The Makers and Teachers of Judaism Part 5

[Sidenote: Zech. 7:1-6]

In the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, the city of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men, to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to speak to the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, should I weep in the fifth month [in memory of the destruction of the temple] separating myself, as I have done these many years? Then this word of Jehovah of hosts came to me: Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, 'When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month [when Gedaliah was murdered], even these seventy years, did ye at all fast to me, even to me? And when ye eat and when ye drink, do ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

[Sidenote: Zech. 7:7-14]

Should ye not hear these words which Jehovah cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and the South Country, and the lowland were inhabited? Execute true judgment, and show kindness and pity each to his brother; and oppress not the widow nor the fatherless, the resident alien nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against your brother in his heart. But they refused to heed, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant lest they should hear the teaching, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts. And even when I cried they would not hear, so when they cried I did not hear, saith Jehovah of hosts. And I scattered them by a whirlwind among the nations which they did not know. Thus the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man pa.s.sed to or fro; for they made the pleasant land a desolation.

[Sidenote: Zech. 8:1-5]

Now this word of Jehovah of hosts came to me: Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, 'I cherish for Zion a great jealousy, And I am jealous for her with great indignation.'

Thus saith Jehovah, 'I have returned to Zion, And will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; And Jerusalem shall be called, "The City of Truth;"

And the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, "The Holy Mountain."

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 'Old men and old women shall again sit in the broad places of Jerusalem, Each man with his staff in his hand because of old age.

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys, And of girls playing in its broad places.'

[Sidenote: Zech. 8:6-8]

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Because it seemeth impossible to the remnant of this people, Is it impossible for me? saith Jehovah of hosts.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am about to rescue my people, From the land of the east and the land of the west, And I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.

And they shall be my people in truth and righteousness, And in turn I will be their G.o.d.

I. Zechariah's Ancestry and Point of View. Haggai's contemporary, the prophet Zechariah, was evidently a priest. In the genealogy of Nehemiah 12:4, it is stated that he belonged to the priestly family of Iddo. This conclusion is confirmed by the character of his prophecies. Like the priest-prophet Ezekiel he is exceedingly fond of apocalyptic symbolism. He is also deeply interested in the priesthood and in its ceremonial purity.

Furthermore, it is exceedingly probable that he was a descendant of one of the many priests carried as exiles to Babylon. This is shown by his keen interest in and exact knowledge of the great political movements that were then shaking the Persian Empire. His conception of Jehovah is also strongly influenced by the a.n.a.logies drawn from the Persian court. In his thought Israel's G.o.d is a transcendental ruler, who communicates with his subjects not directly, but through angelic messengers, and who, like the Persian kings, is dependent for information regarding his great kingdom upon the reports of the different members of his heavenly court. Thus Zechariah marks a wide departure from the simple theology of the pre-exilic prophets who thought of Jehovah as dwelling in the midst of his people and communicating directly with all who turned to him in faith.

II. The Book of Zechariah. The book which records the prophet's sermons contains four distinct divisions: (1) An exhortation addressed to the people in December, 520, three months after Haggai first appealed to them to rise and rebuild the temple, Zechariah 1:1-8; (2) symbolic visions dealing with the problems in the Judean community, 1:7-6:8; (3) practical counsel, exhortations, and promises, 6:9-8:23; (4) a later appendix coming from a prophet who probably lived during the earlier part of the Maccabean period, 9-14. All of Zechariah's recorded sermons probably date from the three or four years between 520 and 516 B.C., during which the temple was being rebuilt. They throw a remarkably clear light upon an exceedingly critical and significant period in the life of the Jews of Palestine. They are also in many ways the best Old Testament source for the study of the unfolding of Israel's messianic hopes.

III. Problems and Hopes of the Judean Community. Four or five practical problems confronted and disturbed the temple-builders. The first was: Would Jerusalem and the temple, still without walls, be protected from the attack of the hostile foes that encircled them. A second and larger question was: What was to be the outcome of the great tempest through which the Persian Empire was pa.s.sing, and did it mean for the Jews deliverance from the powerful conquerors who for centuries had oppressed and crushed them? The third was: Would the necessarily modest service of the restored temple, already sadly polluted by heathen hands, be acceptable to Jehovah? Another problem was: What were the relations and the respective duties of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the civil and religious authorities in the community? It was also inevitable that at this time the hope of securing their independence under the leadership of Zerubbabel should come prominently to the front. To each of these problems Zechariah addressed himself, and his book records his convictions and public utterances.

IV. Zechariah's a.s.surances of Jehovah's Care. In his initial vision concerning the angelic hors.e.m.e.n he recognizes that the storms that have swept over the Persian Empire are beginning to subside, but he tells his fellow-laborers that, if they persist, Jehovah's temple shall be rebuilt and that the lands about Jerusalem shall again be sold to eager buyers, and the cities of Judah shall enjoy their former prosperity, for "Jehovah will surely comfort Zion." In the vision of the four horns and of the four smiths whose mission it is to smite the horns, he a.s.sures the people that Jehovah in his good time and way will overthrow the nations that now wrong and oppress them. Although there is no promise that Jerusalem will be surrounded by walls, he declares that it shall enjoy a prosperity and a growth which no walls can confine, and that Jehovah himself will be its protection, as well as its glory, that he will gather the scattered exiles, and that they, together with the nations which shall acknowledge Jehovah's rule, shall yet come streaming back to Judah.

In his next vision the prophet graphically presents a scene in Jehovah's court. Joshua the priest, representing the ceremonial service of the polluted temple, is charged by the adversary with uncleanness. Here for the first time in Hebrew literature we catch a glimpse of Satan, who is regarded not as hostile to G.o.d but as the prosecuting attorney of heaven.

As in the prologue of the book of Job, he is an accredited member of the divine hierarchy. His task is to search out and report to Jehovah the misdeeds of men. In Zechariah's vision, however, the divine judge acquits Joshua of the charge, and causes him to be clad with clean garments, thus proclaiming the divine approval of the modest yet devoted service of the Judean community.

V. Preparations for the Crowning of Zerubbabel. Regarding Zerubbabel, Zechariah declares, in language highly figurative, that he shall yet be crowned and rule over a happy and prosperous people. He is spoken of as Jehovah's servant, the Branch. The term is probably original with Zechariah, although again used in the supplementary pa.s.sages in Jeremiah 23:5 and 33:15. The word is akin to the term "shoot of the house of Jesse"

used in Isaiah 11, to describe a certain scion of the house of David, who in all probability was the young Zerubbabel. Zechariah's figure describes the prince as an offshoot of the same royal tree. The obscure pa.s.sage seems to mean that upon the stone, with its seven facets, which was to be set in the crown prepared for the head of Zerubbabel, Jehovah himself would engrave a fitting t.i.tle.

In Zechariah's fifth vision he defined the relations between the civil and priestly authorities. The golden candlestick represented the temple and its service. The two olive trees beside it stood for Zerubbabel, the civil ruler, and for Joshua, the high priest. The duty of each was to contribute his part toward the support of the temple service. They were both Jehovah's Messiahs, that is, men anointed as a symbol of the task which each was to perform.

In this connection Zechariah declared that Jehovah would remove all obstacles from before Zerubbabel, and that he who had begun the work should live to see its completion. In an address recorded in the latter part of the sixth chapter of his prophecy (intentionally revised by a later scribe), Zechariah threw aside all symbolism and gave directions to make a crown for the head of Zerubbabel from the silver and gold that had been brought as a gift by a deputation from the Jews of Babylon.

He also plainly predicted that this descendant of David should sit on the throne of Judah and that Joshua the priest should be his minister like the priests in the pre-exilic kingdom.

VI. Disappointment of These Patriotic Hopes. With Zechariah's prediction that Zerubbabel should reign on the throne of Judah the descendants of the house of David suddenly and forever disappear from Old Testament history.

Whether the Jews made the attempt to shake off the yoke of Persia Or whether Zerubbabel was quietly set aside cannot be determined.

Contemporary history states that within at least six months after Zechariah voiced the patriotic hopes of his people the authority of Darius was fully established throughout the empire. He at once began thoroughly to organize the vast realm. Post roads bound together the distant provinces, and satraps, appointed largely from the ranks of the royal family, unified the whole empire and held it under firm control. As a rule Persian governors were subst.i.tuted for the native princes. With the inst.i.tution of this policy Zerubbabel may well have been quietly set aside. The event evidently made a profound impression upon the messianic expectations of the Jews. Henceforth, for three or four centuries, the temporal, kingly type of messianic hope, which had been inspired by the glories of the reign of David, entirely disappeared. It was not revived until the military victories of the Maccabean era had again brought prominently to the front this phase of national glory (cf. Section CXVI).

As a result of these disappointments Israel's hopes were universalized and spiritualized. Jehovah, instead of a scion of the house of David, was henceforth regarded as the one supreme King of Israel.

VII. Zechariah's Later Exhortations and Predictions. In chapters 7 and 8, which conclude the original sermons of Zechariah, the apocalyptic language with which he clothed his earlier predictions regarding the future of the Judean community disappeared, and he spoke as did Amos and Haggai, plainly and directly regarding the questions which were then stirring the people. When a deputation came from the north to inquire whether or not, now that the temple was being rebuilt, they should continue to observe their fasts in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of Gedaliah, the prophet raised the searching question of whether their motive in these services was to please Jehovah or to please themselves. He then went on to declare that the only effective way to serve Jehovah was by deeds of justice and kindness, especially to the dependent cla.s.ses in the community, and that the horrors of the exile had come because their fathers had failed to worship Jehovah by righteous deeds.

The prophet concludes with a brilliant picture of the coming restoration of Jerusalem and of the peace and prosperity which should be the lot of all, because Jehovah was about to gather his scattered people from the east and the west and to establish them in the midst of his sacred city.

Other nations should eagerly come to Jerusalem to seek the favor of Jehovah and to ally themselves with his faithful followers, the Jews. In a prophecy, preserved in Micah 4:1-4 and Isaiah 2:1-4 (which probably comes from this period) the same thought is n.o.bly expressed:

It shall come to pa.s.s in the latter days, That the mountain of Jehovah shall be established, Even the house of our G.o.d on the top of the mountain, And it shall be lifted above the hills.

All the nations shall flow to it, And many peoples shall go and say, Come, let us go up to Jehovah's mount, To the house of the G.o.d of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, And that we may walk in his paths.

For from Zion proceeds instruction, And Jehovah's word from Jerusalem.

Section XCVI. ISRAEL'S TRAINING AND DESTINY

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:1, 2]

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your G.o.d, Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and declare to her, That her hard service is accomplished, her guilt is expiated That she hath received from Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:3, 4]

A voice is proclaiming: In the wilderness prepare the way of Jehovah, Make straight in the desert a highway for our G.o.d!

Let every mountain and hill sink down, and every valley be lifted up, And the crooked be made straight and the rough ridges a plain.

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:6-8]

A voice is saying, Proclaim! and I said, What shall I proclaim?

All flesh is gra.s.s and all its beauty like a flower of the field.

Gra.s.s withers, flower fades, when Jehovah's breath blows eternal upon it, Gra.s.s withers, flower fades, but the word of our G.o.d endureth forever.

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:9]

To a high mountain, get thee up, Zion's herald of good news; Lift up mightily thy voice, Jerusalem's herald of good news.

Lift up fearlessly, say to the cities of Judah: Behold your G.o.d!

[Sidenote: Isa 40:10, 11]

Behold, Jehovah cometh in might, and his arm is maintaining his rule; Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense is before him, As a shepherd he will tend his flock, with his arm he will gather it, The lambs in his bosom he will bear, the ewe-mothers he will lead.

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:12]

Who hath measured in the hollow of his hand the waters, And ruled off the heavens with a span, Or enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, And weighed the mountains in scales, And the hills in a balance?

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:13, 14]

Who hath determined the spirit of Jehovah, And as his counsellor advised him?

With whom hath he consulted for enlightenment, And to be instructed in the right, And to be shown the way of discernment?

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:16, 17]

Lo the nations! as a drop from a bucket, And as dust on a balance are they reckoned.

Lo the isles! as a mote he uplifteth, And Lebanon is not enough for fuel, And its wild beasts for a burnt-offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him, They are reckoned by him as void and nothingness.

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:18-20]

To whom then will ye liken G.o.d, And what likeness place beside him?

An image! a craftsman cast it, And a smelter o'erlays it with gold.

He who is too poor to do this Chooses a tree that is not decayed, Seeks for himself a skilled craftsman, To set up an image that shall not totter.

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:21, 22]

Do ye not know? Do ye not hear?

Hath it not been told you from the beginning?

Have ye not been aware from the founding of the earth?

It is he who is enthroned above the vault of the earth, And its inhabitants are as locusts; Who stretcheth out the heavens as a thin veil, And spreadeth them out like a habitable tent.

[Sidenote: Isa. 40:23, 24]