 
 manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of 
 Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles 
 of Judah, and said unto them, Wliat evil thing is this that ye 
 do, and profane the sabbath-day 1 Did not your fathers thus, 
 and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this 
 city 1 yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel, by profaning the 
 sabbath." t Here is the very same evil. There was now no 
 idolatry : but there was still " the love of this present world," 
 setting aside the commands of God and the obligations of god- 
 liness. And the same spirit is complained of by Jehovah, 
 through the proi3het Ilaggai, J And, although by the rem.on- 
 strances of Nehemiah and Ezra, and Ilaggai and Zechariah, 
 this worldly propensity had been so far corrected, that they 
 had set to in greater earnest to the building of the temple, yet 
 
 * Amos viii. 4 — 6. f Neh. xiii. 10, 15 — 18. 
 
 X See Hag. i. 3 — 11 ; and chap. ii. 10 — 14. 
 
ZECHARIAH V. 117 
 
 still there was a large amount of it. Malachi may be cited 
 as a witness, to the same effect : " Will a man rob God ] 
 Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we 
 robbed thee ? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed 
 with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole 
 nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that 
 there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now 
 herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open 
 you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, 
 that there shall not be room enough to receive it." * And 
 does not the language of the ninth verse in ]:)articular corre- 
 spond strikingly with the end of verse sixth of our present text 1 
 — in the one, " Ye have robbed me, even this whole nation;" 
 in the other, " This is their resemblance, or appropriate re- 
 presentation, through all the land." And the character was 
 kept up. Though there was no direct defection to idolatry, 
 — the world had full possession of them ; they abode in the 
 "ephah." What, indeed, was the cause of all their worldly and 
 secular conceptions and anticipations of the kingdom of their 
 Messiah, but this thorough earth! y-mindedness .? Their char- 
 acter in the days of the Messiah was anticipated by the same 
 prophet — Malachi: "Behold, I will send my messenger, 
 and he shall prepare the way before me : and the Lord, whom 
 ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the mes- 
 senger of the covenant, whom ye delight in : behold, he shall 
 come, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will come near to you 
 to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sor- 
 cerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, 
 and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the 
 widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger 
 from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. For 
 I am the Lord, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob 
 are not consumed." t And the character has been stamped, 
 and stereotyped, and proverbialized, to the present day. 
 This, then, I take to be the symbolical import of " the woman 
 in the ephalu^ 
 
 * Mai. iii. 8 — 10. f See chap. iii. 1, with verses 5, 6. 
 
118 LECTUKE VI. 
 
 3. The epliali was covered: the heavy lid of lead was 
 carefully put down upon the mouth of it. This appears a 
 sufficiently significant emblem of the impossibility of escape 
 from the execution of God's merited judgments. The woman 
 is shut up securely in the ephah, when it is about to be borne 
 away. So the Jewish people, considered conditionally as 
 retaining their character, should be carried away in their 
 ilorldliness. There would be no escape, and no power to 
 rescue. As the very " ephah," the instrument of their mer- 
 chandise and wealth, is represented as becoming the means 
 of confinement; so does the earthliness, the worldly-mind- 
 edness, the ambition and covetousness, of the Jewish people, 
 shut them iij) to retributive vengeance. It was a species 
 of idolatry — spiritual idolatry; alienating their hearts from 
 God ; making them devotees of mammon. With equal truth 
 might it be said of this as of idolatry — " This is wiched- 
 nessy It is, I conceive, too readily and confidently taken for 
 granted, that this can mean nothing else than idolatry. 
 AVorldliness is ungodliness ; and ungodliness is " wickedness." 
 You will have seen that I agree with those who interpret 
 the carrying away of the ephah from the land of Judali of 
 the then future and more lasting banishment of Israel from 
 that land, if, through the power of worldliness they persisted 
 in theu" unbelief and rebelhon against Jehovah and liis 
 Anointed. I know not why the powers by which this 
 ejection from their own land was to be effected are repre- 
 sented as icomen, uidess it be for the unity of the figure; — 
 the nation of Israel being represented by a woman ; and, in 
 correspondence with this, the national powers wliich are to 
 be the agents in the divine visitation being naturally so 
 represented too. The two women do not necessarily mean 
 the combining of tico nations, but are merely, perhaps, for 
 the convenience of transporting the ephah in the vision; 
 one being needed on either side. We have only to inquire — 
 
 4. Why to " the land of ShinarJ' or Babylon ? The 
 second captivity was not to be literally thither, but to a 
 much wider extent. They were to be — as they actually 
 have been — scattered over the face of the earth; or, in the 
 
ZECIIARIAII V. 119 
 
 words of the Saviour himself, " carried away captive into all 
 nations." But the denunciation of this is couched under the 
 ty^je of the former cajDtivity — the literally Babylonish one. 
 As that dispersion had been for their crimes, so should they 
 be carried away again; the captivity from which tliey had 
 been restored, should be repeated. A people, whose con- 
 quests would, for their rapidity, be suitably symbolized by 
 the wings of the stork aided by the wind, should sweep 
 them off their land. The very word " Shinar'" signifies 
 " {^haldng ouV And the closing part of the representation 
 2)lainly indicates the Qmich more lasting dunitiou of the 
 second dispersion. The " building of a house" for the ephah, 
 with the woman, and the " setting of it on its own base " — 
 represent this. It has now continued for near two thousand 
 years: and tlie miraculous fact of their having remained, 
 during all that long period, and in their scattered state, a 
 distinct peoj)le, while it proves God's faithfulness to his 
 fhreatenings, is, at the same time, a ground of confidence 
 that, though lasting, it is not to be iDcrmanent. And will it 
 be considered as an overstretching of the symbol, if I add, 
 that, as the house is built, not for the woman merely, but 
 for the ephah in which she sat, the people continue, during 
 all that period, in their icorldliness, — exhibiting the same 
 character, till the time come when "the vail" that hides from 
 their eyes the glories of the true Messiah " shall be taken 
 away," and they shall yet again experience the restoring 
 goodness of the God of their ancient fathers. Wliether it 
 was meant by the symbol or not, it has been, and is, 
 strikingly true. 
 
 I close with two general reflections ; one from each of the 
 two visions : — 
 
 1. Although the " flying roll," inscribed with the curses 
 of God's law, is, in the vision, represented (for so we have 
 understood the terms) as going forth specially over the Icmd, 
 the land of Israel ; — yet the law and the curse are not to be 
 considered as thus limited. The law is universal; and the 
 curse is of the same extent with the law. The language of 
 the law — to this hour unmodified — is, " Cursed is every one 
 
120 LECTURE VI. 
 
 that continueth not in all things which are written in the 
 Book of the Law, to do them." As far as conscience goes in 
 the correct intimation of the divine will, and the distinctions 
 between moral good and moral evil, they who are without a 
 written revelation, " are a law unto themselves." And where- 
 ever the written revelation, embodying the written law, comes, 
 it comes to all ahke with the same authority, and pronounces 
 its curses on all alike with the same unreservedness. The 
 curses are wide - sweeiDing. They include all who, in 
 spirit, in word, or in action, trespass against the two great 
 principles, love to God, and love to man. Where on 
 earth, then, is the man of whom they do not lay hold? 
 — where the man that is not doomed by them to "die 
 the death'?" — What thanks do we not owe to God, that there 
 is another "flying roll?" — a roll inscribed, not Avith curses, 
 but with promises and blessings ! — " the volume of the 
 Book," in which it is written of Christ — of the person and 
 work; the righteousness, atonement, intercession, and reign 
 of the Son of God! But for the contents of that Roll, no 
 sinner on earth could ever have escaped from the curses 
 of the other. Yet the contents of the two are in per- 
 fect harmony. They who, by believing the truths, and trust- 
 ing in the promises, of the latter, are delivered from the con- 
 demning curses of the former, are not exempted from the 
 authority and obHgation of its precepts. The Jews, as 
 God's chosen and peculiar people, had, by their separation 
 to Him, no such privilege (if privilege that ought to be 
 called which would itself be the direst curse) as that of freedom 
 to sin. As God's people, they were bound to " glorify God 
 in their body and in their spirit." And so is it, in a still 
 higher sense, with the spiritual Israel under the Il^ew Cove- 
 nant dispensation. He who defrauds men, or perjures him- 
 self to God, while professing to be one of God's " chosen 
 generation and peculiar people," only enhances the guilt of 
 the sin by the additional guilt of hypocrisy. The curses 
 written in this Book, instead of letting that man go, mil 
 hold him in their arrest with the firmer grasp. They will 
 cleave to him through life. They will embitter his plea- 
 
ZECHARIAH V. 121 
 
 sures, and sharpen and envenom the stings of his sorrows. 
 Like " a fire not blown, they will consume him." Tliey will 
 haunt his spirit with tormenting fears in " the valley of the 
 shadow of death." They will cleave to his ashes in the 
 grave, and be his soul's wi-etched inheritance for ever ! They 
 only are really safe from the curse, who, while they are 
 trusting in the mercy of God, through the blood of Christ, 
 for accej)tance and life, are showing their faith by their works, 
 • — showing that the blood which imparts peace, imparts also 
 purity, — "purging their consciences from dead works, to 
 serve the living God." That man no curse can overtake. 
 God's blessing wiU attend him through life and death, ac- 
 companying him to heaven, and be his portion there for 
 ever ! 
 
 2. Worldliness is the ruin of thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands. It is not at all necessary to insure a man's perdition, 
 that he either " steal " or " swear falsely." A man may be a 
 thorough worldling, without the practice of these or any gross 
 iniquities. Whatever shuts God out from His place in the 
 heart as the object of fear and love, and from His place in 
 the conscience as the authoritative regulator of the life, — 
 tliat, be it what it may, is the ruin of the man. In the 
 parable of the marriage feast, the men who declined the in- 
 vitation, and " went away to their farms and to their mer- 
 chandise," are not charged with any selfish and fraudulent deal- 
 ing in the management of their farms or the prosecution of 
 their merchandise. What was their sin] Worldliness. 
 They preferred the world to God. They declined the 
 blessings of the Gospel for something more to their taste. 
 Instead of " seeking first the kingdom of God and his righte- 
 ousness," they " neglected the great salvation." They chose 
 the world and the things of the world — no matter in how 
 innocent a form — even the sweets of domestic life itself — to 
 God and the things of God. And in the enjoyment of these, 
 as their chosen portion, they " had their reward." Thus it 
 was of old; thus it is still. Let no man deceive him- 
 self by fancying it necessary to his forfeitui-e of the blessings 
 of God's salvation, that he give himself up to the practice of 
 
122 LECTURE VI. 
 
 dishonesty and of open vice. If his heart is in the world, with 
 the world he must have his portion. If he is " in the Ejihalil* 
 he must be carried away with it. 
 
 And let Christians be on their guard against " the love of 
 tliis j)resent world." It is an insinuating and perilous prin- 
 ciple. In proportion as it gains upon the heart, it tends to 
 enfeeble the energies, and deaden the sensibilities, of the 
 divine life in the soul. God Avill not have a divided heart. 
 " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." 
 
 And, as it was the Jewish Church collectively that was " in 
 the Ephah " — worldliness having become one of its general 
 characteristics, so may it be still with New Testament 
 churches. There are two of the varieties among the seven 
 churches of Asia, which, in this respect, form a contrast to 
 each other. Of the church in Smyrna the Saviour says — " I 
 know thy poverty, but tliou art rich :" — of the church in 
 Laodicea — " Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, 
 and have need of nothing ; and. knowest not that thou art 
 poor and miserable, and wretched, and blind and naked." In 
 the one case, there was poverty in this world's goods, but 
 sjjiritual riches: — in the other there was worldly jirosperity 
 and respectabiUt}', in which she was tempted to trust and 
 glory, while there was spiritual destitution. WorldUness 
 was the cause of that " lukewarmness " in spirit and in 
 conduct, which the Saviour loathed; which di-ew down his 
 severe rebul^e, and endangered her being utterly cast off. 
 All churches that connect themselves with the governments 
 of this world necessarily expose themselves to a secularizing 
 influence, such as tends to impair and destroy their spirituality. 
 They get imbued with the world's spirit. They are " in the 
 Ephah,'' and in dangor of speedy and complete removal. 
 
LECTURE VII. 
 
 Zecii. VI. 
 
 "And I tirned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, beliold, there came 
 four chariots \>ut from between two mountains; and the mountains were moun- 
 tains of brass, In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot 
 black horsi^s, > -"id in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot 
 p-isled and bay horses. Tlien I answered and said unto the angel that talked 
 with me, What ><re these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me, 
 These are the fou^' spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before 
 the Lord of all the earth. The black horses which are therein go forth into tlie 
 north country ; and the white go forth after them ; and the grisled go forth 
 toward the south country. And the bay went forth, and sought to go, that they 
 might walk to and fro through the earth : and he said. Get you hence, walk to 
 and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. 'J'hen 
 cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the 
 north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. And the word of 
 the Lord came unto me, saying, Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of 
 Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same 
 day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah ; then take silver and 
 gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of .lose- 
 dech, the high prie.st; and speak unto him, saying. Thus speaketh the Lord of 
 hosts, saying. Behold the man whose name is The J5RANCH; and he shall 
 grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord : even he 
 shall build the temple of the Lord ; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and 
 rule upon his throne ; and he shall be a priest upon his throne : and the couTisel 
 of peace shall be between them both. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and 
 to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in 
 the temple of the Lord. And they that are far off shall come and build in the 
 temple of the Lord ; and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto 
 you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord 
 your God." 
 
 This vision is tlie last in the series; and of all the seven 
 it is perliaps tlio most obscure. Q'lie obscnritv regards, not 
 
124 LECTURE VII. 
 
 so much tlie symbols themselves, as their application. Whe- 
 ther this would be more obvious to the Prophet himself, 
 and to the people among whom he exercised his ministry; 
 and Avliether to them any additional explanations accom- 
 panied the description of the vision, we cannot with certainty 
 say. What, then, Avas seen ? 
 
 1. ^^ Four chariots:''* probably war chariots ; such as were 
 used in battle, and in triumphal processions for victory and 
 peace. There is no specified difference between the chariots. 
 The difference, as we shall immediately see, is in the horses 
 by which they were, respectivel}', drawn. And, as they were 
 drawn by horses, the Hkelihood is that they were driven by 
 charioteers, and, in a word, fully equipped. 
 
 2. These chariots came out " from between huo mountains ;^^ 
 and the mountains are emphatically said to have been " moun- 
 tains of brass," or of cojjper. The latter phrase is generally 
 understood as signifying mountains such as those in which 
 copper or brass was found. Yet, when the scene is exhibited 
 in a vision, and is entirely symbolical, there seems no neces- 
 sity for keeping thus strictly to nature. Why not hrazen 
 mountains ? The difference between the external superficial 
 appearance of mountains containing copper beneath is not so 
 ■\'ery marked in nature as to warrant its being so emphatically 
 specified in the vision as striking the Prophet's eye. If the 
 sujjposition of brazen mountains makes the symbol more 
 appropriate and significant, — this is enough. In a vision, 
 anything is admissible, natural or unnatural, that conveys 
 impressively the intended idea. Brass is one of the Bible 
 emblems of strength and stability. Thus, when God pro- 
 mises to Jeremiah to strengthen and protect him against his 
 enemies, He not only engages to make him a tvall, but a 
 " brazen wall.'"* We consider the mountains in the vision as 
 having been, to the Prophet's entranced eye, literally " of 
 brass." 
 
 3. In these chariots were horses of different colours — 
 verses 2, 3. " In the first chariot were red horses, and in the 
 
 * Jer. i. 18, 19; and chap. xv. 20. 
 
ZECHARIAH VI. 125 
 
 second chariot black liorses, and in tlie tliird chariot white 
 horses, and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses." 
 There is no dispute about the red, the black, and the ivldtc. 
 With regard to the " grisled and hay,'' — the word rendered 
 hay is, on the margin, as in the Yulgate Latin, " strong^ 
 This, however, is evidently out of harmony with the rest of 
 the description, which all relates to colour. Probably, 
 therefore, it should, by another etymology — agreeably to the 
 Septuagint Greek, and to the judgment of critics generally, 
 be rendered as a colour too ; and as meaning plehald grey, 
 or piehald hay — similar to what we had in a former vision, 
 where it is rendered spccJdedJ^' 
 
 Our next question is. What was meant ? The symbols 
 are simple; but the question as to their import has given 
 rise to opinions not a little various. We have an inquiry 
 addressed by the Prophet to the interpreting Angel, and the 
 interpreter's answer. But the explanation of the symbol 
 leaves as much room for diversity of opinion as the symbol 
 itself: — verses 4, 5. "Then I answered and said unto the 
 angel that talked with me, Wliat are these, my lord 1 And 
 the angel answered and said unto me. These are the four 
 spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before 
 the Lord of all the earth." 
 
 But what is meant by the '^ four spirits of the lieavens?" 
 Eminent interpreters translate the words " celesticd sp)irits^' 
 and thus present us at once, in our own customary phraseo- 
 logy, with angels. There is difficulty, here, however. In 
 the first place, " spirits of the heavens" is a very unwonted 
 designation for angels in Scripture. I know not that it has 
 a j^arallel. And, secondly, if angels are intended, how^ come 
 we to have four ? Their number is " ten thousand times 
 ten thousand;" and, unless they are mentioned in connexion 
 with something else that leads and limits to the number four, 
 it is difficult, by any analogy, to account for it. Let me illus- 
 trate the remark from another passage : — " And after these 
 
 * Compare Dr. Henderson's note ; who derives the word not from 
 the Heb. root snK, but from the Arabic. The rendering of the LXX, 
 is 'i'T'proi ToiKtXoi -^ccpol. — Ed, 
 
126 LECTURE VII. 
 
 things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of th3 
 earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind 
 should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any 
 tre«."* Here we have ^^ four angels^ But we at once see 
 icliy they are four. They are, in the vision, employed in 
 " holding the four icinds of the earth." ISTow, the four winds, 
 from the four cardinal points — understood as representing and 
 embracing all the intermediate points, and thus signifying 
 the winds in general — was a style of expression familiar 
 to the ancients as ourselves. The word rendered " sj)irits," 
 as most, if not all of you are aware, signifies also loinds. 
 The question, then, is, whether what are called " the four 
 winds of the earth'' in the Book of Eevelation be not the 
 same as what are here called "the four spirits," or winds, 
 "of the heavens.'' And that the meaning is the same 
 receives confirmation from the language of Daniel : — " Daniel 
 spake, and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the 
 four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." t I am 
 strongly tempted to think that we have, in this vision, 
 one symbol, or emblem, explained by another. " The four 
 loinds" are an emblem — a most natural and appropriate 
 one — of all the various powers and agencies by which the 
 earth can be affected ; especially agencies of judgment — of 
 wars and desolations, arising from the contending elements 
 of human passions and Satanic malignity. That such is the 
 import of the "four winds" in the vision of John referred to, is 
 clear from the context: "And I saw another angel ascending 
 from the east, having the seal of the living God : and he cried 
 with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to 
 hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither 
 the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our 
 God in their foreheads." % 
 
 Still there is a difficulty in the passage before us. Tt is 
 said in the interpretation — "These are the four Avinds of 
 heaven, that go forth from standing hcfore the Lord of all 
 the earth." This is natural, as applied to angels, but not, it 
 
 * Rev. vii. 1. f Dan. vii. 2. j Rev. vii. 2, 3. 
 
ZECIIARIAH VI. 127 
 
 r.mst be confessed, as applied to winds. "What are we to 
 say, then] Tills, I am disposed to think. In the visioji 
 in Eevelation, angels are represented as " holding back the 
 four winds," preventing them from exerting their destruc- 
 tive and desolating force. In the passage before ns, the 
 "four winds" — representing the divine agencies, especially 
 though not exclusively for judicial infliction, are symbo- 
 lized by " four chariots " which are described as " going forth " 
 in diff'erent directions; that is, for the execution of the di- 
 vine purposes — as the winds blow in different directions. 
 !Now, if in John's vision the angels are represented as hold- 
 ing the winds, may not the angels, in the vision of Zechariah, 
 be considered as directing the winds? May they not "stand 
 before the Lord of the whole earth," to receive their instruc- 
 tions as to the quarters to which, and the purposes for 
 which, these hieroglyphical chariots are to be tbiven ; and as 
 the commissioned vicegerents of the divine Lord of the earth, 
 be regarded as taking the reins of guidance, under his autho- 
 ritative direction? — I am far from saying that objections may 
 not lie against this view of the case. Perhaps, however, they 
 are fewer and less strong than those which lie against other 
 views. 
 
 Let us now just look at the different colours of the horses, 
 "What might be the general import of this part of the vi- 
 sion? — I must first, however, notice the different views which 
 have been taken of the ** four chariots," with their "horses" 
 and their charioteers. Some — perha]3S most interpreters — 
 understand them to represent the four great monarchies, so 
 repeatedly referred to in prophecy — the Chaldean, the Per- 
 sian, the Grecian, and the Eoman. Some interpret them of 
 the various changes among the nations by wars and revolu- 
 tions. Some, I believe, have found in them the four Gos- 
 pels; and one eminent expositor refers them to the period 
 of the history of the Christian Church after Constantino the 
 Great ; — the first to the wars of invaders of the Roman Em- 
 pire, and the Avars of controverted doctrines and opinions; 
 the second to " the blackness of darkness," — the ignorance, 
 oppression and misery, of papal domination ; the third to tlio 
 
128 LECTURE VII. 
 
 light and knowledge, the joy and triumph, of the Ke forma- 
 tion ; and the fourth to the mixed condition of things — the 
 confusion of false doctrines and true, right and wrong pre- 
 cepts, holy and unholy rites of worship, subsequent to that 
 great revolution. To these and other explanations I have 
 one great objection; namely, that I do not think they are 
 quite in harmony with the interpreting Angel's own expla- 
 nation, which we have just been noticing. It strikes me, 
 that that explanation requires our taking a view somewhat 
 more general than any one of these ; as implying that the 
 vision was designed to convey and impress a great general 
 lesson, — though not to the exclusion of exempHfi cations of 
 that lesson. That lesson is, — and it was eminently fitted to 
 sustain and animate the spirits of God's people in the prose- 
 cution of their work, amidst what enemies and discourage- 
 ments soever might arise, — that all the variety of agencies 
 and influences, for good or for evil, — for good to themselves 
 and vengeance on their adversaries, when they cleaved faith- 
 fully to the name and ways and worship of Jehovah ; and 
 of judicial correction to themselves by means of these very 
 adversaries, when they were rebellious and disobedient, and 
 unfaithful to their covenant engagements, — that all this va- 
 riety of agencies and influences, represented by "the four 
 winds of the heavens," was under the unceasing and irre- 
 sistible control of Jehovah, aided in His administration by 
 those "angels that excel in strength," — those "ministers 
 of his that do his pleasure ; " " standing before him," to re- 
 ceive and execute the "high behests of judgment or of 
 mercA''." The variety of His dispensations is here indicated 
 by the different colours of the horses: — the *' red" signifying 
 the warlike and sanguinary; the "black," those of general 
 calamity, distress, and mourning, whether from famine or 
 pestilence, or any other cause; the " ?r7^?7('," those bringing 
 Avith them prosperity and gladness; the "gristed and hay," 
 or piehald, that mixed state of the prosperous and the 
 adverse, the light and dark, which is the most common 
 condition of things in human society. And then, amidst 
 endless variety and change, the steadfastly fixed, immove- 
 
ZECHARIAH VI. 129 
 
 able, and definitely determined character of tlie Divine 
 decrees or purposes, as signified by tlie " two mountains 
 of brass," from between which these chariots and horses 
 issued. I am aware, indeed, of the various interpretations 
 which have also been given of these two mountains. Some 
 look upon them as no more than an ornamental feature of 
 the vision, and not designed to symbolize anything ; a 
 view^, we think, by no means in harmony with the emphatic 
 terms in which the mountains are described. One interpre- 
 ter understands them of the Medes and Persians ; " from 
 between whom," he says, "or from the powerful empire 
 Avhich they formed, the instruments of God's providence 
 were to proceed, to execute His purposes in punishing the 
 nations."* Anotherf explains them of " the Jewish and Gen- 
 tile branches of the Church, the two provinces of which the 
 divine kingdom on earth consists, and which, though now 
 mingled together in the common body of God's people, were 
 originally distinct, and will hereafter appear so again, when 
 the " fulness of the Gentiles" shall be come in, and the partial 
 blindness of Israel shall be removed." This interpreter is 
 much more confident about the correctness of this view, than 
 any interpreter ought to be respecting any view on such a 
 subject. He says of these mountains, that "they are, and 
 can he no other" than the Jews and Gentiles as thus de- 
 scribed. Yet the interpretation has little or nothing to sup- 
 port it; but seems to partake in the fancifulness of the theor} 
 of which it forms a part. I feel satisfied, that the view 
 which has most to be said in its support is the most common 
 one, — that to which I have already indicated my decided 
 leaning, — that the brazen mountains are meant to represent 
 the immoveably fixed character of the divine counsels or de- 
 crees; which, indeed, is the inevitable result of the absolute 
 unchangeableness of God himself, who is " without variable- 
 ness or shadow of turning;" and who says of himself — 
 
 * Henderson; wlio would regard the mountains as "corresponding 
 to the two horns of the ram employed by Daniel to denote the sama 
 people," He does not, however, speak very confidently. — Ed. 
 f Stonard. 
 
130 LECTURE VII. 
 
 " My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." 
 Mountains are the Bible emblems of immoveable steadfastness; 
 and mountains of brass is just a strengthening of the emblem.* 
 I prefer this interjDretation of the symbol ; and with the ad- 
 dition, which, I cannot but think, is rather finely given by 
 Cruden in his Concordance, under the Avord brass : — " Moun- 
 tains of brass denote the immoveable decrees of God, his 
 steady execution of his counsels; and the insuperable re- 
 straints that are upon all empires and counsels, loliich God 
 heeps within the barriers of such Imjpregnahle mountains, that 
 not one can start till he open the iDayr 
 
 T have said, that, while an important general j^rinciple, or 
 lesson, is taught, it is, at the same time, exemplified; and 
 exemplified with a special reference to the Jews in their ex- 
 isting condition. The directions in which the different char- 
 iots are represented as going forth are taken from the rela- 
 tive positions of the different countries to the land of Pales- 
 tine : — verses 6, 7. " The black horses which are therein go 
 forth into the north country ; and the white go forth after them ; 
 and the grisled go forth toward the south country. And the 
 bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and 
 fro through the earth : and he said. Get you hence, walk to and 
 fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through 
 the earth." It is observable that " the refZ," though mentioned 
 first, as in one of the chariots seen in the vision, are not 
 again introduced, as the others are. The reason is conceived 
 to be — that in point of fact, they had cdready gone forth — 
 referring to the bloody wars by which the Persians were, at 
 that very time, assailing and wasting the Chaldeans, those 
 enemies of Israel. " The blade " were about to go forth into 
 the " north country.''^ This, as I might show you from various 
 passages of Scripture, is a designation for the land of Baby- 
 lon.t That empire had been subdued by Cyrus ; and that had 
 led to the release of the captive Jews. But the doom of 
 Babylon was not yet completed : its " burden," to use the 
 
 * See Psal. Ixv. 6; xxxvi. 6. 
 t Coiup. Jer. iii. 18; vi. 22; xlvi. 10.— Ed. 
 
ZECIiARlAH VI. 131 
 
 prophetic term, was not yet accumulated to its full weiglit, 
 Babylon revolted under tlie reign of Darius; was invaded 
 and besieged by that monarch with all his forces; and, after 
 fearful ravages, reduced to desolation and solitude. And to 
 this the language of the eighth verse is to be considered as 
 referring, "Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, 
 saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have 
 quieted my spirit in the north country." On this verse 
 observe — 1. The speaker. It is not the interpreting Angel. 
 " He cried upon me," or summoned me to him, are words 
 which do not at all bear application to liim; he being beside 
 the Prophet. They relate to one at a greater distance. 
 And from the language he uses, "these have quieted my 
 spirit," — he can be no other, than the divine Angel of the 
 Covenant ; of whom Ave have had occasion so frequently to 
 speak. — 2, They have " quieted my spirit^' — that is, appeased 
 or pacified mine anger, — evidently refers to the satisfaction 
 given to God's justice, in behalf of His oj)pressed people, in 
 the execution of merited vengeance upon their enemies.* 
 Eemember what He had said, in the very first of these 
 visions, " I am very sore displeased with the heathen that 
 are at ease ; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped 
 forward the affliction:" — and when justice has visited the 
 oppressors Jehovah is satisfied: "His spirit" is at rest. 
 The sentiment is in harmony with the startling utterance — 
 "Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries; I will avenge 
 me of mine enemies." 
 
 The language before us may be regarded as the language of 
 anticipation; as is the case with much of the language of 
 prophecy. The chariot with " the hlack horses" — the symbol 
 of desolation and death — was seen to "go forth." The com- 
 mission was given, and was sure of execution. And the exe- 
 cution should be the righteous God's satisfaction ; allaying 
 His indignation — the indignation which was inspired by the 
 treatment of Israel on the part of Babylon. This being 
 
 * Comp. cluxp. i. 15. niul Is;i. i. 24. 
 
132 LECTURE VII. 
 
 effected, "the wlilfe go out after tliem:"""' tlierc is peace, a 
 season of tran(|uillity ; and there is, to Israel, triumphant 
 gratitude and gladness. Then "the&cry" — the piebald or 
 dappled — " went forth, and sought to go that they might walk 
 to and fro through the earth : and he said. Get you hence, walk 
 to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro 
 through the earth." By '*' the eartli" we should here, I think, 
 understand the land; meaning, of course, the land of Judea 
 — Palestine. Their ^^ seeking to go'' intimates the eagerness 
 of the charioteer, or guiding angel, and of the horses under 
 his guidance, to get permission to do what could be done for 
 the holy land. But they must wait orders. The orders are 
 given; and they are obeyed. Their ^^ walking to and fro,'' 
 or up and down, " in the land," signifies a mixed state of 
 affairs in the territory of Israel for a considerable period : — 
 that, while not free from annoyances and troubles, the peo- 
 ple were to enjoy a period of repose and of comparative pros- 
 perity. And such was their actual condition. Though 
 harassed by Sanballat, and other chiefs of the Samaritans, 
 and the neighbours who joined with these piq^ied and jea- 
 lous enemies, — the appointment of IsTehemiah as their gover- 
 nor, along with other advantages, — the fruit of divine favour 
 putting it into the hearts of their deliverers to befriend them, 
 — was their introduction to much of restored spiritual privi- 
 lege, and to comparative temporal tranquillity and happiness. 
 The entire vision was thus designed to teach a great gen- 
 eral lesson — the lesson of the universal supremacy and super- 
 intendence of "the God of Israel" over all the agencies of 
 nature, and all the varying movements of progress or retro- 
 
 * The phrase '■^ after ihem,^' or heldnd them, is considered, how- 
 ever, by ail eminent critic ns meaning, (jeographically , to the west of 
 them; the preposition to being vised as in the first and last clauses of 
 tlie verse; and is interpreted as referring to the successes of Darius in 
 Greece, previous to the battle of Marathon. And "the grisled" — dap- 
 pled — piebald horses going toward the south, (by which is specially 
 signified in Scripture, Egypt, with other countries lying in the same 
 direction in relation to Judea,) is to be understood as signifying the 
 blending in those regions of prosperity and adversity, of peace and 
 war, and the alternate consequences of each. [The reference is to 
 the view of Dr. Henderson. — Ed.] 
 
ZECHARIAH VI. 133 
 
 gression, of prosperity and adversity, of peace and war, amongst 
 the nations; and to teach it with a special appUcation to 
 themselves, as His chosen people, and to those adjoining or 
 more distant conntries by which their condition had been, 
 or might hereafter be, beneficially or injuriously affected. It 
 called upon them to put their trust in the wisdom, power, 
 and love of their own Jehovah, — the Governor among the 
 nations: — in one word, to '■''have faith in GocV — Let us 
 learn the lesson. Amidst all the convulsions and revolutions 
 that are agitating Europe, let us not only acknowledge, but 
 rejoice in, the supremacy of the infinitely wise, and good, 
 and mighty. All "the winds" are His. He "holds them 
 in his fist." The zephyr and the hurricane are alike his 
 age: ts All influences — in every department of creation, 
 and in the hearts and wills, the words and actions, of men 
 of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, are 
 under his absolute control. "JNTone can stay his hand, or 
 say unto him, What doest thou?" Let us trust in Him, 
 own Him, pray to Him, — deprecating, on behalf of our 
 country and of our guilty world, merited wrath, — and im- 
 ploring, especially, that all events may result in glory to His 
 name. 
 
 Verses 9 — 15. "And the word of the Lord came unto 
 me, saying. Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of 
 Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and 
 come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the 
 son of Zephaniah; then take silver and gold, and make 
 crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of 
 Josedech, the high priest ; and speak unto him, saying. Thus 
 speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying. Behold the man whose 
 name is The BEAISTCH; and he shall grow up out of his 
 place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord : even he 
 shall build the temple of the Lord ; and he shall bear the 
 glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne ; and he shall 
 be a priest upon his throne : and the counsel of peace shall 
 be between them both. And the crowns shall be to Helem, 
 and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Ze- 
 plianiah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord. And 
 
134 LECTURE VII. 
 
 they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the 
 Lord ; and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent 
 me imto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will dili- 
 gently obey the voice of the Lord your God." — The visions, 
 properly so called, are ended. What has now been read is 
 not a vision, but a real, though symbolical transaction. In 
 what was to be done, there is no difficulty. He was to take 
 with him, as witnesses of the transaction, certain individuals 
 of the restored captives, — men of some distinction no doubt, 
 whose names are here given. He was to take them to the 
 dwelUng-house of another who is also named. He was to 
 take silver and gold, and to make crowns: it is not said 
 lioiv many, but we shall see reason for restricting the num- 
 ber to two — the lyriestly and the regal diadems — the former 
 properly pertaining to Joshua, as the high-priest, but not the 
 latter. He was, however, to put both the crowns on Joshua's 
 head, either the one after the other, or both together, united, 
 in some way, into one, the one set above the other, — the 
 sacerdotal supporting the royal. In Jewish practice, in con- 
 formity with divine prescription, the two offices had ever been 
 separate. In the person of no individual had they ever been 
 united, Nor was there to be any change in this respect now. 
 Joshua was not to be himself the first exception to the former 
 practice and the former law, — to be both priest and prince, — 
 uniting in himself the two dignities. It was but a tempo- 
 rary and symbolical action. Joshua was, for the time being, 
 a type; an emblematical person; the representative of "Him 
 that was to come" — the Messiah, in whom the two offices 
 ivere to be united. He was to be a kind of temporary Mel- 
 chisedec; the only complete type on record, in tliis respect,^ 
 of " the Son of God," — having been at once " priest of the 
 Most High God" and " king of righteousness" and "of peace." 
 And mark what I cannot but regard as an intended peculiar- 
 ity in the symbol. It is not the civil ruler that is selected 
 to have the two crowns placed on his head : it is the high- 
 priest. It is the priest that is to wear the regal, not the 
 prince to wear the sacerdotal. Tliis has the important mean- 
 ing — that it was to be by the execution, to the chvine satis- 
 
 Q 
 
ZECHARIAH VI. 135 
 
 faction, of his priestly work, that he was to obtain, in reward, 
 his kingly crown. "The sufferings of the Christ" were to 
 precede, and "his glory to follow." The sufferings were ex- 
 piatory, the voluntary endurance of them a priestly act, for 
 he "offered up himself:" the "glory" was royal — " King of 
 kings, and Lord of lords." 
 
 There can be no mistake as to the emblematic import of 
 Joshua's coronation. When it w^as done, what says the 
 Prophet, in the name and by tlie command of Jehovah — 
 " Beliold the man whose name is the Branch ; " — behold him, 
 that is, in symhol. We have had this designation of the 
 Messiah before us in one of the former visions;* and we 
 then pointed to parallel j)assages, in proof that Messiah alone 
 could possibly be intended by it. The best of Jewish and 
 Gentile authorities agree in so understanding the symbol. 
 Assuming, then, its reference to the Messiah, let us briefly 
 notice what is here, in successive particulars, said of him : — 
 
 1. "He shall grow up out of Ids placed — In the phrase- 
 ology there is an allusion to the figurative designation. By 
 some there is supposed to be a reference in the phrase "from 
 his place'^ to the miraculous conception.t But this appears 
 far from what would naturally present itself to any mind. I 
 imagine we shall not be- far from the truth, if we consider 
 "his place" as meaning the earth to wdiich he came down 
 from heaven — the place of his mediatorial work — the j)lace 
 of his humiliation unto death ; and, were it necessary to be 
 still more particular, the grave. It was from the grave that 
 the germination, the sprouting, and spreading, and fruit- 
 beariug, of this Branch properly began. "Except a corn of 
 wheat," said he himself in a similar figure, " fall into the 
 ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth 
 forth much fruit.":}: Its death is its life. The bulk of the 
 seed, having quickened the germ, corrupts and rots in the 
 soil. But the living germ springs to "the blade," "the ear," and 
 " the full corn in the ear." Thus was the humiliation to death 
 of Messiah his mediatorial life ; — the grave itself the place 
 
 * Chap. iii. 8. f So Henderson. — Ed. % John xii. 24. 
 
136 LECTURE VII. 
 
 whence that life sprung, with all its honours and all its 
 abundance of blessing. 
 
 2. " He shall hulld the temple of the LorcV — emphatically 
 repeated — "even He shall build the temple of the Lord."* 
 It is almost needless to say, that the temple thus to be built 
 was not the tem^^le that was then in building. Zerubbabel 
 had founded, and was to finish that temple. And in this, 
 as we formerly saw, he was a type of Him of whom we now 
 speak; — the huilding a type, and the bitUder a type. But 
 the temple here referred to is the living temple. It is com- 
 posed of living stones, built on Christ the living foundation. 
 So says Peter — " To whom coming, as unto a living stone, 
 disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 
 ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an 
 holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to 
 God by Jesus Christ :"t and Paul — "Ye are God's build- 
 ing. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that 
 the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 If any man defile the 
 temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of 
 God is holy, which temple ye are.":}; And, while Christ is 
 the chief corner-stone in the foundation of this temple, — for 
 " other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
 Jesus Christ," — He is, at the same time, its divine Builder. 
 He may employ assistant instruments in the work, but 
 without Him not a single stone could ever be added to the 
 spiritual building. No created power could hew these stones 
 from the quarry of nature, and build them, instinct with life, 
 into the rising structure. It is He who, by the divine agency 
 of his own Spirit, adds stone to stone ; and He will add the 
 last, as he added the first. Under his superintendence, and 
 by his living and life-giving energy, " the head-stone shall in 
 due time be brought forth with shoutings of " Grace, grace ! 
 unto it." And then, in the full import of the terms — 
 
 * " The repetition is not," Henderson justly remarks, " to be 
 ascribed, as has been conjectured, to an error of some transcribers ; 
 and on the authority of the LXX., Arab, and Syr. to be expunged as 
 superfluous, but is singularly in its place as giving a high degree of 
 emphasis to the statement." — Ed. 
 
 t i Pet. ii. 4, 5. J 1 Cor. iii. 9, 16, 17. 
 
ZECHARIAH VI. 137 
 
 3. ''He shall hear the glory r Not that lie will not bear 
 it till then ; but then, the glory, borne by him in its progres- 
 sive growth, from the beginning, shall be completed. He 
 laid a suitable foundation for the structure in his finished 
 work on earth. And that itself was glory—" Now," said he, 
 in that prospect, " now is the Son of man glorified, and God 
 is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall 
 also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify 
 him,"* He was glorified in his dying, as he then completed 
 a work for which no being in the universe but himself was 
 competent; and then came his reward: — "God shall also 
 glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him :" — 
 " I have glorified thee on the earth ; I have finished the 
 work which thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, 
 glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which 1 
 had with thee before the world was."t The prayer was 
 heard. " Sit thou at my right hand" was the answer. He 
 then " bore the glory." Having " by himself purged our sins, 
 he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." 
 " He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly 
 exalted him, and given him a name which is above every 
 name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
 things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
 earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
 Christ is Lord." +— And he "bears the glory" still; and will 
 bear it for ever. He will continue, through eternity, to 
 "bear the glory" of having reared and finished this won- 
 drous structure ; which is to be throughout eternity the mon- 
 ument of the Father's " delight in mercy," and of the Son's 
 and the Spirit's power to redeem. Throughout that eternity, 
 He will be the object of human and angehc adoration ! ^ 
 
 4. "i7e shall sit and rule upon his throned Here is his 
 kingly office— a part of the " glory." The angel Gabriel an- 
 nounced to Mary, " He shall be great, and shall be called 
 the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto 
 
 * John xiii. 31, 32. t J^>1'» ^vii. 4, 5. t I'hih ii. 6—11. 
 
138 LECTURE VII. 
 
 him tlie throne of his father David : and he shall reign over 
 the house of Jacob for ever ; and of liis kingdom there shall 
 be no end."* This his reign began, when the prophetic 
 words were fulfilled — '" Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou 
 at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. "t 
 It is a mediatorial reign. He was invested with it by the Father. 
 The Father put tlie sceptre into his hand, and the " crown of 
 pure gold on his head." "All power," said he himself, "/s given 
 unto me in heaven and on earth." It is the Father who 
 hath "put all things under his feet;" subjecting this revolted 
 province of His universal em23ire, with all in the universe 
 that can, in any way, affect its condition, or be made avail- 
 able for reclaiming it to its allegiance, and bringing to final 
 and full salvation the multitude which no man can number. 
 And, as it is a delegated reign, it is a reign of which the 
 sceptre, when all its ends have been accomplished, shall be 
 resigned, and restored to tlie Father, from whom, for the ac- 
 complishment of those ends, it was received : — " But every 
 man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they 
 that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when 
 he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the 
 Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all au- 
 thority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all 
 enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be de- 
 stroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. 
 Eut when he saith, All things are put under him, it is mani- 
 fest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. 
 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall 
 the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all tilings 
 under him, that God may be all in all." J 
 
 5. "^e shall he a2'>riest upon Ms throne.'" Here is brought 
 out the union of the priestly and kingly offices, of which 
 mention has already been made. He is a priest, not, in this 
 respect, " after the order of Aaron," but after a still higher 
 and more excellent order — " the order of Melchisedec." He 
 is a royal priest. '\\Tiile he reigns, he intercedes. He bears 
 
 * Luke i. 32, 33. f Psalm ex. 1. | 1 Cor. xv. 23—23. 
 
ZECHARIAH VI. 139 
 
 tlie censer, as well as the sceptre. " He is able to save them 
 to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing He ever 
 liveth to make intercession for them." It is by this union 
 of offices that his power to save is jDcrfected. He obtains 
 for us, by his intercession, all spiritual suj^plies; and in the 
 exercise of the power intrusted to him, he subdues under his 
 feet all his own enemies and all his people's. And tliis 
 leads at once to — 
 
 6. " The counsel of peace shall he hetween them both.'' 
 That is, say critics and commentators of high eminence— and 
 it is the generally prevalent view of the words, — " hetween 
 the Father and the Son." But without at all questioning the 
 truth of the sentiment thus expressed, — ^the reahty of a 
 covenant agreement betv/een the Father and the Son, for 
 the doing of the work by the latter, and the rewarding 
 of it by the former, — I am disposed to agree with those 
 who think this interpretation at least doubtful. It is 
 nOit said, " the covenant of peace," but simj)ly " the coun- 
 sel of peace;" — the device of divine wisdom, in the coun- 
 sels of the infinite mind, for effecting peace. The imme- 
 diate antecedents to " them hotJi " are the priestly and 
 Idnghj offices of Christ. There is no direct mention of the 
 Father and the Son.* " The counsel of peace " is " the glori- 
 ous Gospel of the blessed God." And it is between them 
 both — by the united efficiency of the royal and sacerdotal 
 powers, — that the great ends of this Gospel are accomplished. 
 The reference is here to the two croimis, the insignia of the 
 two united offices ; and it is by the union of these two offices 
 that the great scheme of peace — of reconciUation between 
 God and man, is carried out into full effect." 
 
 7. This glory of Messiah, in the union of his offices of 
 king and priest, thus symbolized in the person of Joshua 
 and his two crowns, was to be held in rememhrance by his 
 servants and peoi3le : — " And the crowns shall be to Helem, 
 and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of 
 
 * *' As God speaks," says Datlio, " tlirougli the whole passage, the 
 affix of the third person (tJiem) in Dn-sur cannot refer to Jehovah." 
 Compare Henderson's note for the authorities on both sides. — Ed. 
 
140 LECTURE VII. 
 
 Zephaiiiali, for a memorial in the temple of tlie Lord." 
 It is likely that all these are the same persons as were men- 
 tioned in the tenth verse — only Ileldai and Josiah in that 
 verse being in this called by the names of Helem and Hen; it 
 being no unusual thing among the Hebrews for a man to be 
 known by two names. Some have been led to think that 
 because there are four names, there must have been four 
 croivns, — one for each. But this is a misapprehension, aris- 
 ing from their not adverting to the circumstance, that the 
 crowns were not to be for these men to ivear, but simply to 
 be " for a memorial in the temple of the Lord." There they 
 were to be laid uj), like " Aaron's rod that budded, and the 
 tables of the covenant." They were to be kept by them ; and 
 not them alone, but by all their brethren of the captivity (of 
 whom they were the selected representatives) as pledges of the 
 coming Messiah, and to animate their anticipations of his ap- 
 pearance and work. And surely the spirit of this lesson has 
 full, and even stronger, appUcation to zis. That which was thus 
 brought before their minds by anticipative symbols, has now 
 become, instead of type and prophecy, matter of fact and his- 
 tory. It was said of the Messiah of old by the Father 
 that sent him, " I will make thy name to be remembered 
 in all generations : therefore shall the people praise thee for 
 ever and ever ! " The assurance has been hitherto fulfilled, 
 the engagement faithfully kept; and so shall it be to the 
 end, and through eternity. 
 
 8. We have the calling of the Gentiles, and their parti- 
 cipation in the huilding up of GodJs spiritual temple: — 
 " And they that are far off shall come and build in the 
 temple of the Lord ; and ye shall know that the Lord of 
 hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, 
 if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God." 
 There can be no doubt here, " To you who were far off, and 
 to them that were near " are the very terms of distinction 
 between Gentile and Jew, which, in addressing the former, 
 the Apostle uses. " I will bring my sons from far" says 
 Jehovah, " and my daughters from the ends of the earth." 
 The Gentiles were to be themselves stones in the building, 
 
ZECITAEIAH VI. 141 
 
 and agents in the rearing of it. And tliis was fulfilled, in 
 " the beginning of the Gospel," in the ministerial activity and 
 usefulness of many a Gentile convert ; and it is fulfilling to 
 this day in every Gentile nation where Christianity has 
 found a settlement, and in every heathen country to which 
 missionaries are carrying the message of salvation, and gather- 
 ing sinners into the Church of God. For that Church of 
 God is His temple (the members of it, how widely soever 
 scattered, being all " biulded together for an habitation of 
 God through the Spirit,") in which " spiritual sacrifices " will 
 be offered to Ilini — "acceptable through Jesus Christ," in 
 time and for ever! 
 
 9. The last thing to be noticed is, the condition on which 
 such promises and assurances would be of any real avail to 
 them: — "And this shall be, if ye will diligently obey the 
 voice of Jehovah your God." You will observe that here the 
 pronoun " this " is a supplement. On this ground, a judi- 
 cious modern critic""" translates : " And it shall come to pass, 
 if ye mil diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. 
 * * * * " — leaving the sentence unfilled up, and regarding 
 it as a striking example of a figiu-e of speech called by 
 grammarians aposiopesis; a figure, that is, by which em- 
 phatic silence is made to convej' an intimation more impres- 
 sively than if it were put in words. But the use of this 
 figure — if indeed there be any other instance of it in the 
 Bible — being a very rhetorical one, is at any rate a very 
 great rarity with the Scripture writers : and the supplement 
 is perhaps the better, as it is the simpler, mode of rendering. 
 There is a sense in which the assurance was unconditional 
 and absolute. The Messiah was to come, and to execute his 
 work, independently altogether of the character of the Jew- 
 ish people, and the reception they should give him. But 
 the benefit his coming and work should be to them was 
 conditional. The words — " This shall come to pass, if ye 
 will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God," may 
 be understood as particularly referring to those immediately 
 
 * Henderson. 
 
142 LECTURE VII. 
 
 preceding — " And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath 
 sent me unto you." Ye shall know the truth and divinity 
 of my words of prophecy, " if ye diligently obey the voice of 
 the Lord your God." With the large majority of the nation 
 it turned out otherwise. They were " disobedient and rebel- 
 lious." The spirit of apostasy from Jehovah, not of attachment 
 and subjection to Him, was the spirit which prevailed : and by 
 that spirit " their minds were blinded." The prophets were 
 misunderstood and perverted. Professing to acknowledge the 
 men, they refused and denied their words. Instead of re- 
 ceiving the Messiah, as he had been predicted, and typified, 
 and promised, they "despised and rejected him;" and by 
 this means, "brought upon themselves," not the promised 
 blessings of Messiah's reign and Messiah's priesthood, but 
 " swift destruction." 
 
 In " the fulness of the time," " the man whose name is the 
 Branch " appeared. He who was then the subject of predic- 
 tion is now the subject of testimony. He finished his work 
 on earth ; he is carrying forward his work in heaven. It is 
 only when, by faith in Him, we have a saving interest in 
 His work on earth, that we can contemplate with any com- 
 placency His power and glory in heaven. If we have not 
 such an interest, that power will be our destruction, — that 
 glory our shame. Eemember the union of designations under 
 which other prophets besides Zechariah foretold him. " Be- 
 hold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto 
 David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and pros- 
 per, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 
 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell 
 safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The 
 Lord our Eighteousness."* Here is " the man whose name 
 is the Branch," in his royalty, and in the security and hap- 
 piness of his subjects under his reign. And here is the fun- 
 damental principle of his spiritual kingdom — the first and 
 most essential truth in the Cluistian system — He is " Jeho- 
 vah OUR righteousness." This was fulfilled when God 
 
 * Jer. xxiii, 5, 6. 
 
ZECHAEIAH VI. 143 
 
 *' made liim wlio knew no sin to be sin for us, that we niiglit be 
 made the righteousness of God in him." Fellow-sinners, is 
 he your righteousness'? Have you renounced your own, as 
 worthless when tested by God's law, and in this spirit of self- 
 renunciation, humbly and earnestly sought to be invested with 
 His? To determine the question of your saving interest in 
 Christ, look at the different particulars we have been con- 
 sidering, and try yourselves by each of them. Do you feel 
 any interest in the i-earing of that spiritual temple, of which 
 He is at once the foundation and the great Master-Builder? 
 Do you delight in His "bearing the glory," as more than 
 worthy of it all, and delight in giving Him the glory due unto 
 his name. Are you subject to him as your King — owning 
 His authority, and seeking in everything to know and to do 
 His will? Is His priestly sacrifice, and His priestly interces- 
 sion your only ground of confidence toward God, and the 
 power of his kingly reign your security for final victory? Do 
 you love to meditate on " the counsel of peace " — " the wis- 
 dom of God in a mystery ; " and in having that " mystery " — 
 that revealed secret — more and more clearly unfolded to your 
 believing view ? Is it your desire and your pleasure to keep 
 up the remembrance of Him to whom you owe so much, — 
 holding sacred every memorial of His work of love? Do you 
 take any part in the building up of His temple? And are 
 you " dihgently obeying the voice of the Lord your God ? " 
 never forget, that, profess what you may, you are de- 
 riving, and can derive, no benefit from the work of Christ, 
 — either His work on earth, or His work in heaven — if you 
 are not practically godly. For you can give no proof more 
 conclusive that your professed faith in Christ has not justi- 
 fied you, than its not having sanctified you ; — no surer evi- 
 dence of your not having been saved from guilt, than your 
 not having been saved from worldliness and sin. 
 
LECTURE Vni. 
 
 Zech. VII. 
 
 "And it came to pass in tlie fourtli year of king Darius, that tlie word of tlio 
 Lord came unto Zecbariah in the fourth d.iy of tlie ninth month, even in Cliisleu; 
 when they had sent unto tlie house of God Slierezerand Regem-melech, and their 
 men, to pray before the Lord, and to speak unto tlie priests which were in the house 
 of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying. Should I weep in the tilth 
 month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? Then came the 
 word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying. Speak unto all the people of the 
 land, and to the priests, saying. When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and 
 seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? 
 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and 
 drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried 
 by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and 
 the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? 
 And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus speaketii the Lord 
 of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every 
 man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, 
 nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against your brother in your 
 heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped 
 their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an ada- 
 mant-stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of 
 hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great 
 wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as lie cried, 
 and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of 
 hosts: but I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom tliey 
 knew not: thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through 
 nor returned ; for they laid the pleasant land desolate." 
 
 From the beginning of the book we learn that the preceding 
 visions and symbohcal actions took place in the eighth month 
 of the second year of king Darius. What is recorded in the 
 chapter before us was in the ninth month of the fourth year of 
 
ZECIIARIAH VII. 145 
 
 the same reign. It was thus somewhat more than two years later. 
 The ninth month — the month Chisleu, corresponded to the 
 latter part of our !N"ovember, and the former part of December. 
 We are not from this to suppose, that throughout this long 
 interval the Prophet was unemployed. We cannot doubt that 
 during the whole time, both he and his brother prophet Hag- 
 gai were " instant in season and out of season; " instructing 
 and encouraging the people; "reproving, rebuking, and ex- 
 horting" in the name of Jehovah. It was just during this 
 time, — the time of the building of the house of God — that 
 it is said of them in the book of Ezra, " The elders of the 
 Jews builded, and they prospered, through the prophesying 
 of Haggai the prophet and of Zechariah the son of Iddo." * 
 During these two years, however, no such special revelations 
 were imparted as the Spirit of Jehovah, by whom they w^ere 
 given, saw meet to put on canonical record. The different 
 modes in which divine revelations were imparted, — in which, 
 as it is here again expressed, "tlie luord of the Lord came'' 
 to the prophets — we endeavoured to explain in the introduc- 
 tory lecture to the Book ; and cannot resume the subject now. 
 Our first inquiry at present must be. What was the fact 
 which is here alluded to, as having given occasion for the 
 divine message by the Prophet contained in this chapter? Va- 
 rious are the views taken of it, in consequence of the expres- 
 sions of the Prophet being critically capable of such different 
 shades of meaning, and from our having no information from 
 any other quarter, — 1. The expression, "When the]/ had sent" 
 — without any intimation as to tolw they were that sent, — has 
 been understood as equivalent (and unquestionably it often is) 
 to the phrase " when Sherezer and Pegem-melech and their 
 men ivere sent;'' it not being intended to say hy luJiom of 
 the restored captivity. — 2. Sherezer and Ecgem-melech, again, 
 are supposed to have been persons of note still remaining in 
 Chaldea, and "their men" a number of the Israelites who 
 had not returned as yet to the land of tlieir fathers ; and are 
 conceived to have sent to Jerusalem, making the inquiry here 
 
 * Chap. vi. 14. 
 K 
 
146 Lli:CTURE VIIT. 
 
 mentioned, for the guidance, of their own condnct; that is, 
 that they might act in conformity with wliat vv^as done by 
 their brethren who were now resettled in Jerusalem.- — 3. 
 You are aware that the word Bethel, liere rer.dered " the 
 house of God^'' 'was, at the same time, the name of a city — 
 and a city of no small notoriety, although, in some respects, 
 by no means of a very favourable kind. It ought, also, 
 to be noticed that in the original there is no word corre- 
 sponding to the preposition "tmto'^ — where it is said they 
 were sent "?m^o the house of God;" and still further that 
 Beth-El, the " house of God," is nowhere else, either by 
 this prophet or any of the rest, thus designated, but uni- 
 formly "the house of Jehovah." On these grounds. Beth- 
 el has been construed as the nominative to the verb; 
 and the rendering given, " When Bethel sent Sherezer 
 and Eegem-melech and their men:"'"" by Bethel of course 
 being meant the inhabitants of Bethel, according to a natural 
 and common usage. As this has the recommendation of 
 specifying both the senders and tlie sent, it is very likely to 
 be the true state of the case. It is not, however, certain; 
 and, like most other things which are not certain, it is not 
 a matter of essential importance. 
 
 The message was sent "to the priests which were in the 
 house of the Lord of Hosts, and to the prophets." It was 
 the fourth year of Darius. But from the fifteenth verse 
 of the sixtli chapter of the book of Ezra we learn, that 
 the house " was finished on the tliird day of the month Adar, 
 which was in the sixth year of Darius the king." It Avould 
 appear from this, that 'parts of the house w^ere so far finished 
 in succession, as to admit of di^dne service being performed, 
 and of the residence of the priesthood about the sanctuary; 
 for there was yet two years' work remaining com];)letely to 
 finish it. 
 
 Wliat, then, let us next consider, was the message, and what 
 the ends for which it "vvas sent? The messengers are repre- 
 sented as sent for two purposes — " to bray before the Lord," 
 
 * Henderson. 
 
ZECHARIAH VII. 147 
 
 and to speak to tlie priosts and the prophets about the cus- 
 tomary " fasts." 
 
 The expression "to pray before the Lord " is, on the margin, 
 '• to entreat the face of the Lord;'' that is, to seek and con- 
 ciliate Jehovah's favour; and especially, so far as to obtain a 
 divine oracle respecting the inquiry they had to make. What 
 was that inquiry? Yfe have it in verse third : "Should I 
 weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done 
 these so many years?" 
 
 From this we learn, first, what Avas the fact during the 
 period of the captivity. The question relates only to one 
 fast; but in the following verses tivo are specified, and in 
 the eighth chapter four — "Thus, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and 
 the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to 
 the house of Judali joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts ; 
 therefore love the truth and peace.' * The fast of the fourth 
 month is conceived to have been in commemoration of the 
 breaking down of the wall of Jerusalem ; that of the fifth, 
 in remembrance of the buriung of the temple ; that of the 
 seventh, of the murder of Gedaliah the son of Aliikam ; and 
 that of the tenth, of the beginning of the final siege of the 
 city. These various fasts — especially, as would appear from 
 its being here so particularized, " the fast of the fifth month " 
 - — had been observed by the captives in their exile. They 
 were self-instituted observances. But they are not complained 
 of on this account. Had the sijirit of them been right; had 
 it been the spirit of " godly sorrow, working the repentance 
 unto salvation not to be repented of," it is not likely that, 
 when they were at a distance from Jerusalem, and precluded 
 from attending on the instituted services of the temple wor- 
 ship, even a ceremonial of their own devising, had it been 
 the expression of such a frame of mind, would have been 
 severely dealt with. We shall see immediately, what was, 
 in this respect, the truth. Meantime we have only to notice, 
 tliat the inquiry seems to have been made under the impres- 
 
 '■^ Clinp. viii. 19. 
 
148 LECTUllE VIII. 
 
 sion, that, altlioiigh they had thus fasted and humbled them- 
 selves during their adversity, there could not be the same 
 reason for continuing the practice, now that they had been 
 rescued from the condition that had called for it, and their 
 peace and prosperity had been restored. Why should they 
 fast — why should they mourn and weep noio? It appears 
 that for the whole period of seventy years the practice 
 had been regularly kept up: but why should what was 
 done in Babylon continue to be done in Palestine'? — to be 
 done, when the very end had been attained, toward which 
 all their fastings pointed, and which they were designed to 
 secure? So far the inquiry was sufficiently natural and rea- 
 sonable. The entire tenor, however, of the remonstrance 
 which follows in reply, gives us no great reason to think 
 that the spirit by which it was dictated was at all exactly 
 what Jehovah could approve : — 
 
 Yerses 4 — 7. " Then came the word of the Lord of hosts 
 unto me, saying. Speak unto all the people of the land, and 
 to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in tlie 
 fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at 
 all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and 
 when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink 
 for yourselves 1 Should ye not hear the words which the 
 Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem 
 was inliabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round 
 about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?" 
 The question of Jehovah is a severely pointed and searching 
 one : — -In all these observances of yours " did ye at all fast 
 tmto me^ even unto me?'' Was it in compliance with my 
 will 1 — in obedience to any command of mine ? No. The 
 observances were your own, — of your own devising and insti- 
 tution. We have said that Jehovah might not have com- 
 plained of this, could another question have been favourably 
 answered — Were they observed in the spirit of true devotion ? 
 ' — in the spirit of penitential sorroio for the sins that had 
 draAvn down upon them God's displeasure in their long bond- 
 age ? — in the spirit of " turning unto Him,'' and seeking His 
 forgiveness and favour, as that which alone could satisfy them, 
 
ZECHARIAH VII. 149 
 
 and make tliem happ}^? Alas! no. Their cibs(?rvances were 
 all full of self-righteousness. They were in the spirit of 
 externalism; the spirit that imagines multiplied outward 
 observances pleasing to God, and fitted to ensure His re- 
 gard. And they were in the spirit of loorldliness. All 
 that their hearts were set upon was their restoration to 
 their own land, — their recovered national independence 
 and special distinctions, and earthly prosj)erity. It was 
 for this they sought the divine favour. Could they but 
 secure this, they desired no more. It was not for Jehovah, 
 but for what Jehovah had given to their fathers, and 
 had promised to restore to their children, that they were 
 concerned. Their fastings and prayers were thus all in the 
 spirit of earthly-minded selfishness. Fain would we think 
 and speak otherwise. But the language of Jehovah here 
 will not allow us. All that we have said appears to be 
 fairly and necessarily included in the question — which is 
 meant to convey a strong negation — " Did ye at all fast 
 to me V He does not even admit a mixture of feeling and 
 of motive. His Avords imply — it was not to me; not at all 
 to me. It was entirely selfish.* 
 
 And while they did not fast to Jehovah, they feasted to 
 themselves. They " did eat and drink" to the gratification of 
 their own carnal appetites, — not in the spirit of " doing all 
 to the glory of God;" a duty equally binding under every dis- 
 pensation. There is a supplement in the sixth verse, occurring 
 twice, of the words "/o?- yourselves^ It is natural enough, as 
 an antithesis to the words " unto me" in the end of the verse 
 preceding. The words have been rendered without the su|)- 
 plement — " And when ye ate, and when ye drank, was it not 
 ye that ate, and ye that drank r' f The supplement seems 
 better than this. If they ate and drank, who else that ate 
 and drank could it be but themselves? Perhaps, with a 
 special emphasis, the words might be simply rendered — • 
 " When ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat and 
 drink]" — imj^lying that they made the best of it; that eat 
 
 '■>= Conip, Is. i. 11 — 15. t Henderson, 
 
150 LECTUKE VIII. 
 
 and driiik they did with a plenitude of relish and indulgence 
 — giving full play to their appetites and their tastes; — that 
 if they fasted, they compensated for their fastings, — their 
 feasts being a set-off against their fasts, — their sensual grati- 
 fications against their penances ! It should here be noticed, 
 that the eating and the drinking specially (though not per- 
 haps exclusively) referred to, is that of their rehgious festival -. 
 These were days of rejoicing. And on these days, they availed 
 themselves of the calls of rehgion to " feed themselves witli- 
 out fear." Thus, both in their fasts and in their feasts the 
 principle of their religion was purely selfish. They fasted 
 for their own safety, and feasted for their own pleasure; 
 but had no regard to the authority and the glory of Jehovah ; 
 nor were actuated by either true gratitude or true peni- 
 tence. Possibly too, the idea may be involved, that even 
 in their captivity God did not allow them to starve. Even 
 in the land of their enemies, they had plenty ; although they 
 thought but little of the bountiful Giver, whose goodness was 
 80 unmerited ; and who " punished them less than their 
 iniquities deserved." 
 
 The seventh verse is unnecessarily supplemented with the 
 words — (which, had they been meant, could hardly by possi- 
 bihty have been omitted) " Should ye not hear!' It is better, 
 because both more literal and more appropriate, — ^'' Are not 
 these the words* Avhich the Lord hiith cried by the former 
 prophets, when Jerusalem v>'as inhabited and in prosperity, 
 and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited 
 the south and the plain?" The meaning evidently i?, 
 that Zechariah was far from being the first by whom 
 they and their fathers had been thus addressed; that 
 the same had been the style of expostulation and admo- 
 nition employed in all their past history, by every prophet 
 whom Jehovah had commissioned. Thus too spoke Jere- 
 miah: — "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son tf 
 Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, (that is tlie 
 three and twentieth year,) the word of the Lord hath 
 
 * So the jMargin, and Ilendei-son. — Ed 
 
Zl^CHAEIAH VII. 151 
 
 come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, ri.sing early 
 and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And the Loud 
 hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising 
 early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor 
 inclined your ear to hear. They said. Turn ye again now 
 every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, 
 and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and 
 to your fathers for ever and ever : and go not after other gods 
 to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to 
 anger with the works of your hands, and I will do you no 
 hurt. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord ; 
 tliat ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your 
 hands to your own hurt." '" And not only had all the succes- 
 sive prophets used the language of admonition and reproof; 
 but they had testified in the strongest terms the worthlessness 
 of all merely outAvard observances, while the heart was kept 
 back from God, and " the weightier matters of the law" were 
 disregarded, and His will in them despised and violated. The 
 spirit of their addresses had ever been — " To obey is better 
 than sacrifice, and to hearken than tlie fat of rams." t 
 
 It is here, moreover, implied, that such assurances and 
 such warnings were not addressed to them only in the times 
 of their adversity ; but that they were so admonished amid 
 their highest " prosperity^' Avith the view of preventing the 
 abuse of that prosperity, to which they were so sadly prone ; 
 and so saving them from the judicial punishment of their un- 
 grateful forgetfulness and rebellion. This renders the words 
 very appropriate to the spirit of the inquiry ; which evidently 
 was — We fasted in adverse circumstances ; are Ave to continue 
 to fast AAdien circumstances are prosperous *? We fasted Avhen 
 in bondage ; are Ave to fast in freedom? We fasted Avhen under 
 the hand of our enemies ; are we to fast, noAV that Ave have 
 been delivered from their poAver 1 So far as the mere outward 
 observance of " the fast of the fifth" or of any other month 
 AA^as concerned, it Avas of little moment. But as soon as God 
 
 * Jer. XXV. ?)—!. 
 t Conip. Isa. Ixvi. 1—3; also Jer. vii. 21—24; Auios v. 21—27, &3. 
 
152 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 had delivered them from the visitation of His long-threatened 
 and at length execnted disjDleasure, were they to forget the 
 lesson of humiliation and contrition wliich the visitation had 
 been designed to teach 1 If they had fasted in a right spirit, 
 that spirit would not so soon have evaporated. The}^ would 
 have kept in remembrance the judgment, and their own and 
 their fathers' sins as the guilty cause of it. They would have 
 had the facts of the various seasons referred to associated 
 with their res23ective commemorations. Their eagerness to 
 dispense Avith the fasts arose from indisposition to keep 
 in view either the fasts, or what had led to them, or the 
 temper of mind becoming them. " The Lord had cried by 
 the former prophets, when Jerusalem was in prosperity ; " and 
 when " the south and the plain " — the southern and western 
 parts of Judah — abounded with inhabitants. And their dis- 
 regard of His warnings and entreaties ; their being " lifted up " 
 by their "prosperity," — abusing God's long-suffering goodness, 
 and going astray " after the sight of their own eyes, and 
 the imaginations of their own hearts," Avere the very causes 
 of the seventy years' visitation from which the recovery of 
 the nation had, in returning kindness, and imfailing faithful- 
 ness to covenant promise, been just effected. This, in a more 
 general form, is the lesson of all that follows : for it must be 
 observed that the verb " sj^eaJceW in the ninth verse, ought 
 without question to be understood in the 2^(:^sf sense, and to 
 be rendered s2)aJce.'''' There is no violence in this. The 
 one rendering is as legitimate as the other. And the 
 whole subsequent context imperatively demands it : — espe- 
 cially the eleventh verse, " But they refused to hearken, and 
 pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they 
 should not hear;" and the thirteenth verse shows that Je- 
 hovah is accounting by a reference to 2^c^st cliarader for recent 
 facts — for the judgments from which they had just been 
 dehvered — " But I scattered them with a whirhvind among 
 all the nations whom tln^.y knew not : thus the land was 
 
 * So aiso Ilenderson. — En. 
 
ZECITARIAII VIT. 153 
 
 desolate after them, that no man passed through nor re- 
 turned; for they laid the pleasant land desolate." 
 
 Taking it thus, mark the preceptive admonitions; and 
 the manner in which they were treated : — " Thus spake 
 the Lord of hosts, saying. Execute true judgment, and 
 shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: 
 and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, 
 nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against 
 his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, 
 and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, 
 that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts 
 as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and 
 the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his 
 Spirit by the former prophets : therefore came a great wrath 
 from the Lord of hosts." The admonitions have special re- 
 lation to evils which specially abounded. They are admoni- 
 tions to the practice of reciprocal rigldeousness and mercy, 
 as the best tests of subjection to God: — the righteousness 
 being the maintenance of impartiality in all judgment, 
 whether of a pubhc and official kind, or in matters of a 
 more private nature between man and man; the mercy in- 
 clu'.ling universal compassion and tender sympathy for human 
 suffering, and for those, especially, whom Jehovah many a 
 time represents, in the very strongest terms, as the objects 
 of His peculiar patronage — the widow and the fatherless, 
 the poor and the stranger : and, at the same time, the ready 
 forgiveness of injuries — not meditating revenge ; not brood- 
 ing over wrongs; not seeking opportunities and methods 
 " of requiting evil with evil ; " but in all things acting up 
 to the royal law — the law of love. "When thus admon- 
 nished, what was the conduct of their fathers, and of some 
 among themselves? The expressions describing it are varied 
 and strong. The first is general — " They refused to hearken; " 
 they would not pay any serious attention. The second is 
 stronger — " They jjz^Z^ecZ away the shoulder;'' (rendered by 
 one translator ^^ turned the hack,;'' though it seems rather to 
 refer to the case of one, on whose shoulder we lay our hand, 
 when he is reluctant to Hsten to us, in order to arrest and 
 
154 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 beseech him to hear, but he fretfully and violently " draws 
 the shoulder" from our kind and earnest grasp.) The third is 
 stronger still — "They stopped their ear's that they should not 
 hear." Thus, while we pursue the man whom ^ve wish to re- 
 claim and to save, raising the voice of our earnest entreaty, he 
 takes the last resource of determined obstinacy, pressing both 
 his hands upon his ears, to exclude the very sound of our 
 words. And all this was only the outward manifestation of 
 what was within — the state of the heart; a state which, at 
 the same time, it served to conhrm and increase : — " yea, they 
 made their hearts as an adamant stone." This was their 
 own doing, not God's. If God's dealings were so per- 
 verted and abused by them as to conduce to this hard- 
 ening of the heart, it was neither their intention nor their 
 tendency. His goodness should have made them grateful ; 
 and their gratitude should have animated them to obedience 
 and active service — strengthening their hands, and winging 
 their feet, for the doing of His will, and the advancement 
 of His glory. And His righteous and corrective visita- 
 tions ought to have impressed them Avith a sense of their 
 guilt, and brought them to His feet in penitent confession 
 and in a spmt of renewed determination to cleave to Him 
 thenceforward in faith, and love, and entire self-consecration. 
 '\Vlien both prosperity and adversity — mercy and judgment 
 — hardened them alike, whose was the blame 1 Not God's 
 surely. When they presumptuously said — "The way of 
 the Lord is not equal," good reason had Jehovah to reply, 
 " house of Israel, are not my ways equal"? are not your 
 ways unequal? " When, with, if possible, still greater presump- 
 tion, they said, " If our transgressions and our sins be upon 
 us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live ? "— • 
 as if their state were without remedy, and they could not help 
 it — what says Jehovah to the prophet 1 " Say unto them, 
 As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the 
 death of the wicked, but rather that the Avicked turn from 
 liis way, and Hve : turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; 
 for why will ye die, house of Israel?" It is true, that 
 God is sometimes spoken of as " hardening the heart." Eut it 
 
ZECHAEIAH VII. 155 
 
 is neither by any direct influence, nor even by treatrnont of 
 which the proper tendency is to produce any Buch el ect All 
 ftal is, or cL be, meant by such expressions is, that God leaves 
 the heart to its own native and acqiured haraness , giv m„ 
 men up to their own hearts' lusts, and letting the™ .^"^"^ 
 unhindered and unrestrained, "in their own '=«""^^1^ T.^ 
 have clear proof of this in the caseof PAW«: ^laiaohs 
 sinfully hardening his own heart was the fulfilment we axe 
 distinctly told, oUAat the Lord had said^ when He declared 
 _"/ Im harden Pharaoh's heart." God thns hardened 
 Pharaoh's heart, when Pharaoh hardened his own. God re- 
 presents himself as doing what he does not prevent; or as 
 doinc- what is only the result of men's sinful abuse of what 
 He does * Wliat was the case with Pharaoh was the case 
 with the unbelieving and rebellious Jews. It was they 
 themselves that, by abusing God's woi^s and ^o^s ways 
 " made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should heai 
 the words which the Lord sent by his Spirit, through the pro- 
 
 ■"''Ind tiiis was the reason for the divine displeasure against 
 them—" There/ore was there great wrath upon them trom 
 tiie Lord " This great wrath is described, in its practical exe- 
 cution, ixr the last verse:-" I scattered them ^f « ^h"'" 
 wind among all the nations whom they knew not: thus the 
 land was desolate after them, that no man passed through 
 nor returned ; for they laid the pleasant and desolate ^_ The 
 terms refer to the recent seventy years desolation of _that 
 pleasant land "-the " land of desire," or of delights ; the 
 "good land; the land of brooks of water, of fountains and 
 de°pths that sprang out of valleys and hills ; the 1-^ of w-at 
 and barley and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates , the land 
 0? oil-olive, and honey; the land wherein they did eat bread 
 without scarceness, lacking nothing in it; the land whose 
 
 I ^">!- ?f;l '%?il' ^ S t thetll at^l',;s\o„'o*f rsat 
 d llf « "fe,- t'l-efe^d'o the Author's Lectiues on the Epistle to 
 the Romans, vol. ii. PP. 265-270.-^:._ ^_^^^ 
 
156 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 stones were iron, and out of whose hills they dug brass;"* 
 the land of divine selection, divine promise, and divine gift, 
 to them and to their fathers. That land was laid desolate; 
 left to " enjoy her sabbaths " in the peace of solitude- — unde- 
 secrated by the profanations of unbelief, rebellion, and idola- 
 try. The entire procedure of Jehovah toward Israel was in 
 full harmony with his character as proclaimed by himself — 
 " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffer- 
 ing, and abundant in goodness and in truth." His language 
 by Hosea sets him forth in all the touching tenderness of his 
 compassion, — ever backward to smite, ever forward to bless : 
 " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I dehver 
 thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah'? how shall I 
 set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned Avithin me, my re- 
 peutings are kindled together. I mil not execute the fierce- 
 ness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy E^^hraim : 
 for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of 
 thee : and I will not enter into the city."t 
 
 Let us now just notice — Tlie righteous ijrinciple of divine 
 retribution : — verse 1 3. " Therefore it is come to pass, that 
 as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I 
 would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts." The very terms 
 carry at once to every mind the impression of unimpeachable 
 rectitude. The language resembles that in which God ad- 
 dressed Israel in the days of the Judges ;;}: where, after refer- 
 ring to past deliverances wrought for them, he says — " Yet ye 
 have forsaken me, and served other gods : wherefore I will 
 deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have 
 chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." 
 Would not they have had themselves to blame, had God thus 
 left them to find help, as they best could, from " the vanities 
 and things of nought " — to trust in which they had forsaken 
 Him? Eor no desert of theirs was it, but according to the 
 abundance of His mercy, that He relented (v. 16.) '^ His 
 soul teas grieved for the misery of Israel. — But all God's 
 judgments on His ancient people were dictated and regulated 
 
 * Deut. viii. 7—9. f Hos. xi. 8, 9. i Judges x. 13, 14. 
 
ZECIIAEIAH VII. 357 
 
 by this righteous principle. To this their present condition 
 must be traced, as well as every preceding visitation. And 
 times of mercy yet await them. There will be another re- 
 lenting. " The veil shall be take away ; " and, " looking 
 unto Jesus," they shall say, " Elessed is He that cometh in 
 the name of the Lord ! " They shall " turn to the Lord," 
 saying, " Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously ; 
 so will v/e render to thee the calves of our lips : " and He will 
 " receive them graciously, and love them freely." He will 
 " turn away his anger from them," and be again " as the 
 dew unto Israel." 
 
 This principle applies universally — to all who have the 
 ojjportunity of hearing God's voice, in whatever way He speaks 
 to them. And the righteousness which is essentially in the 
 principle will be equally apparent in the modification of 
 its sentences according to the amount of distinctness and 
 clearness with which the voice of God speaks to men. This 
 is very various. God speaks to the Heathen. He speaks 
 by His 'worhs; and He speaks by the dictates of conscience. 
 Were any found learning the lessons taught, and following the 
 intimations of duty given — acting sincerely and humbly, up 
 to the light enjoyed, they would be judged, not according to a 
 revelation they did not and could not possess, but according to 
 the means of knowledge of truth and duty actually enjoyed; 
 and such, (I speak hypothetically and of abstract principles 
 only, not of facts, or of the application of the principles, 
 which belongs to God alone) — doubtless, would, through the 
 merits of an unknown Saviour, find mercy. On the othei 
 hand — " as many as have sinned without law shall perish 
 without law." They shall "^je?'^/" but it will be " as 
 those who have sinned without laiv : " — that is, their perdition 
 shall be incomparably less fearful than that of those who 
 have enjoyed the clearer light, and have listened to the 
 fuller and more interesting lessons of God's word.* The Jews 
 
 * For farther illustration of this deeply interesting theme the reader 
 may consult the Author's Lectures on Romans, vol. i. pp. 156 — 170; 
 and more especially his work entitled ' Discourses on Man's Respou- 
 gibility for his Belief.' Ed, 
 
153 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 wlio lived, again, unJer tlie old economy, had committed unto 
 til em the oracles of God;" but what they had was onl}^ a part 
 of those oracles — the introductory part, — comparatively dark, 
 the truth made known, and yet concealed, — shrouded 
 for the time under type, and prophecy, and promise. In not 
 hearing God's voice, as thus addressing them by the words 
 and writings of those " holy men, wlio spoke " and wrote " as 
 they were moved by the Holy Ghost," they were unspeakably 
 more guilty than the Heathen: so that, in a tone of still 
 heavier denunciation, God could say to them, if they hardened 
 their hearts, and would not hear and obey His voice, — - 
 " I called, and ye would not hear ; so now, when you call, 
 /will not hear." And if to Heathens and to Jews He could 
 say this in righteousness, how much more decidedly righte- 
 ous will be the application of tlie principle to those Avho 
 have in tlieir hands a completed revelation ! — who sit under 
 the sound of Gospel mere}'! — to wlioni " God avIio, at sundry 
 times and in diverse manners, spake in times past to the 
 fathers by the prophets, hath spoken by His Son ! " Sinners, 
 you hear God inviting you — warning you of the fearful con- 
 sequences of rejecting or disregarding the invitation, and 
 holding out to you the assurance of "fulness of joy and plea- 
 sure for evermore " as the result of compliance with it. Sal- 
 vation, in all its present and eternal blessings, is thus placed 
 Avithin your reach. It is yours, if you Avill but have it on 
 God's terms. AYhat, then, will you say in arrest of judgment, 
 or even in mitigation of it, should you hear the words, at 
 last, sounded in your ears — " As I called, and ye would 
 
 NOT HEAR, so MAY YE NOW CALL, AND I WILL NOT HEi^R?" 
 
 Will not conscience respond to the rectitude of the sentence? 
 Yes. There Avill not be in all hell a conscience that Avill not 
 attest to the sufferer the justice of his doom. Tliis will be 
 " the worm that dieth not." It is a mitigation of suffering 
 — a mitigation Avhich when we are evil-entreated by fellow- 
 men, we feel to be exquisitely sweet and beyond estimation 
 precious — to possess the inward testimony that it is unrighte- 
 ous and unmerited. JSTo such mitigation Avill there be of any 
 siilfering inflicted by the sentence of God on impenitent 
 
ZECHAKIAH VII. 159 
 
 sinners. They will feel, and feel for ever, that they liave 
 been their OAvn destroyers. No power of self-delusion will 
 f'xist there, to drive from their consciences this conviction. 
 There will he no metaphysical subtleties there — no material- 
 ism — no fatalism — no sptjculations on abstract principles of 
 responsibility, to shift the blame from self to God. jSTow, 
 then, O sinner, hear his voice, and "harden not your 
 heart." It is not yet too late. God still calls. God 
 still waits. Can you persist in trusting to ^, future moment, 
 whicli to you may never arrive? — or can you be so pre- 
 sumptuous as to imagine, that when you have spent the 
 whole of life on self, and on self merely as the creature of 
 earth and of a daj', without regard to God — to His authority 
 as your rule, to His glory as your end, to His grace as that 
 which alone, through Christ, can save you, — He should be 
 satisfied with a selfish — " God he merciful V at the close? — 
 that, when you have run it out to its very dregs in sin, and 
 worldliness, and neglect of both His law and His gospel, these 
 dregs should suffice for atonement ? what imll you — what 
 can you say, when a long-insulted God — insulted to the very 
 last — and at the last the most by such an imagination — will 
 say to you — " Eecause I have called, and ye refused ; I have 
 stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ; but ye have 
 set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 
 I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your 
 fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your 
 destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and an- 
 guish cometh upon you : then shall they call upon me, but 
 I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall 
 not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not 
 choose the fear of the Lord : they would none of my counsel : 
 they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat of the 
 fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own de- 
 
 * Prov. i. 24—31 
 
LECTUEE IX. 
 
 Zech. VIII. 
 
 "Again the word of tlie Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus sailh the 
 Lord of hosts, I Avas jeah)us for Zion with great jealousy, and 1 was jealous for 
 her witli great fury. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and 
 will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem : and Jerusalem shall be called, A city 
 of tiTith ; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts. The lioly mountain. Thus 
 saith the Lord of hosts, There shall yet old men and old women dwell in tlie 
 streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And 
 the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. 
 Thus saith the Lord of liosts, If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of 
 this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the 
 Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Behold, I will save my people 
 from the east countiy, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and 
 they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and 1 
 will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. 
 Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth 
 of the prophet!?, wliich were in the day that the foundation of the house of the 
 Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. For before these days 
 there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace 
 to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every 
 one against his neighbour. But now I will not be unto the residue of this people 
 as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts. For the seed shall be pros- 
 perous; the vine shall give her frait, and the ground shall give her in- 
 crease, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant 
 of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass, that 
 as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of 
 Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall he a blessing: fear not, but let your 
 hands be strong. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I thought to punish 
 you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I 
 repented not; so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem, 
 and to the house of Judah : fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall do, 
 Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgments of truth 
 
ZECHARIAH VIII. 161 
 
 and peace in your gates: and let none of you imagine evil jn your hearts against 
 liis neighbour; and love no false oath : for all these are things that I hate, saith 
 the Lord. And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto uie, saying, Thus saith 
 the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and tlie 
 fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judali joy 
 and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. Thus 
 saith the Lord of hosts, It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, 
 and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to 
 another, saying. Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the 
 Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come 
 to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith 
 the Lord of hosts, In tho.'^e days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take 
 liold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him 
 that is a Jew, saying. We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with 
 von." 
 
 This chapter may be considered as a continuation of the pre- 
 ceding one. In order to the clear understanding of part of 
 its contents, it may not be amiss to notice very briefly some 
 of the " times and seasons " connected with the return from 
 the captivity in Babylon. These we have to gather from the 
 books of Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah. 
 Lut in reading these books as they stand in our Bibles, we 
 are very apt to lose sight of the relation in which they stand 
 to one another in regard to time. Without entering into 
 comparative estimates of different schemes of chronology, we 
 place the decree of Cyrus, by which liberty was given to the 
 Jews to return to Jerusalem and Judea, agreeably to the com- 
 mon reckoning, about the year before Christ 536. In the 
 former part of the Book of Ezra, (assuming him to have been 
 the writer of the entire book) we have an account of the 
 decree, and of the number and conditions of those who, under 
 the conduct of Zerubbabel, were the first to avail themselves 
 of it, and to make their way back to the land of their fathers. 
 He tells us also of the rebuilding of the temple; which, we 
 learn from Haggai, was set about at the first with no great 
 spirit of zeal, and union, and perseverance, and was inter- 
 rupted and abandoned from a selfish solicitude regarding their 
 own personal and domestic accommodation; but which, by 
 the divine chastisements for this, and the reproofs, exhorta- 
 
162 LECTURE IX. 
 
 tions, and encouragements of himself and Zechariah in the 
 name of Jehovah — was resumed with greater alacrity and 
 brought to its completion. This was about twenty years 
 from the time of the first return on the decree of Cyrus. The 
 delay had arisen, not solely from the lethargy of the Jews, 
 but from the interruption of their work by their ene- 
 mies, and the influence used by them with the kings of 
 Persia, until the decree of Cyrus was discovered by Darius 
 Hystaspes, and orders were given by that prince for its speedy 
 execution, and for assistance towards this from the royal bounty. 
 It was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius that the 
 temple was finished. But, while Ezra records these things, 
 they were before his time. In the beginning of the seventh 
 chapter of his Book he informs us of the time of his coming 
 from Babylon to Jerusalem. It was in the seventh year of 
 the reign of Artaxerxes — that is, as is generally understood, 
 Artaxerxes Longimanus. This, then, was about fourscore 
 years from the proclamation of Cyrus; and consequently 
 sixty years from the time when the temple was finished. 
 During that period, it would appear, nothing specially worthy 
 of record had taken place in Jerusalem. We learn, however, 
 from the refonnations effected by Ezra, that there had been 
 among the returned Jews more of declension than of progress 
 in what was good, — in adherence to the worship of Jehovah 
 according to the due order, and the injunctions of Jehovah 
 respecting their separation from the Heathen around them, 
 and the evils arising from their intermingling "with them by 
 marriage and otherwise. But although nothing very remark- 
 able in the shape of events had taken place during that period 
 in Judea, it was not so elsewhere. For to this period — just 
 preceding the arrival of Ezra, — the incidents in the Book of 
 Esther have their place, so full of interest to the Jewish 
 people, as well as of instruction respecting the ways of God's 
 providence. The Ahasuerus of that book is, by the best au- 
 thorities, and in harmony with both the Septuagint and 
 Josephus, conceived to have been the same with the Arta- 
 xerxes of Ezra : — and it is more than probable, that the Jews 
 owed the commission given both to Ezra and afterwards to 
 
ZECHARIAH VIII. 163 
 
 Nehemiali, to the influence of the queen Esther, herself a 
 Jewess, with that monarch. The commission of J^ehemiah, 
 who was cup-bearer to the king (a post of honour, intimacy, 
 and influence in the palace) was later than that of Ezra by 
 about thirteen years. So that between the issuing of the 
 decree of Cyrus and the arrival of Nehemiah at Jerusalem 
 there was not much less than a century ; and some chronolo- 
 gers, indeed, reckon it somewhat more than even that time. 
 Yet, what do we find the state of things at Jerusalem, 
 even at that distant date ? — " It came to pass in the month 
 Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the 
 palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and 
 certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the 
 Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and 
 concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant 
 that are left of the captivity there in the province are in 
 great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is 
 broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire."* 
 This led him to mourn, and fast, and pray. The king saw 
 his sadness. The cause was asked — in presence of the queen ; 
 and the explanation given. Hence his commission, and the 
 favour shown by the king towards its object. And he found 
 the case as it had been reported to him. On going up he 
 made a private survey: and he records his report to the 
 priests and nobles and rulers — " Then said I unto them. Ye 
 see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, 
 and the gates thereof are burnt with fire : come, and let us 
 build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 
 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good 
 upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto 
 me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they 
 strengthened their hands for this good work."t And ATe 
 have in chapter seventh another statement respecting the 
 population and the still extensive desolateness of the city. 
 " ]^ow the city was large and great ; but the people were few 
 therein, and the houses were not builded.":}: The words do 
 
 * Neh. i. 1—3. f Neli. ii. 17, 18. | Neli. vii. 4. 
 
164 LECTURE IX. 
 
 not mean, of course, that no houses were buildcd ; for it had 
 been one of God's early complaints, that His house was 
 allowed to lie waste, while they " ran every man to his own 
 house : " but the buildings were in proportion to the small- 
 ness of the population ; those who had, whether with Zerub- 
 babel or subsequently, come up, not, of course, having all 
 settled in the city, but dispersed themselves, according to the 
 localities of their fathers, through other parts of the land. 
 Thus, it was twenty years from the edict of Cyrus ere the 
 temple was built; and it was sixty years after that when 
 Ezra and his company went up, and from twelve to fifteen 
 years after that that Nehemiah and /^/s company went up: 
 and such Avas the state of Jerusalem still. iSTow, it was dur- 
 ing the early period — the first twenty years — the time of the 
 building of the temple — that Zechariah and Haggai officiated 
 in their prophetic office.. It was then that the promissory 
 declarations were uttered contained in this and the preceding 
 chapters. The bearing of this will be manifest. The de- 
 clarations could hardly be considered as having begun to be 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Proceed we now to the contents of the chapter; premis- 
 ing one general remark. Some interpret tlie whole chapter 
 as having had its fulfilment entirely in the subsequent his- 
 tory of the Jewish people antecedently to ''the fulness of 
 time," and the commencement of the Gospel era. We can- 
 not but regard the language of the latter part of the chapter 
 as by much too strong to admit of this ; and are disposed to 
 explain the former portion of it as receiving its accomplish- 
 ment before Christ; and the latter, as we have found the 
 case in previous instances, as stretching forward into Gospel 
 times, and partly into times even yet to come. 
 
 The first thing that comes before us is, a general assur- 
 ance of Jehovah's favourable regard to His people and to 
 their city and land, with promised manifestations of that re- 
 gard : — " Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, 
 saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for 
 Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with 
 great fury. Thus saith the Lord ; I am returned unto Zion, 
 
ZECHARIAH VIII. 165 
 
 and will dwcU in tlie midst of Jerusalem : and Jerusalem 
 shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord 
 of hosts the holy mountain." 
 
 There are commentators, as Blayney and Scott, who 
 would render verse second, " I am jealous," or zealous, (for 
 the two terms in this connexion are of equivalent import) 
 " against Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous against 
 her with gTcat fury." And the immediate mention ol his 
 returning to Zion, connected with the previous reference 
 to His visitation of judicial displeasure,* might seem to give 
 this rendering plausibility. But the received rendering— 
 which is retained by critics of equal or higher emmencet— is 
 more in accordance with the idiom of the original language; 
 and the words appear to correspond in meaning with those 
 in the first chapter— "And the angel that communed with 
 me said unto me, Cry thou, saying. Thus saith the Lord of 
 hosts ; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great 
 jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen 
 that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they 
 helped forward the afaiction.";]: What is expressed m hoth 
 passages is— zeal for Zion against her enemies. And this 
 had now been manifested in the restoration of His people to 
 their own dwelling-place. 
 
 There is an obvious connexion between the hrst and tlie 
 second clauses of verse third— the connexion, namely be- 
 tween Jehovah's return to Jerusalem, and again dwelhng 
 there and the character and designations of the city, it 
 would become what it had been before. It was the city 
 which God had "chosen to put his name there." It was 
 there He had estabhshed His worship, in contradistinction to 
 the prevailing idolatry of the world. There was mount 
 Zion There were the temple, the ark, the mercy-seat, 
 and all the memorials of His power and goodness in the 
 past history of Israel. It was the "city of truth It 
 was there that God's truth was revealed by those 'holy 
 
 * Chap. vii. 13, 1 4. 
 t llenaerson and otliers. T\m Hebrew is psy'?.— i^.D. 
 ' X Cliap. i. 14, 15. 
 
166 LECTURE IX. 
 
 men of God who spoke as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost;" and of whose proi3hetic commission "the testi- 
 mony of Jesus" was "the spirit." And tlirough their in- 
 spired instrumentahty, were "committed" to the chosen peo- 
 ple "the Oracles of God." Perhaps, too, by "a city of 
 truth" may be meant, what Jerusalem is elsewhere called, 
 " the faithful city ; " whose professed attachment to Jehovah 
 should be sincere, and not hypocritical ; " not in word only 
 nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth." " And the moun- 
 tain of the Lord of Hosts" — the mountain on w^hich stood 
 "the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High," 
 where He '* dwelt between the cherubim," accepting the pro- 
 pitiatory homage, and sending forth His blessing — should 
 be again called '* the holy mountain ; " — holy, as the dwelling- 
 place of the Holy One; holy, as the object of devout 
 veneration, and the place of sacred worship — " the beauty of 
 hohness." And, while divine worshij?, in connexion with 
 all its spiritual privileges and blessings, was to be restored, 
 there was, at the same time, to be the enjoyment of that 
 temporal prosperity which, under the old Covenant, was so 
 often promised to faithful obedience: — verses 4, 5. "Thus 
 saith the Lord of hosts : There shall yet old men and old 
 women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with 
 his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the 
 city shall be fuU of boys and gMs playing in the streets 
 thereof." Here is a fine picture. Tlie scene is the streets 
 of Jerusalem. For it is clear, that in this connexion, the 
 word rendered ^' dwelV is decidedly to be understood as 
 meaning "sit.'''^ — Longevity ^ when in any country it is found 
 on a more than ordinary average, is a proof of a healthful 
 and prosperous condition of society: and, although I am 
 satisfied that some passages of Scripture which have been 
 interpreted of personal longevity have reference rather to the 
 long- continued national possession of the land of promise, — 
 yet that longevity is included amongst the promises of tem- 
 poral blessing and well-being, there can be little doubt. 
 
 * The primary sense of the original term ia;\ — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH VIII. 107 
 
 " Thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Is- 
 rael," is one of not a few similar assurances. — The state de- 
 scribed is one of peace and tranquil security and fearlessness ; 
 when age sits in the streets, resting the weight of its years on 
 its supporting staff, and yet looking fresh and happy under 
 it ; and when childhood and youth enjoy there their cheerful 
 sports. The scene is full of interest. You see it before you. 
 The little boys and girls gambolling in all their buoyant and 
 sprightly glee: and their old grandsires and grandames, 
 while they hold their more sober communings one with an- 
 other, looking on, and enjoying the mirth of those dear 
 little follvs that have not yet begun to feel the burden of 
 life's cares. The man is to be pitied and shunned, that has 
 no liking to children. I would hardly trust him : — or, if I 
 might in a matter of mere justice, I would not in a matter 
 that required feeling or heart. AVhat complacency could 
 one have in him who would rebuke, with a growl of impa- 
 tient sternness, the ringing laugh of boyish merriment, or 
 angrily drive from him the tribe of little girls, when they 
 run, their little hearts dancing in frolicksome delight, to tell 
 him of their joys. The man who can so far forget his own 
 childhood as to have no sympathy with childhood now, may 
 be set down as a misanthrope, and compassionated accord- 
 ingly. The sports of childhood — innocent sports in their 
 own nature of course — are the very instincts of that period 
 of life: and they have here the sanction of a benevolent 
 God, being a part of His promised blessing to His favoured 
 cit}^ Who would like to be the man, or the woman, the 
 sight of whom frightened such a group] 
 
 We have next a ground of assurance to doubting and 
 desponding minds : — verse 6. *' Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; 
 If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people 
 in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes'? 
 saith the Lord of host«." Such doubting and desponding 
 spirits there had been, and were. The thing was " marvel- 
 lous in their eyes." How was it ever to be] Much time 
 had passed; and nothing like it had yet been realized. But 
 whatever were the doubts, and whence soever arising, there 
 
1G8 LECTURE TX. 
 
 was no reason why that should be marvellous in God's eyes 
 which was marvellous in man's. Well may He smile at 
 the incredulity of creatures who think and speak as if they 
 judged of Him by themselves. What is there, in nature, in 
 providence, or in redemption, that has not in it something 
 that is marvellous in our eyes? But to infinite power and 
 infinite wisdom ivoiider can have no existence. In how 
 many things, to the questionings and doubtings of creatures, 
 must the answer be — " With men it is impossible ; but with 
 God all things are possible." This is to be said of much 
 more marvellous things than the one before us. And it was 
 strange, that, among a people who had amongst them the re- 
 cords of all the " mighty deeds " done for them by the finger 
 of Jehovah in the days of their fathers, there should have ex- 
 isted the slightest surmise of impossibility, or even of diffi- 
 culty, in regard to any assurance of good coming from Him ! 
 On many occasions was the incredulity both of individuals 
 in what regarded themselves, and of the community in what 
 regarded the public interests, met with a similar rebuke. 
 " Is any thing too hard for the Lord ? " 
 
 On this ground, the assurance is renewed: — verses 7, 8. 
 *' Thus saith the Lokd of hosts ; Behold, I will save my ]3eo- 
 ple from the east country, and from the west country; and 
 I wiU bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Je- 
 rusalem : and they shall be my people, and I will be their 
 God, in truth and in righteousness." Here we find inter- 
 l^reters differing, Lowth understands the Avords generally^ 
 as meaning " tlie restoration of the Jewish nation from their 
 several dispersions]' and "the west country" as "having a 
 special reference to their 2^^'(^sent dispersions, great numbers 
 of them having settled in the western parts of the world." 
 And Dr. Henderson admits that '* were there any reason to 
 believe that the jDrophecy has respect to a restoration of the 
 Jews yet future, there would be a singular propriety in the 
 reference to the setting of the sun, or the west," — *' the Jews 
 Ijeing now, for the most part, found in countries to the west 
 of Jerusalem." Another commentator says — " The jDassage, 
 in its full import, must be interpreted, either of the Chris- 
 
ZECHAPvIAH VIII. K.ft 
 
 tiaii Clinrch, or the future restoration of tlie Jews." It does 
 seem to me, however, a highly improbable thing that, in 
 holding out present encouragement to the Jewish people, 
 that encouragement should be entirely, or almost entirely, 
 drawn not from any prospects to be realized at the time by 
 themselves and their immediate posterity, but from what 
 was to take place after the intervention of a period of dis- 
 persion incomparably longer than that from which they had 
 just been delivered! For that the promise here relates to 
 the literal Jerusalem the context seems to put beyond a 
 doubt. On this part of the prophecy, then, I concur in Dr. 
 Henderson's judgment : — " The east and west are here put 
 as parts for the whole. The meaning is, I will deliver my 
 people from every region whither they have been scattered : " 
 and when he adds — '* There is every reason to conclude, 
 that it has an exclusive reference to what took place soon 
 after it was dehvered." Even the vast numbers that w^ere 
 carried captive by Ptolemy,* after the time of Alexander, and 
 settled in different parts of Egypt, themselves serve to show 
 the large amount of population to which the city had then 
 reached. Thus far I would go in applying the prophecy to 
 times then near; though the stronger terms of the close of 
 the chapter require our looking farther forward, and taking 
 in a wider range. 
 
 The re-establishment of the relation between Jehovah and 
 His chosen people is a frequently repeated promise, if in- 
 deed that relation should at all be regarded as having been 
 broken off during the period of seeming desertion ; any more 
 than a father's relation to his son can be regarded as broken 
 off during the time that he is chastising him for disobedience, 
 and putting him in temporary seclusion and disgrace. — When 
 it is promised " They shall be my jDcople, and I will be 
 their God, in truth and righteousness ;'" — the words "in truth 
 and righteousness" ought to be considered as applying to 
 both sides of the relation. His part of that relation, sus- 
 tained from the time of His having chosen them, had been 
 
 *■ Not less, it is said, than a hundred thousand. — Ed. 
 
170 LECTURE IX. 
 
 alivays thus characterized." I^ot so theirs. They called 
 God their God^ and themselves His j^Qople; while too often 
 it was neither "in truth' nor "in righteousness;" but when 
 their hearts and lives gave the lie to their lips ; when they 
 flagrantly played the hypocrite, and defrauded Ilim of his 
 due, both in inward devotion and in outward service. 
 
 O let us see to it, that our professions of having God for 
 our God and our Father, be "in truth and righteousness;'* 
 that our hearts be " right with Him, and steadfast in His 
 covenant ; " that we act as His children, '* in simplicity and 
 godly sincerity " — *' Israelites indeed in whom there is no 
 guile." What says Jehovah to us — even to us 1 — " Be ye 
 not unequally yoked together with unbelievers : for what fel- 
 lowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what 
 communion hath light with darkness? And what concord 
 hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believ- 
 eth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple 
 of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; 
 as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; 
 and I will be their God, and they shall be my people 
 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, 
 saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will 
 receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall 
 be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.* 
 
 The next few verses, from the ninth to the fifteenth, are 
 promissory and cheering; fitted and designed to animate 
 the builders, and stir them to zeal and persevering diligence. 
 The language accords exactly with that of Haggai respect- 
 ing Jehovah's displeasure at their apathy in His work 
 and selfish eagerness in their own, and the way in which 
 this displeasure was expressed, — by vain, unrequited toil 
 and fruitless seasons.+ ** Before these days,'' in verse tenth, 
 refers to the time previous to the laying of the foundation 
 of the temple spoken of in verse ninth: and the words, 
 "But noiu'' in the eleventh verse to the change that took 
 place when they set about the work of God in earnest — ■ 
 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 14—18. t See in Ha^. i. 2— 6j ii. 15—10. 
 
ZECHAPvIAH VIII. 171 
 
 "from that day He blessed them." Famine, and internal 
 dissension had been the cause of much suffering: — for to 
 these calamities perhaps, rather than to annoyance from their 
 enemies without, the words in the end of the tenth verse, 
 "I set all men every one against his neighbour," refer, 
 inasmuch as it was rather subseqaently to the commence- 
 ment of the building of the temple that their external foes 
 began specially to harass and hinder them. And the terms 
 are very strong in verse twelfth, which describes the reverse 
 — the change from famine to fulness, from affliction to pros- 
 perity : " For the seed shall be prosperous ; the vine shall 
 give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and 
 the heavens shall give their dew ; and I will cause the rem- 
 nant of this people to possess all these things." 
 
 The language in the thirteenth verse is somewhat ambi- 
 guous: "And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a 
 curse among the heathen, house of Judah, and house of 
 Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing." 
 What is meant by " iDGmg a curse among the heathen"" on 
 the one hand, and ^^ being a Messing" on the other? — Does 
 it mean that they were a curse to the heathen by the in- 
 fluence of their evil example? I would, in the present in- 
 stance, answer decidedly No. They are not said to have 
 been a curse to them, but a curse among them : and this 
 may still have one or other of two meanings. It may mean 
 that they were the objects of cursing, whereas now they 
 were to be the objects of blessing; to be blessed hy them 
 as they had been cursed hy them. Or it may mean, that, as 
 they had been the model (if I may so express myself) of a 
 curse, they should now be the model of a blessing : — that is, 
 that, as others, in wishing evil, wished it according to what 
 they suffered, so now, in wishing good, they should wish it 
 according to ichat they enjoyed. The sentiment may be illus- 
 trated by a similar case : " And he blessed them that day, 
 saying. In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as 
 Ephraim and as Manasseh : and he set Ephraim before Ma- 
 nasseh."'"' Thus Ephraim and Manasseh were to be the mo* 
 * Gun. xlviii. 20. 
 
172 LECTURE IX. 
 
 del ofhlesslng. And such Jehovah engages His people should 
 be among the heathen, when the fruits of His favour and 
 blessing came to be seen upon them. And upon this en- 
 gagement He founds the encouraging admonition in the close 
 of the verse: — ^^ Fear not, hat let your hands he drongJ' 
 
 Before remarking on this, we may merely notice, in pass- 
 ing, the union, in this verse, of " the house of Judah and the 
 house of Israeli We often hear of the inquiry — What has 
 become of the ten trihes? All attempts to find them have 
 been vain. But what if, at the return from captivity, there 
 was a reunion? What if "the house of Israel" were 
 brought back from their dispersion at that juncture, as well 
 as the house of Judah from theirs 1 If so, the search for the 
 ten tribes must, as a matter of course, be fruitless; and a 
 good reason will thus be furnished for their never having 
 been discovered, and for all conjectures having ended in dis- 
 apj)ointment. But more of this on a future occasion. 
 
 When Jehovah says, " Fear not," he, in almost every 
 instance, accompanies the injunction with a reason: and 
 we may be sure, that a divinely assigned reason cannot 
 fail to be a satisfactory one. For instance, "Fear not; 
 for I am with thee'' Can there be a better reason for 
 banishing fear than that? Again, "Fear not; for I have 
 redeemed thee ; I have called thee by thy name ; thou art 
 mine." Again, "He it is that shall go with thee: he 
 will not fail thee, nor forsake thee ; fear not nor be dis- 
 couraged." Who could fear, believing this? " If God be 
 for us, who can be against us?" And there is a close con 
 nexion between the two parts of the admonition, " Fear not 
 — let your hands be strong." The " hands " can never be 
 " strong," when the heart is feeble : and feeble it must ever be, 
 when it is oppressed by fear. AYlien the spirit is thus 
 timid, trembling, irresolute, " the hands hang down." There 
 is an exhaustion of all energy, whether bodily or mental. 
 But confidence in God, divesting the heart of all such enfee- 
 bling tremor, braces up the energies of both mind and body : as 
 i^ehemiah said to the same class of persons whom Zechariah 
 
ZECHARIAH VIIL 173 
 
 here addresses, or their immediate descendants — " Be ye 
 not sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 
 
 To impress more deeply the same admonition, and give 
 it the surer and the more thorough efficiency in produc- 
 ing the desired ardour and activity, Jehovah gives them 
 the further assurance : — " As I thought to punish you, when 
 your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, 
 and I repented not : so again have I thought in these days to 
 do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah : fear ye not." 
 The visitation of punishment for their sins, so often threatened 
 against their fathers, and long suspended in merciful forbear- 
 ance, did at length come down. They would not hear, and 
 take warning, and by seasonable penitence and reforma- 
 tion, turn away the lingering vengeance. They were then 
 made to feel it ; made sensible that God's denunciations were 
 not mere ico^^ds. And the faithfulness of God to His threat- 
 enings is here used to encourage confidence in His promises. 
 He who is true to the one will be no less true to the other. 
 If God " repented not " of His " thoughts of evil," we may 
 rest assured He will not repent of His thoughts of good. Far 
 less will He : for He " delighteth in mercy." In the first 
 chapter we have an appeal of a similar kind : — " But my 
 words, and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the 
 prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they 
 returned and said. Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do 
 unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, 
 so hath he dealt with us."* As, then, God's words had 
 " taken hold of their fathers " in threatened punitive visitation, 
 so would His words of promise " take hold " of themselves, 
 to do them good. On this ground the exhortation is re- 
 peated — " Fear not." All that God is, and all that God has, 
 are alike pledged, in the promises of His covenant, to do good 
 to His confiding and obedient people. I say, confiding and 
 obedient ; for observe, the promise is not absolute, but condi- 
 tional. God has given no absolute promises of blessing — pro- 
 mises, of which the fulfilment is independent of faith ai!;.i 
 
 * Chap. i. 6. 
 
174 LECTURE IX. 
 
 character. He never gave such under the old economy; 
 nor does he under the neio. Mark the requisite conditions : — 
 verses 16, 17. "These are the things that ye shall do, 
 Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the 
 judgment of truth and peace in your gates: and let none of 
 you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and 
 love no false oath : for all these are things that I hate, saith 
 the Lord." We dwell not upon this. It has, in substance, 
 come before us three times already.'" This connexion be- 
 tween obedience and blessing, and between disobedience and 
 suffering, is invariable. It pervades " Moses and the pro- 
 phets," Moses sets out with it in recording the very consti- 
 tution of the Sinai covenant : — " If ye will obey my voice 
 indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 
 treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine : 't 
 and it is reiterated by all the prophets, times and ways 
 without number. So is it still. He who, under the New 
 Covenant, looks for blessing independently of " the obedience 
 of faith," " deceiveth himself, and the truth is not in him." 
 In what we call the condition there is nothing, in any 
 degree, meritorious: but, while there is no connexion of 
 merit, there is a connexion, — a connexion divinely insti- 
 tuted, and which it would be out of concord with ever}'' 
 view we can take of the divine character to imagine not 
 to exist. All the blessings of God's salvation, in time 
 and eternity, — all the blessings contained in the " exceed- 
 ing great and precious promises" of the Gospel Covenant, 
 are connected with faith and holiness, and with perseve- 
 rance in faith and holiness unto the end. " The just shall 
 live by faith: but if he draw back, my soul shall have 
 no pleasure in him:" "Follow holiness, without which no 
 man shall see the Lord : " " Giving all diligence, add to 
 your faith fortitude, knowledge, temperance, patience, godli- 
 ness, brotherly kindness, charity:" "give diligence" thus "to 
 make your calling and election sure; for, if ye do these 
 things, ye shall never fall ; for so an entrance shall be minis- 
 
 * Chap. i. 2— G; chap. v. 2—4; chap. vii. 8—13. f Exod. xix. 5. 
 
ZECIIARIAH VIII. 175 
 
 tered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 In last chapter, you will remember, a question came before 
 us, as having been submitted, probably by the inhabitants of 
 Bethel, through certain messengers, to the priests and the 
 prophets of the Lord, respecting the obligation or the pro- 
 jDriety, of continuing certain fasts which they had been 
 accustomed to observe during the period of their captivity. 
 To that question we have, in the following verse, a direct 
 reply from God, through the prophet: "And the Avord of 
 the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the 
 Lord of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the 
 fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast 
 of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and glad- 
 ness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and 
 peace." I need hardly say, that these words are not to be 
 understood as an hijundion that the same days which had 
 been kept by them as voluntary fasts while they vrere out- 
 casts from Judea should, now that they had returned, be 
 celebrated by them as stated festivals; — changed from days 
 of fasting and prayer to days of feasting and praise. They 
 probably were meant to convey no more than that these days 
 should no longer be seasons of mourning, and of penitential 
 confession, and supplication for deliverance from God's puni- 
 tive vengeance ; but that they should be seasons of rejoicing, 
 23ersonal and social, in the transition from bondage to free- 
 dom, — from a foreign land to the land of their nativity, — 
 from spiritual destitution to the privileges of God's house. 
 God had " taken off their sackcloth, and girded them with 
 gladness." In the land of their captivity, they had " sat down 
 by the rivers of Babylon and wept when they remembered 
 Zion." They had " hung their harps upon the willows;" and 
 in answer to the taunts of their oppressors, who said " Sing us 
 one of the songs of Zion," had sighed out " How shall we sing 
 the Lord's song in a strange land 1 If I forget thee, Jeru- 
 salem, let my right hand forget her cunning ! let my tongue 
 cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem 
 above my chief joy." " The days of this their mourning 
 
176 LECTURE IX. 
 
 were ended." Their fastings — commemorative of their past 
 woes — were now, therefore, to cease. They were now to 
 " eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to those 
 for whom nothing was prepared : " and, wiping the tears of 
 sorrow from their eyes, to rejoice that they were now again 
 hy Jordan's instead of Babel's streams ; and, in the strength 
 inspired by " the joy of the Lord," were to do, dihgently and 
 perse veringly, the Lord's work, 
 
 Eut mark again the practical improvement : — " There- 
 fore, love tlie truth and pc^ce." The words may be taken 
 in two senses : First, as an appeal to gratitude ; as if Je- 
 hovah had said, " You owe your deliverance to me. You 
 deserved it not. You never could have wrought it fur 
 yourselves. It is all my doing. If, therefore, you feel, as 
 you ought, thankful to your covenant God for my interposing 
 on your behalf, think of my Avill, and henceforward attend 
 to what you know Avill be pleasing in my sight: 'love 
 the truth and peace.' " Secondly, as an appeal to self-love 
 — an appeal grounded on a regard to their own interests: as if 
 He had said, " You have been suifering for your own and your 
 fathers' sins. You have been delivered. If you would shun 
 a repetition of the sufferings ; if you would continue in pos- 
 S(?ssion of your now restored land and liberty, and temporal 
 and spiritual blessings — ' love the truth and jDcace.' Love 
 them in heart : show love to them in j^ractice. It is thus only 
 that you can retain my favour and blessing; thus only 
 that your clays can be prolonged upon the land which the 
 Lord your God has again given you." 
 
 The remaining portion of the chapter, as already hinted, 
 I cannot but regard as looking forward to more distant 
 times. " Thus saith the Lord of hosts ; It shall yet come 
 to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants 
 of many cities : and the inhabitants of one city shall go 
 to another, saying. Let us go speedily to pray before the 
 Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts : I will go also. Yea, 
 many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord 
 of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus 
 saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, 
 
ZECHARIAH VIII. 177 
 
 that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the 
 nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a 
 Jew, saying, We will go with you : for we have heard that 
 God is with you." '"" Tlie general subject of these verses — to 
 which alone we can at present advert — is the amount of 
 favour and honour to be shown to the Jews by the inhabi- 
 tants of other countries, and of solicitude to obtain a partici- 
 pation in their peculiar privileges and blessings. The question 
 is. Was there anything amounting to what is here expressed, 
 or at all approaching to it, during the immediately suc- 
 ceeding period of Jewish history ; or, to take the longest 
 period — previous to the Christian era 1 Mark the strength 
 and comprehensiveness of the expressions : — those that are 
 to ^^ come" are " peoples ;" t "the inhabitants of many cities," 
 stirring one another up, as to a matter of duty and of deep 
 and common interest ; — " many peoples and strong " or mighty 
 "nations;" "ten" for one "out of all the languages of the 
 nations" — that is, of nations of all languages. They are to 
 flock to Jerusalem ; and that, not for secular but for spiritual 
 purposes — " to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord 
 of hosts." And they are to assume the attitude of entreaty 
 and dependance, as those who cannot get the blessing they 
 want otherwise than through the medium of the Jew, and 
 by making common cause and common interest with him — 
 " saying, We will go with you ; for we have heard that God 
 is with you." I can find nothing in the history of the Jews 
 between the captivity and Christ, to which such terms as 
 these can be applied without straining and extravagance. 
 Take, for instance, the comment of Dr. Henderson, who 
 applies the language entirely to that period : — "Jerusalem was 
 the place which Jehovah had chosen to put his name there; 
 and thither all his true worshippers were expected to come 
 to the great festivals, in whatever country they might reside. 
 Thus, the treasurer of Candace went all the way from Abys- 
 sinia — Acts viii. 27 ; and thus numbers from all parts of the 
 Eoman Empire assembled in that city at the first Pentecost 
 
 * Versi.'S 20—23. f Plural in the original C:^?2y. Ed. 
 
 M 
 
US LECTURE IX. 
 
 after our Saviour's resurrection. As tlie Hellenistic Jews 
 and the Gentile proselytes travelled along in companies, they 
 could not but excite the curiosity of the pagans through whose 
 countries and cities they passed : and, celebrated as the me- 
 tropolis of Judea had become for the favours conferred upon 
 it by some of the greatest monarclis of the times immediately 
 gone by, and for the prosperity and Avarlike prowess of the 
 Jewish people, it was impossible that it should not attract 
 the attention of the surrounding nations to the character and 
 claims of the God who was there adored, and who accorded 
 such blessings to his worshippers." This is making the most 
 of the materials to be had. The eunuch of Ethiopia was an 
 individual only. Those who crowded to Jerusalem on the 
 great Pentecost are called " devout Jews out of every nation 
 under heaven." As to the number of Gentile proselytes who 
 accompanied them, nothing whatever is said, — not so much 
 as whether there were any. And the rest is not fact, but 
 conjecture; how likely soever, still only conjecture. Isovr 
 surely there is nothing in this that at cell comes up to the 
 representation before us — or at all approaches it. On this 
 account I am constrained to adopt the ordinary interpretation 
 of the passage, as having reference to Gospel times, and even, 
 in part, to times of the Gospel dispensation yet to come ; and 
 as expressing the obligations to be felt and owned by the 
 whole world — by " men of every kindred and people and 
 nation and tongue" — to the Jews, for the knowledge, the 
 worship, and the practice, of true religion. " Salvation was 
 of the Jews." All the true religion in the world before " the 
 fulness of time" was among the Jews. In the times of the 
 Gospel, the Jews were the enlighteners of the world. " From 
 Zion went forth the law, and the word of the Loed from 
 Jerusalem."' The first messengers of the cross — the Apostles 
 of the Lamb — "turned the world upside down;" over- 
 throwing the altars of paganism, and establishing every- 
 where, in greater or less extent, the worship of the one 
 God — the God of the Jews — Jehovah, And the entire 
 empire of Eome, comprising the greater part of the then 
 known world, became overrun with the religion of that once 
 
ZECHAKIAH VIII. 179 
 
 despised people. For Judaism and Cliristianity were eviden- 
 tially one. It was a false and spurious Judaism alone that 
 stood opposed to the Gospel. Moses and Christ were one; 
 — Christ, Moses unfolded. And times are yet coming, when 
 a fulfilment of the language not less extraordinary shall 
 appear. Times of mercy yet await the long outcast seed of 
 Abraham. "The blindness" that "hath happened to them" 
 is but for a time. The "vail shall be taken aAvay." And the 
 restored of Israel, when brought to see the glories of Him 
 whom their fathers crucified, and whom they have so long 
 "crucified afresh" in "consenting to the deed of their fathers," 
 and to say of Jesus, as the true Messiah and the only 
 Saviour, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord," — shall be, both by the evidence which they will 
 then present of the truth of the Gospel, and by their active 
 agency in promoting its further and universal diffusion, 
 the chief instruments of bringing in what Paul calls " the 
 fulness of the Gentiles," and so " filling the earth with 
 God's glory." These events, both the past and the future, 
 seem more commensurate to the strong terms — terms of. 
 such amplitude and elevation — used in this prophecy, — than 
 aught that took place, even when stretched to the uttermost, 
 in any age of the Jewish Church before the coming of 
 Christ. Even the wonderful circumstances recorded in the 
 Book of Esther ; and the translation of the Jewish Scriptures 
 into Greek and their extensive circulation in that language, 
 — with whatever other considerations can be mustered, are, 
 in my mind, as nothing, when regarded as fulfilments of 
 the language before us. The passage brings to view the 
 highest of all the honours that has been put, and is yet 
 to be put, upon the chosen people, — that when " the know- 
 ledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover 
 the sea," to them the whole world will trace their religion. 
 The restoration of an apostate world to God will, instru- 
 mentally, be their doing. 
 
 There is one objection to this view of the passage, which 
 demands a moment's notice. It may come before us again. 
 I state it in the terms of the critic already referred to : — - 
 
180 LECTURE IX. 
 
 " The prophecy," says he, " is generally regarded as having 
 respect to something yet future, and is often interpreted 
 of the instrunientality of the Jews, when converted, in 
 effecting the conversion of the world. I can find no such 
 reference in the passage. 'Jerusalem' cannot be understood 
 otherwise than literally, just as the term 'Jew' is to be so 
 understood. But, according to our Lord's doctrine respecting 
 the ]^ew Dispensation, that city is no longer the place where 
 men are exclusively to worship the Father, — ' Jesus saith 
 unto her. Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye 
 shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship 
 the Father. Ye worship ye know not what : we know what 
 we worship : for salvation is of the Jews. Eut the hour 
 cometh, and now is, when the true Avorshippers shall worship 
 the Father in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh 
 such to worship him,' * Incense and a pure offering are 
 now presented to his name, in every place where his people 
 assemble in the name of Jesus, and with a view to his glory. + 
 It was otherwise before the advent of Christ, Jerusalem was 
 the place which Jehovah had chosen to put his name; and 
 thither all his true worshippers were expected to come, to 
 the great festivals, in whatever country they might reside." 
 The reply to this is, that the gathering of the Gentiles to the 
 true God in Gospel times is, by other prophets as well as 
 Zechariah, predicted under symbolical terms taken from the 
 Jewish dispensation. We take at present one example only. 
 " For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, 
 that I will gather all nations and tongues ; and they shall 
 come, and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, 
 and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, 
 to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and 
 Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, 
 neither have seen my glory ; and they shall declare my glory 
 among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren 
 for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, 
 and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon 
 
 * John iv. 21—23. f Mai. i. 10, 11. 
 
ZECHARIAII VIII. 181 
 
 swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saitli the Lord, 
 as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel 
 into the house of the Lord. And I will also take of them 
 for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new 
 heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain 
 before me, saitli the Lord, so shall your seed and your name 
 remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon 
 to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all Hesh 
 come to worship before me, saith the Lord." * And in 
 another place, we shall find Zechariah himself using similar 
 images: — "And it shall come to pass, that every one that 
 is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem 
 shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, 
 the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." t 
 But this we must leave for future explanation, and now 
 close with one word of solemn admonition. 
 
 Let all of us "seek the Lord" for ourselves, as He has 
 been pleased to reveal himself by Moses and the prophets, 
 and " in these last days by his Son." Let us stir one another 
 up to seek Him ; each saying, " Let us go to pray before him, 
 and to seek his face; and I will go also." Seek Him in 
 Christ. J^owhere, and no otherwise, can His face and favour 
 be found by sinful and guilty men. " If you seek him, he 
 
 WILL BE FOUND OF YOU : IF YOU FORSAKE HIM, HE WILL CAST 
 YOU OFF FOR EVER." 
 
 * Tsa. Ixvl. 18—23. f Chap. xiv. 16. 
 
LECTUEE X. 
 
 Zecii. IX. 1—8. 
 
 "The burden of the word of tlie Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus 
 shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, 
 shall be toward the Lord. And Hamath also shall border thereby ; Tyrus, and 
 Zidon, though it be very wise. And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and 
 heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, 
 the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea ; and she 
 shall be devoured with fire. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall 
 see it, and te very sorrowful, and Ekron ; for her expectation shall be ashamed; 
 and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. And 
 a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 
 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from be- 
 tween his teeth : but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he 
 shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. And I will encamp 
 about mine house because of the army, because of him tluit passeth by, and 
 beea\ise of him that returneth ; and no oppressor shall pass through them any 
 more : for now have I seen with mine eyes." 
 
 In this passage, we have predictions respecting various 
 countries and cities — "the land of Hadrach," "Hamath," 
 "Tyrus and Zidon;" and "Philistia." In our introductory- 
 Lecture to the Book, we had occasion to notice the connex- 
 ion of almost all the countries that are introduced in either 
 the historical or the prophetical parts of the Old Testament 
 ■with the chosen people — with Israel. We shall find the re- 
 mark verified in the passage now before us, as well as else- 
 where. 
 
 There can be no doubt, that by "the land of Hadrach" 
 in the first verse, is meant Syria. The word " burden'' 
 is of frequent occurrence in the prophets. To the original 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1—8. 183 
 
 tenn so rendered two etymologies have been assigned — 
 two roots, from either of which it might have sprung ; — the 
 one signifying to hear a load, the other to raise the voice. 
 Considered as a derivative of the latter, it has, by different 
 critics, been translated the sentence^' the propliecy, the ora- 
 cle. In favour, however, of our received translation, the 
 following considerations may be noticed: 1. The word is 
 invariably, or almost invariably, used, when the prediction 
 is one of calamity. Thus Ave have — " the burden of Baby- 
 lon," "the burden of Moab," "the burden of Damascus," 
 " the burden of T}Te," " the burden of Egypt ; " and when 
 "the burden of the valley of vision" is mentioned, it is a 
 prophecy of suffering and distress. The beginning of the 
 twelfth chapter of this book of Zechariah lias been given 
 as an exception — as an instance of its being used "in a 
 good sense" — " The burden of the word of the Lord for Is- 
 rael," or " concerning Israel," But it seems strange that it 
 should. For although the prediction may be in favour of 
 Israel, it is still a prediction of calamity and overthrow, 
 through them, to others. This the two following verses 
 show — in which Jerusalem is described as " a cup of trem- 
 bling" and "a burdensome stone" to all the peoples that 
 should be against her. And, if this case is not in point as 
 an exception, there remains only another : — " The words of 
 king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him."t 
 This, certainly, is more like an instance to the purpose. It 
 is, however, one only : and, from the style of what follows, 
 being expostulation against a particular evil, evidently 
 founded on the pernicious consequences to which it was sure 
 to give rise, it may, after all, be regarded as a somewhat 
 doubtful one.:}: — 2. That the word was so understood by the 
 Jews themselves, when it was used by their prophets, we 
 have evidence in a remarkable passage in Jeremiah — " And 
 
 * So Henderson, both here and in Isaiah. — Ed. 
 f Prov. xxxi. 1. 
 X And not one at all if Stuart's view of that passage he accepted, 
 according to which HkWd (massa) is to be regarded as a proper name. 
 Comp. Lects. on Proverbs, vol. iii. p. 363. note. — Ed. 
 
184 LECTURE X. 
 
 wlien this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, 
 saying, What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt then 
 say unto them, What burden 1 I will even forsake you, saith 
 the Lord. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the 
 people, that shall say. The burden of the Lord, I will even 
 punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say every 
 one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, Wliat 
 hath the Lord answered 1 and. What hath the Lord spoken 1 
 And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more : for 
 every man's word shall be his burden ; for ye have perverted 
 the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God. 
 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the Lord 
 answered thee? and, What hath the Lord spoken? But 
 since ye say. The burden of the Lord; therefore thus saith 
 the Lord ; Because ye say this word, The burden of the Lord, 
 and I have sent unto you, saying. Ye shall not say, The bur- 
 den of the Lord ; therefore, behold, I, even T, will utterly 
 forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave 
 you and your fatliers, and cast you out of my presence : and 
 I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpe- 
 tual shame, which shall not be forgotten."* In the pre- 
 vious context, Jehovah denounces his wrath against false 
 prophets, who prophesied lies, their own imaginations and 
 dreams ; and who jDleased the 2>eople and ingratiated them- 
 selves with them for their own selfish ends by prophesying 
 what, in contradistinction to hurdens, Isaiah calls " light 
 things." And the jDcople were accustomed, it would appear, 
 to speak jeeringly and in scorn of the word used by the 
 true prophets — "the burden of the Lord." All that can 
 be meant by the divine interdict on the use of the word 
 must be, that it should never thus be the subject of deri- 
 sion. When "the prophet and the priest and the people" 
 are placed together under the interdict, ^^ the propheV^ evi- 
 dently denotes, not the true projDhet but the false. This is 
 evident from, first, the language of the thirty-third verse — ■ 
 "When this peo2:)le, or the prophet, or a priest, shcdl ask 
 
 * Jer. xxiii. 33 — 40. 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1—8. 185 
 
 thee" — that is, Jeremiah, the true prophet: and, secondly, 
 from the very same word continuing to be used by the in- 
 spired prophets afterwards; as here, in chapter twelfth, and 
 in Malachi. 
 
 To these considerations another might be added, from the 
 phraseology which follows — " and Damascus shall be tlie rest 
 thereof ;'' the burden alighting and abiding there. I have 
 said that l)y "the land of Hadrach" is meant Syria. It is 
 quite uncertain, however, whence it gets the designation : — 
 whether " Hadrach'' be the name of a city, of a country , of a 
 prince, or of an idol. It has been remarked, that, if the last 
 letter is cut off, it corresponds to the general name of the 
 kings of Syria, which was Hadar."' And this is as likely a con- 
 jecture, — without attempting to account for the addition to 
 the name, — as any other. ^^ Damascus'' was the chief city of 
 Syria. There the " burden " was to have its rest. The bur- 
 den is not a prophecy of destruction to that city ; but of visi- 
 tation and suffering. It was fulfilled, when Alexander the 
 Great, after his decisive victory over Darius, at the battle of 
 Issus, sent one of his generals to Damascus, where the Per- 
 sian monarch had stored up all his treasures; when the city 
 was plundered of its immense wealth; and thirty thousand 
 men, as well as seven thousand beasts laden with baggage, 
 were taken, together with the satraps and grandees of Persia 
 and their families. " The riches of Damascus" are mentioned 
 by Isaiah at an earlier period. They were then to be a prey 
 to the kings of Assyria. After the time of Alexander, the 
 city passed to his successors ; and from them to the Romans. 
 Its native dominion never was recovered. And various have 
 been the vicissitudes to which, under different invaders and 
 occupants, it has since been subjected. 
 
 * "I very much suspect," says Henderson, "that the word TTirr 
 Hadrach is, after all, only a corruption of 1*t,"t {Hadar) the common 
 name of the kngs of Syria, though such corruption nmst have taken 
 place at a very early period; for it was found in the copy from 
 which the version of the LXX. was made." For the far-fetched idea 
 of Hengstenberg, and the still stranger notion of the Rabbins, who 
 consider the term as a compound appeUation of the Messiah, see Hen- 
 derson's note on the passage. — Ed. 
 
186 LECTURE X. 
 
 " When the eyes of man,'' it is here added, " as of all the 
 tribes of Israel, shall be fotoard Jehovah^ Some would 
 render, ^^ even of all the tribes of Israel" — restrictiiig 
 the looking towards tlie Lord to the chosen people them- 
 selves. Taking the words, however, as they stand, they may 
 mean one or other of two things ; — either that the events in 
 providence would be such as to constrain other men in sur- 
 rounding nations to mark and acknowledge the liand of Je- 
 hovah; or that the perils would be so imminent, to Israel 
 as well as to other iiations, that the eyes of those nations 
 would watch tlie late of Israel, to see whether that Jehovah 
 in Avhom they trusted, and of whom they boasted, would be 
 their protector. 
 
 "Hamath" is a country, of which we find repeated men- 
 tion made in the Old Testament. It was one of the coun- 
 tries from which the kings of Assyria, when, as God's min- 
 isters of vengeance, they had carried Israel captive from 
 Samaria, brought men to supply their places, and people the 
 land, — the inhabitants of each country bringing with them 
 their own tutelary gods, and, at the same time, kee^Ding up the 
 worship of Jehovah as the God of the land. This country 
 lay to the north of Damascus, between the adjoining dis- 
 tricts of Zobah and Eehob. The expression — " and Hamath 
 also shall border thereby," sounds as if Hamath's bordering 
 on Damascus were part of the prediction ; which it cannot 
 be. It is better rendered, therefore, "And Hamath also 
 which bordereth thereby:" — meaning that Hamath, as an ad- 
 joining country, should partake in " the burden," or calamitous 
 invasion. The whole refers to the progressiA'-e conquests of 
 Alexander the Great, — so called as the conqueror of the 
 world, — one of the wholesale robbers and murderers of man- 
 kind, whose greatness Avas estimated by the extent to which 
 they laid waste and brought under subjection countries which 
 did not belong to them, and which had done them no harm. 
 Eut they Avere many times God's instruments in the execu- 
 tion of retributive judgments, "although they meant not 
 so, neither did their hearts think so." Israel and Judah had 
 suffered from the Syrians and their capital city. And to 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1—8. 1S7 
 
 this tlie calamities of Damascus are expressly traced by the 
 prophet Amos : — " Thus saith the Lord ; For three trans- 
 gressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the 
 punishment thereof ; because they have threshed Gilead with 
 threshing instruments of iron : but I will send a fire into 
 the house of Ilazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben- 
 hadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off 
 the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that hold- 
 eth the sceptre from the house of Eden : and the peoj^le of 
 Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord."'" — 
 Hazael and Benliadad are expressly mentioned here; and 
 both appear in the history as cruel oppressors of Israel.t 
 And when, by the treachery of Hazael, Benliadad was put to 
 death, what was the predicted conduct of the murderous 
 successor, the anticipation of which drew tears from the Pro- 
 phet's eyes: — "And he settled his countenance stedfastly, 
 until he w^as ashamed: and the man of God wept. And 
 Hazael said, Wliy weepeth my lord? And he answered, 
 Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children 
 of Israel : their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their 
 young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash 
 their children, and rip up their women with child." J It was 
 for these things that the God of Israel executed vengeance. 
 
 The next places mentioned are " Tyrus and Zidon : " — 
 " Tyrus and Zidon, though it be very wise. And Tyrus 
 did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as 
 the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets." — In his 
 march towards Egypt, along the coast of the Mediterranean 
 Sea, these places lay immediately in the conqueror's w^a}''. 
 " Zidon" cost him little trouble. It had sunk in importance, 
 and v/as comparatively feeble. It surrendered on the con- 
 queror's a]3proach, and had a viceroy of his own appointed 
 over it. Not so Tyre. Old Tyre, which had stood on the 
 continent, had been besieged and destroyed by ISTebuchad- 
 nezzar, and laid in ruins; ruins which served the purposes 
 
 * Amos i. 3—5. f See 2 Kings vi. 24, 25. 
 
 I 2 Kings viii. U, 12, 
 
188 LECTUKE X. 
 
 of Alexander now. The Tyrus which he had to assail was a 
 new city — not built on the mainland, but on an island lying 
 about half-a-mile from the shore. It was surrounded by 
 a wall of defence one hundred and fifty feet in height. It had 
 prospered, and risen to high eminence, especially in its varied 
 and extensive commerce and immense wealth. It was the em- 
 ]); )riuin of the then known world. It is called by Isaiah " a mart 
 of nations;" and Ezekiel gives a striking enumeration of the 
 countries with which she had traffic, and the products of each 
 that were imported into her markets, in return for a share in 
 her articles of trade and her opulence. It may be observed, 
 tliat the pronoun " it" in the second verse, though having ap- 
 parent reference to the more immediate antecedent Zidoiij 
 must evidently be understood of Tyrus — Sidon being associ- 
 ated with it as a sister city, but being little better than an 
 appendage to it. It is Tyre that is spoken of as " very wise," 
 and as failing in her defences, nohcitJistcuidlng her wisdom. 
 And this very connexion shows the Iclnd of wisdom that is 
 especially meant, — worldly wisdom — wisdom in the construc- 
 tion of self -protecting bulwarks, and in the successful prose- 
 cution of commercial enterprise. This too appears from the 
 description given by Ezekiel — " Son of man, say unto the 
 prince of Tyrus, Thus saitli the Lord God, Because thine heart 
 is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of 
 Gocl in the midst of the seas ; yet thou art a man, and not 
 God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God : behold, 
 thou art wiser than Daniel ; there is no secret that they can 
 hide from thee : with thy wisdom and with thine under- 
 standing thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold 
 and silver into thy treasures : by thy great wisdom, and by 
 thy traffick, hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart 
 is lifted up because of thy riches." " Son of man, take up a 
 lamentation ui)on the king of Tyrus, and say unto him. Thus 
 saith the Lord God, Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, 
 and perfect in beauty. Thine heart was lifted up because of 
 thy beauty ; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy 
 brightness: I will cast thee to the ground I will lay thee 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1-8. 189 
 
 before kings, that they may behold thee." * These, and other 
 ex23ressions, are strongly descriptive, at once of the wealth 
 and splendour of Tyre ; of the wisdom by which that wealth 
 was accumulated, and of the boastful self-sufficiency which 
 both inspired. Tyre, at the same time, in the terms of the 
 infidel Yolney (a remarkable, though involuntary, witness to 
 the truth of the divine predictions), was " a nursery of arts 
 and science" — wise also in this department. 
 
 Such was Tyee — " the crowning city" — rivalling the world 
 at once in strength and in beauty and in riches; and puffed 
 up with confidence in the security of the former, and admira- 
 tion of the splendour and vastness of the latter. Then comes 
 the prophecy of her fall : — verse 4 : " Behold, the Lord 
 will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea ; 
 and she shall be devoured with fire." Mark the language. 
 Who was to " smite her power in the sea, and burn her 
 with fire, and cast her out]" Alexander the Great, says 
 history ; Jehovah, f says divine revelation. Eoth are true. 
 Only revelation keeps us in mind that " men are God's 
 hand," — a truth which profane history is too prone to over- 
 look and forget; as indeed we ourselves — all of us — naturally 
 are. The prediction before us of the overthrow of Tyre, is 
 not, as in part we have already seen, the first of the kind. 
 Isaiah predicted it fully and minutely, two centuries earlier 
 than Zechariah; and Ezekiel eighty years before Zechariah, 
 and a hundred and twenty after Isaiah. And from another 
 prophet, further back by more than half-a-century than either 
 of these — the prophet already cited regarding Damascus, — we 
 find the same principle applied, — the principle of Tyrus being 
 visited for her evil-entreating of God's chosen people. " Thus 
 saith the Lord ; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, 
 I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they de- 
 livered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not 
 the brotherly covenant : but I will send a fire on the wall of 
 
 * Chap, xxviii. 2, 5, 12, 17. 
 ■j- The reading of mn^ for ""anx is well sustained by manuscript autlio- 
 rity, and adopted Henderson and otliers. It does not, however, affect 
 the sentiment here expressed. — Ed. 
 
190 LECTURE X. 
 
 Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof." ^ " The 
 brotherly covenant" may have reference to the friendship 
 subsisting, and the league of alliance entered into, between 
 David and Hiram the king of Tyre, and subsequently 
 between Solomon and the same prince. And so too testifies 
 another further back by twenty years than Amos. Joel says 
 — and tlie terms are deserving of special notice — " Yea, and 
 what have ye to do with me, Tyre, and Zidon, and all the 
 coasts of Palestine 1 will ye render me a recompence 1 and if 
 ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your 
 recompence upon yoiu' own head ; because ye have taken my 
 silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my 
 goodly pleasant things : the children also of Judah, and the 
 children of Jerusalem, have ye sold unto the Grecians, that 
 ye might remove them far from their border. Behold, I will 
 raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and 
 will return your recompence upon your own head : and I will 
 sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the chil- 
 dren of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a 
 people far off: for the Loed hath spoken it."t Ezekiel 
 mentions '^Javan," or Greece, as trading with the merchants of 
 Phenicia in the "persons of menr % There was a trade in slaves 
 between them; and among those thus sold by the Pheni- 
 cians, or men of Tyre, were " children of Israel and Judah." 
 And the threatened recompence was verified, as we may see 
 immediately. 
 
 Alexander set his heart on the reduction of Tyre for three 
 reasons: — because it would gratify his love of conquest; 
 because it would clear his way of obstruction, whether 
 going or returning; and because, by the additional and 
 special credit it would bring to his arms, (giving a stronger 
 impression than ever of their indomitable power), it would 
 facilitate, through the operation of fear, his further conquests. 
 But it Avas no easy achievement. The siege detained him, 
 with all his immense force, for seven months. The only 
 way, it was soon found, in which the city could, with any 
 
 * Amos i. 9, 10. f Joel iii. 4—8. J Ezek. xxvii. 13. 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1-8. 191 
 
 possibility of success, Le approached, was by the construction 
 of a mound or pier, of considerable breadth, from the main- 
 land to the island, and so to the walls of the city. The work 
 was one of apparently insurmountable difficulty. It was, 
 however, begun, and prosecuted with an incredible amount 
 of ardour and perseverance ; the ruins of old Tyre supplying 
 largely the necessary materials. The haughty Tyrians at first 
 laughed it to scorn. But when part began to appear above 
 the surface of the water, they became alarmed, and in every 
 possible mode of harassment, set themselves to hinder and 
 terminate it. So many and so great were the difficulties, at 
 once from this cause, and from the effects of storms, in at 
 one time preventing its prosecution, and at another sweeping 
 it away when done, that even the resolution of Alexander 
 had more than once nearly failed. But, rousing the courage 
 of his troops, and taking advantage of their passions, irritated 
 as they were by the galling and often unavoidably destructive 
 assaults of the enemy, he still persisted, till at length a 
 passage was completed; the boasted munitions scaled, the 
 city taken, and pillaged, and burned. I mention the ex- 
 treme difficulty of the enterprise, for the purpose of impress- 
 ing the remembrance, that, in proportion to its difficulty, and 
 the unlikelihood of its ever being tried, far less effected, 
 becomes the remarkableness of the fulfilment of the pre- 
 dictions. 
 
 These various predictions, be it remembered, should be 
 considered as relating to both Tyres — the old and the new ; 
 the one having succeeded the other. First, in fulfilment 
 of them, we have Nebuchadnezzar besieging Old Tyre for 
 no less a period than thirteen years. The time and the 
 difficulty are in full accordance with the remarkable lan- 
 guage of Jehovah to the prophet Ezekiel — "And it came to 
 pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in 
 the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto 
 me, saying, Son of man, Kebuchadrezzar king of Babylon 
 caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus : every 
 head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled ; yet had 
 he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that ho 
 
192 LECTURE X. 
 
 had served against it : therefore thus saith the Lord God, 
 Behold, I will give the land of EgyjDt unto JS'ebuchadrezzar 
 king of Babylon ; and he shall take her multitude, and take 
 her spoil, and take her prey ; and it shall be the wages for 
 his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his 
 labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought 
 for me, saith the Lord God,'* Thus j^erished Old Tyre. 
 Then, two hundred and seventy years after, comes another 
 conqueror against New Tyre, now more glorious and power- 
 ful than ever. And this mighty city, in the way described, was 
 sacked, and burned, and cast into the sea. The valour of the 
 besieged ought, in the bosom of a generous and noble-minded 
 warrior, to have obtained admiration and kind treatment. But 
 Alexander, in the violence of his irritation, showed them no 
 mercy. Though fifteen thousand of the inhabitants escaj)ed 
 in their ships, six thousand or more were slain on the ram- 
 parts; uf)wards of two thousand were crucified along the 
 walls; and thirty thousand prisoners, citizens and foreigners, 
 were all sold into slavery. Thus Joel's prophecy was ful- 
 filled; — a portion of these, we cannot doubt, becoming tlie 
 servants of the Jewish j^eople : the permission of Jehovah 
 being, in this case, as well as in that of the Canaanites, the 
 divine sanction to the property. It was righteous retribution. 
 We have no such divine sanction for slavery ; never had, and 
 never can have. 
 
 "We have still a Tyre in JSTew Testament history. It was 
 thus, tliough not on the same site, again restored. And of 
 that Tyre many and various have been the fortunes since. 
 It was, in the seventh century, taken by the Saracens ; in the 
 twelfth, by the Crusaders ; and for three hundred years it was 
 in possession of the Turks. But the predictions of two thou- 
 sand years were not, even in one iota, to fail, or seem to fail. 
 As the result of Turkish despotism and barbarity, what is Tyre 
 now % " You see here," says one traveller, " no similitude of 
 that glory for which it was so renowned in ancient times. 
 You see here nothing but a mere Babel of broken walls, 
 
 *■ Ezek. xxix. 17—20. 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1—8. 193 
 
 pillars, and vaults. Its present inhabitants are merely a few 
 poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and sub- 
 sisting chiefly by fishing; who seem to be preserved in this 
 place by divine providence, as a visible argument, how God 
 hath fulfilled his word concerning Tyre." And the infidel 
 traveller, formerly cited, thus writes : "Instead of that ancient 
 commerce so active and so extensive, Tyre, reduced to a miser- 
 able village, has no other trade than the exportation of a few 
 sacks of corn and raw cotton ; nor any merchant, but a single 
 Greek factor, in the service of the French of Saide, who 
 scarcely makes sufficient profit to maintain his family." And 
 again — " The whole village of Tyre consists only of fifty or 
 sixty poor families, who live obscurely on the produce of 
 their little ground, and a trifling fislierij'" — and by a third it 
 is represented as " a rock whereon fishers dry their nets." * 
 Thus to the letter has the threatening of God been fulfilled : 
 — " I will make her like the top of a rock : it shall be a 
 place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea ; for 
 I have spoken it." 
 
 " Philistia " — the land of the Philistines, with its principal 
 cities, comes next : verses 5 — 7. " Ashkelon shall see it, 
 and fear; Gaza shall also see it, and be very sorrowful, and 
 Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king 
 shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 
 And a bastard shall dwell in Aslidod, and I will cut off the 
 pride of the Philistines. And I will take away his blood 
 out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his 
 teeth : but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, 
 and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a 
 Jebusite." Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod, were the 
 chief cities of the Philistines ; the capitals of different dis- 
 tricts. And to no one acquainted, how superficially soever, 
 with his Bible need I say, that the Philistines were among 
 the sworn and inveterate enemies of Israel. Their country 
 lay between Tyre (or Phenicia) and Egypt, on the south-east 
 point of the Mediterranean sea. We cannot be surprised that 
 
 * Compare Keith. 
 
 N 
 
194 LECTURE X. 
 
 the news of the fall of such a place as Tyre should have struck 
 alarm into the inhabitants of the whole vicinity. " Fear " 
 and " sorroio " were the prevailing feelings in the bosoms 
 of those who witnessed or who heard of it. When it is said 
 of Ekron — " her expectation shall be ashamed," the expecta- 
 tion probably was, that Tyre would be an insuperable ob- 
 stacle in Alexander's way; that it would arrest his progress. 
 Fear was the very effect which Alexander was desirous to pro- 
 duce. And we cannot doubt the consternation was not 
 small Wliat hope could there be for tliem, when Tyre could 
 not stand before so invincible an arm ! 
 
 Neither with regard to " Philistia " was this the^?-s^ predic- 
 tion : — " For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will 
 not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried 
 away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to 
 Edom : but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which 
 shall devour the palaces thereof: and I will cut off the inhabi- 
 tant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from 
 Ashkelon; and I will turn mine hand against Ekron; and 
 the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saitli the Lord 
 God."* " Eor Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a deso- 
 lation : they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon-day, and 
 Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the 
 sea-coasts, the nation of the Cherethites ! the word of the 
 Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, 
 I ^vill even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 
 And the sea-coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shep- 
 herds, and folds for flocks. "t " Thus saith the Lord God, 
 Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken 
 vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old 
 hatred; therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will 
 stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut 
 off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea-coasts. '";{: 
 " Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, 
 and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that re- 
 main eth; for the Lord will spoil the Philistines, the remnant 
 
 * Amos i. 6—8. f Zepb. ii. 4—6. X Ezek. xxv. 15, 16. 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1—8. 195 
 
 of the country of Caplitor. Baldness is come upon Gaza; 
 Aslikelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley : how 
 long wilt thou cut thyself? thou sword of the Lord, how 
 long will it be ere thou be quiet? Pat up thyself into thy 
 scabbard, rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the 
 Lord hath given it a charge against Aslikelon, and against 
 the sea-shore? there hath he ajDpointed it."* Most minute 
 has been the correspondence of the facts with the predictions. 
 The country, which was rich and productive, has become a 
 desolation : and the fate of the different cities has been in 
 distinctive conformity to the pre -intimation as to each. It is 
 here said — " The king shall perish from Gaza.'''' The cessa- 
 tion of rule or government, in whatever way effected, would 
 have been a sufficient verification of this. Yet we cannot 
 but think of the actual ftite of Gaza's king. The city stood 
 out a two-months' siege : ten thousand of its inhabitants were 
 put to the sword : the remainder were sold as slaves : and 
 Betis, the king, who should have been spared and honoured 
 for his fidelity and bravery, was, in the spirit of a most ig- 
 noble vindictiveness, fastened by cords put through the 
 tendons of the heels, and made to suffer a cruel death by 
 being thus dragged through the streets of his owiv city after 
 the chariot of the conqueror. " Ashkelon shall not be in- 
 habited." And what says the infidel traveller, in common 
 with others ? — " The sea-coast, by which it was formerly 
 washed, is every day removing farther from the deserted ruins 
 of Ashkelon ! " '' And a bastard " — more properly a foreigner 
 or stranger — ^^ shall divell in Ashdod:" or be ruler there. 
 That is, in the first instance, a stranger, of the conqueror's 
 nomination, was placed in Ashdod. But another prophet 
 says — " The inhabitant shall be cut off from Ashdod." And 
 accordingly, the same traveller attests the fact : — " Amidst 
 the various successive ruins, those of Aslidod, so powerful 
 under the Philistines, are now remarkable for their scorpions " 
 — the strongest expression for uninhabited desolateness. 
 " In short," says Dr. Keith, in his excellent volume on ful- 
 
 * Jer. xlvii. 4—7. 
 
196 LECTURE X. 
 
 filled prophecy — a work wliich my young hearers will find 
 full of important information and romantic interest, as well 
 as confirmations of the truth of the Bible, — " In short, cot- 
 tages for shepherds and folds for flochs, partially scattered along 
 the sea-coasts, are now truly the best substitutes for populous 
 cities that the once powerful realm of PhiUstia can produce ; 
 and the remnant of that land, which gave titles and grandeur 
 to the Lords of the Philistines, is destroyed. Gaza, the chief 
 of its Satrapies, ' the abode of luxury and opulence,' now be- 
 reaved of its king, and bald of all its fortifications, is the de- 
 fenceless residence of a subsidiary ruler of a devastated pro- 
 vince; and, in kindred degradation, ornaments of its once 
 splendid edifices are now bedded in a wall that forms an en- 
 closure for beasts. A handful of men could now take unob- 
 structed possession of that place where a strong city opposed 
 the entrance, and defied for a time the power, of the con- 
 queror of the world. The walls, the dwellings, and the 
 people, of Ashkelon have all perished; and although, in the 
 time of the crusades, its name was shouted in triumph 
 throughout every land in Europe, it is now literally ivithout 
 an inhabitant. And Ashdod, which withstood a siege treble 
 the duration of that of Troy " (a siege of twenty-nine years, 
 the longest recorded in history), "and thus outrivalled far the 
 boast of Alexander at Gaza, has, in verification of ' the 
 word of God,' which is sharper than any two-edged sword, 
 been cut off, and has fallen before it to nothing. There is 
 yet another city which was noted by the prophets, the very 
 want of any information about which, and the absence of its 
 name from several modern maps of Palestine, while the sites 
 of other ruined cities are marked, are really the best confir- 
 mation of the truth of the prophecy that could possibly be 
 given — ' Ekron shall be rooted up.^ It is rooted up. It 
 was one of the chief cities of the Philistines : — but, though it 
 still subsists, and Ashkelon and Ashdod retain their names in 
 their ruins, the very name of Ekron is missing." 
 
 Verse 7. " And I will take away his blood out of his 
 mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth : but he 
 that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God; and he shall 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1—8. 197 
 
 be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite." Of 
 the former part of this verse different interpretations have 
 been given. "The PhiHstines and other enemies of the 
 Jews," says Scott, " would be deprived of their power to 
 waste them any more ; and the spoil which they had taken 
 by the most bloody and abominable murders or rapines would 
 be torn from them, as the prey from between the teeth of a 
 wild beast." "Their abandonment of idolatry, and their 
 embracing the true religion," says Dr. Henderson, '' is repre- 
 sented by their no longer drinking blood, and eating things 
 sacrificed to idols, both of which were common among the 
 pagans, but prohibited by the Mosaic law, and by the apos- 
 tles." The latter interpretation accords well — especially in 
 regard to the word "abominations,'' with the prevailing 
 phraseology of Scripture : — and it also harmonizes well with 
 the latter part of the verse, which plainly represents the con- 
 version of the inhabitants of Philistia to the religion and wor- 
 ship of the true God: — "But," or rather and, "he that 
 rcmaineth shall be for our God; and he shall be a governor 
 in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite." At the same time, the 
 latter part of the verse may not less naturally agree with the 
 other interpretation, — meaning " he that is left," after their 
 power to spoil and devour shall be taken away. That many 
 of the Philistines became proselytes to the Jewish religion, 
 we have the testimony of the historian Josephus : — and the 
 import of the words, " And he shall be as a governor in 
 Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite," seems to be, that between 
 the proselyte and the native Jew there should be no distinction ; 
 — that they should enjoy equal privileges and equal honours. 
 " The Jebusites were the original inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
 who, on their subjugation by David, were incorporated among 
 the Jews, and enjoyed their privileges." Araunah the Jebu- 
 site, on whose ground the temple was built, belonged to this 
 class. In the prosperous times of the Maccabean dynasty, 
 there were not a few who thus cast in their lot, as proselytes 
 and fellow-worshippers, with the chosen people. 
 
 And that people the eighth verse represents as under the 
 special protecting care of Jehovah : — " And I will encamp 
 
103 LECTURE X. 
 
 about mine house because of the army, because of him 
 that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and 
 no oppressor shall pass thi'ough them any more : for now 
 have I seen with mine eyes." I give the illustration of 
 these words in the language of Dr. Henderson: — "They 
 were not to be injured by the army of Alexander, either 
 on its march to or from Egypt, a promise which was ful- 
 filled to the letter: for, while that monarcli punished the 
 Samaritans, he showed great favour to the Jews. 'Nov 
 was any foreign oppressor to invade their land, as the Assy- 
 rians and Chaldeans had done, during the period that was 
 to intervene before the advent of the Messiah predicted in 
 the verse immediately following. They were, indeed, subject 
 to much suffering, both from the Egyptian and the S}Tian 
 kings; especially from Antiochus Epiphanes: but their 
 nationality was not destroyed; and tlie evils to which they 
 were exposed only paved the way for the Maccabean victories, 
 and for the estabhshment of the Asmonean dynasty. Eor 
 this preservation they were indebted to the providence of 
 God, which watched over them for good. This is emphati- 
 cally expressed in the last clause of the verse." That clause 
 is, in our version — " for now have I seen -with mine eyes." 
 Better — because more expressive of the evidently intended 
 sentiment — " for now have I looJced," or, now do I look, 
 " with mine eyes." The eyes of his observant faithfulness 
 and love were ever on His people; and His " right hand and 
 his holy arm " — the arm of His power, and skill, and righte- 
 ousness — ever ready to bare itself for their protection and 
 vindication. The expression, " because of Mm that ^9as5- 
 eth by, and because of him thcd returneth^' is rightly, I 
 presume, understood of Alexander and his army, — and it 
 may be of other generals and their armies — passing to and fro 
 from country to country, in their wars with one another and 
 the prosecution of their ambitious conquests. Jehovah would 
 keep watch over His people ; would " encamp round about 
 them" — compassing them Avith His favour, guarding them, 
 hke the unseen " chariots of fire and horses of fire round 
 about Elisha " at Dothan. JSTo invader should dispossess 
 
ZECIIARIAH IX. 1-8. 199 
 
 them. 1^0 oiDpressor should do them permanent wrong. 
 What they did suffer Avould be made to work for their 
 good. Antiochus EpijDhanes did profane the temple; but 
 it was but a passing desecration, and led to the most 
 favourable results. 
 
 We shall now close with a reflection or two from what has 
 been said. 
 
 1 . Every fulfilled prophecy is a distinct proof of the truth 
 of the Bible — of its having been " given by inspiration of 
 God." Prophecy is a miracle. We generally apply the 
 word miracle to supernatural manifestations of poiver; but 
 it is equally applicable to su2:)ernatural manifestations of 
 hioivledge. Knowledge of futurity belongs only to God. 
 And such cases of prediction as we find in this passage, — 
 to which might well be added those respecting Nineveh, 
 Babylon, Jerusalem, and the Jewish people, together with 
 the Avhole extensive scheme of prophecy relating to the Mes- 
 siah and his kingdom, — are all quite beyond the range of the 
 most sagacious and far-seeing guess-work. Jehovah fre- 
 quently appeals to such foreknowledge of the future as one 
 of His distinctive attributes. He challenges on this ground 
 the gods of the Heathen — " Let them show us things to 
 come," " that Ave may know that they are gods." And the 
 accomplishment of divine predictions stands out, incontes- 
 tably, in the records of ancient history; and the proof is 
 ever gaining strength, as time advances, and unfolds the 
 correspondence between present events and the sayings — 
 millenniums back — of " holy men of God who wrote and spoke 
 as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 2. The true value of the evidences of revelation arises 
 from the value of what is revealed. Were it of trivial im- 
 portance, that would be itself a strong presumptive proof — 
 almost, indeed, a conclusive one, — that what professed to be 
 such a revelation had no real title to be so regarded. That 
 which revelation does make known has in it to us a value 
 beyond the powers of man or angel to estimate. It " shows 
 UNTO us THE WxVY OP SALVATION." This is its great discovery. 
 It is no mere re-pubhcation of the lessons of nature. It is 
 
200 LECTURE X. 
 
 not a mere volume of precepts. It does confirm all that nature 
 teaches. It does set before us a perfect code of morals. But 
 it does more. It addresses us not as creatures merely, but 
 as sinners. It makes provision for us in this capacity — 
 for our deliverance from the guilt, condemnation, and punish- 
 ment of sin, and our restoration to the favour, the image, the 
 enjoyment of God; and that for the eternity of our being. 
 It is this that stamps every proof of the divinity of the Bible 
 with such importance, — every species of evidence, and every 
 variety of each species. The investigation of the evidence 
 is what every man in his sane mind should feel to be the 
 most momentous inquiry in Avhich he can possibly be en- 
 gaged. 
 
 3. The past fulfilment of proj)hecy should establish our 
 " faith in God " regarding all that is yet future : and espe- 
 cially our "faith in God" as still, in all His providential 
 administration, having His eye upon His Church: — the 
 same principle which appears under the old economy in His 
 constant regard to Israel, still operating under the new in 
 His equally constant regard to the interests of His spiritual 
 Zion — the "kingdom wliich is not of this world." His 
 entu-e, extensive, and complicated administration is ever 
 working out the development of the plan of salvation. He 
 is bringing on the glory of the latter days ; the restoration 
 of outcast Israel after the flesh, and the filling of the whole 
 earth with the knowledge — the acknowledgment, the wor- 
 ship, the service, and the enjoyment of Himself. Let 
 every such portion of God's word assure us that against His 
 Church "the gates of hell shall not prevail;" that He will 
 ever be "a wall of fire round about her, and the glory in the 
 midst of her;" that "no weapon that is formed against her 
 shall prosper; and that every tongue which, riseth in judg- 
 ment against her he will condemn." "The Lord thy God 
 in the midst of thee is mighty. He mil save. He will re- 
 joice over thee with joy. He "vvill rest in his love. He will 
 joy over thee with singing." 
 
 4. The enemies of God and of His people have cause to 
 tremble. He mil not leave either Himself or His people 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 1—8. 201 
 
 unavenged. He that "touchetli them toucheth the apple 
 of Ms eye." It may at times be difficult to see on which 
 side Hes His favour;— in seasons when "the ungodly pros- 
 per in the world," while "waters of a full cup are wrung out" 
 to the faitliful. In such seasons, love seems as if hidden, 
 and even as inverting the order of its manifestations, and 
 tempting the Christian to say— " How doth God knowl 
 and is there knowledge in the most High?" But when the 
 whole comes to be set by God, and seen by men, in the 
 light of the final judgment, all will be clear. The distinc- 
 tion then, between His people and His enemies, will be 
 fully, finally, and irreversibly marked ; an everlasting sepa- 
 ration made, and the "great gulf fixed between them." On 
 that day, in a higher sense than ever here, " the eyes op men 
 WILL BE TOWARDS THE LoRD." When He takes his seat on 
 the "great white throne," "every eye shall see him." The 
 righteous in that day shall sing, " Lo, this is our God, we 
 have waited for him, and he will save us : this is our God, 
 we have waited for him : we will be glad and rejoice in his 
 salvation:" — while the unbelieving and ungodly shall be 
 found " calhng to the mountains and to the rocks — Fall on 
 us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the 
 throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb : for the great day 
 of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand ! " 
 
 " And these shall go away into everlasting punishment ; 
 but the righteous into everlasting hfe." To which class 
 would you belong? If you would find acceptance with the 
 Judge, believe in the Saviour. If you would be safe before 
 the throne, lay hold on the cross 
 
LECTURE XI 
 
 Zi:cH. IX. 9— J 7. 
 
 " Eejoice greatly, dangliter of Zioii ; sliout, daugiiter of Jerusalem: be- 
 liold, thy King coinetli unto thee: he is just, and having salvation ; lowly, and 
 riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the 
 cliariot from Epliraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and tlie battle bow shall 
 be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the heathen : and his dominion shall 
 be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. As 
 for thee also, by tlie blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of 
 the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: 
 even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; when I have bent 
 Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, Zion, 
 against thy sons, Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. And 
 the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning; 
 and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the 
 south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them ; and they shall devour, and subdue 
 with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and 
 they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. And the Lord 
 their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people : for they shall 
 be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. For how great 
 is his goodness, and how great is his beauty ! corn shall make the young men 
 cheerful, and new Avine the maids." 
 
 In the former part of this chapter, we found, in the progres- 
 sive conquests of Alexander the Great, and the favour which, 
 in the midst of them, he showed to Jerusalem, the execution 
 of God's vengeance, as here threatened, against the enemies 
 and oppressors of His people, along with His protecting care 
 (for men are God's hand) over His people themselves. By the 
 reference to these speedily coming events, and in them to the 
 career of that mighty prince and warrior, of whom it has been 
 strongly said, that, having conquered one world, he sat down 
 and wept that he had not another to conquer, — the Prophet, 
 
ZECHAEIAH IX. 9-17. 203 
 
 under the impulse of inspiration, is rapt into times more dis- 
 tant, and fixing Lis eye on a king and conqueror of a very 
 different description, invites his people, in terms of exulting 
 transport, to hail his coming : — " Eejoice greatly, daughter 
 of Zion ; shout, daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy King 
 cometh unto thee : he is just, and having salvation ; lowly, 
 and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 
 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse 
 from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he 
 shall speak peace unto the heathen : and his dominion shall 
 be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends 
 of the earth." 
 
 That these verses have direct reference to the first advent 
 of the long-promised Messiah, was admitted by all the ancient 
 Jewish authorities : * and it can be questioned by no believer 
 in the divine authority of the J^ew Testament Scriptures. 
 The express references to the prophecy, as having its accom- 
 plishment in one of the incidents of the life of Jesus, put 
 this beyond a doubt, t 
 
 An observation here suggests itself respecting the evi- 
 dence of divine revelation from x>rophecy, — that predictions 
 like that before us are far from being the most conclusive 
 proofs. The reason is obvious. The act is expressly de- 
 scribed by the Prophet. It was therefore in the power 
 of any one who chose to make pretensions to the Messiah- 
 ship, — to his being the " King" here predicted, — to conform, 
 in as imposing a way as he could, to the prophetic de- 
 scription. There are but few of the prophecies of which 
 this can be alleged. Had there been only such, it would 
 have exposed the whole argument to doubt and suspicion. 
 The strongest of the evidences from prophecy is that drawn 
 from cases in which the fulfihnent is brought about by the 
 agency of those who knew nothing whatever of the very 
 existence of the predictions ; or of those to whose hkings 
 the predictions were obnoxious, and who yet fulfilled them 
 
 * It was not till the twelfth century tliat it was otherwise inter- 
 preted. — Ed. 
 
 t See M£itt. xxi. 1 — 5; and John xii. 12 — 16. 
 
204 LECTURE XL 
 
 when they were aiming at the very contrary. Many such 
 cases might be adduced in ilUistration from the history of 
 our Lord, but they are not needed. The lorinciple is suffi- 
 ciently evident. 
 
 The prospect of the advent of Messiah was one to be hailed 
 by the people of Judah and Jerusalem (here denoted by 
 a common designation in the proj^hets, " The daughter of 
 Zion,") with acclamations of transport. And the reasons are 
 here assigned. They are found in his personal and his official 
 character. We have 
 
 1. Royal dignity : — " Tliy King comcth unto thee !" And 
 the designation is emphatic — " Tliy King," as if they had 
 never had another. This is on the same principle as when 
 Jehovah says by Isaiah, " Behold my servant, whom I up- 
 hold!" as if there were no servant but Him; so infinitely 
 did His service surpass that of all others — that of all others, 
 indeed, deriving its interest from its relation to His. That 
 royalty was to pertain to the coming Messiah might be shown 
 from many predictions. He was to " sit" on the throne of 
 David for ever.* And this promise of the covenant with 
 David was announced by the angel, as receiving its fulfil- 
 ment at his conception and birth. His being a Icing Avas 
 anything but an objection to the Jews. But the land of 
 royalty was not at all to their minds. His kingdom was 
 not to be " of this world." Its throne was not to be in 
 this world. He was to receive the sceptre in heaven ; " at 
 the right hand of the Majesty" there. He is "King of 
 kings and Lord of lords." "All things" are "put under his 
 feet." t There was the humiliation first ; then the glory. 
 First the cross; then the crown. He was bom of royal 
 lineage — born a king ; though, strictly speaking, his media- 
 torial reign did not commence till, having finished his work 
 on earth, the Father said unto him, " Sit thou at my right 
 hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool." We have — 
 
 2. The righteousness of his character and administration : 
 " He is just." The designation is to be understood as at 
 
 * Compare Isa. ix. 7 ; and Luke i. 32. f Eplies. i. 22. 
 
ZECHARIAH IX, 9—17. 205 
 
 once personal and official : for, indeed, were there not the 
 former, there could be little reason to count upon the latter. 
 This attribute is frequently ascribed to him, as characterising 
 himself and his government : — "And he shall not judge after 
 the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his 
 ears : but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, aiid 
 reprove with equity for the meek of the earth : and he shall 
 smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the 
 breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteous- 
 ness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the 
 girdle of his reins."* Jehovah calls him " my righteous ser- 
 vant." And His language by Jeremiah is, " Behold the days 
 come, saitli the Lord, that I will raise unto David a right- 
 eous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall 
 execute judgment and justice in the earth." t And this corre- 
 sponds with New Testament designations and descriptions of 
 him : — " That thou shouldst see that just One : " " Ye denied 
 the holy One and the Just.'' His character, in principle and 
 in practice, was the sinless perfection of righteousness. His 
 throne is founded in the very charter of righteousness. And 
 his whole administration is conducted on the principles of 
 the purest and most unbending righteousness. We have — 
 3, His saving grace and poiDer : — " Having salvation." 
 1 assume the correctness of the rendering. X " Salved io7i" was 
 the very object of his coming. " The Son of man is come, 
 to save that which was lost." And, this particular connects 
 with the one preceding. The very design of his atonement 
 was to render salvation consistent with the claims of righte- 
 ousness: so that Jehovah might be "a just God and a 
 Saviour.'' § When he had completed his work, he was to 
 
 * Isa. xi. 3—5. t Jei'- XX'*'- ^• 
 
 I The verb here is in the Niphal form ; and many give it a strictly 
 •passive signification, and render ''■saved'' "righteous and saved;" 
 understanding it of Christ's deliverance from the grave after His re- 
 surrection. But this is surely, to say the least, extremely forced and 
 unnatural. Dr. Henderson maintains that while the exigency of the 
 case demands an active sense, there are not wanting instances in which 
 the Niphal form, though usually passive, has a " signification purely 
 active." — Ed. 
 
 § Compare Rom. iii. 25, 26. 
 
206 LECTURE XI. 
 
 ^^ have salvation;'' not only as being himself delivered from 
 death, but as possessing for bestowal on mankind all the 
 blessings of "salvation" — beginning in pardon, and ending 
 in " LIFE ETERN.5JL." * Mark — 
 
 4. The liumiUtij and meekness of his character: — "lowly, 
 AND RIDING UPON AN ASS, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." 
 This attribute of character distinguished his entire course; 
 all his intercourse v/ith men — with his friends, and with his 
 enemies. And he held it forth as an encouragement to all, 
 to come to him for his instructions, and his blessings: — 
 " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and 
 I v/ill give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of 
 me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find 
 rest unto your souls." t How wonderful is this lowliness 
 vv'hen, to give his disciples a practical lesson in the virtue by 
 his example, he performed the menial service to each of 
 them in succession, of washing their feet! — And even his 
 triumphs were lowly; — '- riding upon an ass/' and not one 
 that had been trained for the use of royalty, but, as would 
 appear, a rough unbroken colt — " a colt the foal of an ass." 
 Although the ass was not the very mean and despised ani- 
 mal there that it is with us, yet comparatively it was so. The 
 lioree was the animal used in war ; and, consequently, in the 
 triumphal processions of kings and conquerors ; and, on such 
 occasions, arrayed in costly and elegant caparisons. K'ot 
 such the procession of " Zion's King and Zion's Lord." 
 Hailed he was, "with hosannahs of acclamation; but under 
 mistaken and temporary impressions. The Hosannah was 
 exchanged for the vengeful cry " Away with him ! Crucify 
 him!" His general reception was that depicted with such 
 pathos by another prophet : — " He shall grow up before him 
 as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he 
 hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, 
 there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is de- 
 spised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted 
 
 * Compare John xvii. 1—3. t Matt. xi. 28, 29. 
 
ZECHARIAII IX. 9—17. 207 
 
 with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from hini; he 
 was despised, and we esteemed him not."* 
 
 5. The mode and means of the extension of the king- 
 dom corresj)ond loitli its sjnritual nature : — " And I will 
 
 CUT OFF THE CHAEIOT FROM EpHRAIM, AND THE HORSE 
 
 FROM Jerusalem; and the battle-bow shall be cut off." 
 This, at the coming of the Messiah, was literally true re- 
 specting the civil and military power of the Jewish people. 
 At the very time when they were looking for a Messiah who 
 was to break the yoke from off their neck, estabhsh their 
 temporal freedom and power, and lead them on to universal 
 conquest, their power was finally overthrown and destroyed, 
 their temple and city laid in ashes, and themselves scattered 
 abroad among all nations. Yet the kingdom of the Messiah 
 grew and prospered. This itself showed its true nature. 
 It was not, as the Jews anticipated, to be a Jeicish kingdom. 
 It was to have subjects among all peoples. And these sub- 
 jects were not to be gained for him by the sword of steel, 
 but by "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 
 It was by such means alone his spiritual dominion was ex- 
 tended. It consisted of all, wherever his truth spread, 
 whom that truth made free — spiritually free. All thus made 
 free come under willing and happy subjection to his gracious 
 sceptre. Force never made one subject of the King of 
 Zion. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy 
 power." Then — 
 
 6. We have another leading characteristic of his reign — 
 "^:)eace." "And he shall speak peace to the heathen," 
 or "to the nations." This is a feature of his reign fre- 
 quently celebrated: — "How beautiful upon the mountains 
 are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publish- 
 eth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publish- 
 eth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." 
 " I create the fruit of tliy lips ; Peace, peace to him that is 
 far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will 
 heal him."t This latter passage is quoted by the Apostle 
 
 * Isa. liii. 2, 3. f Isa. lii. 7; Ivii. 19. 
 
208 LECTURE XT. 
 
 Paul as having found its accomplishment in the union of 
 Jews and Gentiles with each other, and the reconciliation of 
 both to God : — " For he is our peace, who hath made both 
 one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition be- 
 tween us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even 
 the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to 
 make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 
 and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by 
 the cross, having slain the enmity thereby : and came and 
 preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them 
 that were nigh."* By his Gospel — which is the message 
 of peace — he " speaks peace " to sinners of mankind, whether 
 Jews or heathens. Its first proclamation is one of "peace 
 with God!' This is the first form of peace to which the 
 Gospel is meant to bring the sinner : and this it proclaims to 
 mankind at large. There is no exception. It was under the 
 influence of the principles of the Gospel of peace, that, at the 
 outset of the kingdom, " the multitude of them that believed 
 were of one heart and of one soul." And it will be under 
 the extending influence of the same principles that the pro- 
 phetic description shall in due time be realized: — "The 
 wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall 
 lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young lion and 
 the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. And 
 the cow and tlie bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie 
 down together : and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And 
 the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the 
 weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 
 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain : 
 for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as 
 the waters cover the sea."t Last of all, we have — 
 
 7. The extent of his reign : — " And his dominion shall 
 
 BE FROM SEA EVEN TO SEA, AND FROM THE RIVER EVEN TO THE 
 
 ENDS OF THE EARTH." Tliis, as following his " speaking 
 peace to the nations,'' is rightly rendered — not " to the ends 
 of the land," but " to the ends of the earth:'' And the lan- 
 
 * Eph. ii. 14—17. t Isa. xi. 6—9. 
 
ZECIIARIAH IX. 9—17. 209 
 
 guage employed was universally understood by the Jews as 
 embracing the iclwle looiid. The same terms occur, and with 
 the same reference, in the seventy-second Psalm : " He shall 
 have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto 
 the ends of the earth." His reign was thus to be universal, 
 embracing all nations. But in a sense how widely different 
 from Jewish anticipations ! Instead of other nations being 
 brought under their dominion, — a kind of universal monarchy, 
 of which they were to be the head and ruling power; — they 
 were to be "cast off" that other peoples might be "brought 
 in." So that, while his kingdom was to prevail and pros- 
 per, it was to be among other nations, — the great body of 
 Israel being rejected for their unbelief, and the Gentiles 
 coming in their room — and the subjection to it was to be 
 all spiritual. It is widening ; and in due time, '' the king- 
 doms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God 
 and of his Christ." 
 
 The great difficulty, as to the remainder of the chapter, is 
 to determine the true principle of interpretation for it. Thr^e 
 are adopted — 1. The literal: according to which, the two 
 verses just commented on are an interruption of the pre- 
 vious subject; and at the eleventh verse there is an imme- 
 diate return to it. — 2. The s-piritual: according to which 
 the following verses are interpreted in a figurative sense, as 
 having reference to the kingdom of Messiah : 3. The literal 
 and spiritual jointly — the one as typical of the other. 
 
 Those who adopt the first of these principles understand 
 the remainder of the passage as relating to the same period 
 of the Jewish history as the verses preceding the ninth ; — 
 the period, that is, previous to the coming of Christ ; 
 only of course a somewhat later portion of it. They under- 
 stand the " Covenant'' in verse eleventh of the covenant 
 of peculiar national privilege and blessing into which the 
 Jews as a people were taken at Sinai — ratified by " the blood 
 of calves and goats with the water and scarlet wool and 
 hyssop;" the "prisoners,'' in that and the next verse, 
 of the Jewish exiles, in bondage, in Egypt, and Greece, 
 and otlier countries, whose return to Judea and Jerusalem 
 
 o 
 
210 LECTURE XI. 
 
 is promised, and who are invited to such return; and the 
 rest of the description as relating to the miUtary prowess and 
 exploits of the Jews, under the protection and leadership of 
 their covenant God, in the times of their Maccabean princes ; 
 to the divine favour in granting these successes, represented, 
 under various sublime figures, as interposing in their behalf ; 
 and bestowing upon them at once the glory and the joy of 
 triumph over their foes, and the abundance of corn and wine, 
 — plentiful harvests, peace, and earthly prosperity. 
 
 That the passage admits of this literal interpretation — and 
 that too without great straining — may be freely granted. 
 Yet it does appear to me somewhat unnatural to suppose so 
 brief an interlude as that in the ninth and tenth verses, — 
 and then an immediate return to the former subject, broken 
 off to introduce it ; — making these two verses, insulated and 
 by themselves, a mere parenthetic exclamation of anticipa- 
 tive triumph in the prospect of Messiah's coming, uncon- 
 nected altogether with what follows. And then the union 
 of the literal and the spiritual under the idea of type and 
 antitype^ seems not less, if not even more, unnatural. That 
 the Jews were a typical people, no one denies. They were 
 typical of the " chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the 
 holy nation, the peculiar j^eople" of New Testament days — 
 of the new and later economy. Their deliverance from 
 Egypt, and their march through the wilderness, and their 
 final settlement in the land of promise, — can readily enough 
 be conceived of as, in an interesting way, representing the 
 greater redemption from the bondage of sin and Satan, and 
 the safe-conduct of all the subjects of that redemption, the 
 spiritual " Israel of God/' to the Canaan of everlasting rest 
 above. But it is surely too much to convert into types even 
 those parts of their subsequent history which have no record 
 in insj^ired writ; and of which we have our information 
 only from apocryphal and profane authors; — to represent 
 these as foreshadowing the spiritual events of the Messiah's 
 kingdom. Should we, in some cases, be constrained to ad- ' 
 mit a double sense in prophecy, I cannot but think it un- 
 reasonable and mischievous to carry the application of the 
 principle thus far. 
 
ZECIIAlilAII IX. 9— 17. 211 
 
 You will perceive to what tliese remarks tend. I am fur 
 from affirming that tliere is no difficult}^ in the interpretation 
 of the passage, when considered as having reference to the 
 same subject which the Prophet had introduced in the im- 
 mediately preceding verses ; as having reference, that is, to 
 the conquests of the King of Zion — the spiritual conquests 
 of the righteous, the lowly, the peaceful Eedeemer and 
 Saviour of men, and the peculiar blessings of his reign. 
 Such, however, is the view I am disposed to adopt. Taking 
 up this principle of interpretation, let us select the chief 
 contents of the passage. 
 
 1. The ransom from spiritual captivity p)'i'omised and 
 offered: — verses 11, 12. "As for thee also, by the blood of 
 thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit 
 wherein is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye pri- 
 soners of hope : even to-day do I declare that I will render 
 double unto thee." 
 
 Who is here addressed? Probably the Messiah. It is 
 Jehovah's covenant promise to Him of the results of his 
 blood-shedding; and the free invitation of sinners to avail 
 themselves of it. The " covenant of peace " was between the 
 Father and the Son. Well might it be called, in addressing 
 the Messiah, Ids covenant; seeing it was by him that its 
 conditions — all-fearful as they were — were undertaken and 
 executed; seeing it was by his blood it was finally rati- 
 fied; and seeing it was under his administration that all its 
 blessed results, in time and in eternity, were to be realized. 
 The state of sinners, under the power of sin and Satan, and 
 subjects of the law's curse, is often, and naturally, represented 
 as a state of miserable bondage. The figure, in the verse 
 before us, is taken from the condition of captives in confine- 
 ment in some low dungeon, or pit dug for the purpose, and 
 perishing from thirst. Jehovah promises (for prophecies of 
 what is future are often in past time, intimating the sureness 
 of their fulfilment) that his blood should not be shed in vain. 
 He undertakes for the release and freedom of all who were 
 " given to him " — " thy prisoners^ He engages to bring 
 them out of the pit to the light and air of heaven, and to the 
 
212 LECTURE XI. 
 
 full and free enjoyment of the blessings to wliicli they have 
 been redeemed. TJie " water that he should give them should 
 be in them a well of water, springing up into everlasting 
 life." In " the glorious liberty of the children of God," they 
 should exult in looking back upon the darkness, and chains, 
 and misery, and death, from which they had been emanci- 
 pated, and anticipate the fulness of their freedom and their 
 blessedness in the world to come. And all this is done 
 " hy the hlood of thy covenant.'' That blood was the price 
 of the release : and, in the testimony of the Gospel, the in- 
 strumental means, under the agency of the Spirit, of effect- 
 ing the rescue. 
 
 And then, sinners universally, as " prisoners of hope " 
 — prisoners, that is, whose case was not desperate — are in- 
 vited to avail themselves of the offered freedom. A " strong 
 hold " was provided for them, where no enemy could reach 
 or injure them; where they should be secure from the arrest 
 of the broken law, and from the stroke of injured justice; 
 Avhere the very God against whom they had sinned, instead 
 of punishing, would keejD, and bless and save them. The 
 " strong hold " is Christ. He is the perishing sinner's 
 refuge and security. And the divine engagement to all who 
 flee to Him is — " Even Iro-day do I declare, that I will ren- 
 der double unto thee."' Unto thee: — that is, to the pri- 
 soners who comply with the invitation, taken individually. 
 " Double " has frequently the sense, not strictly of twice the 
 quantity, but simply of great abundance. It seems to mean 
 here, a large amount of blessing, — outweighing for all the 
 misery of the bondage from which they have been freed. 
 It is the language of free, rich grace; — the language of 
 Him who, to those who accept his mercy, bestoAvs his 
 blessing in no stinted measure. " To-day do I declare,'' 
 is an expression which may be understood as having re- 
 ference to the predicted time — the time of the Messiah's 
 coming and work ; called in the New Testament " the ac- 
 cepted time, and the day of salvation." And the words con- 
 tinue ahcays true. To every sinner in this assembly God 
 
ZECHARIAH IX. 9—17. 213 
 
 says — "Even to-day do I declare that I will render double 
 unto tliee." 
 
 2. We have the agencij by which the spiritual conquests 
 of Messiah were to be carried on: — verse 13. "When I 
 have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with EiDhraim, and 
 raised up thy sons, Zion, against thy sons, Greece, and 
 made thee as the sword of a mighty man." We saw from 
 the tenth verse that the weapons of earthly and secular power 
 were to be taken from the Jewish people, at the time of 
 Messiah's coming. By this we are shut up to one or other 
 of two things respecting the verse read : namely, either to 
 go back to the former period — the period preceding that 
 coming, and interpret it literally; or, if we take it as'' refer- 
 ring to the times of the Messiah, to interpret it sjilritucdly. 
 I prefer the latter. I understand the words as figuratively 
 representing the spiritual agency of the Apostles and other 
 " ministers of the word " — wielders of " the sword of the 
 Spirit;" and whose work is repeatedly represented under 
 the image of a warfare.* It was to be Jeio against 
 Gentile; or rather for Gentile, but against the prevailing 
 idolatries and superstitious and impious systems of the 
 Heathen nations. We need not be surprised at the lan- 
 guage — "thy sons, Zion, against thy sons, Greece," 
 — when we recollect how frequently, in the ^N'ew Testa- 
 ment, Grceh stands for the more general designation of 
 Gentile. " There is no dijBference between the Jew and the 
 Greek :^" — the gospel is " to the Jew first, and also to the 
 Greek." And it is represented as specially opposed to, and 
 destined to overturn, all the power and influence of Grecian 
 wisdom : — " For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks 
 seek after wisdom : but we preach Christ crucified, unto the 
 Jews a stumbhng-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 
 but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, 
 Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because 
 the foolishness of God is wiser than men: and the weakness 
 of God is stronger than men. For ye see your callin<', 
 
 * 2 Cor. X. 3—5; Eph. vi. IC— 18. 
 
214 LECTURE XI. 
 
 brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not 
 many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath 
 chosen the foohsh things of the world to confound the wise ; 
 and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to con- 
 found the things which are mighty ; and base things of the 
 world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, 
 and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are : 
 that no flesh should glory in his presence."* Considering, 
 then, this war as the war of truth against error, and as 
 having for its object the subjugation of the world to Christ, 
 we have — 
 
 3. The manifed 'presence and poicer of God ivith his ser- 
 vants in the prosecution of it: — verses 14 — 16. " And the 
 LoKD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth 
 as the lightning : and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, 
 and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of 
 hosts shall defend them ; and they shall devour, and subdue 
 with sling-stones ; and they shall drink, and make a noise as 
 through wine ; and they shall be filled hke bowls, and as the 
 corners of the altar. And the Lord their God shall save 
 them in that day as the flock of his people : for they shall 
 be as the stones of a crown, hfted up as an ensign upon his 
 land." I have given the general idea. But the particularity 
 in the detail is various and full of interest. In the first ex- 
 pression — " Jehovah shall be seen over them," there seems 
 an allusion to the ancient visible symbol of the divine pre- 
 sence and blessing — the " pillar of cloud and fire." The mean- 
 ing seems to be that the interpositions of divine power, pro- 
 vidential and miraculous, in behalf of His servants, would be 
 as satisfactory a proof of His being with them, as if He had 
 visibly accompanied them. " And his arroio shall go forth 
 as lightning,^' strongly expresses the speed and the resist- 
 less p)Ower of His converting grace. The arrow of divine 
 truth, with which the apostolic bow was fitted, carried con- 
 viction to the conscience, and quickening power to the heart. 
 By killing it made alive. Are we not reminded of the lan- 
 
 * \ Cor. i, 22—29. 
 
ZECflAPJAH IX. 9—17. 215 
 
 guage of the psalmist, addressed by the Spirit of God in him 
 to the same personage as here, the Messiah — " Gird thy 
 sword upon thy thigh, most Mighty, with thy glory and 
 thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because 
 of truth, and meekness, and rigliteousness : and thy right 
 hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp 
 in the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall 
 under thee."'" ''And the Lord God shall hloiv the trumpet, 
 and shall go ivith whirlwinds of the soidh." The terms 
 are still martial. The trumpet blowing, very naturally re- 
 presents the proclamation of the Gospel by divine authority, 
 and with accompanying divine power; the design being the 
 gathering of outcast sinners to Christ's standard, and thus 
 the enlargement of his spiritual host, and the increased rapid- 
 ity of his conquests. The closing figure in this verse 
 appears to convey, very impressively, his carrying everythhig 
 he/ore him. What can resist the " whirlwind of the south ? " 
 What power, of earth or hell, could withstand the mighty 
 energy of Divine grace, when God had a purpose of mercy 
 and salvation ? Thousands after thousands were subdued to 
 the authority and grace of the exalted Son of God. The 
 early progress was marvellous. The first messengers— or 
 ratlier (to keep by the figure) warriors of the cross, were 
 charged with " turning the world upside down." The whole 
 extent of the Eoman empire was speedily pervaded by the 
 overturning power. They were ever under divine protection : 
 — " Tlie Lord God shall defend them.'' They were in the 
 midst of enemies, numerous, powerful, and bitter. But 
 " greater was He who was for them, than all that could be 
 against them." He interposed for their deliverance from the 
 violence of the enemy, by providential arrangements, by earth- 
 quakes, by angelic messengers, by direct punitive and deadly 
 judgments. He released them,, to the amazement and con- 
 fusion of their enemies, from the closest and most vigilant 
 confinement. He whispered to them, in visions of the night 
 — " Be of good cheer : " " speak, and hold not thy peace ; 
 
 * Tsa. xlv. 3—5. 
 
216 LECTURE XI. 
 
 for I am with thee, aiul no man shall set on thee to hurt thee." 
 He enabled them, in faith to exclaim — " He hath said I will 
 never leave thee nor forsake thee : so that we may boldly say, 
 The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man can do unto 
 me :" — " If God be for us, who can be against us? He that 
 spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how 
 shall he not with him also freely give us all things? "Who 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, 
 or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, 
 or sword ? (As it is written. For thy sake we are killed all 
 the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) 
 Kay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through 
 him that loved us.''"' 
 
 " They shall devour" is another martial metaphor, meaning 
 that their enemies should be swallowed up before them. 
 In the phrase — " And shall subdue with sling-stones," the 
 " with " is supplementary. It is rendered by Dr. Hender- 
 son, " They shall tread down the sling-stones : " of which 
 the meaning may be, that the missiles by which their enemies 
 sought to injure them and arrest their progress, should prove 
 of no avail; only falling at their feet and being trampled 
 in the dust. — And in their whole course, amidst all their trials 
 and difficulties, they should enjoy abundance of divine supports 
 and consolations — those communications of divine influence 
 to their souls, which should refresh, and invigorate, and cheer 
 them, "as wine maketli glad the heart of man:" — " thep 
 shall drinlc, and make a noise as through lo'ine; and they shall 
 he filled like boivls, and as the corners of the altar.'' The 
 " bowls " may be the vessels in which hbations were poured 
 out, and " the corners of the altar," receptacles there for the 
 reception of what was poured over the sacrifice. They should 
 thus be "filled with the Spirit." The influences of the 
 divine Spirit are, on various occasions, symbolized by wine, 
 which " maketh glad the heart of man." And the general 
 idea is that of sacred joy — inward delight and exultation of 
 spirit; expressed, it may be, by songs and shoutings. Then 
 
 * Rom. viii. 31, 32, 35—39. 
 
ZECHARTAH IX. 9—17. 217 
 
 they are represented as enjoying safety — safety like tliat 
 of a flock gathered into the fold, and under the eye and the 
 watchful care of the faithful shepherd ; — and honour, high esti- 
 mation and preciousness in the Lord's eyes : — " they shall be 
 as the stones of a crown ; " as precious jewels in the diadem 
 of royalty. And indeed all believers are as precious stones 
 in the crown of the King of Zion. And they shall be borne 
 high; the honour put by God upon them being made so 
 manifest and conspicuous, that it should have the effect of 
 an ensign, under which the inhabitants of " his land " might 
 enlist as soldiers in His spiritual army, and around which 
 they might rally for united action against the common foe. 
 
 The closing verse is the utterance of grateful admiration : — • 
 " For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty ! 
 corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine 
 the maids." 
 
 The "goodness'" — the benevolence of God is nowhere so 
 manifested as by the Gospel. It is here He opens his heart, 
 and pours out the very fulness of its love. Who can look at 
 the CROSS, — who can read the " exceeding gi-eat and precious 
 promises" made to believing sinners in the name of Him 
 who died there, without exclaiming, — and, did we feel as 
 we ought, the exclamation would be one of transport — 
 " How great is his goodness I " 
 
 But it is not the goodness of God alone that is to be seen 
 in the Gospel. " How great is his heauty I" — the loveliness 
 of his entire character — its light, as well as its love; — the 
 united harmony of all its attributes in the work of Christ ! 
 We are not truly under the renewing influence of the Holy 
 Spirit, if it is only His goodness that we admire. The faith 
 of the Gospel imparts a spiritual taste for " the beauty of 
 holiness" as well as of love. It teaches and disposes us to 
 delight in all that God is ! 
 
 It is while enjoying in abundance the provision made by 
 Plis goodness, — and by His goodness in union and harmony 
 with the perfection of His whole character, — for all our 
 spiritual wants : — " Corn shcdl mahe the young men cheerfulf 
 and new wine the maids.'" " Corn and ivine'' are the invari- 
 
218 LECTURE XT. 
 
 able symbols for abundant provision of all needful good. 
 And, taken siDiritually, they mean all that is nourishing, and 
 all that is cheering, to the divine life in the soul. 
 In conclusion : — 
 
 1. Wliat cause of exulting joy have we all in the mission 
 and work of the divine Messiah ! Let us, beheving in him, 
 " rejoice in his salvation." 
 
 2. Wliile contemplating his all-perfect character, — his 
 equity, his saving grace and compassion, his meekness and 
 lowliness and self-denying condescension, — seek to have the 
 elements of that character more and more transfused into your 
 own hearts, and developed in your lives. 
 
 3. Seek, by the diligent use of all the legitimate means 
 in your power, the widening extension of Christ's king- 
 dom, — means corresponding with its spiritual nature; de- 
 lighting in its anticipated universality — when the angelic 
 hymn shall be realized beyond all previous experience — 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace ; good- 
 will towards men !" 
 
 4. Be specially thankful for your deliverance at once from 
 the guilt and condemnation, and from the bondage of sin ; 
 and seek to show your emancipation from its power, by 
 denying it in every kind and in every degree; — ready to 
 resist, were it even unto blood, " striving against it." Prize 
 and hold fast your freedom ; not " using it as a cloak of 
 maliciousness, but in love serving one another." 
 
 5. Ever put your trust in God — for protection from 
 enemies; for support in trials; for deliverance in dangers; 
 for guidance in perplexities ; for success in all your efforts 
 to advance His glory. He alone can grant these blessings. 
 He alone can " send prosperity ! " 
 
 6. Seek a greater relish for spiritual blessings. He has 
 provided suitable nutriment for the soul. Those souls can- 
 not be in a thriving state, if there is little rehsh for the 
 provision. The greater this rehsh — the more exquisite will 
 be your ejijoyment of all the "good and perfect gifts" of 
 the divine benevolence; and the more rapid Avill be your 
 
ZECHAPJAH IX. 9—17. 219 
 
 growth in the divine Hfe, and in meetness for God's jjre- 
 sent and eternal service. 
 
 7. Lastly — To those who may yet be the voluntary cap- 
 tives and bond-slaves of sin, and Satan, and the world, — 
 willing and pertinacious exiles from God's favour, — I can 
 only now repeat the summons — " Tukn ye to the stkong 
 HOLD, YE PEisoNERS OP HOPE." There is hope. There still is 
 hope. But the time of hope is shortening every moment, 
 and never a moment sure. And if you accept not the ofiered 
 freedom this very day — to-morrow it may be for ever too 
 late. 
 
LECTURE XII. 
 
 Zech. X. 1 — 5. 
 
 "Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord sh:ill 
 make briglit clouds, and give tlieni showers of rain, to every one grass in the 
 field. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and 
 liave told false dreams; they comfurt in vain • therefore they went their way as 
 a fl( ck, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. Mine anger was 
 kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts 
 hath visited his flock the house of Jndali, and hath made them as his goodly 
 horse in the battle. Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out 
 of him the battle-bow, out of him every oj)pressor together. And they shall be 
 as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the 
 l)attle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on 
 horses shall be confounded." 
 
 At the ninth verse of the preceding chapter, we found the 
 INIessiah introduced; that verse being expressly and repeat- 
 edly applied to him in the ISJew Testament Scriptures. 
 I then noticed what appeared to me the wmaturalness 
 of interpreting that and the following verse as entirely in- 
 sulated from the previous and subsequent connexion, and 
 supposing the Prophet to return at the eleventh and follow- 
 ing verses to the affairs of the Jews in the times immediately 
 following that in which he lived. I adopted the principle 
 of interpretation for the remainder of the chapter, which con- 
 siders it as referring, under figures chiefly borrowed from 
 military heroism, and the exploits of war and conquest, to 
 the spiritual warfare of the apostles and other " good soldiers 
 of Jesus Christ," the " Captain of salvation.'' The chapter 
 closed with another figure, representing, as I conceive the 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 1—5. 221 
 
 enjoyment of the rich abimdance of spiritual blessings, Ly 
 the plenty which, when war ceases, is the result of the re- 
 stored and settled peace : — " For how great is his goodness, 
 and how great is his beauty? Corn shall make the young 
 men cheerful, and new wine the maids."* 
 
 l!^ow it is with this last verse that the first of the chapter 
 before us is evidently to be connected. Wlience the abun- 
 dance of the corn and the wine? The implied answer is — 
 FiiOM Jehovah. This is the ever-recurring lesson of the 
 Eible. We are never allowed, amidst the laws, and resources, 
 and influences of nature, to forget the God of nature. All 
 is under His supervision and control. The returning summers 
 and autumns are productive or unproductive as He pleases. 
 It is of His riches the earth is full. " Is there any among 
 the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain ? Or can the 
 heavens give showers'?" " He w^atereth the hills from his 
 chambers : the earth is satisfied witli the fruit of thy w^orks. 
 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and the herb fur 
 the service of man : that he may bring forth food out of the 
 earth ; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil 
 to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth 
 man's heart."t " Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it : 
 thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full 
 of water : thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so pro- 
 vided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly ; 
 thou settlest the furroAvs thereof; thou makest it soft with 
 showers; thou blessest the springing thereof: thou crowmest 
 the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.":): 
 And this first verse teaches the lesson of dependence, and the 
 duty of owning that dependence by prayer to Him from 
 whom alone all good comes: — "Ask ye of the Lord rain 
 in the time of the latter rain ; so the Lord shall make bright 
 clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in 
 the field." Forgetfulness of this dependence and of this 
 duty was one of the sins specially charged by the prophets 
 against the Jewish people : — " Neither say they in their heart, 
 
 * aiap. ix. 17. t Psa. civ. 13—15. | Psa. Ixv. 9—11. 
 
222 LECTUEE XII. 
 
 Let lis now fear tlie Lord our God, that givetli rain, both 
 the former and the latter, in his season : he reserveth unto ns 
 the appointed weeks of the harvest."'"' 
 
 But the lesson is as true, and as important, in regard to 
 spiritual as in regard to temporal things. The figure, indeed, 
 taken from husbandry, — from its labours and from the causes 
 of success or of failure in those labours — is most natural, 
 and of frequent use in Scripture: — "In that day sing ye 
 (into her, A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it : 
 I will water it every moment : lest any hurt it, I will keep 
 it night and day.''t " Until the Spirit be poured upon us 
 from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the 
 fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall 
 dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the 
 fruitful field."J " For as the rain cometh down, and the 
 snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth 
 the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may 
 give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater ; so shall my 
 word be that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall not re- 
 turn unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I 
 please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.'"§ 
 " I have planted, ApoUos watered ; but God gave the increase. 
 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he 
 that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. jN'ow he 
 that planteth and he that watereth are one : and every man 
 shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour. 
 JFor we are labourers together with God : ye are God's hus- 
 bandry; ye are God's building."|| 
 
 The lesson is all-important. It is in the spiritual world, 
 as it is in the natural. There is no personal prosperity — 
 progress — ^productiveness — in the divine Hfe, but under the 
 influences of God's Spirit. ISTot a blade of spiritual vegetation 
 can spring up in the soul, nor can one atom of true spiritual 
 fruit be produced in the Hfe, save as "the Spirit is poured 
 
 * Jer. V. 24. Comp. Amos iv. 6, 7. t Isa. xxvii. 2, 3. 
 
 X Isa. xxxii. 15, 16. § Isa. Iv. 10—13. 
 
 I! 1 Cor. iii. 6 — 9. Several of our Lord's parables, especially that 
 of tlie JSower, might be cited for the same purpose. 
 
ZECHArvIAH X. 1—5. 2/3 
 
 from on high." Nor can any portion of the soil of the world 
 — the " desolate heritages " of heathenism, with all the til- 
 lage that missionary labour can bestow upon them, be ren- 
 dered productive of the "fruits of righteousness," except 
 as God is pleased to shed down the same gracious influ- 
 ences — *' pouring water on the thirsty, and floods on the 
 dry ground." Hence the duty of, personally and socially, 
 " asking of the Lord " the showers of His blessing, both 
 in order to our own fruitfulness, and in order to the effectual 
 cultivation of the out-field of the world. — " Bright clouds " 
 would more properly be rendered " lightnings"'^ as accompani 
 ments and indications of the rains. The two are often thus 
 connected : — " He maketh lightnings for the rain " is not an 
 unfrequent mode of expression. The regular seasons for 
 rain in Judea occurred twice in the year; about the months 
 of September and March. They are often called the " early 
 and the latter rains." They were looked for with eager 
 anticipation. Well were it for us, had we the same anxious 
 longing for those divine influences that are necessary to 
 spiritual prosperity ! Thus it was in " the beginning of 
 the gospel." Tlie sowers went forth, " bearing precious seed." 
 They scattered it abroad. While they sowed, they prayed. 
 The showers of spiritual influence came down. So " the 
 wilderness and the solitary place were glad for them; and 
 the desert rejoiced, and blossomed as the rose." 
 
 The people are then reminded, how complete all other 
 grounds of confidence, in which either their fathers or they 
 had trusted, had heretofore failed them: — ^verse 2. "For 
 the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen 
 a lie, and have told false cbeams, they comfort in vain : 
 therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled 
 because there was no shepherd," This stands in contrast 
 with the former verse ; and is a reason for the duty there 
 enjoined. Their false prophets, attaching themselves to idols, 
 and seducing the people to their worship; and those of 
 
 * So in the margin; i-in is thus rendered Job xxviii. 26; xxxnii. 
 25.— Ed. 
 
224 LECTUllE XII. 
 
 them who, speaking in Jehovah's name, said, " Thiis saith 
 Jehovah, when Jehovah had not spoken," — putting into His 
 lips, and clothing with His authority, the "lies" and "false 
 dreams" by which they sought to entice them from Him and 
 from His ways, — had ever given vain promises and " vain 
 comfort j^ all ending in bitterness and " vexation of spirit." 
 They had proved shepherds that only starved, and scattered, 
 and exposed their flocks, instead of feeding, and tending, 
 gathering, and protecting them. Thus, under such mislead- 
 ing guides, such selfish and unprincipled shepherds, the flock 
 was driven about and "troubled.'^ They had ^^ no shepherd'^ 
 — no truly faitliful shepherd, who took a concern in the 
 well-being of the flock. 
 
 And with the exception of their not being addicted to 
 idolatry, such continued their helpless, unprotected, uncared- 
 for state in the time of our Lord. Mark what is said — 
 " Wlien he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compas- 
 sion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, 
 as sheej) having no shepherd."* And there can be little 
 doubt, that he had his eye upon those "blind leaders of 
 the blind," who, with mighty pride and pretension, " sat in 
 Moses' seat," but whose teachings utterly misled the people 
 — being all the promptings of a hypocritical selfishness — when 
 he said, " All that ever came before me are thieves and rob- 
 bers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by 
 me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and 
 out, and find pasture. The thief cometli not, but for to steal, 
 and to kill, and to destroy : I am come that they might have 
 life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am 
 the good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the 
 sheep. But he that is an liireling, and not the shepherd, 
 whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and 
 leaveth the sheep, and fleeth : and tlie wolf catcheth them, 
 and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is 
 an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. ''t 
 
 And what God here says of the ^^ slieplierds'' and the 
 
 * Matt. ix. 36. f John x. 8—13. 
 
ZECPIARIAH X. 1—5. 225 
 
 " goats,'' — the professed leaders of the flock — " Mine anger 
 was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the 
 goats," is in full harmony with the utterances of the Ee- 
 deemer in the days of his flesh. In what terms of withering 
 and indignant rebuke He addressed the public teachers of 
 his day : — " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
 for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : for ye 
 neither go in yourselves, neither sufl'er ye them that are 
 entering to go in. Woe unto j^ou, scribes and Pharisees, 
 hypocrites ! for ye compass sea and land to make one pro- 
 selyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the 
 child of hell than yourselves."* 
 
 The words which follow — "/ have visited the house of 
 Judah" are understood, by those who interpret the whole 
 passage as referring to times preceding Christ's advent, of 
 God's raising up such leaders and rulers as the Maccabees, by 
 whom the Jews were elevated from their depressed condition 
 to military renown and civil prosperity. They are certainly 
 capable of such apphcation. But, having, for reasons for- 
 merly assigned, and which may receive confirmation from this 
 very passage, adopted the idea that the reference is to Gos- 
 pel times, — we must consir^er the language before us, and 
 that which follows, as a continuation of the same figures of 
 speech with those in the preceding chapter. " The goodly 
 horse in the battle" was the choice war-horse — the most 
 stately, powerful and spirited of his kind ; and withal richly 
 equipped and caparisoned — the steed on which the general 
 of the army rode and conquered. Thus was Jehovah to put 
 Iionour upon Judah. Judah was to be the "war-horse" on 
 which the Messiah was to " go forth, conquering and to con- 
 quer." It was to be by the instrumentality of that people 
 that his conquests were to be effected. It is added (v. 4.) 
 " Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, 
 out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor to- 
 gether," The reference of the pronoun "/i/m" here is to 
 ''the Lord of hosts," The words may be more suitably and 
 
 * Matt, xxiii. 13, 15: see al^o Luke xi. 46, 52. 
 P 
 
226 LECTURE XII. 
 
 simply rendered ^^ From him." And when we read the 
 words, "From him came the corner;'' that is, more fully 
 expressed, " the corner-stone^'' — all our associations are imme- 
 diately mth that one person who so explicitly, and so re- 
 peatedly, has this designation. I do not say that the desig- 
 nation may not be otherwise applied — to civil riders, for ex- 
 ample, as uniting and supporting the community: but we 
 do naturally look in one direction : — " Wlierefore, behold, I 
 lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious 
 corner-stone, a sure foundation : he that believeth shall not 
 make haste." "And are built upon the foundation of the 
 apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himseK being the chief 
 corner-stone." " To whom coming, as unto a living stone, 
 disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 
 ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house.''* 
 This stone, emphatically, " came from Jehovah." By Him 
 it was selected. By Him it was prepared. By Him it was 
 laid. If we thus interpret "the corner-stone" — what of 
 "the nail," and the " hattle-boiv," and "every oppressor?" 
 
 " With us," says Dr. Henderson, " the nail would be an 
 insignificant image ; but the Oriental nail is a large peg, in 
 the inside of a room, wrought into the wall when the house 
 is built, and on which is hung all kinds of household stuff, 
 together with the different implements of war : " — that is, I 
 presume, the one or the other, according to place and circum- 
 stances. See, then, how this designation is applied elsewhere : 
 — " I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place ; and he shall 
 be for a glorious throne to his father's house." i* This is spoken 
 of " Eliahim the son of Hilkiah." "And it shall come to 
 pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son 
 of Hilkiah: and I will clothe him with thy robe, and 
 strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy 
 govcMiment into his liand: and he shall be a father to the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And 
 the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder ; 
 so he shall open, and none shall shut ; and he shall shut, and 
 
 * Isa. xxviii. 16: Epb. ii. 20: 1 Pet. ii. 4. f Isa. xxii. 23. 
 
ZECHARIAII X. 1-5. 227 
 
 none shall ojDen." '^ That dififerent parts of this descrip- 
 tion are used by our Lord of JiimseJff does not seem a suffi- 
 cient reason for regarding the reference as being, in the Pro- 
 jihet, to Hira. The application of the passage to Christ is by 
 Calvin pronounced rash and inconsiderate. " The Prophet," 
 says he, "is comparing two men — Shebna and Ehakim. 
 Shebna is deposed ; Eliakim succeeds him : what has that to 
 do with Christ?" The designation of "the nail in a sure 
 place,'' applied to Eliakim signifies the steady and secure 
 support which he should give to all the branches of liis 
 family dependent upon him, and upon his influence. 
 
 As applied in the passage before us, it may therefore refer, 
 not to Christ himself, already mentioned under another desig- 
 nation, but to such rulers and office-bearers in the Church, 
 as served to strengthen and hold it together; and on whom 
 were suspended, ever ready for use, all the implements of 
 the evangelical warfare. Possibly the special reference may 
 be to the office of chief authority and influential efficiency 
 
 that of THE APOSTLES. 
 
 The " hattle-how'' may be considered as the representative 
 of armour in general ; a part put for the whole — for what 
 Paul calls " the whole armour of God" — all required both 
 for the personal and the official conflict ; the latter, more 
 distinctively here. It is officially that the Apostle says of 
 liimself — " For, though we walk in the flesh, we do not 
 war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are 
 not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of 
 strong holds ; casting down imaginations, and every high 
 thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and 
 bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of 
 Christ.":}: These "weapons of their warfare" were "from 
 Him'' — from a divine armoury. And none else might law- 
 fully be employed in His battles, — the battles of truth against 
 error, — of the spiritual against the carnal and worldly, — of 
 good against evil, — of God against the wicked one. From 
 
 * Isa. xxii. 20—22. f Comp. Rev. iii. 7. 
 
 I 2 Cor. X. 3—5. 
 
228 LECTURE XII. 
 
 Him too came the strength and the skill to wield them ; and 
 from Him all the success. 
 
 "And from him every oj^pressor together." Now, in a 
 certain sense it is true, that from God has come every oppres- 
 sor of His Church, in every age, and under every dispensation. 
 They have been raiF?ed up by Him for the Church's correction 
 and trial, and for the ends which correction and trial are de- 
 signed to serve. True though this be, however, it does 
 not seem very natural to introduce the " opiDvessors" — the 
 antagonist forces — the afflicting ]30wers, as coming in the 
 same way from Jehovah with "the corner-stone" itself, and the 
 agencies and instruments for carrying forward His work. 
 On this ground, it is presumed, Dr. Henderson renders the 
 word here " rulers" — " eve7'7j rider.'' Yet in its other occur- 
 rences, he renders it oppressors. And from its etymology 
 this would seem to be its proper meaning. We are taught 
 the lesson, therefore, that friend and foe alike are of God's 
 raising i\p. He raises up the foe — to render tlie victory the 
 more conspicuous and signal. And such seems the very 
 spirit of the language of Jehovah by Isaiah : — " Behold, they 
 shall surely gather together, but not by me : whosoever shall 
 gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, 
 I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, 
 and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I 
 have created the waster to destroy. ]^o weapon that is 
 formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that 
 shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." * 
 The expression in the first of these verses, — " hut not hy 
 ??ie," may seem at variance with the sentiment. The mean- 
 ing of the words, however, evidently is — not that they should 
 gather together without His knowledge and providential per- 
 mission ; for He foresees and predicts it, — but not with His 
 approval; not with His power aiding and abetting them. 
 Then the spirit of wdiat follows is — that the framers of the 
 weapons of opposition were all of His originating, and under 
 His power; and could succeed no further than He should 
 
 * Isa. liv. 15—17. 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 1—5. 229 
 
 allow them : — " I Lave created the smith that bloweth the 
 coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his 
 work ; and I have created the waster to destroy : '' I have the 
 full command of him and of his weapon : — "iVo loeapon that 
 is formed against thee aliall 'prosper T The smith is the maker 
 of the weapon : but who is the maker of the smith % He is 
 my creature ; and he is my instrument : and both he and his 
 weapon are under my supreme control. I^either shall " pros- 
 per." Nor shall any false accuser be able to malign thee or 
 thy servants, without detection, exposure, and shame. 
 
 The same figure is then resumed in the fifth verse, which 
 was employed in the former chapter ; that of soldiers of the 
 cross doing successful battle against the enemies of God : — 
 " They shall be as mighty men, which tread down their 
 enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle : and they 
 shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on 
 horses shall be confounded." The comparison is one which does 
 not admit of minute illustration. The figure is a general one, 
 conveying the idea of triumphant progress against all opposing 
 enemies. The terms are indicative of thorough and shameful 
 discomfiture. It was in looking forward to the success of His 
 apostles, — so rapid, so signal, that our Lord said, " I beheld 
 Satan fall, as lightning from heaven." The verse before us 
 is a simple comparison — " They shall be as mighty men." 
 They shall triumph over the enemies of their cause as com- 
 pletely as the most victorious general can triumph over the 
 enemies of his. The causes and the weapons are widely 
 different; and so is the spirit in which the war is con- 
 ducted, and the results to those who are taken captive by 
 the conquerors. In the case of the warriors of the Cross, 
 the enemies whom, by divine aid, they overcome, are the 
 hosts of hell, and the powers of wickedness in this evil world ; 
 but the purpose of the war with these enemies is a merci- 
 ful one. It is to rescue " the captives of the terrible." It 
 is to make the slaves of Satan the " freemen of Christ." It is 
 to " deliver them that were drawn unto death ; " and to bring 
 them to a life of freedom, — a life of holiness, happiness, and 
 hope. And mark here the source at once of their valour, and 
 
230 LECTURE XII. 
 
 of their success : — " They shall fight because the Lord is with 
 them." Here it is. It is under His banner they go forth 
 to the liekl. It is the assurance of His presence with 
 them that inspires their courage. They say, " If God be 
 for us, who can be against us?" His Spirit gives them 
 the energy of enterprise and perseverance. They " go in the 
 strength of the Lord God." " Through him they do vah- 
 antly; for He it is that treads down their enemies." It 
 is He that "bruises Satan under their feet;" and that, by 
 their instrumentaUty, "takes the prey from the mighty," 
 — bringing sinners " from the power of Satan to himself." 
 This is the secret of all their sue; ess. But for the Lord's 
 presence with them, they must be wholly insufficient 
 for the conflict; nor could they bring off one trophy of 
 victory. And their grateful song in looking at the vic- 
 tories achieved and the captives liberated, ever is, in the 
 language of one of the greatest that ever took part in th^ 
 contest — " Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to 
 triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his 
 knowledge by us in every place."""' 
 
 Let me close for the present with one or two practical re- 
 flections. 
 
 1. Mark the importance of cultivating the spirit of de- 
 pendence and of prayer. We are, as creatures, and as sinners, 
 dependent for everything we need, whether for the body or 
 the soul, — for this life or the life to come. It is fitting that 
 we should /ee? this dependence; and that we should give it 
 expression. Prayer is the expression of it. But prayer is 
 something more. It is, as from our childhood we learned to 
 say, " The offering up of our desires to God for things 
 agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, v/ith confession 
 of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies." f 
 It is the first part of this definition that is, strictly and 
 properly, prayer. It is, " asldng of the Lardy It is a pre- 
 cious privilege ; it is a sacredly incumbent duty. It is one 
 of the divinely ordered means for obtaining any desired 
 
 'f 2 Cor. ii. 14. t Shorter Catechism, Quest. 93. 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 1—5. 231 
 
 good. The benefit of it is not merely (precious as that 
 is) the influence it has on our own minds in bringing us into 
 closer and more intimate communion with "the Father of our 
 spirits" — thus contributing to purify and elevate our affec- 
 tions. God's word ascribes to it an efficacy on His own 
 counsels and doings; its being His inducement to act in one 
 way rather than in another. " The effectual fervent prayer 
 of a righteous man availeth much." And the illustration of 
 this by the case of Elias is specially appropriate to the in- 
 junction in the op>ening of this chapter. '' Elias Avas a man 
 subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly 
 that it might not rain : and it rained not on the earth by 
 the space of three years and six months. And he prayed 
 again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth 
 her fruit." * "Ask of the Lord rain^ "We should ask it in 
 seasons when it is needed for the refreshment and fructifi- 
 cation of the earth. And we should ask it, in a higher 
 sense, — ask the outpouring of God's Spirit, — for the revival 
 and growth of religion and its appropriate fruits in our own 
 souls; for its revival in our churches, and for its pro- 
 gressive influence and productiveness throughout the world. 
 But then — 
 
 2. We must never he satisfied ivith ■praying. We must 
 never separate prayer from action. The two must go to- 
 gether. It will not do for the husbandman to be ever on 
 his knees, pleading that his fields may be productive. All 
 the labour and all the skill of husbandry must be put forth 
 by him. He must work and pray : he must pray and M^ork. 
 It is a mockery of God, if he does otherwise. To work 
 without praying is ungodliness and presumption: to pray 
 without working is enthusiasm and hypocrisy. And so it is 
 in the spiritual department. It is not enough that we pray 
 God to " work in us to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
 We have no right to expect that He will hear us, or bestow 
 upon us any portion of His gracious infiuences, unless, by 
 the diligent use of the means of spiritual improvement, wo 
 
 * James v. 17, 18. 
 
232 LECTURE XII. 
 
 are fulfilling the injunction — " Work out your own salvation 
 with fear and trembling." In vain do parents " ask of the 
 Lord rain"' upon the domestic vineyard, if they are not dili- 
 gent and careful in tending the young plants, and training 
 and nurturing them to life and fruitfulness. And equally 
 in vain do pastors and people " ask of the Lord rain," 
 for the revival of the drooping interests of religion in 
 their own church, or in the chui-ches of the saints in general, 
 unless they are using the means of revival. In vain do they 
 pray for the increase of the fire of love and zeal, if they 
 are neither laying on fuel, nor stirring and blowing what has 
 been laid on. And in vain do Christians cry to God for 
 "rain" on the desolate and fruitless — or rather the weed-thorn- 
 and-poison-bearing soil of this outcast world, unless they are 
 sending forth cultivators to all the ends of the earth, with the 
 seed of the word and all the implements and resources of 
 spiritual husbandry. In vain do they seek the conversion of 
 Israel, unless they are putting forth efforts for removing the 
 vail of ignorance and prejudice by the communication of the 
 light of instruction. And in vain do they look for " the know- 
 ledge of the glory of the Lord" filling the earth, if all they do 
 is praying that it may. They must send it to earth's utmost 
 bounds. 
 
 3. As " the corner-stone cometh from Jehovah," ice need 
 not he afraid to rest upon it. As coming from the very God 
 with whom we have to do, it must, for that very reason, 
 be sure. And bear in mind another consequence equally 
 manifest, that, as thus coming fi-om Jehovah — nothing else 
 can he sure. It is a stone of divinely "tried" material: it 
 is " elect and precious" — divinely precious: and it is chosen 
 and laid by God. In every view of it, we may feel ourselves 
 safe in resting on it : and nothing but despair and destruction 
 can await any who refuse to make it, and it alone, the ground 
 of their hopes. And from Him who provided and sent the 
 "corner-stone," must also come every official and other agency 
 that contributes to confirm, unite, protect, enlarge, and purify, 
 the Church of God ; and deliver it from all who would oppress, 
 and waste, and devour it. 
 
LECTURE XIII. 
 
 Zech. X. 6—12. 
 
 "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Jo- 
 seph, and I will bring them again to place them ; for I have mercy upon them; 
 and they shall be as though I had not cast them off": for I am the Lord their 
 God, and will hear tliem. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, 
 and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and 
 be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord. I will hiss for them, and gather 
 tliem ; for I have redeemed them ; and they shall increase as they have increased. 
 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far 
 countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. I will bring 
 them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and 
 I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon ; and place shall not be 
 found for them. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall 
 smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up : and the 
 pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart 
 away. And I will strengthen them in the Lord ; and they shall walk up and 
 down in his name, saith the Lord." 
 
 I FEEL constrained to concur with those commentators who 
 regard this passage as a prediction and promise of what is 
 yet to come. As, however, there are toward the close of 
 this Book of Zechariah predictions still more explicitly 
 pointing to the period of a future restoration of the JeM^s, 
 it has appeared to me better to defer the discussion of that 
 interesting question, and points connected with it, till we come 
 forward to the exposition of those passages. Were I to enter 
 into it now, it would lead to such anticipation of them as 
 would be undesirable. Meanwhile, however, I shall proceed 
 upon the assumption that the passage has reference to the 
 future restoration of Israel and Judah, without positively 
 
234 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 determining whether that restoration is to he temporal, 
 or spiritual, or hoth ; only pointing out its a^oparent hearing 
 on that question. 
 
 " The house of Judali and the house of Joseph^^ spoken 
 of in the first of these verses, signify, respectively, the tioo 
 tribes and the ten tribes — unitedly, the vrhole house of Israel 
 — the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The declara- 
 tion "I ivill save them, and bring tliem again and p)lace tliem^* 
 cannot refer to the return from Babylon; seeing, in that re- 
 spect, they had been already " saved" and "brought again," 
 and " placed." And the language is much too strong to 
 have reference to any such remaining partial deliverances 
 and returnings, — additions only to that from Babylon, — 
 which might take place under the Maccabean princes, or at 
 any period of their history between the Prophet's days and 
 the coming of Christ. And if it refers to a period subsequent 
 to the coming of Christ, to what else can the reference be 
 but to their recovery from their present long- continued out- 
 cast and scattered condition ? 
 
 Notice, then, what the terms seem to imply, without fi.nally 
 affirming their precise import. " I will strengthen the house 
 of Judah," must refer either to secular or to spiritual power. 
 The former seems the more natural of the two, on the sup- 
 position that, if spiritual power is meant, they were to re- 
 main, as converted individuals, in a scattered state, — person- 
 ally renewed, and endowed with spiritual energy, but not 
 becoming a united body or community. " The house of 
 Judah " and " the hoicse of Joseph," certainly sound much 
 liker united tribes than scattered individuals. "We leave, 
 then, for future consideration, what evidence there may be 
 for the communication to the gathering assemblies of the 
 dispersed children of Abraham, of power for the re-asserting 
 of their rights, and their re-settlement, by such power, in. 
 the land of their fathers. At present, w^e go no farther than 
 to say, that it looks like it. So, surely, do the terms, " I 
 will bring them again to place themj^ look like their re- 
 turn to that land, and their establishment in it» And 
 then, whatever be its real nature — whether secular or 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 6—12. 235 
 
 spiritual, or both, — we have the cause of the recovery; — "/or 
 7 have mercy upon theer They have been the objects of 
 Jehovah's mercy all along. How often did they owe to 
 that mercy, ever reluctant to smite, the suspension and with- 
 drawal of threatened " vengeance on their inventions ! "' — 
 how often the removal of their sufferings, whenever indica- 
 tions appeared of their having produced a salutary effect 
 in "turning their hearts back again!" With Avhat an 
 amount of unmerited blessing too had that distinguishing 
 mercy all aloiig loaded them! And, in regard to their 
 present state, and the prospect of their recovery, we cannot 
 have a better commentary on the words before us, than 
 Paul gives us in his Epistle to the Eomans — " For I would 
 not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mys- 
 tery, (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits,) that 
 blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of 
 the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved ; as 
 it is A\Titten, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and 
 shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my 
 covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As 
 concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes : but 
 as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' 
 sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repent- 
 ance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet 
 have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so 
 have these also now not believed, that through your mercy 
 they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them 
 all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."* They 
 are still, then, "beloved for the fathers' sakes;" and it is on 
 this account that times of mercy still await them. " I have 
 mercy on them," says Jehovah here. He does not say, " I 
 loill have mercy;" though, considered actually and practi- 
 cally, that was true. He rather expresses the present state 
 of His own heart, as it were, towards them, from which His 
 future merciful visitation of them was to arise — " I have 
 mercy " upon them. His bowels still yearned in pity toward 
 
 * Rom. xi. 25—32. 
 
236 LECTURE XIlI. 
 
 His outcast but not finally rejected people : and in the 
 mercy He still cherished toward them, He would, in His 
 own time, visit and deliver them. Then we have the co^n- 
 jylefeiiess of their recovery : — " They shall be as tlioiujh 
 I had not cast them off.'' From their immediate connexion 
 with the previous clause — " I have mercy upon them," 
 there can be Httle doubt that these words indicate primarily 
 i\iQ full restoration of God' s favour ; that they shoald be as 
 thoroughly re-established in His regard and loving-kindness, 
 as if they never had experienced any visitation of His dis- 
 pleasure; that they should enjoy no stinted measure of His 
 love ; but rather a more exuberant outflow of that love than 
 at any former time. They were to be as though they never 
 had deserved rejection; so thoroughly would He "turn from 
 the fierceness of his anger, and take away all his wrath," and 
 " lift upon them anew the light of liis countenance." It may 
 be remarked further, that had they " never been cast off,'' they 
 would have remained in undisturbed possession of their 
 own land : and does not, therefore, their " being as though they 
 had not been cast off " seem to imply their being replaced in 
 that land? — We have the cause of their restoration again, 
 expressed in another form: — "for I am the Lord then- 
 God, and 10 III hear them.'" To those who are famiUar with 
 their Bibles I need not say how frequent, in the Old Tes- 
 tament, is the recurrence of the w^ords — "/ am the Lord 
 your God." It was Jehovah's language, when He took 
 His ancient people into covenant with Him; and it recurs 
 times without number, in connexion both with the mention 
 of the covenant generally, and with its special precepts 
 and promises : — the reiteration of it being intended to in- 
 spire them at once with gratitude and with awe. " / 
 ivill hear them." This implies, what is not expressly men- 
 tioned, their calling iqwn Him. It miglit, indeed, relate to 
 His hearing the voice of their misery — their lamentations over 
 their outcast and forlorn state; as it is said of the Israelites 
 in EgyjDt, when Jehovah gives Moses his commission to be 
 their deliverer, " I have heard their cry by reason of their 
 taskmasters; for I know their sorroAvs:" "I have heard 
 
ZECHAKIAH X. 6—12. 237 
 
 their groaning, and am come down to deliver them." We 
 would rather understand the words as referring to their calling 
 'upon Jehovah, in a state of awakening and excitement, and a 
 disposition to look again to the God of their fathers in the 
 spirit of penitential abasement, confession, and return of 
 heart. And '* / ivill hear them " is the fidfilment of a pro- 
 mise repeatedly made to them in former days, and with a 
 reference, as we may hereafter see, to their present dispersed 
 state : — " If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity 
 of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed 
 against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto 
 me : and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and 
 have brought them into the land of their enemies ; if then 
 their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept 
 of the punishment of their iniquity ; then will I remember 
 my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, 
 and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and 
 I will remember tlie land."^^ And the prayer of Solomon was 
 founded upon such divine assurances — '* If they shall be- 
 think themselves in the land whither they were carried cap- 
 tives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the 
 land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have 
 sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wicked- 
 ness; and so return uuto thee with all their heart, and witli 
 all their soul, in the land of their enemies which led them 
 away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land which 
 thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast 
 chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name : then 
 hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy 
 dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, and forgive thy 
 people that have sinned against thee, and all their trans- 
 gressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and 
 give them compassion before them who carried them captive, 
 that they may have compassion on them.'"t Jehovah yet 
 " waits to be gracious:" His ear is open to their very first 
 penitential cry. " He will hear them.'' And while His ear 
 
 * Lev, X3(vi. 40—42. f 1 Kings viii. 47—50. 
 
238 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 will be oi^en, {that alone were little) His loower Avill be ready 
 to aid. He will make bare the arm of omnipotence for them. 
 " His right hand and his holy arm '' will " get him the vic- 
 tory." " If God be for them, who shall be against them?" 
 
 In the seventh verse, we have the same promise to Ei^h- 
 raim specially as to the house of Judah and the house of 
 Joseph in the verse preceding : " Ephraim shall be as a mighty 
 man,'' — a man at once of valour and of strength against every 
 opposing foe, — " mighty " through the communicated and 
 accompanying might of Jehovah his God. AVe have further, 
 what, in the connexion, we might regard as imparting the 
 energy and might, both of heart and of hand, — the exulting 
 joy with which they should be filled.* " Their heart shall re- 
 joice as through wine : yea, their children shall see it, and be 
 glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord." And no won- 
 der the terms affirming this joy are heaped one upon another. 
 In proportion to the amount, the variety, the long continuance, 
 of their outcast condition, — of depression and humiliation, 
 of scorn and reproach, of personal and social oppression and 
 suffering ; and of all as the effect and indication of wnat itseK 
 was worse than them all, — divine desertion, — the hidings 
 of God's countenance. His frown, His wrath, — should be the 
 joy of Jehovah's return and blessing! And the joy was 
 not to be confined to the generation that should then 
 live; it was to descend to generations following — ^^ their 
 children shall see it, and be glad." So said Isaiah, in re- 
 ference, apparently, to the same period — " They shall not 
 labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble: for they are 
 the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring 
 with them." And we may notice how here too the bless- 
 ing is connected with prayer — " And it shall come to 
 pass, that before they call, I will answer ; and while they are 
 yet speaking, I will liear."t The blessing shall be per- 
 manent. The terms of Psa. ciii. 17, 18 shall be verified — 
 " But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlast- 
 ing upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto 
 
 * Comp. Neh. viii. 10. f Isa. Ixv. 23, 24. 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 6—12. 239 
 
 cliildren's children; to such as keep his covenant, and to 
 those that remember his commandments to do them." 
 
 The figure in verse eighth is singular, yet very expressive 
 — " I ynW also hiss,'' or rather ivhistle, " for them, and 
 gather them ; for I have redeemed them : and they shall in- 
 crease as they have increased." Ttvo views are given of the 
 figure. It is commonly, and probably with justice, under- 
 stood as referring to a particular 'whistle used by the shep- 
 herd for calling his scattered flock together, — a sound to 
 which they were accustomed, which they understood, and, 
 when they heard it, immediately obeyed, flocking to the spot 
 whence it came, — gathering around and following their leader. 
 By some, however, it is understood of a difl'erent practice — • 
 that of collecting hees by a whistle. Thus Dr. Henderson : 
 " The verb* signifies to ivhistle, or give a shrill sound, as those 
 who keep bees do, who, by means of a whistle, or pipe, call 
 them out from and back to their hives." He refers to Isa. 
 V. 2Q, where the same figure is used, and where he explains 
 it in the same way : — " And he will lift up an ensign to the 
 nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the 
 earth : and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly." 
 The meaning is the same, whichsoever of the two allusions 
 be preferred. As sheep flock together at the well-known 
 call of the shepherd, as bees follow in swarms the shrill note 
 of the bee-master, so should the Lord, by His own means, 
 gather His scattered people from their dispersions, how widely 
 soever distant, and bring them to Himself and to their heri- 
 tage. And again the reason is assigned : " for I have re- 
 deemed them." They were his redeemed people, — the people 
 whom he had delivered and made his own, " He gave Egypt 
 for their ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for them." They are 
 many times spoken of as His " redeemed ; " being in this re- 
 spect, and in this appellation, the type of the true spiritual 
 Israel. " Eemember these, Jacob and Israel ; for thou art 
 my servant : I have formed thee ; thou art my servant : O 
 Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, 
 
240 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins : 
 return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, ye 
 heavens ; for the Lord hath done it : shout, ye lower parts of 
 the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, forest, 
 and every tree therein : for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, 
 and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the Lord, thy 
 Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am 
 the Lord that maketli all things; that stretched forth the 
 heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself."* 
 " Hear the word of the Lord, ye nations, and declare it in 
 the isles afar off, and say. He that scattered Israel will gather 
 him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the 
 Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from tlie 
 hand of him that was stronger than he."t Having redeemed 
 them, they were His, — a " purchased possession," — " a pe- 
 culiar treasure unto himself above all peoples." And it was 
 as having this property and this interest in them, that He 
 would reclaim them, and reinstate them in his favour, and in 
 the possession of the privileges and blessings which tliat 
 favour had at first conferred, and would return again in fuller 
 compliment than ever. " They shall increase as they have 
 increased " — is language which seems to mean, that their in- 
 crease shall be great, such as it had been in the most pros- 
 perous periods of their history; that their increase, when 
 restored, should be such as had never, at any of these periods, 
 been surpassed. That increase would be the effect of their 
 peace and prosperity, with the abundant blessing of Je- 
 hovah. 
 
 In the ninth verse we seem to have — their dispersions ; 
 their penitent recognition of God; and their consequent 
 preservation and return. The words " I will sow them amoncf 
 the i^eopjlel' might indeed refer to God's making them 
 His instruments, as efficient missionaries, for bringing in " tlie 
 fulness of the Gentiles "' after their own restoration. But it 
 seems more probably to refer to the fact of God's having 
 scattered them among the nations, as seed is scattered over 
 
 * Isa. xliv. 21—24. f Jer. xxxi. 10, U, 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 6—12. 241 
 
 tlie field ; and the iiae of siicli a phrase probably implies, that 
 by thus " sowing them among the people," it was God's in- 
 tention that there they should bring forth fruit to Him. 
 And yet in this I am forgetting myself. When so scattered, 
 they were scattered for their unbelieving rejection of God's 
 own Son, the " Prince of life ;" and therefore could not, when 
 sown, be expected to produce any thing else than " grapes of 
 Sodom and clusters of Gomorrah." They could aid the pro- 
 gress of divine truth, only as being a standing miracle in 
 attestation of its divine original. This they have been ; this 
 they are; this they are destined yet more signally to be. 
 God here promises — " They shall remember me in far coun- 
 tries;^^ by which can only be meant, that, in their scattered 
 state a spirit of serious thoughtfulness should simultaneously 
 come over them, or should spread amongst them, by which 
 they should be led to see and to owii the hand of the God 
 of Abraham in their long-continued visitation, and, in the 
 desires of their hearts to look to Him from whom they had 
 revolted; and that, in consequence of this, they should, in- 
 stead of being left to die, finally cast off and perishing, " live 
 with their children, and turn again;" they should obtain 
 favour and life from the God of the covenant, and come 
 anew into possession of their special privileges. The question 
 whether their conversion to the faith of Christ shall precede 
 or follow their return to their own land, (on the supposition 
 that they are so to return), is one of those which we defer 
 for future consideration. Meanwhile the verse which fol- 
 lows, while, in one view, it appears to countenance this sup- 
 position, is, in another view, more favourable, as well as the 
 eleventh, to the spiritual interpretation of the descriptions 
 given of their restoration : — 
 
 Verses 10, 11. "I will bring them again also out of the 
 land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria : and I will 
 bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place 
 shall not be found for them. And he shall pass through 
 the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, 
 and all the deeps of the river shall dry up ; and the pride 
 of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt 
 
 Q 
 
24-2 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 shall depart away." It seems a very poor and paltry inter- 
 pretation of the former part of the tenth verse, to explain it 
 of no more than the return from the countries named of the 
 comparatively small numbers of the seed of Israel who had 
 been sold into these countries, — their return to Judea in the 
 times of prosperity that followed the settlement of the people 
 there after the redemption from Babylon. The language of 
 hofh verses is much too lofty for any thing so compara- 
 tively insignificant. It relates, e^ddently, not to the return 
 of a few more in addition to the body of the nation, when 
 they had been for perhaps a couple of centuries estabhshed 
 again in Palestine; but to ^^ the house of Judah'' and 
 "f7i6 house of Josexih'' — the twelve tribes of the children 
 of Israel, considered in the aggregate of their scattered 
 families. To no event, as it appears to me, less extensive 
 than a general restoration of that people can the terms here 
 used be applicable ; by nothing less can their comprehensive 
 import be at all exhausted. If in this we are right, then 
 their being brought from ^^ Egypf' and from "Ass7/na'^ can- 
 not be understood literally, whether the restoration be per- 
 sonal and spiritual, or national and secular, or both. It 
 must be taken as an allusion to past deliverances, and 
 as containing, in that allusion, the Divine assurance, that 
 the promised future dehverance would be as certain and 
 as perfect as the past. And this is confirmed by the 
 further allusions of a similar kind, in verse eleventh, to 
 the passage through the Eed Sea, and through the Jordan, 
 when the waters of the one on their quitting Egypt, and of 
 the other on their entering Canaan, were parted hither and 
 thither before them by Divine omnipotence. I need not 
 say, the meaning cannot be that they were literally to pass 
 through the Eed Sea a second time, or a second time be- 
 tween the swellings, or rather under the intercepted and 
 overhanging flood, of the Jordan. The idea manifestly is, 
 that, as God by almighty power made way for His people of 
 old. He would by the same power remove every obstacle 
 that might appear to He between them and their future 
 restoration; that the same omnipotence, that divided the 
 
2ECHARIAH X. G— 12. 243 
 
 sea and arrested tlie rolling river, would ensure in its own 
 way, their redemption from their last and longest exile, and 
 reinstate them in favour and blessing. It may be alleged, 
 that if " Egypt " and " Assyria " are not to be interpreted 
 literally, neither must " The land of Gilead and Lebanon.'' 
 This is plausible ; and all due weight will be given to it 
 when we come hereafter to the question we have proposed 
 to discuss. I only remark, that since the allusions to 
 Egypt and Assyria, and to the Eed Sea and the Jordan, 
 7nust be understood as allusions only and not as facts to 
 be repeated, the inference is hardly so undeniable as it 
 might at first appear ; and we may find reasons in confirma- 
 tion of its literal meaning hereafter. The latter part of the 
 tenth verse is a repetition, in stronger terms, of the promise 
 in the end of the eighth — " they shall increase as they have 
 increased :" here we have it, "place shall not be found for 
 them." In a state of undisturbed tranquillity, — in the en- 
 joyment of the abundance of all things, and of the divine 
 blessing with them all, as well as in the practice of every 
 personal and social virtue under the influence of the uni- 
 versally prevailing principles of God's truth, — the land shall 
 become " too strait '' for their rapidly augmenting numbers, 
 A promise of such increase is a promise that includes much 
 more than it expresses. It implies in it all that contributes 
 to such rapid multiplication. 
 
 "He shall pass through the sea, ivith affliction."' The 
 words have been variously rendered. If we retain them as 
 they stand in our English translation, the allusion, in the 
 " affliction," — the distress, or overthrow, may be to the ven- 
 geance inflicted by the same sea upon the enemies of Israel, 
 which had made way for their own safe transit ; — the smitten 
 waves returning to overwhelm the foe, who was, at the same 
 time ; " troubled " by previous divine interference and hin- 
 drance in the pursuit of the chosen people. The language 
 of the naiTative is, in this respect, a commentary on the 
 words before us : — " And it came to pass, that in the morn- 
 ing watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians 
 through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled tho 
 
244 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 host of the Egyptians, and took oit' then- chariot wheels 
 that they drave them heavily : so that tlie Egyptians said, 
 Let us flee from the face of Israel ; for the Lord fighteth for 
 them against the Egyptians." * And the general import of 
 the latter part of the eleventh verse — " And the pride of the 
 Assyrians shall be brought down, and the scep)tre of Egypt 
 shall depart away," we take to be, that, as the haughty 
 boastings of Sennacherib, and the sceptred power of Pharaoh 
 proved alike feeble and unavailing against the might of 
 Jehovah in former days, so should all the combined opposi- 
 tion of the most inveterate enemies prove in days to come. 
 Before Him — when He had a purpose to fulfil — a promise to 
 His people to accomplish, all pride should be abased, all 
 power baffled, all counsel turned to foohshness. All the 
 Antichristian enemies of His people should be discomfited, 
 as all their heathen and idolatrous enemies had been, ^o 
 interposing power should stand before them. The Lord 
 should " take them away, as with a whirlwind, both living 
 and in his wrath." 
 
 And when all this has been done for them — we have, 
 last of all, in verse twelfth, the happy state in which they 
 should find themselves : — " I will strengthen them in the 
 Lord ; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saitli 
 the Lord." Whatever we make of the " strejigth" promised 
 in verse sixth, we can hardly hesitate in considering spirit- 
 ual strength as what is intended here. It is strength 
 similar to that referred to by Paul, when he says — 
 " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the 
 power of his might." It is Jehovah that speaks — " / will 
 strengthen them." It is His own strength that He imparts 
 — " I will strengthen them in the Lord.'' The meaning pro- 
 bably is, that He would establish their confidence in Himself, 
 and thus strengthen them ; teaching and enabling them so 
 to depend upon Him, as that they might say with Paul 
 — " When I am weak, then am I strong." " Wliy sayest 
 thou, Jacob, and speakest, Israel, My way is hid from 
 
 * Exo.l. xiv. 24, 25. 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 6—12. 245 
 
 the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God] 
 Hast tliou not known? hast thou not heard, that the ever- 
 lasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, 
 fainteth not, neither is weary ? there is no searching of his 
 understanding. He givetli power to the faint ; and to them 
 that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the 
 youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall 
 utterly fall : but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 
 they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and 
 not faint." * 
 
 " They shall icalk up and down in my name!' " To walk 
 in the name of a deity," says Dr. Henderson, " is a Hebrew 
 mode of speech, descriptive of a course of action pursued in 
 accordance with his character and will;" and he illustrates 
 the point by reference to the language of Micah, " For all 
 people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we 
 will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and 
 ever."t To "walk up and down in Jehovah's name," 
 then, signifies to bear the open profession of that name, and 
 maintain a course of conduct in harmony with such profes- 
 sion. The expression seems, at the same time, further to 
 imply a state of felt peace and freedom; and confidence 
 of safety, and happy social intercommunion, arising from 
 faith in God, — from unshaken reliance on His power and 
 wisdom, faithfulness and love. And in the passage just re- 
 ferred to in Micah the same association of ideas ap- 
 I)ears : — " He shall judge among many 23eople, and rebuke 
 strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their 
 swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning- 
 hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, 
 neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit 
 every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none 
 shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of 
 hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one 
 in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the 
 Lord our God for ever and ever.";}; 
 
 * Isa. xl 27—31. t Chap. iv. 5. % Chap. iv. 3—5. 
 
243 LECTURE XIII. 
 
 In conclusion, observe — 
 
 1. What ivarning, and what encounigement is here held 
 out to all backsliders, — to all who have borne the profession 
 of God's name and worship, but have departed from Him 
 — spurning His will, and resisting His correction, fretting 
 under it, as " bullocks unaccustomed to the yolvO," and per- 
 sisting in their disobedience, and refusing submission. The 
 dealings of Jehovah with His ancient people are a warning 
 to such. He proved himself faithful to His tlireatenings ; 
 and He will to all His tlireatenings be faithful still. Think 
 of them. Very fearful they are : — " If we sin wilfully after 
 that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there re- 
 maineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful look- 
 ing for of j udgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour 
 the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without 
 mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer 
 punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who 
 hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted 
 the blood of the covenant, wherewith he Avas sanctified, an 
 unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of 
 grace? For Ave know him that hath said, Vengeance be- 
 longeth unto me, I Avill recompense, saith the Lord. And 
 again. The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful 
 thing to fall into the hands of the living God," * And if 
 God prove himself faithful to such threatenings — woe to 
 the backsliding and apostate professor! There is no doom 
 so fearful as his! But God's dealings with His ancient 
 peojple hold out to the backsHding encouragement as well as 
 warning. He proved himself no less faithful to His jj»?'ci- 
 mises. There is, indeed, no promise, and no encouragement 
 to backsliders, ijersistbig in their backsliding, No : for such 
 there is nothing but the fearful doom just read from God's 
 word. But there is every possible encouragement to return 
 to God. He " wait^ to be gracious." His arms are open. 
 His language is — "Eeturn, ye backsliding children, for I 
 will heal your backslidings : " "Return unto me, for I have 
 
 *Heb. X. 26—31. 
 
ZECHARIAH X. 6-12. 247 
 
 redeemed thee:" "Take Avith you words, and turn to tlie 
 Lord : say unto liini, Take away all iniquity, and receive us 
 graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips."* 'No 
 sooner is this said, in penitence and faith, than the promise 
 is realized : — " I will heal their backsliding, I will love 
 tlieni freely: for mine anger is turned away from him."t 
 
 2. Let God's people ever seeJc their strength from Him, 
 tliat, resisting every evil influence, whether from within or 
 from without, they may always be found " walking up and 
 down in His name." Let them rejoice in God; and His joy 
 will be their strength. But never let them forget, that He 
 puts no joy into any heart, but the heart that is "sound in 
 his statutes," — under the influence of a sincere spirit of obedi- 
 ence. He imparts no strength but to those who seek it for the 
 discharge of duty, or the resistance of temptation, or the patient 
 endurance of trial. To those only who are " thinking on and 
 doing " " whatsoever things are true, and just, and pure, and 
 honest, and lovely, and of good report," is the promise given, 
 — "The God of peace shall be with you." It was when 
 God's ancient people gloried in having the law, wdiile they for- 
 got the doing of it ; trusted in privileges, while they overlooked 
 the use and the end of them ; called God their Father while 
 they disregarded His authority, and disobeyed His will; 
 boasted of being God's chosen people, while the name of God 
 was blasphemed among the Gentiles through them; pro- 
 fessed to look for the Messiah on the faith of the prophecies, 
 but, through the power of a worldly spirit, rejected the 
 Messiah when he came ; — that Jehovah cast them off". It is 
 only by the acceptance of his truth, and the manifestation of 
 the sincerity of such acceptance by a desire to know and to 
 do His will, that they can ever be restored to favour, to 
 lionour, and to blessing. If ice, then, would hold fast God's 
 favour, we must hold fast God's truth, and God's will.;]: 
 
 * Hosea xiv. 2. f Ver. 4. J Compare Rom. xi. 17—23. 
 
LECTURE XIV 
 
 Zech. XI. 1 — 8. 
 
 *' Open thy doors, Lebanon, tliat the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, 
 fir-tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, ye 
 oaks of Bashan ; for the forest of the vintage is come down. There is a voice 
 of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring 
 of young lions ; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. Thus saitli the Lord my God, 
 Feed the flock of the slaughter; whose possessors slay them, and hold them- 
 selves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am 
 rich ; and their own shepherds pity tliem not. For I will no more pity the in- 
 habitants of the land, saith the Lord; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one 
 into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king ; and they shall smite 
 the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. And I will feed tlie 
 flock of slaughter, even you, poor of the flock. And 1 took unto me two 
 staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the 
 flock. Three shepherds also I cut off in one month ; and my soul loathed them, 
 and their soul also abhorred me." 
 
 The latter part of the preceding chapter we considered as 
 liaving reference to an event yet future — the restoration of the 
 Jewish people from their present state of unbelief and dis- 
 persion ; leaving for discussion hereafter the questions respect- 
 ing the nature of that restoration, — whether secular or spiri- 
 tual, and consequently whether national or personal. The 
 chapter before us I regard, with most critics and expositors, 
 as having its fulfilment in the agencies and circumstances 
 by which the calamitous dispersion of that people was to be 
 effected; that is, to the destruction of Jerusalem and its 
 temple by the Romans, with the fearful judgments attendant 
 and consequent upon that event. The only objection offered 
 
ZECHARIAH XI. 1—8. 249 
 
 to this interpretation is, that Haggai and Zechariah having 
 received their prophetic commission for the express purpose 
 of animating and cheering on the people in the work of re- 
 building the temple and tlie city, any such predictions of 
 coming calamities were but ill-suited for such an end. But 
 this is far from conclusive. First of all, we do not know the 
 precise date of this i)articular prediction. Eeading the Book, 
 as we do, as forming one whole, though in consecutive 
 portions, we are apt to overlook the fact, that .the various 
 predictions were imparted to the prophet's mind, and by him 
 made known to the people, at intervals, of which some 
 might be very considerable. How late, therefore, in Zecha- 
 riah's life, and how long after the building of the temple had 
 been completed, and that of the city extensively accomplished, 
 we cannot tell. And besides this, the people had not ceased 
 to require loarnings as well as encouragements. The truth 
 respecting their future destiny was not to be withheld from 
 them. The prediction of calamities was designed and fitted 
 to awaken serious consideration, self-inquiry, penitence, and 
 reformation. Besides, to whatever calamities the chapter 
 is regarded as referring, there is no interpreting it other- 
 wise than as foretelling calamities of some kind. So that 
 the same objection would hold against every possible inter- 
 pretation of the chapter; unless one could be devised, which 
 would convert terms that evidently express distress and 
 suffering into terms indicative of prosperity and happiness. 
 
 It is not my purpose to enter into minute detail in inter- 
 preting the successive verses ; but rather to give a general 
 view of the leading particulars referred to by the Prophet. 
 
 It seems altogether unnatural to attempt explaining 
 " Lebanon '' — addressed in the beginning of the chapter, — of 
 the mountain and its forests literally. And not much less 
 unnatural is the interpretation of it, as a figure for the city 
 Jerusalem, with its lofty buildings and turrets, resembling 
 the crowded and towering cedars and cypresses of Lebanon. 
 The "cZoors" naturally suggest some building; and as natu- 
 rally there presents itself to our minds the temple. And the 
 principal expositors, both Jewish and Gentile, understand 
 
250 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 it as having this reference. It matters not whether we 
 attach credit or not to the story told by Josephus, of the 
 doors of the temple, some thirty or forty years previous 
 to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, opening of their 
 own accord, and of the Eabbi Johanan saying to it, " I 
 know thy destruction is nigh, according to the prophecy 
 of Zechariah — ' Open thy doors, Lebanon, that the fires 
 may devour thy cedars.' " The story shows how the passage 
 in Zechariah was by Jewish interpreters understood : and 
 true it is, that on that occasion, though in contravention 
 of the most peremptory orders of the Roman general, the 
 temple was set on fire, and consumed . to the ground ; — a 
 Roman soldier dashing a flaming brand through one of its 
 windows, and its doors being at the same time burst open, 
 to complete and hasten the destruction. Thus tliis pro- 
 phecy, and also the later predictions of the Saviour, that 
 there "should not be left one stone upon another that 
 should not be thrown down," were fulfilled to the letter. 
 The temple is addressed under the designation of " Lebanon " 
 for the obvious reason, its walls in every part were lined 
 with cedar and cypress wood from the forests of that moun- 
 tain. All its interior might be said to have been constructed 
 from Lebanon. " Timber of cedar and timber of fir," or 
 cypress, were the two descriptions of wood, for which, when 
 about to erect the temple, Solomon sent his orders, for skilful 
 hewers, to Hiram the king of Tyre. 
 
 The first verse, then, we regard as having reference to that 
 extraordinary, and at the time far-distant, event, the destruc- 
 tion of the Jewish temple by lire. What follows, in the 
 second and third verses, is to be interpreted of the conster- 
 nation, horror, and anguish, in consequence of this terrible 
 catastroj)he, of the chief men, whether in civil or ecclesi- 
 astical station in the community : — " Howl, fir-tree," or 
 cypress tree, " for the cedar is fallen ; because the mighty 
 are spoiled: howl, ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of 
 the vintage is come down." 
 
 There can be no reasonable doubt, especially when the 
 terms are compared with those of other parts of prophetic 
 
ZECHAEIAH XI. 1—8. 251 
 
 scripture, that such is the import: — that by cedars and 
 c//presses are to be understood the principal men — the leaders 
 of the people — of superior and inferior grades. The excla- 
 mation, " Howl, cypress-tree, for the cedar is fallen," seems 
 to express the sentiment — a most natural one — that when 
 the higher falls, the lower may well take the alarm, and cry 
 out in terror and desjpair. The *' oaAs of Bashari " must be 
 taken in the same figurative acceptation ; the various trees of 
 the wood representing the varieties of rank and authority : — 
 the towering " cedars " being a natural emblem of elevated sta- 
 tion, and the sturdy and spreading " oals" of power ; while the 
 ''^ firs,'' or cypresses, more common and less admired and set-by, 
 yet not less really useful, aptly denote rulers of inferior grade, 
 without whose subordinate functions, well administered, the 
 higher might be more ornamental than really valuable and 
 efficient. All alike, in the days referred to, should have 
 cause for alarm and lamentation. " Tlie forest of the vintage " 
 is, on the margin "the defenced forest;" and the rendering, 
 (or renderings equivalent to it, as the "fortified forest,'' 
 " i\\e, fenced wood ") is preferred by the best critics. Lebanon 
 is conceived to have been thus environed for protection ; and 
 under this figure the city of Jerusalem is understood to be 
 meant, surrounded as it was by its insurmountable walls and 
 fortifications; in spite of which, though after a long and 
 harassing siege, it ultimately fell a prey to the divinely com- 
 missioned enemy. And all the men of power and rank, 
 ecclesiastical, civil, and military, involved in the fearful over- 
 tlirow, "howl" in agony together! 
 
 In Bible phraseology, and by a most natural figiu'e, 
 " slippliprds" is a designation for the same descriptions of 
 men — men in power — leaders, protectors, and providers for 
 a community. It is used for office, both in the Church 
 and in the State : — verse 3. " There is a voice of the 
 howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a 
 voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jor- 
 dan is spoiled."* The designation "young lions'' refers evi- 
 
 * Compare Ezek. xxxiv. 1 — 10; and Jer. xxv. 34 — 38. In tho 
 
252 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 dently to the same class of persons with the " shepherds.''* 
 As the latter designation describes their office; the former 
 depicts their character, which was that of fierceness and 
 rapacity; on the same account as they are elsewhere styled 
 "wolves ravening the prey;" and again, where the two 
 are conjoined, "roaring lions, and evening wolves that 
 gnaAV not the hones till the morrow." " The glory " of 
 these "shepherds" being "spoiled," signifies the bringing 
 down of all their honour, and power, and the wealth 
 and luxury which, by the abuse of their power, they 
 had acquired; all becoming a prey to the sacking and 
 pillaging besiegers. " The pride of Jordan" lay in its ever- 
 greens and brush-wood with which its banks were enriched 
 and adorned : and these being the covert and habitation of 
 the " young lions," the two parts of the figure are appropri- 
 ate. As the lions howl and roar in dismay and fury when 
 dislodged from their refuges and dwelling-places; whether 
 by the swelling flood sweeping over their lairs, (" he shall 
 come up like a \\ow. from the swellhujs of Jordan") or from 
 the cutting-down or the burning of their habitations — so 
 should the priests and rulers of Jerusalem be alarmed and 
 struck Avitli desperation and rage, when they found their 
 city, within whose walls they had counted themselves secure 
 from the very possibility of hostile entrance, laid open to 
 the outrage of an exasperated enemy, and all its resources 
 given up to plunder and destruction; — country as well 
 as city thrown into confusion and desolation ! How strik- 
 ing the character given of the " shepherds " that should be 
 in the predicted time, as presented in the language which 
 immediately follows : — " Thus saith the Lord my God ; Feed 
 the flock of the slaughter ; whose possessors slay them, and 
 hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, 
 Blessed be the Lord ; for I am rich : and their own shep- 
 herds pity them not." 
 
 The most reasonable principle of interpretation for this 
 and for what follows seems to be, (and it is always of prime 
 
 latter of these two passages, there is a similar reference as in that be- 
 fore us to the lions. 
 
ZECHARIAH XI. 1-8. 253 
 
 impoi-tance to ascertain such a principle) that the Prophet 
 is himself addressed ; and that what he is comniandecl to do 
 he does in vision, and as the representative, or type, of Him 
 toho icas to come. It is the principle of visionary impersona- 
 tion; setting forth, in symbolical prophetic action, what was 
 to be done, under divine commission and charge, by the 
 future Prophet of the church — the Messiah — the ^^ good 
 Shepherd " — " the great Shepherd of the sheep." We are 
 not without exemplifications, in the other prophets, of 
 similar symbolical actions, done in vision, recorded, and 
 published to the people for their instruction and warning. 
 If this principle be the correct one, — and I am fully per- 
 suaded it is, — then we are warranted to explain this portion 
 of the prophecy as having reference to Christ, and as ful- 
 filled in His character, and teachings, and doings. 
 
 " The floch of the slaughter,'' is a most expressive figure 
 for the people doomed to destrurJion. Could anything more 
 significantly express the prospects before the Jewish people at 
 the time of Messiah's coming than a flock of sheep destined to 
 the shambles'? By the " jyossessors,'' the owners or proprietors, 
 of the sheep, are still, of course, to be understood the same men 
 as before — the rulers or leaders of the people, who had them 
 completely under their orders, and at their disposal, making of 
 them, and doing with them, what they pleased. The general 
 idea is that of self-willed and selfish oppression, with a view 
 to the gratification of ambitious and covetous desires; — 
 elevating and enriching themselves by wasting and impover- 
 ishing others; having no compassion, no benevolent feel- 
 ing, but making self the all-in-all; not ruling, whether in 
 the civil or the ecclesiastical department, for the benefit of 
 those committed to their control, but looking on and treating 
 the people as put under them for their own benefit. 
 And mark two things connected with the conduct thus 
 imputed to them; the ahsence of all conscience, and the 
 hypocritical pretensions to piety : — ** They slay them, and 
 hold themselves not guilty;'' and they say, ^^ Blessed he the 
 Lord, for I am rich." For all their ruthless selfishness and 
 cruel oppression, they had no qualms of conscience. "When, 
 
254 LECTURE XIA^ 
 
 in the language of Ezekiel, they "ate the fat, anil clothe 1 
 themselves with the wool, and killed them that were fed, ' 
 they were like Solomon's adulterous woman — "eating 
 and wiping their mouth, and saying. We have done no evil." 
 Their hearts were without feeling, and their consciences 
 seared and callous. And in the midst of all this, they 
 are vastly religious! They make their wealth in ways 
 which God abhors and reprobates, and then they thank Him 
 for their success. " Blessed he Jehovah, for I am rich,'' they 
 devoutly exclaimed, when " the cries of those " by the plun- 
 dering of whom they had enriched themselves " were enter- 
 ing into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Thus, while 
 " through covetousness, they with feigned words made mer- 
 chandise of men,'' they, at the same moment, with either the 
 feigned words of conscious hypocrisy, or the unfeigned 
 v/ords of unconscious self-deception and self-conceit, sought 
 to impose upon the omniscient God, and to put Him off 
 with words and forms, in which there was no heart and 
 no moral or spiritual obedience. .TTow, there could not 
 be a juster description of the leading features in the 
 character of the Pharisees of Christ's day. These were 
 — avarice and hypocrisy: their hypocrisy being, as is the 
 wont of religious dissemblers, accompanied with a large 
 amount of ostentation and parade. IMark the manner in 
 which the Lord himself speaks of them : — " Woe unto you, 
 scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' 
 houses, and for a pretence make long prayer : therefore ye 
 shall receive tlie greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes 
 and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and 
 anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters 
 of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye to 
 have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind 
 guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe 
 unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make 
 clean the outside of the cup and of the pla.tter, but within 
 they are full of extortion and excess." * This " hypocrisy " 
 
 * Matt, xxiii. 14, 23—25. 
 
ZECHARIAH XL 1—8. 255 
 
 was " the leaven of the Pharisees : " and it was all for self- 
 aggrandizement. " Gain was their godliness." The char- 
 acter of "the rulers, and scribes, and Pharisees" tlien was 
 quite in keeping with that of the priests and judges of 
 ancient times. Of them we have such descriptions as the 
 following : — '" His watchmen are blind : they are all ignor- 
 ant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, 
 lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs 
 which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that 
 cannot understand : they all look to their own way, every 
 one for his gain, from his quarter."* "Hear this, I pray 
 you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the 
 house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all ecjuity. 
 They build np Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 
 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof 
 teach for hire, and the projjhets thereof divine for money : 
 yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say. Is not the Lord 
 among us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall 
 Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall 
 become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high 
 places of the forest." t In this latter passage we have the 
 judicial consequence. So we have it in the passage before us. 
 It was, in both periods, "Like priest, like people;" and "like 
 people, like priest." The character of the one was a counter- 
 part in principle, and, as far as it could be, in practice, of 
 that of the other. In the time of Jesus, " the wrath was 
 speedily coming npon them to the uttermost :" — 
 
 Yerse 6. " For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the 
 land, saith the Lord : but, lo, I will deliver the men every 
 one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his 
 king : and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand 
 I will not deliver them." The words imply, that hereto- 
 fore pity had been felt for them and extended to them. Of 
 a very large amount, indeed, of compassionate forbearance 
 they had been the objects. " Many a time did they provoke 
 Him," not in the mlderness only, but from the hour of theii 
 
 * Isa. Ivi. 10, 11. t Micah ill. 9—12. 
 
256 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 rescue from the bondage of Egypt «lowii tlirougli tlieir wliolo 
 history. He warned them. He threatened them. He be- 
 sought them. He chastised tliem, when warning, and 
 threatening, and entreaty failed : and then was verified the 
 discription given by the Psalmist, after detailing some of the 
 miracnlons ways in which God had supplied their wants, 
 even when those wants had led them to rebellious mur- 
 muring: — "For all this they sinned still, and believed 
 not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did 
 he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When 
 he slew them, then they sought him : and they returned and 
 enquired early after God. And they remembered that God 
 was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. ISTever- 
 theless tliey did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied 
 unto him with their tongues. For their beart was not right 
 with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. But 
 he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and de- 
 stroyed them not : yea, many a time turned he his anger 
 away, and did not stir up all his ^vrath. For he remem- 
 bered that they were but flesh ; a wind that passetli away, 
 and cometh not again. How oft did they provoke him in 
 the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they 
 turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of 
 Israel." * When they had added to all their previous acts 
 of unbelief and rebellion, the worst of all — the rejection of 
 the true Messiah — the crucifixion of " the Lord of glory," 
 and had thus " filled up the cup of their iniquity," — the 
 Divine pity toward them was to cease. His forbearance 
 had reached its utmost limit; and He must visit them 
 with the heavy woes which, both by Moses and the suc- 
 cessive prophets. He had denounced against them. Ob- 
 serve the particular evils here threatened: 1. Jehovah 
 would " deliver the men, every one into his neighbour s 
 hand.'' This seems to refer to the disagreements and dis- 
 turbances, — the factions, and deadly feuds, — which were 
 to arise among the inhabitants of the city themselves; 
 
 * Psa. Ixxviii. 32—41. 
 
ZECHARIAH XI. 1—8. 257 
 
 through diversities of counsel, and through tlie maddening 
 distress produced by famine and its attendant pestilence ; — 
 the intolerable gnawings of famished hunger making " their 
 eye evil," as in the prophetic denunciations it is repeatedly 
 expressed, — "making their eye evil" towards one another, 
 and overpowering the very tenderest and strongest of nature's 
 affections. Such was the fury of the contending factions, 
 that all parts of the city, and the very temple itself, were 
 filled with slaughter. In their mutual phrenzy, they burned 
 the very granaries of corn which should have sustained them, 
 and destroyed the magazines of arms which should have de- 
 fended them. And such was the pressure of the famine, that 
 parents and children, husbands and wives, tore the food from 
 each other's mouths, scanty and bad as it was, and, as a sub- 
 sequent verse hints, fed on the very bodies of the dead, 
 envying them the meanwhile the cessation of their sufferings. 
 2. It is here said God would deliver every man " into the 
 hand of his Idng :" — that is, would deliver the population 
 generally and individually, to this regal power. Who, then, 
 was this "A'/y/r/.?" The expression is a singular one. 
 We cannot but see an allusion in it to the remarkable fact, 
 of the Jews having rejected their own royal and divine 
 Messiah — "the Son of God, and the King of Israel;" and 
 having, in answer to the remonstrance of Pilate, when they 
 clamoured for His crucifixion — "Shall I crucify your kingT' 
 exclaimed, with one indignant voice, " We have no Icing 
 but Coisar f" Is not this, then, the King into whose hand 
 they were to be delivered ? ! it was a moment of fearful 
 and guilty infatuation, — an ill-fated moment, — when they 
 thus, with outcries of fury, renounced, and demanded the 
 death of, their own King — the true "King of the Jews;" 
 and in the abject spirit of slaves, threw themselves on the 
 power and the tender mercies of the Eoman emperor. God 
 gave them into the hands of this king. He became the exe- 
 cutioner, by his armies, of the divine vengeance. And fearful 
 was the execution. In the siege, and at the fall of Jerusalem 
 eleven hundred thousand Jews perished, and in the course of 
 
 R 
 
258 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 the war about a million and a half. And this was the doing 
 of the king of their own choice, 
 
 3. The " land,'' as well as the city, was to be smitten : 
 ^^ and tliey shall smite the land; and out of their hand icill 
 I not deliver them.'" And thns it was. ISTot only was Jeru- 
 salem laid in ruins, and the very foundations of the temple 
 torn up with a ploughshare; and so the prediction of 
 Micah literally verified, " For your sake shall Zion he 
 ploughed as a field;'' but the whole country of Judea 
 was thoroughly subjugated. The very land itself Avas sold, 
 and Gentiles put in possession of it, while the Jews, in 
 vast numbers, w^ere either sold into captivity, or slain. 
 Jehovah had many a time delivered them out of the hand 
 of their enemies. It was not that the power of Eome 
 was too mighty for Him. He could have chased that foe 
 from Jerusalem, like "the thistle-down before the whirlwind." 
 He could, but He icoidd not. The hour of His righteous 
 vengeance was come; and He would not rescue either the 
 city or the land. Both — and the inhabitants of both — are 
 to be left to their predicted doom. 
 
 The beginning of the seventh verse is read by the best 
 modern critics in the past tense. This seems to be right. 
 It is the compliance of the Prophet with the charge, and is 
 prophetically descriptive of the compliance of Him whom, in 
 the vision, he personates: " So I fed the flock of slaughter." 
 It may be observed further, that the word rendered "j;oor" 
 has equally the signification of afflicted, suffering, miserahle : 
 and the whole first clause of the verse may be, and has been, 
 translated, " So I fed the flock of slaughter, — truly miser- 
 able sheep."* They were miserable, as being thus mercilessly 
 ruled and robbed, and as being thus devoted to "slaughter." 
 The words, then, represent what the Messiah in person did. 
 He fed the miserable flock. He was " sent to the lost sheep 
 of the house of Israel." " When he saw the multitudes, he 
 was moved with compassion toward them, because they 
 fainted and were scattered abroad, as shee23 having 7io shcp- 
 
 * This is Dr. Hendcrsoirs rendering, and perhaps tlie best. — Ed. 
 
ZECHAPJAH XL 1-8. 259 
 
 herd." Widely different was His cliaracter from tliafc of the 
 shepherds described here. They were "hirehiigs" — "thieves 
 and robbers." They fed and clothed themselves off the sheep : 
 and in time of danger, when their duty was to face it in de- 
 fence of their flocks, they "left the sheep and fled," abandoning 
 them to be caught and scattered by the prowling and voracious 
 wolf. But what says He of himself ? " I am the good shep- 
 herd. I know my sheep, and am known of mine. I am the 
 good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for the 
 sheep." " He went about doing good." All his divine 
 instructions, and all his miracles of mercy, had the same 
 gracious end ; the fulfdment of the purpose for which He 
 came into the world — " to seek and to save that which was 
 lost," He beautifully portrays his own character, and the 
 delight which the success of his mission afforded him, when 
 under the same image, he said — " What man of you, having 
 an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the 
 ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that Avhich is 
 lost, until he find it 1 And when he hath found it, he layeth 
 it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, 
 he calleth together his friends and neighbours, snying unto 
 them, Rejoice with me ; for I have found my sheep which 
 was lost." * 
 
 The " two staves," or crooks, have, as to their number, been 
 differently explained. Matthew Henry explains it of " the 
 double care that Christ takes of His sheep, ordinary shepherds 
 having but one crook ; and more particularly of His care for 
 both the bodies and the souls of men." According to Dr. 
 Henderson, " the two crooks were symbolical of the two modes 
 of treatment which the Hebrews had experienced, under the 
 guidance and protection of the providence of God." Eoth of 
 these interpretations seem to me somewhat fanciful. Wliy 
 may we not consider the tico crooks as having reference to 'Hlie 
 house of Judah and the house of Israel ;'' and as meant to in- 
 timate that neither was to be left out in the mission and 
 work of " the good shepherd ? " This appears to me a suffl- 
 ciently natural and easy explanation; and it is confirmed by 
 * Luke XV. 4—6. 
 
260 LECTURE XIV. 
 
 the very reference to ^^ Judali and IsraeV in the breaking ol 
 the second of the crooks, — to be hereafter considered. 
 
 The one staff, or crook, the Prophet called ^^ Beauty, '' and 
 the other ^^ Bands^ The former word has been rendered grace 
 0'^ favour.'^ It may mean either. It seems to me, that the 
 best way of getting at the meaning of both the names is, to 
 consider the meaning of the breaking of them, referred to in 
 verses tenth and fourteenth; "And I took my staff, even 
 Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant 
 which I had made with all the people. Then I cut asunder 
 mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brother- 
 hood between Judah and Israel." 
 
 We see from the former of these verses, why the first 
 staff was called " beauty^' or favour. The covenant of Je- 
 hovah (for "??2?/ covenant"' must be understood as the words of 
 the Divine Messiah, impersonated by the Prophet) — the 
 covenant of Jehovah with the people of Israel was at once 
 the manifestation of His special grace or favour to them; 
 and the realization of its provisions constituted "the beaidy 
 of the Lord their God ujDon them,." Their glory and 
 beauty lay in their being "a holy people unto the Lord." 
 He " had not dealt so with any nation." And the entire 
 system of their ritual worshiji, especially when considered in 
 its typical import, as " the shadow of good things to come," 
 was faU. of both glory, and beauty, and divine loving- 
 kindness. 
 
 The second staff was called " Bands : " and, since the 
 breaking of it represented " the breaking of the brotherhood 
 between Judah and Israel," it must itself have been, in the 
 name given to it, significant of that brotherhood. This seems 
 a natural and even necessary sequence. It symbolized the 
 union of the tribes. The ancient severance of these, and 
 the question whether their re-union took place at the return 
 from Babylon, or is yet future, may come before us hereafter. 
 
 In the eighth verse — " Three shepherds also I cut off in 
 
 * The word is oya. It is not of very frequent occurrence; and in 
 other instances in our authorized version is XQii\(\.QXQ([ pUasantiess ; and 
 the adjective D-ya pleasant. — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH XI. 1—8. 261 
 
 one moil til ; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also 
 abhorred me,'' — the reference of the first clause is dark. If 
 it refers to three Indivlduai persons, it seems impossible, from 
 anything recorded in history, to determine who are meant : 
 certain conjectures of Jewish Rabbles and others being too 
 absurd and too ridiculous to deserve serious mention. It is 
 more likely that the designation " three shepherds'' has refer- 
 ence to three orders of persons or offices, than to three indi- 
 viduals. And, if taken thus, by far the most reasonable 
 interj)retation is that which explains it of the three descrip- 
 tions of rulers in the Jewish commonwealth — the priests, 
 tlie scribes or teachers of the law, and the civil magistrates. 
 " These," says a translator and critic, to whom frequent 
 reference has been made, " were the persons of influence by 
 whom the affairs of the nation were conducted, and to whose 
 wickedness, which reached its culminating point when they 
 crucified the Lord of glory, the destruction of the state is to 
 be ascribed." 
 
 The "o??e month'' is probably a definite for an indefinite 
 expression, signifying merely a very short time ; and that 
 time, in all probability, the closing period of the siege of 
 Jerusalem, when everything like order was broken up, and 
 tlie entire Jewish jDolity dissolved. 
 
 The latter part of the verse appears to describe the loathing 
 of the soul of the divine Shepherd, during the personal dis- 
 charge of the functions of His ministry, in witnessing the 
 fearful wickedness of both rulers, and scribes, and priests, 
 and people. how grievously — in a far higher sense and 
 measure than could ever before be affirmed of the best men of 
 their generation — must His righteous soul have been " vexed 
 from day to day with their unlawful deeds ! " All sin went to 
 His very heart. He saw it, as it never was seen by man on 
 earth since its entrance, in the full amount of its enormity : 
 and then, to His view, who " knew what was in man," what 
 a multiplicity and accumulation of evil, which none else 
 could witness, was open ! what a loathing was that of 
 such a soul — " holy, harmless, undefiled !" 
 
 We cannot wonder at what is added, " Their soul also 
 
262 LECTUKE XIV. 
 
 ahUorrecl ?7ie." How could it be othenvise? Could pol« 
 lution love holiness 1 Could woiidliness love spirituality ? 
 Could the cliildren of the devil love the Son of God — 
 the image of " the Father that sent him ? " Could hell love 
 heaven? The unbeHeving and rebellious Israelites of old 
 said to their prophets, " Cause the Holy One of Israel to 
 cease from before us." And the very same state of heart 
 discovered itself in their loathing of Him who could say — 
 " He that hath seen me, hatli seen the Father." " The world 
 cannot hate you^' was his language to his unbelieving and 
 worldly kinsmen, "but me it hateth, because I testify of it, 
 that its deeds are evil." He bore this testimony both in his 
 teaching and in his example. His sinless life was a con- 
 tinual reproach to all the evil that was said and done around 
 him. Their consciences could not but approve; but their 
 hearts hated, the sinlessness which thus was ever condemning 
 them. 
 
 We must now draw to a close. And the last of our obser- 
 vations suggests a question, which it may be profitable for 
 every hearer to take home to his conscience, and make the 
 ground of serious self-examination — the question which Jesus 
 himself, though in a different connexion and with a different 
 view, put once to Ids hearers — "What think ye of Christ?" 
 Is it not a deeply affecting thought, that a character so 
 perfect should have had it to say of the men of his 
 day — among whom he dwelt, "going in and out among 
 them," in the manifestation of all that was holy, and the 
 unceasing practice of all that was benevolent, divinely hol}^ 
 divinely benevolent, — " Their soul abhorred me ? " What a 
 fearful state of heart ! He " grew up before them as a tender 
 plant, as a root out of a dry ground : he was despised and 
 rejected by them : they hid their faces from him : they saw 
 no beauty in him, that they should desire him!" Is it so, 
 my hearers, with any of you ? Do you loathe, or do you love, 
 the Saviour? Loathe him! do you say — and shrink and 
 shudder at the thought? Then, if you profess to love him, 
 we have two questions to ask you: Why do you love him? 
 Do you love him only for what he has done, or do you love 
 
ZECHARIAH XL 1—8. 263 
 
 liim for what lie is ? Do you love him only because you ex- 
 pect to get forgiveness of your sins through his atonement, 
 and so to escape helU Or do you, along with this, discern 
 his " beauty " — the moral and spiritual loveliness of his char- 
 acter? Instead of " hiding your faces from him," do you de- 
 light to gaze on the all-perfect model of purity and love which 
 tliat character sets before you? If you profess thus to love 
 liira, then my next question is — How do you sUoio your love ? 
 The very men who lived in our Lord's time made many pro- 
 fessions. Tliey called God their Father; and would have 
 fired with indignation at being charged with hating him. 
 Yet hate him they did ; and showed it by hating his image 
 in his Son. They said, " If we had been in the days of 
 our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in 
 the blood of the prophets : " and yet they did worse than 
 their fathers ; and shed blood infinitely more pure and more 
 precious than that of the best of the prophets. If, then, 
 you love Christ for what he has done for you — you will 
 obey his will, and seek his glory : and if you love him for 
 what he is, you will imitate him ; you will long, and pray, 
 and strive to be like him. If you are indeed of the flock of 
 " the Good Shepherd," you will hear his voice, axd follow 
 
 HIM, 
 
LECTURE XV 
 
 Zech. XI. 9—17. 
 
 "Then said I, I will not feed you: tli;it that dietli, let it die; and that that 
 is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of an- 
 other. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might 
 break my covenant which I had made witli all the people. And it was broken 
 ill that day: and so the poor of the flock tliat waited upon me knew that it was 
 tlie word of the Lord. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my 
 }irice; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 
 And the Lord said unto me. Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was 
 prized at of tliem. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the 
 potter in tlie house of the Lord. Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even 
 ]>.mds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And 
 the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shep- 
 lierd. For, lo, I will raise up a sliepherd in the land, which sliall not visit tliose 
 that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor lieal that that is broken, 
 nor feed that that standeth still : but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear 
 their claws in pieces. Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the 
 sword shall be upon his arm, and upon liis right eye: his arm shall be clean 
 dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." 
 
 The lan(Tuap;e in the first of these verses is most affecting. 
 It is the language of one whose patience was exhausted; who 
 was weary of repenting; who heaves the sigh of mingled pity 
 and indignation, and throws up his charge in hopelessness. 
 It is language — considered as uttered by the " good Shep- 
 herd," by Immanuel — in full harmony with His language 
 as recorded by the Evangelists : — " Woe unto jou, 
 scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the 
 tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the 
 righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, 
 
ZECHARIAH XL 9—17. 2G5 
 
 we would not have been partakers with them in the blood 
 of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto your- 
 selves, that ye are tlie children of them which killed the pro- 
 phets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye 
 serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the 
 damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you 
 jjrophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye 
 shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in 
 your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city : 
 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon 
 the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood 
 of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the 
 temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these 
 tilings shall come upon this generation. Jerusalem, Jeru- 
 salem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them 
 which are sent unto thee, how often would T have gathered 
 thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
 under her wings, and ye would not ! Behold, your house is 
 left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not 
 see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that 
 cometh in the name of the Lord."* He who uttered these 
 words clearly represents himself as having, through the 
 whole period of the history of Israel that preceded his 
 own coming, the divine superintendence of that people; 
 and as now about to pursue the same gracious course 
 of trial — putting the then existing generation to the same 
 tests with their fathers, by which the very same char- 
 acter — the character which they so devoutly disowned — 
 would be shown to be theirs as much as, or even more 
 than, it was that of their fathers. The terms of this verse 
 are a following-out of those in the sixtli — *' I will no 
 more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord : but, 
 lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbours 
 hand, and into the hand of his king : and they shall smite 
 the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them." 
 He had borne long Avith them. He had wooed them, 
 
 * Matt, xxiii. 29—39. 
 
266 LECTUKE XV. 
 
 and awed them; blessed and chastised them; instructed, 
 admonished, entreated, reproved ; loaded with good, corrected 
 with evil; used all possible methods with them; so that 
 with truth He could appeal to themselves, and say — '•' And 
 now, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, 
 I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could 
 have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done 
 in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth 
 grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"''" And what follows 
 in Isaiah is in accordance with the words of Zechariah before 
 us — "Now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to my 
 vineyard : I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall 
 be eaten up : and break down the wall thereof^ and it shall 
 be trodden down: and I will lay it waste: it shall not 
 be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briers and 
 thorns : I will also command the clouds that they rain no 
 rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the 
 house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: 
 and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for 
 righteousness, but behold a cry."t Such did their character 
 continue, in spite of the very last and best means that could 
 be expended upon them ; when " God who, at sundry times 
 and in diverse manners, had spoken to them by the pro- 
 phets, spoke to them by his Son." Nay, the best means 
 drew forth the worst manifestation of the character. That 
 character is thus briefly and forcibly portrayed by Paul — 
 " Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and 
 have persecuted us ; and they please not God, and are con- 
 trary to all men : forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that 
 they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway : for the 
 wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." ;}: Hitherto 
 Jehovah, in His merciful long-suffering, had said — " How 
 shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, 
 Israel?" But there was a limit to His forbearance. Here, 
 He does "give them up." He does "deliver" them, — delivers 
 them over to His thi-ee great avengers — the pestilence (" that 
 
 * Isa. V. 3, 4. t Verses 5—7. X 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16. 
 
ZECHARTAH XL 9—17. 267 
 
 Ivliich is dying let it die"); tlie sword ("that wliicli is beiiif? 
 cut off let it be cut off"); and the /cmzme (" let the rest 
 eat every one the flesh of another.") He had ceased to be 
 " the glory in the midst of them ; " and He would no longer 
 be " a wall of fire round about them." He would withdraw 
 all protection, and give entrance and license to their ene- 
 mies. Fearful was the fulfilment. Before those enemies 
 forced admission, famine and pestilence, and mutual feuds 
 among themselves, had done dreadful execution ; and 
 even the last most horrible ingredient in their sufferings, 
 as their own historian testifies, was, to the letter, realized. 
 So far back as the time of Moses, it had been predicted, 
 with a particularity that harrows the very soul : — " And 
 thou shalt eat the fruit oi thine own body, the flesh of thy 
 sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath 
 given thee, in the siege, and in the sti-aitness, wherewith 
 thine enemies shall distress thee : so that the man that is 
 tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil 
 toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and 
 toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave : 
 so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his 
 children whom he shall eat ; because he hath nothing left 
 him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine 
 enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and 
 delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to 
 set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and 
 tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her 
 bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, ami 
 toward her young one that cometh out from between her 
 feet, and toward her children which she shall bear : for she 
 shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege 
 and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in 
 thy gates."" Other prophets toot had affectingly depicted 
 the same scene of famished madness ; and the terms of Jesus 
 himself, in anticipating those days, were no exaggeration : — 
 " Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the 
 
 * Deut. xxvili, 53 — 57. f e. g. Jer. xix. 9. 
 
268 LECTURE XV. 
 
 beginning of tlie world until this time, no, nor ever shall 
 be." 
 
 We have next (verses 10, 11,) a symbolical action, with 
 its import : — " And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it 
 asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made 
 with all the people. And it was broken in tliat day : and 
 so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it 
 was the word of the Lord." 
 
 The words express the meaning as well as the act. The 
 breaking of this " crook " was significant of the dissolution, 
 thus far, of the covenant with Israel. That covenant, as we 
 have more than once had occasion to remark, was conditional. 
 There were promises and engagements on Jehovah's part; 
 but resting on certain expressed, and ever after repeated 
 and implied, conditions on theirs ; — conditions which they 
 voluntarily pledged themselves to fulfil. Thus it was at the 
 outset."'' But they had egregiously, and all along, and 
 many a time flagrantly, violated the conditions to which 
 they had thus assented. And now the time was come, when 
 they were to experience, more than ever before, the divine 
 faithfulness to the threatenings of the covenant, as they 
 had experienced the divine faithfulness to its promises. I 
 am aware that the phrase, "My covenant ivlth all the 
 IDeople " is, in the original, " with all the ijeoples,'' or nations ;-y 
 and that critics are agreed that the same phrase is nowhere 
 nsed for the tribes of Israel. It is understood as referring to 
 tlie implied, or tacit, compact between Jehovah and all the 
 nations by whom the safety and well-being of Israel could 
 be, whether beneficially or injuriously, affected, that they 
 should not " touch his pro^Dhets or do his people harm," ex- 
 cept under commission from Himself. But who does not see, 
 that this is only expressing, by a particular form of speech, 
 one of the promissory provisions of the covenant with Israel, 
 — namely, that the surrounding nations should be held 
 under His restraint and control ; so that they should have 
 no power to harm them if they continued " willing and 
 
 * Conip. Exod. xix. 3 — 5; and xxiv. 3 and 7. f D*?2i;rT"b3. 
 
ZECHAEIAH XI. 9—17. 209 
 
 obedient "?" Jeliovali gave promise of this from the first.* 
 And if the " nations," when employed by Him as instru- 
 ments of correction, gave indulgence to malice, and, with 
 rigour and cruelty, " helped forward the affliction," He pun- 
 ished them for it afterward, and avenged the wrongs of 
 His people. He now broke the bond of restraint, and 
 gave uncontrolled license — the license of fire and sword, 
 of slaughter and pillage, of desolation, dispersion, and 
 bondage, — of every form of suffering — to their vengeful ene- 
 mies; by whom the license was used and abused to the 
 uttermost. 
 
 We can have no hesitation, from the connexion in which 
 they stand, of the reference and the import of the words in 
 the latter part of the eleventh verse: — "And so the poor of the 
 flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of 
 the LoED." The '^ poor of the flocV are those to whom 
 the Saviour, "lifting up His eyes upon them," said — 
 "Elessed be ye poor : for yours is the kingdom of God." They 
 were "poor" in condition, and "poor" in spirit. And their 
 " knoioing that it loas the ivord of the Lord,'' relates to the 
 warning of coming calamity which the preceding vers(;s 
 contain, — a warning repeated by Jesus himself, and a 
 cautionary injunction founded on it: — "When ye shall 
 see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the 
 prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him 
 understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee into tlie 
 mountains :"t — "When _ye shall see Jerusalem com- 
 passed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof 
 is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the 
 mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it de- 
 part out; and let not them that are in the countries enter 
 thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all 
 tilings Avhich are written maybe fulfilled. " :|: They knew 
 this to be the word of the Lord. It was imparted to tlieir 
 fellow disciples; believed, and obeyed. They escaped to a 
 
 * See for example, Deut. ii. 25; xi. 25; Exod. xxxiv. 24. 
 t Matt. xxiv. 15, 16. | Luke xxi. 20—22. 
 
270 LECTURE XV. 
 
 place of security in tlie surrounding mountains, and vrere 
 saved from the universal carnage and captivity. 
 
 The verses which follow have been the occasion of much 
 discussion. Into all that has been written by critics and expo- 
 sitors, for clearing away the difficulties which are admitted to 
 attend them, it would be quite out of place to enter. To 
 many of you much of it would be unintelligible. We 
 cannot read the verses, even were no reference made to 
 thein in the ISTew Testament, without their calling to mind 
 the facts as to the betrayal of Christ for the very same sum, 
 and the nse to which that sum was subsequently j^ut: 
 — "And I said unto them. If ye think good, give me 
 my price ; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my 
 price thirty j)ieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, 
 Cast it unto the potter : a goodly price that I was prized at 
 of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast 
 them to the potter in the house of the Lord." And how 
 writes the Evangelist 1 " Then Judas, which had betrayed 
 him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, 
 and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests 
 and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the 
 innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou 
 to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, 
 and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief 
 priests took the silver j)ieces, and said. It is not lawful for to 
 put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 
 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's 
 field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, 
 The field of blood, unto this day. Then 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." * 
 There are some predictions respecting the sufferings of Christ, 
 which are singularly minute and specific; and their fulfil- 
 ment accurate to the letter. There are others which, in the 
 
 * Matt, xxvii. 3—10. 
 
ZECHARIAH XI. 9—17. ' 271 
 
 midst of nnicli that lias no immediate relevancy to tlie facts 
 of his life and death, contain allusions remote and obscure, 
 • — such as could not suggest any distinct idea of what was to 
 take place, but which come to be understood when the events 
 have actually transiDired. The case now before us is one 
 of these. Let us briefly glance at the chief difficulties 
 connected with it. 
 
 1. The first we notice is the ascription of the words cited 
 by the Evangelist to " Jeremy the prophet," instead of Zeclia- 
 riali. In the introductory lecture, we stated our conviction 
 that the supposition of some that the latter portion of this 
 book of Zechariah was really T^^itten by Jeremiah had no 
 sufficient ground, if any at all, to support it. Setting this 
 aside, the most probable of the remaining solutions of the 
 difficulty seems to be, that the Evangelist did not name 
 the prophet at all, but simply wrote — "Then was ful- 
 filled that which was spoken by the prophet:" and that, 
 the practice being to write names in a contracted form, the 
 first translator of Matthew's Gospel from the Hebrew, in 
 which it Avas written, into Greek — by the mistake of a single 
 letter for another to which its resemblance is as close as it 
 can well be without being the same — took the Hebrew word 
 for " %," in the phrase "by the prophet." to be a con- 
 traction for " hy Jeremiah;''"^ and that from that the error 
 obtained currency. This conjecture is at once the simplest 
 and most satisfactory. And it is rather remarkable, that it 
 agrees with the practice of the Evangelist Matthew ; who, in 
 other placeSjt uses the phrase " by the prophet," and only 
 in one or two instances introduces the name. There are, 
 moreover, some manuscripts which are without any name; 
 and more than one with the name of Zechariah. % 
 
 2. The quotation, it is alleged, differs so much from 
 the Avords of the Prophet, that it can hardly be supposed 
 
 * X^aarr t^a for x^sarr n»3 ; "i-a being the contraction for irr*?:*i*3. 
 Some of the other attempts at the solution of the difficultywill be touiid 
 in Henderson's note; and in Hengstenberg's Christol, in he. — Ed. 
 
 t Chap. i. 22; ii. 5; ii. 15; xiii. 35; xxi. 4; xxvii. 35. 
 
 f For a list of them see Henderson's Note. — Ed. 
 
272 LECTURE XV. 
 
 to have been taken from this place in Zechariah. As to this 
 let it be specially noticed, that of the verse in Matthew, which 
 at first appears to stand as if it were all a citation, part 
 is really a parenfJiesis by the Evangelist, explanatory of his 
 allusion in what he actually does quote. That parenthesis 
 consists of the words " Tlte price of him that was valued^ 
 who7n tlieij of the children of Israel did value:*' and a most 
 natural one it is; referring to the transaction immediately 
 preceding, in the Prophet, the words actually quoted. These 
 words, omitting the parenthesis, are — " And they took the 
 thirty pieces of silver, and gave them for the potter's field, 
 as the Lord appointed me." This brings them much nearer to 
 the Septuagint Greek ; from Avhich it is no uncommon thing 
 for waiters in the JSTew Testament to quote : — about as near 
 as in some other instances, in which the sense is given 
 without exact regard to verhcd sameness. 
 
 3. It is not denied that there are points of obvious diversity 
 between the two transactions — that in the Prophet and that 
 in the Evangelist. But there are points too of similarity; 
 and in these the allusive type is to be considered as lying. 
 The " price " — reward, or hire — given to the Prophet, in the 
 vision, represented the slight value set upon his person 
 and his official services. So did the same price, put upon 
 the head of a greater than Zechariah or any of the pro- 
 phets, testify the low value they set upon him and his 
 divine, and divinely attested, ministrations and work. The 
 identity of " the price ; " the principle, or want of principle, 
 shown in its pitiful dimiuutiveness ; and the giving of each 
 to " the potter" — are the chief points of resemblance, in 
 which the treatment of the Prophet was a prophetic prefigu- 
 ration of the treatment of Him " of whom Moses in the law, 
 and the prophets, did write." However indirect and obscure 
 the prefiguration might be, we are not to regard the reference 
 by Matthew as a mere accommodation. There was in what 
 befell the Prophet a designed foreshadowing of what in the 
 future should befall the Prophet's Lord. 
 
 While the "cutting asunder" of the one "staff" or crook was 
 a figure for the disruption between the infatuated nation and 
 
ZECHARIAII XI. 9-17. 273 
 
 their covenant God, the " cutting asunder" of the other was a 
 figure for the disruption of the bonds of brotherhood amongst 
 the people themselves : — verse 1 4, " Then I cut asunder mine 
 other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood 
 between Judah and Israel." Two things may be noticed 
 here. First : I have more than once hinted at the possi- 
 bility, and the probability, that the return from the cap- 
 tivity in Babylon was accomj)anied with the re-union of 
 the ten tribes and the two — of " Judah and Israel," or, as 
 sometimes, " Judah and Ephraim : " — that is, that the resto- 
 ration Avas not exclusively of the tribes of Judah and Benja- 
 min, but tliat members of the other tribes were understood 
 to be equally welcome; and that not a few of them did avail 
 themselves of the opportunity of return from different quar- 
 ters, at different intervals, and of re-settlement with their 
 brethren. The verses before us appear to contain a some- 
 what satisfactory proof of this. " The brotherhood between 
 Israel and Judah " had been " hrohen,'' as far back as the 
 days of Rehoboam. And, had there been no subsequent 
 healing of the breach, — no subsequent re-union, — how could 
 that " brotherhood" be again '' broken," either in the time of 
 the Prophet, or in the prefigured time — the time of Christ, 
 or the time of judgment that followed his unbelieving rejec- 
 tion? — Secondly: The "cutting asunder" of the "staff Bands" 
 — signifying the breaking up of this " brotherhood" — had its 
 melancholy counterpart in the alienations and animosities, the 
 party feuds and fightings, the destruction of all rule, and the 
 entire dismemberment of the Jewish community, both civil 
 and ecclesiastical, at and after the destruction of their temple 
 and their city. The internal dissensions and bloody frays were, 
 according to Josephus, numerous and frightful; producing 
 weakness, and making them a prey to their enemies, when 
 the strength of union was so pre-eminently needful. The 
 vessel of the Jewish commonwealth then foundered, and 
 went to pieces, amidst the floods of divine vengeance ; never 
 to be refitted after the ancient model : — yet her timbers, as 
 we may hereafter see, not lost, but to be brought again to- 
 gethei; according to the model of the new and better era — 
 
 s 
 
274 LECTURE XV. 
 
 the era of the Messiah, and under the common flag of all 
 peoples, — bearing the name and insignia, not of Moses, but 
 of Christ. 
 
 Hitherto, the Prophet has been the representative, by an- 
 ticipation, of the true "shepherd of the sheep;" even of 
 Him, of whom Jehovah, in a subsequent chapter, says — 
 "Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the 
 man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the 
 shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered ; and I will turn 
 mine hand upon the little ones." * Xow there is a change 
 (verses 15 — 17) — "And the Lord said unto me, Take unto 
 thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd : for, lo, I will 
 raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those 
 that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that 
 that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still ; but he shall 
 eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Woe 
 to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock ! the sword shall 
 be upon his arm, and upon his right eye : his arm shall be 
 clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." 
 
 "Foolishness'' is often, in the language of Scripture, syno- 
 nymous with wickedness; or, at least, includes it. A "foolish 
 shepherd " is, without doubt, not a mere ignorant and sense- 
 less, but an unprincipled and wicked shepherd, or ruler. The 
 question naturally suggests itself, Is there here a reference to 
 any particular individual ? If there be, there is no one to 
 whom the words might more reasonably be appropriated than 
 to Herod. He was vain and profligate, passionate and cruel. 
 The time seems to be that which elapsed between the rejec- 
 tion and crucifixion of the Messiah and the final overthrow 
 of the Jewish polity. And it was then that Herod set himself 
 against the rising church, imbruing his hands in the blood of 
 its apostolic leaders, and seeking, by measures of severity and 
 coercion, to hinder its advancement. But his folly became 
 manifest. Amid a scene of self-suflicient and self-glorious 
 vanity, he was smitten of God, and " eaten of worms, he gave 
 up the ghost." It is not unlikely, however, as the seventeenth 
 
 ♦ Chap. xiii. 7. 
 
ZECHARIAH XI. 9-17. 275 
 
 verse is evidently general, referring not to any one person but 
 to character J and as the " woe " in the one verse seems to be 
 denounced on the character described in the other, that the 
 sixteenth is to be interpreted on a similar principle. There 
 are three features in the character described. There is negli- 
 gence, — " he sliall not visit those that be cut off, nor seek 
 the young one, nor heal the maimed, nor feed the standing- 
 still for faintness ; " that is, he should treat the flock — all the 
 members of it, in all their varieties of condition — witli un- 
 feeling and utter neglect. There is selfishness, — " he shall 
 eat the flesh of the fat " — the fat ones, that is ; making all 
 subservient to his own gratification and self-indulgence. And 
 there is cruelty,- — " he shall tear their claws," or their hoofs 
 "in pieces :" in sheer malice and ferocity, maiming, wounding, 
 disabling them. This was not a just character of Herod only ; 
 there were many sucli negligent, selfish, cruel pretenders. 
 " False Christs and false prophets " arose in those days of 
 distraction, turbulence, and fear, who sought their own in- 
 terest and their own glory, at whatever expense of priva- 
 tion, disappointment, and sufl'ering to others. They were 
 " idol slieiolierdsr From an idol being ''' vanity and a thing 
 of nought," the designation has been rendered " the icortliJess 
 shepherd." It may rather mean, however, the shepherd who 
 gains to himself the confidence and homage of the people, — 
 flattering them with delusive promises, and bringing them, in 
 abject prostration, to his feet; but all for selfish ends : " leav- 
 ing the flock," as soon as these ends are gained, or as soon as 
 any season of danger arrives, — leaving them when most they 
 need help and protection, to provide for their life and safety 
 as they may. Such were all the descriptions of pretended 
 shepherds whom those times should produce as their de- 
 ceivers and scourges, when, by the rejection of Messiah, 
 they had cast off" God, and God had judicially cast off" them! 
 The " woe'' pronounced is striking and impressive — '* The 
 sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye : his 
 arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly 
 darkened." " The sword " is the sword, doubtless, of the 
 invading foe. The faithless shepherd shall be among its 
 
276 LECTURE XV. 
 
 surest victims. The " arm,'' whicli ought, as the emblem of 
 power, to have been employed in defending the flock, shall 
 be smitten, and "dried up": — he shall lose all power, not 
 only for their protection, but, on account of his neglect of 
 them, for his own. " His right eye^' which, as the emblem 
 of knowledge, and vigilance, and foresight, should have 
 guided the flock, and been ever on the watchful look-out 
 after every member of it, shall be ^^ utterly darkened'' 
 Visited by a righteous God with judicial blindness, " he 
 shall grope in the noon-day as in the night," — " deceiving 
 and being deceived ; " and " shall utterly perish in his own 
 delusions." 
 
 To conclude. — 1. Let sinners recollect the solemn truth 
 that the patience and forbearance of God have their Hmits. 
 It was at an early period of the world's history that He said 
 — " My Spirit shall not always strive with man." He fixed 
 a time. He warned the rebels of those days by His Spirit 
 speaking in ISToah, the " preacher of righteousness." But 
 they persisted in their perverse heedlessness. " They ate, 
 they drank; they bought, they sold; they planted, they 
 builded; they married, and were given in marriage, until 
 the day that ^oah entered into the ark ; " and then " the 
 flood came, and swept them all away." Thus was it with 
 the Jews. " God called, and they refused." He " stretched 
 out his hands, but no man regarded : they would none of 
 his counsel, they despised all his reproof" God " bore 
 long with them ; " but at length " the wrath came upon 
 them to the uttermost." He could spare them no longer. 
 The language of all this, and of much more of the same kind, 
 is, to each one who is still ungodly and unconcerned — " Take 
 
 HEED LEST HE ALSO SPARE NOT THEE." The limits of His 
 
 forbearance are very varied. He tells none how long it 
 is to last. Suppose that this night He should say of 
 any of you who have long trifled mth His grace, and 
 refused to come under His yoke — " Let him alone : " "I will 
 feed you no more : that that is dying let it die : " how sad 
 would be your case ! And are you quite secure that so it is 
 not to be 1 — that tliis day may not be the last of God's for- 
 
ZECIIAlilAH XI. 9—17. 277 
 
 bearance with you ? — that He may not, ere its sun go down, 
 give you up, — " swear, in his wrath, they shall not enter into 
 my rest ? " " To-day, then, if ye will hear his voice, harden 
 not your hearts." * 
 
 2. If such a "woe" hung over negligent, unfaithful, 
 unfeeling, selfish shepherds, under the old economy, how 
 weightily ought they to feel their responsibility, to whom, 
 under the new, Christ says — " Feed my sheep ; feed my 
 lambs'?" For our sakes and for your own, pray for us, 
 that we may "have grace to be faithful;" that we may 
 not, by wwfaithfulness, bring upon ourselves the frown 
 and rejection of the Divine Master; that we may not 
 bring upon us the imprecations, instead of the blessings, 
 of the souls that have been under our care; that our 
 " arm be not withered," nor our " eye darkened," for not 
 having duly guarded and guided the flock ; that we may 
 not, "having preached to others, ourselves be cast away!" 
 "We feel we can, without presumption, adopt the modest lan- 
 guage of an apostle — " We trust we have a good conscience, 
 in all things willing to live honestly;" holding in merited 
 abhorrence the character of the " idol -shepherd," who courts 
 liomage for selfish and secular ends ; desiring to be the idol 
 of others, because he is his own, and because their homage 
 is substantially productive. But to be found, in all other 
 respects, free from the charge of the blood of souls ! — to be 
 able, by soundness of doctrine, faithfulness of admonition, 
 watchfulness of care, impartiality of discipline, and consist- 
 ency of example, to say with the same apostle, " "We are 
 pure from the blood of all men. For we have not shunned 
 to declare unto you all the counsel of God I " Again I 
 say, " Brethren, pray for us ! " 
 
 * Compare Heb. ii. 2 — 4, 
 
LECTURE XVI. 
 
 Zkcii. xii, 1 — 9. 
 
 " The burden of tlie word of the Lord for I.sniel, saith the Lord, uhicli 
 Btretclieth forth the lieavens, and l.yeth tlie foundation of the earth, and fornieth 
 the spirit of man within him, Beliold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of tremblini^ 
 imto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against 
 Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a bur- 
 densome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in 
 pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In 
 that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and hi.s 
 rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the liouse of Judah, and 
 will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah 
 sliall say in tlieir heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the 
 Lord of hosts their God. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like 
 an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they 
 shall devour all tlie people round about, on the right hand and on the left; and 
 Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jenisalem. The 
 Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David 
 and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against 
 Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and 
 he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of 
 David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come 
 to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against 
 Jerusalem.'' 
 
 "We have had tlie restoration of Israel in the latter part of 
 the tenth chapter. We have had the means of their over- 
 throw and dispersion, from which that restoration is to he 
 effected, in the eleventh. In chapter twelfth, the subject of 
 the restoration is resumed; and in the verses just read there 
 is specially brought before us what the Jews will be, under 
 divine protection and favour, to their enemies, when the 
 period of their restoration has arrived. Unfulfilled propheaj 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 1—9. 279 
 
 — as we liad occasion, in introducing tliis Book, to remark, is 
 necessarily obscure. It is so of set jDurpose, to avoid at once 
 collusion to accomplish, and combination to hinder. It be- 
 comes us, therefore, on every part of such a field, to tread 
 with caution. "We must neither be too confident in our 
 decisions, nor too minute in our details. It is better for us, 
 if we can arrive at the general tenor of the predicted events, 
 to leave the details to be unfolded by the actual fulfilment. 
 It is only when the fulfilment takes place, that a prophecy 
 becomes a proof of divine inspiration and authority : and, 
 when the comparison comes to be made between the predic- 
 tion and the facts, the more minute, and exact, and extensive 
 the correspondence, the more striking and conclusive be- 
 comes the proof. 
 
 The word translated " hiwden " in the first verse Dr. Hen- 
 derson renders, as in the first verse of the ninth chapter, 
 simply sentence. " The sentence of the word of the Lord 
 concerning Israel." If the word " burden'' is retained, and 
 is understood to mean a sentence of judicial vengeance, then 
 we must retain also the preposition ^\for.'" The judgment is 
 not against Israel, but in Israel's behalf, and against their ene- 
 mies. And with this the entire context agrees. And ob- 
 serve the character given by Jehovah of himself, and the con- 
 nexion in which it stands : — " saith Jehovah, who stretcheth 
 forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and 
 formeth the spirit of man within him." The idea intended to 
 be conveyed is evidently the o77impotent supremacy of Jehovah. 
 He who hath "stretched forth the heavens" has power over 
 the heavens. He who has " laid the foundation of the earth" 
 has power over the earth which He has framed and founded. 
 The heavens and the earth are a common phrase for the uni- 
 verse; "the heavens" being understood as including "all their 
 hosts." The meaning thus far is, that the resources of the 
 universe are at the disposal of Him who predicts the events 
 which follow, — who gives these promissory assurances to His 
 people. To this there is added — " And formeth the spirit of 
 man within him." On the same principle. He must possess 
 over the spirits He has thus formed complete control. What 
 
280 LECTURE XV I. 
 
 ■wisdom, what skill, what energy, individual or combined, 
 which those spirits may possess, can avail to thwart or im- 
 pede any purpose of His 1 " He has the hearts of all men 
 in his hand : as the rivers of water, he turneth them whither- 
 soever he will." And of these human spirits none could 
 withstand His wrath: could for a moment live before it: 
 " I will not contend for ever, neither Avill I be always 
 wroth, for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls ivhich 
 I have madeJ'^ The language, as that of divine majesty, 
 supremacy, authority, power, is designed to impart to those 
 interested confidence in what He was about to say; — 
 to encourage them, even in circumstances in which their case 
 might seem to be hopeless, and in which, therefore, they 
 might be tempted to ask, " How can these things be 1 " Let 
 tis take home the lesson; and in regard to whatever in the 
 form of promise or of threatening, is predicted in this book, 
 never forget that " with God" — with Him who " stretcheth 
 forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, 
 and formeth the spirit of man within him," "nothing shall 
 be impossible." 
 
 In applying the terms of the verses read to the Jews nation- 
 ally, and in their literal meaning, I cannot say I feel any 
 hesitation. The attempts which have been made to spiritu- 
 alize them, — to interpret them, figuratively, as meaning only 
 their individual, though general conversion, and their incor- 
 poration with the 'New Testament Church, and their partici- 
 pation of its privileges and blessings and hopes, — appear to 
 me so exceedingly unnatural and forced, that I cannot at all 
 acquiesce in them. As a specimen of what I mean, let me 
 quote from Matthew Henry the comment on the latter part 
 of the sixth verse, last clause — "and Jerusalem shall be in- 
 habited in her own place, even in Jerusalem : " " It is pro- 
 mised that Jerusalem shall be re-peopled and replenished. 
 The natives of Jerusalem shall not incorporate in a colony 
 in some other country, and build a city there, and call that 
 Jerusalem, and see the promises fulfilled in that, as those in 
 
 * Isa. Ivii. 16. 
 
ZECITAPJAH XII. 1—9. 281 
 
 Kew England called their towns by the names of towns in 
 Old England. No : they shall have a neio Jerusalem upon 
 the same foundation, the same sjDot of ground, with the old 
 one." Now, had the excellent commentator stopped here, 
 he would, I am persuaded, have given the just sense. But 
 mark what he adds : — " They had so after their return out 
 of captivity : but this ivas to have its full accomplishment in 
 the Gospel Church ; which is a Jerusalem inhahited in its 
 OWN PLACE : /or, the Gospel heing to he preached to all the 
 world, it may call every place its own." When he thus in- 
 terprets, I demur. I cannot bring myself to the conviction, 
 that terms so very pointed, explicit, and strong, as to the 
 re-building and re-inhabiting of Jerusalem are to be under- 
 stood as receiving their accomplishment in the spiritual 
 incorporation, by conversion, of the scattered Jews with the 
 Christian Church, as having been symbolized by the ancient 
 city; — to consider, in one word, the drift of this entire 
 passage to be the security and prosperity and final 
 triumph of the Neiu Testament Church. It is true that no 
 opposition of its enemies, single or combined, shall prove 
 successful. But this does not seem to be the truth (important 
 as it is, and interesting to every Christian mind) here 
 taught. The passage refers to the Jews — to their own 
 land, and their own city, and their future re-establishment 
 in both. 
 
 Do not imagine that I attach any force to the Jewish 
 objection, which, in the form of a sarcastic taunt, they offer 
 to all spiritualizing : — " You, Gentiles," they say, " are 
 very fond of interpreting all the curses that relate to us 
 Jews litercdly, and all the promises spiritually." Without 
 entering into any inquiry as to the extent of the truth of this 
 charge, — supposing it ever so well-founded, I attach no force 
 to it, for a very obvious reason, — namely, that, in so inter- 
 preting, we should, in fact, be putting upon the curses and 
 the promises alike the interpretation which is in reality the 
 most favour cdjtle to the Jews. ISTothing but their worldly- 
 mindedness, inherited by them from their fathers, and 
 manifested in all their anticipations of a temporal kingdom, 
 
2S2 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 with temporal honours and blessings, resting on their mis- 
 interpretations of God's promises by the Prophets, — nothing 
 but this could dictate such an objection. For, assuredly, 
 in interpreting the curses literally, and the blessings spirit- 
 ually, we interpret the one as including a less fearful de- 
 scription of evil than if we explained them spiritually ; and 
 the other as including a much more precious description of 
 good, than if we explained them literally. That they should 
 estimate more highly, and covet more earnestly, temporal 
 than spiritual blessings, will not prove the one to be really 
 more valuable than the other. The preference arises only 
 from the earthly and sensual propensities of their nature, — 
 a nature which is not Jemsh alone, but Gentile as well. I 
 rest my objection on no such ground, but on the unnatural 
 constraint and forcing which such spiritualizing requires; 
 and upon other more general considerations, which will come 
 to be stated hereafter. 
 
 We shall first of all, then, take up the verses read in what 
 appears to be the only meaning they can, without torturing, 
 be made to bear. And especially, when they are taken in 
 connexion with the end of chapter tenth ; where Jehovah is 
 represented, without precisely pointing to the means or 
 agencies, as gathering them out of all quarters to which they 
 had been scattered, and bringing them to their own land. In 
 the passage now before us, they appear as having been thus 
 gathered, and as having obtained possession. Then comes 
 the scene which is here so graphically and forcibly depicted : 
 — " Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto 
 all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege 
 both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day 
 will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoi:)le : all 
 that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though 
 all the j^eople of the earth be gathered together against it."* 
 
 There are here two figures employed. The first is — " The 
 Lord shall make Jerusalem a cup of trembling ;'' or, as it is 
 rendered by some, of intoxication. It seems to mean a 
 
 * Verses 2, 3. 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 1—9. 283 
 
 cup that sliould at once madden and dnpifij ; that should at 
 tlie first excite to rage ; rage sucli as deprived of self-posses- 
 sion and forethought, and precaution, and that should 
 afterwards leave those who drank of it in exhaustion and 
 stupor, the helpless prey of the vengeance of them whom 
 they had so furiously assailed. God would, (by what means 
 is not said,) send upon all who sliould set themselves against 
 Jerusalem, a spirit at once of exasperation and frenzy, and 
 of infatuation and distraction, like that of the man who, by 
 the influence of intoxicating think, is stirred to mad- 
 ness, and is incapacitated for all sober, well-directed, and 
 consistent action. And this is predicted to be general, — to 
 come " upon all the people round about, when they shall be 
 in the siege against Judah and Jerusalem." All their 
 attempts should thus fail, bringing shame and discomfiture 
 upon themselves. 
 
 The otlier figure is — " I will make Jerusalem a burden- 
 some stone for cdl people ;■ ixW that burden themselves with 
 it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth 
 be gathered together against it."* Difi'erent critics and 
 commentators agree in considering this as an allusion to a 
 particular custom. "Jerome," says Dr. Henderson, "men- 
 tions it as a custom which still obtained, in his time, in 
 Palestine, for young men to try their strength, by lifting 
 enormous stones so high from the ground as to place them 
 upon their heads. It inay be from such an exercise, that 
 the metaphor is borroAved." " This alludes," says Scott, 
 " to large stones, or weights, which men used to try 
 tlieir strength by lifting; which sometimes, proving too 
 heavy for them, bruised, or even killed, them. Thus, all 
 who attempted to injure Jerusalem Avould destroy them- 
 selves; even though all people of the earth should gather 
 themselves against it." They should try to overcome and 
 crush Jerusalem : but Jerusalem would crush ihem. 
 
 Some have tried to give this a purely figurative sense ; 
 and to find its fulfilment in the spiritual victories of those 
 
 * Verse 3. 
 
284 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 *' good 8oldiers of Jesus Christ " who went out from Jeru- 
 salem; and to the divine judgments on their oj^ponents 
 and jDersecutors. But such an interpretation could be 
 dictated only by an over-eager desire to have every thing 
 pertaining to New Testament times spiritual. The former 
 part of it is specially unhappy : the victories of the Apostles 
 and other chauipions of the Cross, from Jerusalem, being 
 such victories as brought those who were subdued into 
 a better state than that in which they had been before. 
 They were conquered, not to be destroyed, but to be, in the 
 highest sense, saved and blessed; and, as to vengeance on 
 their persecutors, they were not at all the instruments of its 
 infliction. The latter consideration, it is true, however, 
 would not be conclusive; seeing they might be represented 
 as bringing it upon those who set themselves against them, 
 if it was inflicted, in what way or by wdiat agency soever, 
 on their account. And Jerusalem — even adopting the 
 literal interpretation — might be called a " cup of trembling " 
 and " a burdensome stone " to its besiegers, although its in- 
 habitants should not themselves be the immediate agents in 
 their overthrow and destruction. But the former considera- 
 tion is decisive. 
 
 Some again, understanding Jerusalem, and the assault 
 upon it, literally, — conceive the prediction to have received 
 its accomplishment in the days of the Maccabees; in their 
 victories over Antiochus. There are, however, two conclusive 
 considerations against such a gloss. The first, that the 
 language altogether is much too strong for aught that hap- 
 pened under the generalship of the Maccabean princes ; so 
 strong, especially when the next verses are also taken in, as, 
 in such an application, to be, for their extravagance, next to 
 ludicrous: and the second, that in the passage before us 
 Jerusalem is represented as laid under siege; whereas, 
 Antiochus never besieged the city at all. We are satis- 
 fied, then, that the events predicted are both future and 
 literal. 
 
 The figures are, in verse fourth, followed up by plainer 
 representations. It expresses two things. First, divine 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 1—9. 285 
 
 favour to Jiidah. This is evidently what is meant by the 
 words in the latter part of the verse — " I will open mine 
 eyes upon the house of Judah : " rendered by Dr. Henderson, 
 "upon the house of Judah will I keep mine eyes open;'' 
 which renders the favouraUe character of the look more 
 manifest. The language is clearly to be understood in the 
 same sense as when it is said, " The eyes of the Lord are 
 upon the righteous : " And, indeed, the very phrase is em- 
 ployed to express the gracious regard of Jehovah for the 
 land of Israel : Moses saying of it — " A land which the Lord 
 thy God careth for : the eyes of the Lord thy God are always 
 upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of 
 the year." 
 
 Then, secondly, this favour to Judah was to be displayed 
 in tlie infatuation, confusion, and discomfiture of Judah 's 
 enemies : — " I will smite every horse with astonishment, and 
 his rider with madness : and I will open mine eyes upon the 
 house of Jadah, and will smite every horse of the people 
 with blindness." The horses — that is of the cavalry of the 
 enemy's army, — should be rendered unmanageable by their 
 riders, and thns a hindrance rather than a help : and the 
 riders themselves should, by the operation of unexplained 
 causes, all under divine control, be utterly deprived of self- 
 possession, foresight, and discretion, — getting entangled one 
 with another, and rushing recklessly on ruin. In perfect 
 contrast to this account of their enemies, we have in verse 
 fifth the assurance — " The governors of Judah shall say 
 in their heart, Tlie inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my 
 strength in the Lord of hosts their God." Observe here 
 the confidence of the leaders in the people. Without 
 the people's concurrent aid, their counsels, and plans, and 
 directions, could, of course, be of little avail. This the 
 rulers should feel; and should exult in seeing what ground 
 they had for full reliance on them in the time of pressure 
 and danger : which implies unanimity, and intrepid valour, 
 and combined and persevering effort, on the part of the in- 
 habitants. This union and valour would be the " strength " 
 of their leaders; without which they must find themselves 
 
286 LECTURE XVL 
 
 utterly powerless. A divideil, ilispirited, heartless, das- 
 tardly soldiery or populace is weakness, disappointment, 
 and discomfiture to the best conceived plans of the most 
 bold, prudent, and experienced leaders. And ichence 
 was this union and valour of the people, and consequent 
 strength of their leaders, to come? The question is an- 
 swered. It was found" /?2 the Lord of hosts, their God!' 
 And the import of this may be, not merely that what- 
 ever, either in mental character or in outward circum- 
 stances, contributes to any successful result, should be 
 regarded as, directly or indirectl}^, springing from a divine 
 source; but that the fulfilment thus far of the divine 
 promises, in their gathering from the nations among 
 whom they had so long been scattered, would inspire con- 
 fidence in Jehovah who had thus returned to them in 
 mercy. And this confidence, shared alike by governors and 
 people, would be the union and valour of the one, and the 
 " strength " — the felt security and assured success — of the 
 other. 
 
 We might have observed, that no account is given of the 
 previous circumstances which should lead to such a general 
 combination of the peoples of different countries against 
 Jerusalem. That it will be by a divine interposition, inclin- 
 ing the hearts of the communities and governments of the 
 nations favourably towards them, and disposing them to 
 forward their return, and aid them in effecting it, that 
 it will be ultimately accomplished, we have every reason 
 to beheve. How it is afterwards to come to pass that 
 the hearts of the nations are again to turn against 
 them, we have no information; and conjecture is vain. 
 One thing, however, it may be right to remark, that among 
 the many nations among whom they have been dispersed, 
 the Jews have been the subjects of a large amount and 
 variety of suffering ; not of mere scorn and contumely, and 
 degradation, and exclusion, and proscription, but of real, 
 palpable oppression, privation, outrage, cruelty, and massacre. 
 Though all this has been only the fulfilment of divine pro- 
 phetic threatenings, — the execution, by the instrumentality 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 1—9. 287 
 
 of these nations, of the judicial vengeance of a righteous God, 
 — yet they by whom it has been inflicted have not been the 
 less guilty. Vengeance may await them next. They must 
 be punished in their turn. We had this principle before 
 us last Lord's day, in the instance of the king of Assyria, 
 when he had been employed by divine providence in punish- 
 ing the people of Israel for their rebellions and idolatries. 
 Mark the language of Jehovah, by the Prophet : — " Where- 
 fore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath per- 
 formed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem. 
 I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of 
 Assyria, and the glory of his high looks."* May not the 
 same principle, then, be in operation in the future period of 
 which we are now speaking"? And may it not be the pur- 
 pose of Jehovah, in avenging His people of those who, when 
 He was wroth, had taken pleasure in " helping forward the 
 affliction," to render that vengeance the more signal, by 
 gathering the nations against Jerusalem, and on the very 
 spot where He shows favour to His people, making those 
 who have afflicted them feel the lighting down of His arm? 
 Thus will the manifestation of His faithfulness be complete. 
 Having for many centuries made His outcast people ex- 
 perience His fidelity to prophetic denunciations against them ; 
 He will show himself also, in their happy experience, true 
 to all His promises ; and then further faithful in the exe- 
 cution of threatened vengeance on those that hated and op- 
 pressed them. He will do this before their eyes ; and make 
 them the instruments of the righteous penalty ! 
 
 The consequence of what has been stated in verses fourth 
 and fifth follows in the next verse — " In that day will I 
 make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among 
 the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall 
 devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on 
 the left : and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own 
 place, even in Jerusalem." " The governors of Judah " mean 
 liere — the governors of Judah thus supported and backed by 
 
 * Isa. X. 12. 
 
2SS LECTURE XVI. 
 
 a united and brave people, confiding in Jehovah their God. 
 The connexion shows this. It is when they are represented 
 as having, and expressing this confidence, that what is 
 here said of them is introduced — " in that dayT Mark 
 the strikingly expressive similitude employed! — '^ like a 
 hearth of fire " (or a fire-pot) " among ivood, or like a torch 
 of fire in a sheaf" What could more impressively convey 
 tlie idea of overthrow and destruction, at once easily and 
 completely effected ! It cannot be otherwise than that the 
 fire-pot should at once kindle and consume the sticks of 
 wood, and the torch of fire the dry sheaf. As easily and 
 as completely would the forces of the nations be consumed 
 by the people whom Jehovah favoured, and whose cause He 
 espoused. With Him on their side, how could it fail 1 And 
 this question suggests the inquiry. Who makes them what they 
 are thus described to be 1 " In that da}^, 7cill I make the go- 
 vernors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and 
 like a torch of fire in a sheaf" It is Jehovah that speaks. 
 He would at once fit the enemy for destruction, and the instru- 
 ments for effecting their extermination. On both sides it is 
 represented as His doing. He infatuates, weakens, exposes the 
 enemy; and He whets against him the avenging sword, and 
 strengthens the arm that wields it. As the fire consumes the 
 wood and the sheaf of straw, so should the leaders and inhab- 
 itants of Jerusalem "devour all the people round about, on the 
 right hand and on the left." And then follows the settled re- 
 sult : — " and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again, in her own 
 place, even in Jerusalem." The terms I cannot but regard 
 as studiedly emphatic. It shall not be a new city, in some 
 new territory; but Jerusalem — the city of their fathers 
 — the city of their God ; on the same spot ; hallowed by all 
 the ancient associations of their history and their religion. 
 The language pointedly and strongly expresses re-occu- 
 pancy, and permanent possession. The permanence we 
 may hereafter have occasion more particularly to notice, 
 as one of the circumstances which serve to settle the 
 question respecting certain prophecies, whether they refer to 
 the return from Babylon or to a return yet future. The rralify 
 
ZECIIARIAH XII. 1—9. 289 
 
 of the rebuilding and re-occupancy of the city at that future 
 period appears to be strongly implied in the prophetic 
 words of our Lord himself — " And they shall fall by 
 the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into 
 all nations : and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the 
 Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."* I 
 would not go so far as to say that the use of this word 
 " until,'' renders it absolutely sure that at the period desig- 
 nated by the " fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles," Jeru- 
 salem shall be trodden down no longer : but most certainly 
 this is the natural conclusion from the form of expression, t 
 
 Yerse 7. " The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah 
 first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of 
 the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves 
 against Judah." He had spoken of ^^ Jerusalem" — of the city, 
 but what was to become of the country, and the inhabitants 
 of the country ? Were they to be abandoned to the desolating 
 fury of the foe 1 No, answers the Prophet : " the Lord shall 
 save the tents of Judali first y The country poj)ulation were 
 most exposed, and most helpless. They stood more im- 
 mediately in need of protection than even the inhabitants 
 of the city : and they should have it first. And what is the 
 reason assigned for Jehovah's taking them under special 
 protection? They might by the inhabitants of the city 
 be regarded as of less consequence. They should not be so 
 esteemed by Jehovah. They were as truly a part of His 
 people as the citizens of Jerusalem. Their very helplessness 
 called the more imperatively for divine interposition. They 
 should not be neglected. Jehovah would care for them; 
 and would make His care of them conspicuous ; for the reason 
 assigned — " that the glory of the house of David and the 
 glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify them- 
 selves against Judah." " The tents of Judah" are probably 
 intended to be set in contrast with the palaces of the royal 
 house, and the " ceiled houses "' of the grandees and the men 
 
 * Luke xxi. 24, 
 f Comp, Lecture xvii., p. 295, &c. — Ed. 
 T 
 
290 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 of wealth. And God would show favour to them, for the 
 purpose of teaching tlie great men — the men of royal station, 
 of influence and riches, — a lesson of humble-mindedness ; that 
 they might not be " lifted up with pride ; " — might not de- 
 spise the poor ; — might not be partial in the exercise of their 
 authority; but might imitate the divine example, extending 
 their concern to the lowest as well as the highest classes of 
 their people. Thus it ought to be in every community, whether 
 civil or ecclesiastical. God himself sets the example. He 
 " resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the lowly." It was 
 His purpose that all classes of His people should feel themselves 
 one; one in privilege, one in divine impartial favour; that 
 there should be no disrespect of the high on the part of the 
 low, nor any contempt of the low on the part of the high. 
 And while thus it was to be in Judea, (and thus it ought 
 to be in every civil community), thus, above all, ought it 
 to be in the Church of God — the spiritual community of the 
 faithful* 
 
 But, while " the Lokd will save the tents of Judah first" 
 it will not, on the other hand, be to the overlooking of the 
 city : verse 8 — " In that day shall the Lord defend the in- 
 haloitants of Jerusalem ; and he that is feeble among them 
 at that day shall be as David ; and the house of David shall 
 be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them." "We have 
 here both the assurance of defence, and the ivay in which 
 the defence is to be afforded. Whatever extraordinary and 
 marked manifestations there may be of divine interposition, 
 the defence is here represented as effected by enabling 
 them to defend themselves. The terms are strong : " he that 
 is feeble among them shall be as David;'' — David, who, 
 when but a stripling a ruddy youth, defied and slew the 
 champion of the Philistian host, and delivered the armies of 
 the living God; and who, throughout his reign, showed 
 himself, relying on Jehovah, so intrepid and fearless a 
 warrior : " and the house of David as God, as the angel of 
 the Lord before them.'' Some have understood the plural 
 
 * Compare Jam. ii. 1 — 9. 
 
ZECHAEIAH XII. 1—9. 291 
 
 name of God as here denoting angels; because in some in- 
 stances it happens to be so rendered by the Seventy in the 
 Greek translation of the Old Testament. But the remark of 
 Dr. Henderson is most just: — " What clearly shows that no 
 such idea can attach to the word in this place, is the correc- 
 tive phrase — *«s the angel of Jeliovali,' immediately following. 
 The house of David was to be * as God ; ' yet not as God in 
 the abstract, of which no proper conception can be formed ; 
 but as God manifested to men in his glorious forthcomings 
 under the ancient dispensation, in the divine person of the 
 Son, who went before the children of Israel as their divine 
 leader and protector; and to whom are vindicated the sum 
 total of the divine perfections." The general meaning is, 
 that the Lord God will strengthen the weakest, and give ad- 
 ditional elevation, honour, and influence to the highest, — and 
 add divinely to the might of the mightiest: so that no oppo- 
 sing power shall ever stand before them; any more than 
 when that divine Angel of the Covenant was commissioned 
 to be their conductor and guardian, of whom Jehovah said 
 — " My name is in him.'' 
 
 Yerse 9. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I 
 will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jeru- 
 salem." This mode of expression as used by the Divine 
 Being, is somewhat singular. It is not designed, of course, 
 to intimate uncertainty of the result, if Jehovah sought 
 to effect it. He sj^eaks "after the manner of men." And 
 perhaps the intended meaning may be, that He would not 
 annihilate (as by a volition He could) the enemies of Jeru- 
 salem; but that He would so alarm and discomfit and de- 
 stroy, as to make it manifest, that if they persisted in their 
 inftituated attempt, annihilation must be the issue. With 
 such general hints we must satisfy ourselves. We dare not 
 presume to think of making out a future narrative from an 
 unfulfilled prophecy. We must leave " the day to declare " 
 the full import. 
 
 The passage, though appropriate to the one subject of the 
 future restoration of Israel, j^et contains in it principles which 
 may fairly and profitably be applied to others. 
 
292 LECTURE XVI. 
 
 So far as respects the unfailing certainty of execution or 
 fulfilment, all without exception that God says in His 
 word might be prefaced with the same terms — " Thus saith 
 Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the 
 foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man 
 within him." He is the omnipotent God. Nothing that 
 He promises can fail of accomplishment to those who put 
 their trust in Him : nothing that He threatens can fail of 
 execution against those who disbelieve, disregard, and 
 disobey Him. Let the assurance be applied to all God's 
 promises, Tliere are promises to the Church in New Testa- 
 ment times as well as to the ancient people of divine 
 favour and choice. We may rest in the confidence that that 
 Church is safe; that "no weapon formed against her shall 
 prosper, that every tongue that riseth against her shall be 
 ashamed : " that the promise will be verified to the end, as it 
 has been verified hitherto — "When thou passest through 
 the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, 
 they shall not overflow thee : when thou walkest through 
 the fire, thou shalt not be burned ; neither shall the flame 
 kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy 
 One of Israel, thy Saviour:"* that all her enemies shall 
 ultimately be discomfited and ashamed : that all the glorious 
 anticipations of her millennial triumph, prosperity, and 
 blessedness, shall be fully realized. Nothing can fail from 
 want of power ; nor can any thing from want of faithfulness 
 and love. 
 
 And many are the promises to God's people individuaUi/, 
 on which He has "caused them to hope." He will "never 
 leave them nor forsake them." With Him who gives the assur- 
 ances in the passage before us " there is everlasting strength." 
 And that strength, in all the forms and in all the circum- 
 stances in Avhich it can be needed, He has pledged him- 
 self to supply to them that ask it. He says — and says 
 with evident comprehensiveness of all His people: — "Why 
 sayest thou, Jacob, and speakest, Israel, My way is hid 
 
 * Isii. xliii. 2, 3. 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 1-9. 293 
 
 from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my 
 God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that 
 the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the 
 earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching 
 of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint ; and 
 to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even 
 the youtlis shall faint and be weary, and the young men 
 shall utterly fall : but they that wait upon the Lord shall 
 renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as 
 eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall 
 walk, and not faint." * 
 
 Let careless sinners beware, lest by their negligence, 
 unbelief, and disobedience, they convert into " burdens'^ 
 — into sentences of judgment, — into grounds of righteous 
 condemnation, — those " words of the Lord " that are meant 
 for salvation, — for deliverance from the crushing and over- 
 whelming weiglit of His curse. His word is for all who 
 receive it; and against all who reject it. The Gospel pro- 
 claims grace and salvation. Those who accept it shall find 
 all that it offers — pardon, peace, purity, life eternal. But it 
 will, to those who trifle with it and refuse it, become the 
 heaviest of "burdens." remember, sinner, that nothing 
 will sink you deeper in perdition than God's rejected 
 
 MERCY. 
 
 * Isa. xl. 27—31. 
 
LECTURE XVII 
 
 Zecii. xii. 10 — 14. 
 
 " And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jeru- 
 salem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me 
 whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for 
 his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for 
 his first-born. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the 
 mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall 
 mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their 
 wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the 
 family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei 
 apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, 
 and their wives apart." 
 
 We shall not be able to enter on the proper exposition of 
 these verses in the present Lecture ; as we purpose taking a 
 brief view of the argument on the question, whether the 
 prophecies which relate to God's future visitation of His 
 ancient people are to be interpreted altogether sjnrltuaJly, as 
 predicting simply their conversion to the faith of Jesus ; or 
 X>arthj spiritually andixirtlij temporally, as predicting at once 
 their general conversion as individuals, and their national 
 restoration to their oion land. I have more than once 
 already intimated my conviction that the latter is the true 
 interpretation. The point, however, considered not in 
 relation to this passage merely but as a general one, has 
 been disputed. And it must not be denied that some of the 
 objections to the literal, and some of the reasonings in sup- 
 port of the spiritual exposition, are far from being without 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 205 
 
 their strength. The question is not one about which we 
 feel at all dis])Osed to " contend earnestly," as we should for 
 "the faith once delivered to the saints," — the truths con- 
 nected with salvation. Yet in different aspects of it it is 
 far from being devoid of interest. And, although the most 
 satisfactory expositor of unfulfilled j)rophecies will be Time; 
 there can be no presumption in our looking at the terms of 
 the predictions themselves, and considering what, according 
 to their seemingly fair and unconstrained explanation, they 
 lead us to anticipate. 
 
 I lay a good deal of stress upon the plain and pointed 
 terms of the close of the sixth verse — "And Jerusalem 
 shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusa- 
 lem." Render the original terms as you will, they are full 
 of emphasis : and to inter23re't Jerusalem of the whole earth, 
 or equally of any place upon it, because the spiritual Jeru- 
 salem exists wherever there are converts to the faith of Christ 
 and subjects of His kingdom, appears to me, as I formerly 
 said, a straining altogether inadmissible. In speaking on this 
 part of the passage, I referred, in last Lecture, to the remark- 
 able words of Jesus, as recorded by the Evangelist Luke : — ■ 
 " And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be 
 led away captive into all nations : and Jerusalem shall be 
 trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles 
 be fulfilled;" and made the observation: — " I would not go 
 so far as to say, that the use of this word ' until ' renders it 
 absolutely sure that, at the period designated the ' fulfilKng 
 of the times of the Gentiles,' Jerusalem shall be trodden 
 doAvn no longer. But certainly such is the most natural 
 conclusion from the form of expression." 
 
 I had not then seen the following remarks on this A^ery 
 point. They occur in a httle work, of considerable ingenuity 
 and plausibility, entitled — " Objections to the doctrine of 
 Israel's future restoration to Palestine." To take off the 
 force of the conclusion from the use of the word " until,'' as 
 implying that tJien there will be a change, — that Jerusalem 
 shall no longer be trodden down, but shall rise again from 
 its ruins, the author says : — " Compare the passage with 
 
296 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 Genesis xxviii, 15; 1 Sam. xv. 35; Eoin. v. 13; Mark 
 xiv. 25; and Matt. v. 18. The Lord says to Jacob, 'I will 
 not leave tliee until I have done that whicli I have spoken 
 to thee of.' Did the Lord mean to say he would leave him 
 then ? * And Samuel came no more to see Saul, until the 
 day of his death.' Did he come then? ' Until the law, sin 
 was in the world.' Did sin leave the world, when the law 
 came? Christ, at the last supper, said — 'I will drink no 
 more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it 
 new with you in the kingdom of God.' Did Christ mean, 
 that in the kingdom of God he would literally drink of the 
 fruit of the vine ? Jesus said, ' Till heaven and earth pass, 
 one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till 
 all be fulfilled.' Did he mean to say that when heaven and 
 earth passed, the holy law of God should be dishonoured? 
 These quotations sufficiently show, that the word ^ untiV 
 does not always imply limitation or alteration; much less 
 the exact and literal recurrence of a former circumstance."* 
 On this we observe — 
 
 1. We have not pretended to say, that in every instance 
 in which the word is used the use of it implies the same 
 thing. But it always implies something or other as taking 
 place when the period closes. Thus, when God says to 
 Jacob — " I will not leave thee, until I have done that which 
 I have spoken to thee of," it implies that then, "that 
 which God had spoken to him of should be fully done, — 
 and his condition that which God had promised him. When 
 it is said of Samuel that he "came no more to see Saul 
 until the day of his death," it implies that then there Avas 
 such a change as rendered further intercourse impossible ; it 
 ceased to be matter of tvill. When the Apostle says, " Un- 
 til the law sin was in the world," his words cannot be 
 understood to mean that " sin left the world when the law 
 came:" for that there icas sin after the law — that is the 
 formal giving of the law to Israel is the very point assumed ; 
 and the question was whether sin began then, or whether 
 
 * Pages 18, 19. 
 
ZECIIARIAH XII. 10—14. 297 
 
 till that period tlieru liad been no sin. He proves, from the 
 fact of the prevalence of death, that from the beginning, and 
 all along till the giving of the law — tliat is, as well as after 
 it, there was sin, and consequently a law of which sin was 
 the transgression. Wlien Christ said — " I will no more 
 drink of tlie frait of the vine imtil that day when I drink it 
 new with you in the kingdom of heaven," — the instance is 
 an unfortunate one for the purpose for which it is adduced; 
 for although it is 7iot meant that tJien he should drink 
 literally of the fruit of the vine, — it is meant, beyond all 
 question, that in the sense in ivMcli he used the expression he 
 shoidd drink of it, when he had finished his work and begun 
 his kingdom : he was to have no joy — nothing but suffering 
 — nothing but a cup of woe — till tlien; and that then there 
 should be a change — a reverse; then he should have joy — 
 new and endless joy, — and joy of which they — his disci^Dles 
 — should partake. And when it is said, " Till heaven and 
 earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from 
 the law, till all be fulfilled " — instead of meaning that tvhen 
 heaven and earth passed the law should be dishonoured, the 
 meaning is precisely the reverse, — that the law, till the end 
 of the world, and for ever, should stand forth in all the 
 glory of its fulfilled and honoured requirements. For ob- 
 serve, there are two tills — " till heaven and earth pass " — 
 and " till all be fulfilled." How, then, could the law be 
 dishonoured by having been all fuJ filled? It was thus 
 permanently establislied and magnified. 
 
 2. It cannot be disputed, that, when any state of things 
 is spoken of as to continue until a certain time, or the com- 
 ing of a certain event, the natural inference is, that then 
 there should be a change ; and, if the nature of the change 
 is not expressly specified, that it should be a 7'eversal of tlie 
 previously existing state. On this principle, it cannot fail 
 to occur to every reader of our Lord's words, ''Jerusalem 
 shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times 
 of the Gentiles be fulfilled," — that then — when the time 
 thus designated (no matter what the precise meaning of the 
 designation may be) shall arrive, Jerusalem should no longer 
 
298 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 be trodden down of the Gentiles; and the furtlier conclu- 
 sion suggests itself, as almost certainly included, that it 
 sliould again rise from its ruined condition, and again be- 
 come the habitation of a restored people, — should revert 1 o 
 those who, when the words were spoken, were just about to 
 be dispossessed. Accordingl}- — 
 
 3. The Avriter himself is constrained to admit, in the very 
 sense put by him on the words, that the "until" does indi- 
 cate a change. He will not allow that change to be the 
 restoration of the city to its former people, because he con- 
 ceives such a view to be inconsistent with the spiritual 
 genius of Christianity and the kingdom of Christ — ^(a posi- 
 tion to be examined by and by); but still it is a change. 
 He says, " I take the passage to be fairly paraphrased as 
 follows : — ' The day of Jerusalem's sorrows is approaching ; 
 the armies of its desolators draw nigh, and soon its destruc- 
 tion will be accomplished; and it shall never cease to be 
 desolate and oppressed until the blessed period arrive when 
 the Gentiles shall oppress no more, and when all lands 
 shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.' " Even in this para- 
 phrase, the word until has the meaning we have given it, — 
 that, namely, of a change; and even a reversal: the city 
 should no more be " desolate and oppressed," and the land 
 — considered as included with and represented by it, should 
 " rejoice and blossom as the rose." But, to make his argu- 
 ment of any worth, the " until " ought not to denote a change 
 at all. He conceives the change will be quite adequate to 
 the expression, if Jerusalem and Judea shall be occupied by 
 a Christian population, whatsoever, in nationality, they may 
 be, — these being tlie Israel of the jN^ew Testament dispensa- 
 tion. I demur to this. The " until " relates, I apprehend, 
 not only to the treading down of the city, but to the previ- 
 ously mentioned dispersion of its inhabitants. Mark it. It 
 is commonly taken as if the latter part of our Lord's words 
 were a sentence by themselves — " And Jerusalem shall be 
 trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles 
 be fulfilled." Thus the " until " is made to refer exclusively 
 to the state of the city. But why should it not go further 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 299 
 
 back ? Our Lord's words are — " They shall fall by the edge 
 of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations : 
 and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until 
 the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Has the "untiV an 
 exclusive reference to the treading down of the city — and 
 none to the dispersion and captivity of the people] Is it 
 not natural to understand it, as relating both to the one and to 
 the other — and to both in theii' natural relation to each other; 
 the cessation of the dispersion and captivity of the people 
 by their ingathering to the restored city — the city of their 
 fathers? It does not, I confess, seem to me, by any means, 
 natural, to interpret Christ's words as meaning that the 
 people, of whom and of whose city he speaks, were then to 
 cease to he a people altogether ; that in their conversion they 
 should be incorporated, in all the places where they have 
 been scattered, with the Christianized Gentile world, so as 
 no longer to be recognized as the seed of Abraham at all. 
 Incomparably the more natural interpretation, in my judg- 
 ment, is — that when "the times of the Gentiles are ful- 
 fdled," the people shall be restored from their degradation 
 and dispersion, and the city from its long desolations for 
 their reception and inhabitation. Observe — 
 
 4. This writer is constrained to adopt on other occasions, 
 remarkably similar, the very meaning of the word " untiV for 
 which we contend. He quotes the prophecy of Jacob — " The 
 sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from 
 between his feet, until Shiloh come : " and on the words he 
 thus comments : — "A prophecy had long been familiar to 
 the Jew^s, in which a period was explicitly announced (as the 
 fulfilment proved, however they might understand the pro- 
 mise) when the scepti'e should depart from Judah." Sensible 
 of the seeming inconsistency, he thus, in a note, explains : — 
 " It will no doubt be observed, — and I do not wish to evade 
 the observation, — that I have attributed a meaning to the 
 word 'until' in this instance, which I have refused to admit 
 in a former one — ' until the times of the Gentiles.' But in 
 the present case, the sense is fixed by the event: — 'until 
 Shiloh come,' the tribual dignity and jurisdiction of Judah 
 
300 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 remained. Sliiloh came; and the sceptre of authority de- 
 parted. Whereas, in the former case, the sense is not fixed 
 by any event : and I am, therefore, perfectly consistent in 
 assigning that interpretation to the word which appears to 
 me most agreeable to the general tenor of ScrijDture, and 
 which is shown to be probably true by the texts quoted in 
 its support," * Now I grant at once, that if we are shut up 
 to a different interpretation in the one case from that which 
 holds in the other by " the general tenor of Scripture," we 
 must bow to the necessity thus laid upon us. And this just 
 limits our inquiry to one point — whether we are so shut 
 up. For every one must see, that, in as far as the simple 
 question is concerned as to the proper import of the word 
 ^^ ujitilj' the YQY J fixing of the meaning hy the event in the 
 one case leads us to anticipate the fixing of a similar meaning 
 by the coming event in the other. If the event has shown 
 that the prediction — " the sceptre shall not depart from 
 Judah until Shiloh come" — meant that then the sceptre 
 should depart; then, so far as the meaning of the term goes, 
 the prediction — " they shall be led away captive into all 
 nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, 
 until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" ought to mean, 
 that then the people and the city should be alike recovered, 
 the one from their dispersion, and the other from its desola- 
 tions; the city rebuilt for the people — the people restored 
 to the city. 
 
 I have dwelt the more particularly on this passage, because 
 of its importance in the discussion ; as being a prediction 
 from the very lips of the Saviour himself — I only add on the 
 meaning of " untiV,' that the sense we put upon it is con- 
 firmed by such passages on the same subject as Rom. xi. 25 
 — " For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this 
 mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that 
 blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of 
 the Gentiles be come in." Who ever doubts, on reading 
 these words, tliat when " the fulness of the Gentiles cornea 
 
 * PaL^c 80. 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 301 
 
 in," the " Llindness that is happened to Israel" shall cease ] 
 — that " the vail shall be taken from their hearts/' and they 
 shall be spiritually enlightened 1 The same principle of in- 
 terpretation, apphed in the other case, leads ns directly to 
 tlie conclusion at ^vhich we have arrived. 
 
 What we now propose, in the first place, is to select 
 a few out of many prophetic passages respecting the re- 
 storation of the Jewish people : and in doing this, to make 
 it clear to you, that such as we do select have reference, not 
 to the restoration from the Babylonish captivity, but to a 
 restoration yet future. And, when we have done this, then 
 will come the question. Is the language to be interpreted 
 all splriturdly, or partly spirit ualhj and ixwtly literally ? In 
 other words, Does all that is written denote only their conver- 
 sion 'without their national restoration, or does it comprehend 
 both ? And then the subsequent question. If both, which 
 first — their conversion, or their restoration 1 
 
 The prophetic passages of which we speak are of tico 
 descriptions. Some evidently predict their conversion alone. 
 It is not with these so much — T might say not with these at 
 all — that we have at present to do : for about them there is 
 no dispute. The difference of judgment, among interpreters 
 of prophecy, is simply about their national restoration. I 
 may, however, as a specimen of the former class of pas- 
 sages, present one from the Old Testament, and one from 
 the New : 
 
 That from the Old Testament is Hosea iii. 4, 5 — " For 
 the children of Israel shall abide many days without a 
 king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and with- 
 out an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphini : 
 afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the 
 Lord their God, and David their king ; and shall fear the 
 Lord and his goodness in the latter days," 
 
 I enter into no detail. The condition depicted is that of 
 this people without their national government; without 
 their temple-worship and sacrificial observances, and, at the 
 sume time, keeping free from what they had all along been 
 
802 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 so addicted to, — the practice of idolatry. This corresponds 
 jDerfectly with the present state of the Jewish people. Should 
 it be surmised that it corresponds also with their state during 
 the ancient captivity ; let it be noticed, — that the expression 
 " many days " seems to indicate a longer period than seventy 
 3^ears; and, especially, that the phrase used for the time of 
 their return to God — " in the latter days " — is one which 
 usually, if not invariably, has reference to the period and 
 the economy subsequent to " the fulness of time," and fre- 
 quently late in even that period. The terms of the pre- 
 diction (" David tlieir king " being a prophetic designation 
 of the Messiah,) evidently describe conversion only: — this 
 being the clear import of " returning, and seeking the Lord 
 their God, and fearing the Lord and his goodness." 
 
 The New Testament passage that predicts simply their 
 conversion, and their reinstatement in the privileges and 
 blessings of the Church of God under its New Testament 
 form, is one familiar to you all, — in the eleventh chapter of 
 the Epistle to the Romans from the twenty-second to tlio 
 the thirty-first verses. 
 
 The only remark T think it necessary to make on this 
 passage is (there being no possible doubt about its reference 
 to a period future in Paul's day, and still future in ours) 
 that as, in the figure used by the Apostle, the Tree from 
 which the Jewish branches were broken off is the same with 
 tiiat into which the Gentile branches were grafted in their 
 stead, and the same too into which the Jewish branches, so 
 long broken off, are hereafter to be grafted again, — the 
 Church of God, represented by the tree, though subsisting 
 under different dispensations, and in different stages of its 
 advancement, has been, and is, essentially the same: and 
 that what is here predicted respecting the Jews is — not 
 their national restoration to their city and their land, but 
 their restoration, on their being converted, to the Church of 
 God under the Christian economy; and consequently to the 
 fulness of the privileges and blessings pertaining to it under 
 that economy. How far the Apostle's saying nothing as to 
 the other point — their national restoration — ought to be re- 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 303 
 
 garded as weighing in evidence against it, is a question which 
 may j^ossibly claim a little notice again.* 
 
 Let us now look at a few passages which seem at least to 
 predict at once their conversion and their restoration as a 
 separate people, to the land and city of their fathers. We 
 take first the following : — •' And I will bring the land into 
 desolation; and your enemies which dwell therein shall be 
 astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, 
 and will draw out a sword after you ; and your land shall be 
 desolate, and your cities waste. If they shall confess their 
 iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass 
 which they trespassed against me, and that also they have 
 walked contrary unto me; and that I also have wall{;ed con- 
 trary unto them, and have brought them into the land of 
 their enemies ; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, 
 and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity : 
 then will I remember my covenant Mdth Jacob, and also my 
 covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham 
 Avill I remember; and I will remember the land. The land 
 also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while 
 she lieth desolate without them : and they shall accept of 
 the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they 
 despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my 
 statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of 
 their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I ab- 
 hor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant 
 with them; for T am the Lord their God. But I will for 
 their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom 
 I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the 
 heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord." 
 " And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come 
 upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before 
 thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations 
 whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee. And shalt 
 return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice, ac- 
 
 * tor a full exposition of the passage tlie reader is 
 Author's Lectures on the Epistle to the Komaus. — Ed. 
 
 referred to the 
 
304 LECTURE XVII. 
 
 cording to all that I command thee this day, thou and tliy 
 children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; that 
 then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have 
 compassion upon thee, and will return, and gather thee from 
 all the nations whitlier the Lord thy God hath scattered 
 thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts 
 of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, 
 and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy 
 God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, 
 and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and 
 multiply thee above thy fathers. And the Lord thy God will 
 circumcise tliine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the 
 Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, 
 that thou mayest live.' * I have only to say, with regard 
 to these, and some other passages of a similar description 
 which might be quoted, that from the terms employed by 
 Moses, they appear evidently to refer to a dispersion much 
 more general and widely extended — " among all nations," 
 and "to the utmost parts of heaven," — than the capti- 
 vity in Babylon, or in the "cities of the Medes." And 
 it will not be denied that the terms for their return 
 from this dispersion and their re-settlement in their own 
 land, have as little appearance of being figurative, and to 
 be understood spiritually, as those have which predict the 
 dispersion itself. The ground on which, while the one 
 is interpreted literally and historically, the other is to be 
 understood figuratively and spiritually, — is to come under 
 notice hereafter. We now just observe, that the passages 
 describe at once conversion and restoration. The terms 
 v.'hich describe their repentance and ret am to God — in other 
 words their conversion — are to be interpreted literally, as 
 directly expressing what they evidently mean; and, conse- 
 quently, that if those parts of the predictions which speak 
 of their national restoration to Judea and Jerusalem are to 
 be taken figuratively and spiritually, it will follow, that we 
 have only the same thing twice over; namely, their ccuver- 
 
 * Lev. xxvi. 32, 33, 40—45; with Dent, xxx, 1—6, 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 305 
 
 slon expressed in plain and literal terms, and their conversion 
 expressed in figure. Is this natural? Is this Hkely? On 
 one principle alone can it well be deemed so; namely, that, 
 while their repentance and turning to God express their con- 
 version — their return to Palestine, and their settlement and 
 prosperity there, are to be taken as figures, not for their con- 
 version, but for their introduction, as the result of their con- 
 version, to all the spiritual privileges and blessings of the 
 ]^ew Testament Church, by their simple incorporation, as 
 fellow-christians, in their several places of dispersion, with 
 the believing Gentiles. This position will also come under 
 review, when we notice the objections and reasonings urged 
 against their national restoration. Suffice it for the present 
 to say, that I think it not tenahle. 
 
 Let me next direct you to the language of Ezekiel: — 
 " For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather 
 you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own 
 land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye 
 shall be clean : from all your filthiness, and from all your 
 idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, 
 and a new spirit w^ill I put within you; and I will take 
 away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you 
 an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit Avithin you, 
 and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my 
 judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land 
 that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and 
 I will be your God. Thus saitli the Lord God, In the day 
 that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will 
 also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be 
 builded."* Observe as to this passage, hoAV emphatically the 
 two things — the S2)iritual and the temporal, — their con- 
 version and their national restoration, are distinguished. 
 Mark it especially in the thirty-third verse — " In the day 
 that I have cleansed you from your iniquities, I will also 
 cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall 
 be builded.'" And that this passage too can hardly be con- 
 
 * Ezek. xxxvi. 24—28, and 33. 
 u 
 
306 LECTURE XVlr. 
 
 sidered as having had its fidfilment in the return from 
 Babylon, appears from two things: — that the gathering is 
 to he " from all nations ; " and that, in the preceding part 
 of the chapter, the restoration to their o\vn land is described 
 as permanent ; the mountains of Judea never any more to 
 be bereaved of men : which Avas not true as to the return 
 from Babylon; seeing after but a few centuries a dispersion 
 more coinplete and much more prolonged, awaited them. 
 And a third consideration may be added, that it could 
 hardly be said with truth of the period succeeding the cap- 
 tivity in Babylon, that then Jehovah " did tetter unto them 
 than at their 'beginning.'"^ 
 
 Look at another passage in the same prophet: — "And 
 say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will 
 take the children of Israel from among the heathen, wliither 
 they be gone, and Avill gather them on every side, and bring 
 them into their own land : and I will make them one nation 
 in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king 
 shall be king to them all : and they shall be no more two 
 nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms 
 any more at all: neither shall they defile themselves any 
 more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor 
 with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out 
 of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and 
 will cleanse them : so shall they be my people, and I will 
 be their God. And David my servant shaU be king over 
 them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also 
 Avalk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do 
 them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given 
 unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; 
 and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their cliildren, 
 and their children's children for ever: and my servant Da- 
 vid shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I will make a 
 covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting 
 covenant mth them: and I will place them, and mul- 
 tiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them 
 
 * Verse 11. 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 307 
 
 for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them : yea, 
 I will be their God, and they sliall be my people. And the 
 heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when 
 my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." * 
 That this passage, though it might have a partial fulfilment 
 in the restoration from Babylon, has a reference to a more 
 remarkable restoration yet future, appears very strikingly 
 from the terms of the twenty-fifth verse — "And they 
 shall dwell in the land which I have given unto Ja- 
 cob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and 
 they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their 
 children's children, for ever : " — and the same idea is repeat- 
 ed in the verses which follow. Was this fulfilled at the return 
 from Babylon? They were then resettled in their lan«i. 
 But have they, and their children, and their children's chil- 
 dren, held it in possession for ever? I need not answer the 
 question. Their condition for the past eighteen centuries is 
 the best answer to it. The time, then, must still be to 
 come. 
 
 Then look at the language of Amos : — " And I will bring 
 again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall 
 build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall 
 plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also 
 make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant 
 them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up 
 out of their land which I have given them, saith the Loed 
 thy God."t On tliis passage observe, first: The preced- 
 ing verses are in the New Testament expressly applied to 
 Messianic times: — "And after they had held their peace, 
 James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto 
 me : Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit 
 the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 
 And to this agree the words of the prophets ; as it is writ- 
 ten. After this I will return, and will build again the taber- 
 nacle of David, which is fallen down ; and I will build again 
 the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue 
 
 * Ezck. xxxvii. 21—28. f Amos ix. 14, 15. 
 
308 LECTURE XVIT. 
 
 of men might seek after the Lord, ami all tlie Gentiles, upon 
 whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these 
 things."* This is sufficient proof, that the next verses do 
 not go back from the times of Messiah to the Babylonish cap- 
 tivity, but must relate to a period still future. — Then, sec- 
 ondly : This is fully confirmed by what is said in the fif- 
 teenth verse — " they shall no more be pulled out of their 
 land." They have been again pulled up, more thoroughly 
 and for more than six and twenty times the duration. Here 
 too, therefore, the restoration must be future. Are its appa- 
 rently plain terms to be also spiritualized'? 
 
 Then we have the language of Zechariah in the fourteenth 
 chapter — in harmony with that of the twelfth on which we 
 have already offered our comment : — '' All the land shall 
 be turned as a plain from Geba to Eimmon south of Jerusa- 
 lem : and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, 
 from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto 
 the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the 
 king's winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there 
 shall be no more utter destruction ; but Jerusalem shall be 
 safely inhabited." t From the fact that the prophet lived 
 after the return from Bab3'lon, there can be no doubt of this 
 passage having a future reference. " "Wliile," says the critic 
 and expositor, to whom T have so often referred, " every 
 barrier to the free intercourse of Christians throughout the 
 world shall be removed, special honour will be conceded to 
 Jerusalem, as the metropolis of converted Israel." Such is 
 the general idea attached by him to the two verses read. 
 
 Passages might be multiplied; but it is needless. The 
 reasoning which applies to one will equally apply to all. 
 But farther discussion must be reserved to a future occasion. I 
 only add now, in conclusion — Seek, all of you, to be united 
 vni\i the spiritual Israel — the " Israel of God," — the " chosen 
 generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the pur- 
 chased and peculiar people, and to show forth the virtues" — 
 the divine excellencies — " of him who hath called you out 
 
 * Acts XV. 13—17. t Chap. xiv. 10, 11. 
 
ZECHARTAH XII. 10—14. S09 
 
 of darkness into his marvellous light." that I could with 
 confidence say to all now hearing me, what Paul says to the 
 Galatians — (if there be any to whom it cannot at this mo- 
 ment be said with truth, let them bethink themselves, and 
 in earnest lay hold on Christ, that of them the words may be 
 true, as well as of others :) — " For ye are all the children of 
 God hy faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have 
 been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is nei- 
 ther Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is 
 neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 
 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and beirs 
 according to the promise."* 
 
 * Gal. iii. 26—29. 
 
LECTURE XYIII. 
 
 Zech. xii. 10—14. 
 (second DISCOUnSE.) 
 
 Our last Lecture was cliiefly occupied in bringing before you, 
 from both the Old Testament and the New, a variety of pro- 
 phetic passages on the subject of the Jewish restoration, with 
 remarks designed principally to show that they could not 
 relate to the return from Babylon, but must have reference to 
 a time still future. We avoided the citation of any that 
 could even be regarded as, in this respect, doubtful. 
 
 The grand objection to the literal interpretation of such 
 passages as foretell the restoration of God's ancient people 
 to their own land, lies in the supposed incongruity of such 
 interpretation with the genius of the New Testament dis- 
 pensation ; together with the intermixture of modes of ex- 
 pression which cannot be understood literall}', but impera- 
 tively demand a figurative, typical, spiritual explanation. 
 In the observations which I have now to offer, I shall not 
 attempt to keep these two points entirely distinct. As they 
 necessarily run into each other, such attempt would inevi- 
 tably occasion repetition such as it is desirable to avoid. 
 Allow me to observe, then — 
 
 1. The general position taken in the objection being, 
 that the language of the predictions should be understooa 
 figuratively — as representing, under allusions to Jewish 
 privileges and blessings, the conversion of Israel, to the pos- 
 session, with and among the Gentiles (in a state, that is, of 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 311 
 
 entire incorporation with them, so as to be, nationally and 
 distinctively, lost) of the privileges and blessings of the 
 church of God in its advanced, or New Covenant state ; — 
 the passages chiefly adduced in support of this position, and 
 from which the difficulty of its opposite is conceived princi- 
 pally to arise, are those in which the return of Israel and 
 Judah to their own land is, indeed, predicted, but in which, 
 at the same time, circumstances are introduced, of which the 
 Uteral interpretation is altogether inadmissible : and, this 
 being the case, the question naturally arises, whether, if one 
 part must be taken Jigiiratively, the rest should not be taken 
 figuratively too ; whether consistency does not demand this. 
 The best way of conveying a correct conception of what I 
 mean, is to take a specimen. I select it from a passage for- 
 merly quoted, " Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will 
 take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither 
 they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring 
 them into their own land : and I will make them one na- 
 tion in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one 
 king shall be king to them all : and they shall be no more 
 two nations, neither shall they be divided into two king- 
 doms any more at all: neither shaU they defile them- 
 selves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable 
 things, nor with any of their transgressions : but I will save 
 them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sin- 
 ned, and will cleanse them : so shall they be my people, and 
 I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king 
 over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they 
 shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, 
 and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have 
 given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have 
 dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their 
 children, and their children's children for ever : and my ser- 
 vant David shall be their prince for ever."* In this pas- 
 sage, the particular which must be understood figuratively^ 
 or typically, is the affirmation, " David my servant shall be 
 
 * Ezek. xxxvii. 21—25. 
 
312 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 king over the7n" — "My servant David shall he their prince 
 for every The argument is — If " David " here (as is admitted) 
 is put typically for the Messiah, is not this of itself a suffi- 
 cient reason why the other parts of the prophetic description 
 should also be interpreted figuratively and typically? — And 
 other passages are cited in support of this, which sound as 
 literally, while yet they must be understood figuratively : as 
 that for example in the Gospel by Luke — ''He" (Jesus) 
 " shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest : 
 and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his fa- 
 ther David : and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for 
 ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."* In such 
 expressions, it is argued, the New Testament gives us a key 
 to the interpretation of the prophecies of the Old; and as 
 these words do not mean that Jesus was to occupy literally 
 the throne of David on earth, and to reign over the ancient 
 chosen people alone, but was, in heaven, to sway a sceptre 
 of more extensive dominion over a spiritual people, — the true 
 *' Israel of God ; " so the predicted restoration of Israel should 
 be understood as denoting simply their conversion, and their 
 becoming, in union and incorporation with the Gentiles, 
 spiritual subjects of that spiritual kingdom. On this, then, 
 we remark — 
 
 First: — It is at once admitted that "God's servant Da- 
 vid" is here to be understood as a typical designation of the 
 Messiah. Does it follow from this typical designation being 
 used, that all the rest of the passage must be interpreted 
 typically "too ? If it does, then let it be recollected what is 
 the proper antitype of Canaan — the promised land. It is 
 heaven. There is "the better country;" there the "ever- 
 lasting inheritance ; " — there " the city which hath founda- 
 tions, whose builder and maker is God," — "the city of the 
 living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Is all that is said in 
 prophecy, then, about the restoration of the ancient people of 
 God to their own land to be understood of their being ga- 
 thered, as believing converts, into heaven? — and all the pro* 
 
 * Lulce i. 82. 33. 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10-14. 313 
 
 mises of earthly prosperity in that land to be interpreted as 
 figures for the spiritual blessings and joys of that eternal 
 world? I am not aware of any who hold such a position. 
 And yet, if the principle of typical and figurative interpreta- 
 tion is to be adopted, we seem to be shut up to it. If any 
 shall say, Well; and why may it not be so? — instead of 
 replying to the question by going over the various modes of 
 speech employed respecting the possession of the land, and 
 the blessings to be enjoyed in it, and arguing how unnatu- 
 ral a strain is required to spiritualize them all, I confine 
 myself to the simple inquiry. What, in that case, are we to 
 make of the promise of their inheriting the land to which 
 they are to be restored — " they, and their children, and their 
 children's children?" Are there to be successive genera- 
 tions in heaven? There is no interpreting this of any 
 other Canaan than the earthly ; or, as it is frequently styled, 
 " the land in which their fathers dwelt." Then — 
 
 Secondly : — If the typical principle is adopted, tJie people, 
 as well as the land, must be so understood. And for this, 
 indeed, the abettors of the spiritual interpretation do, some 
 of them at least, contend. The ancient people of Israel were 
 a type of the spiritual Israel of all nations under the l^ew 
 Covenant dispensation. According to the said principle, 
 therefore, all that occurs in prophecy respecting what is to 
 befall Israel and Judah in '* the latter days," must be under- 
 stood of the whole converted world; inasmuch as Israel and 
 Judah, considered as the ancient Church and chosen people 
 of God, are the legitimate type of the " chosen generation, 
 the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the peculiar people," 
 collected by God's grace out of all "kindreds and peoples 
 and tongues." But how can this be ? In not a few of the 
 prophetic passages, they are mentioned distinctly from the 
 Gentile nations; and all that is said about them is said 
 about them as distinct; not as incorporated with them, and, 
 in their converted state, becoming an integral part of them, 
 unknown any longer in their separate nationality, — but as 
 " gathered from amongst them," and that for special ends 
 
314 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 in reference to themselves. These things, it is evident, will 
 not hold together. And still further — 
 
 Thirdly : — I formerly observed, that there were predic- 
 tions, not a few, in which the conversion of Israel is, plainly 
 and literally foretold, while, at the same time, there is fore- 
 told also their restoration to their own city and their own 
 land; and that, if the latter part of the predictions is to be 
 interjDreted as figurative, the same passages will be found to 
 contain the same things predicted in the letter and in the 
 figure; while yet the two appear, in expression, as distinct: 
 — and that such a supposition was most unnatural, and cri- 
 tically inadmissible. I observed, moreover, that I made no 
 account of the Jewish objection, that we Gentiles interpreted 
 all the threatenings against their nation literally, and all the 
 promises of good to them spiritually ; inasmuch as, if they 
 felt and estimated as they ought to do, they would at once 
 be sensible that such interpretation was, on both sides of it, 
 really the most favourable to their interests. I now, how- 
 ever, have to add to these observations, that there seems to 
 be a great inconsistency, in interpreting alLthe prophecies 
 that relate to their restoration in a sjnritual sense, while all 
 those which relate to their slaughter, and dispersion, and de- 
 gradation, and sufferings, are understood in a literal sense. 
 Surely, if the one are to be interpreted spiritually, so ought 
 the other. The predictions of scattering, and bondage, and 
 wrongs, ought, in all fairness, to be interpreted as meaning, 
 not what facts have proved them to mean, but, by figure, 
 their sjnritual condition, under all its varieties of aspect. No 
 one — not the most determined spiritualist in interpreting the 
 prophecies of their restoration, — ever thinks of such a thing. 
 I do not see, in this case, what warrant there is, or can be, 
 after taking literally all that is said of their dispersion, to 
 change at once from the literal to the spiritual; and, in the 
 same predictions, although there is not the remotest indica- 
 tion of any such change, to explain spiritually and figura- 
 tively all that is said of their restoration. 
 
 It may be alleged, that the change is fair; inasmuch as 
 it is required by the change of dispensations, the literal 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 315 
 
 interpretation of their re-settlement in tlieir own land, and 
 their distinct national subsistence, as Jews, being out of 
 harmony with the genius — that is with the spiritual char- 
 acter — of the New Covenant economy. I am thus at once 
 led forward to the more particular notice of this view of the 
 objection. Let then the following observations be con- 
 sidered : — 
 
 It is asserted, in the first place, that the continued distinct- 
 ness of the Jewish nation, and the bestowment on them of 
 any special honour or favour, is inconsistent with the language 
 of Paul when he says : — *' Wlierefore, henceforth know we no 
 man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ 
 after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no 
 more ; " * and with the sentiment repeatedly stated elsewhere, 
 that " there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncir- 
 cumcision, Barbarian, Scytliian, bond nor free ; but Christ is 
 all and in all." The reply to this is plain. The words 
 quoted, and other similar passages, express the identity of 
 the Saviour and his salvation, for manlcind, — for Jew and 
 Gentile aUke. There is not one Messiah and Saviour for 
 the Jewish people, and another for the Gentile nations. All 
 stand on the same footing. All distinctions are, in this 
 matter, done away with. The Jews of old, in their selfish 
 narrowness and pride of heart, looked on Jehovah as their 
 God ; on His word and worship as their peculiar privilege ; 
 on the coming Messiah as their Messiah, and His king- 
 dom and reign as exclusively over them, and all the 
 honours and blessings of that kingdom and reign as des- 
 tined for them alone. They had all this to unlearn. God's 
 choice of them as His peculiar people, and His covenant of 
 peculiarity with them, had an ulterior bearing upon mankind 
 at large. The special was introductory to the universal. 
 The Messiah of the Jews was to be '*the Saviour of the 
 world." All distinctions were, in the matter of acceptance 
 with God, the enjoyment of His favour, and the hope of life, 
 to be done away; and Jew and Gentile placed on the same 
 
 * 2 Cor. V. 16. 
 
316 LECTURE XYIII. 
 
 footing. This was a lesson which, even the Apostles and 
 Jewish Christians were slow to learn. It was one of the 
 last they were brought fully to receive. They had " known 
 men after the flesh,'" — vaunting of their own descent from 
 the fathers, and especially from Abraham " the friend of 
 God." They had " known Christ after the flesh," — boasting 
 of his Jewish lineage, and of his being " a minister of the 
 circumcision." They had known him as a Jeio, and as a 
 Jewish deliverer. They were noiv to know him as, although 
 a Jew, a deliverer for men of " every kindred and tongue, and 
 people, and nation." But what we have now to do with is 
 this, that Christ's being thus " the Saviour of the world," — 
 the Saviour of men, without distinction of nations, — not only 
 did not do away, but did not, in the least degree, interfere 
 with, national distinctions. It was no more necessary to it, 
 or implied in it, that the Jews should cease to he a nation^ 
 than it was that any other people should : no more neces- 
 sary that the Jews should be merged and lost in the Gentiles, 
 than that the Gentiles should be merged and lost in the 
 Jews. The cessation of all distinction in the matter of sal- 
 vation, did not in the remotest degree render it necessary 
 that the Jews should cease to be a distinct people. They 
 might still remain a people, and stand, in this matter, on 
 the same footing with every other people; just as every 
 other people stood on the same footing with them and with 
 all the rest of the nations. When we say, with regard to 
 the ground of salvation, and the enjoyment of l!^ew Testa- 
 ment privileges, and blessings, and hopes, — *' There is neither 
 Scotch nor English ; there is neither French nor German, 
 nor British nor American," we say nothing that in the 
 smallest degree affects the continued existence of these na- 
 tional distinctions. So, when we say, " There is neither Jew 
 nor Gentile," we say nothing that implies at all that Jeia is 
 to be annihilated, and Gentile alone remain. And when " the 
 vail shall be taken from the hearts " of the off-cast and out- 
 cast people, and they shall see the glories of the " despised 
 and rejected" " JSTazarene," — they too, like Paul and the 
 early believers, will " know no man after the flesh ; " they 
 
ZECHARIAII Xir. 10—14. 317 
 
 will give lip their vainglorious dependencies and boastings, 
 and call the converted world their brethren : but this does 
 not at all require their ceasing to be a distinct people. Their 
 bearing the one designation of Christians is quite compatible 
 with their remaining a nation. If they are a Christianized 
 nation, they will sustain the same common relation to other 
 nations that other Christianized nations will sustain to them 
 and to one another. Greek and Jew will continue; and 
 yet, in the sense of the Apostle, there will be *' neither 
 Greek nor Jew." Surely, when "the kingdoms of this 
 world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his 
 Christ," the terms are not to be understood as meaning that 
 they are no longer to be " kingdoms of this world;" that all 
 national distinctions are to terminate. So, neither is there 
 any reason whatever for supposing that, when the Jews shall 
 come to say, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord," their national existence shall terminate. 
 
 Again, when the genius of the Christian dispensa- 
 tion is spoken of by those who differ from us on this ques- 
 tion, they are apt to fall into what I may call the extrava- 
 gance — the enthusiasm — of spiritualizing. They seem to 
 imagine that it must not only, in its characteristic features, 
 be a spiritual dispensation; but that there must be nothing 
 in it, or connected with it, hut what is spiritual, — nothing 
 whatever that is temporal. But this is just as great a mis- 
 take on the one side, as theirs is on the other, who, because 
 the ancient dispensation was one (as from its t3'pical nature 
 it could not fail to be) characteristically external and worldly, 
 conceived of it, and spoke of it, and wrote of it, as if there 
 had been nothing in it that was spiritual. That system of 
 prevailing and unavoidable externality had in it not a little 
 that was spiritual : and the spiritual system of the new cove- 
 nant has its measure of externality. It has its outward 
 observances, and its initiatory and commemorative ordinance's. 
 And if " godliness has the promise of the life that now is, 
 as well as of that which is to come," can any sound reason 
 be given, why, when they are brought to the faith of the 
 gospel, God's ancient people should not find some of thg 
 
318 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 promises which are waiting till then for their fulfilment, 
 promises of temporal good? No doubt they will find pro- 
 mises of higher and better blessings too to be then verified 
 in their happy experience : but these will not exclude the 
 other, any more than the promise to all believers of "the 
 life that is to come," sets aside and nullifies that of " the life 
 that now is." Both descriptions of promise stand in pro- 
 phecy to the credit of their account: set to their credit, 
 not on the ground of any desert of theirs, but by grace alone. 
 If both kinds of blessing are specified, why should they not 
 both be taken as they are found? Thej^ occur, as we have be- 
 fore seen, in the same passages. Had the directly sj^iritual 
 been found by themselves in some passages, and the directly 
 temporal by themselves in others, there might have been 
 somewhat more ground for understanding the latter figura- 
 tively, or as a typical form of the other. But they are almost 
 invariably blended together; and we see not why each should 
 not be taken in its own proper sense. 
 
 We go a step further. It is often affirmed that it is quite 
 inconsistent with the genius of the Gospel, by which all 
 a^e placed on a level, that there should be any specially 
 elevating and honourable distinction and favour conferred on 
 one people more than on another : and it is conceived that 
 the divine interference for the national restoration of Israel 
 will be such a distinction and favour, — placing them above 
 the Gentiles. ISTow, I do not like this. It savours, in ap- 
 pearance at least, of jealousy; of Christian jealousy, in return 
 for Jewish. It seems as if a portion of the spirit of the Jew 
 had got possession of the Gentile ; claiming that the Jew 
 having had his turn of honour and distinction of old, the 
 Gentile should have it now; and that it should be shown 
 in the swallowing- up and annihilation of the Jew. If there 
 is to be no special honour elevating any one people above 
 another, is there I would ask, to be the reverse — any special 
 (iishonour, degrading any one people beneath the rest ? 
 (which would surely be the case, were any one people 
 to be absorbed and lost in the rest :) and is it likely that 
 that people, destined to have their name and memory for- 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10-14. 310 
 
 gotten, should be the very people whom of old God " de- 
 lighted to honour," and who are still divinely declared to be 
 " beloved for the fathers' sakes*?" ISTay more : we affirm that 
 the argument confutes itself Were the Jews to be thus 
 swallowed up, — absorbed, incorporated, and as a people, 
 lost; it is true, indeed, that there would be no distinction : 
 but, mark it, — there would, at the same time, be no mani- 
 festation of the cessation of distinction. To such manifesta- 
 tion, the continued existence of the people is indispensable. 
 They will then appear, occupying the same position before 
 God with other nations; not, as of old, a people peculiar in 
 their privileges, and their worship, and their commemorative 
 observances, — of a different religion as well as locality, from 
 the rest; but Christianized, — worshipping the same God, in 
 the name of the same Mediator, even him whom their fathers 
 crucified; acknowledging the same inspired oracles; drawing 
 their water from the same " wells of salvation ;" living on the 
 same " bread of life ; " owning and adoring the same Father ; 
 building their hopes on the same ground; and anticipating, 
 with all the rest of Abraham's spiritual seed, the same final 
 inheritance. Without the Jewish people thus remaining 
 distinct, all ivoidd he Gentiles: the name of Jcav would 
 cease; and while all would, no doubt, be the same, there 
 would be no holding forth of the sameness. It could not be 
 said "There is neither Greek nor Jew:" for there would be 
 Greek, but no Jew. 
 
 It has been asked — What has become of those "thousands 
 of Jews " that were converted to Christianity in " the begin- 
 ning of the Gospel 1" Have not the?/ been incorporated with 
 the Gentiles, and lost as Jews 1 And the inference drawn 
 from this is — if it has been thus with them, why should we 
 expect it to be otherwise with the rest, when they come to 
 be converted also 1 My simple answer is — We know, first of 
 all, very little about what became of the early Jewish converts, 
 whether they were really incorporated and lost, oi* not. Our 
 knowledge is too limited and precarious, to admit of our 
 making it the basis of any sure conclusion. Then, further, 
 even supposing these thousands had been incorporated, they 
 
320 LECTURE XYIII. 
 
 were not the nation. They were but a small fraction of it. 
 The mass of the nation remained in unbelief, and came under 
 the judicial infliction of the curses which, so many centuries 
 before, Moses had, under divine inspiration, denounced against 
 them. And, at the same time, agreeably to the same early in- 
 timations, they have not been lost, but kept in reserve, that, 
 when they have given full exemplification of the faithfulness 
 of divine threatenings, they may furnisli an equally striking 
 exemplification of the faithfulness of divine promises. What 
 can be the design of God in what (notwithstanding the 
 lightness with which some have treated it in the present 
 argument) I must still call the wonderful preservation of 
 this people in separation from all the nations among which 
 they have, for eighteen hundred years, been scattered? I 
 have not now time to point out the considerations and 
 the facts which serve to show the remarkableness of their 
 preservation in this state of distinctness; or to compare 
 their history, in this respect, with that of other tribes 
 and nations. I may only observe, that, had it not been re 
 garded by God himself as an extraordinary tiling, we can 
 hardly imagine that it would have been so specially insisted 
 on in the j)rophecies concerning them. Had it been nothing 
 out of the ordinary course of events in the destinies of other 
 nations, why should it have been so emphatically and repeat- 
 edly predicted 1 Mark the language used : — "And yet for all 
 that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not 
 cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them 
 utterly, and to break my covenant with them : for I am 
 the Lord their God : "* Again : — " For I am with thee, saith 
 the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all 
 nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a 
 full end of thee : but I mil correct thee in measure, and will 
 not leave thee altogether unpunished : "'t and to these many 
 others might be added. Why, then, are they thus kept 
 separate 1 AVliy, when so many other tribes have, in much 
 shorter periods, been lost, beyond all distinction, among the 
 
 * Lev. xxvi. 4i. t Jer. xxx. 11. 
 
ZECHAEIAH XII. 10—14. 321 
 
 nations by wlioni they have been overcome, has this nation, 
 "scattered and j^eeled" in so extraordinary a degree, still 
 maintained, and maintained everywhere, its distinct existence. 
 Even scattered drops have still kept by themselves, and never 
 found their way into the rivers and the ocean. Is not this 
 to be interpreted as a sign of God's purpose, not only to turn 
 them individually to Himself, but to preserve them also 
 nationally, and to fulfil to them the temporal as well as the 
 s^ji ritual promises 1 
 
 Let it not be asked, Wliat good end is to be answered by 
 their restoration to their own land, and their settlement there? 
 That is not the question. The simple question ought to be 
 — Is it in this Book ? If so, we may rest assured that some 
 good end is to be served by it, even although we may not 
 be able to discover it. But surely there is one end that we 
 can see. What is the great end of all prophecy 1 Is it not 
 that, when it comes to be fulfilled, the miracle of knowledge 
 (for such every prophecy is) may be discerned, and may pro- 
 duce conviction ? Who, then, can tell, to what extent the 
 conversion of the Gentile world may be hastened on by the 
 intervention of God's providence for the fulfilment of His 
 word 1 Is this not an object, were there no other, worthy 
 of Him who " knoweth the end from the beginning 1 " 
 
 As to all questions suggested by real or supposed diffi- 
 culties, and what to the eyes of men may even seem impos- 
 sibilities, I have but one answer : — loe are not judges. Hotv 
 is this to be done 1 and. How ccm this ever be done 1 are 
 not questions for us. The only question is — Has God revealed 
 it ? If He has, we may surely leave it to Him to find the 
 means of fulfilling His own word. It is God's prerogative, 
 in the majesty of omniscience and omnipotence, to say — " My 
 counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." All ques- 
 tionings of unbelief and doubt become presumptuously im- 
 pious, when we have ascertained, respecting anything, that 
 God has said it. If it would be presumptuous to ask such 
 questions, it would savour of the same presumption to 
 set about attempts to solve them ; to point out methods 
 by which the Infinite may work out His designs. 
 
 X 
 
322 LECTURE XVIII. 
 
 There is only one other question on which I feel it necessary 
 to say a word or two,-^Is their conversion ijrlor to their re- 
 storation, or their restoration to their conversion ? There 
 seems little ground for hesitation here. In almost all 
 the passages which foretell their restoration, it is foretold 
 as preceded by their repentance and turning to God. They 
 are described as " accepting the punishment of their in- 
 iquity;" acknoAvl edging God's righteousness in their pun- 
 ishment; hitmbling themselves before Him; supplicating His 
 forgiveness ; casting themselves on His mere}'. This, especi- 
 ally in the circumstances in which they now stand, I cannot 
 but regard as equivalent to their conversion. I should, in 
 any circumstances, hesitate to adnjit the distinction made by 
 Mr. Frey, the converted Jew, in liis work published some 
 years ago, entitled " Joseph and Benjamin," between re- 
 pcmtance and conversion, when, in answering the question 
 Which first — their conversion or their restoration? he avows, 
 with all confidencej his conviction to be in favour of their 
 rrstoration having precedence of their conversion. But not, 
 he says, of their repentance. Their repentance, according to 
 him, \vill be before their return to Jerusalem and Palestine, 
 and their conversion after it. T greatly hesitate in the 
 present case ; and for this reason : — Wliatever was the sin 
 for which in a special manner they have had their suffer- 
 ings laid upon them, their repentance, as preceding, and be- 
 ing essential to, tlioir restoration, must of necessity have 
 special reference to that particular sin. "V\niat, then, tvciji 
 that sin? Beyond all doubt, the rejection and crucifixion of 
 *'the Lord of glory." Wlien they "repent," therefore, it 
 must, in the very first place, be for that sin. But repent- 
 ance for that sin necessarily implies faith in Imn : — and faith 
 in him is conversion. The sentiment that their restoration 
 to their land, and re-settlement in their city are to take pre- 
 cedence of their conversion, is founded in part, I might say 
 cliiefly, on the terms of the passage now before us. The 
 promised outpouring of the Spirit, and the mourning to 
 which it gives rise, are evidently here introduced as subse- 
 quent to their re-settlement in Jerusalem. And, were it not 
 
ZECHARIAH Xil. 10—14. 323 
 
 for tlie plain intimations of their repentance and conver- 
 sion preceding tlieir return, and the accordance of such in- 
 timations with tlie facts of their former history, this might 
 have decided the point. But, these passages evidently set- 
 tling it otherwise, we are induced, for the sake of harmoniz- 
 ing them and the one before us, to regard the outpouring 
 of the Spirit spoken of in the latter as having reference, 
 not to the divine influence by which their repentance and 
 conversion are to be effected, but to a subsequent copious 
 effusion of the Spirit upon them, after their having been 
 converted and restored, — producing this social mourning 
 for the sins which had so long banished them from their 
 country, their city, and their temple; and the united con- 
 fession of those sins to God, and humble supplication for 
 their forgiveness, and for the continuance of Jehovah's un- 
 merited mercy. 
 
 I close, for the present, by calling upon you afresh, as the 
 fit improvement of what has now been said, to lay to heart 
 and reduce to practice the all-important admonition of Jesus, 
 ^^ Have faith in God,'' — faith in the truth of all His testi- 
 monies; faith in the faithfulness of His promises and threat - 
 enings, and the absolutely sure verification of both ; faith in 
 the wisdom and the might of His universal and unintermit- 
 ting providence, controlling all events, and directing them 
 infallibly to His own purposed results ; faith in His revealed 
 and covenanted mercy, through the mediation of Him who is 
 the Saviour — the divine and only Saviour of Gentile and of 
 Jew, without an interest in whom there is nothing for either 
 but perdition ; and faith in the happy influence of all His 
 precepts, when obeyed in fear and love. 
 
LECTURE XIX 
 
 Zech. XII. 10 — 14. 
 (third discourse.) 
 
 The (^receding part of tlie chapter, we formerly saw, contains 
 a prediction of the future resettlement of the Jewish people 
 in Jerusalem and in Palestine. We have since endeavoured 
 to lay before you the evidence that this prediction ought to 
 be understood, not as a mere figure for their conversion and 
 spiritual restoration, but in the natural and literal meaning 
 of the terms; — the prophecies of their conversion, couched 
 also in plain and appropriate terms, being found accom- 
 panying those of their national recovery. We have considered 
 too the evidence that their conversion is to iwecede their re- 
 storation. In the close of last Lecture it was noticed, that 
 by not a few the passage before us is understood of their 
 conversion; and that, if this view were correct, it would 
 decide the question differently, — proving the posteriority of 
 the spiritual to the temporal change; inasmuch as the out- 
 pouring of the Spirit foretold here is sahsequent to their set- 
 tlement in Jerusalem. The proof, however, is irresistible, 
 of their faith, and repentance, having the precedence; of 
 their being simultaneously visited, in their dispersions, with 
 a sense of their sin, and the sin of their fathers, in " reject- 
 ing and despising " the true Messiah — Jesus of J^azareth, — 
 and their consequent " turning to God from whom they had 
 revolted." And then follows their being brought back na- 
 tionally to their own land, and settled there anew. We shall 
 
ZECIIAKIAH XII. 10—14. 325 
 
 see immediately that the passage before us is in perfect con- 
 cord with this view; not at all a proof against it. 
 
 Meanwhile, let me repeat the remark, that with ques- 
 tions as to Iloio this national restoration is to be effected, 
 we have, properly, nothing to do. It ought never to be 
 considered necessary to our faith in any prediction of God's 
 word, that we find it difficult at times to answer such ques- 
 tions, and to point out in ivliat U'ciy God is to accomplish 
 His purposes. There is, however, a passage in Isaiah, which, 
 on mature reflection, I. am more than disposed to regard 
 as bearing upon this point : — " Lift up thine eyes round 
 about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, 
 and come to thee. As I live, saitli the Lord, thou shalt 
 surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, 
 and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste 
 and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruc- 
 tion, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the 
 inhabitants, and they that swallow^ed thee up shall be 
 far away. The children wdiicli thou shalt have, after thou 
 has lost the other, shall say again in thine ears. The place is 
 too strait for me : give place to ]ne that I may dwell. Then 
 shalt thou say in thine heart. Who hath begotten me these, 
 seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, 
 and removing to and fro 1 and who hath brought up these 1 
 Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? 
 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand 
 to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people : and 
 they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters 
 shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be 
 tliy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: 
 tiiey shall bow down to thee with their face toward the 
 earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet ; and thou shalt know 
 that I am the Lord : for they shall not be ashamed that 
 wait for me." '"' The words are addressed to Zion : — 
 *' But Zion said. The Lord hath forsaken me, and my 
 Lord hath forgotten me. Can a wn'^man forget her suck- 
 
 * Isa. xlix. 18—23. 
 
326 LECTURE XIX. 
 
 ing child, that she should not have compassion on the son 
 of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget 
 thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my 
 hands ; thy walls are continually before me. Thy children 
 shall make haste ; thy destroyers and they that made thee 
 waste shall go forth of thee."* There are two principles on 
 which the language may be interpreted. It may refer to the 
 gathering, from all parts of the world, of converts among the 
 Gentiles to the true Church of God, to supply the places of 
 the unbelieving Jews, when they should be cut off and 
 cast out for their rejection of the Messiah. The Church — 
 the spiritual Zion — is, on this principle, represented as feel- 
 ing, and bewailing the desolation arising from this rejection 
 of the large mass of those who had, by profession, appeared 
 among her children ; and as comforted and cheered by the 
 repair of the desolation, — the filling up of their rooms by 
 an accession of children from among the Gentiles. In this 
 sense I have been accustomed to understand the passage. I 
 now understand it differently. It refers, I think, to the re- 
 storation of God's ancient people, and to the agency which 
 should be employed by Him in effecting it. The gathering 
 is the gathering, not of Gentile converts, but of the scattered 
 "outcasts of Israel," "from the four corners of the earth;" 
 and, since the entire chapter has reference to Gospel times, 
 it seems reasonable, and even necessary, to understand it as 
 relating not to the return from Babylon, but to a return still 
 future. And to the questions of Zion's perplexity and 
 wonder — " Then shalt thou say in thine heart. Who hath 
 begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and 
 am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who 
 hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, 
 where had they been?" — the answer of Jehovah is — 
 pointing to the instrumentality, or agency, by which the 
 restoration of these outcasts was to be effected: — 
 " Behold, I will lift up mine hand " (as an authoritative 
 and imperative signal, insuring obedience,) " I will lift up 
 
 * Isa. xlix. 15 — 17. 
 
ZECHAEIAH XII. 10—14. 327 
 
 mine hand to the Gentiles:'' "and," it is added in military 
 phrase, " I will set up my standard to the people ; " as that 
 around which their hosts were, for a special service, to 
 muster : " and they shall " — it is not said come themselves, 
 but — "they shall hring thy sons in their arms, and thy 
 daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders : " alluding 
 to the eastern modes of bearing about children. And then 
 the princes and rulers of the nations are represented as de- 
 voting themselves to the interests of the scattered people of 
 God, and, with a submissive reverence for the people whom 
 Jehovah returns to honour, placing the resources of their 
 Idngdoms at their service, for completing their restoration. 
 In what specific manner the fevour of the Gentile nations 
 and their princes shall be manifested, or put into practical 
 operation, in bringing about the gathering to Jerusalem 
 and to Judea of the dispersed of Israel, Time must re- 
 A'eal. That they are to be exposed to opposition, — to 
 warlike attacks and sieges, and attempts to dispossess and 
 destroy them, and that these shall issue in the discom- 
 fiture of those by whom they are made, are the prophetic 
 intimations of the former verses of the chapter. In the 
 verses now under review, they a})pear, victoriously and peace- 
 fully, settled in Jerusalem. It is then, — when they luu'e 
 leisure, after the toils and terrors of war, to look back on the 
 past and reflect on the present, that the scene of sorrow, 
 humiliation, and prayer, is represented as taking place. 
 
 The whole passage seems descriptive of a social act of 
 penitential confession of past transgressions; of submissive 
 acknowledgment of divine rectitude in all that they and their 
 fathers had been doomed to endure; and of supplication 
 for the continuance of the divine favour, "not for their 
 righteousnesses, but for God's great mercies." The scene de- 
 picted bears a very close resemblance to those recorded to 
 have taken place on the restoration from Babjdon; when 
 Jehovah, having influenced them individually to return to 
 Himself, and to set their faces, with longing desire, to 
 " the land of their fathers," inclined their hearts when thus 
 gathered home, to social and collective acts of humiliation 
 
1128 LECTURE XIX. 
 
 and prayer. The prayers of Ezra and of JSTeiiemiah on 
 those occasions, might be taken as models, in the spirit 
 and even the matter of them, for the " supphcations " of 
 Judah and Israel, when brought back from their wider 
 and more lasting dispersions." The promise, in the pass- 
 age before us, accordingly, is not to the people of Israel and 
 Judah in their state of dispersion. All the promises that 
 relate to their repentance and their returning to God by 
 faith and obedience, are made to them, as in a state of dis- 
 persion; and as necessary and preparatory to their being 
 brought back to their own land. Eut the promise here is 
 not so. It is a promise to them, as already brought back, 
 and occupying the city of their fathers. It is to the 
 " house of David,'' and to " the inhabitants of Jerusalem.'^ 
 They have been visited of God in their dispersion, in all 
 their diverse and distant localities. They have again, to 
 their grateful amazement, been re-united. They have com- 
 pared their feelings. They have found that they have been 
 tlie same, "as in water the face answereth to the face." 
 And, finding this, — "with one heart and one voice" they 
 celebrate together the long-suffering patience, and the tender 
 mercy, of the God of salvation; bowing to His faithfulness 
 in His threatenings, and rejoicing in the equal faithfulness 
 of His promises. They are again a people ; no longer " scat- 
 tered and peeled,' — driven from the land, and city, and 
 sepulchres of their fathers, — a few here and a few there 
 " among all the nations of the earth," — but again drawn to- 
 gether by the elective attraction of kindred and country, and 
 under the smile and blessing of their covenant God; who 
 no longer neutralizes that instinctive force, and hinders its 
 uniting power, in judicial displeasure, but " turning their 
 captivity as the streams in the south," settles them anew 
 in their families, if not entirely according to their tribal 
 distinctions, (the advent of the Messiah having rendered the 
 preservation of their genealogies no longer necessary,) yet 
 " as one people on the mountains of Israel," — one flock, in 
 
 * Ezra ix. and Nehemiah iv. 
 
ZECHAKIAII XII. 10—14. S29 
 
 one fold, under one Shepherd; and that divine Shepherd 
 now common to them, with the converted world; " One Lord, 
 and his name one ! " 
 
 Let ns now see if we can briefly gather np the par- 
 ticulars, which appear to call for special notice in the 
 passage. 
 
 1. The first that demands attention is the speaker. That 
 speaker is Jehovah. He is the same throughout the chap- 
 ter. It is He who, in the language of the first verse, 
 "stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation 
 of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him." 
 And He is introduced in every preceding verse. There is 
 no change of speaker. And yet mark — 
 
 2. What he says of himself: — "And they shall look on 
 ME wliuni they j?/c?'cy.y7.'' As might be expected, attempts 
 have been made to invalidate the correctness of the text 
 from which this translation is taken. And it is not to be 
 denied, that more than one among orthodox critics have 
 adopted him instead of me. There does not appear, how- 
 ever, to be any thing like sufficient evidence to warrant an 
 alteration. The speaker is that divine " Angel of the cove- 
 nant,' who has come so repeatedly before our view in the 
 preceding 23rophecies : the same too whom we shall find 
 Jehovah addressing as His equal in the following chapter — 
 "Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the 
 man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts." Why 
 should we hesitate to admit the translation? Is this the 
 07iJy passage in the prophets, in which the different attributes 
 of the Infi7iite and the finite, — of Deity and humanity, are 
 combined'? Do not we find, in Isaiah, him who says — "I 
 clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth 
 their covering," immediately adding — " I gave my back to 
 the sraiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the 
 hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting?" Is 
 not "the child born, the son given," "the mighty God?" 
 Is not the child of the virgin "Immanuel? ' And who 
 can this be, but he who, while living on earth " a man of 
 sorrows," could say — "I and my Father are one?" The 
 
330 LECTURE XIX. 
 
 S])eaker, then, is Jehovah- Jesus : * and the view thus pre- 
 sented of His two natures in one person, is in harmony 
 Vv'ith the entire tenor, as well as with numberless exphcit 
 statements, of the word of God. Observe — 
 
 3. The singularity of this prediction, as involving tico. 
 What is immediately foretold is the rejDentance and mourn- 
 ing of the Jewish people, on their " looking on liim whom 
 they had pierced : " but the fact implied is his having been 
 2)ierced. And this, therefore, is a prediction also. There 
 are, in truth, two predictions ; the one that Messiah should 
 be pierced; the other, that the penitent Jews should look on 
 him who had been pierced. The predictions relate of 
 course to widely distant periods. Since the first was ful- 
 filled, eighteen centuries have passed away. But it teas 
 fulfilled : and the fulfilment of it gives us ground of assur- 
 ance that the other also shall be fulfilled in its time. We 
 have the fulfilment of the first thus recorded: — "But 
 when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead 
 abeady, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers 
 with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there- 
 out blood and water, "t And mark (for in the evidence of 
 divine revelation from the fulfdment of prophecy the obser- 
 vation is important) the agency by which the fulfilment 
 was, in this case, effected. Had any one who knew the predic- 
 
 * "The expression ^upon me' is very remarkable. According to 
 verse first the speaker is the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. 
 I'ut it is evident from what follows, that we are not to confine our 
 tlioughts exclusively to an invisible God, who is beyond the reach of 
 suffering, fur the same Jeliovah presently represents himself as pierced 
 by the Israelites, and afterwards lamented by tiiem with bitter re- 
 morse. The enigma is solved by the Old Testament doctrine of the 
 Angel and revealer of the Most High God, to whom the Prophet attri- 
 butes even the most exalted names of God on account of his partici- 
 pation in the divine nature." Hengstenherg^s Christol. in he. If the 
 reader would know by what varied and strange modes the unbelieving 
 Jews have endeavoured to get rid of this passage as applying to the 
 Messiah he may consult the work just quoted; or Dr. M'Caul's Trans- 
 lation of Rahhi' David Kimchi's Commentary on the Prophecies of Zecha- 
 riah. A favourite mode is to understand the term pierce figuratively 
 fls meaning to grieve! — Ed. 
 
 ■}■ John xix. 3b, 34. 
 
ZECIIARIAH XII. 10—14. 331 
 
 tion thrust the spear into the side of Jesus, — it might have 
 been alleged, however grouiidlessly, that it had been pur- 
 posely done to make the fact accord with it. But all ignor- 
 ant, and all unconscious, was this Eoman soldier, that he 
 was doing a tiling that bore any relation either to the past 
 or the future, — far less, that lie was the agent of God (to 
 him an " unknown God ") in verifying His word. And the 
 same is the case with regard to another predicted piercing : 
 — " They pierced my hands and my feet." '"" This too was 
 done by the unconscious instrumentality of Eoman soldiers. 
 And, implying, as it did, that crucifixion was to be the death 
 he should suffer, — the way in which that was brought about 
 was no less extraordinary. *' Pilate then went out unto 
 them, and said. What accusation bring ye against this man? 
 They answered and said unto him. If he were not a male- 
 factor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. Then 
 said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him accord- 
 ing to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is 
 not lawful for us to put any man to death: that the saying 
 of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying wdiat 
 death he should die." t One would have thouglit, the Jevv^s 
 would have caught eagerly at the permission thus accorded 
 them to follow tlieir own lau; impatient as they were of sub- 
 jection to the jurisdiction of Rome. Little did they think, 
 when they were thus declining the permission, and urging 
 against it this very subjection — " It is not lawful for us to 
 put any man to death : " that they were providing an addi- 
 tional proof of his Messiahship whom they were disowning 
 and murdering. For, had they followed the prescriptions of 
 their oimi law, Jesus, as a blasphemer (according to tlieir 
 false allegation and sentence) must have been stoned: and so 
 this prediction as well as others of his own, would have been 
 falsified ! Of the minuteness, and apparently accidental char- 
 acter of the facts, and the ignorance and unconsciousness 
 of the agency by which they are brought about, various 
 and striking are the exemplifications in Scripture prophecy, 
 
 * Psa. xxii. 16. f Julai xviii. 29—82. 
 
332 LECTURE XIX. 
 
 connected with. Scripture history. Let this confirm our faith 
 in the truth of God's testimonies, and in the sure accom- 
 plishment of all His predictions. !N"otice now — ■ 
 
 4. The gracious ]iro7nise: — "I will pour upon the house 
 of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit 
 of grace and of supplications." The promise, you will ob- 
 serve, relates to all classes, from the highest to the lowest : — • 
 '' the house of David " meaning the Eoyal House ; and " the 
 inhabitants of Israel " the people at large, individually and 
 by their families. And, this being the large extent of the 
 promise, — what is the promise itself? I answer, " The Spirit 
 of grace and of supplications " does not mean the disposition 
 merely of reliance on grace and of prayer; but the 
 dii)ine agent by whom the disposition is inspired — • 
 " the Holy Spirit " in all his blessed influences. We are 
 carried back, in our reflections, to the day of Pentecost, 
 when so extraordinary an effusion of the same Spirit was 
 vouchsafed: — and then, too, in fulfilment of prophetic pro- 
 mise. But between the two cases there is a difference. 
 In this case, there is no impartation of miraculous powers 
 and gifts, — no " prophesying," no " seeing of visions," no 
 " dreaming of dreams," no " speaking with tongues." On Pen- 
 tecost, there was a union of the miraculous and the gracious : 
 — here, there is the gracious alone. The Spirit is called 
 " the Spirit of graced' as being the gift of God's free favour; 
 as bearing testimony to grace alone in the sinner's salva- 
 tion; and as the author of all gracious dispositions and 
 affections in the human soul; bringing it into harmonious 
 concord w^ith God's methods of grace revealed by the Gospel, 
 and making grace to tell effectually on all the active powers ; 
 teaching its subjects to " deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
 and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present 
 world." And He is called " tJie Spirit of supplications,^^ 
 because, coming/ro??^ God, He di-aws immediately to God. His 
 very first influence and manifestation is — " Behold he pray- 
 eth ! " He teaches all under His agency, not merely in the way 
 of convincing them of the duty, but in the way of inclining 
 their hearts to avail themselves of the privilege, — " in every 
 
ZECHAEIAH XII 10—14. 333 
 
 thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to make 
 their requests known unto God." Wherever the divine Spirit 
 dwells, connnnnion with God will be the characteristic feature 
 of the favoured individual in whom He abides. He will 
 make intercession in him and /b?' him, "with groanings which 
 cannot be uttered." And, when His influences come largely 
 down on families, on churches, on communities, the result 
 will be a concert of prayer ; — a union of hearts, and a united 
 out pouring of the desires of those hearts, at the footstool of 
 God. The " one Spirit " produces a common feehng of de- 
 pendence, and of earnest longing after the same blessings ; 
 application for them on the same ground ; and then a grateful 
 sense of obligation for their bestowment, uttering itself in 
 thanksgiving and praise in union with petition. 
 
 5. Wliat is the special state of mind here represented as 
 the product of this outpouring of the Spirit? — "They shall 
 look on me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn foi 
 him, as one that mourneth for his only son, and shall be in 
 bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first- 
 born." Plere several things call for notice : — 
 
 First, the cause of the mourning : — " They shall look on 
 me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for ///??z." 
 That the same person is meant by the me and the him, is 
 sufficiently evident. In prophetic language such transitions 
 from the fiist to the third person are not without examples. 
 The cause of mourning is the very same Avith that which 
 wakened the penitential grief in the bosoms of the Pente- 
 costal converts. What said " Peter and the other apostles " 
 to them ? — That " by wicked hands they had crucified and 
 slain " Him whom God had attested as the Messiah and the 
 Saviour by his resurrection from the dead; — that tliey had 
 " slain the Prince of life." The conviction of this fearful 
 guilt being brought clearly and strongly home to their con- 
 sciences, we have the effect in these words : — " They were 
 pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest 
 of tlie apostles. Men and brethren, what shall we doT"* All 
 
 37. 
 
334 , LECTURE XIX. 
 
 along from tliat day to this, the impenitent and unbo- 
 lieving Jews have been giving their heart's consent to 
 the judgment and deed of their fathers. They have 
 reiterated the outcry — "His blood be on us, and on our 
 cliildren!" They have thus continued, tlirough many suc- 
 cessive generations, to " crucify to themselves the Son of 
 God afresh, and put him to an open shame." It is on this 
 account that it is here said, even of the Jews who shall re- 
 pent and believe in a yet future generation — " They shall 
 look on him whom they have pierced." They have made 
 the deed of their fathers their own ; have cherished the same 
 malice, and repeated the same anathemas on the l^azarene, 
 and the same imprecations on themselves on His account. 
 The expression — " whom they have pierced " does not here 
 signify, merely that their sins, like " the sins of the whole 
 world," contributed to bring upon the divine Saviour all his 
 sufferings. They signify more. They describe the state of 
 mind and heart toward Jesus of Il^azareth; their being, 
 though not in act yet in spirit, as really His murderers as their 
 fathers were. 
 
 The mourning, then, is penitential mourning. It is mourn- 
 ing/oj' sin; — for their multipUed and long -continued thoughts, 
 and words, and acts of disobedience and rebelUon, and 
 above all the rest for this sin — the rejection and cruci- 
 fixion of the Son of God, — " the Messiah promised to the 
 fathers." This they will feel to be the sin op sins; the 
 heaviest in all the catalogue of Jewish or human crimes. 
 And this naturally leads me to notice — 
 
 Secondly, the intensity of the mourning : — " they shall 
 mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and shall 
 be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for 
 his flrst-borii" There are few states of deeper and acuter 
 sorrow than this, — that which is felt by affectionate parents, 
 when bereft of these objects of their fondest affections : — the 
 one solitary object of their concentrated jiarental love; or 
 the first-born and rising support and hope of their household. 
 Such shall be the intensity of the grief with which they 
 shall be penetrated, for the accumidated guilt of so many 
 
ZECHARIAH XII. 10—14. 335 
 
 ceiitiini>s of uiiLclieYing and malignant rejection of iiim 
 whom they shall then sec — no longer " as a root out of a dry 
 ground, having no form nor comeliness, nor any beauty why 
 they should desire him," but as " the chief among ten thou- 
 sand — the altogether lovely;" as Jehovah's " servant whom 
 he had upheld, his Elect in whom his soul delighted," And 
 observe — 
 
 Thirdly, the universality of the m.ourning, as presented 
 in the closing verses of the chapter: — "In that day shall 
 there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning 
 of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land 
 shall mourn, every family apart : the family of the house of 
 David apart, and their wives apart ; the family of the house 
 of J^athan apart, and their wives apart ; the family of the 
 house" of Levi apart, and their wives apart ; the family of 
 Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that 
 remain, every family apart, and their wives apart." 
 
 The case referred to in the eleventh verse is that of the 
 mourning for the death of good king Josiali ; who received 
 the wound of which he died in Hadadrimmon in the great 
 plain, or valley, of Esdraelon, near Megiddo. The lamenta- 
 tion for the death of this devout and devoted prince was the 
 most sincere, deep, and universal that was ever known among 
 the Jews : — " His servants therefore took him out of that 
 chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had ; and 
 they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in 
 one of the sepulchres of his fathers: and all Judah and 
 Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for 
 Josiah ; and all the singing-men and the singing-women spake 
 of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them 
 an ordinance in Israel ; and, behold, they are written in the 
 Lamentations."* So general and heart-felt should be the na- 
 tional lamentation for their sins, and especially for the sin of 
 having put to death a greater than Josiah, or than any 
 earthly monarch — the Messiah, the true " King of tlie 
 Jews," and the Saviour of the world. There is first the 
 
 * 2 Cliron. xxxv, 24, 25. 
 
336 LECTURE XIX. 
 
 general statement, "The land shall mourn:" tlie whole 
 land — all its inhabitants, " from Dan to Eeersheba : " Then 
 we have all the families of all the different ranks and 
 classes of the inhabitants. Some conceive that when Natlian 
 is named it is ISTathan one of David's sons, thus mentioned in 
 connexion with his father. And on the same principle they 
 understand Shimei to be one of the sons of Levi, classed with 
 his father as I^^Tathan is with David. I am disposed to 
 think rather that the N'athan meant is ISTathan the prophet; 
 and that Shimei was some scribe of distinction and noto- 
 riety. We shall thus have four leading classes of the 
 pojDulation. "The family of the house of David" in- 
 chides the whole royal lineage. " The family of the house 
 of Levi," the whole of the priesthood. " The family of the 
 house of I^athan," all the lineage of the projphets: and 
 " the family of the house of Shimei,'' the whole assem- 
 blage of the scribes; or, if Shimei be considered as a 
 man of note among the people, the whole body of the 
 inhabitants. The circumstance so specially mentioned — ■ 
 ''every family apart, and their ivlves apart"' — appears, to 
 have reference to the practice of males and females sitting 
 and worshipping separately. And to this too there may be 
 an allusion in the Avords of Paul — " In Christ Jesus there is 
 neither male nor female^ The general idea then, which 
 seems intended to be conveyed, is that this mourning shall 
 be both national, domestic, and personal. All shall mourn 
 — publicly and privately; unitedly and severally; in their 
 families and in their closets : — rulers, priests, prophets, scribes, 
 and people. 
 
 Let us see now, ere we close, what lessons there are here 
 for us. We may learn 
 
 1. What the Eible invariably teaches us — that all spirit- 
 ual and holy affections, emotions, desires, principles of action, 
 and states of mind, are, in human nature, the product of 
 the Divine Spirit's agency. There is nothing in us by 
 nature truly good. If the Scripture character of our fallen 
 nature be correct — " the carnal mind is enmity against God," 
 no mere amendment, or reformation will suffice. There 
 
ZECHAPvIAH XII. 10—14. 337 
 
 m''Jst be regeneration, conversion, a new creation ; tlie slay- 
 ing of the enmity, and the implantation of love — supreme 
 love to God. 
 
 "WTiat a blessed assurance, then, it is — that God "giveth 
 his Holy Spirit to them that ask him." Let us ask for 
 ourselves ; and ask also for our fellow-christians and our fel- 
 low-men. If we have the assurance that it will not be with- 
 held when sought for ourselves; not less surely ought our 
 confidence to be of obtaining the grant, when, under the im- 
 pulse of piety and benevolence, — a desire for the divine 
 glory and the best interests of men, we seek the Spirit's 
 agency to turn a revolted world to God. let it be the 
 united and fervent intercession of the whole Church, that 
 He would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh ! — that the Jews 
 may be speedily and effectually reclaimed from their long- 
 continued and inveterate apostasy; and that the whole world 
 of idolatrous heathenism may, under the same divine opera- 
 tion, consign their idols to the flames or to the floods, and 
 serve the one tme God, in the name of the one Mediator 
 between God and man. 
 
 2. All without exception may be called to " look to Him 
 idiom they have pierced.'' Unbelieving and disobedient 
 "sinners of the Gentiles" are in the same general posi- 
 tion with unbelieving and disobedient sinners of "the 
 house of Israel." You have not literally " pierced" the d}dng 
 Saviour: you have not driven the nails, nor thrust the 
 spear, nor woven the thorns. No more have they. But 
 you, like them, have pierced him by your sins. These were 
 a part of the deadly poison of his cup. And you, by rejecting 
 Him, whether for a longer or a shorter season of your lives, 
 have, like them, virtually " consented unto his death," and 
 have thus far been " guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." 
 
 Have you ever thus looked on Him, and mourned? — ever 
 thus been "in bitterness" for the share your sins had in 
 nailing Him to the tree, — in mingling for Him his cup of 
 woe? Have you ever, in providence, been called to experi- 
 ence the deep sorrow inflicted by the death of those you have 
 loved, — who have been "bone of your bone, and flesh of 
 
 Y 
 
338 LECTURE XlX. 
 
 your flesh" — a part of your very selves. And have you ever 
 had any sorrow for your sins, and for your ungrateful re- 
 quital of the grace of the sinner's friend, such as at all ap- 
 proaches in intensity and bitterness to that ? Tliink. Ask 
 yourselves the question. Press it home. Surely sorrow for 
 sin ought to be the chief of sorrows ! When you think what 
 sin is ; what sin has done ; how it has dishonoured God, 
 and ruined angels and men; what mischief and misery, if 
 unrepented of, and uncancelled from God's Book, it is work- 
 ing to yourselves, for the coming eternity of your being : — 
 what ought to be your lamentations over it ! — your earnest- 
 ness to be delivered from both its guilt and its power ! And 
 there is no way of such deliverance but coming to the 
 CROSS ; looking there, in faith and penitence, on the dying 
 Saviour; confessing, and mourning, and suing for mercy. 
 God promises — *' Behold I will pour out my Spirit unto 
 you ; I ^^ill make known my words unto you." And when, 
 under divine teaching, you know those "words of eternal 
 life," the darkness will become light; the bitterness be turned 
 to sweetness ; the mourning to joy. For — 
 
 3. There is joy as well as sorrow — gladness as well as 
 mourning. The one leads to the other. We cannot arrive 
 at the joy, but through the grief. Till we have seen and felt 
 our sins to be exceeding sinful, — their wages death: — till 
 we have seen their fearfulness in the expiation made for 
 them, — " looking on Him whom we have pierced," and re- 
 membering ivho He ivas, and icliat He endured: — till we have, 
 with Gethsemane and Calvary before us, bewailed our sins, 
 implored and found their forgiveness, and sought and ob- 
 tained grace to forsake them, — we can have no true peace, 
 — no true happiness. But when we have thus "looked on 
 Him whom we have pierced, and mourned,"' — the night of 
 weeping is succeeded by the morning of joy. God does 
 not mean that all our days should be dark. At the cross, 
 he "takes off our sackcloth, and girds us with gladness." 
 
LECTUKE XX. 
 
 Zech. xiu. 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.'' 
 
 Because of the deep interest we ourselves have in its con- 
 tents, I have taken this verse alone. It is first, however, ^ 
 to be viewed, from the connexion in which it stands, as \ 
 referring to restored and penitent Israel. And, in so ^'^ 
 viewing it, we must begin by adverting again to the 
 circumstances, as before described, in which the people ap- 
 pear here before us. They have, in their various and distant 
 dispersions, been visited by the converting grace of the God 
 of their fathers. By the arrangements of His providence, 
 and the instrumental agency provided by Him, they have 
 been brought back to their own land and their own city; 
 and are designated as " the house of David and the inhabi- 
 tants of Jerusalem." After having, by the immediate aid of 
 God, discomfited and scattered their enemies, and settled 
 there in peace, a fresh effusion of the Spirit of God comes 
 down upon them collectively, as it had previously come down 
 upon them in their scattered state. They reflect anew on 
 their sinfulness and guilt. They mingle together, and com- 
 pare their feelings. The sense of divine justice in their own 
 and their fathers' sufferings for so many ages, unites with a 
 sense of the divine forbearance in still having preserved 
 them from destruction, and having visited them afresh in 
 mercy, and lifted upon them anew the light of His counte- 
 
340 LECTUEE XX. 
 
 nance, and given tliem again a settlement in the land from 
 which they had been so long exiled. They had partaken of 
 the common punishment. They now share together in the 
 common goodness and grace. Convinced of the folly of all 
 their vain imaginings and infatuated anticipations of a 
 Messiah yet to come ; convinced that He whom their fathers 
 crucified was the true Christ and the only Saviour, — their 
 own guilt, and their fathers' guilt appears before them iu 
 more and more aggravated, affecting, humbling, heart-break- 
 ing aspects. They are filled with renewed fears, when they 
 think of it. They sigh and mourn, and mingle their j^eni- 
 tential tears together. "Their souls are cast down witli in 
 them." It seems to them, as if the sin w^re beyond the 
 reach of even divine forgiveness. They feel afresh, as their 
 fathers did, when, having the murder of "the Prince of life " 
 pressed upon their consciences, they cried out, in the agony 
 of an awakened and self-convicted spirit — " Men and bre- 
 thren, what shall we do 1 " Their consciences are awakened 
 anew by their mutual communings one with another. They 
 mourn together; and they mourn apart. They feel that 
 they have all had their share in the common guilt. They 
 confess their sins together. Together they plead for mercy. 
 Instead of each trying to alleviate in his neighbour's bosom 
 and in his own the sense of the evil committed, their 
 separate reflections only serve to thrust the barbed and 
 poisoned darts of an accusing conscience the dee]3er ; so that 
 each imparting this result to others, the aggregate of mourn- 
 ing is augmented, and its intensity heightened. The ques- 
 tion is — What, in those circumstances, is provided for them ? 
 what are they to do? And to such questions our text 
 furnishes the answer: — ''In that day there shall be a foun- 
 tain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." 
 
 The points which, in the words, demand our notice are — 
 "What they needed : and How that need is provided 
 
 FOR. 
 
 1. What they needed. This consists, evidently, in two 
 things, deliverance from guilt and condemnation; and de- 
 
ZECIIARIAH XIIL 1. 341 
 
 liverance from sin's hnjnmty. And these are the very bless- 
 ings for whicli our text represents provision as made. The 
 fountain is opened " for sin, and for uncleanness." The 
 former we here understand as meaning guilt ; the latter as 
 moral pollution. The whole context prohibits our regarding 
 the language as referring to any thing ceremonial. The 
 guilt contracted, and requiring remission, is the guilt of 
 "piercing,''' that is, of putting to death, the true, divinely 
 promised, Messiah; and the '^uncleanness'" points to those 
 nnholy and hellish principles and dispositions in the soul, 
 from wliich the guilt originated; by Avliich the fearful act 
 was prompted. The guilt was deep. The act of "pierc- 
 ing" the divine Messiah is expressly ascribed to them; not 
 merely becanse it was by their fathers that it had literally 
 been done ; but because of their own assent and consent to 
 the commission of it; the assent of their judgments, mis- 
 guided, like those of their fathers, by earthly-minded pre- 
 judice and selfish pride; and the consent of their hearts, 
 uniting with those of their fathers in hatred and hanghty 
 scorn of the crucified iN'azarene. The deed with which, by 
 such assent and consent, they had made themselves, along 
 with their fathers, chargeable, was, of all ever perpetrated 
 on earth, that whicli involved the largest amount and variety 
 of flagrant turpitude. It was the effect and indication of 
 the hatred of God and of all goodness. And thus the depth 
 of moral debasement and vileness was fearful from which 
 they who had been guilty of it required to be purified. 
 
 2. Observe in the next place, how these blessings are 
 PROVIDED FOR THEM. " 111 that day there shall be a fountain 
 opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." 
 
 " In that day." The phrase occurs six times in the 
 preceding chapter. In the text, it has more especial refer- 
 ence to the last of the six — " In that day there shall be a 
 great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrim- 
 mon in the valley of Megiddon:"* and ''in that day'' — the 
 
 * Chap. xii. 11. 
 
342 LECTURE XX. 
 
 day of the mourning, the day when the need is specially 
 felt, — the fountain shall be opened. Let us consider, then, 
 IVJiat is the fountain 1 When was it first opened .? Hoio 
 teas it — or rather how is it to be opened, at the time specified 
 in our text ? For what purposes and for ivhat p)ersons ? 
 
 i. What is the fountain? A¥e cannot be at any loss here. 
 "Were guilt and forgiveness alone in question, we should re- 
 gard the " fountain " as being simply a figure for the blood 
 of the Saviour's atonement. But cleansing from pollution 
 being evidently included, we are constrained to consider the 
 fountain as a twofold figure ; as comprehending the means of 
 the latter, as well as of the former; the grace of Christ's 
 Spirit, as well as the virtue of Christ's blood : whatever is 
 necessary for both ends. 
 
 We the less revolt from this blending in one figure 
 two things in their nature distinct, by the consideration, 
 that the blessings in question are never, in point of fact, 
 separate from each other, but always found in union: and 
 by the further consideration, that the means through which 
 both are secured are, in like manner, always conjoined — the 
 virtue of the blood and the grace of the Spirit. These truths 
 are finely illustrated by a passage in the first Epistle of John ; 
 in which there is an evident allusion to a fact in the narra- 
 tive of our Lord's death : — " Who is he that overcometh the 
 world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 
 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ ; 
 not by water owlj, but by water and blood. And it is the 
 Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth."* 
 The/«c^ here referred to, is that stated in the Gospel by John.f 
 The fact is one which the physiology of anatomy has shown to 
 be a demonstration of the reality of our Lord's death. John 
 converts it into an emblem of the twofold purpose of that death. 
 He died that sinners might be both pardoned and purified ; 
 and the two designs were emblematically indicated by the ming- 
 ling of the blood and the water, that flowed from his pierced 
 heart. If the two were thus blended when they flowed from 
 
 * 1 John V. 5, 6. t J*^hn xix. 34. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIIL 1. 343 
 
 the dying Saviour's side ; and if an inspired writer thus re- 
 gards their union as a significant type of the twofold object 
 and effect of the Saviour's dying ; we seem to be sufficiently 
 warranted in regarding both as included in the figure of the 
 "fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness : " in under- 
 standing the fountain to mean at once the blood of Christ's 
 a,tonement, and the^grace of Christ's S^^ the one required 
 
 for forgiveness, and the other for regeneration and cleans- 
 ing : the two, however, as before hinted, being inseparable ; 
 the faith which interests in the pardoning virtue of the 
 "blood being the product of the grace of the Spirit ; and the 
 grace of the Spirit effecting the renewal and sanctification of 
 the soul by means of the doctrine which makes known the 
 pardoning virtue of the blood : it being the same faith, under 
 the agency of the same Spirit, which at once justifies and 
 sanctifies. And it is thus that the blood is represented as 
 the means of purifying as well as of procuring pardon. 
 " For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an 
 heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the 
 flesh : how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through 
 the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge 
 your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." * 
 And here you will observe, there was, under the law, the 
 same mingling of the blood and the water, the means of 
 pardon and of purification, to which reference lias already 
 been made. The transaction to which the Apostle, in this 
 passage, alludes, he specifies more particularly in the sub- 
 sequent verses: — "For when Moses had spoken every 
 precept to all the people according to the law, he took the 
 blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, 
 and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 
 saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath 
 enjoined unto you.''f And the two things are thus associated 
 as both comprehended in the purpose for which Jesus died : 
 " Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all 
 iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
 
 * Heb. ix. 13. 14. t Verses 19, 20. 
 
344 LECTURE XX. 
 
 good works." * " Wlio his own self bare our sins in his 
 own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should 
 live unto righteousness : by whose stripes ye were healed." t 
 " This then is the message which we have heard of liim, 
 and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no 
 darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with 
 him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 
 Eut if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have 
 fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 
 his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have 
 no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If 
 we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our 
 sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ;}: 
 
 ii. We ask, again, Whe7i was this fountain opened? You 
 will all, at once, mentally answer — ' When Christ died; when 
 liis blood, was shed on the cross, for the remission of sins; 
 when the blood and the water flowed in union from his 
 pierced side.' Then truly the fountain was "opened." 
 Then it was filled, and proclaimed accessible. It was then 
 opened, for the remission of the very same guilt for which 
 it is represented as opened in our text. Our Lord said to 
 his Apostles ere he left the world — " Thus it is written, and 
 thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the 
 dead the third day : and that repentance and remission of 
 sins should be preached in his name among all nations, 
 beginning at Jerusalem." § And accordingly, the proclama- 
 tion did *' begin at Jerusalem." It was made, in the very 
 first instance, to the murderers of "the Lord of glory." 
 Through the atoning virtue of the blood shed, the guilt of 
 shedding it was forgiven; yes, even that guilt! — and the 
 stony hearts of those whose "mcked hands" had shed it 
 were '* turned to flesh," and filled with love to that Saviour 
 whose blood they had, with frantic ^vildness, joined in im- 
 precating on themselves and on their children ! 
 
 Eut, while strictly and properly, the fountain was opened theUj 
 
 * Titus ii. U. t 1 Pet. ii. 24. | 1 John i. 5—9. 
 
 g Luke xxiv. 46, 47, 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 1. 345 
 
 — it might be said to have been opened from the time when j 
 it came first to be needed, — from the time when man sinned, j 
 It was then opened by anticipation. The first promise open- ^ 
 ed it. The moment man became a sinner, he needed the 
 two blessings of pardon and sanctitication. And on the 
 ground of what was to be done in " the fuhiess of the time," 
 all the believers of ancient days had their sins forgiven and 
 their hearts cliaiiged. All guilt and all pollution have from 
 the beginning been, and to the end shall be, washed away 
 in the same fountain. Our next enquiry, then, naturally is — 
 iii. If it was duly and properly opened at the time of 
 Jesus's death ; and if it has virtually been opened from the 
 time of the first promise, how is it here said to he opened 
 " in that day ? " The answer is — that, although there have, 
 now and then, since the judgments of God overtook the 
 Jewish people for their unbelief, been instances of Jews 
 brought to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour, 
 and to obtain salvation by faith in him ; yet to the large ] 
 mass of that dispersed, and for the time divinely aban- / 
 doned people, the fountain has not been open. It has been \ 
 sealed ; sealed by themselves ; and for their unbelief, judi- 
 cially sealed by God. And just as, when the time of mercy 
 arrives, " the vail which has been upon their hearts shall be 
 taken away," so that they shall see clearly the claims of Je- 
 sus, and say, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of 
 the Lord !" — so the fountain shall, in God's providence, and 
 by God's grace, be opened for their cleansing from their guilt 
 and their pollution. It is said of them, " They shall look on 
 me whom they have pierced, and shnll 7nournJ'^ They 
 shall mourn over all the sins that " pierced and nailed him 
 to the tree;" and especially for their " blood-guiltiness "' in 
 shedding it. But the same look — the look of ftiith to that 
 dying Saviour — will impart to them a sense of God's par- 
 doning mercy ; will thus be the means of healing the very 
 wounds it has inflicted; will give them *' peace with God;" 
 will change their mourning into joy. Thus it was with 
 
 * Chap. xii. 10. 
 
346 LECTURE XX. 
 
 the first Jewish believers. When their views of Him 
 whom they had crucified were savingly changed^ when, from 
 regarding him as a hateful blasphemer, they came to re- 
 gard him as a divine and divinely commissioned atoning 
 Saviour, — what a sudden, and what an entire transition in 
 the state of their minds! Those who were "pricked in 
 their hearts," and, in helpless desperation, cried out " Men 
 and brethren, what shall we doT' came at once, through 
 divine illumination, to throw themselves on divine mercy, 
 through the atoning virtue of the blood shed on Cal- 
 var}^, and thus to a "joy unspeakable, and full of glory." 
 Thus too shall it be with the restored Israelites. Indivi- 
 dually, in their several dispersions, they will find "joy and 
 peace in believing:" — and when, looking together on the 
 crucified One, their consciences are again awakened; their 
 joint iniquities rise up before them, and fill them afresh with 
 "lamentation and mourning, and woe," as well as with 
 doubts and fears ; so that they gaze wistfully one on another, 
 and say, "Is there hope for us?" — some one or more 
 amongst them, clearer in spiritual discernment, and stronger 
 in faith, may point them to the Cross, not only as the con- 
 summation of man's guilt, but as also the consummation of 
 God's mercy; remind them of the pentecostal converts; 
 exhort them to a like faith and a like joy ; and thus, by the 
 divine blessing, render the Cross, the thought of which had 
 broken their hearts, the instrument of their effectual heahng. 
 A sense of divine love through the great propitiation will 
 thus take a firmer and fuller occupancy of their souls. They 
 will be filled with " the joy of God's salvation." " The joy 
 of the Lord will be their strength." 
 
 iv. The next question — " For u'hat purposes ? " we 
 have already, from necessity, to a great extent, answered. 
 The purposes, we have seen, are hvo — the washing away of 
 guilt, and the washing away of moral defilement. Both 
 these purposes were in the mind of God, as to be alike 
 effected by the mediation of his Son. That the guilt of 
 sin might be fully taken away, and thus the sinner escape 
 its punishment, atonement was necessary. We learn this, 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 1. 347 
 
 not from any a priori reasonings of our own with regard 
 to the divine character, and the divine law, and the claims 
 of the divine government, and the security of the honour of 
 the divine throne : for such matters are " too high for us," — 
 too high for any created minds. We learn it from what 
 God has himself actually done. He can do nothing hut 
 wliat is best. Best and only are, in His administration, 
 words of equivalent meaning. He has chosen to pardon sin 
 on the ground of an atonement : and we are therefore cjuite 
 sure, that such atonement was essential. The blood of 
 Immanuel — the blood from which the fountain in our text 
 was suppUed — never would have been shed; the hands, 
 and feet, and temples, and side, whence it flowed, 
 had never been " pierced," had it been " possible " — pos- 
 sible in consistency with the glory of God and the good of 
 the universe, — that it should be forgiven, and its penalty 
 remitted, without the shedding of it. The infatuated and 
 high-minded Jews, — though the doctrine of atonement by 
 blood had been all along taught by the ceremonial of their 
 law, — taught every time a victim had been slain at the altar, 
 — every time the blood of such victim had been sprinkled 
 before the mercy-seat — (the grand lesson of the entire sacri- 
 ficial system having been, that " without shedding of blood 
 tliere was no remission;") these infatuated and high-minded 
 Jews had no conception of this l)eing one of the chief ends, 
 — nay the very chief end — of the mission of their Messiah. 
 They did not feel their need of it. They were Abraham's 
 seed. They were the Lord's people. His sanctuary was 
 amongst them. He was "their king, their lawgiver, their 
 judge." They "rested on the law, and made their boast of 
 God." They pronounced sentence, with haughty severity, 
 against the Gentiles, while they were quite unconscious that 
 the sentence was, in a more deeply aggravated form, their 
 own. They needed no such blood as that shed on Calvary 
 to take away their guilt. They themselves shed the blood ; 
 little dreaming that in doing so they were providing the 
 only fountain in which the guiltiness of the deed could be 
 washed away, — or indeed the guilt of any sin whatever. 
 
348 LECTURE XX. 
 
 There were thousands among them who, on Pentecost and 
 afterwards, were brought to a better mind; were convicted 
 of sin, and led to the " fountain " to have it washed away. 
 And thus shall it be with those who — two thousand years, 
 it may be, later in the world's history — shall come to see 
 and to feel their need of a Saviour; to "look on him whom 
 they have pierced, and to mourn and be in bitterness." 
 They will see, in the blood of Him whom they have thus 
 pierced, the divinely opened fountain, in which alone they 
 can "wash and be clean." And they will find, in their 
 blessed experience, that that blood has not lost its virtue ; 
 that it still avails for them, as it did for those of their fathers 
 who, at the very first, had recourse to it. Jesus, in promis- 
 ing his Spirit to accompany the ministry of his Apostles, 
 assured them — " When he is come, he will convince the 
 world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, 
 because they believe not on me ; of righteousness, because I 
 go to my Father, and ye see me no more ; of judgment, be- 
 cause the prince of this world is judged."* Thus these 
 Jews, when the 23romise is fulfilled of the out-pouring of the 
 Holy Spirit upon them, as " the Spirit of grace and of sup- 
 plications," shall be convinced of sin, because they believed 
 not on Him;" "Convinced of his rigliteousness^' as the only 
 ground of acceptance with God, and certified as a divinely 
 sufficient one by his having "gone to the Father;" and 
 " convinced oi judgment,'' because " the prince of this world " 
 — the original tempter, the old serpent, by whose artful de- 
 vices sin was brought to enter into our world and bhght it, 
 "is judged;" his sentence being, by the death of Jesus on 
 the cross, on which he " spoiled principalities and powers, 
 and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in 
 it," — virtually passed and pronounced. 
 
 And, as we have said, there is icater as well as blood: 
 there is provision in the fountain for purity as well as for 
 pardon, — iov the washing away of pollution, as well as of 
 guilt. Coming to this fountain, they shall be douUy loashed; 
 
 * John xvi. 8—11. 
 
ZECHARIAH XTIL I. 349 
 
 for such appears to be the intended meaning of the Apostle, 
 when to the Corinthians, after enumerating a variety of the 
 vilest of characters, he says — " And such were some of you ; 
 but ye are ivaslied,'' — (this is the one comprehensive term, 
 inclusive of both the two which follow) — " but ye are sancti- 
 fied, but ye are justified '' — (the two essential descriptions of 
 '^washing'''') — "in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the 
 Spirit of our God." Washed in this laver, they shall be " a 
 holy nation" in a higher sense than even their fathers of old ; 
 — really sanctified; set apart to the service of Jehovah, and 
 divinely fitted for it : made holy, for the holy worship and 
 service of the holy God. They will then "worship Him" 
 in " the beauty of holiness." With hearts renewed, they will 
 "walk in newness of life." They will be brought, by the 
 cleansing efficacy of this fountain, into harmony with the 
 purity and consecration to God of the millennial world. 
 While the one promise of the covenant shall be verified in 
 their blessed experience — " their sins and their iniquities 
 will I remember no more," — so will also the others — no less 
 " exceeding great and precious," — " I will put my laws into 
 their minds, and write them in their hearts; and I will be 
 to them a God, and they shall be to me a people : and they 
 shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his 
 brother, saying, KnoAv the Lord; for they shall all know me 
 from the least to the greatest :" — " Then will I sprinkle clean', 
 water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your fdthi- | 
 ness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new \ 
 heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within 
 you ; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, 
 and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my 
 Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and 
 ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall 
 dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers ; and ye shall 
 be my people, and I will be your God. Then shall ye re- 
 member your own evil ways, and your doings that were not 
 good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your 
 iniquities and for your abominations." * Such, to them, as 
 * Ezck. xxxvi. 25—28, 31. 
 
350 LECTURE XX. 
 
 to all believers, shall be tlie blessed effects of tlieir washing 
 b}'- faith, ill this " fountain " divinely " opened " " for sin and 
 for unci eanness." Then — when "the Deliverer shall come 
 out of Zion," and shall " turn away ungodhness from Jacob," 
 — the terms of the Psalmist Avill become applicable to thera 
 again, and more emphatically than ever, — "Blessed is the 
 people that is in such a case : yea, blessed is that people 
 whose God is the Lord!" 
 
 V. Our last question was — "For icliat persons ? " In making 
 this a distinct question, I had in my eye the peculiar terms 
 here used. It is not simply said for the restored of Israel, 
 — ^but " for the house of David and for the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem^ The idea thus conveyed is that of all ranks, — 
 '* high and low, rich and poor together," from the royal occu- 
 pants of the palace to the tenants of the meanest dwelling 
 in Jerusalem. The terms correspond to those used respect- 
 ing the previous "mourning : " " The land shall mourn, every 
 family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and 
 their wives apart; the family of the house of ITathan apart, 
 and their wives apart." All shall be stricken through with 
 the conviction and alarm : all shall feel the bitterness of 
 contrition : all shall mourn. And fur all, in like manner, 
 the fountain shall be opened. All shall need it. All shall 
 have access to it. All shall avail themselves of it. The 
 pardon and the sanctity will be common blessings ; bestowed 
 alike on king and people. And the hearts of all shall be 
 united in gratitude for the blessings, " as the heart of one 
 man." 
 
 But we must not confine our observations to others; as if 
 we had no interest in the opening of this fountain ourselves. 
 It is not a fountain opened for Jews alone, whether in past 
 time or in time to come. It is a fountain for Gentile as well 
 as for Jew; a fountain for all; a fountain for us. In both 
 views of its nature and design, all stand in need of it. JN'o 
 sinner on earth can be accepted in the sight of God, with- 
 out having been washed in it. In terms corresponding to 
 the figure here used, the " multitude which no man can num- 
 ber " are, in tlie Book of Revelation, described as " standing 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 1. 351 
 
 before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white 
 robes, and palms in their hands," " crying with a loud voice — 
 Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to 
 the Lamb : " and the reason of their having their place there 
 is thus given: — "They have washed their robes, and made 
 them wdiite in the blood of the Lamb ; therefore are they 5 
 before the throne of God, and serve him day and night iu / 
 his temple:" a figure which abundantly bears us out in\ 
 speaking of the fountain being one of blood. The blood ' 
 here washes to pure whiteness the robes of the vilest. 
 They are the robes of justifying righteousness, and of per- 
 sonal holiness: and both are obtained, as the costume of 
 heaven, by faith in atoning blood. All liave sinned; and 
 all are sinful. All need forgiveness; all need cleansing. 
 And let them try what other fountains they please, their 
 raiment will still retain its stains of pollution. In none can 
 it be washed clean save in this. All must come to it, if 
 they would find a place in heaven, ^one can find admis- 
 sion into the temple above, but as having Avashed in this 
 laver. It stands at the threshold, provided for all who de- 
 sire to enter there. And no one — not the monarch any 
 more than the beggar; not the most virtuous in the worlds 
 estimate, any more than the most vile ; can enter othermse. 
 There is no exception ; no special favour ; all are alike. He 
 who will not w^asli cannot set foot within the threshold. 
 And remember, — it is no mere ceremonial cleansing. While 
 we use figures taken from such, cleansing, it is something 
 more real and spiritual that is meant by them. We have 
 heard much of late about sacramental efficacy in imparting 
 fitness for the kingdom of heaven. And an amount of 
 silly and self-contradictory absurdity has been . spoken and 
 written on the subject, such as almost betrays one at times 
 into the imagination, that instead of living in the middle of 
 the nineteenth century, our time is the middle of the dark 
 ages. Away with the pitiful delusion! Il^either to man, 
 woman, or child can the water of baptism impart regen- 
 erating or purifying virtue: nor can the bread and Avine 
 of the supper of the Lord impart justifying grace: any 
 
352 LECTURE XX. 
 
 more than the lioly Avater or the bloodless sacrifice of 
 popish superstition. ISTothing but a simple faith in the 
 true atoning blood of the Cross can justify: and nothing 
 but the same faith, — or the blood of sprinkling, reaching 
 the heart and conscience by that faith, under the influ- 
 ence of the divine Spirit, can renew and sanctify. You 
 may just as well trust in penances, in counting beads, in re- 
 peating Aves and Pater-nosters, and in extreme unction, for 
 ensuring heaven, as trust in any virtue possessed by either 
 of the two protestant sacraments. It is not the signs, but 
 the things signified by them, that are of any real service to 
 sinners. Beware of the strong propensity to externalize 
 reUgion. All that is merely outward in its observances, 
 comes under the designation of "weak and beggarly ele- 
 ments," altogether inefficacious and fruitless of good, — just 
 as much as any of the external ritual of the ancient 
 economy. 
 
 Eemember, then — for the lesson is all-im^Dortant, — that 
 there is but one fountain that has any virtue to wash away 
 sin, — the fountain of the Redeemer's blood and of the Spirit's 
 grace. All attempts to rid yourselves of either your guilt or 
 your sinfulness will be vain, if you refuse the "fountain 
 opened for sin, and for uncleanness." Just as when Xaaman 
 said — "Are not Abana and Pharpar, waters of Damascus, 
 better than all the waters of Israel?"' No. The rivers 
 of Damascus might be better than all the waters of Israel : 
 but the Jordan was the appointed cure ; and no water but that 
 of the Jordan could touch his leprosy. Had he persisted in 
 refusing to use it, he must have continued " a leper till the 
 day of his death." In like manner, sinners may fancy to them- 
 selves various ways in Avhich their cleansing from sin may be 
 effected — especially in its guilt, about which they are ever 
 most solicitous, caring little about being washed from its de- 
 filement, if they are but saved from its condemnation and 
 punishment : but in no way can they ever succeed, but by 
 coming to this fountain. The peremptory and oft-repeated 
 assurance of God's word is, that there is no salvation other- 
 wise ; that nothing can avail for remission of guilt but the 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII.2-6. 353 
 
 blood of " the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of 
 the world." And by none let it be forgotten, that there is 
 no^gossibility of being washed from sin's guilt without being 
 at the^same timg^jyashed from its uncleanness. All preten- 
 sions to the one without the other, are a vain delusion. 
 And were our views of sin, and our feelings in regard to it, 
 more what they ought to be, we should be sensible, that to 
 be washed from sin's pollution is quite as essential to our 
 happiness as being washed from its guilt. Without the 
 former, heaven would to us be a mere name. The place and 
 the inhabitant would be out of all congruity. To an un- 
 renewed and unsanctified soul, indeed, — a soul remaining in 
 its native pollution, and under the power of "enmity against 
 God," heaven would be hell. If we are ever to reach 
 heaven, we must first be fitted for it; "washed — sanctified 
 as well as justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by 
 the Spirit of our God." 
 
LECTURE XXI, 
 
 Zech. XIII. 2 — 6. 
 
 " And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will 
 cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remem- 
 bered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of 
 the land. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, tlien 
 his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not 
 live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his 
 mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he propheaieth. And it 
 shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of 
 his vision, wlieu he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment 
 to deceive: but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man 
 taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto him, What 
 are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I 
 was wounded in the house of my friends." 
 
 We have to remark again, as we have remarked before, that 
 in this passage the time is future, — future from the days of 
 the Prophet; and that the reference, therefore, cannot be to 
 the period of the return from Babylon. We have endea- 
 voured at some length to show that the period referred to is 
 that of the final restoration of the Jewish people in their per- 
 sonal conversion, and their national re-settlement in the land 
 of their fathers. 
 
 In the first of these verses Jehovah gives assurance of the 
 purity of his own worship in contradistinction to all idolatry 
 and superstition. It has been thought by some, that the 
 language must refer to the return from Babylon; because it 
 is a known fact, that from that time idol- worship actually 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 2—6. 355 
 
 ceased among the Jews. Nothing is to be found, in their 
 subsequent history, of the idolatries of their fathers, or of an}' 
 other forms of " that abominable thing which God hates. " 
 Bishop Horsley, indeed, questions this ; alleging, that, al- 
 though national or public idolatry ceased, there was still to 
 be found amongst them the more private practice of the sin, 
 — personal and domestic idolatry. Even this allegation, 
 however, would require stronger evidence. And the uni- 
 versal belief, that idol-worship ceased at the return from 
 Babylon, is probably the true one. How, then, it has been 
 asked, (and the question is a natural and fair one) comes the 
 abolition of idolatry to be here predicted as a future thing] 
 how could that be abolished which had not for thousands of 
 years existed? To this question various answers have been 
 offered. 
 
 1. Dr. Henderson substitutes for ^^ the land'' " the earth;'' 
 and considers the prediction as one, not of the doing away 
 of idolatry among the Jews, but throughout the Avorld at 
 large. But though the same word means the earth as well 
 as the land, and is many a time so rendered, the connexion 
 alone determining the sense, the explanation seems hardly 
 admissible here. The prophecy in the passage has immediate 
 relation to tlie land of Israel : '* and to change the import of 
 the term so suddenly from the particular to the general — 
 from the land to the eartli, — appears too great a liberty to 
 be tolerated, unless in a case of absolute necessity. Is this 
 such a case? We cannot think so. 
 
 2. It has been supposed, again, to signify the putting 
 away of the idolatries with which the land had been 
 polluted, during the period of the long dispersions of the 
 original and rightfid occupants of it, — by its interim pos- 
 sessors. There is room, however, to question, whether those 
 possessors, though '' enemies of the Cross of Christ," have 
 been, in the strict sense of the designation, idolaters. By 
 others, therefore, it has been alleged, '^ 
 
 3. That the Jews, in their dispersions, have, through fear 
 
 * Compare chap. xi. 6; and chap. xii. 12. 
 
356 LECTURE XXI. 
 
 of persecution and suffering, been tempted to conform to 
 what may be termed, although the phraseology is self-contra- 
 dictory, — Christian idolatries; meaning, of course, Christian 
 in opposition to Heathen; Anti-christian being their proper 
 designation. Thus Scott — " Idolatry and superstition have 
 been, and are, very prevalent in many parts of the Christian 
 Church : and, whilst this has formed one grand hindrance to 
 the conversion of the Jews, it has also ensnared many of 
 them, by inducing them to idolatrous practices, to avoid per- 
 secution. But about the time here predicted, all these 
 Anti-christian abominations will be terminated; and the 
 converted Jews will watch very carefully against every ap- 
 pearance of such abuses." I should conceive, however, that 
 such conformity amongst the dispersed Jews to the idola- 
 tries of popery have been very limited, partial, and tempor- 
 ary; the product of fear, not an adoption of the system 
 with which they have been connected. It could not 
 be said, moreover, that such idolatries ever were in the 
 land, and could hardly, therefore, in strict propriety, be 
 spoken of as " cut off out of it.'* 1 would observe, there- 
 fore, 
 
 4. That the terms may fairly be interpreted as expressing 
 the completeness of the purification of God's worshijD; its 
 being more perfect than ever before. It is not merely said, 
 " I will cut off the idols " — but " I will cut off the names of 
 the idolSy out of the land." The terms are strong. ' They are 
 the same as those used of old by Jehovah, when expressing 
 His abhorrence of all such practices, and warning His people 
 against every approach to them, as peculiarly odious in His eyes.* 
 The meaning, then, may simply be, that the cessation of all 
 false worship would be thorough ; there being no lingering or 
 hankering after any form of such worship ; the very " names 
 of the idols" being — not only not mentioned, but not so much 
 as remembered; their names and their memory perishing, — 
 and Jehovak alone being served, and his name alone adored, 
 
 * Exod. xxiii. 13; Dent. xii. 3, &c., &c, 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 2-6. 357 
 
 — tlirougli tlie one Mediator, and under the inlluence of the 
 One Spirit.* 
 
 The next thing of which we have assurance, in the close 
 of the second and subsequent verses, may be stated generally 
 as the admitted comj^letejiess of divine revelation. 
 
 The Jewish people were taught by their own lawgiver 
 the crime and the peril of adding to, or taking from, God's 
 words, t And so are we warned in the very closing decla- 
 ration of the inspired Volume. :{: 
 
 The following particulars may here be noticed: — 1. It is 
 assumed, that there should still arise pretenders to divine 
 communications — to prophetic inspirations. It is not a 
 mere if — a mere supposition of what might be; it is 
 evidently a statement of what was to be. It is not 
 hypothesis, but reality. If this is not clear from the 
 first of the verses, it is from those which follow. In 
 this, therefore, it is implied, that the spiritual restoration, 
 though general, will not be universal. Among those who 
 return there will be found counterfeits, — individuals who 
 are not fully reclaimed from their unbelief and worldliness. 
 And, by the way, is not this an additional proof that the 
 restoration does not mean, simply their conversion 1 For in 
 that case, such scenes as are here described could not well be 
 imagined as taking place. 
 
 2. It is implied, that then there can be no true propliets, 
 — no really inspired and divinely commissioned men. Do 
 
 * "In order," says Hengstenberg, in commenting on the verse, — 
 " in order to express the idea of the removal of every form of ungodli 
 ness from the forgiven people, the Prophet selects two specific ex- 
 amples, idolatry and false prophecy, which had been most rife in the 
 earlier times, particularly in the days of Jeremiah, in whose prophecies 
 Zechariah ' lived and moved.' We can draw no conclusion from this 
 as to its prevalence in the Prophet's own times, or in the future which 
 he describes. The peculiar manifestation is simply an accident ; the 
 essence is ungodliness, which is always the same. . . . The ex- 
 pressions ' to cut off the names,'' and ' that they he no more remembered,'' 
 denote the most complete extermination. Compare Hosea ii. 17. 
 With regard to the latter, Calvin has well obsei-ved, 'His meaning 
 is that the hatred of superstition will be so great, that the people 
 will shudder even at the very name.' " — Ed. 
 
 t Deut. iv. 2 ; xiii. 32. % Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 
 
358 LECTURE XXI, 
 
 you ask me zvliy 1 My answer is — because divine revelation 
 having been perfected, there can remain nothing to be added 
 to it, no new communications ; nothing, therefore, for which 
 inspiration can require to be given ; nothing which any man 
 can be commissioned, with suitable credentials, to teach in 
 God's name, Malachi completed the old revelation : John 
 in Patmos completed the new. We have no reason to think 
 there will ever be a third. The prophets here spoken of, 
 accordingly, are all false jproiiheis. They are coupled with 
 " the unclean spirit" under whose influence they are mani- 
 festly understood to be. " The prophets and the unclean 
 spirit" are made to "pass out of the land" together: and the 
 case subsequently supposed is that of one " speaking lies in 
 the name of the Lord." That by " the unclean spirit" — so 
 called by way of eminence, — is meant Satan, the father of 
 lies and of all impurity and vileness, I need not take time 
 to prove. Under his perverting influence were all the false 
 prophets in former days : and under the same influence have 
 been, and will be, all false teachers in Christian times. He 
 passes himself for even more than " an angel of light ; " and 
 makes men believe they are speaking from God, when they are 
 only announcing his delusions. I mean not to say that this 
 was always the case. The false prophets, in most instances, 
 knew themselves to be impostors. They were rather in league 
 with Satan than deluded by him to fancy their oracles divine. 
 And so it has been with the large proportion of false teachers 
 and miracle-workers under the Christian Economy. Thus 
 testifies Paul respecting all the pretensions of " the man of 
 sin" — "Even him, whose coming is after the working of 
 Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders :" * — 
 " lying wonders " signifying — not real miracles attesting lies 
 — for such, we believe, there never were, under the divine 
 administration, from the beginning, but mii-acles which both 
 attested lies and loere themselves lies, — deceptions of Satan, 
 practised by men under his seductive power. All pretended 
 additions to divine revelation must now be lies ; even re- 
 
 * 2 Thess. ii. 9. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 2—6. 359 
 
 garded simply as additions, although they should not be out 
 of harmony with the divine communications we already have : 
 and much more so, if they venture aught in opjDosition to 
 these. This " unclean spirit" — this spirit of moral impurity 
 — is what John distiuguishes from "the Spirit of truth" 
 as " the spirit of error.'' It was this impure and lying 
 spirit that possessed and actuated the diviners and sooth- 
 sayers of heathen superstition. And it is the same spirit 
 that possesses and actuates all the A nti- christian deceivers 
 of our own times. This is one of the worst of Satanic 
 devices, — palming lies — and that too for purposes of pollu- 
 tion, on the God of truth and purity. 
 
 3. The attempts of these deceivers fail. They are the 
 exceptions. The general mind is against them. Before the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, our Lord forewarned his disciples 
 that " many false prophets should arise, and should deceive 
 wany." And so it came to pass. But such is not to be the 
 case in the time here predicted. These "false prophets" are 
 neither to be "7)umy,'' nor are they to "deceive manyy They 
 are to meet with no encouragement ; or, if any, but partial and 
 temporary. The entire style of exjpression : — " I will cause 
 the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land," 
 distinctly intimates that no extensive or enduring success 
 shall then attend Satan and his emissaries. They are to dis- 
 appear, quickly, and for ever. 
 
 Still more strongly is the determined opposition to them 
 set forth in verse third: — "And it shall come to pass, that 
 when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother 
 that begat him shall say unto him. Thou shalt not live ; for 
 thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord : and his father 
 and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when 
 he prophesieth." The words carry us back to the Mosaic 
 law : — " If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, 
 or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, 
 which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let 
 us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, 
 thou, nor thy fathers; namely, of the gods of the people 
 which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from 
 
360 LECTURE XXI. 
 
 thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end 
 of the earth ; thoii shalt not consent nnto him, nor hearken 
 nnto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt 
 thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou shalt 
 surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put 
 him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the peoi)le. 
 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because 
 he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, 
 which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house 
 of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall 
 do no more any such wickedness as this is among you." * In 
 this fearful and peremptory injunction there was involved the 
 grand and all-important principle, that the authority and the 
 glory of Jehovah must stand the first of all considerations in 
 the estimation of His subjects ; must be first in their desires, 
 first in their aims, first in the determination of their pur- 
 poses and the guidance of their conduct. A regard to these 
 must take precedence of all eartlily aff'ections and obligations. 
 The tenderest and most powerful of the heart's native im- 
 pulses must yield to it — the strongest claims of the closest 
 kindred. And this is the same principle, the operation of 
 which the divine Saviour claims for himself — " He that 
 loveth father or mother — son or daughter — more than me, 
 is not worthy of me." It was acting in conformity to this 
 principle that drew upon the tribe of Levi Jehovah's ap- 
 probation and blessing. At the time of the defection of 
 Israel in the worship of the golden calf, they executed 
 faithfully and impartially the divine commission, — laying 
 the feelings of nature under a determined interdict: — 
 "When Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron 
 had made them naked unto their shame among their ene- 
 mies :) then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, 
 Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all 
 the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And 
 he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put 
 every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from 
 
 * Deut. xiii. 6—11. 
 
ZECIIAKIAH XIII. 2—6. 361 
 
 gate to gate throughout the caniiD, and slay every man his 
 brother, and every man his companion, and every man his 
 neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the 
 word of Moses : and there fell of the people that day about 
 three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate your- 
 selves to-day to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and 
 upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing 
 this day."* "And of Levi he said. Let thy Thummim and 
 thy Urim be with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at 
 Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of 
 Meribah; who said unto his father and to his mother, I 
 have not seen him ; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, 
 nor knew his own children : for they have observed thy word, 
 and kept thy covenant." t It is probable, at least, that these 
 words of the dying lawgiver had reference to the conduct 
 described in the previously cited passage ; — it was an act of 
 judicial infliction, avenging the fearful dishonour put u^Don 
 Jehovah. 
 
 " Prophesying lies" may possibly refer to such persons as 
 should be found still maintaining that the Messiah was yet 
 to come ; and thus persisting in setting aside the claims of 
 that very Jesus of Nazareth on whom the whole house of Israel 
 had just been represented as "looking" and "mourning." 
 
 Was the punishment here mentioned to be literally in- 
 flicted'? Or do the words only mean, that, should any one 
 attempt such imposture, — be guilty of such profane presump- 
 tion, — utter such blasphemy, — so deep would be the general 
 abhorrence, that he should not be screened or spared by even 
 his nearest relations ? that the impiety would be instantly put 
 down — even the tenderness of the parental instincts giving 
 way before the constraining force of the religious principle'? 
 It is deserving of notice, that what is here predicted is not 
 in conformity to the law of Moses. The law of Moses, as 
 just read, required that the offender should be stoned; 
 and, from the expression, " Thy hand shall be first upon 
 him, and aftericard the hand of all the i^cople " — it seems to 
 
 * Exod. xxxii. 25—29. f Deut. xxxiii. 8, 9. 
 
362 LECTURE XXI. 
 
 require the. death as the result of information and judicial 
 sentence. Here, the culprit is "thrust tlirough" — not 
 stoned ; and as an act of indignant and summary vengeance. 
 It does not, moreover, appear that they are here laid 
 under comr)iand so to do at all. It is simply stated as a 
 matter of fact^ that such shall he the strength of the prin- 
 ciples of faith and piety, that the life of a son, around whom 
 all the affections of nature cling, shall be held as nothing, 
 when compared with the glory of God, and the interests of 
 His cause.* There does not seem, then, any ground here for 
 the conjectural inquiry, how far the Jews, on their being 
 restored, are to be under subjection to their former judicial 
 laiv — the judicial, not the typical and ceremonicd. We must 
 leave that for the time to reveal. AYe only observe, that the 
 judicial and the ceremonial are, in some departments of them, 
 so blended and interwoven with each other, that it is difficult 
 for us to separate them, or to imagine the one obligatory with- 
 out the other. Nor does it appear at all reasonable to con- 
 ceive that the same amount of capital punishments which, 
 for special reasons, existed among the Jews under the Mosaic 
 economy, is to be continued when they come under the dis- 
 pensation of the Gospel. The permanence of the morcd law 
 does not necessarily infer the permanence of either the cere- 
 monicd or the judicicd. And we have already seen that what 
 is here predicted is not necessarily an injunction; and that, 
 if it were, it is not a part of the law of Moses. 
 
 The ascertained and acknowledged completeness of the 
 canon of divine inspiration is still further manifest from the 
 language of the fourth verse : — " And it shall come to pass 
 in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of 
 his vision, when he hath prophesied." In wind icay the 
 prophets were to become " ashamed " of their prophesyings 
 
 * " The prophet has expressed in his own pictorial style, the thought, 
 that in tliat day love to God will be manifested with unbounded energy. 
 If the pictorial character of the verse be overlooked, difficulties of 
 various kinds immediately arise. . . . The severest punishment is 
 best suited to express the thought intended by the prophet." — Heng- 
 itenherg in loc. — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 2-6. 363 
 
 is not said. It may he from their failure of fulfilment. And 
 yet, unless they related to very near events, this seems rather 
 too dilatory a process. PerhajDS it may rather be considered 
 as arising from their finding themselves discountenanced, 
 shunned, condemned, loathed, by their friends and by the com- 
 munity generally. They shall thus be compelled by shame 
 to relinquish their pretensions, as is intimated in what fol- 
 lows : — " neither shall they ivear a rough garment to deceive:'^ 
 on the margin, " a garment of hairT The deception arose 
 from this being the description of garment usually worn by 
 tlie true projDhets of Jehovah,* as we learn from the answer 
 to the question of Ahab respecting the prophet who had met 
 the messengers whom he had sent to consult the god of 
 Ekron whether he should recover of his disease — " He was 
 an hairy man, and girt with a girdte of leather about his loins. 
 And he said. It is Elijah the Tishbite."t The meaning, then, 
 is, that they shall not attempt, or persist in attempting, to pass 
 themselves off as genuine prophets of the Lord, by assuming 
 their garb, and otherwise personating them. They shall either 
 themselves embrace the common faith, or, at any rate, aban- 
 don the attempt at imposture as hopeless, and as bringing 
 upon themselves discredit and danger, instead of favour, and 
 honour, and earthly good. 
 
 Instead of thus imposing, it is intimated, that they will 
 be put to their wits to devise pretexts for concealing their 
 real character and escaping impending vengeance. This 
 appears to be the general import of the next verses : " But he 
 shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man 
 taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall 
 shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? 
 Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in 
 the house of my friends." Here we have, first, the direct 
 disoimiing of the professional character — " I am no propliet ; 
 I am a husbandman," or "a tiller of the ground:" and, 
 along with this, a deposition of his having been, from his 
 youth up, in a condition of society from which no prophet 
 
 * See. 2 Kings i. 8. 
 f Compare it with the account of John the Baptist, Matt. iii. 4. 
 
364 LECTURE XXT. 
 
 of God ever was taken. You may be surprised at my saying 
 so, when you look at our English translation — "for men 
 taught me to keep cattle from my youth." Scott has it, 
 "for man possessed me," that is, as his servant, "from 
 my youth:" and Dr. Henderson translates the words 
 — *' for I have been in a state of slavery from my youth."* 
 Then, secondly, not only will each of them thus disown 
 the character and profession of a prophet, but when pressed 
 with questions such as put them to their shifts, they 
 will have recourse to evasions, to ensure their safety; — 
 " They shall say unto him," — or, " And it shall he said unto 
 him, Wliat are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall 
 answer. Those with which I was wounded in the house of 
 my friends." The question is conceived to have reference 
 to the practice of having marks made in the hands or on 
 other parts of the body, in honour of different idols, and as 
 indicative of the devotedness of their worshippers. These 
 are pointed to as awakening suspicion — If you really belong 
 to Jehovah, lohence those marks ? Are not these the scars of 
 your idol? The answer is obviously meant to be understood 
 as an evasive one ; the best that occurred to lay the suspicion : 
 " Those with which I was wounded in the house of my 
 friends." The answer being designed as evasive, it might 
 not be necessary for us to find an explanation. The 
 scars might have been got accidentally ; or they might be 
 inflicted in the way of correction; or they might be those 
 of an attached master, fixing him as his servant for ever, 
 — like the Hebrew practice of boring the ear with an awl to 
 the door-post. But by much the most natural interpretation 
 is, that the words refer to the infliction of scars upon the 
 body for the dead as expressions and badges of grief: a 
 practice to which there are frequent allusions in Scripture; 
 and which was forbidden to the Israelites, as being a 
 
 * Hengstenberg renders, "/or a wfm 7j«sso7<^Z me from myyoiithP So 
 also Rosenmiiller. Luther has "/ licwe served man,''^ &c. The ren- 
 dering of Grotius is singular — Qiioniam Adam exem^ilum meum ah ado- 
 lescentia mta ! — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 2—6. 365 
 
 custom among idolaters.* Tlie meaning, then, in the passage 
 before us is — that when appealed to, in opposition to their 
 denial of their connexion with any idol, as to the marks in their 
 hands, they would endeavour to get quit of this proof by 
 alleging that they were no more than the customary scars of 
 grief, inflicted, on account of death, " in the house of their 
 fiiends."t 
 
 I am aware how naturally the words call up to the mind 
 the wounds of Him whose hands and feet were pierced with 
 the nails that fastened Him to the tree ; and how common 
 it is to apply the phraseology thus to Him. But there does 
 not appear the shghtest foundation for so understanding it. 
 I do not say this on the ground taken by Dr. Henderson — 
 that " in no tolerable sense could the Jews be called his 
 lovers, or friends, seeing they hated both him and his 
 Father:" for they might, in a certain sense, be so called, as 
 being his countrymen and kindred; just as it is said of him 
 — "he came unto his own; and his own received him not." 
 But the connexion will not at all bear such interpretation. 
 We have given what appears to be the only natural explana- 
 tion. It is true, that in the very next verse, we have a direct 
 and pointed prediction of the Messiah. Tliere is reason, 
 however, to believe it was a distinct prophecy, given at another 
 time, and having no connexion with what we have been ex- 
 pounding; although now, in our Bibles, standing in juxta- 
 position to it. And both because of its distinctness, and 
 because of its importance, we have left it for separate con- 
 sideration. Meantime, let us see if there are any lessons for 
 us in the verses which have been under review. Observe, 
 then — 
 
 1. We learn the lesson of maintaining, with all earnest- 
 ness, the purity of Christian doctrine and Christian worship. 
 Jude exhorts the believers to whom he writes, that they 
 
 * See Lev. xix. 28; Deut. xiv. 1 ; Jer. xvi, 6 ; and more particularly 
 as to cuttings in the hands — Jer. xlviii. 37. 
 
 f Henderson takes the same view, and Hengstenberg says, " We 
 subscribe to the opinion of those who believe that reference is here 
 made -to the wounds commonly inflicted in connexion with idolatrous 
 \vorslii]j." — Ej). 
 
366 LECTURE XXI. 
 
 should " contend earnestly for tlie faith once delivered unto 
 the saints." And yet Paul says, "The servant of the 
 Lord must not strive.'" The " contending," then, must be 
 something different from strife. It is the steadfastly deter- 
 mined maintenance of God's truth and of God's worship ; but 
 with due discrimination, and by legitimate means. Witli due 
 discrimination. There are points both of doctrine and of 
 worship, that are of very different degrees of importance. 
 There are false doctrines, by which the grace of the Gospel is 
 subverted, and by which, therefore, its saving efficacy is 
 destroyed, and souls are deluded and ruined. It is against 
 these that it becomes us to contend most earnestly; with all 
 the zeal which piety and benevolence, — which concern at 
 once for the glory of God and the best interests of men, — 
 ought ever to inspire. We cannot be more than enough in 
 earnest here. The zeal can never exceed in degree the de- 
 gree of importance which attaches to both these objects. 
 And the same may well be said of those idolatries, which 
 have been introduced ' into the Antichristian church, under 
 the pretended sanction of Christianity, but in reality so to 
 accommodate the Christian worship to that of heathenism, 
 as to lessen its offensiveness in the eyes of the worship- 
 pers of the " gods many and lords many " of pagan mytho- 
 logy. Hence the origin of the worship of angels and 
 saints, and the virgin Mary, and pictures and images. We 
 cannot be too zealous against this and other monstrous cor- 
 ruptions, belonging to that system of superstition, on 
 which, according to " the words of the Book of prophecy," 
 there hangs the curse of offended heaven. But few things 
 can be more absurd, and, were it not for the mischief of it, 
 more ridiculous, than for a man to expend all the energies of 
 a fiery zeal in regard to points, whether as to doctrine or 
 worship, which do not affect the essential principles 
 of saving truth, but leave the foundation of the sinner s 
 hope, and the glory of God's character and government in 
 saving him, unaffected and secure. It is true, that whatever 
 is worth our Master's commanding must be worth our mind- 
 iug and doing ; and that about no part of His truth or of His 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 2—6. 367 
 
 will ought we to be indifferent. But still let our zeal 
 be duly proportioned, in its exercise, to the comparative mag- 
 nitude of the matters about which it puts forth its efforts, 
 and the ends at which it aims. Above all, let us never be 
 so pitifully perverse, as to be all hot about the smaller, and 
 comparatively cold about the greater and weightier matters, 
 of truth and of duty. And then, let us see to it, that our 
 zeal pursue its ends by legitimate means. Whatever be 
 meant by the terms in this passage — " he shall thrust him 
 through when he prophesieth," we are abundantly sure 
 that such is not oiir laio. " The weapons of our warfare are 
 not carnal." Our Master and Lord hath assured us, that, in 
 His cause — in the propagation and defence of His truth, and 
 the advancement of His kingdom, "All they that take the 
 sword shall perish with the sword." Our only sword must 
 be " the sword of the Spirit." This is the sword which our 
 " most mighty " Lord '' girds upon his thigh," when He goes 
 forth " conquering and to conquer," and " subdues the people 
 under him." He admits of no other in His service. The 
 only " thrusting through " which has His sanction is — the 
 piercing of the heart and the conscience with this divine 
 weapon. l!^o other can possibly subdue consciences and 
 hearts, and so make men true spiritual subjects. To get the 
 lips without the heart, — the prostrations of the body without 
 the bowing of the willing and captive soul^ — is but to obtain 
 the homage of hypocrisy; the very thing which, more than 
 aught else, " the Lord abhorreth." Hence — 
 
 2. While we must beware of palliating or covering over 
 aught that is specially offensive to God, in any spirit of ac- 
 commodation to the known predilections and 23ractices of 
 even our dearest earthly friends, — we must equally beware 
 of imitating the simulation and hypocrisy here imputed to 
 the devotees of idolatry or of corrupted Christianity. Such 
 deceit and lying are worthy of such a cause. But in the 
 cause of God, of Christ, of divine truth, all must be — " not 
 fleshly wisdom," but "simplicity and godly sincerity." False- 
 hood is of a piece with the system, when it is employed by 
 the votaries of false gods. But in the service of the true 
 
368 LECTURE XXI. 
 
 God, and the God of truth, all that is false and deceitful 
 is out of character and out of place. Whatever be the 
 hazard to ourselves, truth must not be violated. We must 
 run all risks, rather than speak or act deceitfully. JS'ot even 
 the highest of all ends — the glory of God — is allowed, by 
 the moral principles of the Bible, to vindicate " doing evil 
 that good may come." We must beware of the Jesuitical 
 principle, sanctioned by that Antichristian system to which 
 we have referred, — that the end sanctifies the means: that 
 we may lie, and swear falsely, and deceive, and murder, 
 for the good of the Church and for the glory of God. We 
 can never promote God's glory by breaking God's law. We 
 can never ultimately advance the interests of the Church, by 
 setting aside the very principles on which the Church is 
 founded, and by "which it is maintained. jN^ever let us for a 
 moment imagine, that the interests of truth can be promoted 
 by the violation of truth. The character of the " Israelite 
 indeed" is — that "in his spirit there is no gulled In times 
 of persecution, the temptations have often been strong 
 to prevarication and concealment. Fear made even Peter 
 deny his Lord. And others besides Peter have been thus 
 overcome. But we honour the martyrs who, rather than 
 utter a word of insincerity, or do an act, even though their 
 heart was not going along with it, that conveyed a false im- 
 pression of their faith or their feelings to the minds of others, 
 — would be bound to the stake, or lay their heads on the 
 block. The terms of discipleship to Jesus are, in his own 
 words, "Wlioso loveth father or mother more than me is 
 not worthy of me : and he that loveth son or daughter more 
 than me is not worthy of me." And — "If any man come 
 unto me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and 
 children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life 
 also, he cannot be my disciple." We may deceive men : we 
 cannot deceive God. " All things are naked and opened to 
 the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." A heart 
 GIVEN TO God under the influence of true faith in his 
 Son, will alone do at the Judgment Seat, 
 
LECTURE XXII. 
 
 Zech. XIII. 7—9; xiv. 1 — 3. 
 
 " Awake, sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my 
 fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the Sheplierd, and the sheep shall be scat- 
 tered; and I will turn mine hand upon the httle ones. And it shall come to 
 pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and 
 die ; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through 
 the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is 
 tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say. It is my 
 people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God. Behold, the day of the Lord 
 Cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather 
 all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the 
 houses rifled, and the women ravished ; and half of the city shall go forth into 
 captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut oflf from the city. 
 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he 
 fought in the day of bnttle." 
 
 Towards the close of last Lecture, we applied an observation 
 to the passage now read, which, in studying the writings of 
 the prophets, requires to be ahvays kept in mind, — that the 
 mere juxtaposition of chapters and verses in our Bibles must 
 not be regarded as implying an unbroken connexion of 
 the various portions of each book as they here lie before 
 us: — that the prophets received their communications as 
 it pleased the Spirit of God, "at sundry times and in 
 diverse manners;" so that between portions which, in our 
 Bibles, appear connected with each other, there might have 
 intervened, in regard to their communication to the prophet's 
 mind, considerable intervals of time. We endeavoured to 
 show, that the immediately preceding verses have no 
 such connexion with the beginning of the passage now 
 
 2 A 
 
3td LECTURE XXIt. 
 
 read for lecture, that the one can be at all used as ex- 
 planatory of the other. The probability is, that at the seventh 
 verse of chapter thirteenth, a new prophecy commences. The 
 topics which the verses read bring before us are, — the sufferings 
 and death of Immanuel; the subsequent siege and destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem; the slaughter and captivity of a large 
 portion of its inhabitants and of the popidation of Judea 
 generally; the execution of divine judgments on those 
 enemies of the Jewish people who were the instruments of 
 the judicial vengeance; and the trials and final restoration 
 of the remnant of Israel that should be left from the exter- 
 minating sword. The topics do not stand exactly in the 
 order in which I have mentioned them ; but such seem to he 
 the topics : and as those which come last have been in part 
 before us already, and interesting as they are, are not so in- 
 teresting as that which presents itself first^ we purpose 
 dwelling most largely on that which possesses the strongest 
 attractions, and the greatest real importance — the sufferings 
 AND DEATH OF Imm^nuel : — " Awakc, sword, against my 
 Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the 
 Lord of hosts ; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be 
 scattered; and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." 
 
 Let us see how the words are applied by an authority 
 which all Christians must regard as the very highest. 
 " Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended 
 because of me this night : for it is written, I will smite 
 the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered 
 abroad.'* I cannot regard the Saviour as here merely 
 accommodating the language of the prophet to his own 
 circumstances and those of his disciples. His words were 
 evidently calculated to produce the impression that now 
 one of the prophetic predictions was receiving its fulfilment : 
 — and shall we imagine " the faithful witness " dehberately 
 making such an impression, by applying to himself language 
 which, when used by the prophet, had no such reference, and 
 no such meaning? This could never be. The application 
 
 * Matt. xxvi. 31. 
 
2ECHARIAH XIII. 7—9; XIV. 1—3. 37i 
 
 of the words by Jesus to himself is an obvious and sufficient 
 warrant for our understanding and discussing them as having 
 a direct and exclusive reference to Him.* So understandinf; 
 
 them, let us contemplate — 
 
 1. In the first place, the victim to be smitten. He 
 comes before us under a twofold aspect, the official and 
 the personal: — ^^ My Shepherd;'' — ^^ the man my fellow^ 
 It is Jehovah, the Eternal Father, that speaks. Tliis will 
 appear more fully by and by. Meanwhile it requires to be 
 kept in mind, as to hotli the views mentioned. First, 
 the official — " My ShephercV^ The designation presupposes 
 a flocli, and Jehovah's floch A shepherd and a flock are 
 essential to each other. The shepherd here is one who 
 fulfils a shepherd's functions by the ap2:)ointment of another. 
 He had himself a proprietary right in the flock as well as 
 He for whom He acted; but here He aj^pears, as elsewhere, 
 in the capacity of a servant. Jehovah many times represents 
 His people — both the typical and the spiritual Israel, under 
 the image of a flock. Here they are His flock, cared for by 
 a deputed guardian and guide. 
 
 Under the character of a shepherd Messiah is repeatedly 
 the subject of prophecy.f And the designation, you are 
 aware, is one which Jesus not merely assumes as if it be- 
 longed to him in common with others, but exclusively and 
 emphatically appropriates as pertaining to himself alone: 
 " He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the 
 sheep. To him the porter openetli; and the sheep hear his 
 voice : and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth 
 them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he 
 goeth before them, and the sheep follow him : for they know 
 his voice. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd 
 giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, 
 
 * " All these explanations " (such explanations as find " any other 
 shepherd " in the passage " than the Messiah ") " are at variance not 
 only with the words of Christ, but also, and most decidedly, with the 
 expression which immediately follows, ' upon a man my fellow.' '' — 
 Uengstenberg in ^c— Er>. 
 
 t Ezek. xxxiv. 23 j Isa. xl. 10, 11. 
 
372 LECTURE XXII. 
 
 and not tlie slieplierd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth 
 the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth ; and the 
 wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling 
 fleeth, because he is an hireling, and caretli not for the sheep. 
 I am the good shepherd, and know my shee23, and am known 
 of mine." * 
 
 Then we have the personal aspect of him who was to be 
 smitten — " fAe man ivlio is my fellow^ Of the words 
 various renderings have been given: — the man my com- 
 panion — my friend — my associate — my confidant — my equal ; 
 the man whom I have associated with myself; the man 
 who is united to me. They convey the idea of com- 
 munion, fellowship on equal terms, union, equality, t When 
 we take the Eible account, given us in so many other 
 passages, of the person of Christ, we are at no loss for 
 the true import of the designation. Surely we may consider 
 the language of Jesus as sufficiently appropriating to him- 
 self this part of the description when He says — claiming 
 ])roperty in the flock equally with the Father that sent 
 him : — " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and 
 they follow me : and I give unto them eternal life ; and 
 they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out 
 of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater 
 than all; and none is able to pluck them out of my 
 Father's hand. I and my Father are one : " \ and again 
 — " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou 
 not known me, Philip % he that hath seen me hath seen 
 the Father." § 
 
 * John X. 2—4, 11—14. 
 f The term (n^nj?) " is one of those words peculiar to the Penta- 
 teuch, and is not met with anywhere else. . . . We must there- 
 fore adhere strictly to the meaning which we find it bearing there. It 
 occurs in the laws relating to injm-ies done to near relations; and is 
 always used with peculiar emphasis, to show how great a crime it is 
 to injure one who is related both bodily and spiritually by a common 
 descent. It is used interchangeably as being equivalent to brother; a 
 word which is invariably employed in the laws of Moses with reference 
 to a common physical and spiritual descent." — Henystenherg in loc. 
 Compare also Henderson's note. — Eo. 
 
 i John X. 27—30. 3 John xiv. 9. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 7—9; XIV. 1—3. 373 
 
 When, as in our text, Jeliovali himself holds forth this 
 "man" as His fellow — His associate — His equal, are we 
 to be charged with robbing Him of his own appropriate 
 and exclusive glory, when we frame our ideas concerning 
 Him, our feelings towards Him, and the homage we pay 
 to Him, according to the terms of His own representation 1 
 So far from this, should we not rather be chargeable with 
 presumptuous disobedience, when we believe this language to 
 be the language of Jehovah, and capable of no other mean- 
 ing than we put upon it, were we to disown the equality 
 and withhold the homage 1 
 
 Let us next contemplate — 
 
 2. The DEADLY STROKE. I cauuot but understand the 
 "sword" here invoked as meaning, under a bold personifica- 
 tion, the sword of divine justice — of punitive, retributive 
 righteousness. In support of this interpretation, several 
 passages of the Old Testament may be adduced: — "For 
 I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. 
 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on 
 judgment ; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will 
 reward them that hate me." * "0 thou sword of the Lord, 
 how long will it be ere thou be quiet 1 put up thyself into 
 thy scabbard, rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing 
 the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against 
 the sea shore? there hath he appointed it."t "And the 
 word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Son of man, set thy 
 face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy 
 places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, and say to 
 the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am 
 against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his 
 sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the 
 wicked. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the right- 
 eous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out 
 of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north : 
 that all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth 
 my sword out of his sheath : it shall not return any more." ;}: 
 
 * Deut. xxxii. 40, 41. t J^r. xlvii. 6, 7. | Ezek, xxi. 1—5. 
 
374 LECTURE XXII. 
 
 This is tlie sword that is here figuratively addressed, as 
 slumbering, and summoned to ^'' awaked The language is 
 prophetic. It looks forward to "the fuhiess of the time," 
 when the "man" — Jehovah's "fellow" was to appear. 
 From the time of sin's entrance into the world, this sword 
 might be said to have slept in its scabbard. JS'ot that 
 there had been uo manifestations of God's holy justice, 
 and avenging jealousy of His glory. In many a judgment 
 upon mankind, both individually and collectively, the rights 
 of God's moral government had been asserted, and the claims 
 of His violated law vindicated. All the suiferings of man- 
 kind, from the deluge onwards, by wai-s, and famines, and 
 l^estilences, and earthquakes, and every other form of cala- 
 mity, had just been so many partial "awakings of the sword" 
 of God's justice, to keep mankind in remembrance of His 
 displeasure against sin, and to maintain the honour of the 
 " tlirone of his holiness ; " — to remind transgressors thai 
 " verily there was a God who judged in the earth," These, 
 however, were but partial and merited inflictions. In no one 
 of them, nor in all of them combined, was there any such 
 satisfaction to divine justice, — any such manifestation that 
 is of the divine abhorrence of sin, and the di^dne determi- 
 nation that it should not pass imavenged, — as to open the 
 way for the honourable exercise of divine mercy. They 
 were as nothing. Amidst them all it might still be said, 
 ■ — " The times of this ignorance God winked at." He was 
 still waiting for " the fulness of the time." And when — 
 anticipating the coming period, Jehovah says, "Awake, 
 sword," — what might have been expected to follow ? 
 "Awake, sword," against this race of guilty and heartless 
 rebels, who, in all successive generations, and amidst every 
 variety of treatment, — " though wooed and awed, blessed and 
 chastised," have continued "flagrant rebels still;" whom 
 neither goodness nor severity has "led to repentance;" 
 whom favours have but encouraged to sin, and whom judg- 
 ments have only frightened into hypocritical and temporary 
 humiliation; who have " made me to serve with their sins, 
 and wearied me with their iniquities;" — "awake," for more 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 7-9; XIV. 1-3. 375 
 
 extended and exemplary vengeance: "awake," and vindicate 
 my dislionoured law and government by the destruction of 
 tliese mine enemies ! And it is indeed for the vindication of 
 God's law and government that the "sword" is summoned to 
 "awake :" but ah ! in how different a way ! It is a nobler 
 victim that is to be smitten than the guilty themselves, — 
 tlian all that the sword had smitten before, and than all that 
 ever could be smitten by it, even to the utmost extent of the 
 desert of punishment. It must drink richer and more pre- 
 cious blood. The victim is divine. The blood to be shed 
 is the blood of Imraanuel. The life to be taken is that of no 
 mere man — no, nor of ten thousand times ten thousand such, 
 — but of a man in union with godhead. The " sword," when 
 called to " awake," is not to smite the sinners themselves, but 
 their substitute — their willing, their divine substitute, — even 
 Him, who was to " bear their sins in his own body on the 
 tree." In the " sinitinr/" must be included all the sufferings 
 of Jesus, terminating in his death — his substitutionary, his 
 atoning death. He was himself sinless; and therefore — 
 
 " All the griefs he felt were ours, 
 Ours all the woes he bore." 
 
 They were all the judicial infliction of Jehovah. He sum- 
 moned the sword to "awake:" and, though wielding it 
 through the agency of men, the stroke was His own. It 
 came from His own hand. By the determinate counsel and 
 foreknowledge of God" was "that Just One" delivered up: 
 it was Jehovah that " laid on him the iniquity of us all : " 
 He " bruised him." He " put him to grief." He mingled for 
 liim, and put into his hand his cup of unutterable and 
 inexplicable woe, — that cup which drew forth the prayer — 
 " If this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, 
 thy will be done ! " and, while drinking it, the bitter 
 cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me !" Yet, 
 while thus inflicted by Jehovah, they were all, in the 
 strictest sense, voluntary. He undertook the task, with 
 the full view of all it was to cost him : " Lo I come, in 
 the volume of the Book it is written of me, I delight to 
 
376 LECTURE XXII. 
 
 do thy will, my God : yea, ^hy law is within my heart." * 
 And what was that " iviW which He thus undertook so 
 cheerfully to do 1 The inspi':'ed Apostle replies — " By the 
 which will we are sanctified through the ofi'ering of the body 
 of Jesus Christ once for all." t 
 
 True it is, that as man only could he be "smitten." 
 But his was the manhood of " the man who was Jehovah's 
 fellow." It was manhood in intimate personal union witli 
 deity ; the manhood of " God manifest in the flesh." This 
 gave value — and a value infinite — to the blood of his sacri- 
 fice — "his own blood." It was against Him that the 
 " sword " was to " awake ; " and it was against Him that, in 
 due time, it did awake, and smote him to deatli ! — " the 
 
 JUST FOR THE UNJUST," "THE PEOPITIATIOX FOR OUR SINS, 
 
 AND NOT FOR OURS ONLY, BUT ALSO FOR THE SINS OF THE 
 WHOLE WORLD." JSToticC UOW 
 
 3. The TWOFOLD result : " The sheep shall he scatter ed^ 
 and " I will turn 7ny hand (or turn hack my hand) upon the 
 little ones.'^ As to the former, we have our Lord's own 
 application of the words : — " Then said Jesus unto them. All 
 ye shall be off'ended because of me this night: for it is 
 written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the 
 flock shall be scattered abroad : " J and the intimation was 
 verified — " But all this was done, that the scriptures of the 
 prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook 
 him, and fled."§ " Comparing," says Dr. Henderson, "the pre- 
 sent verse with the fourth and seventh verses of the eleventh 
 chapter, and especially with what is predicted in the two 
 following verses of the present chapter, in which the same 
 subject is continued, it is evident the sheep or flock cannot 
 be restricted to the disciples of Christ. The circumstances, 
 however, in reference to which our Saviour appro]3riated the 
 prophecy, afl'orded a striking type of the dispersion of the 
 Jewish people, which is that intended by Zechariah." I 
 will not absolutely deny the justness of this ; yet I confess 
 
 * Psa. xl. 7, 8. t Heb. x. 10. \ Matt. xxvi. 31. 
 
 § Matt, xxvi. b'o. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 7—9; XIV. 1—3. 377 
 
 myself very doubtful about it, I^ot tliat there is any ques- 
 tion as to God's ancient people being, on various occasions, in 
 the Old Testament, called God's "flock," and "the sheep of 
 his pasture." My doubts are not about that. But observe, if 
 the dispersion of Israel — the same dispersion with that in the 
 subsequent verse — be meant in this verse, it must follow that 
 the "scattering" of Christ's disciples from him during his 
 last sufferings was no part, i^rojierly, of its fulfilment, but 
 that the terms of the prophecy were merely accommodated 
 by our Lord to that fact, which thus became a " type,'' or 
 similitude (and but a very remote and general one surely) 
 of the dispersion which was actually meant. Now, we are 
 naturally led by our Lord's language to understand him as 
 meaning that the " scattering " from him of his adherents and 
 friends, — which formed a part, and to a spirit of sensibility like 
 his not a trifling one, of his sufferings, — was really included in 
 the prediction : — but the scattering of his friends could not 
 properly be included in a prophecy of the subsequent dispersion 
 of his enemies. Then further, these unbelieving Jews, who 
 were subsequently to be scattered, had been expressly told by 
 Jesus that they were not of his sheep.* It does not, there- 
 fore, seem likely that the prophetic language should be 
 equally applicable to those who were his sheep, and to those 
 who, according to his own testimony, ivere not. I do think 
 it, on these accounts, more probable that the words in this 
 verse have the immediate reference which Jesus gives them ; 
 being one of those minute circumstances, in the predictions 
 before referred to, of the sufferings of the Messiah, on which 
 so much of the force of the argument in support of Christi- 
 anity from prophecy depends; while the verse which follows 
 relates to the dispersion of the mass of the unbelieving 
 Jewish nation — an act of judicial vengeance on account of 
 their unbelief and rebellion " against the Lord, and against 
 his Anointed." 
 
 The second of the two results is — ^^ And I loill turn (or 
 turn hack) my hand iqjon the little onesJ' Here, as every- 
 
 * John X. 26. 
 
378 LECTURE XXII. 
 
 where, ^^the little ones'' is a designation of tender affect- 
 ion. Various passages might be quoted in proof. Let one 
 from Christ's own hps suffice: — "But whoso shall offend 
 one of these little ones which believe in me, it were 
 better for him that a millstone were hanged about his 
 neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the 
 sea. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 
 ones ; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do 
 always behold the face of my Father wliich is in heaven. 
 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, 
 that one of these little ones should perish."* So, when 
 Jesus appeared to his disciples after his rising from the 
 dead, he accosted them by the compellation of " children " — 
 or "little children." It is, then, beyond question, the lan- 
 guage of love and kindness — not that, as some have imagined, 
 of threatening and judicial severity. The hand is the hand 
 of a Father; these "little ones" being the children of God 
 by faith in Christ Jesus : and it is " turned^' or turned back, 
 "upon them" for gracious care and protection. It is not 
 the hand, armed with the avenging sword of justice. That 
 sword had smitten its victim. The justice of God was, by 
 the smiting of that victim, fully satisfied. The sword, in 
 regard to these "little ones" who believed, and were "ac- 
 cepted in the Beloved," therefore, was returned to its scab- 
 bard. It " rested and was still." It could not turn from 
 //m upon them. The smiting of Him, set them free from 
 its avenging stroke. The uphfted hand that smote to death 
 the Shepherd, laid aside the sword, and was turned in mercy, 
 to come between "the little ones" and all danger. They 
 might be scattered for the time, but not lost. He would 
 "turn his hand" to gather, to bless, to shield, to save 
 them.t The general sentiment in the words before us, 
 
 *Matt. xviii. 6, 10, 14. 
 
 f That the phrase — " turning the hand upon " a person or a people 
 is used /or good — we hare instances in Isa. i. 25 and Isa. xi. 11. 
 Hengstenberg takes the same view; also Henderson. Dathe has 
 *' curam ego geram istorum parvulorum.^^ Scliulz, " curam habeho^^ &c. 
 — Ed. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 7—9; XIV. 1—3. 379 
 
 tlien, is — that it is for tlie sake of Jehovah's "Shepherd, 
 and the man that is his Fellow," when smitten on account 
 of their sins by the sword of God's justice, that believing 
 sinners become the objects of divine favour, — that the light 
 of God's countenance is lifted up upon them, — that the 
 hand of God's love and power is "turned upon them" to keep 
 and to bless them, to bestow good, and to avei't evil. And 
 mark the fact in regard to the believers of that day. How 
 fared it with them? God took care of them. They rallied. 
 They met and kept together. God preserved them from 
 their enemies. They saw together — " the twelve " — and 
 "the five hundred brethren" on the mountain in Galilee, 
 the joyful sight of their risen Master. The hundred and 
 twenty disciples at Jerusalem continued under the protec- 
 tion of the same divine hand. They received, in due 
 course, the promised blessing from on high. Their number 
 increased : the Lord " giving testimony to the word of his 
 grace," and adding to them new "vessels of mercy," — new 
 children to His family — " little ones," to partake of the same 
 care and the same blessing. We might, without any strain- 
 ing, include in the general promise " I will turn my hand 
 upon the little ones," all the fulness of blessing that lies in 
 Jehovah's favour. 
 
 4. We have still to notice the spirit of the invocation 
 — the divine mind as expressed in it. 
 
 Jehovah speaks: — "Awake, sword, against my shep- 
 herd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the 
 Lord of hosts.'* Was Jehovah displeased with his 
 shepherd — with the man that was his fellow? Was it for 
 any thing in himself, provoking holy indignation, that 
 the sword of justice is summoned from its scabbard against 
 him? There are certain "shepherds" spoken of in ancient 
 days, and in prophecy too, — whose selfish neglect of the flock 
 committed to them stirred Jehovah's wrath, and to whom 
 He says — "Therefore behold I am against the shepherds, 
 and will require my flock at their hand ; " and He threatens 
 to " feed them with judgment." AVas there aught in the 
 character or in the doings of this Shepherd, that thus awoke 
 
380 LECTUEE XXII. 
 
 his displeasure, and turned his eye to the hilt of his glitter- 
 ing sword] Was there a frown upon his countenance 
 towards "the man his fellow," when He uttered the pro- 
 phetic words, calling on that sword to "awake" and to "smite" 
 him] how far from that! The "shepherd" — the "man his 
 fellow" was the object of everlasting and unchanging love. 
 And never Avas that love in more intense exercise towards 
 him than at the very moment when the sword of justice 
 smote him to death. That was the very moment of his 
 highest and holiest service, — the moment of the crowning 
 act of his obedience. It was " obedience unto death : " — " I 
 have glorified thee on the earth ; I have finished the work 
 which thou gavest me to do ! " I^ever did the Father look 
 upon him with such delighted complacency and fulness of 
 approval as then : yes — at the very moment (mysterious as 
 it is and ever must be to us) when He was "making his 
 soul an offering for sin!" "bruising him and putting him 
 to grief!" 
 
 Wliat, then, may the invocation of the avenging sword be 
 considered, in regard to God, as expressing] May we 
 venture to say — a kind of divine exultation in the prospect 
 which the words so animatedly anticipate] The time to 
 which the text looks forward is the central point in the 
 history of man : nay, if an expression so self-contradictory 
 may be allowed, it is a kind of central point in eternity ; for 
 it was looked forward to from everlasting, and it will be 
 looked back upon to everlasting. "Wlien Jesus was on 
 earth, he said, in anticijDating the closing scene of his life — 
 " I have a baptism to be baptized Avith ; and how am I 
 straitened till it be accomplished!" Thus, for the sake of 
 the great ends which by his sufferings and death were to be 
 accomplished — 
 
 " He longed to be baptized witli blood, 
 Panted to reacli the Cross I " 
 
 Is there any longing analogous to this in the text] Jeho- 
 vah anticipates the time when that scheme — the device of 
 His own infinite wisdom — which had been in His mind from 
 
ZECHARIAH XIII. 7—9; XIV. 1-3. 381 
 
 eternity, was to be consummated; anticipates the incarna- 
 tion, and sufferings and death of tlie eternal Word, — the 
 completing of that work in which wondering angels were to 
 see " The manifold wisdom of God " in light surpassing, by 
 infinite degrees, any in which they ever had seen it before ; 
 which was to open the way for the free and honourable ex- 
 ercise to our fallen race of the mercy in which He delights ; 
 which was to set Him forth to the admiring and adoring uni- 
 verse as "the just God and the Saviour;" more than re- 
 conciling the pleadings of benevolence with the inviolable 
 claims of righteousness; making each contribute, ^vithout 
 parting with one ray of its own glory, to the augmented 
 glory of the other ; thus " magnifying the law, and making 
 it honourable," even in the very act of saving the guilty 
 from its fearful but equitable sanction, — and effecting, in 
 the utmost possible degree, that which is the great end of 
 creation and providence, as well as of redemption — " Glory 
 to God in the highest ! " There was no delight in antici- 
 pating the dread agonies of that hour of expiation, when 
 the sword of His justice was to obey the summons, and 
 smite His chosen One — " the beloved, in whom his 
 soul was well-pleased." But "the glory Avas to follow." 
 Love to the "Shepherd" — "the man his Fellow" — 
 made him delight in the anticipation of "crowning liim 
 with glory and honour," — " of making him exceeding glad 
 with his countenance," — "of highly exalting him, and 
 giving him a name above every name, that at the name 
 of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue con- 
 fess to God." — The language of our text, then, is tlie 
 language of Jehovah's justice, demanding the satisfaction 
 necessary to men's salvation: the language of Jehovah's 
 mercy, delighting in the anticipation of that salvation : the 
 language of Him who is both light and love, exulting in 
 the perfect union of these attributes, and the equal honour of 
 both in the free bestowal of the blessings of that salvation, 
 — "turning his hand upon the little ones," to "guide them 
 by his counsel," and shield them by his power, and cheer 
 them by his smile, and then to " receive them to glory." 
 
382 LECTURE XXIL 
 
 We take the four verses which follow together. Whe- 
 ther they were uttered by the Prophet at the same time, 
 in the same prediction, I will not presume to determine: 
 but they relate to the same events. And these events are 
 manifestly divine dispensations, at once of judicial sever iiijj 
 and of sparing mercy. 
 
 With regard to the former — the execution of divine judg- 
 ments — ^judgments evidentl}^ connected with, and arising out of 
 the part acted by those on whom these judgments are inflicted 
 in the smiting of the Shepherd ; who, though he was " delivered 
 by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,"' was 
 yet " by iviched hands crucified and slain : " — these judgments 
 are first stated in regard to "the land;'' and then, more par- 
 ticularly, in regard to " the city"' — to " Jerusalem^ " It shall 
 come to pass, that in all the land two-thirds shall be cut off 
 and die:" — "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy 
 spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I ynW 
 gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle ; and the city 
 shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished ; 
 and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the 
 residue of the people shall not be cut ofi" from the city."* 
 I need hardly say, that neither the two-thirds in regard to 
 the inhabitants of the land, nor the half in regard to the 
 population of the city, is to be interpreted with literal exactness. 
 All that is to be understood is, that there was to be a fearfully 
 extensive slaughter, captivity, and desolation. When ex- 
 pounding the former part of the eleventh chapter, we had 
 occasion to mention something of the fearfulness of the ven- 
 geance which then alighted on the Jewish people ; showing the 
 words of Jesus to have been no more than simple truth — " For 
 then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the be- 
 ginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be."t 
 We do not therefore enlarge upon the subject now. The 
 particulars here noted are such as usually — it might be said 
 invariably — attend the besieging, the capture, and the sack- 
 ing of cities ; especially when, as in this case, the assailing 
 
 * Chap. xiii. 8; and chap. xiv. 1, 2. f Matt. xxiv. 21. 
 
2ECHARIAH XIII. 7—9; XIV. 1—3. 383 
 
 army has been exasperated by a long, harassing, and wast- 
 ing defence. The entrance of the infuriated soldiery, 
 the rifling of houses, the violation of women, the indis- 
 criminate massacre, and the division of the spoil, are just 
 what all expect, and what require no comment. And never 
 were such scenes more frightfully realized, than at the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem; when God in his providence, in 
 judicial retribution, " gathered all nations against the devoted 
 city to battle:" "aZZ nations'^ — a correct description of the 
 army of Titus ; the Empire of Rome embracing a large pro- 
 portion of the then known world, and this army consisting 
 of soldiers of all the different nations which composed it. 
 And, while such was to be the destruction brought upon the 
 "city,'' the desolation was to extend, and that, in different 
 ways, at short intervals, throughout " the land." It was to 
 be, instrumentally, the doing of the Romans. And profane 
 historians record their plans, their tactics, their exploits, 
 their successes ; and look no higher. But such is not the 
 style of the Bible. It exhibits men as " God's hand." All is 
 God's doing. He predicts it. He fulfils it. It is by Him 
 "the nations are gathered together against the city." They 
 execute His righteous sentence; and then, since they "mean 
 not so, neither do their hearts think so," but their only 
 object is self-aggrandizement and the extension of their own 
 power and dominion, — they must be punished in their turn. 
 
 But we noticed, that there is sparing mercy, as well as 
 judicial severity. Of " the land " it is said — " a third shall 
 he left therein:" and of "Jerusalem" — ^^ the residue of the 
 people shall not be cut off from the city.'' A large remnant 
 should be spared. It is not meant that they should con- 
 tinue to inhabit Jerusalem; for Jerusalem, according to 
 other predictions, was to be " laid even with the ground," and 
 torn up with the ploughshare ; but that they should escape 
 the fate of those who are slain or carried into captivity. 
 
 "VVliat, then, was to become of this spared portion of the 
 people? We are told in the ninth verse of the thirteenth 
 chapter — " I will bring the third part through the fire, and 
 will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as 
 
384 • LECTURE XXII. 
 
 gold is tried: tliey shall call on my name, and I will liear 
 them : I Avill say, It is my people : and they shall say, Tho 
 Lord is my God." 
 
 I am satisfied, on mature consideration, that these words 
 refer, not to the Christian converts — of whom we shall have 
 to speak in the verses which follow, in which their preserva- 
 tion is specially referred to, — ^but to God's dealings with the 
 remainder of the Jewish people after the fearfully cala- 
 mitous period of which we have been speaking ; and to the 
 intended and ultimate result. The language points to the 
 dispersions, and varied fortunes and sufferings of that people 
 among all the nations whither they should be driven ; to the 
 design of God by these punitive dealings, to bring them, 
 in the end, to a change of character, and restore them to 
 their privileges, and re-estabhsh them in His favour. This 
 is represented by a figure, not unfrequently used in Scripture 
 — the process of purifying metals by subjecting them to the 
 melting heat of the furnace. In the present instance, the 
 process has been long and slow. But, here as elsewhere, we 
 are assured of the issue. The time will come when the pre- 
 diction before us shall be fully verified. In receiving the Gos- 
 pel, they will "receive the reconciliation." It will then appear 
 how they have, all along, been "beloved for the fathers' sakes." 
 They have, for many centuries, appeared as if God had cast 
 them off. But no. He is only bringing them through the fur- 
 nace. And when, " accepting the punishment of their ini- 
 quity," and " humbling themselves under his mighty hand," 
 they shall turn to the God of their fathers, and, in faith and 
 penitence, "call on his name," — He will turn to them in 
 covenant grace, " lift upon them anew the light of his coun- 
 tenance," — say with compassionate and complacent delight, 
 as in days of old, " It is my people." And they — renounc- 
 ing their unbelief and rebelhon, — bowing to the sceptre of 
 the true Messiah, as King of Israel, and Saviour of the 
 world, — accepting the mercy offered in His name, and ex- 
 ulting in their own Jehovah's returning favour, — shall say, 
 with equal humility, gratitude, and joy of heart, "Je- 
 hovah IS MY God !" Hasten, Lord, the happy time ! 
 
ZECHARIAII XIII. 7—9; XIV. 1—3. 885 
 
 The first lesson from this subject, we shall read to 3^011 in 
 the words of inspiration. Paul shall be the preacher: — 
 " If some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being 
 a wild olive tree, w^ert graffed in among them, and witli 
 them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 
 boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou 
 bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say 
 then. The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed 
 in. Well ; because of unbelief they were broken off, and 
 thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for 
 if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he 
 also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and 
 severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward 
 thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness : otherwise 
 thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still 
 in unbelief, shall be graffed in : for God is able to graff them 
 in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is 
 Avild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a 
 good olive tree : how much more shall these, which be the 
 natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree ? For 
 I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this 
 mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits ; that 
 blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of 
 the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved : 
 as it is written. There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, 
 and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : for this is my 
 covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As 
 concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes : but as 
 touching the election, they are beloved for the fothers' sakes. 
 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." * 
 
 2. How rich in consolation is this passage to all Je- 
 hovah's children — His '^little ones"' — the objects of His 
 saving grace and fatherly love ! The sword of punitive 
 justice having smitten the divine Surety, is, with regard to 
 all who believe in Him, and look for mercy through his atone- 
 ment, — put up into its scabbard. It "rests and is still." Never 
 
 * lloin. xi. 17—29. 
 2 B 
 
386 LECTURE XXII. 
 
 can it awake to smite them. Jeliovali is propitious to them. 
 The smile of His love is towards them. The eye of His care, 
 and the hand and arm of His power, are pledged for their pre- 
 sent and final security : so that they may boldly say, " If God 
 be for us, who can be against us % " Does God afflict them ] 
 He does. AVliat a comfort to know, that it is not as a 
 judge, but as a father; that the wounds He inflicts are 
 not inflicted by the sword of punitive justice, but with 
 the rod of fatherly love ? The very hand that inflicts the 
 stroke is, at the same instant, turned to you in mercy, and 
 offered for your support and strength. 
 
 3. In the awaking of the sword of divine justice, and the 
 smiting of " the man who was the fellow of the Loed of 
 hosts," we read a deeply impressive lesson of the " exceed- 
 ing sinfulness of sin ; " the unutterable amount of its demerit ; 
 and the impossibiUty of its passing unpunished — passing 
 without the stigma being impressed upon it, in the eyes 
 of the moral universe, of God's infinite abhorrence. In one 
 or other of two ways must sin, under the divine government, 
 be visited with its desert ; — either in the person of the sinner 
 himself, or in the person of the divinely appointed and divine 
 Mediator. It is by faith in that Mediator as the Equal of 
 Jehovah, and as smitten to death by the sword of divine 
 justice, to make propitiation for the guilt of a condemned and 
 perishing world, — that any sinner can be freed from the stroke 
 of that sword in his oivn person. If tlie blood of the Surety 
 be despised, — if the "great salvation be neglected," — if when, 
 in the name of him who has " made atonement for sin by the 
 blood of his cross" — Jehovah extends to the guilty the sceptre 
 of His grace, any sinner, under the power of pride, or the love 
 of sin and of the world, refuses to approach, to touch it, and 
 to live ; against that sinner, the same sword of divine justice 
 must, in the end, " awake," and smite him with the second 
 death. He has refused the smitten substitute; he must 
 
 BEAR THE STROKE HIMSELF. 
 
LECTURE XXJIl. 
 
 Zech. XIV. 3 — 9. 
 
 " Then shall the Lord go fortli, and fight against tliose nations, as ■n'hen he 
 fought in tlie day of hattle. And liis feet shall stand in that day upon the 
 mount of Olives, which is hefore Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives 
 shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and 
 there shall be a very great valley ; and half of the mountain shall remove toward 
 the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of 
 the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ve 
 shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king 
 of Judah : and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And 
 it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 
 but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: 
 but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall 
 be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them 
 toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea : in summer and 
 in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that 
 day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." 
 
 The " nations " against wliicli Jeliovali is, in the first of these 
 verses, represented as " going forth and fighting " are, as we 
 saw in last Lecture, the nations Avhich were to besiege and 
 pillage and destroy Jerusalem ; the nations, that is, of which 
 the Roman armies were to be composed, — or, in other words, 
 the Empire of Rome. These nations were to be Jehovah's 
 instruments, effecting His long foretold and threatened ven- 
 geance against His unbelieving and rebellious people. But 
 they were not, on that account, the less guilty, in the prin- 
 ciples by which they were actuated, and the deeds of un- 
 righteousness, rapacity, cruelty, and murder, which, to so 
 frightful an extent, they perpetrated. 
 
388 LECTURE XXIII. 
 
 The Bible lets us into some principles of the divine 
 government, which we could not otherwise have discovered ; 
 and which, when discovered, it is not for us to venture to 
 apply, in exposition of its measures, further than God has 
 been pleased to make the application himself. He some- 
 times represents himself as rewarding such services in ac- 
 compli.shing, thougli undesignedly, the purposes of His pro- 
 vidence, when it has required the expenditure of a large 
 amount of toil, and peril, and suffering, and life, by granting 
 otherwise further successes and acquisitions. Look, for ex- 
 ample, to the language by the prophet Ezekiel : — " Son 
 of man, JSTebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army 
 to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was 
 made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no 
 wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had 
 served against it : therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Be- 
 hold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar 
 king of Babylon : and he shall take her multitude, and take 
 her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for 
 his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his 
 labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought 
 for me, saith the Lord God."^' At other times, and more fre- 
 quently, He appears as avenging himself on the instruments 
 of His judicial inflictions, by visiting them, in their turn, with 
 judgments; and, after having, by their instrumentality, chas- 
 tised a guilty nation, stirring up other nations to chastise them : 
 — " Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their 
 liand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocri- 
 tical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give 
 liim a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to 
 tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he 
 meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so ; but it is in 
 his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."t Then, 
 after describing the vain-glorious boastings of the Assyrian 
 monarch, who, in his desolating career, " neither feared God, 
 nor regarded man," but worshijDped and gratified self alone, 
 
 * Ezck. xxix. 18—20. f I.sa. x. 5—7. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 3-9. 389 
 
 He adds — " Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the 
 Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and 
 on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of 
 the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. There- 
 fore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat 
 ones leanness ; and under his glory he shall kindle a burn- 
 ing like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall 
 be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall 
 burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day ; and 
 sliall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, 
 both soul and body : and they shall be as when a standard- 
 bearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall 
 be few, that a child may write them." '" 
 
 Thus it should be, on the occasion before us, witli the 
 ItOMANS. They had, through divine sufferance, been 
 the conquerors and lords of the world. But notwith- 
 standing their might and their haughty pride, there was 
 One who Avas above them ; even He to whom they owed 
 that might, and to whom they were amenable for the use of 
 it. They had executed His will against Jerusalem. But it 
 might be said to be their last conquest. They were never 
 to prosper more. The decline of Eome might be dated from 
 the fall of Jerusalem. Soon it began to sink. And by the 
 yuccessive irruptions of the barbarous tribes of the north, its 
 glory was extinguished, and its fall hastened. And these 
 invaders were just God's instruments, to scourge the Romans, 
 as the Romans had been to scourge the Jews. Men might 
 not discern the hand of His retributive justice, avenging, by 
 such events, the wrongs of His people ; wrongs on the part 
 of their invaders and plunderers, though, as inflicted by the 
 hand of Jehovah, more than merited. But such retribution 
 there was. All the calamities that befel them, were God's 
 ''figliti7ig against them;'' and this Avas just a following out 
 of the same principle, of which the operation had been 
 many a time exemplified in the former history of the Jewish 
 people: "as lohen he fought in the day of hattle." The 
 
 * Isa. X. 12,16-19, 
 
390 LECTUKE XXIIT. 
 
 reference is not to any particular battle ; but to the various 
 occasions on which He interposed for them; showing, in 
 " the lighting down of his arm," how He was for them and 
 against their adversaries: Himself retaUating upon those 
 adversaries the injuries done by them. The words were 
 fitted to recall the various instances of signal interposition 
 and retribution, recorded in the inspired annals of ancient 
 days. 
 
 This allusion to events that were to succeed the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem, and the calamities to be inflicted on the 
 Jewish nation, and which were to affect, retributively, the 
 nations by whom they were to be inflicted, is introduced by 
 the way ; and the Prophet returns to the case of Jerusalem : 
 — ^verses 4, 5. " And his feet shall stand in that day upon 
 the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, 
 and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof 
 toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a 
 very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove 
 toAvard the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye 
 shall flee to the valley of the mountains ; for the valley of 
 the mountains shall reach unto Azal : yea, ye shall flee, like 
 as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah 
 king of Judah : and the Lord my God shall come, and all 
 the saints with thee." These verses, and those which 
 follow, are involved in no little obscurity. Waiving, as 
 much as possible, all critical discussion, we shall endeavour 
 to give what seems to be their most natural meaning. 
 
 It is true that "the feet" of Immanuel, during his abode 
 on earth, frequently " stood on the mount of Olives." But 
 we cannot suppose the allusion to any such Uteral fact, inas- 
 much as the time to which the words refer was a consider- 
 able series of years subsequent to his leaving the world, and 
 ascending to heaven. I have no hesitation in considering 
 Jehovah, in his omnipotence, taldng a position on the " mount 
 of OKves," and the rending asunder of that mountain, so as to 
 form a valley, and through that valley a way of escape, — not as 
 a fact, but as di figure; a striking and sublime figure. Our busi- 
 ness, then, must be to find what, as a figure, it is meant to con- 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 3—9. 391 
 
 vey. By some it is understood of tlie removal of the obstruc- 
 tions Avhicli lay in the way of the admission of the Gentiles into 
 the Church of God. " The ceremonial law," says Scott, " and 
 the whole Mosaic disj^ensation, Avhich obstructed the admis- 
 sion of the Gentiles into the church, as the surrounding 
 mountains did their entrance into Jerusalem, was removed. 
 The peculiar privileges v/hich Jerusalem had enjoyed (of 
 which the pleasant and fruitful Mount of Olives was an apt 
 emblem) were taken from her, and divided among the na- 
 tions on every side ; and those Jews who believed the word 
 of God fled aAvay from the destruction that was coming on 
 Jerusalem." I^ow, it is quite true, that the removal of the 
 ceremonial law, and, by that means, the opening of a free 
 entrance for the Gentiles into the Church, is aptly enough 
 represented by tlie figure now before us — the removal of an 
 obstructing mountain. But the introduction of it here 
 seems forced; and things are brought together between 
 which it is not easy to discern a connexion, — the admission 
 of the Gentiles by the removal of the Jewish Ceremonial, 
 and the escape of the Christians from Jerusalem. I am 
 satisfied, that this last is the true and only reference of the 
 passage. It is an assurance, conveyed under a bold figure, 
 of the intervention of omnipotence for their protection, and 
 their consequent deliverance from danger and destruction. 
 
 They had been warned by their Lord of the coming cala- 
 mities, and charged to provide for their safety by timely 
 flight — " When ye therefore shall see the abomination of de- 
 solation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy 
 place, (whoso readeth, let him understand :) then let them 
 which be in Judea fiee into the mountains : let liini which 
 is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of 
 his house : neither let him which is in the field return back 
 to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with 
 child, and to them that give suck in those days ! But pray 
 ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sab- 
 bath day : for then shall be great tribulation, such as was 
 not since the beginning of tlie world to this time, no, nor 
 ever shall be. And p-xcept those day-* should be shortened. 
 
392 LECTURE XXIII. 
 
 there should no flesh be saved : but for the elect's sake those 
 days shall be shortened."* The premonition thus given in- 
 cludes in it the assurance of divine favour and divine care. 
 And they did escape. Tliey fled, as the liistorian Eusebius 
 informs us, to Pella, a city on the fartlier side of the Jordan, 
 where they lived in security. l!Tow the Mount of Olives lay 
 in their way from Jerusalem thither ; which gives a special 
 appropriateness to the sublime figure of Jehovah taking his 
 stand on the mountain, and by his power cleaving it asunder, 
 to make way for them. They were to be as sure of a safe 
 deliverance, as if this had literally been done before them, 
 by Him who, of old, divided the sea before their fathers, 
 " making the waters of the deep a way for the ransomed of 
 the Lord to pass over." He could as literally have cleft the 
 mountains as he cleft the sea. But there is no record, either 
 in history or in the actual state of the mountain, of any 
 such miracle: and, unless, as some think, though we are 
 satisfied, without ground, the whole i)rediction relates to 
 future time, and is then to have its literal fulfilment, we are 
 shut up to the figurative interpretation ; and must regard it 
 as a lofty poetical image. 
 
 Let it not be said their fleeing was unpatriotic and das- 
 tardly, — unworthy of good and faithful citizens ; who ought 
 to have remained, and aided in their city's defence, and sac- 
 rificed their lives in the good cause. No one will speak 
 thus who believes the Bible. The city was doomed, — 
 doomed of God; doomed, in His retributive justice, to de- 
 struction. In this view, the cause was not good. It was 
 not the cause of God. They were to reserve themselves for 
 a better ; for what was now truly His cause ; for the ad- 
 vancement of the kingdom of which their exalted Lord was 
 now the Head, the kingdom which " is not of this world." 
 Tlie city could be saved by no aid of theirs. No power on 
 earth could rescue it from the vengeance of omnipotent Jus- 
 tice. They were therefore to flee ; to flee instantly and in 
 haste, as from pressing peril. This is sti-ongly expressed in 
 
 ^ Matt. xxiv. 15—22, 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 3—9. 393 
 
 tlie latter i)art of the fifth verse — " Ye shall flee, like as ye 
 fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king 
 of Judah : and the Lord my God shall come, and all the 
 saints with thee." There is not a word of this earthquake 
 ill the Scripture history. The only other allusion to it oc- 
 curs in the book of Amos, where it is used to settle a date : 
 — "The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of 
 Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uz- 
 ziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of 
 Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake."* It 
 must have been something extraordinary — unusually exten- 
 sive and awful — when it is thus used to date a period, — 
 and, at the same time, as having occasioned such a flight 
 from the destruction wrought by it, as to render it a suitable 
 comparison for 'the Prophet here. The tradition of it be- 
 hoved to have been vivid and fearful. The words of the 
 Prophet might be interpreted either as intimating a fact, or 
 laying on an injunction. The words of Jesus himself are 
 decidedly an injunction : — and the authority was paramount 
 by which it was given. Their staying in Jerusalem would 
 have been, not folly merely, but actual disobedience. The 
 authority was confirmed by the perfect correspondence of the 
 events already transpiring with the predictions of their 
 Lord. They therefore followed his instructions. 
 
 There is ambiguity in the former part of the fifth verse : 
 '"' for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto AzaV 
 Some understand Azal not as a proper name, but, from its 
 etymology, as meaning simply the separcde place, — that is, 
 the place set apart by Jehovah for their safety. By others 
 Azal is considered as a proper name; and the name of a 
 place, or suburb, close to one of the gates of the city. The 
 only difficulty here is, that the w^ords " shall reach even unto 
 Azal" suggest naturally to most readers the idea of Azal 
 being the remotest point from the city Jerusalem. But 
 there is another way in which these words may be taken, 
 and not less naturally, — perhaps more so. The point from 
 
 * Amos i. 1. 
 
394 LECTURE XXIII. 
 
 xohloh the valley, or opening, made by tlie severing of tlie 
 mountain, should be considered as commencing may be, not 
 tlie city, but the point at wliicli Jehovah takes his stand. 
 He may be conceived of as from that point looking toward 
 the city, and making the cleft to reach to its very gates; so 
 that there might be no difficulty in finding an outlet; — no 
 embarrassment, no hesitancy, no delay. The danger being 
 immediate, the way of flight from it is thus instantly acces- 
 sible ; at the very point where it was needed. 
 
 On the margin, "the valley of the mountains" is, more 
 correctly, " the valley of my mountains." They are all God's. 
 " By his strength he setteth fast the mountains, being girded 
 with power." And these "mountains round about Jerusa- 
 lem" were specially His, as forming His rampart for the pro- 
 tection of "the city which was called by His name." But 
 He could make a way to the city, for His agents in its over- 
 throw, and a way from the city for those who were the ob- 
 jects of His love, — a way of safety as sure as if Olivet had 
 been parted asunder for the purpose. 
 
 " And the Lord my God shall come, and. all the saints 
 with tlieer This is no uncommon mode of expression in 
 Scripture : God being often spoken of as coming in any 
 event of providence, — especially any event on Avliich impor- 
 tant results depend. It is used elsewhere, as well as here, 
 with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. And those 
 who are here called " the saints'' are elsewhere designated 
 the angels; the term meaning simply "the holy ones.'* 
 These are ever represented as the ministers of Jehovah's 
 throne ; waiting His orders, for missions of either mercy or 
 judgment, and attending upon Him, when represented after 
 the manner of men as Himself coming, or going, for the ex- 
 ecution of His purposes. There is, in the words before 
 us, a sudden and singular change of the 'pronoun, from the 
 third to the second person: — "The Lokd my God shall 
 come, and all the holy ones with thee." The most natural 
 account of this change is, that the mind of the Propliet, 
 having S23oken of Jehovah's coming, naturally rises to Je- 
 hovah Himself. For it seems manifest, that in the words 
 
/ 
 
 ZECHAEIAH XIV. 3—9 395 
 
 "ivith tliee'^ the person addressed is Jehovah. There is 
 something specially natural in this, when the preceding 
 terms of cqypropriatlon are considered — " Jehovah, my God, 
 shall come." Having spoken of him thus as liis God, his 
 heart and his eye are Hfted together to His tlirone. 
 
 The differences between the text and the margin are suffi- 
 cient to show that there was a felt obscurity in the sixth 
 verse; as indeed there still is, both in that and in those 
 which follow. The word rendered dear is on the margi-w 
 Ijvecious; and is moreover in the plural number : — that ren- 
 dered darlz is there thickness: — and the nor is supplementar}^ 
 It is not surprising, then, that different translators have 
 given different renderings.* On these I thought of offering 
 some remarks : but I shall rather dispense with them ; 
 and, taking our received version as, substantially, though 
 not, it may be, perfectly, giving the sense, shall endeavour 
 to bring it out by the illustration of a few consecutive ob- 
 servations. We have here, then — 
 
 1. A period of mingled light and darkness. It is not the 
 clearness of an unclouded day; neither is it the darkness of a 
 moonless and starless night. It is something between both ; 
 or a combination of both, — darkness here and light there. 
 And is not this a just representation of a long period in the 
 history of the Christian church and of the world, subsequent to 
 the events just mentioned — the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 the dispersion of the Jewish people? — It is true that Jesus 
 speaks of himself as " the Light of the world." It is true 
 that Joliii says, " The darkness is past, and the true light 
 now shineth." It is true, that the dispensation which had 
 then been introduced was, in comparison with that which 
 had preceded it, an age of light. But still, even before 
 the time of which Vv-e have been speaking, the clear light of 
 truth had begun to be obscured by the introduction of many 
 heresies. And so, to a great and growing extent, it con- 
 tinued; and continues to this hour. Wliat has character- 
 
 * For these the reader is referred to Hengstenterg and Henderson 
 on tlie passage. — Ed. 
 
896 LECTURE XXIII. 
 
 ised all the past centuries of the Christian era more strikingly, 
 than light struggling with darkness? — the darkness some- 
 times more and sometimes less dense : — the light at times 
 apparently in danger of entire extinction ; and then bright- 
 ening anew, and extending its rays further into the surround- 
 ing gloom? And while such has been the case within the 
 Cliiu'ch itself, the same may be said of the world at large, 
 considered as inclusive of the people of God. What has 
 there been — what is there now — but light struggUng with 
 darkness, — the light of " the glorious gospel of the blessed 
 God" struggling with the darkness of widely extended ido- 
 latry and superstition] Still, both as to the Church and as 
 to the world, the description answers — " the light is neither 
 clear, nor yet dark.'' It shines : but " it shineth in dark- 
 ness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." But still — 
 
 2. It is ^^ one day'' — a contlniious day; ncA^er, that is, giv- 
 ing way to absolute night, or unmingled darkness; but 
 varying in the amount of brightness and of shade, respec- 
 tively ; — sometimes the darkness threatening to have the 
 mastery; yet the day never declining into total night — 
 "But it shall be one day — not day, nor night." How 
 strikingly verified! Even in what have, too truly, been 
 called "the dark ages," there was day; it was not all 
 night. And then, what an increase of the day-light at the 
 Eeformation! Yet, it was not all day. There was still 
 darkness; and not a little of it, even within the Church. 
 And that darkness can hardly be said, in our own time, to be 
 diminishing. In some quarters, it is sadly thickening. Nor 
 has the light that shines in the Church as yet shone to such 
 an extent or with such effect, from the Church as to dispel 
 the darkness of heathen and Mahometan superstition and de- 
 lusion. It is still ^^ one day;'' but a day appropriately de- 
 scribed as ^''not day nor night;" a peculiar day, neither entirely 
 the one, nor entirely the other. We have noio, perhaps, 
 more than ever of clear light; and yet more than for cen- 
 turies of growmg heresy and strange superstition along with 
 it. Observe — 
 
 3. This day is " hnouii to the Lord:" the Lord, that is. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 3—9. 397 
 
 Las not seen meet to reveal it clearly and fully, — as to its 
 })recise duration. He had not intimated this to Zechariah. 
 That it was not the purpose of God that this should be dis- 
 tinctly known, till it should come to be made manifest by 
 the event, is sufficiently clear from the simple fact of the va- 
 ricty of interpretations which, even by critics, expositors, 
 and calculators of eminence, have been put upon such pro- 
 })hetic notices as are actually given ; so many of wliich have, 
 in their turns, been proved fallacious by the time fixed pass- 
 ing by without any symptoms of the confidently expected 
 event. We liave a comment, indeed, upon the words before 
 us from the lips of our divine Master himself. "Wlien the 
 disciples put the question after His resurrection — "Lord, 
 wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Is- 
 rael]" His reply was — "It is not for you to know the 
 times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his 
 own power."'"" Such was the case with the ancient Prophets 
 themselves, when predicting the events of " the fulness of 
 the time : " — " Of which salvation the prophets have enquired 
 and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that 
 should come unto you : searching what, or what manner of 
 time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, 
 when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the 
 glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that 
 not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the 
 things which are now reported unto you by them that have 
 preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent dowu 
 from heaven." t The meaning seems to be that they came to 
 know that these events were not to be in their oicn day, but 
 were in reserve for a future generation. And thus it is with 
 regard to Christ's second coining; though the words I am 
 about to quote are by some understood to refer to the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem, the subject of the earher portion of 
 our Lord's address — " But of that day and that hour know- 
 eth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father 
 only." J He who " knoweth the end from the beginning" 
 
 * Acts i. 6, 7. t 1 Pet. i. 10—12. ; Matt. xxiv. 36. 
 
S98 LECTURE XXIII. 
 
 has "determined the times before appointed;" and in the 
 unfoldings of His providential administration, will bring 
 about His own ends in His own times ; when the precise cor- 
 respondence of the prophetic and the real seasons will be 
 made fully apparent. Let us bear in mind the counsel given 
 to Daniel when solicitous for further information, he ex- 
 claimed, " ni}^ Lord, what shall be the end of these 
 things'?" — "Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed 
 up and sealed till the time of the end," . . . "Go thou 
 thy way till the end be : for thou shalt rest, and stand in 
 thy lot at the end of the days."* 
 
 4. Observe what is to happen towards the close of this 
 long day : — "But it shall come to pass, that at evening-time 
 it shall he lights Evening-time is the season of twilight, — 
 of sinking light, and approaching darkness. But it shall 
 not be so in regard to this day. When it draws toward the 
 end of the predicted period, instead of the light becoming 
 still obscurer, it "will suddenly brighten ; spread with speed ; 
 and prevail over the darkness : — instead of decUning to the 
 darkness of night, the day shall suddenly turn, and the 
 light of "the Sun of righteousness" shine more clearly and 
 extensively. The hght of truth shall take the place of the 
 darkness of ignorance, superstition, and error; and every- 
 where men shall appear "walking in the light of the Lord." 
 The season is that so frequently predicted and promised, when 
 toward the close of the day of the world's duration, — the day 
 of mingled light and darkness, " the light of the knowledge 
 of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters do 
 the seas;" when "all shall know Him from the least to 
 the greatest;" when this light of knowledge shall produce, 
 wherever it comes, the light of hohness, of moral and spir- 
 itual purity; and when the blended light of knowledge and 
 holiness shall bring with it the light of universal joy. And, 
 as the " evening time " is the time of stillness, and peaceful- 
 ness, and repose, the coming season shall be the time of 
 
 * Dan. xii. 8, 9, 13. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 3- 9. 390 
 
 the cessation of all disquietude and turbulence and strife, — 
 the season of harmony, tranquilUty, and rest. 
 
 5. We have next, though under a different figure, the 
 influence of the converted seed of Abraham, when restored 
 to their city and land, in hastening forward this happy time : 
 — verse 8. " And it shall be in that day, that living waters 
 shall go out from Jerusalem ; half of them toward the for- 
 mer sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea : in sum- 
 mer and in winter shall it be." Some indeed consider these 
 words as referring to the first flowing forth of the streams 
 of gospel truth and gos^^el blessing from Jerusalem, after 
 our Lord's ascension. But the connexion — the position 
 in which the words stand — induce me to prefer the other 
 interpretation, " Living waters" is a Hebraism for spring- 
 ing and running water.* It is a common emblem for divine 
 truth, and the blessings which accomjiany its diffusion. And 
 a beautiful emblem it is. What would our world be with- 
 out v/ater? Take it away; and the fair face of nature is 
 stripped of its varied loveliness, and becomes a scene of 
 universal sterility. Every form of animal and vegetable life 
 becomes extinct. All is desolation and death. Thus it is 
 in the spiritual world. But for the ''living waters" of divine 
 truth, all is barrenness, — moral waste — spiritual death. It 
 is where the "living waters" flow, that the scenes of pro- 
 phetic poetry are realized. All lives. " The mountains and 
 the hills break forth into singing, and all the trees of the 
 field clap their hands : instead of the thorn comes up the 
 fir-tree, and instead of the briar the myrtle-tree. "t These 
 "living waters" are then, as in "the beginning of the Gos- 
 pel," to " go forth from Jerusalem.'" ]N"othing can be more 
 natural, than that the Jewish people, when converted and 
 restored, — Avhile mourning for their unbelief and rebellion 
 against "Jehovah and his Anointed," should be anxious 
 to redeem the past ; should become zealous for the diffusion 
 of that truth which they had so long rejected; should thus 
 
 * Thus, in Gen. xxvi. 19. "a well of springing water" is on the 
 margin living waters. 
 
 t Isa. Iv. 12, 13. 
 
400 LECTURE XXIII. 
 
 become active missionaries of the Cross; and that the evi- 
 dence which their own history, and the fulfihnent of pro- 
 phecy suppHed by their long dispersion and their final in- 
 gathering, afford of the divine origin of the Gospel, should 
 render them, by the aids of the Divine Spirit, specially 
 successful. And mark two t/u'vr/s in what is here said 
 of the forth-going of these waters : — First, they " go 
 forth" in every direction; "half toward the former (or East- 
 ern) sea, and half toward the hinder (or Western) sea:" 
 that is, the Dead Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea; — de- 
 signated as they are here " the former and the hinder sea," 
 because an inhabitant of Jerusalem, looking eastward, has 
 the Dead Sea before him, and the ^lediterranean behind him. 
 The general meaning seems to be, that the waters should flow 
 forth in all directions. Then secondly, observe, the persever- 
 ing constancy of their diffusion of saving knowledge : — " In 
 summer and in mnter it shall be." All the year round, the 
 healing and fructifying streams shall make their way. The 
 heats of summer shall not dry them; nor shall the frosts 
 of winter bind and arrest them. Tliey sliall flow forth freely 
 at all seasons, carrying spiritual fertility and verdure to every 
 quarter, — turning "the desolate heritages of the Gentile 
 world," into "the garden of the Lord" We have tlien — 
 
 6. The final issue: — "And the Lord shall be king over 
 all the earth : in that day shall there be one Lord, and 
 his name one." In one sense, it was never otherwise. Je- 
 hovah has been, since tlie world's creation, " King over all 
 the earth." It has ever been under His control. But 
 in this verse there is included in the idea of kingly 
 power that of willing subjection. He shall then be the 
 universally acknowledged King. The world is a world 
 of rebels; of ai:)ostates from God, in His rightful autho- 
 rity and His exclusive worship. Then " all the ends (.>f 
 the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord." "All 
 nations shall serve Him." The divine Redeemer, who now 
 erigns " at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in 
 the heavens," shall sway His sceptre over a world of will- 
 ing and happy sul)jects. And " the idols shall be utterly 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 3—9. 401 
 
 abolished." The "gods many and lords many" of heathen 
 worship shall all be disowned ; *' cast to the moles and the 
 bats," — the apt emblems of the blindness that has worshipped 
 them. "There shall be one Jehovah" — "and his name 
 
 ONE." * 
 
 In conclusion: — 
 
 1. Although we have recognized a principle of the divine 
 administration, — a principle applicable to both nations and 
 individuals, — namely, the principle of judicial retrihution ; 
 — it is necessary for us to take along with this recognition 
 the lesson of caution in regard to its application. Amidst 
 the complication of events, and their mutual dependencies, 
 in divine providence, and their frequently remote and mingled 
 operation on the condition of both persons and peoples, such 
 appHcation is quite beyond our limited faculties; subject too, 
 as those faculties are, to an endless variety of biassing influ- 
 ences. There are some persons who are by much too fond 
 of finding, in every calamity, a special judgment; of con- 
 necting particular visitations with particular sins. Now, there 
 may be, and there unquestionably are, cases in which God is 
 pleased so manifestly to connect the two, that not to see and 
 not to own it, would be impiety. But such cases are com- 
 paratively rare. What we find fault with is, the presumptuous 
 rashness of those who, pretending to superior sagacity, see 
 connexions, as if they had a divinely imparted intuition, such 
 as other minds, in their vain conceit less discerning, but really 
 only more modest and self-diffident, cannot discover; and by 
 whom every calamity is a judgment, which they are never at 
 any loss to trace to some special sin of which it is the judicial 
 consequence. This is a species of casuistry, in which it is 
 
 * This language has been hypercritically found fault with ; as if it 
 implied that previously there had been more Jehovahs than one; and 
 the translation has been substituted—" In that day, Jehovah shall be 
 alone, and his name alone." Did ever a reader of our English transla- 
 tion imagine it meant anything else than this ? I rather prefer it ; 
 because there seems to be an intended allusion to the terms of the 
 Mosaic constitution of doctrine and worship ; in which the unity of 
 Jehovah, as the one and only God, was the primary article, Deut. vi. 4 
 — " Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;" rendered by 
 some — " Jehovah is our God; Jehovah is one." 
 
 2 
 
402 LECTUPvE XX III. 
 
 very hazardous to deal. Our divine Master expressly warns 
 us against it : — " There were present at that season some that 
 told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled 
 with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering, said unto them. 
 Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the 
 GaHleans, because they suffered such things 1 I tell you, 
 Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or 
 those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew 
 them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that 
 dwelt in Jerusalem ]" * Let us deal cautiously in judging 
 others; and in judging ourselves, instead of trying to find 
 out any one sin for wliich we are " chastened of the Lord," 
 seek to have all our evil propensities together crucified in us, 
 and " the body of sin destroyed." 
 
 2. Let us be more deeply impressed with the duty of 
 " having faith in God ; " — such faith as will enable us, when- 
 ever the path of duty is clear before us, to trust Him, and go 
 forward. When duty is imperative, we must not conjure up 
 " lions in the way," and shrink from action. Difficulties are 
 not to be regarded where divine orders are explicit. He can 
 cleave the mountain and the flood before an obeying and 
 trusting people. When the Israehtes were hemmed in by 
 the mountains on either side of them, the Egyptian hosts 
 behind them, and the impassable sea before them, what 
 were they to do ? The divine order was, " Speak unto the 
 people that they go forwardr This, therefore, became their 
 duty, — committing themselves to God, — that God who, by 
 "a strong hand and stretched-out arm," had rescued them 
 from the cruel bondage of Egypt. They went forward; 
 the sea pa,rted before them, and they " went through the 
 flood on foot," — the waters being a " wall to them on their 
 right hand and on their left." And so, the command of 
 their Lord made it the duty of the Christian Jews to flee 
 from the impending overthrow of Jerusalem. He who gave 
 the order made the way; providing for their safe escape ag 
 wonderfully and eifectually as if he had cleft mountains into 
 
 * Luke xiii. 1 — 4. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 3—9. 403 
 
 valleys to open their path. Thus, -when God calls, let us 
 not linger. Let no fear detain us. Let us " go forward," 
 and look to Him to clear our way, and to be our guide and 
 l)rotector. He has promised — " I will bring the blind by a 
 way that they know not, and in paths that they have not 
 known : I will make darkness light before them, and crooked 
 things straight : these things will I do unto them, and not 
 forsake them." 
 
 3, Our present state, individually, bears resemblance to the 
 condition, as here described, of the Church and the world. 
 It is a state of mingled light and darkness; and that, both 
 as it respects knowledge, and as it respects happiness. "We 
 know in part ; we enjoy in part. It is not all light with us, 
 nor is it all darkness. There is much ignorance mingled with 
 our knowledge, and much suffering and sadness with our joy. 
 Let it be our desire and prayer, that " at evening-time it may 
 be light : " that when the day of life draws to its close, the 
 Saviour may " manifest himself to us as he doth not unto 
 the world;" that our vision may be clear, and the objects of 
 faith and hope brightly apparent; — that the evening-time 
 may thus be the opening of day, — of that " blessed day 
 which knows no morrow," — the "one day" of eternity, — 
 the cloudless and nndeclining day of that world, where we 
 shall see, not "through a glass darkly, but face to face;" — 
 where we shall " know," not " in part," but " even as we are 
 known" — that blessed world 
 
 " Where faith is sweetly lost in sight, 
 And hope in full supreme delight, 
 And everlasting love !" 
 
 4. How delightful to piefij and to henevolence to have the 
 divine assurance of a period of light awaiting the Church and 
 the world ! — the light of knowledge, and purity, and felicity, 
 triumphing over, and chasing fully away the darkness of 
 ignorance, unholiness, and misery ! The glory of God is 
 dear to piety ; the happiness of men is dear to benevolence. 
 Amidst all that may be strange and perplexing in the present 
 position and aspects of the Church, amidst the partially cheer- 
 
404 LECTURE XXTII 
 
 ing and the partially disheartening and alarming, let us still 
 be looking onwards to the coming day, — when, amid the 
 gathering shadows of the evening, " the Sun op righteous- 
 ness" shall shine forth in unclouded splendour; — when "the 
 light of that Sun shall be as the light of seven days." And, 
 having drunk of the "living waters" ourselves, and experi- 
 enced their life-giving virtue, let us seek, by every means 
 in our power, to send them forth in all directions, for 
 the revival of the Church at large, and for the healing 
 and life of the nations. When blessed ourselves, it is 
 that we may be a blessing. And while we open chan- 
 nels for these " waters of life " in heathen lands to Avater 
 "the desolate heritages of the Gentiles," let us not over- 
 look the sacred duty, of seeking a channel by which we may 
 cause them to return to the land from Avhich they originally 
 flowed; that the people to whom we owe them may share 
 with us in the joy ! Meanwhile to you " the Spirit and the 
 bride say. Come. And let him that heareth say. Come. 
 And let him that is atliirst come. And whosoever will, let 
 him take the water of life freelv." 
 
LECTURE XXIV 
 
 ZixH. XIV. 10—19. 
 
 "All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Riiniuon, south of Jern- 
 salem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's 
 gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from tlie tower 
 of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there 
 shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. 
 And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that 
 have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they 
 stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their 
 tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that 
 day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them ; and they shall 
 lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up 
 against the hand of his neighbour. And Judah al.<o shall tight at Jerusalem ; 
 and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, 
 and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the 
 liorse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall 
 be in these tents, as this plague. And it shall come to pass, that every one that 
 is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from 
 year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of 
 tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up ot all the families of 
 the earth unto Jemsalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon 
 them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, 
 that have no rain ; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite 
 the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall he 
 the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up 
 to keep the feast of tabeniacles." 
 
 The representation in the fourth verse of Jehovah taking His 
 stand on the Mount of OHves, cleaving it in the midst, and 
 parting it hither and thither into a valley, we interpreted as 
 a bold figure, expressing the interjjosition of divine omnipo- 
 
406 LECTURE XXIV 
 
 tence to facilitate and ensure the escape of the followers of 
 Christ among the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the im- 
 pending destruction of the city. We might have adduced, 
 in confirmation of its figurative character, the occurrence of 
 a similar figure in a previous part of the Book — " Who art 
 thou, great mountain] before Zerubbabel thou shalt be- 
 come a plain."* And we now adduce also the first of these 
 verses: — "All the land sliall be turned as a plain, from 
 Geba to Eimmon, south of Jerusalem ; and it shall be lifted 
 up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto 
 the place of the first gate, unto the corner-gate, and from the 
 tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine-presses." Dr. Hen- 
 derson renders ^^ the land'' here as in the verse preceding, the 
 earth: — "All the earth shall be changed as it were into the 
 plain from Geba to Eimmon, south of Jerusalem;" and makes 
 the following comment — " These verses intimate that every 
 obstruction shall be removed which prevents the free an<l 
 full flow of the 'living waters' throughout the world. What 
 is high shall be levelled, and what is low shall be elevated. 
 This idea was suggested by the natural impossibility of 
 water flowing in a westerly direction from Jerusalem to the 
 Mediterranean, owing to the hilly country which intervenes." 
 The close connexion of the representation with the flowing 
 forth of the "living waters" from Jerusalem, imparts more 
 than a merely plausible ingenuity to this explanation. It 
 is probably the true one. The interpretation of Scott seems 
 less natural : — " About the same time such a change will be 
 made in the condition, disposition, and character of the Jews, 
 as great as if a large district should be entirely levelled to a 
 plain; the mountains being cast down, and the valleys filled 
 np. Every outward or inward obstruction to their conver- 
 sion and restoration to their own land, will be effectually re- 
 moved." This onay be the meaning; but I prefer the for- 
 mer. "Geba" was a town in the northern, and "Eimmon," 
 not the rock Eimmon near to Michmash, but a to^vn of the 
 tribe of Simeon, in the southern district of Palestine. 
 
 * Chap. iv. 7. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 10—19. 407 
 
 The expression — " it shall be lifted up, " seems as if it re- 
 ferred to the plain. But this cannot be. The antecedent is 
 Jerusalem. The idea is that the city shall be exalted; 
 raised, that is, by Jehovah in distinction and honour. Then 
 follows another very explicit assurance of its being again 
 inhabited. We shall enter on no attempt to settle the pre- 
 cise localities of the different gates and parts of the city 
 here named, — respecting which there is not a little difficulty ; 
 — the entire overthrow of the city having necessarily, for 
 many a day, obliterated all traces of them, such as might 
 have fixed their relative positions. It is a matter of no mo- 
 ment. Let a single remark suffice — tliat the very minute- 
 ness of the specification of the different points in the circuit 
 of the city renders it the less likely that the language is to 
 be interpreted altogether spiritually. It is indeed no easy 
 matter to imagine that such expressions as that in the close 
 of chapter twelfth : — " Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in 
 her own place, even in Jerusalem;" and the no less — per- 
 haps I might say the still more, pointed terms of the two 
 verses now before us, should be interpreted as meaning that 
 Jerusalem should not be inhabited at all; or that it should 
 not be inhabited hy its own aiyproiwiate people — the seed 
 of Abraham. The \vords here contain not only a promise of 
 its being inhabited, and of its being inhabited in security and 
 in peace, but of its permanence from that time : — " tliere 
 shall he no more utter destruction^ It had been desolated 
 at the time of the Babylonish captivity; and still more 
 thoroughly desolated by tlic assault of the arms of Eomo, 
 when "the wrath came upon it to the uttermost." When 
 rebuilt and re-peopled in the latter days, it shall never be 
 overthrown again; but shall be "safely inhabited." And 
 that this language is to be understood literally, might be 
 further argued from the circumstance that what is said in 
 the opening verses of the chapter respecting the siege, and 
 capture, and destruction of Jerusalem, is so understood by all. 
 Surely nothing can well be more unnatural and arbitrary than 
 the interpretation of the one as meaning just wdiat the words 
 express, and of the other as meaning nothing of the kind, but 
 
408 LECTURE XXIV. 
 
 only the spiritual conversion of the people, without any re- 
 ference to the occupation of the city ! If the prediction of 
 the city's capture and desolation was fulfilled by the actual 
 coming to pass of the events, the prediction of its restoration 
 and reoccupancy will be fulfilled in like manner, by its be- 
 ing actually regained and repeopled. 
 
 To enter with minuteness into the precise import of 
 the terms of unfulfilled prophecy, and still more to af- 
 firm such precise import with a confident dogmatism, 
 would be unwarrantable presumption; and it would, more- 
 over, be inconsistent with the very principle on which pro- 
 phetic phraseology is constructed, and to which we have 
 had already occasion to refer; — the principle, namely, of 
 leaving such a degree of uncertainty and ambiguity in it 
 as may prevent collusion on the one hand for the fulfil- 
 ment of the prediction, and combination on the other for 
 its hindrance and failure ; while, at the same time, such a 
 measure of clearness remains as is sufiicient to awaken and 
 keep alive expectation, and to render the accomplishment 
 manifest when it does happen. The remark requires to be 
 specially kept in mind, in regard to such portions of the 
 prophetic writings as that wdiich immediately follows: — ■ 
 " And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will 
 smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; 
 Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their 
 feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and 
 their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it 
 shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from 
 the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold 
 every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand 
 shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. And Ju- 
 dah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all 
 the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, 
 and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. And so shall 
 be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and 
 of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, 
 as this plague." 
 
 It must first of all be observed, that the '^fighting against 
 
ZECHAllIAII XIV. 10—19. 409 
 
 Jerusalem " here mentioned, is not at all the same fighting 
 as that spoken of in the beginning of the chapter. The 
 results of each, it will be at once apparent, are not only 
 different, but opposite. In the one case, the enemies of 
 Judah and Jerusalem triumph ; and the city is destroyed, 
 and the people scattered, like " the chaff of the thrashing- 
 floor;" while in the other, the people that Avere before dis- 
 comfited become the conquerors, — beat back their enemies, 
 and take possession of their city. The fighting here spoken 
 of is that which takes place, to prevent the re-occupation and 
 renewed possession of their city and land by the restored 
 seed of Abraham. It is the same with that described in 
 the twelfth chapter.* 
 
 The question instantly suggests itself — Is the description 
 of the plague with which the enemies of the Jews are to 
 be smitten to be understood literally ? — or does it only sig- 
 nify, under the frightful figure of such a consuming skeleton, 
 their being visited with severe and wasting enfeeblement, 
 pestilence, and death ? And the only answer we can give 
 to such questions is — that " the day icill declare it.'' The 
 probability, however, is, that the description is to be under- 
 stood of such a thorough consumption of all kinds of ser- 
 viceable power, as shall render every effort imbecile and 
 unavailing; and such a gradual sweeping of their hosts 
 into the grave, as shall make the triumph of those whom 
 they assail easy; all, at the same time, coming in such 
 a way as to make it manifest that it is the visitation of 
 God. This view of the matter receives confirmation from 
 the circumstance, that in verse fifteenth the same plague 
 is represented as coming on man and brute alike — " So shall 
 be the plague of the horse, of the nnile, of the camel, and of 
 the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as 
 this plague." If it shall not be strictly and properly mira- 
 ctdous, it shall, at any rate, be so extraordinary as to admit 
 of no doubt of its being a direct divine infliction. 
 
 This " plague " — this disabling, wasting, death-dealing con- 
 
 * Chap. xii. 1—9. 
 
410 LECTURE XXIV. 
 
 sumption — is the fu-dt of the divine visitations here mentioned. 
 We have then another in the thirteenth verse — " It shall come 
 to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall 
 he among them; and they shall lay hold every one on 
 the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise uj) 
 against the hand of his neighbour." That is, God would send 
 them, by incidents among themselves which could not fail 
 to produce the effect, and which are always in His power, sucli 
 confusion of counsels, — such mutual misunderstanding, — 
 such consequent irritations and animosities, as should divide 
 their strength, and set them in hostile conflict against one 
 another; so that confidence should be disappointed and de- 
 stroyed, — opposition and destruction being experienced where 
 protection and security were expected. This appears to be the 
 import of the latter portion of the verse, " They shall lay 
 hold every one on the hand of his neighbour "' — for co-ope- 
 ration and aid; and, instead of finding it, they shall find in 
 that very hand the hand of a foe : — " his hand," instead of 
 being ready for help and protection, " shall be lifted up 
 against the hand of his neighboiu?." 
 
 In such ways will Jehovah, in that coming time, crown 
 the arms of His people, when different nations shall set them- 
 selves against them, with easy, and with signal and com- 
 plete success. It is not exactly a case like that of their 
 fathers at the Eed sea, when they were commanded to " stand 
 still and see the deliverance which the Lord was to work;" 
 — Avhen Pie " fought for them, and they held their jDeace." 
 In that case, they were to do nothing, but simply to " go for- 
 ward," letting Jehovah fulfil his own word in his own way. 
 Here they are to fight; while their God is to fight /c^r them, 
 but tvith them and by them at the same time. And He is to 
 enrich them with the abundant spoil of their many enemies : 
 — verse 1 4. " Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem ; and 
 the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered 
 together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance." 
 
 It is remarkable how the prophets " at sundry times and 
 in diverse manners " make mention of this hostile opposition 
 to the re-settlement of the Jews in their own city, and the 
 
ZECIIAHIAH XIV. 10-19. 411 
 
 signal discomfiture and destruction of their enemies, through 
 the manifest interposition of divine power in their behalf. 
 In the thirty- eighth chapter of Ezekiel, for example, after an 
 allusion to the nations that should take this hostile position 
 against them, Jehovah is represented as thus speaking: — 
 " Son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith 
 the Lord God, In that day when my people of Israel 
 dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt 
 come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and 
 many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, 
 a great company and a mighty army : and thou shalt come 
 up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the 
 land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee 
 against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I 
 shall be sanctified in thee, Gog, before their eyes. Thus 
 saith the Lord God, Art thou he of Avhom I have spoken in 
 old time by my servants tlie prophets of Israel, which pro- 
 phesied in those days many years, that I would bring thee 
 against them? And it shall come to pass at the same time 
 when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the 
 Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in 
 my jealousy, and in the fire of my wrath, have I spoken. 
 Surely in that day there shall be a gieat shaking in the land 
 of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the 
 heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things 
 that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the 
 face of the earth, shall shake at my presence; and the moun- 
 tains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, 
 and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for 
 a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the 
 Lord God : every man's sword shall be against his brother. 
 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood ; 
 and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the 
 many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and 
 great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify 
 myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the 
 eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am the 
 
412 LECTURE XXIV. 
 
 Lord."* Mark here the correspondence of the "throwing 
 down of the mountains, and the falling of the steep places," 
 and " all the earth being turned up as a plain " in the pas- 
 sage before us ; — and of " every man's sword being against 
 his brother," with " every man's hand being lifted up against 
 the hand of his neighbour;" — as well as the grand general 
 correspondence of the gathering of the peoples against Jeru- 
 salem, and their divinely effected overthrow.t 
 
 We have next the consequence of this, in regard to the 
 nations that have taken part against the Jews, and have been 
 divinely smitten and discomfited. They shall be humbled; 
 their pride cast down ; their lofty looks abased. They shall 
 be brought to acknowledge Jehovah, and to take part as 
 friends and allies, in the worship of the people whom they 
 had sought to destroy : — verse 1 6. " And it shall come 
 to pass, that after every one that is left of all the nations 
 which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year 
 to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep 
 the feast of tabernacles." Here, had it been merely said — 
 " They shall go up from year to year to worsliip the King, 
 Jehovah of hosts," there Avould have been comparatively 
 little difficulty. But the additional words, " and to keep 
 the feast of tabernacles,^' sound so much like a revival of the 
 ancient Jewish ceremonial — and the more es]Decially as " the 
 feast of tabernacles " was j)artly celebrated by the offering 
 of various sacrifices, — that we are naturally startled. The 
 inquiry forces itself upon us, — and it is one of siu-prise — ■ 
 "What] are the Jews, when restored, to celebrate their Old 
 Testament festivals? and are Gentiles to unite with them in 
 such celebration?" 
 
 Now, from the entire tenor of the JS"ew Testament, and 
 from many explicit portions of it, we feel ourselves fully war- 
 ranted in assuming, as a settled principle, that the ceremonial 
 law, considered as prefiguring the " better things that were to 
 come " at " the fulness of time," was finally abolished when 
 tliese " better things " did come ; when in the work of Jesus 
 
 * Ezek. xxxviii. 14 — 23. f See this too in Ezek. xxxix. &c. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 10—19. 413 
 
 and the outpouring of the Spirit, the types found their ful- 
 filment. The moment that Jesus said " It is finished," 
 *' bowed his head, and gave up the ghost," and " the vail of 
 the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom " 
 — the whole system of typical institutions was virtually ab- 
 rogated : — " The sacrifice and oblation were made to cease :" 
 there was to be " no more sacrifice for sins." The " meats 
 and drinks, and diverse washings were imposed on them 
 until the time of reformation." When that time came, they 
 ceased to have any object, and were set aside. That which 
 was "decaying and waxing old vanished away." To off'er 
 animal sacrifices now would be a " returning to the weak and 
 beggarly elements " — to the " nonage " and " bondage " of 
 the Church, and virtually to disown the sacrifice of Tmmanuel. 
 The JSTew Testament has its own few and simple symbolical 
 rites ; but "the types are all withdrawn." Were we to 
 adopt the theory that the Jews were to be restored to Jeru- 
 salem in their unconverted state, then we could readily con- 
 ceive that the very fii^st thing they would set about would 
 be, the rebuilding of their temple, and the re-institution of 
 its entire ceremonial. But this theory, on grounds formerly 
 explained, we have rejected. And, when they are regarded 
 as believers in the Messiahship and the Savioursliip of 
 Jesus of J^azareth, and in the efiicacy of His blood, as that 
 of " the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the 
 world," — to imagine them going back to the rites of the old 
 covenant, erecting their altars, slaying their victims, carrying 
 the blood and the incense before the mercy seat, and sprink- 
 ling the unclean with " the blood of bulls and of goats, and 
 the ashes of an heifer," — is, in the extreme, preposterous and 
 contradictory. If by the fact of the high-priest's annual en- 
 trance into the Holy of Holies, to ofier blood " for himself and 
 for the errors of the people," — " the Holy Ghost tliis signified, 
 that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made mani- 
 fest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing;" — surely 
 the re-institution of that ceremony would amount to denying 
 that '* the way into the holiest was made manifest " even yet. 
 Such a thing cannot he. 
 
414 LECTURE XXIV. 
 
 Were it really meant, in the passage before us, that the 
 rites of Judaism were to be re-instituted, we should surely 
 have had others of those rites besides " the feast of taber- 
 nacles" specified. It alone is mentioned. Let us look at 
 the account we have of it: — "And the Lord spake unto 
 Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, 
 The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of 
 tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day 
 shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work 
 therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire 
 unto the Lord : on the eighth day shall be an holy convoca- 
 tion unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire 
 unto the Lord : it is a solemn assembly ; and ye shall do no 
 servile work therein. These are the feasts of the Lord, 
 which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an 
 offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a 
 meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon 
 his day : beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your 
 gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill 
 offerings, which ye give unto the Lord. Also in the fifteenth 
 day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit 
 of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days : 
 on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day 
 shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day 
 the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the 
 boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook ; and ye shall 
 rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. And ye shall 
 keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It 
 shall be a statute for ever in your generations : ye shall cele- 
 brate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths 
 seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 
 that your generations may know that I made the children of 
 Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the 
 land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."* We learn from 
 this, that it was a feast in commemoration of the deliverance 
 of Israel from the bondage and misery of Egypt. J^ow, at 
 
 * Lev. xxiii. 33—43. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 10—19. 415 
 
 tlie time to which the Prophet looks forward, they were to 
 be the subjects of another deliverance, — a deliverance from a 
 divine visitation of still longer continuance and more appa- 
 rent hopelessness. lAHien they should then "keep the feast of 
 tabernacles," it would be in commemorative celebration of 
 both ; the one being added to, or united with, the other, in 
 their grateful adorations. Or, I might saj'-, there being a union 
 of three successive deliverances — from Egypt, from Babylon, 
 and from their dispersion among the nations. This will be on 
 the same principle on which the rest of the Sabbath on "the first 
 day of the week" is commemorative of the finished work of 
 7'edem2Dtion, along ivith the finished work of creation. And 
 in such a celebration there is no difficulty in imagining 
 Gentiles, as fellow-believers in the same God and the same 
 Saviour, uniting with the restored seed of Abraham, The 
 only difficulty arises from the prescribed sacrifices which 
 formed a part of the observances connected \with this ancient 
 festival. We conceive, however, for the reasons just stated, 
 that "sacrifice and offering" being set aside, — such a festival 
 can be celebrated only in conformity to the principles of the 
 !N"ew Dispensation. I heartily go along with the following 
 views of Dr. Henderson ; — " It is worthy of notice, that the 
 feast of tabernacles, or of booths, is the only one of all the 
 Jewish festivals which is represented in this prophecy as being 
 observed at the time therein specified. No mention is made 
 of the great day of atonement, the passover, the Pentecost, &c. 
 These have all been superseded by their fulfilment, as types, 
 in the substantial blessings of the Christian Economy. Their 
 re-establishment would be a denial of the reality or efficacy 
 of their antitypes. It may, however, be asked, Wliy should 
 the feast of tabernacles form an exception ? To this it may 
 be replied, first, that such a festival may be observed, 
 without any compromise of the principles of the ZS'ew Dis- 
 pensation. Secondly, it may be considered as peculiarly 
 adapted to the retrospections of the converted Jews; Avho 
 will have to commemorate the sojourn of their fathers, not 
 merely for forty years in the wilderness, but their sojourn for 
 two thousand years in the countries of their dispersion: — 
 
416 LECTURE XXIV. 
 
 and, thirdly, may serve as a striking memento to tliem, 
 that though they have been restored to the rest of Canaan, 
 they are still only strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, and 
 that there yet remaineth a rest for the people of God. In 
 this point of view, believing Gentiles, who may go up to the 
 festival, can find no difficulty in celebrating it with them to 
 their mutual edification. That the sacrifices which were 
 offered at that feast, or any other animal sacrifices, will then 
 be renewed, is a position, to maintain which would be to 
 counteract the express design, and contradict the express 
 declarations, of the dispensation of grace." This last sen- 
 tence amounts to the same thing with what has been already 
 said, that such celebration should be regarded as exclusive of 
 whatever was formerly connected with it, that is incompatible 
 with the spiritual character of the New Testament. If we 
 have clear proof, as I am more than satisfied we have, that 
 the offering now of animal sacrifices would be subversive Of 
 the entire scheme of divine institution, — such restriction is no 
 more than the establishment of this renders, not necessary 
 only to suit our interpretation, but manifestly fair and 
 natural. 
 
 The representation, it has been observed, is restricted to 
 those peoples that had set themselves against the re-settle- 
 ment of the Jews in their land and city, and had taken up 
 arms to prevent it. It is not of the Gentiles generally, but 
 of those nations specially, that it is here said they shall go 
 annually to Jerusalem for the purpose mentioned. This con- 
 veys the idea, that God will humble and abase them; — 
 making the manifestations given them of His favour for His 
 people effectual in bringing them to own and worship Him — 
 the God of Israel — a^ the only God, and to acknowledge those 
 whom they had guiltily combined to crush as the objects of 
 His special regard and protecting care. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say — because it is a manifest 
 impossibility, and no one is likely to imagine it, — that when 
 " every one that is left of all the nations that came against 
 Jerusalem," is represented as "going up to keep this feast," 
 it is to be undiTstood as meaning that every individual 
 
ZECHArvIAII XIV. 10—19. 417 
 
 inhabitant of those countries is to go uj^, — the entire popu- 
 lation, young and old, male and female, sick and sound, neces 
 sarily engaged, or at leisure and at liberty ! Wliat is in- 
 tended evidently is, that by all those peoples there will be 
 such an acknowledgment of Jehovah, and such homage paid 
 Him ; — either by commissioned representatives or by numbers 
 of voluntary worshippers assembling at the Holy City, for the 
 purpose of holding communion with the "chosen people," — 
 honour being put upon them, as, though no longer exclusively, 
 yet still with a special peculiarit}^, — " beloved for the fathers' 
 sakes," — the people of God. 
 
 The only thing we can further notice, at present, is the 
 punisliment of those by whom such aclaiowledgment of Je- 
 hovah, as the God of Israel and the God of the whole 
 earth, is neglected or declined: "It shall be, that whoso 
 will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jeru- 
 salem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon 
 them shall be no rain." This, you at once perceive, is a 
 punishment which could be inflicted by no one but God 
 liimself. From no other hand than His could it come. It is 
 He alone who " gives rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, 
 filling men's hearts with food and gladness.'' It is He alone 
 who, in regard to any country, can, in righteous retribution, 
 " command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it." 
 Men may not see and own the hand of God in such 
 visitations. They may impute them to the operation of 
 natural laws, — second causes. But men's blindness does 
 not change the truth of things. It will still be God's 
 doing ; His doing in righteous retribution, not in sovereignty. 
 " Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see — but 
 they shall see, and be ashamed." 
 
 The Egyptians are distinctively introduced, because, of 
 old, the special oppressors and enemies of Israel. Tliey too 
 should experience the same plague. Though without rain 
 in their own country, their river, by whose overflowings 
 their country was watered and enriched, was necessarily 
 dependent for its supplies on the rains of other coun- 
 tries. The failure of rain in Ethiopia would be to them, in 
 
 2d 
 
418 LECTURE XXIV. 
 
 effect, the same judgment; cutting off the supplies of the 
 Nile. Dr. Henderson, accordingly, and I think correctly, 
 translates thus — (the expression in our version — " who 
 have no rain" — short as it is, having two supplements, 
 as appears from the Italics and the margin) — "And if 
 the family of Eg3^pt should not go up, nor come, Upon 
 them also there shall he none; there shall be upon them the 
 plague with which Jehovah shall plague the nations that 
 will not go up to celebrate the feast of tabernacles." 
 In conclusion, observe — 
 
 1. Nothing can prevent the accomplishment of Gods 
 purposes. It is His to say, " My counsel shall stand, 
 and I will do all my pleasure." His language is that 
 of mighty and majestic defiance — " Who will set the briers 
 and the thorns against me in battle 1 I would go through 
 them : I would burn them up together." He " maketh the 
 wrath of man to praise him ; and the remainder of wrath he 
 restrains." Wliat may appear obstacles — and obstacles to 
 the eye of man insuperable. He not merely removes, but 
 even, in the mysterious workings of his providence, renders 
 subservient to the accomplishment of his ends. Whether 
 the pathway He needs be for judgment or for mercy, nothing 
 can stand before him. " Every A^alley is exalted ; every 
 mountain and hill are made low: the crooked are made 
 straight, and the rough places plain." His blessing and His 
 curse reach their destination with equal certainty. He can 
 ojDen a channel with equal ease for the floods of vengeance, 
 or for the "living waters of salvation." His promises and 
 liis threatenings are equally sure, '^o power in the universe 
 can. prevent the gracious fulfilment of the one, or the right- 
 eous and fearful execution of the other. Hence — 
 
 2. The enemies of God, and of God's ivays and people, 
 shall not he unpunished. Wli ether their sins be sins of 
 omission or sins of commission; declining to do what He 
 requires, or doing what He forbids; they shall find it, if 
 they persist in their course, "a fearful thing to fall into 
 the hands of the living God." They who arm themselves 
 against the people and the purposes of Jehovah are here pun- 
 
ZECPTARIAH XIV. 10—19. 419 
 
 isiied : and tlioy who refuse to go up to worship Jehovali are 
 punished. And so, in the parable, they who find excuses 
 for declining the Gospel invitation, and they by whom the 
 servants that bring the invitation are " spitefully entreated 
 and slain," are alike excluded from the blessings of the feast. 
 and are alike exposed to punitive infliction. And if we are 
 shocked even by representations of divine vengeance as those 
 before us, taken from the wasting and sufferings of a decaying 
 and dying body — a living skeleton, consuming away to the 
 grave; how much more fearful are the figures employed to 
 represent the future punishment of " soul and body in hell ! " 
 "We have no pleasure in dwelling upon them, and trying to 
 harrow up your feelings by attempts at their illustration. 
 But would fain convince you, that they are not mere 
 figures; — that there is an awful reality in them; — that the 
 God of truth does not threaten what He will not inflict. If 
 what He threatens is just, it must be as just to execute as it 
 is to threaten it.. He can no more threaten what is unjust, 
 or beyond desert, than He can inflict it. In the fearful 
 figures of "the worm that dieth not, and the fire that never 
 shall be quenched," there is, be assured, something more than 
 mere words of terror. There is, in the unseen world, some- 
 thing corresponding to the figures, and wdiich the figures are 
 not too strong to express. " Flee from this wrath to come." 
 Hasten your escape. It is here that it must be effected. It 
 is here that the refuge is open. All access to it vrill be closed, 
 the moment you close your eyes in death. And that moment 
 may be near. Let there be no delay. Fill not your eternity 
 with unavailing regrets. Eender not your doom irretrievable. 
 Let not the God of mercy have to say of you any longer — 
 "All the day long have I stretched out my hands to a dis- 
 obedient and gainsaying people." His arms are open to re- 
 ceive you. Accept his offered mercy. It is offered in the 
 name of his Son. " He that believeth on the Son, hath 
 everlasting life : he that believeth not the Son shall not see 
 life ; but the Arrath of God abideth on him." 
 
LECTUKE XXV. 
 
 Zkch. XIV. 20, 21. 
 
 " In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO 
 THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before 
 tlie altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Jud;ih shall be holiness unto the 
 Lord of hosts : and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe 
 therein : and in that day there shall be no more tlie Canaanite in the house of 
 the Lord of hosts." 
 
 AYe have before assigned our reasons for assuming it, as a 
 settled point, let what difficulties may arise from it in the 
 interpretation of particular expressions, — that the sacrificial 
 and other typical rites of the ceremonial law were virtually 
 abrogated when Christ, their Antitype, " offered up himself," 
 — thus fulfilling their import and their design, and setting 
 them finally and for ever aside; and that it was by direct 
 revelation abrogated, by the publication of the inspired 
 epistle to the Hebrews, and actually terminated in practice 
 when the temple was destroyed, and thus the means of its 
 continued observance annihilated. There is, at the same 
 time, just as little doubt that, throughout the New Testa- 
 ment spiritual worship is frequently described in terms 
 borrowed from the practices of the Old Economy; and that 
 the prophets frequently employ similar phraseology, when 
 predicting the state of the Church under the New Cove- 
 nant dispensation. The observation must be borne in mind, 
 in illustrating tliese closing verses of this prophecy. When 
 the time referred to shall arrive; Avhen the restoration of 
 Israel shall be effected; the restored Jews will not be iii 
 
ZECHARIAII XIV. 20, 21. 421 
 
 the same position with their fathers in the days before the 
 " fuhiess of time " and the overthrow of their temple and their 
 city. They will be still a distinct nation. But they will be 
 a Christian nation. And let not any allege that this is in- 
 consistent with their being Jews. That would be a great 
 mistake. In saying so, I do not mean merely that they will 
 be Jews by natural descent, tliongh not in religion. I meau, 
 that they will be Jews in religion, as well as by descent. I 
 mean, that Christianity is the only true Judaism. Those 
 w^ho were converted to the Christian faith were, in apostolic 
 times, the only Jews that rightly understood their own sys- 
 tem. They were brought to this understanding by the 
 preaching of the Apostles, and the illumination of the Spirit 
 of God. They saw that Judaism was Christianity in type; 
 and that Christianity was Judaism realized. Faith in Jesus 
 was just faith of the fulfilled types, and promises, and pre- 
 dictions of the Old Testament period. It was not passing 
 from an old to a new religion. The transition was only 
 from the embryo to the maturity — from the shadow to the 
 substance — of the same religion. The convert from Judaism 
 to Christianity is thus the only really consistent Jew. He 
 only follows out to its completion the divine design in all 
 the rites and ceremonies of the Law; — the ceremonial law 
 having been the Gospel in its rudiments, — the Gospel in 
 figure : and the religions thus identical. All that was ex- 
 ternal, carnal, worldly, had a spiritual meaning; and its 
 design was then only truly manifested, when this spiritual 
 import was realized in the character. Hence the Apostle's 
 language — " He is not a Jew who is one outwardly ; neither 
 is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh : but he 
 is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that 
 of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose 
 praise is not of men, but of God."* And hence the lan- 
 guage of Christ to the church in Smyrna — "I know the 
 blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not, but 
 are the synagogue of Satan." They were " zealous for the 
 
 * Rom. ii. 28, 29. 
 
422 LECTURE XXV, 
 
 law," and violent opposers of Jesus, and blasphemers of his 
 name and pretensions. But in acting thus they showed 
 that, in calling themselves Jews, they " liecir They were 
 zealous for what God had abolished, and persecutors and de- 
 termined subverters of what God, by the abolished system, 
 had intended to introduce and establish. They thus were 
 not of His congregation, even though zealous for His law, but 
 of "the synagogue of Satan." In denying Christ, they de- 
 nied Moses; and Moses, as well as Christ, denied them; 
 for Moses and Christ were one ; Moses teaching the elements, 
 Christ the full lesson. " Think not that I will accuse you 
 to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, 
 in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would 
 have believed me : for he wrote of me. But if ye believe 
 not his writings, how shall ye believe my words ? " * When 
 the Jews, then, are restored ; although they will not resume 
 the observance of their ancient ceremonial, they will still be 
 Jeivs, even as to their religion, in the truest and best sense. 
 In being Christians, they will observe those rites which re- 
 present and celebrate the fulfilment — the realization — of 
 what all the ancient rites only typified and pointed to, and 
 enjoy the S2ihstance of what the ancient fathers saw and en- 
 joyed in shadow. Let such thoughts, then, be carried along 
 with you, while we offer our observations on the verses 
 read. 
 
 If I have any right apprehension of their import, they 
 may be interpreted as expressing three things, to be specially 
 characteristic of "that day;" — the period of the restoration 
 of Israel, and of the fulness of the Gentiles. 
 
 1. We have first — the cessation of all the distinctions of 
 ceremonial holiness: — "In that day shall there be upon the 
 bells of the horses, HOLmESS UNTO THE LOED; and 
 the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before 
 the altar, "t 
 
 You will recollect, ivhere, under the Law, the inscription 
 " HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD," was divinely enjoined to b'3 
 
 * John V. 45—47. f Verse 20. 
 
ZECIIARIxYH XIV. 20, 21. 423 
 
 placed: — "Thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may 
 be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it 
 shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that 
 Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which 
 the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; 
 and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be 
 accepted before the Lord." * There was nothing, in the eye 
 of an ancient Jew, higher in his conceptions of dignity, or 
 more sacred in his feelings of veneration, than the person, 
 and office, and attire, and functions, of the High Priest. 
 The inscription implied his entire consecration to God. His 
 wearing it on his forehead was necessary to his acceptance, 
 and to the acceptance of his services in behalf of the people. 
 Here alone was this inscription to be seen; expressive of 
 the special sacredness of the person and the office. "What, 
 then, could more appropriately or emphatically intimate the 
 abolition of the distinctions of ceremonial holiness, than that 
 this very inscription should, in the coming times, be graven 
 "o7i the tells of the horses.'' Ey the "horses" I understand, 
 not at all ivai' horses — for there is nothing in the passage 
 that has any such reference — but horses employed in agri- 
 cultural and other descriptions of labour. The "bells on 
 these horses," are said to have been " small metallic plates 
 suspended from their necks or heads, for the sake of orna- 
 ment, as well as to make a tinkling noise by their striking 
 against each other, like cymbals." Tlie general import seems 
 to be— that not only their most solemn acts of worship, but 
 all their ordinary labour should be consecrated to God, — all 
 holy. I will not go so far as to say, with some, that no- 
 thing, even in its associations, shall be more sacred than an- 
 other; for that would be unnatural and impossible: but 
 that a portion of the same sacred feeling which characterises 
 their instruments and acts of worship should enter into every 
 tiling in their most ordinary occupations : the very yoking 
 of their horses for toil being regarded as done religiously. 
 So far as mere ceremonial holiness — the holiness of any 
 
 * Exod. xxviii. 37, 33. 
 
i24 LECiUliE XXV. 
 
 thing external — i« concerned, tliere will be no greater Jegreo 
 of holiness attaching to what was formerly accounted most 
 sacred, than what will attach to the ornamental trappings of 
 the horses. Devotion of person and property to the service 
 of God will be the only holiness then recognized. " Cere- 
 monial sanctity" — that is the sanctity of mere things — ■ 
 "shall no longer exist.'' 
 
 And the same general lesson is taught by the latter clause 
 of the verse : — " And the pots in the Lord's house shall be 
 like the bowls before the altar." " T/ie howls before the 
 altar " seem to mean the vessels for receiving the blood of 
 the sacrifice when there slain. The sacrificial blood was 
 sacred; nothing more so. Every thing was sacred which it 
 touched. The bowls, therefore, in which it was caught at 
 the altar by the j^riests, had associated with them a special 
 amount of ceremonial sanctity. And there being here j^laced 
 on a level, in point of such sanctity, with the ordinary seeth- 
 ing-pots used in the temple, or in the dwellings of the 
 priests which were part of the precincts of the temple, is em- 
 phatically significant of the truth that this kind of ceremonial 
 sanctity was to be no more. There w^as to be no peculiar 
 sacredness in the former; there was to be the only true 
 sacredness in the other ; namely, their being all used, with their 
 contents, in the spirit of devotion, — the spirit of gratitude and 
 of regard to the glory of God. The priests, in nsing the one, 
 and in using the other, to be influenced by the same " fear 
 of God;" in using their ordinary seething-pots and in receiv- 
 ing the blood into its appropriate vessels from the altar. 
 Does not this, it may be asked, imply that "the Lord's 
 House," and "the altar," and "the bowls before the altar" 
 were then to remain, and to be occupied and employed as of 
 old? I answer the question by asking another: Is it in- 
 tended to be predicted that at the distant future jDcriod 
 looked forward to, there were to be " hells on the horses' " 
 necks or heads, as when the j)rophet wrote? No one will 
 be so foohsh as to go thus literally to work. In like man- 
 ner, the language as to the Lord's house is to be under- 
 
ZECPIAKIAII XIV. 20, 21. 425 
 
 stood as the language of symbol, taken from practices exist- 
 ing at the time. 
 
 There is now, indeed, and there will be then, a " House 
 of the Lord," and a priesthood, and sacrifices. What are 
 they? What shall they then be? Let two or three simple 
 passages of Scripture answer the question : — " And are built 
 upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 
 Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the 
 building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple 
 in the Lord : in whom ye also are builded together for an 
 habitation of God through the Spirit."* "Ye are the temple 
 of the living God : as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and 
 walk in them ; and I will be their God, and they shall be 
 my people." t "Know ye not that ye are the temple of 
 God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any 
 man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for 
 the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." X " To 
 whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of 
 men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively 
 stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to 
 offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus 
 Christ." § "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of 
 praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, 
 giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to com- 
 municate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well- 
 pleased." || We have, under the New Covenant, in the 
 proper sense of the designation, only one peiest, and one 
 sacrifice; namely, "the great high priest of our profession, 
 Christ Jesus," — and the " one offering, by which he hath 
 for ever perfected all them that are sanctified." And all 
 our offerings must be presented in His name, and can find 
 no acceptance but on His account. There is no associa- 
 tion — none with any sacred building, altar, or locality, that 
 gives holiness and accej)tableness to any of our services. 
 
 * Eph. ii. 20—22. f 2 Cor. vi. 16. J 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. 
 
 g 1 Peter ii. 4, 5. || Compare 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; Rev. i. 5, 6; 
 
 Psa. Ii. 17; Heb. xiii. 15, 16. 
 
426 LECTURE XXV. 
 
 Men may ^^ every ichere lift up holy hands," and finil the 
 same acceptance. 
 
 2. The universal prevalence of personal and domestic con- 
 secration to God : — " Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in 
 Judah shall be hohness unto the Lokd of hosts." Cooking 
 pots, and drinking cups might have been alike understood in 
 the first clause, had it stood alone; but the second restricts 
 the meaning to the former, — " seething in them " being 
 appropriate to them only. When " the hells of the horses " 
 were spoken of, there was a reference to their labours, as 
 all being set about and performed in the spirit of godli- 
 ness, — all thus rendered acts of rehgious homage, as ac- 
 ceptable to Jehovah as the most sacred ser\dce of the mitred 
 high priest. In the present verse, the reference is to food — • 
 to their personal and social meals, — to the use which should 
 be made of the bounties of God's providence. Every meal, 
 partaken in the spirit of piety, being like an act of devotion : 
 gratitude existing in the heart to the Giver; and the gifts 
 themselves being used according to the divine precepts of 
 sobriety and moderation; and for the sustenance of hfo, 
 that the life so sustained may be spent in the service and 
 to the glory of God.* It is the prevalence of this principle in 
 the partaker that renders both the food, and the very vessels in 
 which it is prepared, holy in God's sight ; imparting to them 
 the only kind of sanctity that is of any real worth, or that, 
 in the nature of things, can possibly belong to them; and 
 that makes the domestic table, when those who surround it 
 " eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, prais- 
 ing God," as pleasing a sight for His eye to look upon, as 
 any express act of devotion — of social praise or prayer. 
 
 The association of everything with rehgion will to some 
 minds be a very gloomy and repulsive one. But to the 
 religious themselves — if their rehgion is of the right sort — it 
 presents the idea of anything but gloom. The " gladness " 
 with which the first Christians " did eat their meat " was 
 something far su2^erior to the world's mirth. The world 
 
 * Compare 1 Cor. x. 31. 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 20, 21. 427 
 
 might not relish it ; but it was not, on that account, the les-5 
 truly gladness; gladness such as they never had exi3erienced 
 before. Thus it is with Christians, and with Christian 
 families still. Their meals are " hohness unto the Lord.' 
 They forget not that it is of His bounties they partake. They 
 eat and drink to His praise : — 
 
 " Still will we make thy mercies known, 
 Around thy board, and round our oiV7i.'^ 
 
 There are some who seem as if they lived to eat. The tri'.o 
 saint eats to live ; and lives to God. The whole of his do- 
 mestic establishment is marked by the Spirit of godhness; 
 all " holy and acceptable to God." 
 
 What is added may be differently interpreted : — " And all 
 they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe 
 therein : and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite 
 in the house of the Lord of hosts." The word rendered 
 here " sacrifice " is by Dr. Henderson translated " slaughter,'' 
 and is understood by him not as meaning the slaying of 
 sacrificial victims, but of animals for ordinary food : — " From 
 its being expressly mentioned," says he, " that the flesh of 
 the animals to be slaughtered is to be boiled in the pots, and 
 no mention is made of the sprinkling of the blood, it must 
 be inferred that Idlling for food, and not for sacrifice, is what 
 the prophet had in view." The question, however, naturally 
 suggests itself. How does slaughtering for food, and using 
 "the pots" in the houses of Jerusalem and Judah, in its 
 preparation, indicate either the godliness of the partakers, 
 or the equal sanctity of common and sacred utensils? May 
 not, then, the idea bo this 1 There were certain preparations 
 of the flesh of the sacrifices for food, which required to be 
 done in the temple, and in the consecrated vessels of the 
 holy place. " And thou shalt take the ram of the consecra- 
 tion, and seethe his flesh in the holy place. And Aaron and 
 his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is 
 in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congrega- 
 tion. And they shall eat those things wherewith the atone- 
 ment was made, to consecrate and to sanctifv them : but a 
 
428 LECTURE XXV. 
 
 stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy."''" " The 
 priest that offeretli it for sin shall eat it; in the holy place 
 sliall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the 
 congregation. All the males among the priests shall eat 
 thereof: it is most holy."t The flesh to be thus eaten in 
 the holy place required of course to be prepared in holy ves- 
 sels — vessels not rendered unclean by common use. Un- 
 derstand, then, by "All tbey that sacrifice," the priests, — 
 and we have a meaning most appropriate. They shall 
 take of the pots in common use as freely to " seethe 
 therein" what pertained to the sacrifice, as of the sacred 
 vessels of the sanctuary. Thus we have the two lessons 
 combined — the abrogation of all the restrictive laws of 
 ceremonial holiness ; and the hohness of what was employed 
 in common use, when thus used in the spirit of godliness.J 
 
 Alas ! what an amount of ceremonial sanctity continues — 
 not in the spirit and practice of unconverted Jews merely — no, 
 nor chiefly ; but in the so-called Christian Church ! The entire 
 system of the ritual of the Eomish Church is constructed on 
 the very principle of external and ceremonial sanctity ; with its 
 altars, its crucifixes, its images and pictures, its candles, its 
 masses, its crossings, and bowings, and genuflexions, its holy 
 waters and sprinklings, its beads, pater-nosters, Avemarias, 
 its relics, its holy places, stations, pilgrimages, and penances, 
 its extreme unctions, Avitli oil and chrism, and even its pur- 
 gatory. And what is our modern English Puseyism but a 
 mock imitation of Antichrist, — a zvoidd-be Eomanism. The 
 existence of such things is sufficient proof that the time in our 
 text is not yet come. And while we say this of such extreme 
 cases, let us not forget the tendency there is in all Christian 
 denominations to attach sacredness to externalities, and trust 
 in a ceremonial sanctity. There may be a disavowal of bap- 
 tismal regeneration, while yet there is a superstitious notion 
 of a certain virtue in the ordinance which makes parents 
 
 * Exod. xxix. 31-33. 
 
 t Lev. vi. 26, 29; Compare also Lev. x. 16—18. 
 X Heiigstenberg renders sacrifice. So also Datlie, Scliulz, and 
 Others. — Ed 
 
ZECHARIAIi XIV. 20, 21. 429 
 
 dread a child's dying without it, although they have no right 
 conception or impression of the parental obligations connected 
 with it. And there may be a thorough disbelief of transub- 
 stantiation and the sacrifice of the Mass ; while yet, by per- 
 sons who are destitute of heart-holiness, of anything like 
 inward spiritual religion, there is no little reliance placed on 
 the regular " taking of the sacraments let us cherish the 
 remembrance that external observances are worthless, except 
 as means of confirming and promoting inward purity, and 
 devotedness of heart and life to God ! Think of the features 
 of character on which our divine Lord pronounces his bless- 
 ing, as being those which must attend faith in Him, and be 
 the evidences of its sincerity : — " Blessed are the poor in 
 spirit:" "blessed are they that mourn:" "blessed are the 
 meek : " " blessed are they who hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness:" "blessed are the merciful:" "blessed are 
 the pure in heart:" "blessed are the peace - makers : " 
 "blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' 
 sake." ISTo externalism — no ceremonial sanctity, here! But 
 we must notice — 
 
 3. Purity of ministry and memlership in the Church of 
 God: — "And there shall be no more the Canaanite in the 
 house of the Lord." 
 
 " By Canaanite^' says Dr. Henderson, " is meant a mer- 
 chants^ The Phoenicians, who inhabited the northern part 
 of Canaan, having been the most celebrated merchants of 
 antiquity." And he gives instances of the occurrence of the 
 same word in a similar sense; and applies the prophet's 
 words exclusively to the priesthood, or the ministry : — " Con- 
 sidering what stumbling-blocks a mercenary and covetous 
 priesthood has ever proved to the world, and to what a fear- 
 ful extent tlie ministry in holy things has been made a matter 
 of merchandise, there is great force in the declaration with 
 which the prophet closes : ' and there shall no more be a 
 Canaanite in the house of Jehovah ! ' " This is truth ; awful, 
 
 * " By far the larger majority follow the Septuagint and render it 
 Canaanite ; and in the main this rendering is greatly to be preferred." 
 Jlen^stenherg. — Ed, 
 
430 LECTURE XXV. 
 
 affecting truth. Many times do the prophets bewail it."'^ 
 And the same evil is foretold in the IS'ew Testament as 
 speedily to discover itself in the Christian Church: — " Eut 
 tliere were false prophets also among tlie people, even as 
 there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall 
 bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that 
 bought them, and bring upon themselves svnit destruction. 
 And many shall follow their pernicious ways ; by reason of 
 whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of And through 
 coA^etousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise 
 of you : whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, 
 and their damnation slumbereth not."t And how very soon 
 did such characters appear, who, in Paul's forcible terms, con- 
 sidered "gain as godliness ; " and how fearfully has the Church 
 been infested with them all along ! — men w^ho have sought 
 to be " put into the priest's office, that they might get a piece 
 of bread ; " and not a few, without one atom of ]3ersonal god- 
 liness, or of the true spirit of the office, have revelled in its 
 ampler emoluments, and left their flocks to spiritual starva- 
 tion! All this will in the blessed future be done away. 
 There will be no hireling shepherds; no merchandise of 
 souls. Such buyers and sellers shall be finally and for ever 
 driven out of the temple ; and God's house be no more a 
 house of merchandise; and especially of such merchandise, — ■ 
 traffic in sin and in the souls of men ! 
 
 But, while this is truth, we question if it be all the truth 
 intended. The Jews, when they entered Canaan, were to 
 keep themselves distinct from the inhabitants of the land ; 
 not to mix with them, by marriage or otherwise. They were 
 neither to join in theii' idolatrous rites ; nor were they to 
 admit the idolatrous to join in the worship of Jehovah, ex- 
 cept on the condition of their renouncing their idol-worship, 
 and embracing and abiding by the worship of Jehovah. Such 
 amalgamation would have been dishonour to the one God, 
 a lid a profanation of His worship. In the Christian Church 
 
 * Compare Jer. v. 30, 31 ; Ezek. xxxlv. 2, 3; Micali iii. 11. 
 t 2 Pet. ii. 1—3. 
 
ZECHAKTAII XTV. 20, 21. 431 
 
 — .- uch nominally — there liiis been a sad amount of this dis- 
 honouring and profaning intermixture. " The Canaanite " has 
 been in God's house. The world has found its way into the 
 (]Ihurch, The admonition of the apostle has been miserably 
 disregarded — " Be ye not unequally yoked together with un- 
 believers : for what fellowship hath righteousness with un- 
 righteousness] and what communion hath light with dark- 
 ness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what 
 part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what 
 agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are 
 the temple of the living God ; as God hath said, I will dwell 
 in them, and walli in them ; and I will be their God, and 
 they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among 
 them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the 
 unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father 
 unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the 
 Lord Almighty."* "The temple of God is holy; which 
 temple ye are." The evil exists to a certain extent, in all 
 denominations ; but inevitably, and from the very nature of 
 the thing, in those which have united themselves with the 
 governments and kingdoms of this world. In some of these 
 the Church and the nation signify, as to their members, the 
 same thing. Every member of the civil community is an 
 acknowledged member of the Church : — and in our own 
 southern Episcopacy, (I say it with sorrow) the monarch is re- 
 garded, be his character ever so irreligious and profligate, as, 
 in virtue of his office, the first member of the Church ! If this 
 be not " the Canaanite in the house of Jehovah," I am at a loss 
 to know what is. The period, and state of things foretold in 
 our text must imply the dissolution of all such connexions. 
 In those happy days, monarchs and men of high degree will 
 indeed have their place in the house of God ; but not in 
 their official capacity, or for aught connected with their sta- 
 tion in civil society; but solely on the ground of their per- 
 sonal faith and piety. The world will be the Church, 
 only when the world is wholly converted to God, and " all 
 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 14—18. 
 
432 LECTURE XXV. 
 
 shall know Him, from the least to the greatest;" — when 
 " the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in," and when '*' all 
 Israel shall be saved." Observe, in conclusion, 
 
 1. The necessity of our seeking true holiness — holiness of 
 heart. God "looketh on the heart." He is a Spirit; and 
 requires all who worship Him, to "worship him in spirit 
 and in truth." Ko other holiness, and no other worship, 
 can jjlease Him. He can have no complacency in mere sa- 
 cramental sanctity; — in the man who is "born of water," 
 but not **of the Spirit;" or who partakes of bread and 
 mne, while he does not, by " faith receiving the atonement," 
 eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man," and 
 so possess true sjDiritual life. His injunction is — " Be ye 
 holy; for I AM HOLY." Our holiness — though derived, de- 
 pendent, limited, must, in kind, be the same with His — 
 moral holiness, — holiness of nature. And holiness of life 
 must be the product and manifestation of holy principles 
 and holy affections within. " A good man," in His estimate, 
 is the man who " out of the good treasure of the heart bring- 
 eth forth that which is good ; " who, from a jDurified foun- 
 tain sends forth pure streams. 
 
 2. Let us study, practically, the duty of carrying our re- 
 llgion into everything. All our daily occupations should be 
 imbued with it, and characterised by it. It should rise, and 
 go forth with us in the morning. It should be our constant 
 and influential attendant in our day's engagements. It 
 should blend itself with them all. Religion consists not in 
 formal acts of worslii]3, — the prostration of the body, the ut- 
 terance of the lips. It is a principle of action; — a state of 
 soul, not ajDparent in bursts of emotion and seasons of lively 
 excitement merely; but infusing itself into, and so charac- 
 terising, everything; all our domestic and social intercourse; 
 all our transactions in business; all we say, and all we do. 
 It is thus we are to fulfil our Lord's injunction — " Let 
 your light so shine before men, that they may see your 
 g:)od works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." 
 It is thus alone we can fulfil it. There is nothing more 
 injurious to the world, than a talking religion, which is 
 
ZECHARIAH XIV. 2 J, 22. 433 
 
 not an acting religion, — a religion of form, that is not 
 a religi(jn of practice. Tlie more punctiliously strict, in sucli 
 a case, the form, the more revolting the incongruity, and the 
 more extensive the mischief. The more scrupulous the 
 " tithing of the mint and anise and cumin," — the broader 
 " the phylacteries," the austerer the " fasts," and the longer 
 the "prayers," while the "weightier matters of the law" are 
 neglected or violated, the greater dishonour to God, and tlie 
 greater danger to souls. Far better 7io profession, than a 
 profession hke this. The influence of an avowed infidel is 
 not half so pernicious as that of an inconsistent professor. 
 
 3. Let all the Churches of Christ aim more and more at 
 scriptural 2^uriti/ of communion. The pastors and deacons 
 should study the features of character required in them re- 
 spectively : — and, while the study cannot but humble them, 
 by producing an abasing consciousness of deficiency, they 
 should seek, with the aid of the Spirit of God, growing con- 
 formity to the portraiture; that they may be ensamples to 
 the flock. And to the churches none ought to be added, 
 but such as have been " added to the Lord." They may not 
 approach to millennial, far less to heavenly purity. But 
 assuredly such conformity should be their great aim; and 
 the nearer they can come to it the better. — Let us delight 
 in anticipating the fellowship of heaven ; where all shall be 
 the divine perfection of purity, and love, and joy. The 
 sacred pleasure is begun on earth. We feel how sweet is 
 "the fellowship of kindred minds!" It is ''like to that 
 above." While we feel tliis, we sing with prospective de- 
 light— 
 
 " But if snch jov be found to flow 
 From sacred fellowship below, — 
 
 Tlieii wliat mnst Heaven he? — 
 Where fill the Saviour's friends shall ir.et-t, 
 And dwell in liappiness complete 
 
 Tlirouffhout eternity!" 
 
 2 E 
 
BS1665 .W266 
 
 Lectures on the prophecies of Zechariah 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00055 1467