CHAPTER XIII.

Messianic Predictions of the post-exilic Prophets.

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The Restoration.

As now after the first years of Cyrus' monarchy (536 B.-C.) the people again gathered from a foreign country in their own native land, it soon appeared, that prophecy has not only something divine (Delov), but also something human (aviponivov), for the prophet is not merely a man of God, who beholds the ultimate future as it is, but also a human child, who sees it nearer than it is. This long-sightedness which is made possible through the Spirit serves the divine plan of salvation as well as the short-sightedness with which it is admixed. It is entirely in God's order, that the prophets of the exile should behold the final glory in close connection with the end of the exile, and that those who returned hoped to experience that glory. They could base this hope upon the fact that Babylon had fallen under the circumstances prophesied, and that God had moved the heart of Cyrus to release Israel voluntarily and honorably; and it was not contrary to this hope that not the entire people, but only a part returned (the remnant will convert). Therefore the psalms of the period of the restoration are full of enthusiasm, of glory, and of triumph. The author of Ps. CXVIII, which was probably sung at the first feast of tabernacles in Jerusalem, when an altar was first erected on the holy place, exults (ver. 22, 23): "The stone which the builders rejected is become the head stone of the corner. This was from Jehovah; it is marvellous in our eyes." The people of God cast aside by the heathen as useless and now miraculously elevated from deep humiliation has by this means become conscious of as great an importance among the nations, as the corner stone has among the stones of a building. But it was soon evident, that Israel would only be this through hope

in Him by whom the world-career of Israel should be completely realized (Mat. XXI, 41-44; Acts IV, 11, compare Is. XXVIII, 16; Rom. IX, 33; 1 Peter II, 6).

Even under Cyrus the people were prohibited from continuing to build the temple. The interdict continued under Cambyses (529-522 B. C.) and Pseudo-Smerdis (522-521 B. C.) But in the second year of Darius Hystaspis (520 B. C.) through the stimulus of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah the building in spite of the interdict was again resumed, and then was approved and favored from Ecbatana.

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Haggai's Prophecy concerning the Glory of the Second Temple.

The book of Haggai contains four addresses from the second year of Darius Hystaspis (520 B. C.). The peculiar call of the prophet in the continuation of the Messianic proclamation is conspicuous in the second and fourth addresses. It was given him. to prophecy that the fulfilment of salvation was connected with the second temple. In II, 6-9 the prophet reports the oracle of Jehovah Zebaoth:

"Yet once, it is a little while, and I shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land." Once already the God of Israel overthrew Babylon and so broke open the prison of Israel, without securing the entire freedom of His people; yet once again amid mighty natural phenomena He will shake the nations of the world. From this convulsion the Temple will become the sacred centre, and from it the freedom of the world and of Israel as a free people will proceed.

"And I will shake all nations and the precious things of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah Zebaoth." The shaking is an act of judicial wrath, but at the same time also of awakening grace, which moves all the heathen to bring the precious things, which they possess (rian-ben) as a consecrated offering to the God of Israel. The temple now rises under miserable circumstances, but He whose house it is, is the Absolute ruler who knows how to provide for the adornment of his Sanctuary:

"Mine is the silver, and mine is the gold saith Jehovah Zebaoth.

Greater shall be the glory of this latter house than of the former

[that of Solomon], saith Jehovah Zebaoth, and in this place will I give peace, saith Jehovah Zebaoth." The last temple is not contrasted with the first, but the more than Solomonic glory with that of Solomon. God will grant peace in this place. This temple shall be the source and the bond of peace for the nations. This prophecy has been fulfilled in so far as Jerusalem, is the point from which the religion of reconciliation, of the love of man, and so of peace has gone forth.

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Zerubbabel as the Continuation of the Messianic Line.

The last of the four addresses of Haggai crowns Zerubbabel the Jewish governor of Judea under Persia with the promise (II, 21. 23): "I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms.... In that day, saith Jehovah Zebaoth, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel my servant, saith Jehovah, and will put thee on as

a signet, for I have It was secondly,

chosen thee, saith Jehovah Zebaoth." Haggai's peculiar calling to prophesy that the dominion of the house of David over the world should be connected with the family of Zerubbabel. The line of Jehoiachin, whom Jeremiah contemptuously calls, was rejected (Jer. XXII, 24), but in Zerubbabel the Davidic kingdom blooms anew. The promise, given to him, is the counter-part of Jehovah's dreadful threat: "I will pluck thee up

”.(אַתְּקנה)

Remark. See Delitzsch' article "Die zweifache Genealogie des Messias" in the Zeitschrift für die gesammte lutherische Theologie und Kirche, Leipzig 1860, p. 460-485 where it is shown, that even in the Jewish literature the Messiah is traced back on the one hand to Solomon, the son of David, and on the other to Nathan, the son of David (compare "the house of Nathan", Zech. XII, 12).

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The two Parts of Zechariah.

Zechariah's activity began in the second year of Darius. According to Neh. XII he occupied the position of the head of a family under the high priest Jehoiakim which his grand-father Iddo had held under the high priest Joshua. At the time indicated in chapter II, 4 when he beholds the following vision he is still

young. We must neither confound him with the martyr Zechariah the son of Jehoiada (2 Chron. XXIV, 20—22), nor with Zechariah the son of Jeberechia (Is. VIII, 2). If chapters IX-XIV of Zechariah are an older work which does not belong to the post-exilic Zechariah, we may conjecture that his older colleague, who has the same name, participated in it. The book of Zechariah is really divided into two parts. The first half (I-VIII) has grown entirely out of the circumstances of the second and fourth years of Darius, in the second half however pre-exilic conditions and occurrences seem to be mirrored, especially such as are closely connected with the Syrian and Ephraimitic war. But there cannot be any doubt that the first portion of the book which is partly oratorical and partly visionary belongs to the post-exilic Zechariah.

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Zechariah's Prediction concerning the Future Zemach.

The fourth of Zechariah's night visions (III) is a judicial scene. The angel of Jehovah is the judge. Before him stands Joshua, the high priest, drawn thither to judgment by Satan, who, conscious of his power, stands at his right hand. But his accusation is without effect. Joshua is confirmed by the angel of Jehovah in his office. with promises. The first (III, 7) assures him of a free admittance to the beings before God's throne; and the second is as follows (ver. 8):

"Hear now Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are typical men [N], for behold I will bring my Servant, Zemach." Joshua and the viri prodigii, that is,

subordinate priests are indicated as ni

.cogn אָפַת = פת from the verb מופת) men of typical signification

of ( ?

invertere, res inversa, paradoxa, aenigmatica).

It is the coming

of the Zemach, which they prepare, prefigure, and assure. The name which appears as an appellative in Is. IV, 2 has become here still more than in Jer. XXIII, 5 and XXXIII, 15 a proper name of the Messiah. He is thus named as the Sprout of David, who grows from humility to glory, and who spreads about himself holiness and splendor. The consequence of the Parousia of the Zemach is announced in ver. 9, as the removal of the guilt of the land in one day. The Zemach is not made the mediator of this blotting out of sin,

but he appears as the gift of God's grace, which radically removes the sins of Israel, similarly as in Dan. IX.

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The two Crowns.

By reason of an historical event (VI, 10 etc.) the prophecy concerning Zemach is repeated with greater elaboration. Three Babylonian exiles come with a gift of silver and gold to Jerusalem. The prophet is to receive it and to set the crowns (i) made from it upon the head of Joshua the high priest, probably a silver crown as the sign of the high priest, and a golden one as the sign of the king, in order to be a type of the future One, who in one person will be a bearer of the double crown (ver. 12):

"Behold a man whose name is Zemach, from his ground he will sprout [that is from the native ground of the Holy Land, compare Is. IV, 2b where he is called ] and will build the temple of Jehovah." Since in IV, 9 the promise is given to Zerubbabel that his hands shall finish building the temple, another temple must be here intended. Again it is said with 7 in order to distinguish Zemach from Zerubbabel (ver. 13):

"And he (1) shall build the temple of Jehovah [hence the temple of the final period which is indicated in 2 Sam. VII, 13], and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and shall be a priest upon his throne, and a treaty of peace shall be between them both", namely between the priest and king, since in his person priest and king are united together by a covenant of peace. The lyrical prophecy in Ps. CX is here prophetically continued. The Messiah unites both offices as another Melchizedek.

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The Climax of the Promise in Zech. VIII.

In the answer which the prophet Zechariah gives the Bethlehemites who come to question him respecting the memorial days of mourning (Zech. VII-VIII) the promises rises in chapter VIII through ten intervals or degrees higher and higher. The person of