Jerusalem as the city of JEHOVAH for the nations as well as for Judah.

iii. 1-9 a (as far as LORD of hosts). A VISION (IV) of the cleansing of the High Priest.

9t, 10. Assurance of the punishment of Judah's oppressors, and promise of peace to Judah.

IV. I-6 a (ending, and he spake unto me, saying) with 10-14 (beginning, These seven are the eyes of the LORD). VISION (V) of two olive trees fed with oil from a golden candlestick, together with the explanation of the vision.

6b-10 a (beginning, This is the word, and ending, in the hand of Zerubbabel). The word of JEHOVAH to Zerubbabel promising that he shall complete the rebuilding of the Temple.

v. I-4. VISION (VI) of a flying roll which brings punishment on guilty households.

5-II. VISION (VII) of a flying ephah, bearing away guilt of the people. (Probably iii. 96, 10—beginning, and I will remove-should follow V. II.)

vi. I-8. VISION (VIII) of the four chariots. JEHOVAH'S spirit "quieted."

9-15. The gifts brought from Babylon used by Zechariah to convey a promise of fresh help for the completion of the Temple.

vii. 1-7. Superscription giving the date of the following prophecy, and the circumstances under which it was delivered. A question addressed to the priests (and prophets) as to fasting. The Prophet answers that their fasting and their feasting have no moral value.

8-14. JEHOVAH desires mercy and justice, and for lack of these Judah was laid waste.

viii. 1. Superscription (without date).

2-8. Peace and prosperity promised to Jerusalem.

9-17. A covenant.

God's favour shall now be in pro

portion to his former chastisement. The people on their part shall observe truth, justice, and sincerity.

18. Superscription (without date) to two Words of the LORD which follow.

19-23. Two promises. Fasting shall be turned into

feasts. Strong nations shall join themselves to Judah in order to worship JEHOVAH in Jerusalem.

(At this point there is a change affecting both the style 、and the subject-matter of the book.)

Supplement to the book of Zechariah.

ix. I a. Superscription (without date) "The Burden of the Word of JEHOVAH."

Ib-8. Judgement on Tyre and the Philistine cities. 9, IO. Zion to receive a 'meek" (Heb. 'āni) and peaceful king, who has been "saved" from his enemies.

II-17. Promise of a return of exiles to Jerusalem and of the future glory of the city.

X. I, 2. The Prophet warns his hearers to seek blessing ("rain") from JEHOVAH, and not from tĕraphim, nor from diviners.

3-12. JEHOVAH will raise up leaders of every rank to win victory and bring back the exiles of Judah and Ephraim from Egypt and Assyria by a new Exodus. But first the present leaders must be punished.

xi. 1-3. The visitation of Judah.

4-14. The rejection by the people of the shepherd appointed by JEHOVAH.

15-17. The worthless shepherd appointed over the people as a punishment.

xii. 1-9.

The great deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem from the invasion of many nations.

10-14. The great day of humiliation and repentance for the whole people of Judah.

xiii. 1-6 (cp. x. 1, 2). False prophecy and divination will be cleansed out of the land.

7-9. A terrible trial announced.

The ruler will be

cut off and only a third of the people will pass safely through the ordeal.

xiv. The new Jerusalem delivered from her enemies, and set up on high to be a centre of the worship of JEHOVAH for all the nations.

HAGGAI

b

83. THE RELATION OF ZECH. ix.-xiv. TO ZECH. i.—viii.

It is easy to assign the prophecies contained in the first half of Zechariah (chs. i.-viii.) to the period to which they belong. The evidence is partly direct and partly indirect. The eight chapters are certainly from one hand, and the prophet is definitely named as Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. He can be none other than the Zechariah son of Iddo" who is mentioned in Ezra v. 1, 2; vi. 13, 14 as one of the two prophets who encouraged the Jews to rebuild the Temple in the days of Darius. To make the matter certain there are three passages in Zech. i.—viii. which are dated in the second and fourth years of Darius. There is no reasonable doubt that the king meant is Darius Hystaspis (521-485 B.C.).

With this date agree the references in the text to the circumstances of Judah and Jerusalem. JEHOVAH has had indignation against Jerusalem and the neighbouring cities for "seventy years" (i. 12), i.e. ever since 597 B.C., when the temple vessels were carried to Babylon and Jehoiachin was led captive (2 Kings xxiv. 12, 13), or since 586 B.C., when the Temple was destroyed, and the dynasty of the house of David came to an end (2 Kings xxv. I—10). ("Seventy" is a round number.) So too the Temple was lying waste (i. 16; al.). Jerusalem's walls needed rebuilding (ii. 2, 4) and the city itself was almost empty of inhabitants (viii. 4, 5). Again the Babylonian captivity was still recent and was not yet at an end (ii. 7). Finally Zerubbabel was the civil governor of Judah, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak was the high priest. These two persons are to be identified with the two leaders mentioned in Ezra v. 2. The indications in short show quite clearly that Zech. i-viii. belongs as a whole to the period 520518 B.C., the second to the fourth year of Darius Hystaspis. A striking literary feature of these chapters is the introduction of the interpreting angel, who explains the visions which are shown to the prophet. The same figure appears in the book of Daniel (vii. 16; viii. 16; ix. 21 ff.) and in the Revelation of St John (xvii. 1 ff.; xxi. 9), but

usually in the prophets of the Old Testament revelation is given by the word of JEHOVAH, without any intermediary.

The second half of Zechariah consists of chs. ix.-xiv. of the book. It is distinguished by several features from the earlier half. The angel-interpreter of visions disappears, the name of Zechariah the prophet is found no longer, no passage is dated by the year of Darius, Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua are not mentioned at all. On the other hand some new subjects are introduced, e.g. Tyre and the Philistines are threatened with punishment (ix. I6); the Governors of Judah are denounced (xi. 4, 5; 8; 15-17); and also the Diviners and Prophets (x. 2; xiii. 2-6); a capture of Jerusalem by the Gentiles and her subsequent deliverance are described (xii. 2 ff.; xiv. 1—7). Lastly, reference is made to "the sons of Javan” (Tà tékva Twv 'Elλývwv, "the children of the Greeks," LXX); "I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece" (ix. 13, R.V.)

This second half of the book is divided into two sections: (1) chs. ix.-xi.; (2) chs. xii.-xiv. Each section begins with the heading, "The burden of the word of JEHOVAH." The two are kindred in subject and supplementary to one another in contents. Chs. ix. xi. describe the Restoration of the people of Judah (and Ephraim); chs. xii.—xiv. the Restoration of Jerusalem and her advancement to be the Sanctuary not of Israel only but also of all the nations.

The reference to the sons of Javan (pronounced Yāvān) has given occasion to a rash conclusion as to the date of an important subsection of the second half of Zechariah. Thus Nowack writes, Ch. ix. 13, where the Běně Jāvān (sons of Javan), are designated as the chief enemy (sic!) of the people [of JEHOVAH], is decisive for fixing the time at which these chapters (chs. ix., x. 3—xi. 3) originated in the very form in which they lie before us" (Kleinen Propheten, P. 350). He proceeds to explain that the time must be subsequent to the conquest of Palestine by Alexander the Great (332 B.C.).

Marti (Dodekapropheton, pp. 427, 430) goes a step further

in definite pronouncement. Javan (he asserts) is a designation of the Seleucid power, for ch. ix. 1, 2 describe the kingdom of the house of Seleucus," and so the prophecy comes from 197-142 B.C., when Palestine was subject to the Syro-Greeks. Duhm again (Z.A.T.W., 1911, p. 190), while declaring that the words, "against thy sons, O Javan," are impossible "on grounds of style" and so must be a gloss, also maintains that the passage refers to the Seleucid power. In any case the conclusion of Nowack and Marti is rash ; the occurrence of the name Javan is of itself no help whatever towards fixing the date of an anonymous and undated passage. If we omit Ezek. xxvii. 19 (the reading of which is uncertain) we find Javan in seven other passages of the O.T. In none of these does the name connote the SyroGreeks (so well known to the later Jews), but rather some remote little known people. Thus in Gen. x. 2 (= 1 Chron. i. 5); Ezek. xxvii. 13; Is. lxvi. 19; Joel iii. (iv) 6 Javan is associated with Madai (the Medes), with Tubal and Meshech, with Tubal and the isles of the sea, or when used alone it suggests the notion of distance. It is not till we reach the latter half of the book of Daniel, which belongs most probably to the Maccabean age, that the name Javan begins to connote a power with which the Biblical writers were familiar. Then we find, "King of Javan" (Dan. viii. 21), "prince of Javan" (Dan. x. 20), "kingdom of Javan' (Dan. xi 2). But even here Javan stands for the Macedonians, who overthrew the Persian power, and not for the house of Seleucus. The great oppressor of Israel is called on the contrary simply "the king of the north" (Dan. xi. 15, 40). In short it must be said that there is nothing in the rest of the O.T. to warrant us in giving to Javan in Zech. ix. 13 the sense of the Syro-Grecian power.

If appeal be made to 1 Macc. viii. 18, where the kingdom of the Greeks (perhaps malchuth Jāvān in the lost Heb. original of the book) is described as enslaving Israel, the answer is that the two phrases, malchuth Jāvān and Běně Jāvān differ wholly in the historical background which they respectively suggest. Kingdom of Javan may suggest the Macedonian power and its successor (in