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Concluding notes

CHAP. II.

on this prophecy. guished nation; and that such should be the perma- | those which clearly predict the preservation of the nency of their political existence, that, whilst other nations and mighty empires should be overthrown, and their very name blotted out under heaven, the Jews should ever remain a distinct people, even in the wreck of their own government, and the loss of all which rendered their religion splendid and attractive.

Jewish people by the Divine command, see Zech. ii.; and the faithfulness of God to his covenant concerning the Messiah, who should be born of the seed of Abraham, and in the family of David, of whose throne he was the rightful Proprietor.

"According to this view, by the promise,' In that day--I will make thee as a signet,' &c., must be understood, that the preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, when all the great empires of the heathen were

"In confirmation of this interpretation, I would refer to the threatening denounced against Jeconiah, (called Coniah, Jer. xxii.,) the last reigning king of Judah, and the progenitor of Zerubbabel. I appre-overthrown, would manifest the honour now conferred hend I may be authorized to read Jer. xxii. 24 thus : 'As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, be the signet upon my right hand, yet will I pluck thee thence, and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life,' &c.

"If it be considered that the kings of Judah were in an especial and peculiar manner the delegates of Jehovah, governing in his name and by his authority, a peculiar propriety will appear in their being resembled to signets, or royal seals contained in rings. Compare Gen. xli. 42; Esth. iii. 10, 12, viii. 2, 8; Dan. vi. 7. And the promise to Zerubbabel will be equivalent to

on Zerubbabel as the instrument of their restoration after the Babylonish captivity. Thus the promise to Abraham, Gen. xii., 'I will make of thee a great nation-and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,' evidently referred to a very distant future period; and the honour connected with it could not be enjoyed by Abraham during his mortal life."

M.. A. B.

I think, however, that we have lived to see the spirit of this prophecy fulfilled. The earth has been shaken; another shaking, and time shall be swallowed up in eternity.

767

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK

OF THE

.

PROPHET ZECHARIAH.

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ZECHARIAH, the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets, was son of Berechiah, and grandson of Iddo. He returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel: and began to prophesy in the second year of the reign of Darius, son of Hystaspes, in the year of the world 3484; before Christ, 516; before the vulgar era, 520; in the eighth month of the holy year; and two months after Haggai had begun to prophesy.

These two prophets, with united zeal, encouraged at the same time the people to go on with the work of the temple, which had been discontinued for some years.

The time and place of the birth of Zechariah are unknown. Some will have him to have been born at Babylon, during the captivity; others think he was born at Jerusalem, before the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were carried away. Some maintain that he was a priest; but others affirm that he was no priest. Many say he was the immediate son of Iddo; others believe, with much more reason, that he was son of Berechiah, and grandson of Iddo.

He has been confounded with one Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, who lived in the time of Isaiah; and with Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist; which opinion is plainly incongruous. Lastly, he has been thought to be Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom our Saviour mentions, and says he was killed between the temple and the altar; though no such thing is anywhere said of our prophet. A tomb is shown to this day at the foot of the Mount of Olives, which, it is pretended, belongs to the prophet Zechariah. Dorotheus maintains that he was buried in a place called Bethariah, one hundred and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem.

Zechariah is the longest and the most obscure of all the twelve minor prophets. His style is interrupted, and without connection. His prophecies concerning the Messiah are more particular and express than those of the other prophets. Some modern critics, as Mede and Hammond, have been of opinion that the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of this prophet were written by Jeremiah; because in Matthew, chap. xxvii. 9, 10, under the name of Jeremiah, we find quoted Zechariah; (chap. xi. 12;) and as the aforesaid chapters make but one continued discourse, they concluded from thence that all three belonged to Jeremiah. But it is much more natural to suppose that, by some unlucky mistake, the name of Jeremiah has slipped into the text of St. Matthew instead of that of Zechariah.

The prophet Zechariah exactly foretold the siege of Babylon by Darius, son of Hystaspes. This prince laid siege to that rebellious city at the beginning of the fifth year of his reign, and reduced it at the end of twenty months. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had foretold this calamity, and had admonished the Jews that inhabited there to make their escape when they perceived the time draw nigh. Isaiah says to them, "Go ye forth to Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob." And Jeremiah says, “Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks." And elsewhere, "Flce out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH.

his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity: for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance, He will render unto her a recompense." Lastly, Zechariah, a little before the time of her fall, writes thus to the Jews that were still in this city: "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 heaven, saith the Lord. Deliver thyself, O 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 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."

It is probable that the Jews took advantage of these admonitions, and returned from Babylon into their country; or, at least, withdrew into a place of more security till the city was taken. We do not hear, either from the history or the prophecies, that they suffered any thing by this siege, or that Darius, son of Hystaspes, bore them any grudge for the revolt of Babylon; which seems to indicate that they had no part in it. :

The Mohammedans do not distinguish between the prophet Zechariah, and Zachariah the father of John the Baptist. Some of them make him to be descended from David; and others, from Levi. By an anachronism that is still more insupportable, these confound Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, with Mary or Miriam, the sister of Moses, which they derive even from the Koran itself.

The author of Tarik Montekhib relates that, when Jesus Christ was born of the virgin, the prophet Zechariah could not believe that a child could be born without a father; and that, declaring his sentiments upon this point, the Jews entertained a suspicion of him, and obliged him to betake himself to flight. He withdrew; and hid himself in a hollow oak, which the Jews sawed in two.

Such is the ignorance of the Mussulmans as regards the history both of the Old and New Testaments.

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THE BOOK

PROPHET

OF THE

ZECHARIAH.

Chronological Notes relative to this Book.

Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3484.-Year of the Julian Period, 4194.-Year of the Jewish era of the world, 3241.-Year from the Flood, 1828.-Year from the vocation of Abram, 1401. -Year since the first celebration of the Olympic games in Elis, by the Idæi Dactyli, 934.-Year since the destruction of Troy, according to the general account, 664.-Year since the foundation of the monarchy of the Israelites by the Divine appointment of Saul to the regal dignity, 576.-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 492.-Year from the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 456.-Year since the re-establishment of the Olympic games in Elis by Lycurgus, Iphitus, and Cleosthenes, 365.-Year since the conquest of Corabus at Olympia, usually called the first Olympiad, 257.— First year of the sixty-fifth Olympiad.-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian or generally received computation, 234.-Year from the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 233.-Year from the building of Rome, according to Polybius the historian, 232.-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 228.-Year of the era of Nabonassar, 228.-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 202.-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 68.-Year since the destruction of the Chaldean empire by the Persians, 18.-Year before the birth of Christ, 516.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 520.-Cycle of the Sun, 22.-Cycle of the Moon, 14.-Second year of Darius I., king of Persia.-Twenty-eighth year of Amyntas, king of Macedon.-Seventh year of Demaratus, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Proclide.-Eleventh year of Cleomenes, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Eurysthenidæ.-Fifteenth year of Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of the Romans.-This was about twelve years before the commencement of the consular government. According to some chronologers this was the age of Confucius.

CHAPTER I.

The prophet earnestly exhorts the people to repentance, that they may escape such punishments as had been inflicted on their fathers, 1-6. The vision of the horses, with the signification, 7-11. The angel of the Lord successfully intercedes in behalf of Jerusalem, 12–17. The vision of the four horns, and of the

four carpenters, 18-91.

520.

Ol. LXV. 1. Anno Tarquinii Superbi,

2 The LORD hath been • displeased with your fathers.

sore

A. M. 3484. B. C. 520. Ol. LXV. 1. Anno Tarquinii Superbi,

A. M. 3484. IN the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto 3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of R. Roman., 15. hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of

R. Roman., 15. Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

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Enra iv. 24; Hag. i. 1.— Fra v. 1. Matt. xxiii. 35. Jer. xxv. 5; xxxv. 15; Mic. vii. 19; Mal. iii. 7; Luke xv. 20;

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James iv. 8.

MSS. and in editions; but they are only different ways of writing the same name..

Verse 2. The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.] For their ingratitude, idolatry, iniquity, and general rebellion.

Verse 3. Turn ye unto me] This shows that they had power to return, if they would but use it. ( 49* )

Vision of a man

A. M. 3484.
B. C. 520.

Ol. LXV. 1.
Anno Tarquinii
Superbi,

R. Roman., 15.

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A. M. 3484.
B. C. 520.
Ol. LXV. 1.
Anno Tarquinii

Superbi,

hosts, and I will turn unto you, 8 I saw by night, and behold
saith the LORD of hosts.
ka 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,
m speckled, and white.

4 Be ye not as your fathers,
* unto whom the former prophets
have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD 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.
5 Your fathers, where are they? and the
prophets, do they live for ever?

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6 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, i 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.

7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

e 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15, 16. Isa. xxxi. 6; Jer. iii. 12; xviii. 11; Ezek. xviii. 30; Hos. xiv. 4.- Isa. lv. 1.- _h Or, overtake. i Lam. i. 18; ii. 17.

And I will turn unto you] I will show you mercy and grant you salvation, if you will use the grace I have already given you. Men are lost, because they turn not unto God; but no man is lost because he had not power to return. God gives this, and he will require it.

Verse 5. Your fathers, where are they?] Israel has been destroyed and ruined in the bloody wars with the Assyrians; and Judah, in those with the Chaldeans. The prophets, do they live for ever?] They also, who spoke unto your fathers, are dead; but their predictions remain; and the events, which have taken place according to those predictions, prove that God sent them.

Verse 6. Did they not take hold of your fathers?] Every thing happened according to the predictions, and they were obliged to acknowledge this; and yet they would not turn from their evil way.

Verse 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month] This revelation was given about three months after the former, and two months after they had recommenced the building of the temple.

Sebat] Answers to a part of our February. Hag. ii. 18.

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R. Roman., 15.

9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be

10 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.

11° 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.

12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, P O 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?

* Josh. v. 13; Rev. vi. 4. Chap. vi. 2-7.——m Or, bay. n Heb. i. 14.0 Psa. ciii. 20, 21. Psa. cii. 13; Rev. vi. 10. 4 Jer. xxv. 11, 12; Dan. ix. 2; chap. vii. 5.

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Verse 10. The man that stood among the myrtle trees] The Angel of the Covenant, as above, ver. 11. Whom the Lord hath sent] Who are constituted guardians of the land.

Verse 11. All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.] There is general peace through the Persian empire, See and other states connected with Judea; but the Jews are still in affiction; their city is not yet restored, nor their temple built.

Verse 8. I saw by night] The time was emblematical of the affliction under which the Jews groaned.

A man] An angel in the form of a man: supposed to have been the Lord Jesus; who seems to have appeared often in this way, as a prelude to his incarnation; see Josh. v. 13; Ezek. i. 26; Dan. vii. 13, and x. 5. The same, probably, that appeared to Joshua with a drawn sword, as the captain of the Lord's host. Josh. v. 13-15.

Verse 12. Then the angel of the Lord] He who was among the myrtles--the Lord Jesus.

O Lord of hosts, how long] Jesus Christ was not only the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," but was always the sole Mediator and Intercessor between God and man.

These threescore and ten years?] This cannot mean the duration of the captivity, for that was nearly

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