Zechariah exhort. (See p. 298 for these dates more fully.) This is the simple key, self-supplied, to the meaning of their prophecies.

Haggai has four short sections.

The first chapter contains an expostulation (delivered in the second year of Darius, the sixth month, first day) reproving the long delay of the temple work, and declaring that there can be no prosperity while it is neglected; and records the success of this appeal upon the minds of prince Zerubbabel and the high-priest Joshua, and of the people in general.

Ch. ii. 1-9 (delivered in the seventh month, twentyfirst day) compares the second temple with the first, and predicts its ultimate superiority. This is the passage of chief interest in Haggai:

"Who is left among you

That saw this house in its first glory?

And how do ye see it now?

Is it not in your eyes, in comparison, as nothing?
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD;
And be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high-priest;
And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD,
and work;

For I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts,

According to the word that I covenanted with you when
ye came out of Egypt,

And my spirit remaineth among you;
For thus saith the LORD of hosts:

Yet once more, in a short time,

I will shake the heavens and the earth,

And the sea and the dry land;

And I will shake all nations;

fear ye not.

And the desire (precious things) of all nations shall come;

And I will fill this house with glory,

Saith the LORD of hosts.

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,

Saith the LORD of hosts.

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the

former,

Saith the LORD of hosts;

And in this place will I give peace,

Saith the LORD of hosts."

The chief point of theological interest in this passage is the phrase, "the desire of all nations," which the Greek Septuagint translates more faithfully "the desirable things," or "choicest things," while the more modern Latin Vulgate gives it the turn which has been copied by our English translators. Those who translate thus, commonly, but very unjustifiably, understand it of a person, and that person most commonly Jesus Christ; while those who follow the Septuagint, consider the "desirable things" to be sufficiently explained and specified by the prophet's own words following: "The silver is mine and the gold is mine." It is the repetition of the prophetic hope that all nations shall bring their gifts to Zion. Whether considered personally or impersonally, however, the prophet's contemporaries would naturally take the prediction to mean something near to themselves and adapted to encourage their work, especially when he says, "Once more, in a short time."

Ch. ii. 10-19 (delivered in the ninth month, twentyfourth day), hints that the delay of the work of the temple has been the cause of unfruitful seasons.

Ver. 20-23 (delivered on the same day) is addressed to Zerubbabel, promising national victory and prosperity.

ZECHARIAH.

(B.C. 521-519.)

ZECHARIAH's prophecies are dated in the second and fourth years of Darius, the earliest of them being in the same year as those of Haggai.

Chap. i. 1-6 (second of Darius, eighth month) is a short exhortation to the people to take warning by the sins and sufferings of their forefathers. The rest of the chapter contains another vision in the eleventh month of the same year. Horsemen are going to and fro, and find the earth everywhere at rest, yet Jerusalem still unsettled. "Comfortable words" are spoken by the angel from the Lord to the prophet. He then sees a vision of four horns that have scattered Judah, and four workmen who come up after them "to cast out the horns of the Gentiles." The number four seems to have no specific meaning, unless it denote dispersion in all directions to the four winds or four quarters of the heavens. Horns are a prophetic image of force, and often of oppression. The power using the four horns was only one, Babylon, or at most two, Assyria being counted separately.

Chap. ii. introduces a vision of a man with a measuring-line going to measure Jerusalem; and an angel tells the prophet that Jerusalem shall extend beyond its walls through the multitude of its inhabitants; and then follows a beautiful and spirited apostrophe to the captive Jews still lingering in the land of the North to flee home and deliver themselves.

In chap. iii., an angel shews the prophet a vision illustrative of the approaching restoration of the priesthood to dignity. Joshua, the high-priest, is standing before the angel of the Lord, clothed in filthy garments,

and a Satan, or adversary,* standing by to resist him.
Satan is rebuked; and the angels re-clothe Joshua, "a
brand plucked out of the fire," and set a fair mitre upon
his head. How like is this to the contrast described in
the later Isaiah between the servant of God, "despised
and rejected of men" for a while, and the same servant
when "his portion is divided to him among the great
and strong"! Fit emblem was Joshua of the recent
prostration and now improved hope of the people. "And
the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying:
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts:

If thou wilt walk in my ways,
And if thou wilt keep my charge,
Then thou shalt also rule my house,
And shalt also keep my courts,

And I will give thee guides among these that stand by.
Hear now, O Joshua the high-priest,

Thou and thy companions who sit before thee!

For they are men that are signs.

For behold, I will bring forward my servant, the Branch.
For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua,
Upon this one stone shall seven eyes be fixed;
Behold, I will engrave the ornaments thereof, saith the
LORD of hosts,

And I will remove the iniquity of this land in one day.
In that day, saith the LORD of hosts,

Shall ye invite every man his neighbour

Under the vine and under the fig-tree." (iii. 6-10.)

The stone is, we suppose, one of the crowning-stones of the temple. Is not the Branch (of whom we have read in previous prophets) Zerubbabel, or, more comprehensively, the succession of the royal house? In the next vision a message is directly addressed to him by

So the margin of the common Bible explains; but Satan had probably by this time come to be distinctly personified as the power of Evil, though here perhaps having reference to Sanballat, or other opponents of the Jewish restoration.

name: "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying:

"Not by might, nor by power,

But by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
What art thou, O great mountain?

Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.

And he shall bring forth the head-stone with shoutings,
Crying, Grace, Grace unto it!"

"Moreover, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands also shall finish it," &c. (iv. 6—9).

This vision represents two olive-trees supplying a golden chandelier with oil, and these trees denote “the two anointed ones (king and priest) that stand before the LORD of the whole earth" (14).

The next vision of a "flying roll" (v.) is a curse upon evil-doers. And another emblematical vision sends Wickedness away into the land of Babylon.

Chap. vi. is a vision of chariots and horses that go as the four winds through all the earth,-emblematic probably of the warlike reign of Darius Hystaspes; and one set go into the north country (the Babylonian territory, which revolted and was subdued by Darius) to execute the Lord's wrath. The prophet is then directed to cause a golden crown to be made, and to set it upon the head of Joshua the high-priest, and to speak to him thus:

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts:

Behold the man whose name is the Branch,

And he shall branch out from his place,
And he shall build the temple of the Lord.
And he shall receive the glory,

And shall sit and rule upon his throne,

And a priest shall also be upon his throne,

And the counsel of peace shall be between them both."

(vi. 12, 13.)