there without walls, bars or gates,1 will be in the end attacked by the prince of the north of the Armenian mountains, whose mighty army however shall be utterly destroyed. The destruction of Jerusalem will lead to the dispersion of Israel into all the countries of the Gentiles; when the days of the Gentiles' shall have been fulfilled, their Babylon will fall, and this will lead to the setting up of the Messianic kingdom, of a theocracy formed by the new Israel of all nations. Referring to this time, the unknown prophet of the captivity had spoken: 'Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem;' or more literally, 'appeal to the heart of Jerusalem,' or 'speak encouragingly to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her days of bondage are accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned (reconciled), that she hath received (receives) of the Lord's hand double (a double measure) for all her sins.' 'Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; for behold darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee; and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.' Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.'4 3 6 2 It is the new Israel, the servant' of the Lord, which as a people will receive the mission of crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God;' for 'all flesh' shall see the glory which shall be revealed in Jerusalem. It is Zion's great King' who brings good tidings, and proclaims to the world, Behold your God,' 'the Holy One of Israel,' 5 who shall feed his flock like a shepherd, whose throne is the heavens, and who will 3 Is. lx. 1-3. CHAP. IV. СНАР. IV. create a new heaven and a new earth, making Jerusalem 'a rejoicing, and her people a joy.' But till this can come to pass, in the days of bondage, Israel must bear out her iniquity, and the righteous servant of God must be set before Israel and before the Gentiles as the atoning Messiah. Through his perfect righteousness, his obedience unto death, and through his knowledge, he will justify many.' Although the book of Daniel, which perhaps because it contained apocryphal doctrines was not acknowledged as prophetical, has been written in the form we now possess it during the time of the Maccabees, that is, about two and a half centuries after the last prophet, yet it contains most important prophecies, which cannot possibly refer to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. Because at that time the Danielic prophecies, dating from the Babylonian captivity, were supposed to be drawing near to their fulfilment, they were then published, with such additions as were deemed necessary in order to connect the prophecies with the events of that troubled period. Thus, the visions explained from the tenth to the twelfth chapters evidently refer in part, if not entirely, to Antiochus Epiphanes. The Messianic prophecies contained in the book of Daniel are the following: In the second chapter the dream of Nebuchadnezzar is by Daniel explained to refer to a series of universal monarchies which had begun with the King of Babylon, and which should all precede the setting up of the promised Messianic kingdom. The separate parts of the fourth or Roman empire would be but superficially kept together, like iron and clay. In the seventh chapter it is shown that the last enemy of Israel's Messianic future is a little horn or power, which will be established before the great reconstruction of the kingdoms of the world it is the Antichrist of the Apocalypse. In the ninth chapter the final duration of Israel's captivity is revealed to the prophet. The prophecy of the seventy weeks forms an 1 Is. lxv. 18. 6 6 6 exact parallel to the prophecy of Jeremiah about the seventy years, and to its historical fulfilment. Both begin with the destruction of the temple in 586; and whilst during the last twenty years of Jeremiah's prophecy the typical theocracy was established, so in the last twenty jubilee-periods of Daniel, that is, during the millennium proclaimed by the Seer of Patmos, will take place the setting up of the Messianic kingdom, which must be preceded by the fall of Babylon,' that is, of the then ruling principles in the kingdoms of the world, and by the exodus of the Israel of all nations to the holy land.1 These Messianic prophecies were confirmed and enlarged during and after the captivity by other prophets. Haggai proclaims that in a little while' God will shake the kingdoms of the world, and that He will give peace in Jerusalem. Then the fulness of the Gentiles' shall come, and God will fill his house with glory,2 whilst overthrowing the throne of kingdoms,' and destroying the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen.' Haggai's contemporary, Zechariah, reassures the drooping faith of the Israelites, by telling them that God's promises are sure to be fulfilled, and that His kingdom in Zion will be established, although the seventy years of Jeremiah had elapsed without accomplishing what his prophecy seemed to have promised. It had become clear that the latter does not refer to solar years; they might represent sabbatical or jubilee periods. But the prophet insists upon it, that the return from Babylon was the typical return of the final exodus of Israel from the countries of the captivity; that the temple then building was a type of the glorious temple which would be built in the latter days; that the present kingdom was the forerunner of the Messianic kingdom which all expected. The visions contained in the book of Zechariah, probably written in the years 520 and 518 B.C, require to be more minutely considered, inasmuch as 2 See the table about the seventy weeks in the last chapter. CHAP. IV. IV. The world at rest. they throw much light on the prophecies and the Messianic character of Christ.1 6 The first four visions relate to the future of Messianic Israel. Four messengers who have travelled through the different parts of the world, report to the Angel of the Lord' that the world is at rest.' So long as this is the case, the setting up of the Messianic kingdom in Zion cannot take place. For the heathen, that is 'the people' must rage, and 'the nations' must have their minds set towards a vain thing,' and the kings of the earth must set themselves up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed, on the 'day' when God shall set His 'king' upon His holy hill of Zion, having begotten him as His Son.' This cannot take place, so long as the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen' is not overthrown; so long as the day' has not come, when the servant' of the Lord shall have been chosen as a signet,'4 to 'seal the sins, to cover transgression, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal revelation and seer, and to anoint a Most Holy.' When he that bringeth good tidings to Jerusalem' shall have been sent to Zion, then he will say: 'Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God; speak ye encouragingly to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her bondage is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.' That 'voice' will cry: 'in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth 1 The interpretation of the prophecies of Zechariah has been freely developed as far as our new point of view would permit of it, from Hoffmann's 'Weissagung und Erfüllung,' and from his 'Schriftbeweis.' The text is a translation from Bunsen's 'Bibelwerk.' 2 Zech. i. 8. 3 Ps. ii. * Hag. ii. 22-23. 5 Dan. ix. 24. 6 Is. xli. 27. of the Lord hath spoken it.' So long as Babylon is not fallen, the new Israel of all nations cannot be invited to 'come out of her;' the new Jerusalem cannot be set up as a light to lighten the Gentiles,' and as 'the glory of God's people Israel.' Therefore the prophet heard how the angel of the Lord prayed, saying: 'O Lord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?' Upon which the angel heard from God 'good and comfortable words' in reply; and the other angel who revealed the vision to Zechariah, is told to cry out: Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: great is my jealousy for Jerusalem and for Zion, and I am very sore displeased with the haughty heathen; for I expressed my displeasure but a little, yet they have sharpened the misery. Therefore, thus saith the Lord: I return to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of Hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Further cry and say: Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, henceforth my cities shall run over with prosperity, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.'3 CHAP. IV. In the second vision the prophet sees four horns, and Israel's then four carpenters, or rather four forges; the former oppressors. are the heathen powers who have scattered Israel, and the latter have come to cast out the horns of the Gentiles.' The third vision points out the fulfilment of the first, in which a measuring line was promised to be stretched forth upon Jerusalem, the chosen city. The prophet sees a man with a measuring line in his hand,' who upon being asked whither he went, replied that he went to measure the breadth and length of Jerusalem. The angel who spoke to the prophet having been joined by another angel, who came forth to meet him, the former angel was 1 Is. xl. 1-5. VOL. I. 2 Rev. xviii. 4. 5 Zech. ii. M 3 Zech. i. 7-17. The re builder of Jerusalem. |