Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
Introduction. ZECriAFJAH. Inlrodwtwn.
et Kfldressed. 15. consider — lit., lay it to heart. Pon-
So also the vine, Ac, which heretofore have borne little ot nothing, shall be blessed with productiveness. Tlius it will be made evident that tlie blessing is due to me, not to nature. We may trust God's promise to bless us, though we see no visible sign of Us fulfllment (Habakkuk der eainestly, retracing the past upward (t. e., backward), comparing what evils heretofore befell you before ye set about this work, with the present time when you have again commenced it, and when in consequence I now engage to "bless you." Hence ye may perceive the evils of disobedience and tlie bless-
2()-23. Fourth Prophecy.- God's promise t7irovgh Zerubbabel to Israel of safety in the coming commotions. SJO. tlie month—the ninth in the second year of Darius. The same date as Prophecy III. (v. 10). 31. to Zernbbabel — Perhaps Zerubbabel had asked as to the convulsions foretold (v. 6, 7). This is the reply: The Jews had been led tc fear that these convulsions would destroy their national existence. Zerubbabel, therefore, as their civil leader and representative is addressed, not Joshua, their religious leader. Messiah is the antitypical Zerubbabel, their national Representative and King, with whom God the Father makes the covenant wlierein they, as identified with Him, are assured of safety in God's electing love (cf.
ing of obedience. 16. Since those days were—From the time that tliose days of your neglect of the temple work have been, when one came to an heap oftwenty measures—f. c, to a lieap which he had expected would be one of twenty measures, there were but ten. fifty vessels out of the press—As LXX. translate "measure," and Vulgate "a flagon," and as we should rather expect vai than press, Matjrer translates (omitting vessels, which is not in the original), "purahs," or "wine-measures." 17. Appi'opriated from Amos 4. 9, whose canonicity is thus sealed by Haggai's inspired authority; in the last clause, "turned," however, has to be supplied, its omission marking by the elliptical abruptness ("yet ye not to me !") God's displeasure. Cf. " (let him come) unto me !" Moses in excitement omitting the bracketed words (Exodus 32. 26). " Blasting " results from excessive drought; "mildew," from excessive moisture.
V. 23, " will make thee as a signet ;" " I have chosen thee "). shake . . . heavens {Note, v. 6, 7.) Violent political convulsions accompanied with physical prodigies (Matthew
24.7,29). 23. All other world-kingdoms are to be overthrown to make way for Christ's universal kingdom (Daniel 2. 44). War-chariots are to give place to His reign of peace (Micah 5. 10; Zechariah 9. 10). 23. take tliee— under my protection and to promote thee and thy people to lionour (Psalm 78. 70). a signet—(Song of Solomon 8. fi; Jeremiah 22. 24.) A ring with a seal on it; the legal representative of the owner; generally of precious stones and gold, &c., and much valued. Being worn on the finger, it was an object of constant regard. In all which points of view the theocratic people, and their representative, Zerubbabel the type, and Messiah his descendant the Antitype, are regarded by God. The safety of Israel to the end is guaranteed in Messiah, in whom God hath chosen them as His own (Isaiah 42. 1 ; 43. 10; 44. 1 ; 49. 3). So the spiritual Israel is sealed in their covenant-head by His Spirit (2 Corinthians 1.20,22; Ephesians 1.4, 13.14). All is ascribed, not to the merits of 2'erubbabel, Imt to God's gratuitous choice. Christ is the "signet" on God''? hand: always in the Father's presence, ever pleasing in his sight. The signet of an Eastern monarch was the sign of delegated authority ; so Christ (Matthew 28. IS; John 5.
18. Resumed from v. 15 after v. 10, 17, that the blessing in
V. 19 may stand in the more marked contrast with the curse in v. 16, 17. Affliction will harden the heart, if not referred to God as its author. [Moore.] even from the day that the foundation of . . . temple was laid—The first foundation beneath the earth had been long ago laid In the second year of Cyrus, 535 b. c. (Ezra 3. 10, 11); the foundation now laid was the secondary one, which, above theeartli, was laid on tlie previous work. [Tikinus.] Or, translate, "From this day on wliich the temple is being begun," viz., on the foundations long ago laid. [Grotius.] Maurer translates, " Consider . . . from the four and twentieth day . . . to (the time which has elapsed) from the da.v on whicli the foundation . . . was laid." Tho Hebrew
English Version. 19. Istheseedyet in the barn 1 —implying. It isjioi. It has been already sown tliis month, and there are no more signs of its bearing a good crop, much less of its being safely stored in the barn, than there were in the past season, when there was such a failure; yet I promise to yon from this day (emphatically marking by the repetition the connection of the blessing with tlie day of their obedience) a blessing in an abundant harvest.
ZECHARIAH.
INTRODUCTION.
The name Zechariah means one whom Jehovah remembers : a common name, four others of the name occurring In the Old Testament. Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he was a priest as well as a prophet, which adapts Him for the sacerdotal character of some of his prophecies (ch. 6. 13). He is called "the son of Barachiah the son of Iddo" (ch. 1. 1); but simply " the son of Iddo" (Ezra 5.1; 6.14). Probably his father died when he was young, and hence, as sometimes occurs in Jewish genealogies, he is called " the son of Iddo," his grandfather. Iddo was one of the priests who returned to Zerubbabel and Joshua from Babylon (Nehemiali 12. 4).
Zechariah entered early on his prophetic functions (ch. 2. 4); only two months later than Haggai, in the second year of Darius' reign, 520 B. c. The design of both prophets was to encourage the people and their religious and civil leaders, Joshua and Zerubbabel, In their work of rebuilding the temple, after the interruption caused by the Samaritans (see Introductioti to Haggai). Zechariah does so especially by unfolding in detail the glorious future in connectiou wlllJ the present depressed appearance of the theocracy, and its visible symbol, the temple. He must have been very young in leaving Babylonia, where he was born. The Zechariah, son of Barachiah, mentioned by our Lord (Matthew Zi. .35) as slain between the porch and the altar, must have been the one called the son of Jehoiada in 2 Chronicles 24. 21, wlio so perished : the same person often had two names ; and our Lord, in referring to the Hebrew Bible, of which 2 Chronicles U the last book, would naturally mention the last martyr in the Hebrew order of the canon, as He had Instanced Abel as the first. Owing to Matthew 27. 9 quoting Zechariah 11. 12, 13 as the words of Jeremiah, Medb donbts the authenticity of chs. 9., 10., 11., 12., 13., 14., and ascribes them to Jeremiah : he thinks that these chapters were not found till after the return from the captivity, and being approved by Zechariah, were added to his propliecies, as Agur's Proverbs were added to those of Solomon. All the oldest authorities, except two MSS. of the old Italian or Pre-vulgate version, read "Jeremiah " In Matthew 27. 9. The quotation there is not to the letter copied from Zechariah: Jeremiah 18. 1, 2; 32. 6-12, may also have been in the miud of Matthew, and perhaps la the mind of Zechariah, 718