Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/50

 multitudes, who were as sheep having no shepherd, and as weeping over Jerusalem; and we may be sure, also, that in those whole nights of prayer and intercession before the Father, the people which are " His own," and the city which was to be the seat of His throne, had a large and central place. Even on the cross He prayed, u Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do "; and when He rose and ascended to the right hand of God as the great High Priest of His people, Israel is still a subject of His intercessions. " For Zion's sake He doth not hold His peace; for Jerusalem's sake He doth not rest until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth."

We will not enter into the chronological points which might be raised in connection with the words, " against which Thou hast had indignation these seventy years" and would merely point out in passing that there are different starting-points from which the period roughly spoken of as " the seventy years captivity " in Babylon may be reckoned. But as these visions of Zechariah were granted to the prophet in the 2nd year of Darius Hystaspes, in B.C. 519, the " seventy years " foretold by Jeremiah had already expired, even if we calculate from the latest of the possible starting-points. The Divine Advocate might well therefore