THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
III
sianic king, who comes as a pious and humble victor to govern the old extent of the land of Israel in undisturbed peace (9-10); the exiled Israelites are to return to their homes (11-12); God arms Judah and E'phraim and allows them to massacre ‘“ the sons of \Yawan ” (the Greeks; 13-15), and the Israelites then enjoy the messianic glory in their land (16-17). Got ’s wrath is directed against the wicked shepherds of Judah to whom he will give leaders “ out of hirn,” meaning from Judah; with God’s help Judah anid Joseph (Ephraim) will conquer their enemies arid return to their homes (x. 5, 6) while Egypt and Assyria will be humbled. In xi. 4-17 there is a peculiar narration wherein the prophet himself is rnade to impersonate the fortunes of his people. He is to become the shepherd of the sacred flock, the buyers and sellers of which think only of their own enrichment while the shepherds neglect their charge. As shepherd he takes two staves, “ welfare” and “union” (A.V., ‘‘ beauty ” and “ bands”’) to protect the people. In the course of a month he removes the three shepherds; but the flock becomes unfriendly and he decides to resign his office. He breaks his staff ‘‘ welfare,’ whereby the alliance between the people and the other nations is dissolved. The owners of the flock show their contempt by paying him thirty shekels, the wages of a slave; at God’s command he casts this sum into the temple treasury (according to the Aramaic version; A. V., “to the potter in the house of the Lord’”’). This clearly shows that the insult was noted and that it was to be reckoned against the owners of the flock. Thereupon the prophet breaks his staff ‘ union ”’ so that the brotherhood of Judah and Israel is destroyed; only a third of the flock is spared, but the remnant will be recognized by God as his people (xiii. 7-9).
In xu. 1-xiii. 6 it appears that Jerusalem is now attacked by the whole heathen world, but the heathen nations themselves are destroyed and Jerusalem is not captured. Chap. xiv. describes anew the last battle for Jerusalem, with the singular discrepancy, however, that the city is first taken and plundered before the judgment of God overtakes the heathen. God, surrounded by his angels, appears on the Mount of Olives, which is rent by an earthquake. Now begins the messianic age, which is like a perpetual day without cold or burning heat. The outlines of the land are changed, it becomes an immense plain above which rises Jerusalem alone; ever-flowing streams issue from the city and run toward the east and the west. Those heathen who have survived the dreadful defeat recognize Yahweh’s rule and come yearly to Jerusalem for the feast of tabernacles.
For a long time these chapters were believed to be by the same hand as chapters i—viii.; it was only
the citation of Zech. xi. 12-13 in Matt. eae ome yt 16710 aa a word of Jeremiah that gave rise to a different view. Joseph Mede, in Dissertationum ecclesiasticarum triga (London, 1653), conjectured that chaps. ix.—xi. were by Jeremiah. This hypothesis, although valueless, led to a closer study of the book and at the present time but few critics attribute chaps. ix.—xiv. to Zechatiah. Indeed, it seems almost impossible that the
2. Chapters xii.-xiv.
ship.
same author could have written i—viii. and ix.-xiv. The marked characteristics of the earlier chapters are lacking in the later, and the political situation, as well as the prophetic quality, is totally unlike. Of these chapters, xii—xiv. (excepting xiii. 7-9) appear to constitute a typical specimen of the deuteroprophetic literature. A conclusive proof of the late composition of this section is the announcement of the cessation of prophecy (xili. 2-3), since this indicates a period when the prophets who appeared in public (not purely literary prophets like the author) were degenerate and deceivers; that is, a period when literary study had taken the place of immediate prophetic inspiration. It is, however, unlikely that xii. 1—-xiii. 6 is by the same hand as xiv., especially since Jerusalem is said to have been taken in xiv., while the contrary is stated in xii. Strange to say, the portions ix. 1-ix. 17 and xiii. 7-9 are thought by some critics to constitute one of the earliest prophetic writings (from the period before 722 B.c.), while others place this section in the second century B.c. In x. 6-9 the departure of Ephraim and Judah, and in ix. 11 that of the whole people, is assumed as having already taken place. A still more important point is that in ix. 13, “ the sons of Yawan,” that is the Greeks, appear as enemies whose destruction marks the beginning of the messianic era. This can signify only that the Greeks were then a world-power and that this verse was written after the appearance of Alexander the Great. It is true that the mention of Egypt and Assyria as the two great world-powers recalls Hosea (cf. viii. 13, ix. 3-6); but this name may just as well signify the Ptolemies and the Seleucide (cf. also Isa. xxvii. 13), since in later prophetic writings designations from the older prophets are freely adapted to contemporary conditions. The repeated mention of Ephraim alongside of Judah is more significant, but not decisive; for in x. 6 sqq. it appears that Ephraim must first return from captivity. The conclusion therefore follows that some passages in chaps. ix.— x. belong to the Greek period, while nothing certainly proves that the remainder is of earlier date. Chap. xi., with its continuation xiii. 7-9, offers much greater difficulties. Kuenen and others have rightly asserted that the words “ to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel ”’ are incompatible with a postexilic origin. It can not be denied that the condition of the Ephraimitic kingdom under Pekah, when the Ephraimites in alliance with the Arameans attacked Judah, suits this perfectly. The shepherds killed within a month (verse 8) might then be explained by the murders of Zechariah and Shallum (II Kings xv. 8, 13). However, the designation of an Ephraimitic king as “the man that is my fellow,” xii. 7, would be strange. Two Septuagint manuscripts read Israel instead of Jerusalem in verse 14, and in this case the text would refer to conflicts between the capital and the rest of the country; while these can not be proved, they are quite possible in the Greek period (cf. also xii. 7), so that this chapter might also be referred to that epoch. Any satisfactory result as to chapter xi. is therefore impossible, but this has nothing to do with the date of the other chapters, since it can not
4. Isolated Passages.
be proved that they are by the same writer. Thus it appears probable that Zech. ix.—xiv. is composed of at least four prophetic writings or fragments, of which chapters ix., x., and xii.—xiv. at least belong to a late time; the former probably to the Greek and the latter to either the Persian or the Greek period. (F. Buat.)
Brstiocrapny: For questions of introduction recourse is to be had to the works named in and under Brsurcau IN- TRODUCTION; also: E. W. Hengstenberg, Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel and the Integrity of Zechariah, New York, 1858; E. F. J. von Ortenberg, Die Bestandtheile des Buches Sacharja, Gotha, 1859; B. Stade, in ZATW, i (1881), 1 sqq., ii (1882), 151 sqq., 275 sqq.; G. H. H. Wright, Zechariah and his Prophecies . .. in Relation to Modern Criticism, London, 1879 (holds to the unity of the book); W. Stirk, Untersuchungen tiber die Composition und Abfassungszeit von Zach 9-14, Halle, 1891; B. Blake, How to Read the Prophets, part 1, New York, 1892; G. K. Griitzmacher, Untersuchung iiber den Ursprung der in Zach. ix.—xiv. vorliegenden Prophetien, Heidelberg, 1892; N. J. Rubinkam, Second Part of .. . Zechariah, Basel, 1892; W. H. Kosters, Widerherstellung Tsraels, Heidelberg, 1895; T. K. Cheyne, Jewish Religious Life after the Exile, New York, 1898; E. Sellin, Studien zur Entstehungsgeschichte der jiidischen Gemeinde, ii. 63 sqq., Leipsic, 1900; J. Boehmer, in NKZ, 1901, pp. 717 sqq.; A. van Hoonacker, in Revue biblique, 1902, pp. 161 sqq.; J. W. Rothstein, Die Nachtgesichte des Sacharja. Studien zur Sacharjaprophetie und zur jiidischen Geschichte am 1. nachexilischen Jahrhundert, Leipsic, 1910; Smith, Prophets; DB, iv. 967-970; EB, iv. 5390-95; JE, xii. 645-647.
Commentaries are: J. D. F. Burger, Ltudes evégétiques et critiques sur le prophéte Zacharie, Strasburg, 1841; J. Calvin, Eng. transl., in Minor Prophets, 5 vols., Edinburgh, 1846-49; T. V. Moore, The Prophets of the Restoration, New York, 1856; W. Neumann, Stuttgart, 1860; A. Kohler, 2 vols., Erlangen, 1861-63; R. Wardlaw, in Posthumous Works, vol. vii., Edinburgh, 1862; L. Reinke, Minster, 1864; H. Cowles, Minor Prophets, New York, 1866; HE. Henderson, Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, new ed., Andover, 1868; C. F. Keil, Edinburgh, 1868; E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, new ed., Oxford, 1877, New York, 1885; C. J. Bredenkamp, Erlangen, 1879; W. J. Deane, in Pulpit Commentary, New York, 1880; H. Ewald, Commentary on the Prophets, vol. v., London, 1881; BE. G. King, The Yalkut on Zechariah, Cambridge, 1882; J. van Eaton, Hzpository ... Lectures on... Zechariah, Pittsburg, 1883; W. L. Alexander, Zechariah, his Visions and Warnings, London, 1885; T. T. Perowne, in Cambridge Bible, New York, 1888; S. Lasserre, Montauban, 1891; C. von Orelli, The Twelve Minor Prophets, New York, 1893- G. A. Smith, in Expositor’s Bible, London, 1896-97; K. Marti, Freiburg, 1892, and Tiibingen, 1904.
ZEDEKIAH, zed’’e-kai/a: Nineteenth and last king of Judah (597-586), son of Josiah, successor of Jehoiachin. By the sudden death of Josiah his sons Jehoahaz and then Jehoiakim (qq.v.) came to the throne, the last named, at first a vassal of Egypt and later of Babylonia, revolting from Babylonia and bringing about the interference of the Babylonian king. His successor was his son Jehoiachin (q.v.), who with a number of his subjects was deported to Babylon, while his uncle Zedekiah was made king in his place. In other circumstances Zedekiah might have made a good king, but the situation was too difficult for him to control. He lacked the firmness of will and the courage to restrain the fanatical elements among his people, especially those which counseled attempts at national independence. The diplomacy of Egypt, perhaps intensified by a change of rulers there, and the unrest of the neighboring states induced a tentative revolt from Babylonian vassalage, on account of which Zedekiah was com-