Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/25

 commenced. The time and circumstances were, however, the same.

About eighteen years had elapsed since the first year of Cyrus, when a remnant of those who were carried into captivity both of Judah and of Israel returned under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest.

The first zeal of the returned exiles was most beautiful. In the seventh month of the very year of their return they already rebuilt the altar of burnt-offering, and thus restored the sacrificial ritual which was suspended during the seventy years of captivity; and in the second month of the second year they solemnly set themselves to the task of rebuilding the Temple amid circumstances of great national joy not unmixed with tears and sorrow on the part of those who remembered the Temple " in its first glory."

Soon, however, owing to causes into which I cannot enter here, carelessness and indifference took possession of their hearts, and the holy task of building the House which served as the visible symbol of fellowship between Jehovah and His covenant people was neglected. Then was raised up Haggai, the first of the great trio of post-exilic prophets, who, by scathing denunciations, blended with glorious promises of present help, and announcements of a special and " greater glory," which should be manifested in this " latter House," succeeded in rousing the nation zealously to resume the work of building the Temple. It was then, right in the midst of the movement inaugurated by Haggai, that Zechariah was commissioned by God with further messages. The difference between the two prophets seems to be this, that while Haggai's task was chiefly to rouse the people to the outward task of building the Temple, Zechariah took up the prophetic labours just where Haggai had left it, and sought to lead the people to a complete spiritual change, one of the fruits of which would of necessity be increased zeal in the building of God's House, the completion of which he witnessed four years later.

In structure Zechariah's prophecy has this in common