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392 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH

and by rejecting Him choose death rather than life, and thus experience the truth of the awful designation, tson ]ia-haregaJi, " sheep of slaughter " ; but, as has been the case even in the very darkest periods of Israel s history, God would leave in the midst of them " an afflicted and poor people," who would trust in the Name of Jehovah, 1 the remnant according to the election of grace, in and through whom the purposes of God would be carried for ward. The New Testament parallel and ultimate fulfilment is in John i. 1 1 : " He came unto His own, and they that were His received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right (or power ) to become children of God, even to them that believe in His Name"

" The elect are the end of all God s dispensations," observes another writer. " He fed all ; yet the fruit of His feeding, His toils, His death, the travail of His soul, was in those only who are saved. So also the apostle says : Therefore, I endure all things for the elects sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. He fed all ; but the poor of the flock alone, those who were despised of men because they would not follow the pride of the high priests and scribes and Pharisees, believed on Him."

On entering his office as shepherd, the prophet " took two staves." The Eastern shepherd, to quote from Dr. Thomson s The Land and the Book, " invariably carries a staff or rod with him when he goes forth to feed his flock. It is often bent, or hooked, at one end, which gave rise to the shepherd s crook in the hand of the Christian bishop. With this staff he rules and guides the flock to their green pastures, and defends them from their enemies. With it, also, he corrects them when disobedient, and brings them back when wandering. This staff is associated as in separably with the shepherd as the goad is with the ploughman."

That on certain occasions, at any rate, it was customary for the shepherd to have not only one but two staves one

1 Zeph. iii. 12.