Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/248

 I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem " the glad announcement of which, contained in the two verbs shabhti and shakhanti (" I am returned " and " I will dwell," which are in the prophetic perfect tense), being again an inspired repetition of the " good and comfortable words " which were set forth in the first vision.

Thus the word shabhti (" I am returned ") takes us back to chap. i. 1 6 (" / am returned sliabhtti to Jerusalem with mercies "), and sliaklianti (" I will dwell ") to chap, ii. i o, where we read, " Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of tkee, saith JeJiovah"

According to some commentators these glad announce ments of the return and dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of His people, in chap, viii., " signify nothing more nor less than the restitution of His favour and goodwill toward Israel," as shown in their partial restoration from Babylon, and in the relief which the remnant then experienced. But this is a very poor and inadequate view to take of this prophecy, as its very connection with the glorious predic tions in chaps, i. and ii. itself shows. No, as I have shown in my notes on the first vision, the announcement, " I am returned to Zion with mercies," is itself the very heart and substance of the consoling part of the message which the prophet was commissioned to deliver; and the fulfilment of the promise, " I will dwell in the midst of thee," is the goal to which all the former prophets looked forward, and will in its fulness be realised only in the visible and manifest reign in and from Mount Zion, in the midst of restored and converted Israel, of Him Whose Name is " Immanuel " which, being interpreted, is " God with us."

We take this promise, then, not only in a more literal, but, if we may use the expression, also in a more personal sense. At the commencement of " the times of the Gentiles," which began with the Babylonian Captivity, when God was about to give Israel over into the hands of their enemies, the prophet Ezekiel saw the slow and reluctant departure of the glory of Jehovah from the Temple and City of Jerusalem. And with this withdrawal