(3) A Collection of Four Oracles delivered at various times in the fourth year of Darius, and partly occasioned by a request of the nations to be divinely informed, whether, now on their happy return to their fatherland, the month of Jerusa lem's overthrow should be registered in their sacred calendar as a season of fasting and hu miliation. The prophet declares that these times should in future ages be observed as festive sol emnities. (ch. 1:7-vi:15.) (4) A V ariety or Prophecies. The 8th, 9th, loth, and rtth chapters contain a variety of proph ecies unfolding the fortunes of the people, their safety in the midst of Alexander's expedition, and their victories under the Maccabwah chieftains, including the fate of many of the surrounding na tions, Hadrach (Persia), Damascus, Tyre, and Philistia.
(5) Conclusion. The remaining three chap ters graphically portray the future condition of the people, especially in Messianic times, and con tain allusions to the siege of the city, the names of the escape by the cleaving of the Mount of Olives, with a symbol of twilight breaking into day, and living water issuing from Jerusalem. concluding with a blissful vision of the enlarged prosperity and holiness of the theocratic metropo lis, when upon the bells of the horses shall be inscribed 'holiness unto the Lord.' (6) Genuineness. Many of the arguments against the genuineness of this latter portion of Zechariah rest on peculiar interpretations of his language, making it refer to events that happened prior to the time when the prophet flourished. But this exegesis is not in all points correct. Eph raim is indeed spoken of, though that kingdom was overthrown 186 years before the return of the Jews from Babylon; and it is inferred that the author of such oracles must have lived when Ephraim was an independent sovereignty. It may be said, in reply, that vast numbers of the ten tribes returned with their brethren of Judah from captivity; and we find (ch. xii:1) Israel used as a name for all the tribes. In Malachi, too, we find Israel used after the captivity in con trast to Jerusalem. Zechariah never characterizes Ephraim as a separate political confederation ; nor, as Henderson remarks, 'is there anything, but the contrary, to induce the conclusion that a king reigned in Judah in the days of the au thor.' The predictions in this latter part, supposed by some to refer to past events, are most correctly interpreted to refer to the Egyptian expedition of Alexander, the sufferings of the Messiah, and the final overthrow of Jerusalem. The prophets
before the Babylonian captivity threatened a de portation to Babylon ; Zechariah, living after that event, menaces a Roman invasion and slavery. Little force can be placed in any argument based on an imagined difference of style in the former and latter chapters of this prophecy. The intro ductory notices to the separate oracles recorded in the early portion of the book, are either not found in the last section, or are very different in form (comp. i:1-7; iv:8; vi:9, with ix:1; xi: 4). But we are too ignorant of many circum stances in the prophet's history to speculate on the causes of such change; or if we are unable to discover any xsthetical or religious reasons for the alteration, it is surely rash to come on such grounds to a decision of diversity of authorship. Introductory formula as different as those in Zechariah occur in other books, whose sameness of style is admitted as proof of identity of au thorship, as in Amos, where the application of the same principles of criticism would 'dismem ber it,' and assign its composition to three differ ent authors. Nor is the difference of style of the former and latter portions of Zechariah greater than the different topics treated would lead us to expect. The difference of styles is not very strik ing; and such difference is often a fallacious ground of judgment.
(7) Style. The language of Zechariah has not the purity and freshness of a former age. Some of its solecisms are noticed by De \Vette (Einleit. sec. 249). A slight tinge of Chaldaism pervades the composition. The symbols with which he abounds are obscure, and their prosaic structure is diffuse and unvaried. The rhythm of his po etry is unequal, and its parallelism is inharmo nious and disjointed. His language has in many phrases a close alliance with that of the other prophets, and occasional imitations of them, es pecially of Ezekiel, characterize his oracle. He is also peculiar in his introduction of spiritual be ings into his prophetic scenes. J. E.
(8) Literature. Hengstenberg's Christology, Keith's translation, vol. ii, 1839; B. Blaney, New Translation of Zech. Oxf. 1797; \V. Newcotne, Minor Prophets, 1785; Comment. on the Vision of Zechariah the Proph., by John Stouard, D. D., '824 ; Rabbi David Kimchi, Comment. on the Proph. of Zech., translated, with Notes, etc., by McCaul, A.M.,1837; Henderson, On the Minor Prophets. 1845; Havernick, Intr. to Old ment, 1852; Moore, Commentary, 1866; Wright, Commentary, 1879; Robinson, Homilies, 1865; Keil, Intr. to Old Testament, 1868.