Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/32

 and we shall be turned" " Cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved" (Lam. v. 2 I; Ps. Ixxx. 3).

We now come to the last two verses of Zechariah's preparatory address, which may be summarised as a warning against disobedience, illustrated and enforced by the sad experiences of their fathers. " Your fathers, where are they? " " They did not hear nor hearken "; they dis believed and disobeyed My word; but what was the con sequence? What good did they gain? what success did they experience in resisting Me? " Where are they?"

Did they not for that very reason spend their days in wretchedness, and pine away in captivity? " And the prophets, do they live for ever? "

Probably we have here the record of a dialogue between the prophet, speaking in the Name of God, and the people; at least so some of the leading Jewish commentators understand it namely, that when the prophet pointed them to their fathers, saying, " Where are they? " the people impudently answered, "And the prophets, do they live for ever? "- have they, too, not shared in the sorrows of the nation and passed away like our fathers? And then the prophet replies, " Yes; the prophets, though God's mouth piece, were but men, and are gone, but My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers, so that they had to return and say, that as Jehovah of hosts hath thought (or " determined ") to