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CHAPTER XXXIII

THE CONTENTS OF "ZECHARIAH” IX.-XIV

ROM the number of conflicting opinions which prevail upon the subject, we have seen how impossible it is to decide upon a scheme of division for "Zech." ix.-xiv. These chapters consist of a number of separate oracles, which their language and general conceptions lead us on the whole to believe were put together by one hand, and which, with the possible exception of some older fragments, reflect the troubled times in Palestine that followed on the invasion of Alexander the Great. But though the most of them are probably due to one date and possibly come from the same author, these oracles do not always exhibit a connection, and indeed sometimes show no relevance to each other. It will therefore be simplest to take them piece by piece, and, before giving the translation of each, to explain the difficulties in it and indicate the ruling ideas.

1. THE COMING OF THE GREEKS (ix. 1-8).

This passage runs exactly in the style of the early prophets. It figures the progress of war from the north of Syria southwards by the valley of the Orontes to Damascus, and then along the coasts of Phoenicia and the Philistines. All these shall be devastated, but Jehovah will camp about His own House and

it shall be inviolate. This is exactly how Amos or Isaiah might have pictured an Assyrian campaign, or Zephaniah a Scythian. It is not surprising, therefore, that even some of those who take the bulk of "Zech." ix. xiv. as post-exilic should regard ix. 1-5 as earlier even than Amos, with post-exilic additions only in vv. 6-8.1 This is possible. Vv. 6-8 are certainly post-exilic, because of their mention of the half-breeds, and their intimation that Jehovah will take unclean food out of the mouth of the heathen; but the allusions in vv. I-5 suit an early date. They equally suit, however, a date in the Greek period. The progress of war from the Orontes valley by Damascus and thence down the coast of Palestine follows the line of Alexander's campaign in 332, which must also have been the line of Demetrius in 315 and of Antigonus in 311. The evidence of language is mostly in favour of a late date. If Ptolemy I. took Jerusalem in 320,3 then the promise, no assailant shall return (ver. 8), is probably later than that.

In face then of Alexander's invasion of Palestine, or of another campaign on the same line, this oracle repeats the ancient confidence of Isaiah. God rules: His providence is awake alike for the heathen and for Israel. Jehovah hath an eye for mankind, and all the tribes of Israel. The heathen shall be destroyed, but Jerusalem rest secure; and the remnant of the heathen be converted, according to the Levitical notion, by having unclean foods taken out of their mouths.

1 So Staerk, who thinks Amos I. made use of vv. 1-5.

2 ix. 1, DIN, mankind, in contrast to the tribes of Israel; 3, n, gold; 5, as passive, cf. xii. 6; wan, Hi. of w, in passive sense only after Jeremiah (cf. above, p. 412, on Joel); in 2 Sam. xix. 6 Hosea ii. 7, it is active. • See p. 442. 4 ix. I.

Oracle.

3

the

The Word of Jehovah is on the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its goal1-for Jehovah hath an eye upon heathen, and all the tribes of Israel—and on3 Hamath, which borders upon it, Tyre and Sidon, for they were very wise. And Tyre built her a fortress, and heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. Lo, the Lord will dispossess her, and strike her rampart into the sea, and she shall be consumed in fire. Ashklon

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shall see and shall fear, and Gaza writhe in anguish, and Ekron, for her confidence is abashed, and the king shall perish from Gaza and Ashklon lie uninhabited. Half-breeds shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut down the pride of the Philistines. And I will take their blood from their mouth and their abominations from between their teeth, and even they shall be left for our God, and shall become like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be as the Jebusite. And I shall encamp for a guard to My House, so that none pass by or return, and no

'Heb. resting-place: cf. Zech. vi. 8, bring Mine anger to rest. This meets the objection of Bredenkamp and others, that is otherwise used of Jehovah alone, in consequence of which they refer the suffix to Him.

2 The expression hath an eye is so unusual that Klostermann, Theo. Litt. Zeit., 1879, 566 (quoted by Nowack), proposes to read for y, Jehovah's are the cities of the heathen. For DN, mankind, as heathen cf. Jer. xxxii. 20. 5 Cf. Nahum iii. 8; Isa. xxvi, 1. • Read

3 So LXX.: Heb. also.

So LXX.: Heb, has verb in sing.

.

7 Deut. xxiii. 3 (Heb., 2 Eng.).

• The prepositions refer to the half-breeds. Ezekiel uses the term to eat upon the blood, i.e. meat eaten without being ritually slain and consecrated, for illegal sacrifices (xxxiii. 35: cf. I Sam. xiv. 32 f.; Lev. xix. 26, xvii. 11-14).

9

,12 .I Sam. xiv ,מַצְבָה but to be amended to ; מִן־צָבָא for מְצַבָה

a military post. Ewald reads, rampart. LXX. åvdornμa

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assailant again pass upon them, for now do I regard it with Mine eyes.

2. THE PRINCE OF PEACE (ix. 9-12).

This beautiful picture, applied by the Evangelist with such fitness to our Lord upon His entry to Jerusalem, must also be of post-exilic date. It contrasts with the warlike portraits of the Messiah drawn in pre-exilic times, for it clothes Him with humility and with peace. The coming King of Israel has the attributes already imputed to the Servant of Jehovah by the prophet of the Babylonian captivity. The next verses also imply the Exile as already a fact. On the whole, too, the language is of a late rather than of an early date.1 Nothing in the passage betrays the exact point of its origin after the Exile.

2

The epithets applied to the Messiah are of very great interest. He does not bring victory or salvation, but is the passive recipient of it. This determines the meaning of the preceding adjective, righteous, which has not the moral sense of justice, but rather that of vindication, in which righteousness and righteous are so frequently used in Isa. xl.-lv.3 He is lowly, like the Servant of Jehovah; and comes riding not the horse, an animal for war, because the next verse says that horses and chariots are to be removed from Israel,*

1 ix. 10, b, cf. Dan. xi. 4; N'DEN only in late writings (unless Deut. xxxiii. 17 be early)-see Eckardt, p. 80; 12, 117 is aπağ λeyóμevov; the last clause of 12 is based on Isa. lxi. 7. If our interpretation of PTY and ye be right, they are also symptoms of a late date.

2 y (ver. 9): the passive participle.

3 Cf. Isaiah xl.-lxvi. (Expositor's Bible), p. 219.

• Why chariot from Ephraim and horse from Jerusalem is explained in Hist. Geog., pp. 329-331.

but the ass, the animal not of lowliness, as some have interpreted, but of peace. To this day in the East asses are used, as they are represented in the Song of Deborah, by great officials, but only when these are upon civil, and not upon military, duty.

It is possible that this oracle closes with ver. 10, and that we should take vv. II and 12, on the deliverance from exile, with the next.

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Rejoice mightily, daughter of Zion! shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, thy King cometh to thee, vindicated and victorious, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt the she-ass' foal. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the war-bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace to the nations, and His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Thou, too,-by thy covenant-blood, I have set free thy prisoners from the pit. Return to the fortress, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I proclaim: Double will I return to thee."

3. THE SLAUGHTER OF THE GREEKS (ix. 13-17).

The next oracle seems singularly out of keeping with the spirit of the last, which declared the arrival of the Messianic peace, while this represents Jehovah as using Israel for His weapons in the slaughter of

1 See above.

Son of she-asses. 'Mass.: LXX. He.

2 Symbol of peace as the horse was of war. Heb. blood of thy covenant, but the suffix refers to the whole phrase (Duhm, Theol. der Proph., p. 143). The covenant is Jehovah's; the blood, that which the people shed in sacrifice to ratify the covenant.

"Heb. adds there is no water in it, but this is either a gloss, or perhaps an attempt to make sense out of a dittography of man, or a corruption of none shall be ashamed. ? Isa. Ixi. 7.