Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/479



THE OPENED FOUNTAIN 463

be closed, for the force of the Hebrew words 1 which are used, is not only " shall be opened," but " shall remain open " ever free and accessible to all, and everlastingly efficacious for " sin and for uncleanness."

From the inward cleansing of the people from the guilt and moral defilement of sin, the prophet passes in vers. 26 to the cleansing of the land and the purification of the environment in which the forgiven and sanctified people shall then live and move. Nothing that defileth shall be permitted in the restored Jewish state in the day when " Jehovah shall inherit Judah, His portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again."

The two chief sources of moral pollution and the great besetting sin of Israel in the land were idolatry and false prophecy. These shall be utterly purged out of their midst. " A nd it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that / will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered : and I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land? Not only shall the idols the objects of idolatrous worship themselves be " cut off," but their very names and remem brance shall perish in the land ; and not only shall false prophets disappear, but the unclean spirit the author and inspirer of false prophecy as well as the instigator of idolatry shall be cast out from the midst of the people, whose ears shall then be circumcised to hearken only to words of truth and purity, and whose heart s love and worship shall be centred in Jehovah alone.

The evil spirit is particularly designated as the ruach hattumah (" the spirit of uncleanness "), in contrast to " the spirit of grace and of supplications" in chap. xii. 10, who is pre-eminently the Ruach Ha-qodesh the " Holy Spirit " because He is the representative and revealer of the blessed Godhead, whose chief attribute is that of holiness, and who dwells in the midst of His people to sanctify them and to make them holy, because Jehovah their God is holy.

Some have argued from the mention of idols and false 1 nn?a ,T.T, Yeeyhe nifhtach.