Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/494



478 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH

which man can never attain by a mere process of reason ing.

But when thus laid hold of with a pure heart and in childlike simplicity, we are brought also to understand that the doctrine of the twofold nature of the Messiah the fact that He is Man according to His human nature and, according to His Divine nature " God blessed for ever," is a necessary part in the Divine philosophy of Redemption unfolded in the Scriptures, for it is only a Divine Saviour who could redeem man from sin and death ; only one in whose person the human and the Divine meet who can be the true Mediator between God and man, in and through whom the broken fellowship between heaven and earth, between the Holy God and fallen man, can be fully restored. Only as man, and one who in all points was tempted even as we are, could He become the compassionate High Priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and able with a perfect human sympathy to enter into all our griefs and sorrows ; but only as the Holy One, who Himself was pure from sin the everlasting Son of the Father in whom dwelt " the fulness of the Godhead bodily," could He effectually succour and deliver us, and lift us out of our own innate wretchedness and sin.

Therefore, this doctrine of the twofold nature of the Messiah, which to the unbelieving is such an occasion of stumbling, is to the child of God a source of unspeakable comfort, and an occasion for unceasing praise.

But this is somewhat of a digression. To return to the passage immediately before us, it is interesting to observe that Jewish commentators themselves have admitted that the word " f amithi n ("my Fellow") implies equality with God ; " only since they own not Him who was God and Man they must interpret it of a false claim on the part of man," overlooking that it is God Himself who thus speaks of the shepherd of his text. 1

1 Aben Ezra (1088-1177) interprets it of the Gentile kings, who in their arro gance are styled Divine, and thus called themselves "God s fellows." Kimchi adopts the same interpretation, adding, "thinks himself my Fellow." Rabbi