The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 144

compla.in of the fo. vour shown to theee hie body. Jerome considers these scars to deceivers (comp. 1811,, ix. 15; Jer. v. 31; be me.rka of correction e.ncl punishment at Mica.h ii. 11) ; a.ncl we never rca.d of the the hands of his parents. More probably lega.l punishment being inflicted a.fter due they e.re thought to be self-inflicted in the inveetiga.tiou, the test being tho non-fulfil- service of some idol, a.ccordin !; to the ment of the prediction (Deut. xviii. 22). Jn practice mentioned in 1 Kin"s xviii. 28; the now theocro.oy, so grea.t is the recoil Jer. xlviii. 37. Those with ihich I was from such pretenders, tha.t their nearest wounded in the houe of my friends. This rel11,tious slmll a.t once punish them with may be a confession of guilt, the impostor deo.th without any previous lega.l process. owning tbathis friende;Ji.ad thus punished him Shall thrust him through. Stab, pierce him, for hie pretensions; nr, as the worcl rendered put him to death, a.a in eh. xii. 10. The "friends" is generally used in the case of gospel deals more teuderly with heretics illicit or impure love or spiritual fornication, (Luke ix. 55). "Defendenda religio non it may be here appliecl to the idols whom est occidendo," ea.ye La.cta.nt. (' Div. Inst.,' he served. But it seems most probable that v. 20), "sed moriendo; religio cogi non the answer is intentionally false e.nd mis- potest" (Wordsworth, in loo.). leading; as if he had said, "The wounds Ver. 4.-Sh&ll be ashamed. The falsity were not ma.de as you suppose, but are the of their pretensions being now recognized, result of something that happene,l to me in these prophets shall be a.shamed to utter my friends' honee." The LXX. renders, their ora.clee in public. When he bath &s l'ff'Jo.-fi"f7Jv Iv 'T<p o1Krp .,.., a.-ya.7r7J'T<p ,,_.v, "with prophesied ; rather, when he prophesieth. which I was struck in my beloved house." A rough garment; a mantle of hair; Septua- To see in this paBBage a reference to our gint, lilpfw, .,.p,xl1111v: Vulgote, pallio sac- blessed Lord and hie crucifixion, though cino. Such wa.s the mantle of Elijah such a.n opinion has the support of the (1 Kings x.ix. 13, 19 ; 2 Kings i. B ; ii. 13, Roma.n Liturgy a.nd of many interpreters, 14) and of John the Baptist (Matt. iii. 4), is to do violence to the context, and to read and it seems to he.ve become the distinctive into the words a meaning wholly alien from badge of the prophet, and was assumed by the subject of false prophets, which is the these pretenders in order to inspire con- matter in hand. fidence. Ver. 5.-I am an huabandman. The im- Vers. 7 -9.~ 4. For the nniting of the postor ehe.11 confess the truth about himself; good Shepherd lln'ael is punishea, passes and own the.t he is only " a tiller of the through much tn'lndation, by which it i, re- ground (ll.v9pc,nros lp-ya.(&,,.,vos '7'1/11 -yijv)," as fined, and in the end (though reduced to a Gen. iv. 2. The abnegation iu Amoe vii. 14 is quite different in chare.oter. l!r'lan taught mere remnant) is saved. me to keep oattle; literally, man bought (or, Ver. 7.-Awake, 0 sword. Zechariah possessed) me ; Revised Version, I have been proceeds to show the comse of the purifica- made a bondman. So ee.ger is he now to tion of the people. The mention of the hide hie false pretensions, that he is willing, false prophet and the shameful wounds in to be considered a slave, employed from his his flesh leads him to the oontrast of the youth in farm work, a.nd therefore incapable true Prophetand the effects of his "piercing." of executing the prophetical office. Vul- The a.bruptnessof the commencement of the ge.te, Quoniam Adam exe.mplum meum ab ado- verse is dre.matio, and gives no sufficient lo~centia mea; i.e. "I have followed the ex- cause for supposing that this paragraph ample of Adam in tilling the ground e.nd in ought to be transferred (as Ewe.Id and others earning my bread by the sweat of my brow." desire) to the end of eh. xi. (For o. similar St. Cyril and some modern commente.tore apostrophe, comp. Jer. xlvii. 6.) It is in- hold tho.t tho fa.lee prophet says this in troduced here to show that all that hap- sorrow and repentance, not with any idea of peued to the Shepherd was done ofter the deoei ving; and thRt herein is exhibited a determinate counsel e.nd foreknowledge of signe.l instance of the grace of God in the God ; a.nd as if the sword could never have Meesionic period, when even such sinners dared to oot thus except it were permitted nre converted from the, error of their wnys. by the Divine will. The "sword" represents Ver. 6.-What o.re these wounds in thine any kind of instrument that inflicts death hands 1 or rnther, between thy hands, i.e. (oomp. Exod. v. 21; 2 Sa.m. xii. 9; Isa. on thy breast; Revised Version, between xxvii. l). l!r'ly Shepherd. 'fhe Shepherd of thine arms. Oheyne compares, "between Jehovoh, who is speaking. He is the good hie Rrms," i.e. in his back (2 Kings ix. 24) Shepherd, the Representative of Jehovnh, and "between your eyes," i.e. on your fore- mentioned in eh. xi. 4, etc., the l\fossio.h, heads (Deut. xi. 18). Not satisfied with who is identified with Jehovl\h in eh. xii. the assertion in ver. 5, the questioner neks the 10. The Septuagint h11s, .,..1,s -rro,µ.,va.s 111ca.ning of these wounds which he sees on µ.ov, " my shepherds" (V o.tic.. u), ~s if no 148 THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. [cu. xm. 1-9.