Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/481



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the Lord : and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth"

The allusion is to Deut. xiii. 6-10, where we read : "If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, . . . thine eye shall not pity him ; neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him, but thou shalt surely kill him : thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death"

The same injunction holds true in relation to the false prophet who either speaks " presumptuously " or falsely in the Name of Jehovah, or in the name of other gods. " That same prophet shall die? 1

Now the prophet, to illustrate the zeal for Jehovah and His truth which shall then characterise converted and regenerated Israel, supposes such a case. Even if it should be their own son who should presumptuously " prophesy," either to entice them from their allegiance to Jehovah or to spread error in His Name, his own parents will not spare or pity him ; but his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through (ud qaruhu the verb is the same as in chap. xii. I o for " pierced ") when he prophesieth (iaqan:^ Uhinnabho], which may mean either when he is in the act of prophesying, or, " because of his prophesying." Zeal for Jehovah and His law will be so strong as to overmaster even parental affection ; the people themselves would stop short at nothing in order utterly to exterminate the evil should it be possible once again to assert itself.

And not only will false prophets no longer be tolerated in their midst, the pretended prophets themselves will be ashamed of their calling. " And it shall come to pass in that day that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he prophesieth ; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive" "In former days the false prophets had been bold enough to assert their claims even in the very face of the true prophets raised up by Jehovah. Now, popular feeling will run so strongly in an opposite direction that

1 Deut. xviii. 20. 30