The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 9

110 ht'C'd to the ndrnonitions of the prophets? the night of the twenty-fourth day (ver. 7). HnYC> thcY not enffer('d dire calamities and Tbe visions were seen in this one night ,it p('rished rnisc'r1tbly? And the prophets, do short intervals. Thero is nothing to mnko they live for ever 1 They oan teaoh and one suppose tluit they cnmo in dreams (Isa. thrPntC'n no longer. It is true that the seers xxix. 7). 1rhe prophet is awake, but who warned your fathers are no more, but whether he sees these scenes with his bodily did n0t their words come true (see ver. 6)? eyes, or was rapt in ecstnsy, cnnnot ho de- J C>r0mc referred these words to the false cided. A man riding upon a red horse. prophets. resting, doubtless, on J er. xxxvii. This is the Angel of Jehovnh, mentioned 19. But it is more natural to refer them a.gain in ver. 10 nnd in ver. 11, in both of to the " former prophets" mentioned above which places the dosoription, "that stood 1rnd in the follnwinis verse. among the myrtle trees,' serves to identify Ver. 6.-My words. The words that God him. He is different from the interpreting put into the mouths of the prophets (Jer. augel, and is the leader of the company of xxxix. 16; Lam. ii. I 7). Statutes, usually horsemen that follow him. Keila.nd Wright applied t-0 the Law, which the prophets had consider that the rider on the red horse t-0 auuounce and enforce; but it may mean cannot be identified with the Angel of "decrees" which God appointed (Zeph. ii. Jehovah, because otherwise he would have 2). The LXX. inserts "receive ye" to been represented u.s standing opposite to govern these nouns. I oommanded. The the other horsemen to receive the informu.- LXX. adds, Jv ,n,roµ.,z-rl µou, "by my inspi- tion which they brought him, o.nd they ration." Did they not take hold of your would not have been spoken of a.s "behind" fathers 1 Did they not overtake, etc. ? Did him. But the expression in ver. 8 may not their threatened chastisements, however mean merely that the prophet sets his eyes long delayed, reach your fathers in the end? first on the leader and then on the attend- .A.nd they returned; turned, as vers. 8, 4. ants. Or in ver. 10 he is the spokesman They turned so far as to acknowledge that who bei:rins the account of the riders' doings, the threats had been fully accomplished which these themselves complete in ver. 11. (see Dan. ix. 5; Ezra ix. 6, etc.). Thought Thus there are in the scene only (1) the to do; ,ra.pa-rfra.sc-ra.< (Septuagint)," designed, ' prophet; (2) the angel-rider and his attend- purposed to do" (comp. Lam. ii. 17). ants; and (8) the interpreting angel. The Vers. 7-17.-§ 3. The first, "llision: the red colour of the horse is supposed to repre- sent war and bloodshed, a.s in Rev. vi. 4; b.orsemen in the myrtl.e grove. but this seems unsuitable in this place, where Yer. 7.-In a. series of visions it is now nothing of the kind is intimated, but rather shown what is the nature of the restored the contro.ry (ver. 11), It is, indeed, impos- theocracy, and what shall befall it. Thus sible to affix any satisfactory explanation were the people comforted by hearing God's to the colour. If, as we may well suppose, pnrposes of mercy and the great future that this personage is the Angel of the covenant, awaited Israel. In this first vision it is who was the leader and guide of the Iara.el- revealed to Zecharia.h that the Gentile ites (comp. Josh. v. 13), his standing in the nations should be overthrown, and that valley among the myrtles may represent whatever might be the present condition of the depressed and humbled condition of the the Jewish people, God's purpose of mercy chosen people, which yet was well-plea.sing toward them wa.s unshaken and would be unto God, like the sweet scent of odoriferous fulfilled. The four and twentieth day of myrtles is a.gi-eea.ble to men. The myrtle the eleventh month, which is the month tree■. The my:rtle is indigenous in the hilly Seba.t. This month (called here by its regions of Northern Pa.Jestine, and is still Chaldean name) a.uswered to pa.rte of Janu- seen in the glens near Jerusalem, though no ary and February. It was three months longer on the Mount of Olives, where the since Zecha.riah had been ea.lied to the pro- returned captives found it when celebrating phetical office, and five since the building their first Feast of Tabernacles (Neh. viii. of the temple had been resumed a.t Hagga.i's 15). In the bottom; the vall.ey. Myrtles love remonstrance. Meantime Haggai had con- such places. "Ama.ntes littora myrtos '' cluded his mission by uttering his final pro- (Virgil, 'Georg.,' iv. 124), The term would phecies two months ago, and now Zecha.rie.h suit the valley of the Kidron. Others ren- carries on the revelation. A comparison of der," the shady place," or "the tabernacle," the months in the cuneiform inscriptions but not so appropriately. LXX., 011aµ.l,ro11 with the Hebrew will he found in Schrader, ,,,;., [Alex., 660] op,r,,11 ""'" ICa'TaO',clr,,v, "be- 'Keiliruchriften,' 379, and in Dr. Wright's tween tile shady mountains." The Greek not;, on this verse. The word of the Lord. translators seem to have borrowed their Tb., visions with their exvlana.tions a.re in reading from eh. vi., where the oho.riots effect thE: ora.clE: (see note on ver. 1). issue from between two mountains of braKe. Ver. 8.-I HW by Jli.ght ; in the night; i.e. Behind him were there red horses; i.e. OU, I. 1-21.] THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. 3