Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/378



362 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH

in reference to both parts of the nation who constitute one people with one common destiny :

" / will hiss for them, and gather them ; for I have redeemed them"

This verb P?B&gt;, sharaq, to " hiss," or " whistle," or " pipe," is used several times in the earlier scriptures to describe God s signal in calling together nations and peoples to accomplish His purposes. Thus, in Isaiah He uses this word when He threatens to gather the Gentile nations to chastise His people : " // shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah shall hiss (or whistle ) for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee tJiat is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come and rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes" And again : " He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss (or whistle } unto them from the end of the earth. And behold they shall come with speed swiftly ; none shall be weary or stumble among them." l That is, He would gather the hostile nations against them " like the countless numbers of the insect creation, which, if united, would irresistibly desolate life. He would summon them as the bee-owner by his shrill call summons and unites his own swarm." But now the time to favour Zion having come, this same word is used in our passage in Zech. x. for the signal which He will use for the gathering together of His own dis persed people from the four corners of the earth.

The word sharaq, however, describes not only the shrill noise used to call together a swarm of insects it means also, as already suggested above, to " pipe," z and is used of the shepherd signal for the gathering of his scattered flock.

This, indeed, is the picture presented to our minds in this chapter. At present, because they have given heed to false dreamers, " they go on their way (or wander about)

1 Isa. v. 26, 27, vii. 18, 19.

2 In the Song of Deborah, Judg. v. 16, translated in the A.V. : "Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of the flocks?" is properly rendered in the R.V. : "Why safest thou among the sheepfolds to hear the pipings for the flocks ? D"ny nip-ip (shtriqoth adarim)."