David Baron

“ For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie ; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain : therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats : for Jehovah of hosts hath visited His flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as His goodly horse in the battle. From him shall come forth the corner-stone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. ”

“ In the remarkable position occupied by Israel in the early Christian Church for our Lord and His apostles were Jews, and the majority of the early evangelists were men of this nation in the wonderful fact that the Jews, though politically crushed beneath the Gentile yoke, con quered the nations of the earth by means of that religion which sprang from their midst in such facts this prophecy, and other similar prophecies, found a most glorious and real fulfilment. The nations have been enlightened by the Jews, and books written by Jewish pens have become the laws and oracles of the world. ”

“ Surely a land which includes within its boundaries an area at least one-third more than the whole of France may with right be called " a large land " ; but it is possible that even the larger land, with its desert parts transformed into fruitful fields, will not suffice to hold the whole of blessed Israel in the millennial period, so great and rapid will be the increase of the saved remnant.
In the iith verse God s wonderful works on behalf of His people in the past are again alluded to as the basis and illustration of what He will do for them in the yet greater deliverance of the future. ”

“ In these modern times men have grown wiser, and no longer recognise or acknowledge God in what to them is entirely due to " natural causes " ; but such wisdom is based on a science only falsely so called, and is foolishness in the eyes of those who know that there is a living, personal God, the Creator and Upholder of all things, who, though He in His infinite power and wisdom appointed certain " laws " to govern His creation, is Himself all the time behind and above these laws, to guide and control ”

“ In Messiah s reign on the earth God s sovereignty will be fully manifested, but it is blessed to remember that it will be sovereignty exercised by One who is not only " glorious in holiness," infinite in wisdom and power, but by Him who is also infinite in compassion, and whose very nature is love. ”

“ And not only will the Shepherd of Israel gather them and lead them back to their own habitation, removing by His Almighty power and grace every obstacle out of the way, but there in their own land, when the Spirit shall have been poured upon them from on high, they shall be " strong in the Lord and in the power of His might," and ready to do exploits in His name. ”

“ His absolute autocratic rule, therefore, though a terror to the ungodly, is a thought full of comfort to the righteous, for it will mean righteousness, peace and joy to this long-afflicted earth, and the very consummation of blessedness to His own people. ”

“ And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine ; yea, their children shall see it, and rejoice ; their heart shall be glad in Jehovah. And I will hiss for them, and gather them ; for I have redeemed them : and they shall increase as they have increased. And I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember Me in far countries ; and they shall live with their children ; and shall return. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria ; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon ”

“ The historian Basnage, in his History of the Jews from Jesus Christ to the Present Time, calculated that in his time (end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century) there were three million Jews in the world. Since then, however, the growth of Jewry has been phenomenal. At the com mencement of the nineteenth century there were said to be five millions. Half a century later the numbers reached six or seven millions ; and at the end of another half a century in 1896 the greatest living authority on Jewish statistics gave their number as eleven millions. ”

“ But though the primary reference is to literal showers, " on which the successful cultivation of the fruits of the ground depends," I agree with the German Bible scholar who says that the exhortation to ask for rain " only serves Ifto individualise the prayer for the bestowal of the blessings of God, in order to sustain both temporal and spiritual life." ”

“ Their heart shall rejoice in Jehovah " as the highest and only lasting source of joy " to whom," as an old writer puts it, " is to be referred all gladness which is derived from created things that whoso glorieth may glory in the Lord, in whom alone the rational creature ought to take delight."
Most commentators suppose that ver. 8 to the end of the chapter still speak of Ephraim ; but the supposition is, I think, without sufficient warrant. Having spoken of the "house of Judah" and the "house of Joseph" separately, the prophet now proceeds to set forth the purpose of God
1 Eph. v. 18. ”

“ Because they shall remember Jehovah " in the far countries " they shall live, Here we probably have an allusion (as Hengstenberg suggests) in one word (in the Hebrew) " to the figure which Ezekiel has so beautifully carried out in chap, xxxvii." They who, while dispersed among the nations, are seen by the prophet as dry bones scattered over the valley of vision, are to live again, for : " Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O
and massacres which they had to endure in the dark and middle ages is prob ably true. ”

“ He is not only the Foundation of the mystical temple, and the uniting " Corner-stone " in whom all believers, either Jew or Gentile, are made one, but to those inside the spiritual house He is the Nail in a sure place, upon whom they may hang their " burdens." ”

“ For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us ; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordi nances ; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace" 2 In spite of mutual prejudice and the otherwise impassable legal and ceremonial gulf that separated the Jew from the Gentile, Christ is the angle at which they both meet to be united as one building, or, even more closely, as the members of one body. ”

“ Out of him the corner-stone, out of him the peg, out of him the war-bow, out of him will every ruler come forth together," explains in a general way as follows : " Having attained perfect freedom by the help of the Lord, who gives success to their arms, they will now receive rulers and officers from among themselves, and a military force of their own ; and whereas they formerly were a prey to strange conquerors, they will now terrify even foreign nations." ”

“ He shall be then not only the Nasi the chosen Prince from among the people ; not only the Moshel, God s Viceroy or Deputy Ruler on the earth ; not only a constitutional King, who reigns but does not rule but He shall be the Noges, the absolute Ruler, or " Exactor " the most absolute and autocratic King the world has yet seen. ”

“ The Scriptures, first spoken by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, are now the oracles of Godl themselves speaking with voices which carry their own conviction to hearts honestly seeking for truth, and ever confirming themselves in the world s history and in the Christian s experience ”

“ And behold they shall come with speed swiftly ; none shall be weary or stumble among them." l That is, He would gather the hostile nations against them " like the countless numbers of the insect creation, which, if united, would irresistibly desolate life. He would summon them as the bee-owner by his shrill call summons and unites his own swarm." But now the time to favour Zion having come, this same word is used in our passage in Zech. ”

“ I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring. " s
Viewed as a symbol of spiritual gifts and blessings, there is a message also for you and me in this ancient exhortation, dear reader. Indeed, 1 look upon this passage as one of the most beautiful scriptures in the Old Testa ment in reference to prayer, and God s manner of answering.
I. " Ask ye of Jehovah, . . . and Jehovah shall give" which reminds us of the word of our Lord Jesus : " Ask, and ye shall receive," for the God of Israel is a God who does answer prayer. ”

“ Nor is there any one, even the least and the weakest of His redeemed people, who can say that he has lothing which he can dedicate to Him, for that which is nost precious in His sight is a loving, confiding heart and .n adoring spirit. ”

“ Of the abundance of spiritual blessings and glory which shall then dwell in the land, to repeat a few sentences from my notes on chap. ix. 1 9 " Material prosperity and temporal abundance will, as is not the case in the present dispensa tion, be the outward sign and accompaniment." " Corn," exclaims the prophet at the conclusion of that chapter, " shall make the young men cheerful (or, literally, grow or increase ) , and new wine the maids (or virgins ) ." ”

“ And there in Matt, ix., even as in this passage in Zech- ariah, which may have been in our Lord s mind at the time, the saddest touch in the gloomy picture of Israel s distressed and helpless condition is contained in the words, " because there is no shepherd" or, " as sheep having no shepherd" i.e., no one to guide, or control, or care for them. There were indeed in the time before the Captivity, as later in our Lord s time, many who called themselves " shepherds," but they were false, deceiving shepherds, who devoured the flock, and sought only to feed themselves. ”

“ They are bowed down and fallen ; But we are risen up and stand upright."
And the great deliverance which Jehovah shall then accomplish for Israel will embrace the entire nation, which in Zechariah s prophecies are regarded as no longer divided into two separate kingdoms, but as one people, with a common and inseparable destiny. " And I will strengthen the house of Judah ”

“ This is an aspect of Christ s character on which men do not like to dwell ; but let it not be forgotten that the same prophet, Isaiah, who pictures Him in the 5 3rd chapter as the suffering Lamb of God, who " as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, openeth not His mouth," describes Him in the 63rd chapter as clothed in majesty, marching forth in the greatness of His strength to take vengeance on the nations : " Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in tJie winefat? ”

“ Above all, it is the motive which Jehovah, "by whom actions are weighed" (not counted or measured) , takes into account.
III. The Battle Bow
It is generally agreed that every one of the four terms used in this verse (phinnah, " corner " ; yathed, " nail " ; qesheth milchamah, " battle bow " ; and noges, " ruler " or " exactor ") are all used metaphorically, and denote persons, or, as I verily believe, one Person, who Himself fulfils these different functions. ”

“ Palestine, during the many centuries that the people has been banished from it on account of apostasy.
But to return to our passage. It is especially " the latter rain " which in Palestine is so important as strengthen ing and maturing the crops, that they are here exhorted to ask of the Lord, so that He may graciously complete "what He had begun by the former rain, filling the ears before the harvest." ”

“ The word 1JV, yathed, translated here " nail " (rendered in the Septuagint Trao-o-aXo?) , is used first of a tent-pin, or stake, which is driven into the ground and to which the tent is fastened ; 3 and, secondly, of the strong peg inside the Oriental tent, or which is built into the wall of the Eastern building, on which is hung most of its valuable furniture. 4
The primary allusion is to Isa. xxii., where we read : " A nd tJie key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, and he shall open and none shall shut ; and he shall shut and none shall open. ”