Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/331



THE PRINCE OF PEACE 315

The phrase QJ "W DJO, miyyam ad yam from sea to sea is idiomatic, and equivalent to " from the sea to the other end of the world where the sea begins again." The nahar (" river ") is the Euphrates, and is mentioned as the remotest eastern boundary of the promised land, according to Gen. xv. 1 8 ; Ex. xxiii. 3 1.

In short, from the Holy Land, which will then be extended to the limits originally promised to the fathers, and which will be the centre of Messiah s blessed rule, His dominion will extend even " unto the ends of the earth."

Before finally taking leave of the loth verse, we must note once more that, in keeping with the special style and characteristic of our prophet (which we had occasion to observe again and again in our study of the first half of the book), Zechariah not only bases his prophecy of Messiah s Person and Mission on the utterances about Israel s coming Redeemer of the " former prophets," but gives, so to say, a terse summary of God s previous revela tions on this great theme. This indeed is one reason why this short prophetic book of only fourteen chapters is so marvellously rich in its contents ; for, in addition to new Divine communications granted to this priest-prophet, we have in it, as it were, an inspired condensation, or summary, of the great prophecies and promises contained in the earlier prophets.

We have already noted the verbal quotation from the 72nd Psalm, but there are also earlier prophetic utterances which are interwoven in this inspired picture of Messiah s Person and Mission as presented by Zechariah. The chief of these is Mic. v. : " But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, which art little (or least ) to be among the cities of Judah, out of thee shall One come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. . . . And He shall stand and feed in the strengtli of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God : and they shall abide, for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth. And this One shall be our peace. . . . And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah, that I will cut off thy