Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/537



THE GLORIOUS CONSUMMATION 521

The commentators differ as to ivhy the Feast of Tabernacles is singled out as the one which all the nations are represented in this prophecy as coming up to Jerusalem to celebrate ; and very few see the deep typical and spiritual truth set forth by this " Hag- Yehovah " the " Feast of Jehovah," x as it is emphatically called in Lev. xxiii., which has been properly styled " The Sacred Calendar of the History of Redemption," because it sets forth, by a series of striking types, not only the great facts, but the very order in which the various stages of God s great redemption scheme for the world were to unfold themselves in the course of time. Briefly, it may be said that the nations are represented as coming up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles because the spiritual truths set forth by this particular type shall then be realised for Jerusalem shall then be the metropolis of God s Kingdom on earth, and the joy and blessedness foreshadowed by that feast will then not only be the portion of saved Israel, but shall also pervade all nations of the earth.

But to understand this more clearly we must examine a little more fully the historical and prophetic character of this feast. Primarily 2 Tabernacles was, above all the other

1 Lev. xxiii. 39. Dr. Wright and others have built an argument against the literal interpretation of this prophecy on Isa. Ixvi. 23, which, according to them, represents the Gentile nations as going up to Jerusalem to worship, not only once a year, but at all the festivals, and even on the new moons and Sabbaths. But the words of Isaiah are these : " And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to "worship before Me, saith Jehovah." He says nothing about their going up to Jerusalem to keep these weekly and monthly festivals. Even Israel in the land did not go up to Jerusalem to celebrate their Sabbaths and their new moons, but wor shipped God wherever they were. And so "all flesh " in that renewed earth, in which shall dwell righteousness, shall come together (in their own lands) to worship Jehovah on these frequent regular occasions. Zechariah, however, speaks distinctly of their going up to Jerusalem at the annual Feast of Taber nacles not at all an impossible thing. An argument has been based on the opinion that the more distant nations could not obey this command because of the time required for the journey, but we do not yet know what the facilities of travel will be in the Millennium.

z This section on the Feast of Tabernacles is quoted here from the ist chapter of Types, Psalms, and Prophecies, entitled "The Sacred Calendar of the History of Redemption."