them as a wall of fire (v.%). Jerusalem is hence- forward holy: foreigners shall no more pass through her (J1 4 [3]?”), no oppressor shall again lord it over her, for Jahweh now with sleepless eye interposes Himself as the bulwark of His temple against all that comes and goes (Zec 98; cf. also Is 608). Nor is there any further need of the sun and the moon, for Jahweh is their unceasing light (Is 60"). Corresponding to the glory of her king is the external glory, the renown and splendour of the new Jerusalem, and the happiness of her inhabit- ants. They are there as a boast and a praise among all the peoples of the earth (Zeph 3”) ; all nations shall praise their country as a delightsome land (Mal 3%), Jerusalem as the pride and joy of all future generations (Is 60%). Zion, the city of the festivals, shall be like a secure habitation, subject to no change (Is 33”; cf. also Am 9”, Jl 4 [3]*°); Israel shall be like splendidly blossoming lants (Hos 14°@)*, Is 276; according to many, also s 47). One and all, the inhabitants shall enjoy a long duration of life (Zec 84, Is 657° 2"), surrounded by blessings, including fertility (Is 30%", Jer 312-4, Am 9, Jl 4 (3)18); for they are ‘a family blessed by Jahweh’ (Is 657). In the Boece peace they pass their days (Mic 4‘, Is 607**)—a peace which extends even to the wild animals (Is 65”). But the heathen, above all, have to contribute to the splendour of Jerusalem. All their wealth is to flow to that city as a token of homage to the temple (Hag 27, Is 112° 187(?) 2318 60° 11), their flocks are to be available for the sacrifices (Is 607), and the glory of Lebanon for the beautifying of the sanctuary (v.1*). Thus then shall Israel ‘ suck the milk of the nations, and suck the breast of kings’ (v.16), But it is not only upon endowment with the good things of earth that the happiness of the new Jerusalem shall rest. Prophecy does not forget higher, spiritual blessings, even if their limitation to Israel preponderates, showing here again a fall- ing away from the height reached by Deutero- Isaiah’s expectations. The most important point, because it is the prerequisite for all other bless- ing, is the complete atonement for all the past guilt of the people. From the way in which Zechariah in his fourth night-vision (3%) hears the Satan simply commanded to be silent when he charges the people in the person of the high priest Joshua with their old guilt, it might appear as if the past judgments had sufficed of themselves to constitute a full atonement. But this is not the meaning of the prophets. On the contrary, Jahweh (v.4) must expressly forgive the people’s sin. The clothing of the high priest in clean garments is a symbolical action, declaring him (and with him the people) justified, but of course with the im- plication of the presence of a penitent frame of mind, such as is well-pleasing to God. In reality it is the grace of God which brings about the atonement, as is expressly urged in Is 12!# 33% and, above all, Mic 718%, “Thus Israel becomes a people who are all righteous (Is 60”), who are holy (Is 48) to Jahweh (7.e. consecrated to Him as an inalienable possession)—nay, Jerusalem is to bear the honorific appellation, ‘ Jahweh is our righteous- ness’ (Jer 33"), It is only occasionally that the religious and moral regeneration of the people is traced to the bestowal of the Divine spirit; ef. Is 3258 5921, Zec 12”, and especially J] 31%, although in this last passage the outpouring of God’s spirit upon all branches of the people, even male and female slaves, refers mainly to the be- stowal of the gift of prophecy. But the mental transformations described in Is 294 335 are also, no doubt, thought of as due to the influence of the Divine spirit. 6. Amidst all this, however, it cannot be denied
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that the ‘legal’ religion, for which the way was laid by Ezekiel, and which became an actual fact during the period with which we are dealing, casts its shadow even upon the expectations regarding the time of consummation. The very command- ing part played by temple and cultus at present (see above, p- 710%) is to be retained even in the Messianic future. It is true that embodiments of the Divine presence such as the sacred Ark shall then be readily dispensed with, because the whole of Jerusalem shall be called the throne of Jahweh (Jer 3), But the temple hill, as the holiest and most important, shall tower above all others (Is 22, Mic 4"), whereas, according to Zec 14”, the whole of the rest of the country shall be changed into a plain. Ezekiel’s prophecy (ch. 47) of the temple spring undergoes an aaivenee in Zec 148 in so far as the living waters, starting from Jerusalem, flow down to both seas, east and west, and thus fertilize the whole land. The importance attached, again, to the performance of the cultus is evidenced not only by the expectation of gifts of homage offered to the temple by the Gentiles (see above, p. 712°), but also by passages like Jer 331. 21, in which the regular succession of Levitical , is put on a level with the succession of the