Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/902

* ZECHABIAH. 764 ZECHARIAH. along with Haggai in Ezra v. 1, vi. 14, as in- citing to the work upon the Temple. The books of Haggai and Zecliariah place this prophetic ac- tivity in the second year of Darius, B.C. 520 (Hag. i. 1: Zeeh. i. 1), while Zech. vii. 1 indi- cates' a further activity of the prophet in the fourth year of Darius {B.C. 518). The mes- sage of these prophets was effective, but we know nothing further concerning their careers. As for the book ascribed to Zechariah, there is no doubt concerning the authenticity of the first eight chapters. These well illustrate the condition of the returned exiles. The prophecies of the second year (chap, i.-vi.) begin with a call to repentance (i. 1-0). There follows a series of eight visions (i. 7-vi. 8), fraught with messages of promise and consolation. The first (i. 7-17) represents God's arousing for the build- ing of the Temple and the wall of .Jerusalem. The second (i. 18-21) foretells the destruction of Israel's enemies. The third (chap, ii.) reveals the future wonderful growth of the city. The fourth (chap, iii.) presents dramatically the legal rehabilitation of Israel in God's favor in the person of Joshua the high priest, accom- panied with a promise of a king. The fifth (chap, iv.) mystically figures the divine grace that is to come through the two anointed men, Joshua and Zerubbabel.the respective jiriestly and royal leaders of the people. The sixth (v. 1-4) pictures the curse which will miraculously purge the restored community of its sinners. The sev- enth (V. 5-11) exhibits the removal of the wickedness of the land to Babylonia. The eighth (vi. 1-8) shows the divine accomplishment of judgment upon Babylonia. In the prophecies of the fourth year (chap, vii.-viii.) we liavo some utterances concerning the obsei'vance of fasts. In the ancient prophetic spirit, in reply to an in- quiry from certain people concerning the neces- sity of the fasts connected with the anniversaries of "Jerusalem's destruction, Zechariah condemns the godless kind of fasting, and requires instead justice and mercy between man and man (chap, vii.). The prophet took a notable place in the revival of the hopes and work of the .Jewish com- munity. His thought was Messianic, over-hope- ful indeed in its anticipation of the nearness of the new order of things. But it was_ the sanguine temperament of these prophets (vii. 3) which reestablished the new state. Over against a certain crabbodncss of imagery in the visions, we find some of the noblest notes of evangelical prophecy in the call to repentance and the dis- cussion of the fasts. The prophet .stood under the influence of Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah. See ISATAII. Chapters ix.-xiv. breathe a different spirit and exhibit another historical environment; accordingly their authorship by the prophet Zechariah is now generally denied. The chief reasons for this are as follows: Chapters i.-viii., despite occasional obscurities, reproduce the his- torical circumstances of the Return: chapters ix.-xiv. bear no reference to this epoch, but on the contrary indicate periods of very different circumstances, whose details are in general as ol>- scnrc as those of the genuine Zechariah are clear. There are references to Assyria (a name applied in later times to Syria), Kgvpt, the Aramean States, and especially to the Greeks (ix. 13) as the militant foes of Judaism, which point to a later period than that of the Persian Empire. The Levites receive a leading place alongside the house of David, and there is a stress laid upon ceremonial lioliness, which is rather typical of the reform of Ezra. The prophets are de- preciated, a phenomenon characteristic of the later ages, when spiritual activity was in the hands of the scribes and prophets wrote anony- mously; in fact, there is a scrupulous anonymitj' preserved throughout these chapters. An oppo- sition between Jerusalem and Judah is repre- sented, indicating a period when Jerusalem had regained its original political supremacy, a condition W'hich did not ensue imtil the time of Nehemiah. The last chapters ai'c apocalyptic, a characteristic of thought obtaining from the time of the Exile, to be sure, although chapters i.-viii. are devoid of it. The genuine Zechariah is prosaic in style; the subsequent chapters move in poetic diction. Finally, there* is little argu- ment for their authenticity from their present in- clusion in the Book of Zechariah, because (as in the case of the Deutero-Isaiah) the simple facts of anonymity and accidental collocation after a work of a known author would tend to their ad- dition to the preceding book. Indeed a compari- son of the identical titles of ix. 1, xii. 1, and Malachi i. 1 I which 5s properly anonymous; see M.^LACiil) forces the conclusion that these sev- eral prophetic sections were so many anonymous publications once grouped together for this very reason ; but the third came to be ascribed by mis- take to a prophet Malachi, and the first two were then absorbed by Zechariah. This Deutero-Zechariah may be divided into two sections, ix. xi. and xii.-xiv. Chapter ix. an- nounces a judgn ent upon the neighboring na- tions, the advent of the Messianic King, and Yahweh's interferci.ee for the salvation of his people. In chap. x. Yahweh promises to re- move the unfaithful leaders of Israel, and him- self to take action for the restoration of all Israel. Chap. xi. describes symbolically Yahweh's rejection of the spiritual leaders and his dis- cipline of the people, of whom a remnant is to be saved. Most scholars connect with this section the fragment xiii. 7-9. Chapters xii.- xiii. present an involved and obscure line of events. Judah and Jerusalem are engaged in a dread struggle with the Gentiles, Judah itself being at first arrayed against the capital. Yah- weh interferes, and there follows a- period of penitent mourning wita a purging of the idols and the prophets from the land. In chapter xiv. is given an apocalyptic figure of the last great attack upon Jerusalem, which is at first successful, until Yahweh's personal appearance saves his people. This is accompanied and fol- lowed by a transformation of the land of .Tudah. Finally, all nations are described as going up as worshipers to ■Jerusalem, a curse resting on those "'ho refuse. The last three chapters are now cfenerally ascribed to a late post-exilic period. Great un- certainty prevails as to chapters ix.-xi. Some hold (o their preexilic origin with considerable rei'ditinfr; the prevailing view assigns tluni to the post-exilic age: and many scholars regard the whole appendix as a work of the ^laccaba-an period. But the problems contained in chap- ters ix.-xiv. have by no means been satis- factorily elucidated. The Messianic figures of