Zech. xiii. 7. Awake, 0 sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts : smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered : and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
THIS is generally thought to be the beginning of a distinct prophecy : yet it seems not only to be con- nected with, but in a measure to arise out of, the preceding context. The connexion, it is true, is not obvious : but it must be remembered, that this is the way in which some of the most important predictions in all the Scriptures are introduced. Take, for in- stance, the prophecy that Christ should be born of a pure virgin ; a more wonderful event than which is not predicted in all the inspired volume : there was no necessary connexion between that, and the destruction of the ten tribes ; nor between that, and the obstinate incredulity of Ahab : yet, on Ahab's declining to ask a sign that the deliverance promised to Judah should speedily be accomplished, the Lord gave him this sign ; " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name ImmanueK" In that prophecy, the event predicted appeared wholly foreign to the subject that was in hand : but in the prophecy before us it is not so. The chapter begins with a plain declaration, that in due time Christ, by the shedding of his blood upon the cross, should open unto mankind " a fountain to wash them from sin and uncleanness." It then goes on to say, that by him idolatry should be destroyed ; and that both men and women, if tempted to idolatry by their own children, should immediately execute judgment upon them, and thrust them through with a sword or dartb: and that so general should be men's abhorrence of idolatry, that those who had been disposed towards it, and had even marked their bodies in honour of their idols, should deny their having ever felt any disposition towards it, and should ascribe the marks that were on their flesh to some " wounds which they had received, either accidentally, or for some particular purpose, in the house of their friends."
Then in our text God says, As the false prophet shall be slain by his own father for endeavouring to turn you from God, so shall the true prophet be slain
a Isai. vii. 10 — 14.
*> This was agreeable to the law of Moses, Deut. xiii. 6 — 10.