Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/294



278 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH

" of the going down of the sun " (viii. 7, 8) will be gathered ; but that Zechariah foresaw a second stage in the dispersion, a more universal scattering before the final and universal gathering, we have already seen in the exposition of vers. i o and 1 1 of chap, ii., and of vers. 7 and 8 of chap. viii.

(ii.) " The Temple in Jerusalem was still standing (xi. 13)." Why not? Did not Zechariah early in his ministry see the completion of the building of a temple in Jerusalem after the partial restoration ? And here again, supposing the difficult prophecy in chap. xi. refers (as, in the light of its striking and manifest fulfilment in Christ, it assuredly does) to a more distant future from the point of view of the prophet, when a temple would exist in Jerusalem ?

(iii.) " Nay, even Ephraim has not gone into exile, . . . but is presupposed as a still existing power (ix. 10-13, x. 6, xi. 7-14)"

Now, this would be a very serious argument against the post-exilic date of these chapters if the statement were true ; but here also the conclusion is not justified by r proper understanding of the references given. It is based on the mention of " Ephraim " or " the house of Joseph," which are used as designations of " Israel " (xi. 14) in the narrower sense namely, for those who during the long schism belonged to the northern kingdom in contrast to " Judah," or " the house of Judah," or " Jerusalem," which stand, when thus contrasted, for the southern kingdom. But if the mention of Ephraim, or " Israel," together with " Judah " and " Jerusalem," is to be taken as a proof that " Ephraim had not gone into exile " when these chapters were written, then on the same ground we might conclude that the northern kingdom still existed when chaps, vii. and viii. were written ; and not only chaps, vii. and viii,, but even the vision of the Horns and Carpenters in chap, i., for there also we read of the " house of Judah and the house of Israel" (viii. 13), and of "Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem" (i. 1 9, ii. 2) ; and yet it is universally admitted, even by the critics, that chaps, vii. and viii., as well as the visions, were written by Zechariah long after the overthrow not