* So, with most moderns, we should read (following the LXX) in place of 390. From the beginning of the exile of Israel to that of Judah there are reckoned in round numbers 150 years [in reality they amount to only about 130, or, counting from 784, to 142], which are followed by 40 years of joint exile. Nothing can be made of the number 390.
+ That in v.9 the ‘390 [LXX ‘190’] days’ are an erroneous gloss, is evident from the simple fact that, in view of v.5f, it should be ‘430 [230] days.’
and in the evening is to make his way, with his face concealed, through a hole cut in the wall of the house.—(¢) Again, 12!’# is certainly to be understood in the sense that the prophet, as he eats and drinks, is to exhibit all the signs of terror, in order to portray to those about him the fear and horror of the besieged in Jerusalem.— (n) In 24° the symbolism consists in the neglect of the meen customs enjoined by usage.* The prophet himself testifies how much the curiosity of his countrymen was excited by this very strange neglect. All the more impressive on that account must have been the explanation he gave of it.
All the symbolical actions of Ezekiel as yet described had but one purpose: to exhibit the certainty and the terrors of the Divine judgment upon Judah. In opposition to these there is at least one action, of a very simple kind, whose interpre- tation issues in a comforting promise. We refer to the two staves, inscribed with the names of Judah and Joseph, which were to be joined together in one in the hand of the prophet, as a sign that the two separated and apparently ruined kingdoms of Israel were to be restored and united in the old home under one king.
The threatenings, which the previous symbolical actions of the prophet served to emphasize, were literally fulfilled ; but the restoration, in spite of the very definite terms of Ezk 37%, included only Judah—an undeniable proof of the ‘con- ditional’ character of prophecy. The firm con- viction of the prophet that at a given moment he was giving utterance to a genuine message from God, does not exclude the possibility of God’s ways afterwards taking a different turn.
(ad) Something similar applies to the solitary in- stance of a symbolical action (if this designation can be applied to it at all) in the post-exilic period, namely, the making of a costly crown + from the gifts sent by the Babylonian Jews (Zec 61*-). If it is the case that in v." the coronation of Zerubbabel is enjoined, the symbolical action consists in the anticipation and therewith the pre-announcement of a very important event. But it is the last action of its kind—a clear proof that Jahweh prophecy of the fashion inaugurated by Amos had come to an end. Along with a vivid consciousness of being the immediate recipients of a Divine revelation there disappears also any motive for seeking by accom- panying action to give an impressive concrete form to the contents of the revelation.
v, THE CONTENTS OF THE PROPHETIC MES- SAGE.—1. The conception of God.—To the writing prophets, as to the men of earlier days, Jahweh is primarily the God of Israel. To emphasize this was laid upon the prophets as their principal duty: to preach repentance to the people, to hold ine to them their ingratitude towards the Creator of their national existence, their Deliverer from Egyptian bondage, their constant Benefactor for so many centuries. But, with all this, Jahweh is no longer simply the God of Israel in the old sense
* The procedure described in v.3#. is expressly stated (v.34) to be a ‘parable’ and not a symbolical action.
t The present text of Zec 61. is undoubtedly corrupt, but its correct restoration is still a matter of dispute. On the ground of the plural ‘crowns,’ Ewald suggested as the original : ‘ Place [them] upon the head of Zerubbabel and Joshua,’ etc. But the singular verb (7)7f) in v.14 shows incontrovertibly that only one crown was in view—that, namely, of the Messianic king. In this way Joshua disappears from v.11, having been first intro- duced when, under the post-exilic theocracy, the high priest was actually at the head of the State. The question now is whether v.11 read, ‘and place it upon the head of Zerubbabel’ [this is favoured by ‘to him’ of v.12], or whether v.11) is to be struck out altogether [and then ‘to them’ to be read in y. 12a], In any case, in view of 49, the crown is to be thought of as dee for Zerapialel even if hs actual crowning is reserved
r a later occasion, with a view to which the crown is di (v.14) to be laid up in the temple. pee
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RELIGION OF ISRAEL
of the national God, whose sphere of power ends, strictly speaking, at the boundaries of His land. On the contrary, we note on the part of all the writing prophets a strong, and almost everywhere successful, effort to burst the barriers of the old particularist conception of God, and to lay pro- minent emphasis on the unconditioned superiority of Jahweh to every form of restriction by space or time, and especially to every restriction of His sphere of power. The old representation of the national God is still at work in so far as the mani- festations of His omnipotence, in the world of nature as well as in dealing with the heathen world, are almost always connected with His pur- poses towards His people. Yet there are not wanting approaches to a Weltanschauuwng which brings even the heathen nations, and that on their own account, within the scope of the Divine rule of the world and plan of salvation.