2. THE PRINCE OF PEACE (ix. 9-12).
This beautiful picture, applied by the Evangelist with such fitness to our Lord upon His entry to Jerusalem, must also be of post-exilic date. It contrasts with the warlike portraits of the Messiah drawn in pre-exilic times, for it clothes Him with humility and with peace. The coming King of Israel has the attributes already imputed to the Servant of Jehovah by the prophet of the Babylonian captivity. The next verses also imply the Exile as already a fact. On the whole, too, the language is of a late rather than of an early date.[1337] Nothing in the passage betrays the exact point of its origin after the Exile.
The epithets applied to the Messiah are of very great interest. He does not bring victory or salvation, but is the passive recipient of it.[1338] This determines the meaning of the preceding adjective, _righteous_, which has not the moral sense of _justice_, but rather that of _vindication_, in which _righteousness_ and _righteous_ are so frequently used in Isa. xl.—lv.[1339] He is _lowly_, like the Servant of Jehovah; and comes riding not the horse, an animal for war, because the next verse says that horses and chariots are to be removed from Israel,[1340] but the ass, the animal not of lowliness, as some have interpreted, but of peace. To this day in the East asses are used, as they are represented in the Song of Deborah, by great officials, but only when these are upon civil, and not upon military, duty.
It is possible that this oracle closes with ver. 10, and that we should take vv. 11 and 12, on the deliverance from exile, with the next.
_Rejoice mightily, daughter of Zion! shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, thy King cometh to thee, vindicated and victorious,[1341] meek and riding on an ass,[1342] and on a colt the she-ass’ foal.[1343] And I[1344] will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the war-bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace to the nations, and His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Thou, too,—by thy covenant-blood, [1345] I have set free thy prisoners from the pit.[1346] Return to the fortress, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I proclaim: Double will I return to thee._[1347]
3. THE SLAUGHTER OF THE GREEKS (ix. 13-17).
The next oracle seems singularly out of keeping with the spirit of the last, which declared the arrival of the Messianic peace, while this represents Jehovah as using Israel for His weapons in the slaughter of the Greeks and heathens, in whose blood they shall revel. But Stade has pointed out how often in chaps. ix.—xiv. a result is first stated and then the oracle goes on to describe the process by which it is achieved. Accordingly we have no ground for affirming ix. 13-17 to be by another hand than ix. 9-12. The apocalyptic character of the means by which the heathen are to be overthrown, and the exultation displayed in their slaughter, as in a great sacrifice (ver. 15), betray Israel in a state of absolute political weakness, and therefore suit a date after Alexander’s campaigns, which is also made sure by the reference to the _sons of Javan_, as if Israel were now in immediate contact with them. Kirkpatrick’s note should be read, in which he seeks to prove _the sons of Javan_ a late gloss;[1348] but his reasons do not appear conclusive. The language bears several traces of lateness.[1349]
_For I have drawn Judah for My bow, I have charged_ it _with Ephraim; and I will urge thy sons, O Zion, against the sons of[1350] Javan, and make thee like the sword of a hero. Then will Jehovah appear above them, and His shaft shall go forth like lightning; and the Lord Jehovah shall blow a blast on the trumpet, and travel in the storms of the south.[1351] Jehovah will protect them, and they shall devour _(?)_[1352] and trample ...;[1353] and they shall drink their blood[1354] like wine, and be drenched with it, like a bowl and like the corners of the altar. And Jehovah their God will give them victory in that day....[1355] How good it[1356] is, and how beautiful! Corn shall make the young men flourish and new wine the maidens._