Style.—The language of Zechariah has not the putity and freshness of a former age, yet probably it is purer than the style of Ezekiel and Jeremiah. A slight tinge of Chaldaisin pervades it. We have the particle nt..: at the commencement of incom plete sentences (vii. 7 ; viii. 17), and a peculiar use of 1:::;ts• (i. is ; vi. io), the occurrence of ri before the status const. (iv. 7-10), omission of '1 (vii. 23), the unusual phrase ry (ii. 12) (nz: being derived by Gesenius and Fiirst from a root n2), to hollow out,' and meaning the gate of the eye), the unwonted construction of nilt4 as nrIN (ii. 12), etc. Ewald does not foin in that depreciation of his style which Knobel and De Wette indulge in. Yet from the strange symbols introduced by him—swift dramatic transitions and abrupt and rapid explanations—his oracles are difficult of comprehension, so that Jerome says : Obscurissinues liber inter duodecim et longissimus —ab obscure's ad obscuriora transimus (Comment. in Zach. lib. i. lib. ii. p. 779, 825 ; Opera, vol. vi. ed. Vallar). The symbols with which he abounds are obscure, and their prosaic structure is diffuse and unvaried. The rhythm of his poetry is un equal, and its parallelisms are inharmonious and disjointed. He is also peculiar in his introduction of spiritual beings into his prophetic scenes.
Commcntaries.—Der Proph. Zath. elusgelegt clarch Mart. Luther, Vitemberg, 1528 ; Phil.
Melanchthonis Comment. in Proph. Zack. 1553; J. J. Grynaei Conzment. in Zach. Genewe 1581 ; J. H. Ursini Comment. in Proph. Zach. 1652 ; S. Bohlius, "Malys. et Exeg. Proph. Zack. Rost. 171 ; C. Vitringa, Comment. aa' lib. Proph. Zach.
1734 ; B. G. Fhigge, Weissavengen welthe bey den Schrift. des Proph. Zach. beygebagen sized, etc., 1788 ; F. Venema, Sernzones Academ. in lib. Proph. Zach. 1789 ; Koester, Meleteneata Crit. etc., 1818 ; Forberg, Comm. Crit. et Exeget. in Zach. 1824; Rosenmiilleri, Scholia, pars sept. 1828 ; Hengstenberg's Christologie ; B. Blayney, New Translation of Zech. Oxf. 1797 ; W. New. come, Minor Prophets, 1785 ; Comment. on the Vision of Zechariah the Proph., by John Stonard, D.D., 1824 ; Rabbi David Comment. 071 the Froth. of Zech., translated, with Notes, etc., by A. M`Caul, A.M. 1837 ; Ewald, Die Propheten, vol. ii. Stuttgart do Henderson, 012 the Minor Prophets, 1845; Umbreit, Commentar fiber a'ie kl. Proph. Hamburg 1846 ; Baumgarten, Die Nacht gesichle Zacharia's, ein Prophetenstimme aus die Gegenwart, Braunschweig 1854-55 ; T. Y. Moore, Prophets of the Restoration, a new translation, with Notes, New York 1856 ; Neumann, Die Weissag. d. Sakharjah, Stuttgart 186o; Kliefoth, De Proph. Sacharjah fibers. u. ausg. Schwerin 1862 ; Kohler, Die Nachexilisch. Proplt. erhltirt. Abth.. Erlangen 1864.—J. E.