avidic asty. According to Is 6671, however, the priesthood is to be open also to the returned exiles (not, presumably, to the Gentiles who bring them home). The religious festivals present them- selves in a specially important light. The former fast-days shall indeed be transformed into days of rejoicing (Zec 88"), but at every New Moon and at every Sabbath all flesh (in Israel) shall come to worship at Jerusalem and—here we have a strange expectation, due probably to a later insertion—to look upon the corpses of the apostate ones, ‘ whose worm dieth not and whose fire is not quenched’ (Is 66; on this passage see p. 714°). Zechariah (14168), on the other hand, looks at every Feast.of Tabernacles for a pilgrimage of all nations to Jeru- salem to pray before Jahweh and to join in the keeping of the festival: if any one neglects this, his land shall be punished with drought. The holiness belonging to the temple shall extend even to the bells of the horses in Jerusalem and the cooking-pots of the temple. It need not be pointed out that ¢his notion of holiness cannot be explained from the usage of an Isaiah or a Deutero-Isaiah, but only from the mechanical and outward concep- tion characteristic of the ‘legal’ religion.
7. We have purposely left out of account until now that branch of the jes as to the future which, according to a still prevailing opinion, oc- cupied the forefront of interest, namely, the hope of the appearing of the Messiah, the ‘shoot of David,’ predicted at the latest by Jeremiah (see above, p. 696"). Really, however, it cannot be said that this aspect of prophecy plays a promi- nent part in our period, unless the very important oracles contained in Is 96 and 11), as well as Mic 5% (cf. above, p. 696%), are to be assigned to the post-exilic period. Leaving these pas- sages out of account, we find a direct allusion to Jeremiah’s (23°) ‘shoot of David’ in Jer Bae (where, however, vv.1” 2 show that it is not one particular ruler, but a continuous succession of rulers of David’s line, that is thought of) and Zec 38 612.* Here ‘Shoot’ has already become a proper name, but one has no longer to look for his coming, since he is present in the person of Zerub- babel. All that is now needed is the revelation of his dignity as a signet-ring chosen by Jahweh (Hag 2%), and his elevation to the throne of his fathers—an event which appears to be connected in
* We leave out of account Is 42, because there ‘shoot’ or ‘sprout’ [better ‘ sprouting ’] of Jahweh can only mean, in view of the parallelism, ‘ that which J: ahweh causes to sprout.’
Zec 6” with the completion of the building of the temple. We have already (p. 678") pointed out that the crowning there enjoined had in the original text not Joshua but Zerubbabel for its object. It is perfectly intelligible that, after the shattering of the hopes reposed on Zerubbabel, the high priest should have taken his place (v."), especially as in the fifth of Zechariah’s night-visions (44) he is already reckoned as one of the two ‘anointed’ ones who stand before the Lord of the whole earth.
In Ig 11”, which clearly looks back to v.1, we hear of the ‘shoot from the root of Jesse,’ which is to be as an ensign to the nations (7.e. to indicate to them the way they are to go), who shall seek his favour and (by their gifts of homage, cf. above, p- 712°) enhance the splendour of his residence. In the whole of the following description, however, he is not mentioned again.
The expectation of a king of David’s family is found also, beyond doubt, in the beautiful pro- phecy of Zec 9%, although he is there called simply ‘king.’ Jerusalem is to rejoice over him who returns home as a conqueror over all enemies, but mounted upon the animal ridden in times of peace, in token that henceforward he is to rule as a peaceful prince to the ends of the earth. The idea of the world-empire of the Messiah appears here with its final stamp, and indeed in a form which goes far beyond all prophecies uttered hitherto, and to which there is no parallel except in pas- sages like Ps 2°.
Apart from the above prophecies, we meet only with quite general promises, such as that of the righteous rule of a king and his ministers (Is 32%), the choice of a common head over Judah and Israel at the advent of the Messianic age (Hos 2? [11)) ; also the ‘breaker’ of Mic 2° means the earthly leader, but the real king at the head of the return- ing people is Jahweh Himself), and_the rearing up again of the fallen tabernacle of David (Am 914). The last-named expectation might, however, refer simply to the re-establishing of the residence and kingdom of David; while in Zec 12% ” the ‘ house of David,’ which (in the joy of victory) is to be like the angel of Jahweh, stands simply for the aristocracy of the nation. A closer examination of all these passages always yields the same result, namely, that during this period the person of the Messiah is either of only secondary importance, or, if this be not the case, the role it plays is far less religious than political.