Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/823

Rh Z E C Z E C 773 tion of its boundaries in Josh. xix. 10 sq. contains few names that can be identified with any certainty : Chisloth- tabor is apparently the modern Iksal, a little to the west of Tabor, Daberath the modern Daburiya, at the foot of Tabor, Gath-hepher (A.V. Gittah-hepher) the village of Al-Meshhed, and Remmon Rummana. Thus the eastern boundary laid down in Conder and Kitchener s reduced Ordnance Survey map comes too near the Lake of Tiberias. The west boundary is not defined in Josh, xix., but should agree with the somewhat vague east boundary of Asher in verse 27. At one period Zebulun must have reached the sea and bordered on Phoenician territory (Gen. xlix. 13, Deut. xxxiii. 18, 19). In the latter passage allusion is made to a feast upon a sacred mountain (Mount Tabor ?) held by Zebulun and Issachar in common, and to the wealth these tribes derived from commerce by sea. Zebulun had a chief part in the war with Sisera (Jud. iv. 6) ; it furnished one of the judges, Elon the Zebulonite (Jud. xii. 11, 12) ; and the prophet Jonah, who foretold the victories of Jeroboam II., came from the town of Gath-hepher (2 Kings xiv. 25). The captivity of the northern tribes under Tiglath Pileser (2 Kings xv. 29) appears to have included Zebulun (Isa. ix. 1 [viii. 23]). Nazareth lay within the territory of Zebulun ; but is not mentioned in the Old Testament. ZECHARIAH, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, or by con traction son of Iddo, appeared as a prophet in Jerusalem along with HAGGAI (q.v.), in the second year of Darius Hystaspes (520 B.C.), to warn and encourage the Jews to address themselves at length to the restoration of the temple, which, since their return from exile eighteen years before, had lain unaccomplished, less through want of zeal than through the pressure of unfavourable circumstances. Supported by the prophets, Zerubbabel and Joshua set about the work, and the elders of Judah built and the work went forward (Ezra v. 1 sq., vi. 14). The first eight chapters of the book of Zechariah exactly fit into this his torical setting. They are divided by precise chronological headings into three sections, chap. i. 1-6, in the eighth month of the second year of Darius ; (b~) chap. i. 7-vi. 15, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the same year ; (c) chap, vii.-viii., on the fourth day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Darius. The first sec tion is a preface containing exhortation in general terms. The main section is the second, containing a series of night visions, the significant features of which are pointed out by an angel who stands by the prophet and answers his questions. i. 7-17. The divine chariots and horses that make the round of the world by Jehovah s orders return to the heavenly palace and report that there is still no movement among the nations, no sign of the Messianic crisis. Seventy years have passed, and Zion and the cities of Judah still mourn. Sad news ! but Jehovah gives a comfortable assurance of His gracious return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of His temple. i. 18-21 (Heb. ii. 1-4). Four horns, representing the hostile world-power that oppresses Israel and Jerusalem, are routed by four smiths. ii. 1-13 (Heb. ii. 5-17). The new Jerusalem is laid out with the measuring line. It is to have no walls, that its population may not be limited, and it needs none, for Jehovah is its protection. The catastrophe of the nations is near to come ; then the exiles of Zion shall stream back from all quarters, the converted heathen shall join them, Jehovah Himself will dwell in the midst of them, even now He stirs Himself from His holy habitation. iii. 1-10. The high priest Joshua is accused before Jehovah by Satan, but is acquitted and given rule in Jehovah s house and courts, with the right of access to Jehovah in priestly intercession. The restoration of the temple and its service is a pledge of still higher things. The promised &quot;branch&quot; (or &quot;shoot,&quot; flbX), the Messiah, will come: i.e., the Persian lordship has an end ; the national king dom is restored in its old splendour ; and a time of general felicity dawns, when every man shall sit happy under his vine and under his fig tree. As by rights the Messianic kingdom should follow immediately on the exile, it is probable that the prophet designs to hint in a guarded way that Zerubbabel, who in all other places is mentioned along with Joshua, is on the point of ascending the throne of his ancestor David. The jewel with seven facets is already there, only the inscription has still to be engraved on it (iii. 9). The charges brought against the high priest consist simply in the obstacles that have hitherto impeded the restoration of the temple and its service ; and in like manner the guilt of the land (iii. 9) is simply the still continuing domination of foreigners. iv. 1-14. Beside a lighted golden candlestick of seven branches stand two olive trees Zerubbabel and Joshua, the two anointed ones specially watched over by Him whose seven eyes run through the whole earth. This explanation of the vision is separated from the description by an animated dialogue, not quite clear in its expression, in which it is said that the mountain of obstacles shall disappear before Zerubbabel, and that, having begun the building of the temple, he shall also bring it to an end in spite of those who now mock at the day of small beginnings. v. 1-4. A written roll flies over the Holy Land ; this is a con crete representation of the curse which in future will fall of itself on all crime, so that, e.g., no man who has suffered theft will have occasion himself to pronounce a curse against the thief (cf. Jud. xvii. 2). v. 5-11. Guilt, personified as a woman, is cast into an epha- measure with a heavy lid and carried from Judah to Chaldsea, whero it is to have its home for the future. vi. 1-8. The divine teams, four in number, again traverse the world toward the four winds, to execute Jehovah s commands. That which goes northward is charged to wreak His anger on the north country. The series of visions has now reached its close, returning to its starting-point in i. 7 sqq. An appendix follows (vi. 9-15). Jews from Babylon have brought gold and silver to Jerusalem ; of these the prophet must make a crown designed for the &quot; branch &quot; who is to build Jehovah s house and sit king on the throne, but retain a good understanding with the high priest. Zerubbabel is certainly meant here, and, if the received text names Joshua instead of him (vi. 11), this is only a correction, made for reasons easy to understand, but which breaks the context and destroys the sense and the reference of &quot; them both&quot; in verse 13. The third section (chaps, vii.-viii.), dated from the fourth year of Darius, contains an inquiry whether the fast days that arose in the captivity are still to be observed, with a comforting and encouraging reply of the prophet. Thus throughout the first eight chapters the scene is Jerusalem in the early part of the reign of Darius. Zerub babel and Joshua, the prince and the priest, are the leaders of the community. But, while the spiritual head is in office, the authority of the civil head is rather moral than official, and is not so much actual as hoped for. The great concern of the time and the chief practical theme of these chapters is the building of the temple ; but its restoration is only the earnest of greater things to follow, viz., the glorious restoration of David s kingdom. The horizon of these prophecies is everywhere limited by the narrow con ditions of the time, and their aim is clearly seen. The visions hardly veil the thought, and the mode of expression is usually simple, except in the Messianic passages, where the tortuousness and obscurity are perhaps intentional. Noteworthy is the affinity between some notions evidently not framed by the prophet himself and the prologue to Job, the heavenly hosts that wander through the earth and bring back their report to Jehovah s throne, the figure of Satan, the idea that suffering and calamity are evidences of guilt and of accusations presented before God. Passing from chaps, i.-viii. to chaps, ix. sq., we at once feel ourselves transported into a different world. Jehovah s word is accomplished on Syria-Phoenicia and Philistia ; and then the Messianic kingdom begins in Zion, and the Israelites detained among the heathen, Judah and Ephraim combined, receive a part in it. The might of the sons of Javan is broken in battle against this kingdom (ch. ix.). After an intermezzo of three verses (x. 1-3 : &quot; Ask rain of Jehovah, not of the diviners &quot;) a second and quite analogous Messianic prophecy follows. The foreign tyrants fall ; the lordship of Assyria and Egypt has an end ; the autonomy and martial power of the nation are restored. The scattered exiles return as citizens of the new theocracy, all obstacles in their way parting asunder as when the waves of the Red Sea gave passage to Israel at the founding of the old theocracy (x. 3-12). Again there is an interlude of three verses (xi. 1-3) : fire seizes the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan, which the rabbins rel ur to the