Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/426



410 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH

earliest English critics, who were believing men, to the con clusion that these chapters in Zechariah were not attributed by the Jews to their right author, who, in truth, was not Zechariah, but Jeremiah. But, as I have tried to show, there is no basis in fact for this theory. A more elaborate attempt to justify the occurrence of Jeremiah s name in this passage in Matthew was first made by Grotius, and after wards developed by Hengstenberg. Stated in the briefest j form, the reason for the introduction of Jeremiah s name in i the place of that of Zechariah s is, according to these I writers explanation, " because, as far as the principal } features are concerned, Zechariah s prophecy in chap. xi. is | simply a renewal and repetition of the prophecy in Jer. xix. (or, according to others, of chaps, xviii. and xix.), and Zechariah announced a second fulfilment of that pro phecy." Or, to quote for the sake of elucidation a longer summary :

St. Matthew intentionally ascribed the words of Zechariah to Jeremiah, because he wished to impress upon his readers the fact that Zechariah s prediction was a reiteration of two fearful prophecies of Jeremiah (Jer. xviii., xix.), and should, like them, be accomplished in the rejection and destruction of the Jewish people. * He wished to remind them that " the field of blood," purchased with the money that testified the fulness of their guilt, was a part of that valley of the son of Hinnom which their fathers had made a " field of blood " before them, and where Jeremiah had twice by the symbol of a potter s vessel, announced their coming destruction. The words of the prophet, " Cast it to the potter," were in themselves sufficient to direct the attention of readers acquainted with the prophecies to those two chapters of Jeremiah ; but the manner in which St. Matthew introduces his quotation makes the allusion still more plain. He first relates the purchase of the potter s field, thereby pointing out the locality of Jeremiah s prophecy ; then he mentions the fact that it was called " the field of blood," thereby referring to a very similar expression in that prophet, " Behold the days