Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/489



CHAPTER XIX

INTRODUCTORY

"T "T TITH the 7th verse begins a new section in this last yy great prophecy (chaps, xii. xiv.), which has for its main theme the judgment by means of which Israel will be finally purged and transformed into the holy people of Jehovah. It is in the first instance an expansion and enlarge ment of what has gone before. But, whereas the preceding section (xii. I xiii. 6) announces how the Lord will protect Israel and Jerusalem against the pressure of the world-powers, how He will smite their enemies, and not only endow His people with miraculous power which ensures their victory, but also by pouring out His spirit of grace and of supplica tions upon them, lead them to a knowledge of the guilt they have incurred by putting the Messiah to death, and to repentance and renovation of life ; the second half (xiii. 7 xiv. 21) depicts the judgment which will fall on Jerusalem itself, by means of which the ungodly shall be cut off, and the righteous remnant and the land itself be purified and made fit to be the centre of God s kingdom on the earth.

This second half is divided again into two parts, the former of which (chap. xiii. 7-9) gives a summary of the contents, whilst the latter (chap, xiv.) expands it into fuller detail. 1

THE EXPOSITION

From the false prophet " wounded in the house of his friends," or " lovers," upon whom his attention had been fixed in the verses immediately preceding, the Spirit of God abruptly turns the prophetic gaze of Zechariah on to

1 Condensed from the valuable remarks of Keil.

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