Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/77

 the prophet is thus styled, and the practical lessons which we may learn from this fact, I have already pointed out in my introductory remarks on the personality of Zechariah, at the commencement of these expositions.

The joyful tidings in explanation of the symbolical act of the measuring of the city, with which the interpreting angel is to "run," that he may quickly communicate them to the prophet, that he also in his turn may communicate them to the people, contain a twofold message.

I. Jerusalem shall not only be restored but greatly enlarged, extending much beyond the boundaries of its ancient walls, "by reason of the multitude of men and cattle therein," it will "dwell" or "be inhabited" as perazoth, rendered in the A.V. "towns without walls," and in the R.V. "villages." But the word strictly describes "plains," or an open country in which there is nothing to circumscribe the inhabitants, or to prevent them from spreading as themselves abroad: thus in Ezek. xxxviii. 11 it is used of the land where people dwell in peace and prosperity, "without walls, bolts, and gates," in contrast to those in walled cities; and in Esth. ix. 19 the inhabitants of the perazoth (the unprotected towns and villages) are distinguished from those living in the fortified capital, Susa. It denotes also a condition of confidence and safety, since in danger men resort to strong cities and fortified towns.

This again is in accord with the words of the former prophets in reference to the marvellous increase of the people, and the extended boundaries of the city and the land after the restoration: thus, for instance, we read in Isa. xlix. 19, 20, "For as for thy waste places and thy desolate places, and thy land that hath been destroyed, surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children of thy bereavement" ("the children that thou shalt have instead of those of which thou hast been bereaved "—it is addressed