history. This alone may be regarded as beyond doubt, that we are pointed to a time after the Exile: what is .said in 11" about the shepherds, as well as the similar expressions in v.', can be understood only in the light of their dependence on Ezk 34. The shepherds are to be under- stood as the native authorities, especially the high priest. It is of the latter that we must understand the 'V of 11" and the "n'?;; -ns of 13', — he is, as it were, Jahweh's companion ; jri'jp and p'n;;(ll') must be foreign rulers, who iire hence fittingly called ;Ni-i "^J? (11'-"). Wellhausen is inclined to .see in 11^^- a reflexion of the incidents in the last decade before the outbreak of the Jlac- cab;e.an revolt, which witnessed rapid and \iolcnt changes of the high priesthood.
(iii.) 12'-1.'?° bears, throughout, the post- exilic stamp, (n) The campaign of the heathen against Jerusalem is dependent upon Ezk 38 f. The thought that Jahweh in the first inst.'irice helps Judah, lest Jerusalem may exalt herself yet more, cannot be properly understood at any period earlier than that at which Jerusalem had become the rallying-point for the Diaspora of the whole Jewish world, and when the glory of the city and her temple was reflected also upon her rulers and her Lnbaliitants. — (b) 13', too, points to dependence on Ezekiel, although his viewpoint has been transformed under the influence of notions of the Levitical period, as these find expression in the custom described in Nu 19. — (c) We are pointed to the later posit-exilic period by tlie juxtajiosition of tit n'3 :ind "i^ n'j (12'-'-), which would have been an unpo.ssibility in pre -exilic times. And the whole description in joiiff. carries us to a time after the Exile. — [d) A late date is also indicated by the hostility breatlied in 13-"- against prophecy, i.e. against those who come forward publiclj', clothed in a hairy mantle. The place of these bad been taken by anonymous and pseudonymous prophetical authorship. Our chapters lie upon the line of development, whose culmination is indicated in views like those ex- pressed in 1 Mac 4** 9-' 14^', cf. San/icd. 11a.
(iv.) Ch. 14 likewise belongs to later post-exilic times, (a) This chapter also is dependent on Ezk 38 f. It is true that the thought of t he latter is transformed in quite a peculiar fashion, without our being able to recognize the motive for the change, but this cannot prevent our admitting the dependence which is unmistakably present in U""-. — (6) In 14" we are probably carried to the period after Malachi, for this ver.se is dependent on Mai 3-* ; it is probable, moreover, that v." is in conscious opposition to Mai l""- — (c) It is only during the later post-exilic period, when the Jewish Diaspora went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem from all parts of the world to hold the festivals, that we can undcr- st^ind the thought expressed here (v.'") that the converted heathen proclaim their conversion by a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to keep the Eeast of TaLernacles. — (rf) It is only during the same period that the notion of holiness expressed in v.*' is in- telligible, a notion which once more shows the influence of Ezekiel.
(4) lidiffUins (ind theological value of these chapters. — We stand no longer upon the ground of prophecy properly so called, but of anonymous eschatologu:al writing. Certain stereotyped feat- ures of cschatology recur. The writers are very strongly influenced by ancient prophecy ; for tho most part bv its religious rather than by its ethical ciiiitents. Ethical I'cutiires indeed recede far be- hind religious. Very marked is the influence of the Levitical period. The Messianic King still ap- pears, it is true, in 9"', but lie is a comparatively iilidse figure which mi^ht be loft out without daniai;iiig the connexion. He is no longer the I'-ader ill the conflict against enemies, but exclu-
970
ZECHAEIAH, BOOK OF
ZEDEKIAH
slvely Prince of Peace, with an extremely passive character. The conception of the final Kiiijj; had at this time assumed a pale cast, that it niiylit be ahle to take on otlier colours, namely those of the priest and the prophet. — Highly significant is tlie conception of tlie Kingdom of God as embracing tlie whole world. Jali weh is King over all the earth, nnd, as He is one. His worship is also one (cf. 14"). But this universalisra has a strong Levitical colour- ing, as is shown especially by the closing verses of ch. 14 with their weighty emphasis upon the purity of the theocracy. The ordering of every- thing on the basis of the dominion of holiness, in other words the supremacy of the Law,— this is the end of the process of development.
Eukardt, it is true, maintains that the spiritual uniqueness of Deutero ■ Zechariah consists in tlie freedom with wliich he extends the theocratic universalism over the whole religious situation of his time. From passages like 14' 13- 9' Eckardt draws the conclusion that, according to Deutero- Zechariah, the heathen world unconsciously wor- ships Jahweh in the person of its own gods, that in its ceaseless gropings and strivings it seeks Him without any clear notion of what it is doing. Deutero-Zechariah, he holds, goes beyond Mai I" and Is 26" ; for while Malachi exhibits a view which, carried to its logical conclusion, must end in syncretism and indifterentism, and while Is ■2G'^ on the other hand, shows a large - heartedness which might readily be abused to cover cowardly sub.servience and denial of the truth, Deutero- Zechariah in his uiiiveisalism has avoided these errors. So far from seeing in idolatry only a readily excusable error in calculation, he considers that heathenism must be overcome in the most terrible conllic*: Eckardt admits tliat the views of Deutero-Zechariah have a Levitical tinge, but urges tliat his universalism is not brought to a stand by the wall of tlie Law, but break.s through it whenever it presents itself as an obstacle. Ch. 14, it is true, lays great stress upon Levitical purity, but it is clear from the context, especiallj' from the closing words of v.^', that for tlie writer the building up of tlie Kingdom of God culminates in piety of soul, just as the Levitical purity of the last days passes over into inward purity. N.ay, from 14''', where he renders nx2n by 'sin-offering,' Eckardt draws the conclusion that the particular- istic narrow-mindedness of the laws about atone- ment is then to be overcome by the universalism of Divine grace, for there shall be a huttnth even for the peoples who doMantly refuse to join in the prescribed pilgrimage to .Jerusalem.